What researchers call ‘social factors’ are largely responsible for Black Americans having a greater risk of death from heart disease than whites, according to a new study. Among the social factors that contribute to this racial disparity are unemployment, low income, lack of regular access to health care and lack of a partner, Tulane University researchers said. “For so many years we have focused on smoking, diet, physical activity, obesity, [high blood pressure], diabetes and high cholesterol — and we know those are important” for preventing heart disease, said lead author Dr. Jiang He, chair in epidemiology at Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans. He added he was surprised that the Black-white difference in heart-disease death rates owes mainly to social factors. Black Americans are 54% more likely to die of heart disease than white Americans, the study found. This is true even with a substantial overall reduction in heart disease deaths nationwide. The study used health data from more than 50,000 U.S. adults. The researchers examined links between heart-related deaths and clinical risk factors like obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure as well as lifestyle factors, including smoking, unhealthy diet, lack of exercise and too little or too much sleep. Researchers also considered social risk factors, such as unemployment, low income, food insecurity, limited education, lack of private…  read on >  read on >

“She’s cheer captain and I’m on the bleachers,” Taylor Swift laments to her popular crush in the song “You Belong With Me.” The lyrics of longing to fit in at school reflect an old trope re-confirmed by a new study that compared teens in the United States and Lithuania: Kids seen by their peers as less athletic or less attractive have a harder time than their seemingly picture-perfect classmates. “A long time ago, maybe 60 years ago, there was a really famous study done by sociologist James S. Coleman who found that, much to the chagrin of grown-ups, the most popular, the most important students in high schools were the athletic boys and the attractive girls,” said Brett Laursen, a professor of psychology at Florida Atlantic University and senior author of the new study. “And over the years there have been some correlations that find that children who are not attractive and children who are not athletic struggle a bit. They still have social difficulties and emotional problems,” he added. The new study examines why being outside the so-called “in crowd” at school can lead to adjustment problems. For the study, 300 girls and 280 boys attending public middle schools in the United States and Lithuania self-reported alcohol misuse three times during an academic year. Athleticism, attractiveness, unpopularity and peer rejection were also assessed through…  read on >  read on >

Men who have a rare cancer of the penis may have a new treatment option, according to researchers who found promise in immunotherapy. This new study focused on cancer that was locally advanced or had spread (metastasized). The investigators found that immune checkpoint inhibitors offered promising benefits for some patients with advanced penile squamous cell carcinoma. “These findings provide encouraging evidence that immune checkpoint inhibitors can be effective in treating a subset of patients with penile squamous cell carcinoma,” said study co-author Dr. Amin Nassar, a member of Yale Cancer Center in New Haven, Conn., and clinical fellow at Yale School of Medicine. “We believe that further translational studies and biomarker-based research are essential to identify patients most likely to benefit from this therapy and improve the outcomes for individuals with penile cancer,” he explained in a Yale news release. For the study, the researchers focused on 92 patients who had this rare cancer between 2015 and 2022. The most common immunotherapy drugs administered were pembrolizumab, nivolumab and cemiplimab. Some patients were treated with a combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab. About 13% of all patients and 35% of men with metastases limited to lymph nodes, responded to the drugs. The average overall survival rate was 9.8 months, according to the report. Twenty-nine percent of patients had adverse reactions to treatment. “The study highlights the importance…  read on >  read on >

While vast quantities of peels from the aloe vera plant are thrown out every year as agricultural waste, this natural ingredient has potential to be a powerful insecticide, new research suggests. “It’s likely that millions of tons of aloe peels are disposed of globally every year,” said principal investigator Debasish Bandyopadhyay, from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. “We wanted to find a way to add value and make them useful.” The plant’s rinds can naturally ward off bugs because of several bioactive compounds found in extracts from the peels. The researchers will present their results this week at the fall meeting of the American Chemical Society, held online and in San Francisco. Bandyopadhyay noticed when he was visiting a local aloe vera production center, that insects left the aloe leaves alone, even as they attacked the leaves of other plants. He asked the CEO of the company if he could take the rinds back to his lab. While some home gardeners have begun to use aloe gel as an ingredient in natural pesticides, these recipes don’t always include the peels. Currently, aloe peels are typically used to create biomass to improve soil quality at aloe farms. However, this rotting agricultural waste can release methane and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, contributing to global climate change. Conversely, recycling the peels to develop a…  read on >  read on >

Mosquitoes can be a big pest, leaving behind itchy bumps on skin and potentially spreading serious diseases, such as West Nile virus. Sam Telford III is a professor of infectious disease and global health at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University and a commissioner for the Central Massachusetts Mosquito Control Project. Some counties in his state have detected West Nile virus this summer, and he said the risk will peak in the next few weeks. That’s why it’s important to protect yourself from mosquitoes. But some products meant to deter them work, and others don’t do the job. What works & doesn’t Citronella, for example, is less effective than other products such as DEET, according to Telford. Patio appliances that heat repellents to keep groups safe outdoors were shown to be highly effective against four species of mosquitoes. Wearables, however, don’t reduce mosquitoes’ attraction to humans, Telford pointed out. While some think wearing long sleeves and long pants will help, keep in mind that mosquitoes can bite through tight-fitting clothing if it’s made of thin material. A better alternative is to wear loose-fitting clothing that has been treated with an insecticide like permethrin (0.5%). Use caution with clothing that is still wet from treatment. It is toxic to cats. Insect repellents with active ingredients such as DEET, picaridin, IR3535 or oil of lemon…  read on >  read on >

Punishing heat is a fact of life inside America’s prisons without air conditioning, and it is taking a serious toll on prisoners’ mental health. When the outside thermometer hits 90 degrees Fahrenheit or more, a new study shows that prison suicide risk jumps 36%, in comparison to when temperatures are in the 60s. The finding comes from a look at the Louisiana prison system, one of the largest in the United States. It has been embroiled in legal action due to lack of air conditioning and extreme heat. “Many of the spaces within prisons where incarcerated people eat, work and sleep do not have air conditioning,” said study author David Cloud, who led the study as a doctoral student at Emory University Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta. The problem is particularly serious across the American South, Cloud said, pointing out that while extreme heat is dangerous for anyone in any environment, the prison population is particularly vulnerable. “We are all feeling the effects of extreme heat, and I think most people recognize how spending too much time in the heat can affect their energy levels, mood and overall state of well-being,” he said. “There is a reason that we have systems in place to warn people to take caution and adjust their daily routines when the heat becomes dangerous.” But, Cloud noted, there…  read on >  read on >

Many Americans diagnosed with cancer continue to drink alcohol regularly — sometimes heavily and sometimes during treatment, a new study shows. The study, of over 15,000 U.S. cancer survivors, found that 78% were current drinkers. And of them, significant percentages said they binged or engaged in other “risky” drinking. The same patterns were seen even among people undergoing cancer treatment. Experts said the findings are concerning, in part because alcohol increases the risk of certain cancers. Drinking during cancer treatment, meanwhile, may interfere with the effectiveness of some therapies or boost the chances of side effects. “There were a lot of risky drinking behaviors in this study, which is surprising,” said senior researcher Yin Cao, an associate professor at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. It is true, Cao said, that there is still a lot left to learn about how drinking — including problem drinking — affects cancer survivors’ health over the long haul. There’s limited information, for example, on whether drinking after a cancer diagnosis increases the chances of a recurrence. On the other hand, heavy drinking has well-known health hazards. And there already are “clear guidelines” encouraging everyone — cancer survivor or not — to limit their drinking, for a host of health reasons, Cao said. Those include guidelines from the American Cancer Society (ACS), which say that alcohol use…  read on >  read on >