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Deadly diseases in Minnesota newborns to be targeted in new whole-genome study

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

MINNEAPOLIS – A federally funded study aims to determine if whole-genome sequencing at birth can reduce childhood diseases and deaths while satisfying growing concerns over genetic privacy and public health research.

Parents at two yet-to-be-selected health systems in Minnesota will be able to opt in to the BEACONS study and have their ...Read more

Using nonsterile eye drops can cause severe eye infections. Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Massive eye drop recall reflects ongoing issues with manufacturing and FDA inspection

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

A California company has recalled more than 3.1 million bottles of lubricating eye drops because it had not properly tested – and thus could not prove – whether the products were sterile.

These products are sold under several names at major retailers across the country. The company, K.C. Pharmaceuticals, initiated the recall on ...Read more

Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

This medical student has a 95% chance of developing a fatal neurodegenerative disease. She wants to find a cure before that happens

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

PHILADELPHIA -- Yentli Soto Albrecht is at risk of developing the same condition that claimed her father’s life two years ago.

The University of Pennsylvania medical student inherited a genetic mutation that causes amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a fatal neurodegenerative disease in which patients progressively lose the ability to move. ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Health insurers pare back some prior-approval requirements

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

U.S. health insurers have made it easier for doctors to get approval before providing certain types of treatment, industry groups said, calling it a sign of progress toward alleviating burdensome delays for patients.

Major health plans said they collectively removed thousands of prior authorization requirements for medical procedures since they...Read more

(Allison Lee Isley for KFF Health News)/KFF HEALTH NEWS/TNS

State-run insurance plans for foster kids leave some of them without doctors

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Ollie Super has moved in and out of cancer treatment since she was diagnosed with neuroblastoma as a toddler in foster care. Now 8, the second grader is dealing with it again. Her cancer came back late last year.

Ollie’s parents, who adopted her in 2020, tried to sign her up for a clinical trial using CAR T-cell therapy — which genetically ...Read more

Anne Saker/Stateline/TNS

Navigator cuts leave Americans with less help to find Obamacare plans

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

CINCINNATI — For four years, Kimberly Dudley has worked on the front line of the Affordable Care Act as a navigator, helping Ohioans solve the puzzle of buying private insurance on the federal HealthCare.gov marketplace.

But the job is harder now, the answers scarcer. In one of its first acts, the second Trump administration cut annual ...Read more

A stroke of bad luck

If you are one of the more than 45 million Americans who have used marijuana, cocaine or amphetamines in the past month, I'm afraid the party's over -- or should be. A study in the International Journal of Stroke looked at data from 32 studies with more than 100 million participants and found that using cocaine ups your risk for a stroke by 96%;...Read more

Explaining Birdshot Chorioretinopathy And Its Treatments

Health Advice / Keith Roach /

DEAR DR. ROACH: My niece was diagnosed with birdshot chorioretinopathy. Can you please explain what this is, which treatments are involved, and what the typical prognoses are? -- P.Z.

ANSWER: Birdshot chorioretinopathy is an inflammatory condition of the choroid and retina (the very back of the eye). The average age of diagnosis is 53. This ...Read more

JEAN-FRANCOIS FORT/Hans Lucas/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

What should you know about the COVID cicada variant?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

A new variant of COVID-19, dubbed cicada, is less susceptible to vaccination and appears to discriminate based on age, scientists say. The variant appears less threatening to older individuals, preferring young people instead.

Cicada, formally named BA.3.2, is a mutation of the omicron COVID-19 branch that first appeared in 2021. It has been ...Read more

Jeremy Olson/Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Children's Minnesota lifts suspension on gender health services

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

MINNEAPOLIS — Children’s Minnesota hospital system resumed gender health care services it had suspended in late February in response to efforts by President Donald Trump’s administration to cut off federal funding.

A favorable federal court ruling led to the reversal, Children’s said in a written statement on Monday, April 6. The health...Read more

Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Commentary: For water and mining policy near Salton Sea, keep in mind local children's health

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Southern California’s Salton Sea was once a resort playground, with sunny beaches, celebrities and people waterskiing on the vast inland lake in the 1950s and ’60s.

Today, those resorts are long gone, replaced by a drying and increasingly toxic landscape. As the lake shrinks, wind blowing across the exposed lakebed kicks up toxic dust left ...Read more

Leila Navidi/The Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Life Time's embrace of 'athletic country club' approach is working

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Life Time is leaning into premium offerings and higher prices, a bet that’s paying off.

Founder and CEO Bahram Akradi said the fitness company continues to move away from a traditional gym model built on large numbers of infrequent users.

Instead, it is building what he calls “a social, athletic country club environment.”

Custom scent ...Read more

Renée Jones Schneider/The Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Laura Yuen: She asked her dates about colonoscopies on 'Love Is Blind.' Now she wants you to get one

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

MINNEAPOLIS — Taylor Hastings will likely go down in “Love is Blind” history as the only contestant on the reality-dating show to ask each of her suitors if he’s had a colonoscopy.

It was an unusual romantic icebreaker, but maybe it shouldn’t be.

We’ve got to normalize talking about colorectal cancer screenings, says Hastings, an ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Ask the Pediatrician: Parenting after trauma: Understanding your child's needs

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

All children need to feel safe, understood and valued. This is especially true for children who have experienced trauma. Early, hurtful experiences can cause children to see the world differently and to react in seemingly unpredictable ways.

Children who have been adopted, have been placed into foster care, or have experienced significant ...Read more

Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner/TNS

Trump's one Big Beautiful Bill Act darkens outlook for government-backed clinics

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Bluestem Health, a clinic that serves low-income and uninsured patients in Lincoln, Nebraska, has lost money for the last two years.

And CEO Brad Meyer fears times will soon get worse for the clinic and its 21,000 patients. That’s because Nebraska is set to become the first state to require certain Medicaid enrollees to work or lose their ...Read more

Moriah Farmer/KFF Health News/TNS

Taking a GLP-1? Doctors say not to forget about movement and mental health

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Severe ankle pain drove Jelon Smart to start taking a weight loss injection a year and a half ago.

Smart was 285 pounds and worked as a caterer in Savannah, Georgia. After she’d been standing on her feet for long hours, her ankles would be “as swollen as a football,” she said. She was walking with a limp. An orthopedic doctor diagnosed ...Read more

Stay young at heart: Many 30-year-olds can benefit from statins

You may think of statins as a medication for older folks. Think again. An updated guideline released by the American College of Cardiology and 10 other organizations says that folks as young as 30 may be candidates for statin therapy.

That's because younger folks with a strong family history of premature heart disease, a high 30-year risk for ...Read more

How Laws Prevent Doctors From Receiving Perks Off The Books

Health Advice / Keith Roach /

DEAR DR. ROACH: Your recent column said that the "law" prohibits doctors from getting money from prescriptions. However, they get perks from pharma reps like dinner, golf, etc., and many push supplements on TV. Many "doctors" across the country make their income from prescribing supplements to patients for chronic fatigue syndrome or COVID. --...Read more

Elena Garder/Dreamstime/TNS

Autistic people are more likely to experience suicidal crisis. 988 is changing to serve them better

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Free, largely confidential and available 24 hours a day via call, text or online chat, the 988 Lifeline — formerly the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline — is among the most accessible and effective suicide prevention tools in the U.S.

People have contacted the service roughly 25 million times since July 2022, when the previous 10-digit ...Read more

Aaron Bolton/MTPR/KFF Health News/TNS

Give and take: Federal rural health funding could trigger service cuts

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

BIG SANDY, Mont. — The emergency department at Big Sandy Medical Center is one room with a single curtain between two beds.

It’s one of the many parts of the 25-bed rural hospital that need updating, former CEO Ron Wiens said.

He said the hospital, an essential service in its namesake town of nearly 800 residents in the state’s sprawling...Read more

 

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