Latest Adolescent Health News

3Oct
2023

PFAS Chemicals Tied to Later Puberty in Girls

PFAS Chemicals Tied to Later Puberty in GirlsTUESDAY, Oct. 3, 2023 (HealthDay News) – Exposure to ubiquitous chemicals known as PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, may delay puberty in girls, new research indicates.The study is the first to consider the role hormones play in the delay, according to researchers from the University of Cincinnati.Delayed puberty can lead to negative long-term health outcomes for girls, such as a higher incidence of breast cancer, kidney disease and thyroid disease, said corresponding author Susan Pinney, a professor of environmental and public health sciences at the university's College of Medicine.“Puberty is a window of susceptibility,” Pinney said in a university news release. “Environmental exposures during puberty, not just to PFAS, but anything, have more of a potential for a...

Breastfeeding in Infancy Tied to Healthier Weight Later...

2 October 2023
Breastfeeding in Infancy Tied to Healthier Weight Later for KidsMONDAY, Oct. 2, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- What a baby eats, or how the baby eats, may have an impact on future weight and health, research has shown.A new study backs that up. It found that 9-year-olds who had been breast-fed for six months or more had a lower percentage of body fat than their peers who were never breast-fed or received breast milk.The researchers also found that kids who were not given soda before 18 months of age also had less fat at age 9.Past studies have zeroed in on links between infant feeding and obesity based on body mass index (BMI) — an estimate of body fat based on height and weight. This one relied on what researchers considered a more precise measure: percent fat mass. That's the proportion of total weight owing to body fat.“Infancy is a vulnerable...

Nobel Prize for Medicine Awarded to COVID Vaccine Pioneers

2 October 2023
Nobel Prize for Medicine Awarded to COVID Vaccine PioneersMONDAY, Oct. 2, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- This year’s Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine has been awarded to two scientists who laid the groundwork years ago for the mRNA research that made COVID-19 vaccines possible. Dr. Katalin Karikó, the 13th woman to ever receive the honor, and Dr. Drew Weissman, began working together at the University of Pennsylvania in the 1990s, according to a news release from the Nobel Prize Committee.Their scientific achievement was a modification to mRNA. That chemical change made it possible for Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna to develop and provide more than 650 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines between them.Their discovery “fundamentally changed our understanding of how mRNA interacts with our immune system,” the panel that awarded the prize...

FDA Will Begin to Regulate Thousands of Lab Tests

29 September 2023
FDA Will Begin to Regulate Thousands of Lab TestsFRIDAY, Sept. 29, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Faced with growing reports of inaccurate clinical lab tests, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday announced that it will for the first time regulate these vital diagnostic tools.Many Americans might have assumed that the FDA already had oversight of all medical tests; it does not. However, FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf said the time is now to monitor the quality of high-tech tests for cancer, heart disease and a myriad other illnesses. "A growing number of clinical diagnostic tests are being offered as laboratory developed tests without assurance that they work. The stakes are getting higher as these tests are increasingly being used to drive treatment decisions," Califf explained in an FDA news release. "According to the...

Biden Administration Says Insurance Issues With COVID Shots Mostly Fixed

29 September 2023
Biden Administration Says Insurance Issues With COVID Shots Mostly FixedFRIDAY, Sept. 29, 2023 (HealthDay News) – Despite reports of trouble last week where some people may have been denied insurance coverage while seeking COVID shots at pharmacies, the Biden administration said Thursday those issues have been ironed out.That issue is "largely, if not completely," resolved after U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Secretary Xavier Becerra met with CVS Health, United Health Group, Anthem and Cigna, agency spokesperson Jeff Nesbit told NBC News.More than 2 million people had already received the updated vaccines by Wednesday, according to HHS.The companies are "fully covering the new vaccine shots," the HHS stated, which added the problems were due to "systemic technical issues," NBC News reported.The federal government is no longer paying for the...
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