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☆ Chronic loneliness puts older adults at risk for stroke, study suggests
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-26 | by ( Madeline Holcombe | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

And it may impact your stroke risk, according to a new study. This suggests that the biggest impact on stroke risk occurs over the long term. People who scored high on the loneliness scale both times they were surveyed had a much higher risk of stroke, the study said. And that feeling of loneliness is what the study found to be correlated to the increased risk of stroke, Soh said. “Make it be known that you are experiencing feelings of loneliness, and also identify what would be helpful for you specifically to address the feelings of loneliness,” Soh said.

Persons: ”, Yenee, Harvard T.H, Soh, Matt Pantell, Pantell, Edwin Tan, “, Vivek Murthy, ” Soh, Olivia Remes, Remes, Louise Hawkley Organizations: Lifeline, CNN, Department of Social, Behavioral Sciences, Harvard, of Public Health, Health, Center for Health, Community, University of California, University of Cambridge, Interact, Research Centers, University of Chicago Locations: Chan, San Francisco, United States, United Kingdom

☆ To help children with high BMI, expert panel recommends 26 hours of behavior coaching — but not weight-loss drugs
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-18 | by ( Jen Christensen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

The task force suggested that extensive and intensive behavioral interventions are the best way to help a child get to a healthy weight. A high BMI for a child is defined a little differently than it is for adults, although both use height and weight to estimate mass. Nearly 20% of children in the US have what’s considered a high BMI. The task force gives its guidelines letter grades based on the most up-to-date science. Under the Affordable Care Act, private insurers must cover preventive services that get a grade of A or B; the new child obesity recommendations got a B grade.

Persons: Susma Vaidya, ”, “, Dr, Mona Sharifi, ” Sharifi, Thomas Robinson, Sarah Armstrong, haven’t, Sharifi, Justin Ryder, Stanley Manne, Robert H, Lurie, “ I’ve, ” Ryder, Wegovy, Alli, Lomaira, John Ruiz, Sanjay Gupta, “ There’s, ” Vaidya, Vaidya, pharmacotherapy Organizations: CNN, US Preventive Services, Force, American Academy of Pediatrics, BMI, US Centers for Disease Control, Affordable, National Hospital, Yale School of Medicine, Stanford Solutions Science Lab, Department of Pediatrics, Pediatrics, Adolescent Health, Duke University Medical School, Stanley Manne Children’s, Ann, Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, University of Arizona, CNN Health, FDA Locations: Washington

☆ Opinion: I loved my Lunchables as a kid. Now, all I see is what’s in them
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Opinion Hasan Merali | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

So why are we now feeding Lunchables to children as part of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP)? We are proud of Lunchables and stand by the quality and integrity that goes into making them,” Kraft Heinz said. In Canada, for example, a country that often outperforms the US in public health measures such as vaccination rates, there is no national food program for children. Meals that adhered to a higher nutritional standard were also thrown away less, according to a study published in Childhood Obesity in 2015. A modeling study published in Public Health Nutrition in 2022 estimates a 20% tax would reduce purchases of UPFs by 24%.

Persons: Hasan Merali, ”, Hasan Merali Chris Hartlove, Kraft Heinz, Lunchables, Fresh, ” Kraft Heinz, UPFs, Tony Organizations: of Pediatrics, McMaster University, CNN, Consumer, British Medical, American, Clinical Nutrition, Public Health Nutrition Locations: Canada, Lunchables, America, Colombia, Chile, France

☆ Foods and drinks packaged for kids are higher in sugar and lower in nutrition, study shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Madeline Holcombe | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Products with marketing that appealed to children were higher in sugars and lower in all other nutrients, according to the study, published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One. The study looked at nearly 6,000 packaged foods to analyze their number of marketing strategies aimed at children and their nutritional information. “We are likely underestimating just how much marketing children are exposed to on food packages in real time — and packaging is just one of the ways that food companies target children with food marketing,” she said. And governments will need to step in to regulate companies’ ability to target children directly when marketing products that can harm their health, she added. Mulligan recommends talking to kids about how companies use marketing and how it might influence their choices.

The words some doctors use are often misunderstood by patients and their families, leaving them feeling confused and vulnerable, according to researchers. "You could be the smartest doctor in the world, yet you're useless if your patients don't understand what you are saying," Pitt said. An 'impressive' chest X-rayTake the word "impressive." But when doctors say a patient's chest X-ray is "impressive," they really mean, "This worries me." "If somebody is using medical jargon, a phrase that you don't understand, feel free to say, 'Excuse me, I don't understand what you're trying to say.

☆ Flu season already hitting hard across half of the US
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Deidre Mcphillips | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —About half of the US – 22 states, along with Washington, DC, New York City and Puerto Rico – is reporting high or very high respiratory illness activity, as flu season sweeps through the country weeks earlier than usual. “Among the people who study flu, there’s a little saying: ‘If you’ve seen one flu season, well, you’ve seen one flu season,’ ” said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. Although the numbers are especially high for this time of year, experts say the trends are otherwise following an expected pattern, and the early arrival of flu season doesn’t necessarily mean it will last longer or be more severe. It’s not like we’re seeing a lot of hospitalizations without a lot of illness.”Flu activity has been highest in the South, CDC data shows. And millions fewer flu vaccines have been distributed this season than at this point in previous years.

A decade ago, CAR T cell therapy changed the world of cancer treatment, offering a personalized approach to patients with blood cancers like leukemia. A novel approach to CAR T (chimeric antigen receptor T cell) therapy aims to cut down that turnaround time significantly. Instead of reprogramming each patient's cells, researchers are testing the safety of using universal, or "off the shelf," CAR T cells from other patients, preprogrammed to fight cancer. Scientists at University College London in the United Kingdom tested the safety of the experimental approach in six children — mostly toddlers — with advanced leukemia. One particular side effect associated with CAR T therapy is called a cytokine storm, and it can be deadly.

☆ RSV: Pandemic 'immunity gap' is probably behind surge in respiratory cases, scientists say
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Jen Christensen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

That “immunity gap” from the last few years is probably behind the “unprecedented” early surge in RSV infections this year, scientists say – and it has thrown other seasonal respiratory viruses out of whack around the world. Across the US, the number of flu cases has also been increasing a little earlier than usual. A handful of schools have seen large absences, and medical offices say they are seeing more people sick with other respiratory viruses at times that don’t fit the usual patterns. Like Covid-19, RSV and the flu spread through droplets released into the air when people cough or sneeze. The pandemic behaviors created an “immunity gap” or “immunity debt” that makes more people in the US vulnerable to diseases like RSV.

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