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Health

How long-term care insurance has become more flexible

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

As people live longer and health care costs continue to rise, the need for long-term care (LTC) insurance has become increasingly important in retirement planning. This insurance has evolved significantly in the past decade. Before 2010, LTC policies were largely traditional, with a “use-it-or-lose-it” approach. Today, new product structures...Read more

Environmental Nutrition: Can your diet override genetic risk for disease?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

The question of nature vs nurture usually refers to a person’s personality and character and asks which one is most likely to determine who you will be as an adult. But the question of nature vs nurture is also relevant to your risk of developing certain diseases.

Your genetic makeup, passed onto you from your parents, determines everything ...Read more

How to eat a pomegranate, plus tips on how to cut it open

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Pomegranates are a vibrant, ruby-red fruit with an unusual composition. Although beautiful, the skin is tough and leathery, and the white pith thick and bitter. When eating a pomegranate, what you’re after is actually the seeds (also called arils), which are juicy, sweet, and tart. If you don’t know what you’re doing, it can be challenging...Read more

Ever read your medical record? Here’s why you should

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Do you ever read the notes written by your doctor or health practitioner during a medical visit? If not, you might want to check them out. Usually, these medical notes are full of helpful insights about your health and reminders of recommendations discussed. And there’s medicalese, of course: hard-to-pronounce illnesses, medications, and ...Read more

Mayo Clinic Q&A: What is cardiac arrest?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I’ ve heard about several people who have experienced sudden cardiac arrest. What is cardiac arrest? And how is it different from a heart attack? What do you do for someone who has this condition?

ANSWER: Cardiac arrest, or sudden cardiac arrest as it is more formally known, is a medical emergency. Think of it as a problem ...Read more

Mindy Schauer/The Orange County Register/TNS

Bird flu kills 20 big cats in Washington state sanctuary

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Four cougars. Four bobcats. Two lynx. Even a Bengal tiger.

Bird flu has taken a terrible toll at the Wild Felid Advocacy Center, a sanctuary for wildcats and their hybrids on Harstine Island, Washington, killing 20 cats — half the animals in its care.

"The only thing I can compare it to, as a veteran, is being in a war zone," director Mark ...Read more

Joe Raedle/Getty Images North America/TNS

What to know about infectious diseases during this holiday season

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

It’s that time of year, when families and friends come together to share their holiday cheer and a few circulating pathogens.

Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at UC San Francisco, said people should be on the lookout for the “Big Four”: three respiratory viruses currently moving through the U.S. — influenza, COVID-19 ...Read more

Nancy Lane/Boston Herald/TNS

Boston to distribute Narcan via vending machines, kiosks to prevent opioid overdoses

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

BOSTON — Boston will have four vending machines and eight indoor kiosks distributing life-saving Narcan and other harm reduction supplies in another step toward preventing overdose deaths, Mayor Michelle Wu and the Boston Public Health Commission announced.

“Unfortunately, many people living with substance use disorder don’t use harm ...Read more

Maddy Alewine/KFF Health News/TNS

Helicopters rescued patients in 'apocalyptic' flood. Other hospitals are at risk, too

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

ERWIN, Tenn. — April Boyd texted her husband before she boarded the helicopter.

“So, I don’t want to be dramatic,” she wrote on Sept. 27, “but we are gonna fly and rescue patients from the rooftop of Unicoi hospital.”

Earlier that day, Hurricane Helene roared into the Southern Appalachian Mountains after moving north through ...Read more

Robert Hills/Dreamstime/TNS

Mayo Clinic Q and A: Exercise tips for heart health

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: Finding the time to exercise with my busy work schedule seems impossible. How much exercise do I need to benefit my heart, and what kind? If I like to play pickleball, is that a better form of exercise than say, weightlifting?

ANSWER: Finding time within busy schedules can feel difficult, but if you dedicate at least 30 ...Read more

Walking pneumonia, the 'great masquerader,' on the rise in Washington

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

SEATTLE — This holiday season, try not to give your loved ones something that will take their breath away. At least, not like this.

This year, in addition to more familiar respiratory viruses like influenza, RSV and SARS-CoV-2, local health experts are also warning about a particular type of pneumonia infection.

Infections caused by ...Read more

Dreamstime/TCA

Q&A: Why Finland is vaccinating farmers against bird flu -- but California isn't -- and more info about the spreading virus

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Faced with the rapid spread of avian flu through California dairies, health officials are now doing weekly testing of every dairy farm in the state — expanding initial efforts amid new evidence that some infections are going undetected and there may be unknown paths of transmission.

But farmworkers are not being vaccinated, unlike workers at ...Read more

Aubin Mukoni/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Global disease resurgence in 2024 shows rising health threat

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Some infectious diseases saw a huge surge in 2024, with the spread attributed in part to climate change, declining vaccination rates and the advent of new pathogen variants.

The findings, part of a preliminary analysis by London-based disease forecasting firm Airfinity Ltd., seek to renew the focus on the rise of preventable and climate-...Read more

Amy Beth Bennett/Sun Sentinel/TNS

Norovirus is rampant. Blame oysters, cruise ships and holiday travel

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Tis the season to wash your hands and watch what you eat.

Norovirus, a vomit- and diarrhea-inducing stomach bug, is sickening Floridians through tainted surfaces and contaminated shellfish.

The Sunshine State is one of 12 in the U.S. with a high number of confirmed outbreaks of the virus. Anyone suffering from a bout of the nasty, extremely ...Read more

Bilingual community health care workers help break language barriers in Las Vegas

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

LAS VEGAS — Nolga Valadez knows that her work for Three Square, which provides food to those in need, consists of more than offering sustenance.

After a course in bilingual community health worker training, Valadez said she is now more equipped to follow up with her clients, even after their bellies are full.

“We have more tools with us,�...Read more

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump's picks for top health jobs not just team of rivals but 'team of opponents'

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Many of President-elect Donald Trump’s candidates for federal health agencies have promoted policies and goals that put them at odds with one another or with Trump’s choice to run the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., setting the stage for internal friction over public health initiatives.

The picks hold ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

What's your health forecast? Expert explains science behind personal guides to well-being

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

You may be familiar with a range of tips for living a healthy life: Watch your weight, exercise, eat nutritious food and don’t smoke, for example.

What if you could combine these lifestyle factors with a host of other variables to learn your risk of developing specific diseases, to help catch and treat them early or prevent them altogether? ...Read more

Anonymous livestock veterinarian/Anonymous livestock veterinarian/TNS

How America lost control of the bird flu, setting the stage for another pandemic

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Keith Poulsen’s jaw dropped when farmers showed him images on their cellphones at the World Dairy Expo in Wisconsin in October. A livestock veterinarian at the University of Wisconsin, Poulsen had seen sick cows before, with their noses dripping and udders slack.

But the scale of the farmers’ efforts to treat the sick cows stunned him. They...Read more

Amy Beth Bennett/Sun Sentinel/TNS

Norovirus is rampant in Florida. Blame oysters, cruise ships and holiday travel

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Tis the season to wash your hands and watch what you eat.

Norovirus, a vomit- and diarrhea-inducing stomach bug, is sickening Floridians through tainted surfaces and contaminated shellfish.

The Sunshine State is one of 12 in the U.S. with a high number of confirmed outbreaks of the virus. Anyone suffering from a bout ...Read more

If your kid wants skin care gifts for the holidays, here are some risks to consider

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

LOS ANGELES — As parents rush into malls for the final days of Christmas shopping, many will be armed with wish lists full of beauty products for their children.

Skin care is a fast-growing phenomenon among Gen Alpha, typically defined as those born from 2010 and on. Dubbed "Sephora kids," the tweens and teens have been buying up products ...Read more