WEDNESDAY, Dec. 13, 2017 (HealthDay News) — You don’t have to be famous for your public health message to reach millions. A new case study describes how Tawny Dzierzek, a young nurse from Kentucky, posted a startling selfie on social media in April 2015, shortly after she had a skin cancer treatment. Dzierzek was a…
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 13, 2017 (HealthDay News) — Opioid painkillers after surgery can be the first step toward addiction for some patients. But a common drug might cut the amount of narcotics that patients need, a new study finds. When patients received a non-opioid medication called gabapentin before and after surgery, the need for continued opioid…
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 13, 2017 (HealthDay News) — Scientists have gained new insight into a deadly fungus that has killed millions of bats in North America. The fungus — Pseudogymnoascus destructans — caused a disease called white-nose syndrome. Where it came from and how it spreads was the focus of a team of researchers whose findings…
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 13, 2017 (HealthDay News) — Teens are more likely to behave badly — lie, steal, vandalize, use drugs — if they live in areas with heavy air pollution, a study of children living in greater Los Angeles suggests. Younger kids exposed to increased levels of air pollution tended to have delinquency scores similar…
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 13, 2017 (HealthDay News) — Raising one particular tax just might have a public health benefit. The tax in question? States’ alcohol excise tax. In the United States, those taxes have not kept pace with inflation, which could limit their public health benefits, researchers report. In inflation-adjusted dollars, the average state alcohol excise…
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 13, 2017 (HealthDay News) — Many of the foods most associated with holiday meals can actually be good for you and, because they’re filling, leave you feeling satisfied with small servings. Skinless white turkey meat tops the list. A 3-ounce slice has 26 grams of protein, less than 1 gram of saturated fat…
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 13, 2017 (HealthDay News) — Emergency room doctors must think fast — and video games might help boost their decision-making, new research suggests. A study led by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine found an adventure video game improved ER doctors’ ability to assess the level of care needed by trauma patients.…
TUESDAY, Dec. 12, 2017 (HealthDay News) — This coming Friday marks the end of the shortened sign-up period for most Americans to buy health insurance through the federal Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) marketplace. Dec. 15 is the last enrollment day for people living in 39 states served by the HealthCare.gov website. At the site, people…
TUESDAY, Dec. 12, 2017 (HealthDay News) — Emergency medical workers are trained to handle a wide range of traumas and disasters, but they aren’t prepared to deal with a nuclear attack, a new study reports. There are concerns about the risk of nuclear warfare due to rising tensions between the United States and North Korea.…
TUESDAY, Dec. 12, 2017 (HealthDay News) — Dinosaurs probably didn’t do “tick checks,” but even they had to put up with the blood-sucking critters, a piece of fossilized amber reveals. Researchers say they’ve found a 100-million-year-old piece of Burmese amber that contained an extinct type of tick grasping a dinosaur feather. It’s the first direct…