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U.S. cases of syphilis have soared past numbers seen just a decade ago, new government statistics show. The grim numbers are for 2022, the latest year for which an accurate tally is available. More than 202,000 cases were recorded among Americans that year — a 17% rise over 2021 numbers and an 80% rise over numbers recorded in 2018, the report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found. Congenital syphilis — when the disease is passed from a mother to her newborn — can be very harmful to infants, and those cases have also risen at an alarming rate. Over 3,700 such cases were reported in 2022, the CDC reported in November, including 231 stillbirths and 51 infant deaths. Left untreated, syphilis in adults can damage the heart and brain and cause blindness, deafness and paralysis. Why the steady, sharp rise in cases? Experts believe that reductions in condom use have occurred as more Americans are turning to drug regimens that effectively prevent HIV infections without condoms. According to the New York Times, condom use by high school students has fallen by 8 percentage points between 2011 and 2021. The number of clinics focused on sexual health has also declined nationwide, experts say. “Sexual health services remain inadequate relative to the need pretty much everywhere,” Dr. Jay Varma, chief medical officer at… read on > read on >

Older adults frequently delay needed surgery because of financial concerns, a new study finds. Nearly half of people ages 50 and older who were very concerned about the cost of surgery wound up not having an operation they had considered, researchers reported Jan. 30 in the journal JAMA Network Open. Further, more than half who were very concerned about taking time off work wound up dropping plans for surgery, results show. “When I counsel patients in my clinic who are considering elective surgery, I now also spend a good deal of time discussing the financial and employment implications of surgery with them,” said researcher Dr. Nicholas Berlin, a surgical fellow with the University of Michigan Medical School. “Unfortunately, I have seen a number of insured patients forego needed surgery because they are unable to afford the out-of-pocket costs or take time away from work for recovery,” Berlin added in a university news release. For the study, Berlin and his colleagues analyzed data from the National Poll on Healthy Aging, which showed in 2022 that nearly half of older adults considering surgery had concerns about costs, work time lost or COVID risk. About two-thirds who said they were very concerned about COVID exposure during surgery or recovery wound up not having an operation they had considered, researchers found. On the other hand, few patients dropped plans… read on > read on >

The maker of a drug used to treat ADHD and narcolepsy has recalled one lot of the medication after a pill mixup was discovered. The recall notice, issued by Azurity Pharmaceuticals Inc., states that one lot of Zenzedi 30-milligram tablets is being recalled after a pharmacist found antihistamine tablets in a bottle labeled as Zenzedi. The active compound in Zenzedi is dextroamphetamine sulfate, a stimulant used for the treatment of narcolepsy and ADHD. Meanwhile, the allergy drug found in the mislabeled bottles contains the sedative carbinoxamine, which has the opposite effect of a stimulant. The recall comes amid an ongoing national shortage of ADHD drugs, creating further frustration for people with ADHD who have struggled to find medications for their condition, CNN reported. The recall notice said that people who take carbinoxamine instead of Zenzedi have a higher risk of accidents or injuries and may have drowsiness, increased eye pressure, urinary obstruction and thyroid disorder. The recalled lot has the lot number F230169A and an expiration date of June 2025. Azurity added that it has not received any reports of serious injury related to the medication mixup. Consumers who have the recalled medication should return it to their pharmacy and call their doctor if they have any bad reactions to the drug. Problems may also be reported to the FDA’s MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program. More information Drugs.com has… read on > read on >

New research is helping confirm smoking as a risk factor for the devastating brain illness amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). ALS affects roughly 31,000 Americans each year, with about 5,000 new cases diagnosed annually, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s a progressive, fatal illness that causes nerves cells controlling muscles to slowly die, leading to weakness and paralysis. The causes of ALS are unknown, and even risk factors for the disease remain unclear. In their new research, a team from South Korea looked at the data from 32 different studies for possible links between smoking and ALS. They found that people who had smoked had a 12% higher odds of developing ALS compared to those who hadn’t, with risks rising even higher if the person was a current smoker. “One of our most pivotal findings was the dose-response analysis, revealing an inverted U-shaped curve,” said study lead author Dr. Yun Hak Kim, of the department of biomedical informatics at Pusan National University in Busan, Korea. According to Kim, a U-shaped curve means that the “risk associated with smoking isn’t a linear progression.” “Instead, it peaks and then starts to decrease or plateau, suggesting that the risk of ALS is influenced by the intensity of smoking,” he said in a university news release. Gender seemed to play a role as well. The… read on > read on >

Deaths related to ozone air pollution will rise significantly around the world during the next two decades due to climate change, a new study warns. Cities in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa can expect to see ozone-related deaths increase by as many as 6,200 fatalities a year by 2054 unless humans rein in global warming, researchers project. “This paper is further evidence of the health benefits that can be achieved if more countries adhered to the Paris Climate Agreement’s goals,” said senior researcher Kai Chen, an assistant professor of public health at the Yale School of Public Health in New Haven, Conn. In the study, researchers analyzed short-term exposure to ground-level ozone pollution and daily deaths in 406 cities across 20 countries and regions. They used four specific climate change scenarios to predict future death rates due to air pollution. Ozone is the primary component of smog, and it has been linked to respiratory problems, heart disease and premature death, researchers said in background notes. Ozone forms when pollutants emitted by cars, power plants and industry chemically react in the presence of sunlight. Ozone is most likely to reach unhealthy levels on hot, sunny days in cities, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Researchers estimated that ozone-related deaths will claim as many as 6,200 lives a year in those cities by 2050-2054,… read on > read on >

A white winter landscape might look magical, but the cold and snow and ice can make even the simplest of tasks potentially dangerous. “It’s slip and fall season,” said Dr. Letitia Bradford, an orthopedic surgeon who practices in rural communities in New Mexico and California. “We see a lot of ankle and wrist fractures during this time as people are slipping on water when it’s raining and ice spots or snow in colder areas.” Orthopedic surgeons with the American College of Surgeons (ACS) have some important tips for getting through the winter safe and injury-free: Slow down People who are cautious and mindful of conditions around them are less likely to slip and fall, Bradford said. “The thing that I tell people the most is to really take their time when doing something. Most of the time, injuries like slips and falls happen when you’re in a hurry,” Bradford said. People should move slowly and deliberately and keep an eye out for hazards like puddles, black ice and snow-hidden curbs when walking about, especially when carrying things like grocery bags that obstruct your view of the ground. “You can’t always watch out for ice spots because they do sneak up on you sometimes, but try to be wary of them when walking,” Bradford said. “Taking your time really is the key to a lot of… read on > read on >

Following a recall of millions of its breathing machines that began in mid-2021, Philips Respironics announced Monday that it would halt sales of all such machines within the United States. The machines include continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) devices used by people with sleep apnea, as well as ventilators used by other patients. The recall was first spurred in 2021 by reports of defective CPAP machines emitting bits of foam and potentially toxic gases back into users’ airways. At the time, Philips initiated a recall of the devices in June 2021 and put a pause on sales of new sleep therapy machines to U.S. customers, Philips spokesman Steve Klink told the New York Times. After that, Philips published data from follow-up testing that it said showed the devices were “not expected to result in appreciable harm to health in patients,” although further testing was ongoing. However, the U.S.Food and Drug Administration questioned the validity of those claims, calling them “unpersuasive,” the Times said. Although the 2021 recall affected about 15 million devices manufactured since 2006, over 5 million more were thought to be still in use by 2021, the Times said. Many thousands of U.S. patients and their families who used the breathing machines have sued Philips, blaming the faulty devices for a wide range of ailments, including fatal lung cancers. According to the Times, in… read on > read on >

Five of eight British children who received human growth hormone from the pituitary glands of deceased donors went on to develop early-onset Alzheimer’s disease many decades later, researchers report. Researchers at University College London (UCL) suspect that the growth hormone received by these people in childhood may have contained amyloid-beta protein plaques, which build up in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease over time. Their finding suggests that — in very rare contexts like these — the brain-robbing disease could be transmitted person-to-person. However, “there is no evidence that amyloid beta can be transmitted in other contexts — for example, during activities of daily life or provision of routine care,” wrote a team led by Dr. John Collinge. He’s a professor of neurology and head of the department of neurodegenerative disease at the UCL Institute of Neurology. The findings were published Jan. 29 in the journal Nature Medicine. As explained by the researchers, between 1959 and 1985 British children with growth issues were sometimes treated with human growth hormone that was extracted from the pituitary glands of cadavers. However, doctors worldwide put a halt to the practice when it came to light that these procedures could transmit a type of misfolded protein called a prion, which in turn could trigger a deadly degenerative brain disorder called Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD). When seen in animals, the… read on > read on >

High school students who smoke, drink or use weed are more likely to be emotionally troubled and have suicidal thoughts, a new study finds. Teens who turn to nicotine, alcohol or marijuana are more likely to think about suicide, feel depressed or anxious, have psychotic episodes and exhibit inattention or hyperactivity, researchers report Jan. 29 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. For example, thoughts of suicide occurred about five times more often among high schoolers who used substances daily or near-daily, compared with those who didn’t. Increases in psychiatric symptoms occurred even among teens with relatively low levels of use, the researchers noted. The results “lend strong support for the notion that screening, prevention, intervention and policy efforts need to comprehensively address targets beyond substance use alone,” such as the mental health impacts of drug use, said lead study author Brenden Tervo-Clemmens, an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School. “Also, these efforts may not need to necessarily be specific to a given substance, but rather reflect the multifaceted mental health needs of all adolescents who use substances,” Tervo-Clemmens added in a university news release. For the study, the team analyzed survey results from more than 15,000 high school students in Massachusetts in 2022 and 2023. “We sought to determine whether substance use was dose-dependently associated with various psychiatric symptoms in a large sample… read on > read on >

Imagine being subjected to domestic violence in your home, wanting to escape — but there’s no place you can go that will accept a beloved pet. That’s the gut-wrenching situation facing too many victims of domestic abuse, according to a new data review spanning 27 years. “In a lot of cases of domestic violence, there is evidence to suggest that people will delay leaving their relationship to protect their pet,” said study lead author Jasmine Montgomery, a PhD student at James Cook University in Townsland, Australia. “This is often because there’s a lack of shelters or housing places which can accommodate pets, or a lack of trust… that they won’t be separated from their pet,” she said in a university news release. “In those cases where threats to pets are made, victims can be lured back by the perpetrator, which places significant risk to their safety as well,” Montgomery noted. “Sadly, the review also confirmed that a common outcome for pets in cases of domestic violence was maltreatment and/or death.” The Australian authors noted that similar scenarios exist for people fleeing natural disasters or those who become homeless. The new data review looked at information from 42 studies on the human-animal bond in the context of personal crises. “Our results reveal the strong emotional attachment between people and animals may result in vulnerability for both… read on > read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

U.S. Syphilis Cases Continue to Climb

Cost, Job Worries Have Many Americans Postponing Surgeries

ADHD Drug Zenzedi Recalled Over Pill Mixup

Study Confirms Link Between Smoking and ALS

Ozone-Linked Deaths on the Rise Globally

Slip Sliding Away: Shield Yourself From Winter Injury

Philips Suspends U.S. Sales of CPAP, Ventilator Machines After Recall

Was Alzheimer’s Transmitted Through Cadaver-Sourced Growth Hormone Given to Kids?

High School Kids Who Use Weed, Alcohol Face Higher Risks for Suicidal Thoughts

Leaving Pets Behind Adds to Trauma, Danger for People in Crisis