Health

(CHARLESTON, W.Va.) — West Virginia and North Carolina's refusal to cover certain health care for transgender people with government-sponsored insurance is discriminatory, a federal appeals court ruled Monday in a case likely headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.The Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 8-6 in the case involving coverage of gender-affirming care by North Carolina’s state employee health plan and the coverage of gender-affirming surgery by West Virginia Medicaid.“The coverage exclusions facially discriminate on the basis of sex and gender identity, and are not substantially related to an important government interest,” Judge Roger Gregory, first appointed by former President Bill Clinton and re-appointed by former President George W. Bush, wrote in the majority...

(SALEM, Ore.) — One of the winners of a historic $1.3 billion Powerball jackpot last month is an immigrant from Laos who has had cancer for eight years and had his latest chemotherapy treatment last week.Cheng “Charlie” Saephan, of Portland, told a news conference held by the Oregon Lottery that he and his wife, Duanpen, would split the prize evenly with a friend who chipped in $100 to buy a batch of tickets with them, Laiza Chao. They are taking a lump sum payment, $422 million after taxes.“I will be able to provide for my family and my health,” he said, adding that he'd “find a good doctor for myself.”He said that as a cancer patient, he wondered, “How am I going to have time to spend all of this money? How long will I live?”After they bought the shared tickets, Chao sent a photo of the ...

If you’ve been exercising your vocal cords to Taylor Swift’s album The Tortured Poets Department, it might be time to move on to other body parts—like your arms, legs, and core. We asked three fitness trainers how to turn a handful of Swift’s new tunes into a fun and effective workout.FortnightUse the opening track on The Tortured Poets Department as a warm-up for the rest of your workout, advises Kelly Borowiec, a certified personal trainer in San Francisco.Perform 14 reps (to mimic a fortnight) of each exercise.Arm circles: While jogging in place, extend your arms out and perform forward circular motions. Reverse directions halfway. Sit and reach: Sit back into a squat, then as you stand up, raise one arm up above your head and across the midline of your body. Switch arms after each squa...

It’s easy to let high stress steal our full attention. Often, high stress leaves us vulnerable to a dysregulated, unproductive state. This means we need reliable resources we can connect to in order to renew and maintain our mental, emotional, and physical energy, and to help us recover from work stressors that, left unchecked, can make us vulnerable to burnout.As a burnout researcher, my work has been focused on pinpointing the most reliable and effective resources people can connect to in order to protect themselves from burnout. I’ve conducted hundreds of in-depth interviews with people who experience high stress at work, but they are not burned out. From my research, I found that those who have a deep, lasting connection with their purpose and a sense that they are engaged in meaningfu...

Fragments of the bird flu virus have been found in about one fifth of commercial milk samples tested in a U.S. nationally representative study, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). While the presence of traces of the virus in milk doesn’t necessarily indicate a risk to consumers, more tests are needed to confirm if intact pathogen is present and remains infectious, the FDA said in a statement on its website. That would determine “whether there is any risk of illness associated with consuming the product,” it added.The initial study results offer a stark indication of how quickly a virus that has killed millions of birds globally is spreading among U.S. dairy cows, raising health and food security woes while spooking markets. Read More: Is It Safe to Eat Eggs and Chicken Dur...

Poultry producers will be required to bring salmonella bacteria in certain chicken products to very low levels to help prevent food poisoning under a final rule issued Friday by U.S. agriculture officials.When the regulation takes effect in 2025, salmonella will be considered an adulterant—a contaminant that can cause foodborne illness—when it is detected above certain levels in frozen breaded and stuffed raw chicken products. That would include things like frozen chicken cordon bleu and chicken Kiev dishes that appear to be fully cooked but are only heat-treated to set the batter or coating.It's the first time the U.S. Department of Agriculture has declared salmonella as an adulterant in raw poultry in the same way that certain E. coli bacteria are regarded as contaminants that must be ke...

Bird flu has been hitting a little too close to home lately. In its testing of the commercial milk supply, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported on April 25 that 20% of milk samples tested from the retail market contained “viral fragments” of H5N1 bird flu. Many believe that's an underestimate; experts at Ohio State University have found that as much as 40% of milk samples from processing facilities in the Midwest may contain parts of the virus.The results immediately raised concerns about the safety of the U.S.' milk supply and the risk of infection for people consuming it. So far, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Organization say that the risk remains low for people to get infected from milk. In the U.S., there have only been two k...

For years, researchers have been working on vaccines that aim to prevent viral infections by strengthening immune defenses at viruses’ doorway to the body: the nose.A small study recently published in PNAS presents a similar, if lower-tech, idea. Coating the inside of the nose with the over-the-counter antibiotic ointment Neosporin seems to trigger an immune response that may help the body repel respiratory viruses like those that cause COVID-19 and the flu, the study suggests.The research raises the idea that Neosporin could serve as an “extra layer” of protection against respiratory illnesses, on top of existing tools like vaccines and masks, says study co-author Akiko Iwasaki, an immunobiologist at the Yale School of Medicine and one of the U.S.’ leading nasal vaccine researchers.The st...

I might like to think of my body as a thing of bone and blood and tissue and water, but as I recently learned, it’s also a thing of plastic—home to an alarming amount of plastic toxins known as bisphenols. Used to manufacture mostly hard, durable plastics—such as water bottles and takeout containers—bisphenols are often found in the company of phthalates, which are used to make more flexible plastics such as raincoat linings, vinyl boots, and packing tape. Both types of chemicals are known to be hormone disruptors, leading to numerous health problems, including early puberty, obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and changes in liver function, as well as increased risk of certain cancers, particularly skin, breast, liver, and testicular. I learned about my plastic load thanks to Million Marker...

It’s tough to resist squeezing a juicy pimple. You probably want to get rid of it quickly and may feel like you know exactly how to do it after having watched hundreds of pimple-popping videos online. Dermatologists get the temptation, but say you should leave your zits alone. “As a general rule, you shouldn’t pop your pimples,” says Dr. Jody Alpert Levine, a dermatologist and director of dermatology at Plastic Surgery & Dermatology of NYC.  [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Pimples form when excess oil, bacteria, and dirt clog hair follicles. When the trapped follicles stay beneath the skin and form a white bump, they’re referred to as whiteheads. Blackheads are plugged follicles that reach the skin’s surface and open up; exposure to air turns their contents black.  Whatever...