Even Valentine’s Day apparently doesn’t trump the start of a brand new year when it comes to getting frisky. Sales of the morning-after pill surged across the U.S. after New Year 2022, new research shows. Nearly 41,000 extra pills were sold in the following week, a period linked to increased risks of unprotected sex.  Sales of emergency contraception also rose after other holidays such as Valentine’s and Independence Day but not as much, a team led by Brandon Wagner of Texas Tech University report in the Christmas issue of the BMJ. While the annual New Year’s sale spike might seem funny,  Wagner’s team points out in a journal news release that “it  is indicative of unmet contraceptive need that calls for further attention” amid tightened restrictions on abortions in many U.S. states. The increased sexual activity associated with New Year’s is less likely to be protected due to increased drinking, they point out. New Year’s Eve has also been linked to increased rates of sexual assault and limited access to other forms of birth control because clinics, medical offices and shops close early or altogether. For the new study, researchers analyzed retail scan data for levonorgestrel, an over-the-counter medication available without age restrictions.  While effective when taken within as many 96, and possibly 120, after unprotected sex, it’s more likely to work the sooner it…  read on >  read on >

Dozens of over-the-counter lubricating eyedrops and artificial tears faced recall in 2023, due to contamination and unsafe manufacturing practices. “This year, we’ve seen an especially large number of recalls in ophthalmologic products,” said Gary Novack, a clinical professor with the UC Davis Health Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences in Davis, Calif. People who regularly use eye drops to fend off dry eyes or help with contact lenses should be aware of these recalls, and take steps to protect themselves, Novack said. “Now that the public health emergency phase of the pandemic is over, the FDA is doing more inspections and they are finding a number of issues at manufacturing plants,” Novack explained in a university news release. The recalls began in February with three brands taken off shelves, including one linked to serious infections, vision loss and four deaths, Novack said. “It’s very rare to get infections from eye drops. However, what we learned this year is that it can happen,” Novack said. “It’s serious not only for potentially losing vision, but in some rare cases patients developed systemic infections and died.” Additional recalls followed in August, October and November, leaving consumers confused about whether any over-the-counter eye drops are safe to use. Products like eye drops are particularly tricky to manufacture because they need to be sterile and germ-free, and they must be…  read on >  read on >

Doctors who overprescribe antibiotics are often blamed for medication-resistant illnesses, but new research points to another potential culprit: air pollution. Controlling air pollution could reduce antibiotic resistance, greatly reducing deaths and economic costs, according to a new in-depth global analysis were published Aug. 7 in The Lancet Planetary Health.. “Antibiotic resistance and air pollution are each in their own right among the greatest threats to global health,” said lead author Hong Chen, a professor at Zhejiang University in China. “Until now, we didn’t have a clear picture of the possible links between the two, but this work suggests the benefits of controlling air pollution could be twofold: Not only will it reduce the harmful effects of poor air quality, it could also play a major role in combatting the rise and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria,” Chen said in a journal news release. Some potential pathways include hospitals, farms and sewage-treatment facilities that emit and spread antibiotic-resistant particles through the air and across distances, the study found. Evidence suggests air pollution contributes to the spread of this antibiotic-resistant bacteria, according to the study. Sources of air pollution called PM2.5 include industrial processes, road transportation and domestic coal and wood burning. About 7.3 billion people globally are directly exposed to unsafe average annual PM2.5 levels. About 80% of those people live in low- and middle-income countries, the…  read on >  read on >

The first step in treating vertigo is understanding its cause. Many conditions can trigger vertigo an expert says. Middle ear fluid, dislodged crystals in the inner ear, Meniere’s disease, vestibular neuritis and vestibular migraine all can cause vertigo, according to Dr. Mina Le. She is an otolaryngologist-head and neck surgeon with Mountainside Medical Group in New Jersey. “If your vertigo is from middle ear fluid, you likely have trouble hearing and it may sound like you’re underwater,” Le said in a news release from Hackensack Meridian Health. “You may have pain or pressure in the affected ear,” she continued. “The problem commonly begins after a head cold. A physician can look at your eardrum to confirm this diagnosis. You will get antibiotics if it’s an acute infection, and decongestants and nasal balloon therapy if it’s chronic.” Short bouts of dizziness may be due to benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). “If your vertigo only lasts for a few seconds at a time, and if it is brought on by turning your head or rolling over in bed, you most likely have BPPV, in which the crystals in your inner ear are dislodged,” Le said. “A physician can confirm this diagnosis with a Dix-Hallpike test.” If you have BPPV, you will be treated with a method called the Epley maneuver, in which the head is turned from…  read on >  read on >

Dandruff becomes more common in the cold winter months, when the chilly air and dry heat causes a person’s scalp to flake and itch. But while it might be an annoying and unattractive condition, dandruff doesn’t mean you are an unclean person, the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) says. “It is a common misconception that dandruff is caused by poor hygiene,” Dr. Mona Sadeghpour, a board-certified dermatologist in Pittsburgh, Pa. and Lone Tree, Colo., said in an academy news release. “Causes range from oily skin to hair care habits, along with some medical conditions.” Luckily, there are a number of effective treatments available for dandruff, the AAD says. Many folks can treat mild dandruff at home by regularly washing their hair, experts say. Folks with a more persistent case of dandruff might turn to a shampoo specially formulated to treat the condition. Effective dandruff shampoos should contain at least one of these ingredients, the AAD says: Zinc pyrithione, salicylic acid, sulfur, selenium sulfide, ketoconazole, or coal tar. If one shampoo doesn’t work, you should try alternating between shampoos containing different active ingredients, the AAD recommends. Some dandruff shampoos need to sit on your scalp for about 5 to 10 minutes before rinsing, the AAD says. Check the instructions on the bottle. People also can better treat dandruff by shampooing according to their hair type. For…  read on >  read on >

SATURDAY, Dec. 16It’s that time of year when your kids come home with sniffles and sore throats, but when should you worry if they have a fever? To a certain extent, fevers are the body’s natural way of fighting infection, one expert says. “Fever helps the immune system,” explained Dr. Christopher Tolcher, a pediatrician with Agoura-West Valley Pediatrics, part of the Chidlren’s Hospital of Los Angeles network. “It slows down the spread of viruses and bacteria. It helps the body make more antibodies and chemicals that fight the infection, and it helps the immune system’s cells move around better in the body.” “Fevers are almost never dangerous…,” he said in a hospital news release. “A fever has to reach 107 to cause damage to tissues. That’s extremely rare.” That said, if your child’s fever reaches 105 degrees, call your doctor. “It doesn’t mean the child is in danger, but the child should be checked by the doctor that day to see what’s going on,” Tolcher said. A normal body temperature for a child ranges from 97 to 100 degrees, with an average of around 98.6. When a person’s temperature reaches 100.4 or above, it’s considered a fever. But when is a fever considered a medical emergency? Call your child’s doctor right away for: A fever that lasts more than four to five days A fever…  read on >  read on >

Smoking shrinks the human brain, and once that brain mass is lost then it’s gone for good, a new study warns. Brain scans from more than 32,000 people strongly link a history of smoking with a gradual loss of brain volume. In fact, the more packs a person smoked per day, the smaller their brain volume, researchers found. The study also establishes the potential series of events that leads to smoking-related brain loss, with a genetic predisposition to smoking eventually causing decreased brain volume. “It sounds bad, and it is bad,” said senior study author Laura Bierut, a professor of psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “A reduction in brain volume is consistent with increased aging,” Bierut added in a university news release. “This is important as our population gets older, because aging and smoking are both risk factors for dementia.” The study, published recently in the journal Biological Psychiatry: Global Open Science, helps explain previous studies that have found smokers at higher risk for age-related brain decline and Alzheimer’s disease. “Up until recently, scientists have overlooked the effects of smoking on the brain, in part because we were focused on all the terrible effects of smoking on the lungs and the heart,” Bierut said. “But as we’ve started looking at the brain more closely, it’s become apparent that smoking is…  read on >  read on >