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25May
2023

Baby Boomers Push Median Age of Americans Up as Births Decline

Baby Boomers Push Median Age of Americans Up as Births DeclineTHURSDAY, May 25, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- The American population is older than it used to be, according to new U.S. Census data.With fewer young children, more baby boomers and even more centenarians, the country’s median age is higher — at 38.8 — and the share of people aged 65 and up more substantial, the report showed.Among the most notable numbers is that the share of people 65 and older grew by more than one-third between the 2010 census and the 2020 census, and that the number of people reaching age 100 grew from more than 53,000 to more than 80,000. Meanwhile, millennials became adults or aged into their 30s, and fewer children were born between 2010 and 2020.What does that all mean?“Many more people who have the genetic makeup and environmental exposures that increase...

U.S. Nursing Homes Fail to Report Many Serious Falls,...

25 May 2023
U.S. Nursing Homes Fail to Report Many Serious Falls, Bedsores: StudyTHURSDAY, May 25, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- A federal website intended to help people choose a nursing home not only contains inaccurate information, but those inaccuracies appear to be at least partially driven by race, a new study reports.The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) established the Nursing Home Care Compare website in the 1990s to publicly report patient safety indicators for every nursing facility in the nation.But the site appears to drastically underreport the number and severity of major injury falls and bedsores suffered by Medicare residents in specific nursing homes.The site relies on self-reported data from nursing homes to track falls and bedsores, but Medicare claims data show that nursing homes are not reporting all of these incidents, said...

AHA News: The COVID-19 Emergency Is Over, But the Need...

25 May 2023
AHA News: The COVID-19 Emergency Is Over, But the Need For Awareness Remains, Experts SayTHURSDAY, May 25, 2023 (American Heart Association News) -- The official word on COVID-19, according to the World Health Organization and the U.S. government, is that it's no longer an emergency. But while that's a milestone, it's hardly an all-clear for everyone to behave as if the pandemic never happened, experts say."It doesn't mean there's no risk for anyone," said Dr. Preeti Malani, an infectious disease physician at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. "But it does mean that we are at a very different point than we were when the emergency was declared more than three years ago."The WHO first declared "a public health emergency of international concern" on Jan. 30, 2020, when just 213 people were known to have died from COVID-19, a number that has since grown to nearly 7...

AHA News: Pregnant Teacher Survives Cardiac Arrest,...

25 May 2023
AHA News: Pregnant Teacher Survives Cardiac Arrest, Delivers Healthy BabyTHURSDAY, May 25, 2023 (American Heart Association News) -- Alexis Simon, a special education teacher in the greater Pittsburgh area, was having a routine morning at school, sending an e-mail at her desk. The next thing she knew, she woke up at a hospital, disoriented and panicked."Is my baby OK?" Simon, who was 8 1/2 months pregnant, asked the doctors.The baby boy, Dominic, indeed was born healthy, three days after his mother's cardiac arrest in December.Simon has no underlying heart disease or other health problems, and various tests at the hospital came back normal. Doctors were baffled as to why she suddenly slumped over in her chair at Trafford Middle School."It was like someone just turned my switch off," said Simon, 29.When Simon became unconscious – thankfully, no kids were...

Tick-Borne Powassan Virus Can Kill. What Is It, and How Can You Protect Yourself?

25 May 2023
Tick-Borne Powassan Virus Can Kill. What Is It, and How Can You Protect Yourself?THURSDAY, May 25, 2023 (HealthDay News) – Robert Weymouth, 58, of Portland, Maine, died this year because of a tick bite.You've likely heard of Lyme disease and the problems it can cause when passed to a human through the bite of a deer tick. But Lyme isn’t the only tick-borne illness in the woods.Powassan virus -- a rare and untreatable infection -- is also transmitted by ticks. That's the bite that led to fatal complications in the case of this Maine truck driver.Weymouth -- the third Powassan death since 2015 in Maine and the first this year -- likely contracted the virus in the state, according to Maine's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He developed neurological symptoms and died in the hospital.His widow, Annemarie Weymouth, is now warning others about protecting...

Ketamine Beats Shock Therapy in Easing Tough-to-Treat Depression

25 May 2023
Ketamine Beats Shock Therapy in Easing Tough-to-Treat DepressionTHURSDAY, May 25, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Ketamine may be an alternative to shock treatment for people with treatment-resistant major depression, a new study suggests.Currently, patients with major depressive disorder who don't find a medication or therapy that works may undergo electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), also known as shock therapy. But researchers have also been studying intravenous ketamine -- a powerful anesthetic that's also long been used as an illicit 'party' drug -- as a potential antidepressant. They say the results of a new study were surprising. “I have to say it was a wow,” said principal investigator Dr. James Murrough, director of the Depression and Anxiety Center for Discovery and Treatment at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. That...

Research Helps Uncover Causes of SIDS

25 May 2023
Research Helps Uncover Causes of SIDSTHURSDAY, May 25, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have found another clue as to why some infants die suddenly in their sleep, and it's related to a faulty chemical receptor in the brainstem. Experts said the findings provide another puzzle piece in understanding the root causes of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).By examining autopsied brain tissue, researchers found that a particular chemical receptor was altered in the brain stems of babies who'd died of SIDS, versus infants who'd died of other causes.The receptor, called serotonin 2A/C, is believed to play a key role in helping a sleeping infant wake up and gasp for air in response to oxygen deprivation."This 2A receptor is very important in arousing them as a defense mechanism," said Robin Haynes, a researcher at Boston...

Exercise Might Boost Your Tolerance for Pain

25 May 2023
Exercise Might Boost Your Tolerance for PainTHURSDAY, May 25, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- One potential solution to reducing chronic pain: Get moving.A new Norwegian study finds that physically active folks have greater pain tolerance compared to sedentary types. Those with higher levels of activity also had higher pain tolerance, according to the report published online May 24 in PLOS ONE.“Becoming or staying physically active over time can benefit your pain tolerance. Whatever you do, the most important thing is that you do something,” study author Anders Årnes, a PhD student at University Hospital of North Norway, and colleagues said in a journal news release.For the study, the investigators analyzed data from more than 10,000 adults who participated in a large population survey conducted periodically in Norway.Using data...

Alzheimer's Genes Might Also Raise Odds for Epilepsy

THURSDAY, May 25, 2023 (HealthDay News) – People with a genetic predisposition to Alzheimer’s disease may have an increased risk of epilepsy, a new study says. And folks with a certain type of...

Heavy Drinking Could Raise Your Risk for Frailty: Study

THURSDAY, May 25, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Drinking heavily while younger puts you at risk for muscle loss and frailty later in life, new research suggests. These findings are another reason to...
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