Health

Brain experts have a pretty good handle on some of the major risk factors that contribute to Alzheimer’s—from a person's genes to their physical activity levels, how much formal education they've received, and how socially engaged they are. But one promise of AI in medicine is that it can spot less obvious links that humans can't always see. Could AI help uncover conditions linked to Alzheimer's that have so far been overlooked? To find out, Marina Sirota and her team at University of California San Francisco (UCSF) ran a machine-learning program on a database of anonymous electronic health records from patients. The AI algorithm was trained to pull out any common features shared by people who were ultimately diagnosed with Alzheimer’s over a period of seven years. The database includes cl...

Not so long ago, Juul was seen as the new Marlboro. Smoking wasn’t that cool anymore—rates had plummeted among U.S. adults and teens—but then came Juul, a sleek, addictive product with flashy advertising tactics that took off like wildfire. It soon became clear that e-cigarettes were hooking teens who otherwise wouldn’t have gone near nicotine.Now, Juul is out and Zyn is in. It’s even more discreet than Juul, with no plumes of vapor. A user simply tucks a small pouch of nicotine, additives, and flavorings under their lip for up to an hour. Over that time, it releases a steady hit of nicotine—more than that in a cigarette, but delivered much more slowly. Like Juul, it contains no tobacco.You're not alone if you're just hearing of Zyn, but it's been for sale in the U.S. since 2014. Like othe...

The first birth control pill that people can buy without a prescription, called Opill, is shipping to stores this week.Perrigo, the Ireland-based company that makes Opill, said the pills should be available to purchase at retail pharmacies and online by the end of March. The pills are designed to be taken daily at about the same time each day, and they will be sold in one-month packs for $19.99 and three-month packs for $49.99.A spokesperson for CVS, one pharmacy that will be stocking the pill, said the pills will be in more than 7,500 of its stores nationwide and will be available to order on the store's app. People can opt for same-day delivery or pick-up in store to preserve their privacy.The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the over-the-counter use of the oral contraceptive l...

March 4, 2024 10:14 AM ESTNEW YORK — More than 61,000 pounds of steamed chicken soup dumplings sold at Trader Joe's are being recalled for possibly containing hard plastic, U.S. regulators announced Saturday.The Agriculture Department's Food Safety and Inspection Service noted that the now-recalled dumplings, which are produced by the California-based CJ Foods Manufacturing Beaumont Corp., may be contaminated with foreign materials—“specifically hard plastic from a permanent marker pen.”The recall arrives after consumers reported finding hard plastic in the Trader Joe's-branded products, FSIS said. To date, no related illnesses or injures have been reported.FSIS urged consumers to check their freezers. The 6-ounce “Trader Joe's Steamed Chicken Soup Dumplings” under recall were produced on ...

Climate change kills. Since 2000, nearly four million people worldwide have lost their lives due to floods, wildfires, heat waves, droughts, and other extreme weather events that have been linked to a steadily warming planet, according to a recent estimate in the journal Nature. That sweeping number can make it hard for any of us to grasp how the problem is touching health in our own small part of the world. Now, a new study in Nature Medicine provides some of that granular insight for people living in the U.S., exploring how climate-linked disasters affect visits to hospital emergency departments in counties nationwide, as well as related deaths in the aftermath of the disasters. The numbers, the researchers found, are troubling, with the hardest-hit communities showing mortality rates as...

Cases of norovirus, a nasty stomach bug that spreads easily, are climbing in the Northeastern U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday.Nationwide, about 12% of most recent norovirus tests sent to the CDC were positive, but the proportion was about 16% in the Northeast, the agency said. That compares with nearly 10% of norovirus tests in the Midwest and South and nearly 13% in the West.Characterized by the sudden onset of vomiting, diarrhea, and general feelings of misery, norovirus outbreaks are notorious on cruise ships, nursing homes, jails, schools, and other places where people are in close contact.Here's what you need to know about this wily germ.What is norovirus?Norovirus infections are caused by a group of viruses that spread remarkably easily. It can ...

NEW YORK — Health officials are investigating whether there's a link between two new RSV vaccines and cases of a rare nervous system disorder in older U.S. adults.The inquiry is based on fewer than two dozen cases seen among more than 9.5 million vaccine recipients, health officials said Thursday. And the available information is too limited to establish whether the shots caused the illnesses, they added.But the numbers are higher than expected and officials are gathering more information to determine if the vaccines are causing the problem. The data was presented at a meeting of an expert panel that provides vaccine policy advice to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Officials said they were investigating more than 20 cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare illness in which a...

Yogurt sold in the U.S. can make claims that the food may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, based on limited evidence, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Friday.The agency agreed that there is some evidence, but not significant scientific agreement, that eating at least 2 cups of yogurt per week may reduce the chance of developing the disease that affects about 36 million Americans.FDA has allowed qualified health claims—a claim that lacks full scientific support but is allowed as long as there are disclaimers to keep from misleading consumers—for dietary supplements since 2000 and foods since 2002. The agency had faced lawsuits that challenged the standard of requiring scientific agreement based on claims that it violated free speech guarantees.Among the allowed qualified health...

CVS and Walgreens will begin dispensing the abortion pill mifepristone this March, the companies confirmed to TIME. The pharmacies received a certification to offer mifepristone—which is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to terminate a pregnancy through 10 weeks of gestation, and is often used with misoprostol—to customers with a prescription in compliance with federal and state laws. The news was first reported by the New York Times. Walgreens said that it will start to dispense mifepristone within a week at select locations in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, California, and Illinois. CVS will roll out the pill in Massachusetts and Rhode Island “in the weeks ahead,” CVS spokeswoman Amy Thibault told TIME over email. “We’ve received certification to dispense mifepris...

True friendships can take years to develop—which isn’t exactly comforting to the 1 in 3 U.S. adults who say they are lonely right now. But you don’t need to wait for a new BFF to feel better. Small acts can help give you immediate relief from loneliness, experts say. We asked therapists what low-effort steps they take in their own lives when isolation starts to creep in.Join an easy group classWhen Courtney Morgan, a therapist in Louisville, Ky., wants to be around like-minded people without having to try too hard, she goes to a yoga class. “Sometimes I want to feel connected without actively engaging in a conversation,” she says. She tells her clients to seek out structured programming that they’re interested in, too. If want to try a group class—whether it’s fitness-related, educational,...