Health category, Page 107

More than half of the flu cases reported in Pennsylvania so far this season are in the Greater Pittsburgh area, with Allegheny County having the most of any county in the state in a season that is off to an early start. A total of 4,424 laboratory-confirmed cases of influenza...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court appeared likely Tuesday to rule that insurance companies can collect $12 billion from the federal government to cover their losses in the early years of the health care law championed by President Barack Obama. Several justices indicated their agreement with arguments from the insurers that...

Loneliness kills. According to former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, isolation and weak social connections “are associated with a reduction in lifespan similar to that caused by smoking 15 cigarettes a day and even greater than that associated with obesity.” Even when it’s not fatal, loneliness makes life a lot...

Dear Mayo Clinic: Is minimally invasive heart surgery to repair a mitral valve a safer option than open-heart surgery? Is it common for a surgeon to have to switch to an open-heart procedure after starting the surgery? Answer: Both minimally invasive heart surgery and traditional surgery that involves opening the...

This is supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year, but often it’s the most stressful. “The season to be merry is also the season for stress and anxiety,” says Jyl Glunt, a health and wellness specialist at the Excela Health Well-Being Center-Mind Body Health. “Shopping, decorating, parties,...

Classes/programs • Childbirth and beyond weekender version, covering labor and birth options for pain control, cesarean birth, postpartum, the normal newborn and breathing/relaxation techniques, is planned 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Saturday, Excela Square at Latrobe, 100 Excela Health Drive • Childbirth and Beyond, a two-week class meets from 6:30-9 p.m. Mondays...

Art can be a way for dementia and Alzheimer’s patients to remember. The patient generally remembers a favorite color when choosing from a palette, said Liz Powell, art education coordinator for the Jewish Association on Aging. If they liked blue before they will most likely choose blue again, she said....

Oh, Christmas tree — achoo — oh, Christmas tree. ‘Tis the season for choosing and decorating a tree, hanging a wreath, lighting candles, and cozying up indoors. Dr. Robert Gorby, an allergy and immunology specialist with Westmoreland Allergy and Asthma Associates, said spending so much time indoors can cause flare-ups....

Some hair products could put women at an increased risk of developing breast cancer, especially black women, according to a study published by the International Journal of Cancer. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. It followed 46,700 cancer-free...

A whooping cough outbreak in Indiana County prompted the state Department of Health to host a walk-in vaccination clinic. The clinic will be open from 2-6 p.m. Thursday at the Indiana County State Health Center, 75 N. Main St., Indiana. It is in response to an ongoing outbreak in which...

NEW YORK — As health officials scrutinize marijuana vaping, it’s increasingly on law enforcement’s radar, too. From New York City to Nebraska farm country to California, authorities have seized at least 510,000 marijuana vape cartridges and arrested more than 120 people in the past two years, according to an Associated...

This spring, two of Minnesota’s foremost advocacy agencies faced a marketing dilemma: How to create a campaign against abuse of people with disabilities without reinforcing negative stereotypes of them as frail and helpless? Months of research, interviews and focus groups have culminated in a simple but powerful campaign built around...

The American College of Physicians has produced a guidance statement for colorectal cancer screening for patients who are at an average risk. This statement is based on a critical review of existing national guidelines. “Patients who are age 50 to 75 who are asymptomatic, and don’t have prior precancerous polyps...

A sore throat is a common symptom of an upper respiratory infection such as a cold or flu. It’s also a symptom of a bacterial infection commonly referred to as strep throat. How can you tell if your child’s sore throat is caused by a viral or bacterial infection? Mayo...

Allegheny Health Network is on track to achieve its third consecutive year of positive earnings as the burgeoning nonprofit health system continues to expand across and beyond Western Pennsylvania, newly filed financial records show. “Our balance sheet is in the best financial position historically than it’s ever been,” Chief Financial...

GOSHEN, Ind. — More than 1,000 surgical patients are suing a northern Indiana hospital after being notified that a sterilization failure could have exposed them to deadly infections. The Elkhart Truth reports the class-action suit was filed last week in Elkhart County Court against Goshen Hospital on behalf of patient...

Giving women with very dense breasts an MRI scan in addition to a mammogram led to fewer missed cancers but also to a lot of false alarms and treatments that might not have been needed, a large study found. The results give a clearer picture of the tradeoffs involved in...

After nearly six decades of increasing life expectancy, U.S. average lifetimes have been declining since 2014, according to a bleak new report published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Drug overdoses — mainly opioids — suicides, alcoholic liver disease and conditions related to substance use disorder are...

Dear Mayo Clinic: My son is nearsighted and has been wearing glasses for three years. He’s now 10 and his prescription has gotten steadily worse. His optometrist says that it’s not uncommon for kids to need a new prescription every six to eight months, but I’m concerned. Should I take...

There seems to be a lot of clamoring to replace real meat in the marketplace. Here are some things to consider: We need protein. In fact, experts predict that within the next 30 years, the world will need to produce 50% more protein to adequately feed everyone on this planet....

Current Alzheimer’s treatments temporarily improve symptoms of memory loss and problems with thinking and reasoning. These Alzheimer’s treatments boost performance of chemicals in the brain that carry information from one brain cell to another. However, these treatments don’t stop the underlying decline and death of brain cells. As more cells...

Celiac disease is an immune reaction to eating gluten. A recent Mayo Clinic study found that this autoimmune disease tends to run in families. Researchers say screening family members of celiac disease patients could prevent long-term complications, such as nutritional deficiencies, development of new autoimmune conditions and small bowel malignancy....