Health Advice
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Are baby carrots healthy? And what are they, anyway?
Whether you remember eating them as a kid, give them to your own children, or just buy them as an already prepped dipper for hummus, chances are you have some experience with those stubby-ended, cylinder-shaped baby carrots.
The phrase “baby carrots” is a bit of a misnomer. True baby carrots are just small carrots. If you’ve ever had a ...Read more
What are the symptoms of prostate cancer?
Screening with the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test can detect early-stage prostate cancer while it’s still asymptomatic. But some men are diagnosed with prostate cancer only after symptoms appear. For insights into how doctors distinguish prostate cancer from other noncancerous problems affecting the prostate, we spoke with Dr. Marc B. ...Read more
Mayo Clinic Q&A: How much screen time is too much for kids?
DEAR MAYO CLINIC: We just celebrated my daughter’s first birthday. Toddlers and screen time have been in the news a lot these days. It can be hard to find a balance, but I want to make sure I’m doing my best as she continues to grow and develop. What are the negative effects of screen use for kids? And how much is too much?
ANSWER: These ...Read more
By the Skin of Your Teeth
For a lot of people, the problem with vaccines isn't their therapeutic benefits -- they are one of medicine's greatest achievements -- but rather how vaccines are delivered: by injection.
In animal models, researchers at North Caroline State University are experimenting with a new vaccine delivery that uses dental floss to introduce vaccine ...Read more
In hepatitis B vaccine debate, CDC panel sidesteps key exposure risk
The Trump administration is continuing its push to revise federal guidelines to delay the hepatitis B vaccine newborn dose for most children. This comes despite a failed attempt to do so at the most recent meeting of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
Both President Donald Trump and ...Read more
Bill of the Month: She had a broken arm, no insurance -- and a $97,000 bill
As soon as she fell, Deborah Buttgereit knew she couldn’t avoid going to the hospital.
“I could hear the bones moving around in my elbow,” said Buttgereit, who was 60 when she slipped on a patch of ice in December outside her apartment in Bozeman, Montana.
Emergency room scans showed she had fractured her left arm near the joint. Doctors...Read more
Federal report on Georgia suggests implementing Medicaid work rules will be expensive
Georgia spent $54.2 million in less than five years to administer the country’s only Medicaid program with work requirements – more than twice as much as it spent to provide health care to enrollees, according to an analysis released earlier this month by the Government Accountability Office.
The report suggests it will be expensive to ...Read more
Stem cells may offer new hope for end-stage kidney disease treatment
More than 4 million people worldwide have end-stage kidney disease that requires hemodialysis, a treatment in which a machine filters waste from the blood. Hemodialysis is a precursor to kidney transplant. To prepare for it, patients typically undergo surgery to connect an artery and a vein in the arm, creating an arteriovenous fistula (AVF) ...Read more
Mayo Clinic Q&A: Should I get screened for prostate cancer?
QUESTION: I'm a guy in my late 40s and trying to pay more attention to my health. But I'm confused about whether I should be screened for prostate cancer. Can you help?
ANSWER: The importance of all health screenings is that they can detect issues early. Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world, and the second-leading ...Read more
High Liver Enzyme Tests Cause Concern For Liver Disease
DEAR DR. ROACH: I'm a generally healthy 73-year-old man. I recently had blood work done and was incidentally noted to have high liver tests (ALT and AST). My doctor ordered a sonogram, which said that my liver was "diffusely echogenic, consistent with fatty infiltration." I used to have an occasional drink, but I haven't had any alcohol for ...Read more
Play nice with niacin
Niacin, aka vitamin B3, is essential for your health, and the only way you can get any is through foods and supplements. Niacin's job is to help convert food into energy and support the nervous system, and it is available from nuts, seeds, bananas, poultry and whole grains and is often added to cereals. The recommended daily amount is 16 ...Read more
Risk of long COVID in children doubles after second COVID-19 infection, according to study by Chicago doctor
CHICAGO — Children are twice as likely to develop long COVID after two COVID-19 infections, compared with children who’ve only had COVID-19 once, according to a new study co-authored by a doctor at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.
The results of the study come amid controversy over COVID-19 vaccines, especially for children, with the...Read more
States target ultraprocessed foods in bipartisan push
California Republican James Gallagher, the GOP’s former Assembly leader, has often accused the state’s progressive lawmakers of heavy-handed government intrusion, but this year he added his name to a legislative push for healthier school meals.
His party followed suit, with all but one Republican voting to send a bill to Democratic Gov. ...Read more
As Trump punts on medical debt, battle over patient protections moves to states
With the Trump administration scaling back federal efforts to protect Americans from medical bills they can’t pay, advocates for patients and consumers have shifted their work to contain the nation’s medical debt problem to state Capitols.
Despite progress in some mostly blue states this year, however, recent setbacks in more conservative ...Read more
Healthy emotions, healthier heart
Approximately 59 million people in the U.S. (about 23% of adults) are receiving treatment for some form of mental illness each year and about 1 in 20 adults are dealing with a serious mental illness, such as chronic depression, panic and bipolar disorders, phobic anxiety, and PTSD. Fully 6% report that their condition significantly interferes ...Read more
There Is No Identifiable Harm In Getting Multiple Mris
DEAR DR. ROACH: I had a pituitary tumor that was discovered over 25 years ago. For years, I had an MRI with and without dye every six months. Then it changed to once a year. Can you get damage from too many brain MRIs? -- D.J.
ANSWER: An MRI uses powerful magnetic fields to take pictures of the body, and the resulting detail of soft tissue (...Read more
Kansas Supreme Court upholds expanded religious exemption for COVID-19 vaccine
A Kansas law that gives employees and job applicants broad freedom to opt out of COVID-19 vaccine mandates on religious grounds has survived a legal challenge.
The Kansas Supreme Court on Friday sided with Katlin Keeran, whose job offer to work at a Johnson County rehabilitation center was rescinded after she refused to comply with a company ...Read more
Surgeon wrongly removed an entire organ, SC lawsuit says. Jury awards millions
A South Carolina jury awarded $5.1 million in damages to a woman in a medical malpractice case against her surgeon, who she accused of wrongly removing her entire thyroid gland.
Jurors unanimously sided with Natalie Boyd on Aug. 29, finding that Dr. Richard C. Osman and Coastal Otolaryngology Associates in Myrtle Beach breached the standard of ...Read more
How our health information can be used to criminalize us
In July, the Trump administration unveiled two policies: the “Making Health Technology Great Again” initiative and the executive order “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets.” At first glance, one seems aimed at health care modernization and the other at public safety. But beneath their branding lies a shared infrastructure (...Read more
De-stress to D-stroy diabetes
You know I am always stressing how important it is to stop prediabetes from progressing to full-blown Type 2 diabetes -- with all its life-altering complications involving your heart, eyes, nerves, joints, digestion and brain.
Well, let's all take a deep breath -- and exhale very slowly. A preliminary lab study in Nature has found a brain ...Read more
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