Health category, Page 137
Brush up on good oral hygiene for Children’s Dental Health Month
As if parents didn’t have enough to worry about. February is National Children’s Dental Health Month and it arrives with a warning from medical professionals that — yes, mom and dad — you are responsible for your kids’ good dental health habits. “The best way for kids to develop good...
Health Happenings – Feb. 5, 2019
• American Red Cross blood drives: — 11 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Thursday, Seton Hill University, Seton Hill Drive, Greensburg — Noon-5:30 p.m. Monday, Excela Square Norwin, 8775 Norwin Ave., Irwin — Noon-5:30 p.m. Feb. 12, Saint Vincent College, 300 Fraser Purchase Road, Unity Appointments: 800-733-2767 or redcrossblood.org; walk-ins welcome Meetings •...
Trump’s health care threats led to a boom in long-term birth control
Did the election of Donald Trump lead to a stampede of women getting IUDs? Well, maybe not a stampede. But there was a measurable uptick in women getting long-acting contraceptives, namely intrauterine devices and hormonal implants, according to a new analysis published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine. Trump’s vow to...
Trump health chief asks Congress to pass drug discount plan
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration’s top health official asked Congress on Friday to pass its new prescription drug discount plan and provide it to all patients, not just those covered by government programs like Medicare. The plan would take now-hidden rebates among industry players like drug companies and insurers and...
Infant Ibuprofen medicine added to recall
A recall of medicine for infants sold at three popular pharmacies has added to a recall of the medicine. New Jersey-based Tris Pharma initially recalled some of its Ibuprofen Oral Suspension Drops in November and expanded the recall this week to include six more batches. The medicine is sold at...
Nearly half of U.S. adults have heart or blood vessel disease
A new report estimates that nearly half of all U.S. adults have some form of heart or blood vessel disease, a medical milestone that’s mostly due to recent guidelines that expanded how many people have high blood pressure. The American Heart Association said Thursday that more than 121 million adults...
E-cigarettes outperform patches and gums in quit-smoking study
WASHINGTON — A major new study provides the strongest evidence yet that vaping can help smokers quit cigarettes, with e-cigarettes proving nearly twice as effective as nicotine gums and patches. The British research, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, could influence what doctors tell their patients and...
Insulin cost in focus as Congress opens drug price hearings
WASHINGTON — A senior Republican lawmaker said Tuesday that he plans to investigate the “unacceptable” cost of insulin, as Congress opened hearings on high prescription drug prices and how government might put the brakes on a pharmaceutical industry used to setting its own terms. “I have heard stories about people...
4 tips on teaching emotional, social skills through craft
Teaching kids social and emotional skills is getting renewed attention, and arts and crafts are a good way to do that, at home as well as at school. “Anxiety and depression are on the rise for young people,” says Melissa Schlinger, a vice president at the Chicago-based Collaborative for Academic,...
Go Red For Women highlights women’s heart health
Putting the focus on women’s heart health is the goal of the annual National Wear Red Day on Feb. 1. This day is a major campaign for the Go Red for Women initiative of the American Heart Association. It’s a comprehensive platform designed to increase women’s heart health awareness and...
At a standstill with a wellness goal? Consider exercise equivalents
It’s almost a month into the new year, and you’ve stuck with your fitness routine but haven’t seen the scale budge. It may be time to look at calories in and calories out — and whether you have a realistic view of that equation. Weight loss is a result of...
Fight dry winter skin with these 3 nutrition tips
If you’re suffering from seasonal scaliness, you’re not alone. Dry skin is a common side effect of winter. As temperatures plunge, so does the humidity in the air, creating an environment that essentially sucks the moisture out of our body’s protective outer layer, resulting in that uncomfortable tightening, itchiness and...
Health Happenings – Jan. 29, 2019
Blood drives • American Red Cross blood drives: — 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday, University of Pittsburgh Smith Hall Lounge, 150 Finoli Drive, Hempfield — Noon-5:30 p.m. Wednesday, McKenna Center, 971 Old Salem Road, Greensburg Appointments: 800-733-2767 or redcrossblood.org; walk-ins welcome • Central Blood Bank will host a blood drive 1-7...
Report: U.S. pedestrian deaths exceed 49,000 in 10 years
DETROIT — The authors of a new report are calling on federal, state and local governments to do more to address a staggering spike in pedestrian fatalities. The report, “Dangerous By Design 2019,” urges swift action to curb the death toll, approximately 49,340 people in the 10-year period ending in...
Uninsured rate under Trump surges to highest level since ‘Obamacare’ began
WASHINGTON — The percentage of American adults without health insurance surged upward in 2018, reaching levels not recorded since before President Trump took office, according to a new national survey that revealed widespread coverage losses over the past two years. At the end of 2018, 13.7 percent of U.S. adults...
Melissa McCarthy has an early bedtime. Should all adults?
Do you ever wish that you could go to sleep shortly after you put your kids to bed? Maybe you should. Early bedtimes don’t have to be just for kids. Actress Melissa McCarthy, 48, has one. The actress, who earned an Oscar nomination for her performance in “Can You Ever...
Building bonds: Exercise groups offer friendship opportunities
When Brad Koenig divorced and moved from Toledo, Ohio, to Ormond Beach, Fla., in 2017, two of the first things he did were sign up for a yoga class and join a running club. “The only people I knew in the area were my brother and sister-in-law,” says the former...
Strive for healthy eating ‘most of the time’
It’s still January. How are those New Year’s resolutions coming along? Nutrition experts tell us our biggest challenge to long-term health is sticking to a plan for the long term. Not that our intentions aren’t honorable. It’s just that words like “routine” and “consistency” don’t often match life’s erratic and...
In limbo: Embryos left after IVF challenge clinics, couples
Tens of thousands of embryos are stuck in limbo in fertility clinics, leftovers from pregnancy attempts and broken dreams of parenthood. Some are outright abandoned by people who quit paying storage fees and can’t be found. In other cases, couples are struggling with tough decisions. Jenny Sammis can’t bring herself...
Alcohol-linked disease passes hepatitis C as top reason for liver transplant
An estimated 17,000 Americans are on the waiting list for a liver transplant, and there’s a strong chance that many of them have alcohol-associated liver disease. ALD now edges out hepatitis C as the No. 1 reason for liver transplants in the United States, according to research published Tuesday in...
More college students are turning to emotional support animals
Sometimes Liv Tempesta feels like she doesn’t have any emotions. That comes with the territory when you’re coping with clinical depression. The 19-year-old sophomore at Temple University last year tried a new type of treatment: a cat. Skittles, her 8-year-old tabby and her first emotional-support animal, lived on campus with...
Planetary diet could save Earth, save lives and aid world hunger, study says
Our current food production and consumption habits are doomed to “exacerbate risks to people and planet,” according to a landmark study published in The Lancet this week. But if we make a radical change — as in, cut our sugar and red meat by half and double our vegetable, fruit...
CDC sees possible link between opioids and birth defect
NEW YORK — Health officials are looking into a possible link between prescription opioids and a horrific birth defect. Babies born with the defect have their intestines hanging outside the stomach, due to a hole in the abdominal wall. Surgery is often needed to fix it. Roughly 1,800 such cases...
Recalls of romaine, Goldfish are only the tip of the contamination iceberg
If it feels like you’re reading about a new food recall practically everyday, it’s not all in your head — or stomach. A report released Thursday by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund found that recalls of food have increased 10 percent since 2013, with meat and poultry incidents soaring 67...
Less beef, more beans; Experts say world needs a new diet
NEW YORK — A hamburger a week, but no more — that’s about as much red meat people should eat to do what’s best for their health and the planet, according to a report seeking to overhaul the world’s diet. Eggs should be limited to fewer than about four a...
