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Deadly diseases in Minnesota newborns to be targeted in new whole-genome study

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

MINNEAPOLIS – A federally funded study aims to determine if whole-genome sequencing at birth can reduce childhood diseases and deaths while satisfying growing concerns over genetic privacy and public health research.

Parents at two yet-to-be-selected health systems in Minnesota will be able to opt in to the BEACONS study and have their ...Read more

Using nonsterile eye drops can cause severe eye infections. Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Massive eye drop recall reflects ongoing issues with manufacturing and FDA inspection

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

A California company has recalled more than 3.1 million bottles of lubricating eye drops because it had not properly tested – and thus could not prove – whether the products were sterile.

These products are sold under several names at major retailers across the country. The company, K.C. Pharmaceuticals, initiated the recall on ...Read more

Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

This medical student has a 95% chance of developing a fatal neurodegenerative disease. She wants to find a cure before that happens

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

PHILADELPHIA -- Yentli Soto Albrecht is at risk of developing the same condition that claimed her father’s life two years ago.

The University of Pennsylvania medical student inherited a genetic mutation that causes amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a fatal neurodegenerative disease in which patients progressively lose the ability to move. ...Read more

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Health insurers pare back some prior-approval requirements

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

U.S. health insurers have made it easier for doctors to get approval before providing certain types of treatment, industry groups said, calling it a sign of progress toward alleviating burdensome delays for patients.

Major health plans said they collectively removed thousands of prior authorization requirements for medical procedures since they...Read more

(Allison Lee Isley for KFF Health News)/KFF HEALTH NEWS/TNS

State-run insurance plans for foster kids leave some of them without doctors

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Ollie Super has moved in and out of cancer treatment since she was diagnosed with neuroblastoma as a toddler in foster care. Now 8, the second grader is dealing with it again. Her cancer came back late last year.

Ollie’s parents, who adopted her in 2020, tried to sign her up for a clinical trial using CAR T-cell therapy — which genetically ...Read more

Anne Saker/Stateline/TNS

Navigator cuts leave Americans with less help to find Obamacare plans

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

CINCINNATI — For four years, Kimberly Dudley has worked on the front line of the Affordable Care Act as a navigator, helping Ohioans solve the puzzle of buying private insurance on the federal HealthCare.gov marketplace.

But the job is harder now, the answers scarcer. In one of its first acts, the second Trump administration cut annual ...Read more

JEAN-FRANCOIS FORT/Hans Lucas/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

What should you know about the COVID cicada variant?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

A new variant of COVID-19, dubbed cicada, is less susceptible to vaccination and appears to discriminate based on age, scientists say. The variant appears less threatening to older individuals, preferring young people instead.

Cicada, formally named BA.3.2, is a mutation of the omicron COVID-19 branch that first appeared in 2021. It has been ...Read more

Jeremy Olson/Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Children's Minnesota lifts suspension on gender health services

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

MINNEAPOLIS — Children’s Minnesota hospital system resumed gender health care services it had suspended in late February in response to efforts by President Donald Trump’s administration to cut off federal funding.

A favorable federal court ruling led to the reversal, Children’s said in a written statement on Monday, April 6. The health...Read more

Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Commentary: For water and mining policy near Salton Sea, keep in mind local children's health

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Southern California’s Salton Sea was once a resort playground, with sunny beaches, celebrities and people waterskiing on the vast inland lake in the 1950s and ’60s.

Today, those resorts are long gone, replaced by a drying and increasingly toxic landscape. As the lake shrinks, wind blowing across the exposed lakebed kicks up toxic dust left ...Read more

Leila Navidi/The Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Life Time's embrace of 'athletic country club' approach is working

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Life Time is leaning into premium offerings and higher prices, a bet that’s paying off.

Founder and CEO Bahram Akradi said the fitness company continues to move away from a traditional gym model built on large numbers of infrequent users.

Instead, it is building what he calls “a social, athletic country club environment.”

Custom scent ...Read more

Renée Jones Schneider/The Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Laura Yuen: She asked her dates about colonoscopies on 'Love Is Blind.' Now she wants you to get one

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

MINNEAPOLIS — Taylor Hastings will likely go down in “Love is Blind” history as the only contestant on the reality-dating show to ask each of her suitors if he’s had a colonoscopy.

It was an unusual romantic icebreaker, but maybe it shouldn’t be.

We’ve got to normalize talking about colorectal cancer screenings, says Hastings, an ...Read more

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Ask the Pediatrician: Parenting after trauma: Understanding your child's needs

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

All children need to feel safe, understood and valued. This is especially true for children who have experienced trauma. Early, hurtful experiences can cause children to see the world differently and to react in seemingly unpredictable ways.

Children who have been adopted, have been placed into foster care, or have experienced significant ...Read more

Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner/TNS

Trump's one Big Beautiful Bill Act darkens outlook for government-backed clinics

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Bluestem Health, a clinic that serves low-income and uninsured patients in Lincoln, Nebraska, has lost money for the last two years.

And CEO Brad Meyer fears times will soon get worse for the clinic and its 21,000 patients. That’s because Nebraska is set to become the first state to require certain Medicaid enrollees to work or lose their ...Read more

Moriah Farmer/KFF Health News/TNS

Taking a GLP-1? Doctors say not to forget about movement and mental health

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Severe ankle pain drove Jelon Smart to start taking a weight loss injection a year and a half ago.

Smart was 285 pounds and worked as a caterer in Savannah, Georgia. After she’d been standing on her feet for long hours, her ankles would be “as swollen as a football,” she said. She was walking with a limp. An orthopedic doctor diagnosed ...Read more

Elena Garder/Dreamstime/TNS

Autistic people are more likely to experience suicidal crisis. 988 is changing to serve them better

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Free, largely confidential and available 24 hours a day via call, text or online chat, the 988 Lifeline — formerly the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline — is among the most accessible and effective suicide prevention tools in the U.S.

People have contacted the service roughly 25 million times since July 2022, when the previous 10-digit ...Read more

Aaron Bolton/MTPR/KFF Health News/TNS

Give and take: Federal rural health funding could trigger service cuts

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

BIG SANDY, Mont. — The emergency department at Big Sandy Medical Center is one room with a single curtain between two beds.

It’s one of the many parts of the 25-bed rural hospital that need updating, former CEO Ron Wiens said.

He said the hospital, an essential service in its namesake town of nearly 800 residents in the state’s sprawling...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Tax time brings surprises for some who receive ACA subsidies

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Tax time can come with big surprises for some people who have Affordable Care Act coverage, including owing money back to the government for premium subsidies received during the previous year.

More changes lie ahead that make it important for those getting subsidies in 2026 to track their income and take steps to protect against that kind of ...Read more

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'How low can you go?' The shifting guidelines for blood pressure control

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

The patient initially came to see Mark Supiano in 2017 because her family was concerned about her short-term memory loss.

While taking her history and vital signs, Supiano, a geriatrician at the University of Utah, saw one disturbing signal: Her blood pressure was 148/86, above normal despite her taking two medications intended to lower it. “...Read more

Heather Diehl/Getty Images North America/TNS

Democrats eye 2028 for bigger health care push

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

WASHINGTON — As Democrats vie to take control of Congress in the midterms this fall, their main message on health care policy is fairly straightforward: undo Republicans’ Medicaid cuts and restore the health care subsidies that lapsed at the end of last year.

But some analysts and lawmakers say momentum is growing for a bigger health care ...Read more

Liz Rymarev/The Dallas Morning News/TNS

Michigan measles outbreak: State urges earlier vaccination for infants

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

A measles outbreak in Washtenaw County may be spreading due to community transmission, health officials said Thursday, announcing that a case has now confirmed in neighboring Monroe County.

Due to the continued spread, state officials are temporarily recommending that families in southeast Michigan have their infant children vaccinated at an ...Read more