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☆ Cake Could Be the Secret to Teaching Kids About Healthy-Eating Habits
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( Sarah Toy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Offering cake as well as other sweets and snacks may protect against disordered eating. Crystal Karges celebrated her youngest daughter’s fifth birthday last month with a gooey chocolate cake covered in white frosting and rainbow sprinkles. The next morning, she served her five children the leftover slices at breakfast alongside fruit, eggs, sausage and milk. Ms. Karges is among parents, dietitians and doctors who advocate giving children more freedom over what they eat including, at times, high-sugar, high-fat and highly processed foods. They said the approach helps children develop healthy dietary habits and protect against disordered eating, which affects more than 20% of children globally, according to a recent meta-analysis in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

☆ Long Covid disabled them. Then they met a ‘broken’ Social Security disability process
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( Morgan Stephens | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

And two Congressional bills addressing the long Covid crisis — The “Covid-19 Long Haulers Act,” which would’ve collected data on long Covid patients with the goal of creating better care and treatment, and “The Care For Long Covid Act” would’ve improved research, centralized data and resources for people with Long Covid — died without making it out of committee. Disabled by long Covid since March 2020, she lives with her spouse and their 7-year-old son in Portland, Ore. “We didn’t design our life to be a single-income household.”Other long Covid patients have rearranged their finances, too. His company’s private long-term disability insurance pays a smaller percentage of the monthly benefit payout when federal disability pays a portion. “They’re not only dealing with long Covid complications, but they’re dealing with financial complications,” she said of her clients.

☆ The Wild World Inside Your Gut
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Alice Callahan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +20 min

The Wild World Inside Your GutWe tackled everything from heartburn, stress, spicy foods and colon cleanses to antibiotics and more. So grab a kombucha, get comfortable and read on for everything you’ve wanted to know about the wild world inside your gut. 3 What are some simple things I can do to improve my gut health? That “really is going to have the strongest impact on our health, including gut health,” she said. (Though for general gut health, Dr. Rao said, most people living in the United States could benefit from eating fewer refined carbohydrates and more fiber.)

☆ Brain implant startup backed by Bezos and Gates is testing mind-controlled computing on humans
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Philip O'Keefe, one of Synchron's patients in the SWITCH clinical trial, using his BCI. Philip O'Keefe, one of Synchron's patients in the SWITCH clinical trial, was the first person in the world to tweet using a BCI device. About 20 months earlier, O'Keefe was implanted with Synchron's BCI. Synchron's technology has caught the attention of its competitors. Source: SynchronIn January, the medical journal JAMA Neurology published the peer-reviewed, long-term safety results from a trial of Synchron's BCI system in Australia.

☆ Medical-Device Makers Face Push to Protect Their Wares From Hacks
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( James Rundle | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Mounting cyberattacks against hospitals and clinics and a regulatory push are increasing the pressure on medical-device manufacturers to improve the security of their products. Cyber protections have often been an afterthought for medical devices, which can be in operation for decades. Newsletter Sign-up WSJ Pro Cybersecurity Cybersecurity news, analysis and insights from WSJ's global team of reporters and editors. While Mr. Suarez acknowledged that greater transparency about vulnerabilities is needed from makers of medical devices, he also wants to see customers stop using old, unsupported equipment. “It’s a complex challenge,” Mr. Suarez said.

"Everybody has a different amount of fibroglandular tissue and a different pattern," Freer said, referring to dense breast tissue. In individual interviews as part of Gunn's survey, six out of 61 women said dense breasts contributed to breast cancer risk. There are two reasons dense breasts are linked to a higher risk of breast cancer. To lower one's risk of breast cancer overall, doctors recommend limiting alcohol intake, exercising regularly and maintaining a healthy diet. The Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium offers an online tool to help people gauge their breast cancer risk based on multiple factors, including breast density.

A provision in the Inflation Reduction Act that allows Medicare to negotiate prices on the costliest prescription drugs each year will likely save the U.S. billions of dollars — as long as the drug industry doesn't interfere, according to a study published Friday in JAMA Health Forum. They identified 40 drugs that would have been selected by Medicare for drug pricing negotiation under the Inflation Reduction Act's provision. The researchers simulated negotiated prices by using a so-called ceiling price, which is at least 25% off the average price drug manufacturers charge to nongovernment entities, like private health insurance providers. The researchers found that the Medicare drug negotiation provision would have saved the U.S. $26.5 billion, or 5% of all drug spending, during those three years. It plans to release a list of the first 10 drugs it will target for drug pricing negotiation by September.

☆ A dermatologist says she puts sunscreen on before getting gel nails with a UV lamp — and thinks you should too
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Allana Akhtar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A board-certified dermatologist said doctors still don't know the risks UV lamps used for gel manicures pose. Gel manicures only expose the skin to UV light for a short time, but frequent exposure may have long-term consequences. The dermatologist said to wear sunscreen and fingerless gloves to limit your UV light exposure. Similarly, a previous study published in JAMA in 2014 suggested the carcinogenic risk from UV lamps is too small to stop people from getting their nails done. Consider bringing fingerless gloves and sunscreen to the nail salonApplying sunscreen to your fingers and hands can help protect them from UV exposure.

☆ Ketamine is being sold as a depression wonder drug. For some, it's making everything worse.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Anna Silman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +42 min

The infusions at the ketamine clinic in his West Texas hometown were a Christmas gift from his grandmother. About five years ago, more and more of my friends started using ketamine recreationally. IV ketamine treatment centers charging $400 to $2,000 an infusion popped up all over the country. "Ketamine used as directed in an appropriate clinical setting very rarely leads to any dependence," Mindbloom says on its website. Like Nadia, most of the people I interviewed said when they started using ketamine, they didn't think it was possible to become dependent on it.

☆ U.S. new drug price exceeds $200,000 median in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Deena Beasley | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The median annual price of the 17 novel drugs the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved since July 2022 is $193,900, down from $257,000 in the first half of 2022, Reuters found. For full year 2022, the median was $222,003. Reuters Graphics Reuters GraphicsIn 2021, the median annual price was $180,000 for the 30 drugs first marketed through mid-July, according to a study published recently in JAMA. Health insurers and other payers often demand discounts and rebates for prescription drugs once competing treatments become available. As patents expire, lower-cost generics also mitigate prescription drug price inflation, which in the 12 months through November 2022 was 1.9%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

☆ Exercise Can Help Children With Symptoms of Depression
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Sarah Toy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

School closures, social isolation and other hardships during the peak years of the Covid pandemic have hurt young people’s mental health. Regular exercise can alleviate symptoms of depression in children, a new analysis showed. International researchers who published their analysis this week in JAMA Pediatrics reviewed 21 studies to determine whether physical activity was associated with a decline in depressive symptoms in children. In the studies, which included data from more than 2,400 young children and adolescents, exercise sessions encompassed activities including sports and simple aerobics such as running or jumping.

How much does insulin cost? People with Type 1 diabetes need, on average, one to three vials of insulin per month, according to the American Diabetes Association. Patients with Type 2 diabetes don't always need to take insulin, but those who do can sometimes require more than people with Type 1 diabetes. Even people with what's considered good health insurance coverage can face steep costs in certain situations. In addition to insulin and insurance premiums, Gibson also must spend $550 every three months for glucose monitors and $1,100 for insulin pumps.

A study published Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry found that abortion restrictions may have played a role in some suicide deaths among younger women from 1974 to 2016. The study is the first of its kind to show an association between abortion restrictions and suicide rates among younger women, said Dr. The researchers did not find the same association for older women, he said, suggesting that the increased suicide risk was specific to women directly affected by TRAP laws. Elevated suicide rates in states with more restrictive abortion laws "is cause for clinical concern," he wrote. That research ended in 2016, though, so it's unclear how newer abortion restrictions — such as the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade — have affected suicide rates among younger women.

☆ As child vaccine rates slip, local health officials fight misinformation
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Lauren Sausser | Kaiser Health News | Lauren Sausser Covers Health Across The South As Part Of Khn'S Southern Bureau. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +9 min

So the Health Department conducted something called an online “sentiment search,” which gauges how certain words are perceived on social media. An analysis conducted by KHN and The Associated Press found local health department spending dropped by 18% per capita from 2010 to 2020. To that end, the health department has partnered with local leaders and groups to encourage vaccinations. — Phil Maytubby, Oklahoma city County health departmentThe more than 3,000 public health departments nationwide stand to benefit from a unified message, he said. In late 2020, the foundation, working with other public health groups, established the Public Health Communications Collaborative to amplify easy-to-understand information about vaccines.

☆ FBI warning on teens and ‘sextortion’ means parents need to take these steps
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Teresa Huizar | Teresa Huizar Is The Ceo Of | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

This week, the FBI issued a rare public safety alert warning of an alarming increase in “sextortion” cases targeting children and teens. One former investigator with the New Jersey State Police reported that sextortion cases have increased 400% in the last four years. One told a 13-year-old he would rape her and kill her parents if she didn’t perform certain sexual acts on camera. Tell kids to be highly selective about sharing any personal information and to never, ever share intimate images online. And anytime a child is blackmailed or extorted for sexual images, that should be reported to law enforcement.

☆ Gun Injuries Among Children Surged During Pandemic, Study Says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Dominique Mosbergen | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The incidence of firearm injuries among children in the U.S. rose sharply in the early years of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a new analysis of data from 49 children’s hospitals. The analysis, published Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, showed that at least 2,759 children age 17 and younger were treated at hospitals for gun-related injuries between April 2020 and December 2021. That figure is more than 50% above the figure for the corresponding 21-month period in 2018 and 2019.

In one study, researchers reported a link between screen time and higher rates of obsessive-compulsive disorder diagnoses among preteens. The studies, published in separate journals on Monday, followed their young participants to observe the effects of screen time over months or years. Researchers logged how much time the kids spent on devices and found that 4.4% qualified for a new OCD diagnosis. The researchers noted that they found an association between OCD and streaming videos on devices but not with traditional television-watching. “Just because their kid is playing video games doesn’t mean they’re definitely going to develop OCD,” he said.

☆ Tantrums: Screens hurt kids' emotional regulation, study shows
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Madeline Holcombe | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Frequently using digital devices to distract from unpleasant and disruptive behavior like tantrums was associated with more emotional dysregulation in kids — particularly boys and children who were already struggling with emotional regulation, according to the study. It can be helpful for caregivers to help kids name their emotions and offer solutions when they are responding inappropriately to those feelings, she said. To reinforce it, adults can talk about their own emotions in terms of colors in front of their kids, Radesky said. And there is some content that can help teach emotional regulation when your tank is empty. The study isn’t saying to never distract a child with media, but rather to keep your go-to tools ones that encourage emotional regulation, Radesky said.

☆ A new wave of companies is making testosterone easily available online. The authors of a recent study say there could be risks to patients.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Sarah Braner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

A recent study reviewed seven companies that prescribe testosterone therapy online. These companies say that they make treatment more accessible for people who already suspect they have low testosterone. A new study shows that DTC companies do not all follow medical guidelinesThe new study encourages patients looking to get testosterone therapy online to educate themselves before taking the leap. The study found that six out of seven of the companies tested offered testosterone therapy to the shopper. The study was not meant to evaluate companies prescribing testosterone for gender affirming hormone therapy, which is a different process than testosterone replacement therapy.

☆ Here's what health insurance providers are doing to lower the cost of prescription drugs
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Insider Studios With Unitedhealthcare | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Americans pay up to three times more for prescription drugs than people in other countries. In the US, people pay up to three times more for prescription drugs than people in other countries, and one in four Americans who take prescription drugs have trouble affording their medications. Because of the high cost of the drug, many diabetes patients cannot afford to pay for the treatment they need. Fast Facts: In the US, people pay 3X more for prescription drugs than people in other countries. The company is eliminating out-of-pocket costs for insulin and four other commonly used prescription drugs: epinephrine, glucagon, naloxone, and albuterol.

An experimental treatment for advanced melanoma is poised to be the next major advance in cancer treatment, experts say. Those who got TIL therapy had a 50% reduction in disease progression and death, compared to those who were treated with ipilimumab, the study found. Bruce Hawley and his wife, Laurie, celebrated their third wedding anniversary in 2021 in Vancouver, several years after his TIL therapy. "The chemotherapy knocks down the immune cells to make space for the TIL cells going in," Hwu said. The hope is that TIL therapy will also be used for other solid cancers, not just melanoma, Rosenberg said.

The number of pregnant women and new mothers dying from drug overdoses grew dramatically as the pandemic took hold, reaching a record high in 2020, a new study finds. "It goes to an ever higher level of stigma among pregnant women." She does not work with pregnant women or those with substance use disorder, but did crunch the numbers for the new research. "Overdose deaths in general have increased, and pregnant women aren't immune to the effects of addiction," Wright said. A Biden administration report, released in October, called for broader access to opioid treatment medication among pregnant women and de-stigmatize addiction treatment during pregnancy.

Participants who were offered cash incentives for either pounds lost or for completing certain activities were more likely to lose weight compared with those who were simply offered tools, such as diet books, fitness trackers and access to a weight loss program, the study found. On average, participants in the goal-directed group earned $440.44, as compared to $303.56 in the outcome-based group. “Even if less weight is lost, adopting lifelong physical activity or better eating habits may be more important,” she said. Kushner, who was not involved with the new study, agreed that low-income people face extra challenges when it comes to weight loss. What’s not clear, however, is how the strategy of offering cash for weight loss could be implemented in a real-world setting, outside of academia.

☆ Myocarditis after Covid vaccine low among teens and young adults, large study finds
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Berkeley-Lovelace-Jr.Jpg | Berkeley Lovelace Jr. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

The incidence of myocarditis and pericarditis after Covid vaccination is low and most patients make a full recovery, a large international study from Nationwide Children’s Hospital found. The findings confirm earlier studies that found myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, and pericarditis, an inflammation of the outer lining of the heart, following Covid vaccination are rare. The review included more than 800 teens and young adults who developed myocarditis and pericarditis following Covid vaccination. The heart-related conditions usually occurred within four days after the second dose of a Covid vaccine, the study found. Daniel Salmon, director of the Institute for Vaccine Safety at Johns Hopkins University, said he would still like to see estimates of myocarditis risk by age, gender, vaccine type and spacing between doses.

☆ Hearing aids may lower your risk for cognitive decline and dementia, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Madeline Holcombe | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Hearing aids might be an important tool in the effort to prevent cognitive decline and dementia, according to a new study. The new study published Monday in JAMA Neurology offers evidence that managing hearing loss may potentially help reduce or delay cognitive decline, Loh said. The use of hearing aids was associated with a 19% reduction in long-term cognitive decline, the study found. “Get screened for hearing loss, and if you do have hearing loss, speak with your audiologist or physician ENT to ensure appropriate and optimal correction to help stave off the potential dementia risk and cognitive decline,” Holland said. But in the meantime, people with hearing loss should talk with their doctor about whether it is appropriate to use hearing aids, Tan said.

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