Health category, Page 109

Exposure to acetaminophen in the womb may have some connection with a child’s risk for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder, suggests a new study in JAMA-Psychiatry. But experts caution that it is too soon to tell pregnant women not to use the over-the-counter painkiller, better known as...

The number of U.S. vaping illnesses has jumped again, reaching more than 1,800 cases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that 1,888 confirmed and probable cases have been reported in 49 states. That includes 37 deaths in 24 states. The total is 284 higher than what the...

WASHINGTON — More Americans are going without health insurance, and stable premiums plus greater choice next year under the Obama health law aren’t likely to reverse that. As sign-up season starts on Friday, the Affordable Care Act has shown remarkable resiliency, but it has also fallen short of expectations. Even...

The series of events that happen inside the human body when someone is bitten by a disease-carrying tick is immensely complex. Spiral-shaped bacteria from the Borrelia family can lead to a variety of medical conditions including the notoriously difficult-to-diagnose Lyme disease. A recent report in the medical journal Healthcare also...

Dear Mayo Clinic: I am 72 and take a drug for rheumatoid arthritis that suppresses my immune system. I’m scheduled to receive a vaccine later this year. Is it safe for me to receive this vaccine? Answer: Appropriate and timely vaccines are important for anyone with a suppressed immune system....

Recently, during a visit to her doctor’s office in Sequim, Wash., Sue Christensen fell to her knees in the bathroom when her legs suddenly gave out. The 74-year-old was in an accessible stall with her walker, an older model that doesn’t have brakes. On her left side was a grab...

Blood drives Vitalant, formerly Central Blood Bank, will host a blood drive 1-6:30 p.m. Monday at Champion Christian School, 1076 Kings Way, Donegal. Appointments: 877-258-4825 or vitalant.org Classes/programs • Childbirth and beyond weekender version, covering labor and birth options for pain control, cesarean birth, postpartum, the normal newborn and breathing/relaxation...

Flu season is here again. And this year’s vaccine is designed to protect against four different flu viruses, says the Center for Disease Control (CDC). So when I went for my yearly poke in the arm, I was informed — by reason of my age — that I would receive...

Excela Health Westmoreland Hospital won honors as Best Regional Hospital-Pittsburgh, according to U.S. News & World Report. The Greensburg hospital was one of 569 hospitals of the nearly 4,500 reviewed to rank among the Best Regional Hospitals in a state or metro area based on their performance in delivering complex...

UPMC breaks ground on its major investment in China this week. Construction is scheduled to begin Monday on a new hospital in Chengdu. It will be the first of five Chinese hospitals that UPMC plans to co-run with Beijing-based conglomerate Wanda Group as part of a $2 billion investment over...

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands — Dutch inventor Boyan Slat is widening his effort to clean up floating plastic from the Pacific Ocean by moving into rivers, too, using a new floating device to catch garbage before it reaches the seas. The 25-year-old university dropout founded The Ocean Cleanup to develop and deploy...

Fire cider isn’t a variation on the caramel-colored apple beverage found at fruit stands each fall. It’s a trendy health tonic, typically made with apple cider vinegar, and Winnie Palmer Nature Reserve in Unity is ready to reveal how to concoct the liquid. The free pop-up workshop for adults is...

It’s now possible to know how long the wait will be at Allegheny Health Network emergency rooms and urgent care centers, the network announced Friday. “Find Care Now” is available online at ahn.org and by desktop and mobile devices on MyChart. Patients can use MyChart to to check in and...

WASHINGTON — U.S. health officials want women getting breast implants to receive stronger warnings and more details about the possible risks and complications. The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that manufacturers should add a warning highlighted by a box — the most serious type — to the information given...

A colleague had been on an airplane — and he felt a cold coming on. With watery eyes and a red nose, he asked, “Have you written about how to stay healthy on flights?” It seems like it’s time to do so again, especially because flu season is on the...

If you’ve been diagnosed with hypertension, diabetes or heart disease, getting enough sleep at night is imperative, according to a new report. Researchers from the Pennsylvania State College of Medicine recently conducted a study, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, to explore the association between lack of...

Blood drives • American Red Cross will host these blood drives: — Noon-5:30 p.m. Wednesday, St. James Evangelical Lutheran Church, 300 W Main St., Ligonier — 1-6:30 p.m. Oct. 31, Mother of Sorrows Church, 4202 Old William Penn Highway, Murrysville Appointments: 800-733-2767 or redcrossblood.org; walk-ins welcome Classes/programs • WCCC is...

Thirteen years after the HPV vaccine was hailed as a revolution in cancer prevention, most Americans still don’t know the virus causes oral and genital cancers, and most doctors still aren’t recommending the vaccine to patients, according to a new study in JAMA Pediatrics. Part of the problem is that...

The “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk” is Saturday morning at Settlers Cabin Park in North Fayette. More than 1,500 cancer survivors, their caregivers, family, friends, and supporters are expected to attend. This October, use or RT the hashtag #IDriveFor & @Chevrolet will contribute $5 to the fight against #breastcancer...

Seeing red gives Beth Cober the ability to get up and go. A few times each month, the Morgantown resident drives to Pittsburgh to visit REDjuvenate, a light therapy center in East Liberty. Cober, who suffers from fibromyalgia, a disorder characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain, lies in a whole-body light...

The number of sexually transmitted diseases climbed again last year in the United States, with Pennsylvania’s rate of increase exceeding the national average. It was the fifth consecutive year that gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis cases went up, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s annual surveillance report. The...

PARIS — France’s lower house of parliament is expected to approve a bill that would give single women and lesbian couples legal access to in vitro fertilization, egg freezing and fertility medication. The assisted reproduction measures are part of a broader bioethics bill scheduled for a vote Tuesday at the...

You fill it with soap and water about 300 times a year, so it must be clean. Right? A case out of Germany, published by the American Society for Microbiology, says no. After babies in a German hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit were found to have multidrug-resistant pathogens on their...