Monday, December 23

Health

More Pregnant People Are Relying on Early Prenatal Testing
Health

More Pregnant People Are Relying on Early Prenatal Testing

WASHINGTON — In Utah, more of Dr. Cara Heuser’s maternal-fetal medicine patients are requesting early ultrasounds, hoping to detect serious problems in time to choose whether to continue the pregnancy or have an abortion.In North Carolina, more obstetrics patients of Dr. Clayton Alfonso and his colleagues are relying on early genetic screenings that don’t provide a firm diagnosis.The reason? New state abortion restrictions mean the clock is ticking.Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, many health care providers say an increasing number of patients are deciding the fate of their pregnancies based on whatever information they can gather before state bans kick in. But early ultrasounds show far less about the condition of a fetus than later ones. And genetic screenings may be inaccurate.When you...
Complementary Treatments for IBD: What to Know
Health

Complementary Treatments for IBD: What to Know

One of the hallmarks of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is its unpredictability. Flares come and go, often with little rhyme or reason. Especially for people with moderate-to-severe IBD, most conventional forms of treatment—namely prescription drugs—are not enough to prevent flares or symptoms entirely. In an effort to better control their IBD, many people with the condition turn to complementary and alternative treatments, also known as “CAM.” Definitions of CAM vary, but it usually includes herbal medicines or supplements, mind-body techniques like meditation, and Eastern medicine practices such as acupuncture. By some estimates, up to 60% of IBD patients have attempted to treat their condition with one or more of these CAM approaches. A broader definition of CAM could also include life...
Novo Nordisk Has a Weight-Loss Pill But Can’t Make It Yet
Health

Novo Nordisk Has a Weight-Loss Pill But Can’t Make It Yet

Novo Nordisk A/S has a successor waiting in the wings for the generation of weight-loss shots it pioneered: a pill that helps people shed pounds without the drawbacks of an injection.The medicine is the next frontier in the obesity fight, promising further billions in revenue, and Novo is leading once again. Trouble is, it can’t launch the drug widely without endangering its existing best-sellers.The pill helps patients lose roughly as much weight as the blockbuster Wegovy. But the oral version requires far more of the same active ingredient, called semaglutide, and Novo already can’t make enough of it to meet demand.That leaves Novo in a bind. Either it finds a way to further ramp up production or it curtails the pill’s launch, ceding ground to rivals rushing to develop competing products...
An Experimental Weight-Loss Drug Shows Lasting Results in Early Study
Health

An Experimental Weight-Loss Drug Shows Lasting Results in Early Study

An experimental weight-loss shot from Amgen Inc.—taken less frequently than wildly popular treatments from Eli Lilly & Co. and Novo Nordisk A/S—appears to keep weight off even after patients stop taking it.Patients given a monthly injection of Amgen’s drug, dubbed MariTide, lost up to 14.5% of their body weight in just 12 weeks, according to a small, early-stage study published Monday in the journal Nature Metabolism. And some people kept the weight off for up to 150 days after stopping the drug, findings show.“That is really a remarkable and distinguishing characteristic of this molecule,” Narimon Honarpour, senior vice president of global development at Amgen, said in an interview.Investors and analysts have been eagerly awaiting updates on Amgen’s shot since the Thousand Oaks, Calif...
Why Do I Keep Getting COVID-19 But Those Around Me Don’t?
Health

Why Do I Keep Getting COVID-19 But Those Around Me Don’t?

COVID-19 doesn’t always affect people the same way. If someone gets sick, for example, not everyone in that person’s close social circle will get infected—even if they recently spent time together. But why? In a paper recently published in Nature Communications, researchers delve into the different factors at play, from genetics to public health interventions, all of which affect how a virus spreads from one person to another. They found that at the beginning of the pandemic, environmental factors like social distancing, isolation, hand washing, mask wearing, and vaccination played a bigger role in whether people got infected, while over time, genetic factors have become more important. Now, genetics may account for anywhere from 30% to 70% of one’s chance of getting COVID-19, they conclud...
Rizo-López Listeria Outbreak: Here’s What to Know
Health

Rizo-López Listeria Outbreak: Here’s What to Know

Rizo-López Foods, a California-based cheese and dairy company, is recalling more than 60 products sold nationwide following a listeria outbreak that has killed two people and caused more than 20 hospitalizations. The CDC previously investigated a listeria outbreak of the same strain in 2017 and 2021, but was unable to trace it back to a specific brand. Last month, they reopened the case after new illnesses were reported in December and the same strain was found in a cheese sample from Rizo-López Foods.What foods have been recalled? The recalled products include cheese, yogurt, and sour cream sold under the brand names Tio Francisco, Don Francisco, Rizo Bros, Rio Grande, Food City, El Huache, La Ordena, San Carlos, Campesino, Santa Maria, Dos Ranchitos, Casa Cardenas, and 365 Whole Foods Ma...
Viagra May Lower the Risk of Alzheimer’s
Health

Viagra May Lower the Risk of Alzheimer’s

Viagra is best known for helping erectile dysfunction, but the latest research suggests it might also lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.Viagra belongs to a group of drugs known as phosphodiesterase Type 5 inhibitors, which work by relaxing blood vessels and increasing blood flow in the penis. In a study published in Neurology, researchers found that the drugs were also associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease.The study analyzed the health records of nearly 270,000 men in the U.K. who were diagnosed with erectile dysfunction from 2000 to 2017. The researchers compared rates of Alzheimer’s disease among men who had been prescribed drugs to treat their erectile dysfunction (primarily sildenafil, the generic name for Viagra) to those among men who had not been prescribed the dru...
7 Ways to Deal With Climate Despair
Health

7 Ways to Deal With Climate Despair

Forget climate anxiety: many people are in flat-out climate despair. About two-thirds of Americans (65%) report being worried about global warming, according to a January report from the Yale Program for Climate Communication. One in 10 say they've recently felt depressed over their concerns for the planet, and a similar percentage describe feeling on edge or like they’re unable to stop worrying about global warming.No wonder more people are seeking care from climate-aware therapists. Some go to therapy to figure out whether they should have kids in the age of rapid climate change. Others are dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder from natural disasters or are burned out from advocacy work.But if the threat is existential, is there value in sorting out how you feel about it? “The very...
Deadly Listeria Outbreak Linked to California Cheeses
Health

Deadly Listeria Outbreak Linked to California Cheeses

A California cheese and dairy company is the source of a decade-long outbreak of listeria food poisoning that killed two people and sickened more than two dozen, federal health officials said Tuesday.New lab and inspection evidence linked soft cheeses and other dairy products made by Rizo-Lopez Foods of Modesto, California, to the outbreak, which was first detected in June 2014, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.Since then, at least 26 people in 11 states have been sickened. They include a person who died in California in 2017 and one who died in Texas in 2020, CDC officials said.On Monday, the company recalled more than 60 soft cheeses, yogurt and sour cream sold under the brands Tio Francisco, Don Francisco, Rizo Bros, Rio Grande, Food City, El Huache, La Ordena, San Ca...
Why I Stopped Being A “Good” Cancer Patient
Health

Why I Stopped Being A “Good” Cancer Patient

"You are allergic to your oral chemotherapy,” explains my oncology team at a recent appointment. “We are going to try a newer drug,” I am on my fourth attempt to find an oral treatment suitable for both my body and my cancer, so that I can maintain a remission that took three years and a stem cell transplant to achieve. “We want to get ahead of it before it gets ahead of us.” In my headphones, Weezer achingly croons, "Say it ain't so, your drug is a heartbreaker."Since being diagnosed with phase three chronic myeloid leukemia in 2017, finding oral chemotherapy that my body agrees with has been a turbulent experience. While these targeted therapies are often considered a more humane method of leukemia treatment, they have almost always brutally interrupted my life. From bouts of nerve pain ...