Health category, Page 116

Blood drives • American Red Cross will host these blood drives: — 12:30-6 p.m. Friday, Norwin Christian Church, 9610 Barnes Lake Road, Irwin — 12:30-5 p.m. Monday , American Legion Post 515, 1811 Ligonier St., Latrobe Appointments: 800-733-2767 or redcross blood.org; walk-ins welcome Classes • AARP Smart Drivers Refresher Course for...

WASHINGTON — Millions of people who take aspirin to prevent a heart attack may need to rethink the pill-popping, Harvard researchers reported Monday. A daily low-dose aspirin is recommended for people who have already had a heart attack or stroke and for those diagnosed with heart disease. But for the...

Picklesburgh may still be days away, but the celebrating has already begun at UPMC Magee Women’s Hospital. The hospital dressed some of its newborns Monday in homemade pickle outfits knitted by a UPMC nurse. The babies also wore onesies that said “special dill-ivery.” UPMC captioned posted some of the photos...

SALEM, Oregon — Oregon will allow students to take “mental health days” just as they would sick days, expanding the reasons for excused school absences to include mental or behavioral health under a new law that experts say is one of the first of its kind in the U.S. But...

Mission of Mercy Pittsburgh will host a free dental clinic at PPG Paints Arena on Friday and Saturday. The event is aimed at helping people who don’t have access to dental care or can’t afford dental insurance. Doors open at 6 a.m., and the clinic begins at 7 a.m. Patients...

No question, they made for an odd couple. The college professor and the inmate serving life in prison for second-degree murder were indeed an unlikely pairing. It began in 2011 when Duquesne University professor Norman Conti met inmate Robert Wideman when he took a group of students into the now-shuttered...

Doctors and researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health and UPMC Children’s Hospital received a $300,000 grant from the Allegheny County Clean Air Fund to create a registry tracking pediatric asthma. The Allegheny County Board of Health approved the disbursement from the nearly $12 million fund at...

Nationwide drug overdose deaths fell last year for the first time since 1990, a decline mirrored statewide and locally, new data show. The drop of 5.1% turned the tide on a nearly 30-year increase driven in recent years by heroin and other powerful opioids. The numbers come from preliminary data...

WASHINGTON — When it comes to fairness and privilege, a new study finds it really is not about how you play the game. It’s about whether you win or lose. A new experiment, played out as a card game, shows that even when the deck is literally stacked in people’s...

Requiring prospective bariatric surgery patients to lose weight before they can undergo the procedure may not be necessary or safe, University of Pennsylvania researchers found in a new study published recently in the journal Obesity Surgery. The practice of having patients follow a medically supervised weight-loss program before the surgery...

Is stress making you frustrated and irritable? Stress relievers can help restore calm and serenity to your chaotic life. You don’t have to invest a lot of time or thought into stress relievers. If your stress is getting out of control and you need quick relief, try one of these...

When does one’s concern for proper nutrition turn into a pathological condition? When the desire to eat a healthful diet turns into an unhealthy obsession, say experts. Mental health experts call it “orthorexia nervosa” which literally means “proper appetite … carried to the extreme.” Hey, we all get a little...

Blood drives • American Red Cross will host these blood drives: — 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Thursday, Westmoreland County Courthouse, 2 N. Main St., Greensburg — 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, Latrobe Presbyterian Church, 428 Main St., Latrobe Appointments: 800-733-2767 or redcrossblood.org; walk-ins welcome • Vitalant, formerly Central Blood Bank, will host...

Greg Shogan of Monroeville estimated he underwent 20 brain scans to try and diagnose a series of strange ailments, which ultimately resulted in a diagnosis of Lyme disease. While early detection can generally result in positive treatment, Shogan had gone years without meaningful medical intervention. Shogan isn’t sure how much...

Older adults need to eat more protein-rich foods when losing weight, dealing with a chronic or acute illness, or facing a hospitalization, according to a growing consensus among scientists. During these stressful periods, aging bodies process protein less efficiently and need more of it to maintain muscle mass and strength,...

LOS ANGELES — A healthy lifestyle can cut your risk of developing Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia even if you have genes that raise your risk for these mind-destroying diseases, a large study has found. People with high genetic risk and poor health habits were about three times more...

The Pennsylvania Health Department is adding anxiety disorders and Tourette’s syndrome to the list of conditions that can qualify people to obtain legal medical marijuana. The heath secretary, Dr. Rachel Levine, announced Thursday she’ll be adding them as of July 20. Levine says her decision was based on the recommendation...

Terri Lee Roberts of Irwin has made infection prevention her life’s work, and that work was honored recently with the 2019 Heroes of Infection Prevention Award for Education, presented by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology. Roberts is a senior infection preventionist at the Patient Safety Authority...

A month after federal regulators pledged to release its secret list of poor-performing nursing homes, officials echoed what the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Chief Medical Officer Kate Goodrich said five weeks ago — that the report would be coming “soon.” Lawmakers said CMS has not provided them...

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the government to revamp the nation’s care for kidney disease so that more people whose kidneys fail have a chance at early transplants and home dialysis. Trump said his order was intended to increase the supply of donated kidneys, make...

Janice Nathan’s chronic medical condition dates to nearly a decade before the Affordable Care Act protected her from being denied insurance coverage because of it. Nathan, 62, a speech-language pathologist from Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood, received a kidney transplant in 2001 while on an employer-sponsored health insurance plan. Three years...

Can some teas really help you sleep better at night? And is there a dietary supplement that can protect you from sunburn? While we are free to buy these products, they are worth checking out. Here goes: A close friend swears that his first cup of Sleepytime tea won’t be...

Classes/programs • Breastfeeding Success class is planned 6-8:30 p.m. Thursday. The class will meet in Excela Westmoreland Hospital, 532 W. Pittsburgh St., Greensburg. Details: 877-771-1234 Meetings • Bariatric community meeting at 6-7:30 p.m. today, Excela Health Westmoreland Hospital, 532 W. Pittsburgh St., Greensburg. Details: 877-771-1234 • Grief Without the Stigma...

Dear Mayo Clinic: I’ve never had a fracture or bone health issues. Should I still get a bone density test? A: It depends. A bone density test uses a low dose of X-rays in a quick, noninvasive way to measure the amount of calcium and other minerals in a segment...