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Parkinson's tremors disappear with use of machine that sends heat waves to the brain

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — Delray Medical Center cut the ribbon on its newest high-tech machine last week that targets brain areas to treat movement disorders such as essential tremor and tremor-dominant Parkinson’s disease.

The machine can stop the involuntary trembling of the heat and hands experienced by people with neurological disorders in ...Read more

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Mayo Clinic Minute: Molecular breast imaging for supplemental breast screening

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

If you are one of the millions of women identified as having dense breasts, your health care team may recommend supplemental or additional screening to check your breasts for cancer.

Dr. Kristin Robinson, a breast radiologist at Mayo Clinic, says there are several options when it comes to these screening tests. She recommends working closely ...Read more

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After recovering from heart failure related to pregnancy, she went on to game show glory

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

As academic director for Duke University's corporate education business, Cheryl Stokes traveled the globe. Doing so while 4 months pregnant meant enduring more discomfort than usual.

While returning home from a work trip, she felt a few contractions. But she was more concerned about her mother, Myrtle Bell, who was recovering from a stroke ...Read more

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Climate change threatens the mental well-being of youths. Here's how to help them cope

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

We’ve all read the stories and seen the images: The life-threatening heat waves. The wildfires of unprecedented ferocity. The record-breaking storms washing away entire neighborhoods. The melting glaciers, the rising sea levels, the coastal flooding.

As California wildfires stretch into the colder months and hurricane survivors sort through ...Read more

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Mayo Clinic Minute: Reset your eating habits for a new year

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

It's officially 2025. A new year offers new beginnings and an opportunity to reset your eating habits after the holidays.

Andrea Delgado, a Mayo Clinic dietitian, says it's best to eliminate what you don't need, including those party food leftovers.

Is your refrigerator holding onto holiday leftovers? It's OK to let them go.

"What we want to ...Read more

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Illinois approves 4 new conditions for women for medical marijuana

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

For the first time since 2019, Illinois regulators have approved new medical conditions to qualify for medical cannabis, all centered around women’s health.

Endometriosis, ovarian cysts, uterine fibroids and female orgasmic disorder were approved by the Illinois Department of Public Health, at the recommendation of the Medical Cannabis ...Read more

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Mayo research sorts out whether rare BRCA mutations have cancer links

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

A Mayo Clinic-led team of researchers is solving one of the most frustrating aspects of genetic cancer screening — results that give zero guidance to patients on whether they are at elevated risk.

While some mutations in the BRCA2 gene clearly indicate risks for breast and prostate cancer, thousands of less-common variations have confounded ...Read more

Respiratory illnesses are up nationwide. Here are the COVID, flu and RSV hotspots

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

If it feels like everyone around you is fighting off a cold or recovering from the flu, it may be because respiratory illnesses are running rampant in most of the United States, and cases are only increasing.

The overall respiratory illness activity level in the U.S. was rated as “high” by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on ...Read more

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Medicaid expansion debate will affect other health policy issues before Montana Legislature

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

HELENA, Mont. — A last-minute change to a 2019 bill put an end date on Montana’s Medicaid expansion program, setting the stage for what is anticipated to be the most significant health care debate of the 2025 Montana Legislature.

In recent interviews, legislative leaders predicted a vigorous debate over keeping the Medicaid expansion ...Read more

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Mayo Clinic Q and A: So your kids were gifted noisy toys: Now what?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: My teenager received new headphones for Christmas while my preteen asked for a drum set. It's been a bit noisy around here. How can I protect their developing hearing?

ANSWER: Hearing loss often is thought of as something that happens to the elderly. But we live, work and play in a noisy environment, and hearing loss affects ...Read more

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Ask the Pediatrician: What to do if your infant or toddler hits their head

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Just like older kids, babies and toddlers can get concussions. In fact, little ones face some extra risks. But it can sometimes be harder to recognize the signs of concussion, a type of mild traumatic brain injury, in infants and toddlers. They may not have the language skills yet to tell you how they feel.

The impact from a bump, blow or jolt ...Read more

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Heart-protecting advice for a peak experience in the mountains

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Whether it's a wintry visit to a snow-covered ski resort or a summertime hike in an alpine park, a vacation in the mountains can be breathtaking. Literally.

"There is less oxygen available to breathe at higher altitudes," said Dr. William K. Cornwell, an associate professor of cardiology at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in ...Read more

Health care AI, intended to save money, turns out to require a lot of expensive humans

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Preparing cancer patients for difficult decisions is an oncologist’s job. They don’t always remember to do it, however. At the University of Pennsylvania Health System, doctors are nudged to talk about a patient’s treatment and end-of-life preferences by an artificially intelligent algorithm that predicts the chances of death.

But it’s ...Read more

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New noninvasive asthma test may help doctors tailor treatment for kids

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Impacting millions of children in the U.S. alone, asthma can be particularly problematic to diagnose with specificity — leaving the majority of kids without treatments that target their subtype of the condition.

Using a new, noninvasive nose swab test, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have for the first time detected multiple ...Read more

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Indiana state senator moves to scrap hospital monopoly law he helped create

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

On the heels of a scuttled hospital merger between rivals in Terre Haute, Indiana, a state senator introduced a bill that would forbid similar mergers in the future.

Last year, nonprofit Union Health tried to acquire the only other acute care hospital in Vigo County by leveraging a state law it helped create that allows hospital monopolies. Now...Read more

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The US health care system is flawed by design

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

The middlemen that comprise a growing share of America’s convoluted health care system find themselves in a bind. The public is angry about the inflated costs and opaque dealings that govern their access to medical care. Lawmakers, despite recent setbacks, are eager to respond. Intermediaries have become an obvious target for blame and reform....Read more

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Wildfire smoke from the LA fires is a hidden health cost

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Los Angeles has experienced some of the world’s worst air quality this week as smoke from massive wildfires blankets the region and threatens the health of far more people than the fires themselves. And that will end up adding to the economic toll.

Almost 180,000 have been forced to flee their homes and at least 10,000 structures have been ...Read more

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Doctors, nurses press ahead as wildfires strain Los Angeles' health care

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

The rapidly spreading wildfires that have transformed much of Los Angeles County into a raging hellscape are not only upending the lives of tens of thousands of residents and business owners, but also stressing the region’s hospitals, health clinics, first responders, and nursing homes.

At least one medical clinic burned down. Senior patients...Read more

With more Americans able to access legalized marijuana, fewer are picking up prescriptions for anti-anxiety medications – new research

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

In states where both medical and recreational marijuana are legal, fewer patients are filling prescriptions for medications used to treat anxiety. That is the key finding of my recent study, published in the journal JAMA Network Open.

I am an applied policy researcher who studies the economics of risky behaviors and substance use ...Read more

Even 1 drink a day elevates your cancer risk – an expert on how alcohol affects the body breaks down a new government report

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Many people use the new year to reflect on their relationship with alcohol. Just-released government guidelines are giving Americans another reason to consider a “dry January.”

Over the past few decades, mounting scientific evidence has shown that as little as 1-2 alcoholic drinks per day can lead to increases in the likelihood of...Read more