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Health department confirms Virginia's first measles case of 2025
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — The Virginia Department of Health confirmed the state’s first measles case of 2025 in a Saturday announcement.
The agency said a child 4 or under living in the state’s northwest health region contracted the disease after recent international travel.
“This first case of measles in Virginia this year is a reminder of ...Read more

Health officials confirm Michigan's first measles outbreak since 2019
DETROIT — Local and state health officials confirmed Thursday that Michigan is experiencing its first measles outbreak since 2019.
An outbreak is defined as three or more related cases, which has been confirmed in Montcalm County, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and the Mid-Michigan District Health Department...Read more

Supreme Court to hear arguments over preventive care task force
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments Monday about the legality of the process to mandate cost-free preventive care used by millions of Americans, in a case brought by a group of Texas businesses objecting to coverage for an HIV preventive drug.
The U.S. government has asked the justices to overturn a decision by the U....Read more

As views on spanking shift worldwide, most US adults support it, and 19 states allow physical punishment in schools
_Nearly a half-century after the Supreme Court ruled that school spankings are permissible and not “cruel and unusual punishment”, many U.S. states allow physical punishment for students who have misbehaved.
_Today, over a third of the states allow teachers to paddle or spank students. More than 100,000 students are paddled in U.S...Read more

Magic happens when kids and adults learn to swim. Tragedy can strike if they don't
At a swim meet just outside St. Louis, heads turned when a team of young swimmers walked through the rec center with their parents in tow.
A supportive mom kept her eye on the clock while the Makos Swim Team athletes tucked their natural curls, braids, and locs into yellow swimming caps. In the bleachers, spectators whispered about the team’s...Read more

Mayo Clinic Q and A: Is intermittent fasting a helpful practice or health risk?
DEAR MAYO CLINIC: My friend swears by intermittent fasting since her recent weight loss. I know it works for some people, but is it actually healthy?
ANSWER: Although it may appear to be a new trend, intermittent fasting has been popular for over 1,500 years. While we know that it works for some people to lose weight, the reality is that ...Read more

Can a baby struggle with their mental health? How this hospital is helping LA's youngest
LOS ANGELES -- A major initiative at Children's Hospital Los Angeles aims to address a critical but much overlooked need: mental health care for families experiencing the complex flood of joy, fear and upheaval during the first few years of a child's life.
Myriad issues can emerge or become exacerbated in a family after a baby is born, ...Read more

On Nutrition: Oxalates: Bad for bones?
Kathy C. from Indiana writes: “Recently, I read that people with osteopenia should avoid foods with oxalates. It's hard for calcium to be absorbed. The partial list includes healthy food that I like to eat: spinach, beets, tofu, cocoa, kiwi, oranges, pineapple, peanuts, cashews. Is there a safe amount that can be eaten? How often? Thank you....Read more
Hair Loss Treatment Can Have Sexual Health Side Effects
DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a 70-year-old man and have been taking finasteride for hair loss for about five years. I realized while reading your recent column that I have the sexual side effects the letter-writer described. I had been unable to obtain a satisfactory erection even when taking 150 mg of sildenafil, which is three times my prescribed ...Read more
The skinny on fatty liver risks
Fatty liver disease, now called MASLD, which stands for Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease, is a silent epidemic affecting around 100 million Americans. That means, because of elevated lousy LDL cholesterol, insulin resistance, Type 2 diabetes and/or obesity, a person's liver is laced with excess fat, interfering with its ...Read more

FDA covered up E. coli outbreak that killed 1 person, spread to 15 states
The federal government covered up an outbreak of E. coli that killed one person and spread across at least 15 states, according to a report published Thursday.
A series of E. coli cases was first reported in November in St. Louis County, Mo., but the Food and Drug Administration never released any information about the outbreak, NBC News ...Read more

More psych hospital beds are needed for kids, but neighbors say not here
If you or someone you know may be experiencing a mental health crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing or texting “988.”
____
In January, a teenager in suburban St. Louis informed his high school counselor that a classmate said he planned to kill himself later that day.
The 14-year-old classmate denied it, but his ...Read more

Do you sweat while you drive? Researchers say stress affects your decisions behind the wheel
DULUTH, Minn. – When a Jeep cut me off and then slowed to several notches below the speed limit, I first gasped and then gestured wildly, swearing. These things I remember.
But a sensor I was wearing to capture my heart rate and electrical changes in my skin, along with a vehicle “black box,” revealed more: aggressive braking and ...Read more

Deportation fears add to mental health problems confronting Colorado resort town workers
SILVERTHORNE, Colo. — When Adolfo Román García-Ramírez walks home in the evening from his shift at a grocery store in this central Colorado mountain town, sometimes he thinks back on his childhood in Nicaragua. Adults, he recollects, would scare the kids with tales of the “Mona Bruja,” or “Monkey Witch.” Step too far into the dark, ...Read more

Misinformation about fentanyl exposure threatens to undermine overdose response
Fentanyl, the deadly synthetic opioid driving the nation’s high drug overdose rates, is also caught up in another increasingly serious problem: misinformation.
False and misleading narratives on social media, in news reports, and even in popular television dramas suggesting people can overdose from touching fentanyl — rather than ingesting ...Read more
Severe Pain After Knee Surgery Requires Reevaluation
DEAR DR. ROACH: My husband had left knee replacement surgery three weeks ago. He has had continuous unrelenting pain since. He was initially on hydrocodone with acetaminophen alternating with tramadol. This barely touched the pain. We were referred to a pain specialist who prescribed hydrocodone, but our insurance wouldn't allow it. He is also...Read more
One more virtue of light to moderate wine drinking
"All things in moderation" isn't always true -- moderate exposure to someone with measles when you haven't been vaccinated (or had the disease) isn't smart. Neither is moderate indulgence in highly processed foods -- that'll up your risk of obesity, Type 2 diabetes, dementia, and cardiovascular disease. But you'll be glad to hear that sometimes ...Read more
Let's Hear It for Gene Therapy
Ten out of 11 kids who received gene therapy for a rare variant of congenital deafness enjoyed significant improvements when tested one year after the surgery, according to doctors involved in the study.
The therapy addresses mutations in the OTOF gene that cause hearing loss by delivering a new working copy of the gene. The hope is that by ...Read more
Could Meds Be The Cause Of Mom's Dizziness?
DEAR DR. ROACH: My 86-year-old mother wears hearing aids, has tinnitus and is constantly dizzy. She also has atrial fibrillation, high blood pressure and some anxiety issues. She has had several urinary tract infections in the past few years. We have been to a neurologist, EN&T specialist, physical therapist and a chiropractor, and have had...Read more
Breakthrough in slashing elevated LDL cholesterol to save lives
More than 92 million Americans take statins, according to the Cleveland Clinic, and you can bet all of them are hoping that will protect them from having what doctors like to call "an adverse cardiovascular event" (aka heart attack, stroke, heart failure, peripheral vascular disease or A-fib) and prevent death from such conditions. But for folks...Read more
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