By Associated Press NEW YORK — Teen drug use hasn’t rebounded from its drop during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the results from a large annual national survey released Tuesday. About two-thirds of 12th graders this year said they hadn’t used alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes or e-cigarettes in the previous 30 days.
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By Associated Press NEW YORK — An Alabama woman is recovering well after a pig kidney transplant last month that freed her from eight years of dialysis, the latest effort to save human lives with animal organs. Towana Looney is the fifth American given a gene-edited pig organ — and notably, she isn’t as sick
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By Associated Press Bells are ringing. Snow is glistening. But you’re bummed out. You could be suffering from a case of the holiday blues, which experts say is not uncommon. A strained relationship with family, for example, can make this time of year pretty lonely. The holidays are expensive, and financial woes can cause major
Continue ReadingBy Associated Press NEW YORK — When SmileDirectClub shut down a year ago, scores of existing customers of the teeth-straightening company were left in limbo. Now, tens of thousands are set to get some relief. New York Attorney General Letitia James has announced that her office recovered $4.8 million to distribute nationwide to more than
Continue ReadingBy Associated Press Efforts to reduce the nation’s persistently high maternal mortality rates involve state panels of experts that investigate and learn from each mother’s death. The panels — called maternal mortality review committees — usually do their work quietly and out of the public eye. But that’s not been the case recently in three
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By Associated Press Many moms-to-be opt for blood tests during pregnancy to check for fetal disorders such as Down syndrome. In rare instances, these tests can reveal something unexpected — hints of a hidden cancer in the woman. In a study of 107 pregnant women whose test results were unusual, 52 were ultimately diagnosed with
Continue ReadingBy Associated Press CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Congo reported more than 1,000 new mpox cases in the last week up to Tuesday as African health authorities asked for desperately needed vaccines to help fight its “growing” threat on the continent. The World Health Organization has declared the outbreaks in Africa a global emergency. Mpox
Continue ReadingBy Associated Press As a captain of the Chicago Luvabull dancers in the late 1990s, Natalie Poli gasped for air after performing elaborate dances on the basketball court for Chicago Bulls fans. Poli had danced her whole life – she started at age 3. In her eighth-grade graduation program, her answer to “What do you
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By Associated Press Federal officials affirmed this month that the pain people might feel when getting an IUD can be more than doctors’ promises of “just a pinch.” The local anesthetic lidocaine “might be useful for reducing patient pain” when inserting intrauterine devices, according to new guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
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By My Courier-Tribune DEAR DR. ROACH: In a recent column, a reader mentioned that they were having problems coming up with words and wondered if a supplement would help. They mentioned taking medication for neuropathy. Some of the medications for neuropathy have brain fog as a side effect. — P.A. ANSWER: I appreciate your writing.
Continue ReadingBy Associated Press At 51, Kerwin Ifill had a stroke. Though he believed he was in excellent health, a tangle of blood vessels – something called an arteriovenous malformation, or AVM – was hiding in his brain. One day after a regular gym workout, a vessel burst while he was taking a nap. The brain
Continue ReadingBy Associated Press Dori Monson sat on the couch cheering on the Washington Huskies in the Alamo Bowl. His wife, Suzanne, was in the next room working on a jigsaw puzzle, a Christmas gift from one of their three daughters. A week earlier, Dori and Suzanne had hosted an early holiday family gathering at their
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By Associated Press WASHINGTON — A Massachusetts man has regained his voice after surgeons removed his cancerous larynx and, in a pioneering move, replaced it with a donated one. Transplants of the so-called voice box are extremely rare, and normally aren’t an option for people with active cancer. Marty Kedian is only the third person
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By My Courier-Tribune DEAR DR. ROACH, I was wondering if you could give me any information on idiopathic stabbing headaches. I have been having them for three months now. From what I have read, this is a long time to have this condition. I can have them anywhere from 3-50 times a day, and sometimes
Continue ReadingBy Associated Press For kids, summer can revolve around playgrounds, pools, bikes and just being outside. For parents, it can mean a litany of ouchies to take care of — including scrapes, sunburns and dehydration, pediatricians say. “Kids should play and have every opportunity to use their imagination, but we need to take precautions to
Continue ReadingBy Associated Press As people flock to pool parties, sandy beaches and other water adventures to cool off this summer, experts say learning CPR and some water safety basics also should be at the top of the to-do list. “In general, I’m an advocate for everyone getting CPR training,” said Dr. Katherine Berg, associate director
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By Associated Press WASHINGTON — U.S. officials have approved another Alzheimer’s drug that can modestly slow the disease, providing a new option for patients in the early stages of the incurable, memory-destroying ailment. The Food and Drug Administration approved Eli Lilly’s Kisunla on Tuesday for mild or early cases of dementia caused by Alzheimer’s. It’s
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By My Courier-Tribune DEAR DR. ROACH, I am a healthy 55-year-old woman who eats well and exercises (with both weights and cardio) six to seven times per week. Four years ago, I was diagnosed with Lynch syndrome. (I have the “MLH1” genotype.) My primary care physician suggested testing after my sister died of cancer at
Continue ReadingBy Associated Press Joe Krejci of Dallas was almost to the finish line of a 100-yard dash during his middle-school gym class when he collapsed onto the track. His gym teacher thought Joe had tripped. Then he saw the 13-year-old on his back with his eyes open. The teacher called out to the two fastest
Continue ReadingBy Associated Press WASHINGTON — A first-of-a-kind proposal to begin using the mind-altering drug MDMA as a treatment for PTSD was roundly criticized Tuesday — a potentially major setback to psychedelic advocates who hope to win a landmark federal approval and bring the banned drugs into the medical mainstream. A panel of advisers to the
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By Associated Press Scaling back treatment for three kinds of cancer can make life easier for patients without compromising outcomes, doctors reported at the world’s largest cancer conference. It’s part of a long-term trend toward studying whether doing less — less surgery, less chemotherapy or less radiation — can help patients live longer and feel
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By My Courier-Tribune DEAR DR. ROACH, What is the main cause for insulin resistance? I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes about five years ago. I’ve maintained a consistent weight under 200 pounds, and I’m only 5 feet, 9 inches tall. I was able to get my A1C level down to 7.2% last summer, but
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By My Courier-Tribune DEAR DR. ROACH: My question is about amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). I have been diagnosed with this horrible, debilitating disease, and I don’t know where I am headed. I went to a hospital for a second opinion and additional testing to rule out other possible causes of this numbness. Nary a test
Continue ReadingBy Associated Press There has been a sharp increase in Americans leaving the country for medical care. There aren’t hard numbers on how many Americans travel to other countries for medical care, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates it’s in the millions. Medical tourism was once reserved for the very wealthy,
Continue ReadingBy Associated Press New research suggests the HPV vaccine is preventing cancer in men, as well as in women, but fewer boys than girls are getting the shots in the United States. The HPV vaccine was developed to prevent cervical cancer in women and experts give it credit, along with screening, for lowering cervical cancer
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By Associated Press At 17, Israel McKenzie was so burdened by obesity that he stopped going to high school in person and was embarrassed to speak to people at his restaurant job. “I was in a really dark place,” says McKenzie, whose weight had climbed to 335 pounds on his 6-foot-1 frame, despite repeated efforts
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By My Courier-Tribune DEAR DR. ROACH, I am wondering if there is any link between low iron and depression/anxiety. I am a 37-year-old woman, and I started taking Lexapro a few years ago. I upped my dose last year because I wasn’t feeling great, and my doctor and I decided that it was a good
Continue ReadingBy Associated Press Sharp-eyed grocery shoppers may notice new labels in the dairy aisle touting yogurt as way to reduce the risk of Type 2 diabetes. That’s because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently said it’s OK for producers of yogurt to make that claim — even though the agency acknowledged that it’s based
Continue ReadingBy Associated Press Over the years, people with a genetic condition causing thickening of the heart muscle, known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, have received confusing advice on exercise. New guideline revisions aim to clear things up. They spell out that not only is exercise important and healthy but that some people with the condition, if properly
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By Associated Press WASHINGTON — For the first time, researchers have identified a genetic form of late-in-life Alzheimer’s disease — in people who inherit two copies of a worrisome gene. Scientists have long known a gene called APOE4 is one of many things that can increase people’s risk for Alzheimer’s, including simply getting older. The
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