Latest Health News

28Sep
2023

Adding Just 3,000 Steps Per Day Could Lower High Blood Pressure

Adding Just 3,000 Steps Per Day Could Lower High Blood PressureTHURSDAY, Sept. 28, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Adding 3,000 extra steps a day can help older adults with hypertension significantly lower their blood pressure.About 80% of older adults in the United States have high blood pressure. Keeping it down can help protect against heart failure, heart attacks and strokes.“We’ll all get high blood pressure if we live long enough, at least in this country,” Linda Pescatello, professor of kinesiology at the University of Connecticut, said in a university news release. “That’s how prevalent it is.”While her previous research had shown that exercise could have an immediate and long-lasting impact on blood pressure, this new study set out to learn whether moderately increasing walking -- popular in this age group -- could do the...

New Antibiotic Could Help Fight Resistant Staph Infections

28 September 2023
New Antibiotic Could Help Fight Resistant Staph InfectionsTHURSDAY, Sept. 28, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- New research shows that an antibiotic effective for bacterial pneumonia also appears to fight treatment-resistant staph infections.The drug is ceftobiprole. It appeared successful in fighting methicillin-resistant staph infections, sometimes called MRSA. It showed similar benefit when tested against the antibiotic daptomycin to treat complicated Staphylococcus aureus infections.This means it could offer another option against this common and often deadly bacterial infection, according to the research led by Duke Health in Durham, N.C.“This is an area of true need,” Dr. Thomas Holland, associate professor at Duke University School of Medicine and chair of the study's data review committee, said in a Duke Health news release. “There has...

Estrogen Could Be Key to Women's Brain Health

28 September 2023
Estrogen Could Be Key to Women`s Brain HealthTHURSDAY, Sept. 28, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Being exposed to more estrogen throughout life -- or a longer reproductive life span -- may be good for the brain, according to new research that found a lower risk of cerebral small vessel disease in women who had more cumulative exposure. Cerebral small vessel disease happens from damage to small blood vessels in the brain. It can increase the risk of thinking impairments and dementia.“Previous research has shown that rates of cerebrovascular disease increase after menopause, which is often attributed to the absence of hormones,” said study author Kevin Whittingstall, of the University of Sherbrooke in Quebec. “It remains unknown whether the amount of exposure to hormones before menopause extends that window of protection to after...

Fast-Acting Nasal Spray May Ease Rapid Heartbeat

27 September 2023
Fast-Acting Nasal Spray May Ease Rapid HeartbeatWEDNESDAY, Sept. 27, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Up to 2 million people in the U.S. experience rapid-fire heartbeats from time to time, and many end up in the hospital for treatment.But an investigational nasal spray may help folks with paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT) safely and quickly slow their heart rate on their own.“Currently, PSVT is treated with intravenous medication administered in the emergency room or by paramedics when vagal maneuvers are not effective, which is the majority of cases,” said study leader Dr. James Ip, an associate professor of clinical medicine at Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City.Vagal maneuvers are physical actions such as bearing down that make the vagus nerve slow your heart down.At 160 to 250 heartbeats a minute, Ip said...

FDA Adds Warning to Ozempic Label About Risk for Blocked Intestines

27 September 2023
FDA Adds Warning to Ozempic Label About Risk for Blocked IntestinesWEDNESDAY, Sept. 27, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Ozempic, a type 2 diabetes drug that has increasingly been used to help with weight loss, will now be labeled as having the potential to block intestines.The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently made the label update for the drug made by Novo Nordisk, without directly citing Ozempic as the cause for this condition. "Because these reactions are reported voluntarily from a population of uncertain size, it is not always possible to reliably estimate their frequency or establish a causal relationship to drug exposure," the label reads.The side effect, known by the medical term “ileus,” is also listed on labels for the weight-loss drug Wegovy, also made by Novo Nordisk, and in the diabetes medication Mounjaro, made by Eli Lilly, CBS...

Stem Cell Treatment Halts MS for Some Patients

27 September 2023
Stem Cell Treatment Halts MS for Some PatientsWEDNESDAY, Sept. 27, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- A new study is strengthening the evidence that stem cell transplants can be highly effective for some people with multiple sclerosis -- sending the disease into remission for years, and sometimes reversing disability.Researchers found that of 174 MS patients who underwent stem cell transplants -- with cells from their own blood -- two-thirds had no evidence of "disease activity" over 10 years.That meant no symptom relapses, no worsening disability and no signs of new damage in their brain tissue.In fact, of patients who'd already developed disabilities before the procedure, more than half saw improvements afterward.The findings were published Sept. 25 in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.Experts said the study bolsters...

Emotional Issues Could Be Early Sign of MS

27 September 2023
Emotional Issues Could Be Early Sign of MSWEDNESDAY, Sept. 27, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- A newer understanding of multiple sclerosis (MS) suggests that psychiatric conditions like anxiety and depression may emerge long before classic MS symptoms.“For a long time, it was thought that MS only really began clinically when a person experienced their first demyelinating event, such as in the form of vision problems,” said senior author Helen Tremlett. She is a professor of neurology at the University of British Columbia's Djavad Mowafaghian Center for Brain Health, in Vancouver. “But we’ve come to understand there is a whole period preceding those events where the disease presents itself in more indirect ways,” Tremlett said in a university news release.The findings were welcomed by Sharon Roman, an MS patient for 25...

In Mice, Gene Therapy Helps Restore Movement After Spinal Cord Injury

27 September 2023
In Mice, Gene Therapy Helps Restore Movement After Spinal Cord InjuryWEDNESDAY, Sept. 27, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Gene therapy has restored mobility in mice with completely severed spinal cords, researchers report.The mice regained the ability to walk, with gait patterns resembling those of mice that resumed walking naturally after only partial cord injuries, the investigators found.This happened because the new gene therapy used techniques to not only repair spinal cord tissue, but also to direct the repairs in a way that would restore mobility, the study authors said.“Five years ago, we demonstrated that nerve fibers can be regenerated across anatomically complete spinal cord injuries [when the spinal cord is completely severed],” said senior researcher Mark Anderson. He is director of Central Nervous System Regeneration at the Swiss research and...

Timing of Hot Flashes Could Give Clues to Alzheimer's Risk

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 27, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Hot flashes and night sweats top the list of bothersome symptoms for women going through menopause. Now, a new study suggests that hot flashes,...

What Is 'Sexsomnia'? And 'Sleep Eating'? Can They Be...

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 27, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Everyone’s seen a movie or TV show featuring someone sleepwalking -- eyes half-lidded, bumbling around, tripping over furniture.But sleepwalkers are...
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