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'The grit that you get from the Marine Corps' helps Pennsylvania man through recovery from rare condition
A decade ago, Doug Upton was the picture of strength as a U.S. Marine Corps officer stationed in Jordan.
But in 2016, subtle warning signs emerged, indicating something wasn’t quite right.
“My legs were numb a lot,” Upton, now 34, said. He couldn’t keep up during battalion runs, and he sometimes slipped from ladders that had previously...Read more
Mayo Clinic Q&A: Can hand surgery be done without general anesthesia?
DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I have a hand issue that's affecting my work. I’ve heard some hand surgeries can be done in the clinic without anesthesia or an operating room. Can you tell me more about them?
ANSWER: Hand and wrist problems can make everyday tasks — typing, gripping tools, lifting, even opening a door — painful and ...Read more
Lawmakers, health groups resist their states' rural health fund plans
In the final days of 2025, governors around the country trumpeted the hundreds of millions of federal dollars they won from a new, $50 billion rural health fund.
But plans to spend those nine-digit awards aren’t all warmly received.
At least one group of Republican state lawmakers appears to have scuttled an initiative preapproved by federal...Read more
Bill of the Month: He needs an expensive drug. A copay card helped -- until it didn't
Over the course of 2025, Jayant Mishra of Mission Viejo, California, progressively developed scaly, itchy red patches on his skin. Then came the pain and swelling in the joints of his hands, making it difficult to do his work at a bank.
His primary care doctor referred him to a rheumatologist, who diagnosed psoriatic arthritis. She advised ...Read more
Putting cancer on the run
Obesity is an epidemic in countries around the world. The U.S.A comes in at No. 10, with almost 42% of folks having obesity. (American Samoa is No. 1; 70% of their population has obesity.) Add to that the fact that 28 million Americans contend with alcohol abuse and almost 11% smoke marijuana, around 9% smoke cigarettes and 6.5% vape, and you've...Read more
Looking At Alternatives For Osteoporosis Medications
DEAR DR. ROACH: At age 48, I underwent a lumpectomy, chemo and radiation for stage I breast cancer. All is good so far, but I started experiencing osteopenia in my mid-50s, perhaps earlier than I would have because of the chemo and estrogen-blocking meds. My mother also had osteoporosis.
For the osteoporosis in my hip, I took alendronate for ...Read more
Even patients are shocked by the prices their insurers will pay -- and it costs all of us
Samantha Smith of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, went into the operating room for emergency removal of an ectopic pregnancy. “I’m grateful I didn’t die,” she said, but she was shocked to see that the outpatient surgery was billed to her insurer for about $100,000.
Jamie Estrada of Albuquerque, New Mexico, twice received injections of ...Read more
Medicaid is paying for more dental care. GOP cuts threaten to reverse the trend
Star Quinn moved to Kingsport, Tennessee, in 2023, the same year the state began covering dental costs for about 600,000 low-income adults enrolled in Medicaid.
But when Quinn chipped a tooth and it became infected, she could not find a dentist near her home who would accept her government health coverage and was taking new patients.
She went ...Read more
FDA vaccine chief Vinay Prasad set to leave post next month
WASHINGTON — The head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s division of vaccines and gene therapies is leaving the agency after a tumultuous tenure, sending biotech shares higher in late trading on Friday.
Vinay Prasad will depart the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research next month to return to his previous career in academia. ...Read more
Federal officials say Baltimore ICE office safe amid Legionella concerns from lawmakers
BALTIMORE — Members of Maryland’s congressional delegation are pressing for “immediate remediation” as Legionella bacteria remains in the water at Baltimore’s federal building, which houses ICE and other agencies. Meanwhile, federal officials say safety measures are already in place and there is no threat.
In a letter sent Friday to ...Read more
Public health needs steady budgets – and federal funding uncertainty cause real harms, even if the money is later restored
Since early 2025, several large federal health grants to states have been suspended and then restored after legal challenges. On Feb. 13, 2026, for example, the federal government moved to suspend about US$600 million in public health grants to four states before a federal court temporarily blocked the action. Hundreds of millions of dollars ...Read more
How Instagram addictiveness lawsuit could reshape social media – platform design meets product liability
A Los Angeles courtroom is hosting what may become the most consequential legal challenge Big Tech has ever faced.
This is an inflection point in the global debate over Big Tech liability: For the first time, an American jury is being asked to decide whether platform design itself can give rise to product liability – not because of ...Read more
How a successful Colorado startup turned into a nearly $1 billion health care fraud scheme
Marian Houk was rehabbing from a major spinal surgery in 2022 when her physical therapist at UCHealth in Aurora, Colorado, recommended she try electrical stimulation to manage the pain.
Like many providers around the country, UCHealth sent Houk to Zynex Inc., an Englewood, Colorado-based medical device company that manufactures and sells ...Read more
The neuro disease rat lungworm has reached California
LOS ANGELES — A disease that can cause neurological illness and meningitis in people, rat lungworm, has been found in wild opposums, rats and a zoo animal in San Diego County, indicating its establishment in California for the first time.
Researchers reported their findings in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, published by the U.S. ...Read more
Mayo Clinic expert highlights improved survival in muscle-invasive bladder cancer and kidney cancer
Cancers of the reproductive and urinary organs, known as genitourinary cancers, affect millions of people worldwide each year. At Mayo Clinic, Yousef Zakharia, M.D., a medical oncologist and chair of the Genitourinary Disease Group at the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, leads clinical research aimed at improving outcomes for patients ...Read more
On Nutrition: Best fish catches
Reader Dianne K. writes: “Hello Barbara, I enjoy reading your column in the Lincoln (Nebraska) Journal Star. Now that Lent is here, I'm thinking about my choices of fish. Wild caught or farm-raised? I have read that fish that are farm-raised are fed with known carcinogens. What countries should be trusted? Which countries should be avoided?...Read more
Defining The Characteristics Of The Four Stages Of Cancer
DEAR DR. ROACH: Can you define the characteristics of the four stages of cancer? I understand that stage I is generally when cancer is caught early and can be treated with a good success rate, while stage IV is usually the opposite. But I'm not sure what the intermediate stages are. -- B.G.
ANSWER: Unfortunately, the exact staging for cancers...Read more
Caffeine and cognition
We're a country of coffee drinkers -- 66% of us have at least a cup daily. We're also tea lovers, but it has a much lower level of caffeine than coffee. An average cup of black tea serves up about 50 milligrams of caffeine, while a typical cup of coffee contains 90-200 milligrams. However, in addition to bioactive caffeine, both beverages offer ...Read more
Nearly a third of Pennsylvania gamblers are at risk of problem gambling − but few seek treatment
Nearly three times as many Pennsylvania adults gamble online today than just a few years ago.
And as online platforms make gambling easier and more convenient, some Pennsylvanians are gambling more often and may be more prone to developing problems.
We are researchers at Penn State’s Criminal Justice Research Center and the ...Read more
Billions of dollars, decades of progress spent eliminating devastating diseases may be lost with undoing of USAID
In Greek mythology, King Sisyphus was condemned by the god Zeus to spend eternity rolling a boulder up a hill only to have it roll back down, having to start anew every day.
His story captured our attention as researchers studying neglected tropical diseases – a collection of conditions that primarily affect poor people in low-...Read more
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