Nasal Swab Might Predict How Severe COVID Will Be

A simple nasal swab might help doctors predict the severity of a person’s COVID infection, a new study suggests.

More than 70% of people with mild or moderate COVID develop certain antibodies in their nasal cavities that are linked to fewer symptoms, better immune response and faster recovery, researchers reported Nov. 6 in the journ...

Scientists Track Brain Function as Folks Watch Movies

A person’s brain performs an intricate juggling act while watching a movie, a new study demonstrates.

Scans showed that 24 different brain networks and regions engage from scene-to-scene, based on hard it is to follow the movie or what’s currently on the screen, researchers reported.

The brain’s “executive con...

Florida Fails to Pass Amendment Legalizing Recreational Weed

A ballot measure to legalize the recreational use of marijuana in the state of Florida failed on Tuesday.

While 55.9% of Florida voters backed the proposed amendment, it did not reach the 60% threshold needed to make the initiative part of the state's constitution.

"With the rejection of Amendment 3, Floridians have taken a firm st...

Abortion Rights Measures Pass in 7 States, Fail in 3

In election results that showed protecting women's reproductive freedoms matter to a majority of Americans, abortion rights measures passed in seven states and failed in three.

Missouri, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, New York, Maryland and Montana all backed those rights, while such amendments were defeated in Florida, Nebraska and South Dako...

U.S. Diabetes Rates Rise to Nearly 1 in 6 Adults

Nearly 16% of American adults -- that's close to 1 in 6 -- now has diabetes, according to the latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Increasing age and widening waistlines greatly increase the odds for the disease, which happens when the body doesn't use insulin properly, resulting in high blood sugar levels....

Winter's Onset Brings Mood Changes to Many Americans, Poll Finds

Many Americans experience a “winter funk” as the days grow shorter and temperatures turn colder, a new American Psychiatric Association poll reports.

Two-fifths of Americans (41%) said their mood declines during the winter months, according to the APA's Healthy Minds Poll.

Midwesterners and Northeasterners are most affect...

How a Move Away From Beef Could Help the Planet

Eating fewer burgers and steaks could pay big dividends for Mother Earth, and human health, by combatting climate change, a new study suggests.

Small cutbacks in beef production among wealthy nations could remove 125 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, researchers report -- an amount that exceeds the total number of global ...

Little More Learning Might Not Save Your Aging Brain

In 1972, Britain bumped up the total school years mandated for its children from 15 to 16 years.

That created a "natural experiment": Would Britons who got that extra year of education fare any better, neurologically, as they aged?

Unfortunately, the answer is "no."

"This surprised us," said study co-author and brain researcher...

Drowsy Driving: Not Taken as Seriously as Drunk Driving, But It Can Kill

Folks are more likely to drive drowsy than drive drunk, even though both raise the risk of a fatal crash, a new survey shows.

About 4 in 10 adults say they’ll find alternative transportation when they haven’t gotten enough sleep, according to the poll from the National Sleep Foundation (NSF).

By comparison, nearly 7 in 10...

COVID Vaccine Mistrust Levels Aren't Budging, Study Finds

More than a third of Americans continue to express mistrust in the science behind COVID vaccines, a new study finds.

This level of mistrust has remained relatively consistent, expressed by 36% of people in 2021, 33% in 2022 and 36% in 2023.

People who lost a family member or close friend to COVID were significantly more likely to tr...

PCOS Plus Obesity Can Be Hazardous in Pregnancy

Women who are pregnant but who also have the ovarian cyst disorder polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) are at higher odds of giving birth to an underweight baby, new Norwegian research shows.

The risk rises even higher if the woman with PCOS is also obese, the study found.

“In women of normal weight who have PCOS, we only find tha...

Mpox Spread in Congo May Be Slowing

In an early sign that the mpox outbreak in Africa might be ebbing, some health officials report that case counts seem to be stabilizing in the Congo, the epicenter of the outbreak.

The World Health Organization first declared the mpox outbreak a global health emergency in August, but recent WHO data has shown the Congo has report...

Fish Oil Supplements Might Help Prevent Cancer

The omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids in fish oil supplements might help protect people from cancer, a new study claims.

Study participants with higher levels of omega-3s had lower rates of colon, stomach, lung and other digestive tract cancers, researchers found.

Likewise, high omega-6 levels led to lower rates of 14 different cancers...

22 Pesticides Linked to Prostate Cancer Risk

Exposure to any one of 22 pesticides may bring heightened odds of developing prostate cancer, a new analysis suggests.

The study was conducted over decades because prostate cancer is known to grow very slowly, noted a team led by Dr. Simon John Christoph Soerensen, of Stanford University in California.

The researchers looked at U.S. ...

A Visit to the ER Can Often Precede a Cancer Diagnosis

Canadian researchers have found that about 1 in every 3 people newly diagnosed with cancer experienced at least one emergency department visit sometime during the three months prior to their diagnosis.

Many of the visits ended up being caused by symptoms related to the cancer, noted a team led by Dr. Keerat Grewal, an emergency physician a...

Medicaid Covers GLP-1 Meds for Obesity in Just 13 States

Poorer folks’ access to blockbuster weight-loss drugs through Medicaid remains limited, a new KFF analysis has found.

Only 13 states currently allow Medicaid to cover treatment of obesity using glucagon-like peptide-1 agonist (GLP-1) medications, researchers discovered.

Under the Medicaid system, individual states are allowed t...

Why Treatments Can Fail Folks With 'Wet' Macular Degeneration -- and What Might Really Work

Current treatments sometimes fail to help people with “wet” age-related macular degeneration -- and researchers now think they know why.

Wet AMD is caused by an overgrowth of blood vessels in the retina, the light-sensing tissue at the back of the eye. The vessels leak fluid or bleed, damaging the retina and causing vision loss...

Banning Menthol Cigarettes Might Drive Smokers to Quit-Smoking Therapies

Banning menthol cigarettes could help convince smokers quit the habit, a new study finds.

People who prefer menthol cigarettes would rather buy nicotine gum or other nicotine replacement therapies than switch to traditional tobacco cigarettes, researchers reported recently in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

In addit...

Diabetes Can Damage Your Eyes' Retinas: An Expert Explains

People with diabetes face a number of health challenges related to their chronic condition, and loss of vision due to retinal damage is one of them.

“Diabetes can silently damage a person’s most precious sense, their sight, before symptoms even appear. That’s why everyone with diabetes should focus on their eyesight and r...

Higher Heart Rate May Help Spur A-fib in Black Patients

An elevated heart rate could provide an important clue to which Black adults often have a dangerous heart rhythm disorder, a new study finds.

Higher resting heart rate is associated with increased risk of atrial fibrillation, researchers found.

What’s more, the higher a person’s heart rate, the higher their risk for A-fib...