Opinion | Are Omicron-Targeted Boosters Worth It?
The FDA, following the advice of its advisory committee, is advising COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers to reformulate future booster shots to include protection against the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2. While this decision was not surprising and may have seemed perfunctory to many people, it is worth thinking about the wider context that undergirds […]
Abortion Pill Web Searches Surged After Leaked SCOTUS Decision
Internet searches on abortion medication spiked to “record national highs” following the leak of the draft Supreme Court ruling on Roe v. Wade, researchers reported. In the 72 hours following the leaked draft on May 2, searches related to abortion medications were 162% (95% CI 149-175) higher than expected, with approximately 350,000 searches for abortion […]
Women burn fat even after menopause
The estrogen deficiency following menopause is thought to impair women’s ability to use fat as an energy source. A study conducted at the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences of the University of Jyväskylä shows that menopausal state or blood estrogen levels do not clearly determine the rate middle-aged women are able to use fat […]
HCA Healthcare Faces Second Antitrust Lawsuit in North Carolina
Across western North Carolina, frustrations linger following HCA Healthcare’s acquisition of the nonprofit Mission Health in 2019. Now, the city of Brevard has filed an antitrust lawsuit against HCA — the second of its kind in less than a year — alleging that the sprawling, Nashville, Tennessee-based system has hurt competition in local markets and […]
Physician Killed in California Church Shooting Hailed as a Hero
A doctor’s devotion to helping others is being hailed as the ultimate sacrifice following the horrifically tragic shooting at a church in Laguna Woods, California, on Sunday afternoon. John Cheng, MD, 52, of South Coast Medical Group in Aliso Viejo, was attending a lunch banquet at the Geneva Presbyterian Church with his mother when a […]
Nearly All Transgender Kids Stick With New Identity 5 Years Later
In the years following their social transition, the vast majority of young transgender children continued to identify as such, a longitudinal study found. Among 317 transgender children, only 7.3% altered their gender identification — or retransitioned — during a 5-year period, according to researchers led by Kristina Olson, PhD, of Princeton University in New Jersey. […]
Post-COVID Vax Myocarditis Similar to Other Vaccines
Not only were rates of myopericarditis following COVID vaccination extremely low, but they were comparable to non-COVID vaccines, a systematic review and meta-analysis found. In an analysis of 11 studies with over 400 million vaccine doses, there was no significant difference in incidence of myopericarditis after COVID vaccines versus non-COVID vaccines (18.2 vs 56.0 cases […]
COVID-19 Tied to High Risk of Thrombotic Events
COVID-19 was associated with a greater risk for a host of thrombotic events in the months following a patient’s infection, a large study in Sweden found. Among over 1 million people who tested positive for COVID-19 in the past month, risk for a first pulmonary embolism was 33 times higher compared with a matched control […]
How Is Substance-Induced Psychosis Treated? Drug Abuse Symptoms
Substance-induced psychosis is initially treated by cessation of the substance causing psychosis and the following treatment plans. The initial treatment for substance-induced psychosis is the cessation of the substance that causes psychosis and monitoring the person in a safe and calm environment. Some of the drugs commonly prescribed for the treatment of substance-induced psychosis include: […]
11 Bad Things About Smoking: Harmful Effects of Cigarettes
11 harmful effects of smoking Smoking is harmful to one’s health and may pose the following eleven negative side effects. Smoking harms a person’s health, financial well-being, personal life, and the health of those around them. According to surveys and clinical investigations, smoking cigarettes poses several health concerns to humans. Eleven negative side effects of […]