Health

A phenomenal amount of research on Long COVID—the name for chronic symptoms following a case of COVID-19—has been published over the past three years. But scientific advances have yet to bring relief to people who are already sick, a group estimated to include about 5% of U.S. adults but hard to precisely quantify due to the difficulty of diagnosing people correctly.Researchers are optimistic that breakthroughs are coming. The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) has launched multiple clinical trials focused on potential therapies, and several recent studies have pointed to biomarkers that may help doctors accurately diagnose—and, hopefully, treat—people with Long COVID.“In the short history of studying this disease, this is probably the most hopeful moment we’ve ever had,” says Christ...

All parents want the best for their children, so they could be forgiven for thinking that infant nutrition brands prioritize the same. But then there’s toddler formula. Toddler formulas, or toddler milks, are beverages often sold in the same product lines as infant formulas, framed as a sort of natural nutritional continuation for the 9-to-12-month-old being weaned off traditional infant formula or breast milk. Unlike infant formulas, however, toddler milk is unregulated in the U.S., and as a result is not required to meet the same nutritional standards. For years, it’s been an open secret among pediatric health experts that the toddler milk market has run wild with deceptive marketing and less-than-healthy formulations, but with sales growing, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s been a month since a Maryland man became the second person to receive a transplanted heart from a pig—and hospital video released Friday shows he’s working hard to recover.Lawrence Faucette was dying from heart failure and ineligible for a traditional heart transplant when doctors at the University of Maryland School of Medicine offered the highly experimental surgery.In the first glimpse of Faucette provided since the Sept. 20 transplant, hospital video shows physical therapist Chris Wells urging him to push through a pedaling exercise to regain his strength.“That’s going to be tough but I’ll work it out,” Faucette, 58, replied, breathing heavily but giving a smile.The Maryland team last year performed the world’s first transplant of a heart from a genetically alter...

This story was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center’s Ocean Reporting Network.Some 13,000 chemicals are associated with plastic production, of which only 7,000 or so have been investigated for their health and environmental impacts. Nearly half of those studied have elements deemed hazardous to human health, but the research—spanning 50 years, multiple languages, thousands of publications, and an alphabet soup’s worth of acronyms, synonyms, and chemical compounds—is difficult to navigate. Yet doing so has become increasingly important as plastic production ramps up, along with its potential for causing serious threats to human health.A new research map brings order to the chaos, indexing the existing research by chemical compound, health outcomes, affected population groups, an...

Setting boundaries at work—in this economy—might seem like a pipe dream. Not be available 24/7? Not smile and accept every new assignment? Not push back when a colleague tries to steal your time?It could be your best career (and mental health) move: Establishing expectations for what you will and will not tolerate is key to increasing productivity and wellbeing, experts agree. “Boundaries are limits or personal rules that protect your time and energy and allow you to perform at your best,” says Melody Wilding, a licensed social worker and author of Trust Yourself: Stop Overthinking and Channel Your Emotions for Success at Work. “Everyone likes certainty and clarity, and that’s what boundaries provide.”Sticking up for yourself is particularly essential, she adds, when you consider how many ...

Many are aware of the Cancer Moonshot—an ambitious and hopeful initiative of the U.S. government to reduce cancer-related death rates by 50% by the year 2047. It will take an army to achieve this goal, composed of the brightest minds and biggest hearts in healthcare, science, and technology. Many parties will be involved—the federal government, healthcare providers, researchers, patients, caregivers, and advocates, among others in both the public and private sectors. One of the most pivotal tools that can help propel us toward this lofty goal is artificial intelligence (AI), which is poised to revolutionize cancer treatment. The moonshot plan identifies five priority areas, all of which AI has the potential to enhance. Two areas in particular lend themselves to AI: the call to “deliver the...

“Anxiety.” The very word evokes discomfort. Its effects—shortness of breath, pounding heart, muscle tension—are outright distressing. And there’s more of it than ever. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, half of young American adults have significant symptoms. It’s no wonder that the anxiety epidemic is causing us much consternation and concern.But, as a clinician and researcher, I see a much bigger problem. In our society’s quest to be anxiety-free, we tend to miss out on many valuable opportunities presented by this normal human emotion.In and of itself, anxiety is not deadly, and it certainly is not a disease or pathology. Quite the contrary: being able to feel anxious shows that our fight-or-flight system is operational, which is an indicator of brain and sensory health. Once we accep...

The U.S. is facing a mystery of missing Adderall—one for which nobody has an answer. Oct. 12 marked one year since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s formal announcement that pharmaceutical companies were unable to produce enough Adderall, one of the common amphetamine-based medications for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). As a result, many of the 41 million ADHD patients nationwide who rely on the drug daily to stay focused and reduce impulsive behavior have faced refill delays and empty inventories at their pharmacies. Eight drug manufacturers have reported shortages of Adderall, which also means other major ADHD medications are now in short supply after psychiatrists turned to other treatment options for patients. In a year with the highest rate of drug shortages re...

Rite Aid has filed for bankruptcy protection and plans to sell part of its business as it attempts to restructure while dealing with losses and opioid-related lawsuits.The company said Rite Aid stores will continue to fill prescriptions, and customers will still be able to visit its locations or shop online while it goes through its voluntary Chapter 11 process. But that process also will allow it to speed up its plan to close underperforming stores.Going through Chapter 11 will help “significantly reduce the company’s debt” while helping to “resolve litigation claims in an equitable manner,” Rite Aid late Sunday.Rite Aid Corp. runs more than 2,100 stores in the United States, mostly on the East and West Coasts, and has posted annual losses for several years.The Philadelphia company, which...

With COVID-19 rates rising around the country, and an updated vaccine now available, researchers are still trying to understand how immunity to COVID-19 works, and the best ways to build and sustain it.One of the possibly richest areas of research might be infections among the very young, who tend to be spared from more serious COVID-19 disease. Hospitalization rates for infants four years old or under dropped to under 1 per 100,000 earlier this year, and have recently inched up slightly to 2 per 100,000 in the middle of September, compared to rates for people over 65 years old, which hit a low of 6 per 100,000 earlier this year and climbed up to 17.6 in September.In a study published recently in the journal Cell, researchers led by Bali Pulendran, a professor of pathology, microbiology, a...