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Want to live like you did in the carefree days before the pandemic? Just roll up your sleeve when your turn comes to get the COVID-19 vaccine, three major medical groups urge in a new public service campaign. The vaccines are safe, effective and will help end the pandemic, according to the American Hospital Association, American Medical Association and American Nurses Association. “To defeat COVID-19 and get back the moments with friends and family we all miss, we need as many shots in arms as possible,” said Rick Pollack, president and CEO of the hospital association. “It’s imperative that all Americans consider the health of their loved ones and make the decision to take the COVID-19 vaccine when it is their turn,” Pollack said in a joint association news release. Dr. Susan Bailey, president of the American Medical Association, agreed, calling on Americans to exercise civic responsibility. “Whether enough people get the COVID-19 vaccine decides our future and the future toll of the virus, so be ready to do your part,” Bailey said. What if you have concerns in the meantime? Ernest Grant, president of the American Nurses Association, suggested reaching out to a nurse, doctor or other health care professional to get your questions answered. “Try to connect with someone you know and trust who has received a COVID-19 vaccine and ask them about… read on > read on >

A virus-linked cancer killing California sea lions is sounding a chilling alarm for mankind. Exposure to environmental toxins significantly boosts risk for the herpes-like cancer, which was discovered in sea lions in 1979. Since then, between 18% and 23% of adult sea lions admitted to a California animal rescue-and-research center have died of the disease. That’s the highest rate for a single type of cancer in any mammal, including humans, the researchers said. “The decades of research looking into this deadly disease clearly shows the ocean environment we all share is in trouble, and that we need to find solutions to protect our collective health,” said study co-author Pádraig Duignan, chief pathologist at The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, Calif. The study — based on more than 20 years of research and examination of nearly 400 California sea lions — was recently published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science. The researchers said more must be done to stop ecosystem pollution in order to prevent virus-caused cancer in both wildlife and humans. The study found that the blubber of California sea lions has among the highest levels of some organic pollutants found in any marine mammal. “Even though some of the pollutants we’re finding in the blubber have been out of use for years, these cancer-causing elements remain in the environment for a very long… read on > read on >

THURSDAY, Feb. 4, 2020 (HealthDay) — Being infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 is not a foolproof shield against reinfection, a small preliminary study warns. The finding stems from tracking nearly 3,250 young U.S. Marine recruits between May and October. Of those, 189 had previously tested positive for the SAR-CoV-2 virus. During the six-week study itself, 10% of those who had tested positive got reinfected. “You don’t have a get-out-of-jail-free card just because you have antibodies from a previous infection,” said study author Dr. Stuart Sealfon. He’s a professor of neurology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, which conducted the study in collaboration with the Naval Medical Research Center. The findings were recently published in the preprint server medRXiv and have not been peer-reviewed. All the Marines were beginning basic training and were initially held in Navy quarantine for two weeks, after two weeks of at-home quarantine, according to the study. Once training began, recruits were tested for COVID-19 every two weeks over a six-week period. The result: 19 of the 189 recruits who already had COVID tested positive for a second infection during the study. Researchers said first- and second- infections involved the same strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and none involved the new, more transmissible U.K., South African or Brazilian strains that have raised alarm in… read on > read on >

Combining drugs with driving is a potentially deadly but all too common combination in the United States, according to a new report. University of Cincinnati (UC) researchers found that almost 9% of adults reported driving under the influence of alcohol. Marijuana use among drivers was more than 4%, while many adults also use both pot and other drugs in combination with alcohol. The most commonly reported drugs used while driving were marijuana and opioids, the study found. “We need to focus our efforts on drugged driving, in addition to drunk driving, because drugged driving causes such a high level of fatalities,” said study lead author Andrew Yockey. He’s a doctoral student in UC’s College of Education, Criminal Justice and Human Services. With lawful marijuana use rising in the United States, there are concerns about road safety, the researchers said in a university news release. Keith King, director of the UC Center for Prevention Science, said, “There is serious concern as to how legalization will affect driving behaviors among adults.” King called for more research to evaluate the impact of legalization. The team also emphasized education at an early age and identifying culturally relevant prevention strategies. For the study, the researchers used sample data from the 2016 to 2018 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. The investigators found that men were significantly more likely than… read on > read on >

A lot of people will be watching the Super Bowl this Sunday, but not everyone will be equally excited about it. A new study that considered the influence of gender and sexuality on sports fandom found that though 9 of 10 Americans say they enjoy sports at least a little, heterosexual men most commonly identify as passionate fans. In the study, about 60% of heterosexual men reported identifying as passionate sports fans. This was compared to 40% of both heterosexual women and lesbians, while only 30% of gay men reported being passionate sports fans. Data came from the National Sports and Society Survey, which is sponsored by Ohio State University’s Sports and Society Initiative. It was completed by nearly 4,000 adults from all 50 states and participants answered the survey questions between the fall of 2018 and the spring of 2019. Researchers weighted the study to reflect the makeup of the U.S. population. Previously, there hasn’t been good data on how a variety of gender and sexual identities were reflected in the larger sports fan community, explained study author Chris Knoester, an associate professor of sociology at Ohio State. “One of the advantages of the survey data in this study is that it has a relatively large sample of individuals who identify as a sexual minority or as nonbinary in terms of their gender identity,… read on > read on >

They’re medical miracles: A new report finds that vaccines against 10 major diseases prevented 37 million deaths between 2000 and 2019 in low- and middle-income countries worldwide, with young children benefiting most. Vaccinations are also projected to prevent a total of 69 million deaths between 2000 and 2030, researchers say. Their modeling study also shows that vaccination against the 10 diseases — including measles, rotavirus, HPV and hepatitis B — means that people born in 2019 will have a 72% lower risk of death from those diseases over their lifetime. “There has been a much-needed investment in childhood vaccination programs in low-income and middle-income countries [LMICs] and this has led to an increase in the number of children vaccinated,” explained study co-author Caroline Trotter, an infectious diseases researcher at the University of Cambridge in the U.K. The greatest benefit of vaccination is among children under age 5. In this age group, deaths from the 10 diseases would be 45% higher without vaccination, according to findings published Jan. 29 inThe Lancet medical journal. Vaccinations against measles will have the biggest impact, preventing 56 million deaths between 2000 and 2030. Over the lifetime of people born between those years, vaccination will prevent 120 million deaths — 65 million of them in kids under age 5. The study assessed vaccination programs in 98 countries. Other pathogens studied were… read on > read on >

If you have had a heart attack and a stroke, you might want to stock up on green tea. New research from Japan finds survivors who drink plenty of green tea may live longer lives. Stroke survivors who drank at least seven cups per day were 62% less likely to die during the study period, versus non-drinkers. Similarly, the risk was cut by 53% among heart attack survivors who downed that much tea. Green tea was not the only beverage tied to longer life. For heart attack survivors — as well as people with no cardiovascular problems — moderate coffee intake was also linked to better survival. The coffee benefit did not extend, however, to stroke survivors. What does it all mean? The findings do not prove that either beverage is a life-prolonging elixir. But they do add to evidence that plant compounds called flavonoids are good for cardiovascular health, according to Dr. Andrew Freeman. Freeman, who was not involved in the study, is director of cardiovascular prevention and wellness at National Jewish Health in Denver. There are no magic bullet foods, and a few cups of green tea won’t “cancel out the effects of a bacon cheeseburger,” Freeman said. He stressed the importance of an overall diet low in processed foods and rich in plant-based ones — including fruits, vegetables, beans, whole grains and… read on > read on >

New research reinforces advice to include more whole grains in your diet. A diet heavy in “refined” grains (such as white bread, cookies and muffins) may increase your risk for heart disease and early death, while whole grains may lower it, according to the study. “We encourage people to have moderate consumption of carbohydrates and to have different types of grain, especially whole grain,” said lead researcher Mahshid Dehghan, of the Population Health Research Institute at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. “Reduction in quantity and improving the quality of carbohydrates is the message of our study,” Dehghan said. Grains like oats, rice, barley and wheat make up about half of diets around the world and as much as 70% in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in Africa and South Asia, the researchers noted. The findings don’t prove that a diet heavy in refined grains causes stroke, heart attacks or other forms of heart disease, only that there seems to be a link. For the study, the research team collected data on more than 137,000 people in 21 countries who were aged 35 to 70, had no history of heart disease and were tracked for more than nine years. People who reported eating 12 ounces of refined grains a day were found to have 27% higher odds of early death and a 33% higher risk… read on > read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

Major Medical Groups Urge Americans to Get COVID Vaccine

Cancer Plagues California Sea Lions, With Implications for Humans

Study Shows Young COVID Survivors Can Get Reinfected

Major Medical Groups Urge Americans to Get COVID Vaccine

Cancer Plagues California Sea Lions, With Implications for Humans

Drugged Driving a Growing Threat on America’s Roads

Survey Shows Which Americans Love Sports the Most

Vaccines Saved 37 Million Lives, Mostly Children, Over Past Two Decades

Daily Green Tea, Coffee Tied to Lower Risk for 2nd Heart Attack, Stroke

Whole Wheat Better for You Than White Bread, Study Confirms