Health category, Page 128
Pa. woman donates her uterus to help a stranger experience motherhood
As a neonatal intensive care nurse, Heather Bankos has seen up close the heartbreak that comes when babies are born fighting for life, when they don’t make it and — perhaps worst of all — when complications from birth mean women who have lost children will never again be able...
Casey, Toomey report reveals nearly 400 troubled nursing homes, 5 in Western Pa.
WASHINGTON — The federal government for years has kept under wraps the names of hundreds of nursing homes around the country found by inspectors to have serious ongoing health, safety or sanitary problems. Nearly 400 facilities nationwide had a “persistent record of poor care” as of April, but they were...
Travel nursing jobs satisfy need for adventure, flexibility
When it comes to work-life balance, Leslie Giesey of Ligonier seems to have it made. From October to April, she works as a registered nurse at Excela Health Latrobe Hospital. When May comes, she heads west to work as a travel nurse in a clinic near Yellowstone National Park. She’s...
Vaccine best way to combat rise in hepatitis A infections
Drug use and homelessness are cited as two main reasons why hepatitis A infections have increased nearly 300% in the U.S. since 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC says two other groups associated with the increase include men who have sex with men...
Forewarned is forearmed for staying healthy while traveling
A virus with a “terrible” hacking cough eclipsed Deirdre Gerard’s recent South American cruise on the Viking Sun. But for the playwright and her husband, the real disappointment set in after they got home. “Once we started getting better, we heard from other passengers that half the ship had had...
Duchenne muscular dystrophy caused by genetic defect
Dear Mayo Clinic: What is Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and what causes it? Is treatment available? Can Duchenne muscular dystrophy be cured? A: As with all forms of muscular dystrophy, Duchenne muscular dystrophy is caused by a genetic defect. The defect leads to muscle weakness and loss of muscle mass that...
Donate blood at Hotel Monaco in Pittsburgh
Donate blood and enjoy a mocktail afterwards. The Kimpton Hotel Monaco Pittsburgh, Downtown, is hosting a blood drive through Vitalant, a nonprofit transfusion medicine organization that comprises a network of nearly a dozen community blood centers, from noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday. The event is to help with the current...
U.S. aims to help more cancer patients try experimental drugs
CHICAGO — Sally Atwater’s doctor spent two months on calls, messages and paperwork to get her an experimental drug he thinks can fight the lung cancer that has spread to her brain and spine. Nancy Goodman begged eight companies to let her young son try experimental medicines for a brain...
U.S. measles cases in first five months of 2019 surpass total for any year since 1994
The United States has reported 971 cases of measles in the first five months of 2019, the greatest number since 1994, when 963 cases were reported for the entire year, federal health officials said Thursday. The agency has typically been updating its measles cases weekly, on Mondays, but announced the...
Health care industry resists White House proposal for pricing transparency
WASHINGTON — President Trump is preparing to issue an executive order to foster greater price transparency across a broad swath of the health care industry while consumer concerns about their costs for medical treatment emerge as a major issue in the leadup to next year’s presidential election. The most far-reaching...
World Health Organization classifies gaming addiction as a mental disorderVideo
Having trouble putting down the latest version of Candy Crush? There may be disturbing consequences surrounding it. Recently, the World Health Organization has classified video game addiction as an official mental health disorder. The Switzerland-based body has added “Gaming disorder” to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health...
Parents sue hospital for ‘wrongful pregnancy’Video
A hospital forgot to perform a sterilization procedure so the family wants them to pay for raising the resulting child. An Ontario couple in 2011 decided that three children was just the right number and requested the mother’s tubes be tied following the birth of their twins at Mount Sinai...
Thousands of kindergartners unvaccinated without waivers
COLUMBUS, Ohio — States are heatedly debating whether to make it more difficult for students to avoid vaccinations for religious or philosophical reasons amid the worst measles outbreak in decades, but schoolchildren using such waivers are outnumbered in many states by those who give no excuse at all for lacking...
More younger women are having heart attacks — steps to minimize risk
Younger women are experiencing an alarming increase in heart attacks. According to research published last fall in the American Heart Association journal Circulation, women ages 35 to 54 accounted for 31% of the hospitalizations for heart attacks in 2014, up from 21% in 1995. Though heart disease is often seen...
Prevent illness by preventing tick bites
Ready or not, ticks are out. Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne illness, but it’s not the only concern, says Dr. Bobbi Pritt, a parasitic diseases expert at Mayo Clinic. “There are other tick-borne diseases like anaplasmosis, babesiosis, Powassan virus and Borrelia miyamotoi infection, and those are just diseases...
Brain health app is helping workers stay focused
John Ciferno constantly worries about the safety of his employees. The majority of the 60 or so workers at Ciferno Well Services in Rostraver are truck drivers, some of whom work over-long shifts. “It’s easy for drivers to get fatigued,” said Ciferno, who has owned the company for almost two...
HIV cases rising in West Virginia county
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — A cluster of HIV cases in Cabell County reflects a shift in how the disease is being transmitted, West Virginia health officials say. The Herald-Dispatch reports Cabell County’s cluster — the only one currently known in West Virginia — is up to 49 confirmed cases, according to...
Protecting your skin from the sun as easy as ABC
As summer approaches, many people will begin to hit the pools, lakes and trails. But with the outdoor fun comes an increased risk for skin cancer if you don’t properly protect yourself from the sun’s damaging rays. According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, more people are diagnosed with skin cancer...
FDA approves $2M medicine, most expensive ever
U.S. regulators have approved the most expensive medicine ever, for a rare disorder that destroys a baby’s muscle control and kills nearly all of those with the most common type of the disease within a couple of years. The treatment is priced at $2.125 million. Out-of-pocket costs for patients will...
Trump administration moves to revoke transgender health protection
The Trump administration proposed revoking Obama-era discrimination protections for transgender people in health care on Friday, a move LGBT groups fear will result in some Americans being denied needed medical treatment. The Health and Human Services Department released a proposed regulation that in effect says “gender identity” is not protected...
Sheetz to sell CBD products at 140+ locations
People can now buy cannabidiol, or CBD, at more than 140 Sheetz stores across the region, the Altoona-based company announced Thursday. Cannabidiol products have become popular for a variety of ailments and, although it’s derived from marijuana, it’s legal to sell in Pennsylvania outside of medical marijuana dispensaries. Sheetz is...
62,000 pounds of raw meat recalled ahead of Memorial Day
Talk about bad timing. Aurora Packing Company is recalling more than 62,000 pounds of raw beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli, just days before one of the biggest grilling weekends of the year. The USDA reported that North Aurora, Ill.-based company’s recalled products were packaged April 19...
U.S. lawmakers demand U.N. health agency change opioid guidance
Two U.S. lawmakers are calling on the World Health Organization to withdraw pain care guidelines that include what they say are false claims about the safety of prescription opioids. They say the guidelines could lead other countries toward the same kind of addiction and overdose crisis that has plagued the...
Florida’s seniors are increasingly depressed and drinking more
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Although Florida seniors are living longer, they are smoking, drinking and experiencing depression more than the older population of other states, according to a new national health report. The America’s Health Rankings Senior Report found more than 9% of Florida’s 4.2 million seniors said they drink...
Cholesterol improves in U.S. kids despite high obesity rates
CHICAGO — Cholesterol levels in children and teens improved in the latest analysis of U.S. health surveys, yet only half of them had readings considered ideal. Overall, 7% of kids had high cholesterol in surveys from 2009 to 2016. That was down from 10% a decade earlier. In children, high...
