It may be possible to nudge your vaccine to work a little better. The trick is a good night’s sleep. Sleep helps the immune system respond to vaccination, according to a new meta-analysis of past research, published March 13 in Current Biology. In it, researchers found that people who slept fewer than six hours per night produced significantly fewer antibodies than people who slept seven or more. That deficit was equivalent to two months of waning antibodies. “Good sleep not only amplifies but may also extend the duration of protection of the vaccine,” senior author Eve Van Cauter said in a journal news release. She is a professor emeritus at the University of Chicago. Van Cauter and lead author Karine Spiegel, of the French National Institute of Health and Medicine in Lyon, France, previously published a landmark study on the effects of sleep on vaccination in 2002. To update this, they searched, combined and reanalyzed results of seven studies of vaccination for viral infections, specifically influenza and hepatitis A and B. They compared the antibody response for individuals who slept seven to nine hours (as recommended by the National Sleep Foundation) to that of “short sleepers” who got less than six hours of shuteye. Overall, researchers found strong evidence that sleeping fewer than six hours per night reduced the immune response to vaccination. But a…  read on >  read on >

Nearly one-third of older people fall each year, most of them in their own homes. But it’s possible to reduce those numbers by a quarter, according to a new study. Five steps can cut the risk of falls by 26%, the researchers reported in the March 10 issue of the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Those steps are: decluttering; reducing tripping hazards; improving lighting; and adding hand rails and non-slip strips to stairs. “Falls are very common among older people. They can cause serious injury or even death, but they are preventable. In this review, we wanted to examine which measures could have the biggest impact on reducing falls among older people living at home,” lead author Lindy Clemson, professor emeritus at the University of Sydney, Australia, said in a journal news release. The review found that people most at risk of falls, such as those recently hospitalized for a fall or those needing support for daily activities, such as dressing, would benefit the most from decluttering. Other measures — such as having the correct prescription glasses or special footwear — didn’t make a difference. Neither did education about falls. For the study, the researchers analyzed 22 studies that included data on more than 8,400 people living at home. Taking measures to reduce falls around the house reduced falls by 38% in people who were…  read on >  read on >

While older women are treated for falls more often than elderly males, men are more likely to sustain skull fractures when they topple over, new research suggests. This is a serious concern because more than 3 million people aged 65 and older are treated in U.S. emergency departments each year for falls. “The high incidence of head injury and subsequent skull fractures due to falls is a cause for concern as our aging population continues living active lifestyles,” study co-author Dr. Scott Alter, an associate professor of emergency medicine at Florida Atlantic University College of Medicine, said in a university news release. Head trauma is the leading cause of serious injury, and skull fractures are a serious head trauma outcome, the study authors noted. About 58% of these falls happen to women, according to the 2016 National Trauma Database annual report. To study this further, Alter and his colleagues evaluated all patients seen with head trauma at two level-one trauma centers in southeast Florida. The researchers examined skull fractures due to acute trauma, comparing them by gender, patient race/ethnicity and how the injury happened. About 56% of the more than 5,400 patients were women. About 85% of the head injuries sustained happened in falls. The women and men had a mean age of about 83 and 81 years, respectively. Men had a significantly increased incidence…  read on >  read on >

(HealthDay News) – U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will remain hospitalized with a concussion after suffering a fall during a dinner on Wednesday night. “Leader McConnell tripped at a dinner event Wednesday evening and has been admitted to the hospital and is being treated for a concussion,” McConnell’s communications director David Popp said in a statement released Thursday, NBC News reported. “He is expected to remain in the hospital for a few days of observation and treatment. The Leader is grateful to the medical professionals for their care and to his colleagues for their warm wishes.” When the 81-year-old, who is the longest-serving Senate Republican leader in history, might return to the Senate after his injury is unclear, according to the New York Times. Democrats have a slim 51-49 majority in the U.S. Senate and have recently needed Vice President Kamala Harris to cast tie-breaking votes on some judicial nominations as some Democrats have been absent. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Penn.), 53, is working remotely during treatment for depression and unable to vote because he is not physically present. Meanwhile, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), 89, is also out, after being hospitalized with shingles. McConnell was previously injured in 2019, having surgery after fracturing his shoulder on a patio at his home in Louisville, the Times reported. He was last re-elected as minority leader in 2022.…  read on >  read on >

Side effects from a COVID-19 vaccination might have made you feel poorly for a day or two, but that may have come with an extra benefit. A new study of health care workers finds a link between stronger side effects and a longer-lasting vaccine. In addition, those who had a COVID-19 infection prior to their vaccination also had a more powerful immune response, according to researchers from UConn Health in Farmington. “Prior infection with COVID meant you were more likely to have a sustained immune response. It definitely set your immune system to respond in a more vigorous way to the vaccination,” study co-author Dr. Kevin Dieckhaus said in a university news release. He’s chief of infectious diseases at UConn School of Medicine. To study this, researchers recruited 296 nurses, doctor and other hospital workers. That included 46 who had already been infected with COVID. Participants were vaccinated with either the Pfizer or the Moderna mRNA vaccines. The study had originally included health care workers vaccinated with Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, but not enough chose that option to make the results statistically significant. The health care workers had their blood tested for neutralizing antibodies at two months post-vaccination, then at five months and again at nine months. These neutralizing antibodies attack the parts of the virus important for infection, the study noted, while other antibodies…  read on >  read on >

A water heater set to 120 degrees Fahrenheit can release water from the tap hot enough to cause a second-degree burn in about nine minutes. Turned up to 130 degrees, that injury happens in just 25 seconds. At 140 degrees, it only takes three seconds, according to a new study that tallied the personal and financial costs of scalding injuries in the United States. Researchers led by Wendy Shields, a senior scientist from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, recommend a potential solution to help prevent these serious accidents. Mandating thermostatic mixing valves that add cold water to tap water before it comes out of the faucet could make a difference, they said. “Scald burns are actually something that’s fairly common that we will see in the emergency department and it is often smaller children that are injured,” said Dr. Torree McGowan, a spokesperson for the American College of Emergency Physicians and an ER doctor for St. Charles Health System in Redmond, Ore. “When we do see scald burns from the tap, it is usually because our water heaters are turned up too high and we underestimate how much of a difference 10 degrees in the heat of our hot water heater can make,” said McGowan, who was not involved in the research. To study the issue, scientists used data from two…  read on >  read on >