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Considered one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases, chlamydia can spread easily and often without obvious symptoms. And although chlamydia cases have declined in recent years, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chalks that up to reduced screening for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) during the pandemic. It is estimated that 1 in 20 sexually active women between the ages of 14 and 24 gets chlamydia, according to the American Sexual Health Association (ASHA). The side effects of untreated infection are significant, per the CDC: Chlamydia can permanently damage a woman’s reproductive system, and can also cause a potentially fatal ectopic pregnancy (one that occurs outside the womb). What is chlamydia? Chlamydia is a bacterial infection that can be treated effectively if caught early, according to the Mayo Clinic. Often, it is symptom-free, making it easy to spread before someone realizes they have it. Between 50% and 70% of those who catch it don’t know they’ve caught it — a fact that has earned chlamydia the nickname of the “silent infection.” Research published recently in the Journal of Adolescent Health found that an opportune time to screen young women for chlamydia would be when they get long-acting birth control from their doctors. Is chlamydia curable? Because it is a bacterial infection, chlamydia is curable with antibiotics when caught early, according to the Cleveland… read on > read on >

A gene-editing experiment that restored the vision of mice might one day be used to treat a major cause of human blindness. Scientists in China reported they used the CRISPR-based gene-editing technique to bring back vision in mice with retinitis pigmentosa. Genome editing has previously been used to restore the vision of mice with genetic diseases such as Leber congenital amaurosis, which affect a layer of cells in the eye that supports the light-sensing rod and cone photoreceptor cells. Most of these conditions are caused by genetic defects in the photoreceptors themselves. “The ability to edit the genome of neural retinal cells, particularly unhealthy or dying photoreceptors, would provide much more convincing evidence for the potential applications of these genome-editing tools in treating diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa,” said researcher Kai Yao, a professor at Wuhan University of Science and Technology. For the study, Yao’s team set out to restore the vision of mice with retinitis pigmentosa caused by a flaw in a gene encoding a critical enzyme called PDE6B. For the task, they developed a more versatile CRISPR system called PESpRY. It can be programmed to correct many types of genetic mutation, no matter where they occur within the genome. When programmed to target the mutant gene, PESpRY efficiently corrected the mutation, according to the study. It restored the enzyme’s activity in the retinas… read on > read on >

Many patients worry that receiving a metal implant might set off their metal allergy, according to the American Academy of Dermatology. “Cases in which patients are inquiring about a metal allergy as it relates to their metal implants — including joint replacements, rods, pins, screws, plates, certain neurologic and cardiac devices such as pacemakers, and dental devices — are becoming more prevalent as medical implants become more common,” said Dr. Golara Honari, a clinical associate professor of dermatology at Stanford School of Medicine. About 10% of Americans will receive a medical implant during their lifetime. Millions of people in the United States report having a metal allergy. Metal, especially nickel, is one of the most common causes of allergic contact dermatitis, Honari said. It develops when skin is exposed to an allergen, often leading to a rash and itching. Other symptoms can include dryness, hives, blisters or pain. Honari noted that suspected metal implant allergies can be difficult to diagnose because everyone’s immune system reacts to allergens differently. Close collaboration between a dermatologist and the surgeon or physician who placed the implant is essential, she said. Patients who need an implant and have a documented history of a metal allergy should notify their dermatologist and physician or surgeon about any allergies prior to the procedure. Alternatives to metal implants are available. “For example, if it’s… read on > read on >

Paxlovid, a medication that has helped millions of high-risk COVID patients avoid hospitalization and death since late 2021, moved one step closer to getting full approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday. An FDA advisory panel voted 16-1 that the Pfizer drug remains a safe and effective treatment and should be given full approval. It has only received emergency use authorization until now, but the FDA is expected to make a final decision on full approval by May, the Associated Press reported. The vote was not a surprise, given that Paxlovid continues to be a well-used treatment while other drugs no longer work against a mutated virus. While data for healthy adults shows the drug makes no meaningful difference, it shows significant benefits for high-risk adults. Paxlovid reduces the chance of hospitalization and death by about 60% to 85% for seniors and adults who have health issues that include obesity, diabetes, lung disease and immune system disorders, the AP reported. “We still have many groups that stand to benefit from Paxlovid, including unvaccinated persons, under-vaccinated persons, the elderly and the immuno-compromised,” said Dr. Richard Murphy, of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Paxlovid could prevent 1,500 deaths and 13,000 hospitalizations each week, according to the FDA. The United States still sees about 4,000 COVID deaths and 35,000 hospitalizations weekly, according to the AP.… read on > read on >

It’s well-established that American football players can suffer significant brain impacts as they age. Now, new research shows that elite European soccer players are also more likely than the average person to develop dementia. Men in the Swedish top soccer division between 1924 and 2019 were 1.5 times more likely to develop neurodegenerative disease than those in a control group. The study of more than 6,000 players found they had an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. They did not, however, have any increased risk for motor neuron disease, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease). And they had even lower risk of Parkinson’s disease than a control group matched by age, sex and region. Unlike their outfield counterparts, goalkeepers did not have an increased risk of dementia. This supports the theory that heading the ball increases the risk, according to the report published March 16 in The Lancet Public Health. “Goalkeepers rarely head the ball, unlike outfield players, but are exposed to similar environments and lifestyles during their [soccer] careers and perhaps also after retirement,” said Dr. Peter Ueda, an assistant professor at Karolinska Institute in Sweden. “It has been hypothesized that repetitive mild head trauma sustained through heading the ball is the reason [soccer] players are at increased risk, and it could be that… read on > read on >

Commonly known as the “clap,” gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted disease that can cause infertility in both women and men if left untreated. The bad news is that cases are on the rise: According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, some sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are on a steady and steep climb. Gonorrhea, already the second most common STD in the United States, saw a 10% increase in prevalence in 2020 alone. “The COVID-19 pandemic put enormous pressure on an already strained public health infrastructure,” Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of CDC’s National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, said recently. “There were moments in 2020 when it felt like the world was standing still, but STDs weren’t. The unrelenting momentum of the STD epidemic continued even as STD prevention services were disrupted.” The even worse news is that gonorrhea has developed antibiotic resistance, with recent research showing the bacteria is now resistant to numerous antibiotics in many parts of Africa. Doctors are down to one last effective class of antibiotics, cephalosporins, to treat a gonorrhea infection. What is gonorrhea? Gonorrhea is a bacteria that is spread through sexual contact, and sometimes through childbirth. The Mayo Clinic reports it most commonly affects the genitals, rectum and throat. In babies born to infected moms, it most commonly presents as an eye… read on > read on >

In state after state, doors are quickly slamming shut on the ability of doctors to provide gender-affirming care for transgender minors. The newest restriction is set to take effect Thursday in Florida, where that state’s Board of Medicine decided last month to ban the use of all puberty blockers, hormone therapies and/or surgeries for any patient under 18, whether or not those minors have parental approval for such care. The ban stems from an effort first launched by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Surgeon General back in April 2022, when the pair issued a joint call for the ban. That was followed in August 2022 by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration’s rewriting of Medicaid coverage rules that disallowed reimbursements for any gender-affirming treatments involving both minors and adults. Minors who were already receiving puberty blockers before the new ban may continue taking them. Otherwise, the ban is complete: Florida transgender minors are no longer allowed access to gender-affirming medical care, even in a clinical trial. As a board ruling — rather than a new state law — Florida doctors who violate the ban will not face criminal charges, though they will be subject to censure, fines and the potential loss of their right to practice medicine in the state. Last week, Republican state lawmakers tabled a bill that would have gone a… read on > read on >

Like humans, some dogs suffer from anxiety. They might show fear or excitability toward strangers. Loud noises might result in “accidents.” They may get destructive when you leave home. The cause of their distress could lie in their brain makeup, researchers from Ghent University in Belgium say. For the study, published March 15 in PLOS ONE, researchers Yangfeng Xu and Emma Christiaen recruited 25 healthy dogs and 13 anxious dogs. They then used a type of noninvasive brain imaging called fMRI. The researchers discovered the anxious dogs had different features in their brains, with stronger connections between a component of the brain known as the amygdala and other regions of the anxiety network. The amygdala is responsible for emotions and behavior, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Although animals, including rodents, are often studied to aid in understanding anxiety disorders, the investigators said the dogs’ larger brain and bigger cortex could aid research into neural networks associated with anxiety. The researchers looked at the resting state of dogs with and without anxiety, comparing network metrics and connectivity between the groups. With the resting-state fMRI, the study team could see that functional connections between the amygdala and other parts of the anxiety circuit, particularly the hippocampus, were stronger than normal in anxious dogs. Certain other measurements known as global and local efficiency were also… read on > read on >

Your eyes close and your mind shuts down the second your head hits the pillow, but you wake up 10 hours later still feeling tired. Many people complain about sleeping too little, but some struggle with the opposite problem: oversleeping. Oversleeping, or hypersomnia, is a sleep disorder characterized by complaints of excessive daytime sleepiness occurring regularly or often, even after sleeping 10 or more hours a night. “Healthy sleep encompasses three major things,” Marishka Brown, a sleep expert at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), said recently. “One is how much sleep you get. Another is sleep quality — that you get uninterrupted and refreshing sleep. The last is a consistent sleep schedule. If you’re sleeping more than nine hours a night and you don’t feel refreshed, there may be some underlying medical issue.” If you are asking yourself, “Why do I need so much sleep,” here are the most common reasons for that and some tips on how to revamp your sleeping routine. While individual sleep needs may vary depending on age and conditions such as illness, stress or physical activity levels, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine notes that experts recommend that schoolchildren get nine hours of sleep per night and teens get eight to 10 hours, while adults may only need seven hours or more. Some adults, known as long sleepers,… read on > read on >

Steering clear of red meat, dairy and processed foods in favor of vegetables, fruits, nuts, extra virgin olive oil and whole grains will do a woman’s heart good, a new review shows. How much good? Australian investigators concluded that women who most closely followed the Mediterranean diet — which also features legumes, fish and shellfish, and moderate amounts of wine — appeared to lower their long-term risk for heart disease and premature death by nearly 25%, compared with women who didn’t. Though not involved in the analysis, Connie Diekman, a food and nutrition consultant and former president of the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics, said the finding “is not surprising.” For one, Diekman noted that “studies continue to demonstrate the benefit of a plant-based eating plan to reduce inflammation, a likely contributor to disease development. In addition, the limited intake of saturated fats (found predominantly in animal foods) and consumption of unsaturated fats (found in higher amounts in plants) seems to be connected to blood levels of LDL cholesterol (the ‘bad’ cholesterol) and HDL cholesterol (the ‘good’ cholesterol).” Diekman added that past research has also shown that using olive oil and nuts that are high in unsaturated fats — both key foods in the Mediterranean diet — can help lower heart disease risk. Dr. Gregg Fonarow is director of the Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center, co-director of… read on > read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

Chlamydia: What It Is, Symptoms, Treatment & More

In Mouse Study, Scientists Use Gene Editing to Reverse a Major Cause of Blindness

How Metal Implants Could Mess Up Your Skin

FDA Advisors Back Full Approval of Paxlovid

Dementia Risk Rises for Elite European Soccer Players

Gonorrhea: What It Is, Symptoms, Treatment & More

Florida’s Board of Medicine Bans Gender-Affirming Care for Minors. Does the Science Back That Up?

Have an Anxious Dog? Study Seeks Clues in Canine Brains

Why Do I Sleep So Much? Reasons for Oversleeping

Mediterranean Diet Cuts Women’s Odds of Heart Disease, Early Death by Nearly 25%