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Limited “heading” of a soccer ball in youth sports may not cause irreversible harm, as long as players are properly trained, a new study finds. This study from concussion researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) looked at the consequences of repeated head impacts shortly after the impact. They did this using six different tests. They found that having a small number of repeated soccer headers equivalent to a throw-in did not cause immediate neurophysiological problems for teens. “Soccer is a sport where intentionally using your head to hit the ball is an integral part of the game, and concern over its long-term effects has parents, caregivers and coaches understandably concerned,” said study co-author Colin Huber, a postdoctoral research fellow at Emory University in Atlanta. He conducted this research while with the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at CHOP. “We wanted to simulate these effects in a controlled laboratory setting and build upon the work of prior studies to quantitatively assess the neurophysiological effects of repeated soccer heading,” Huber said in a hospital news release. In professional sports, repeatedly heading the ball has been linked to long-term brain health issues for some athletes, even without initial symptoms. Short-term impacts have been poorly understood in youth athletes, but limits have been set. In 2015, the U.S. Soccer Federation limited soccer headers for teens during practice… read on > read on >

When going on vacation, there’s a lot to remember, but it’s a good idea if you add one more item to the to-do list. Baylor College of Medicine in Houston suggests creating a family travel medical checklist, to be sure that you and your loved ones stay healthy and safe while you’re away. “Traveling can expose families to different environments, climates and potential health risks. A medical travel checklist makes families take a step back to ensure the necessary precautions to protect their health and safety,” said Dr. Mike Ren, an assistant professor of family and community medicine at Baylor. “A list should include essential items such as medications, first aid supplies and personal protective equipment,” he said in a college news release. Talk to your primary care provider before you leave to get advice about vaccinations and medications you may need, depending on where in the world you’re traveling to. Make sure any family members on medications have enough to supply them for all the days you’re gone. Check to see if you may need special documentation to bring your medications across borders. If you’ll be traveling in high heat, such as in extended car rides, determine what to do if some items may lose their potency. This might include insulin, some antibiotics, inhalers, eye drops, liquid medications and ointments. “Over-the-counter medications like pain… read on > read on >

Depression is a debilitating condition that can leave its millions of sufferers in despair. Globally, an estimated 5% of adults suffer from depression, according to the World Health Organization. Luckily, there are a variety of depression treatments that can help manage and ease symptoms. These can range from medications to lifestyle changes, talk therapy and even newer treatments such as ketamine. Here, experts describe the most common treatments for depression and explain how they work. Depression treatments Depression can be a complex and challenging mental health condition to treat. As James Maddux, emeritus professor of clinical psychology at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., told HealthDay recently, “One of the primary challenges of treating depression is that individuals with depression may resist taking advice or seeking help. Often, people with depression have difficulty believing that things will get better, which can make it challenging to motivate them to engage in treatment.” Nonetheless, various options are available that can help manage symptoms and improve quality of life. Depression can impact an individual’s quality of life in many ways, such as negatively affecting their work, relationships and overall functioning. Additionally, depression can increase the risk of suicide and other mental and physical health issues, underscoring the importance of effective treatment to manage symptoms. Non-medication depression treatments While medications can be an effective tool for managing depression symptoms,… read on > read on >

A federal website intended to help people choose a nursing home not only contains inaccurate information, but those inaccuracies appear to be at least partially driven by race, a new study reports. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) established the Nursing Home Care Compare website in the 1990s to publicly report patient safety indicators for every nursing facility in the nation. But the site appears to drastically underreport the number and severity of major injury falls and bedsores suffered by Medicare residents in specific nursing homes. The site relies on self-reported data from nursing homes to track falls and bedsores, but Medicare claims data show that nursing homes are not reporting all of these incidents, said lead researcher Prachi Sanghavi, an assistant professor of public health sciences at the University of Chicago. About 40% of major injury fall hospitalizations and 32% of severe bedsore hospitalizations found in Medicare claims data did not show up on the CMS website, the researchers found. “It’s not just slightly inaccurate. It’s actually very inaccurate,” Sanghavi said. What’s more, Sanghavi and her colleagues found that the underreporting varied based on the racial composition of the nursing homes. Nursing homes with more white residents had higher reporting rates for major injury falls and lower reporting rates for pressure ulcers, and vice versa was true for nursing homes with… read on > read on >

Smallpox vaccines, which were routinely given into the 1970s, seem to provide protection from mpox, a new study says. The mpox virus, responsible for a worldwide outbreak last year, could surge again this summer, public health experts have warned. It was previously called monkeypox. Researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden wondered whether the smallpox vaccine would offer some level of immunity against mpox due to a residual memory response. Mpox is among orthopoxviruses that have similarities to smallpox, which was eradicated in the mid-1970s. “The findings from our study demonstrate that this holds true, indicating that the memory cells exhibit remarkable longevity and possess the ability to identify closely related viruses like the mpox virus,” said co-author Marcus Buggert, a researcher at Karolinska’s Center for Infectious Medicine. “They can offer overlapping immunity or cross-reactive protection,” Buggert added in an institute news release. The team examined T-cell immune response in 105 healthy blood donors, finding that people born before 1976 had a notably robust immune response against both viral types. They then evaluated the immune response in 22 men who recently contracted mpox, finding that they also had a vigorous immune response to the virus. The authors said this suggests the potential for future immunity among those individuals. The sample size was insufficient for researchers to determine how much protection prior vaccination offered, but a… read on > read on >

The supplement known as 5-HTP is available in both natural and synthetic versions and is used by some people to treat a variety of wellness issues. Here’s a look at what this supplement is, its safety profile, side effects and drug interactions, and the potential health benefits that 5-HTP has to offer you for a balanced lifestyle. What is 5-HTP? In your body, 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) is a chemical produced naturally from the essential amino acid called tryptophan. The U.S. National Library of Medicine states that it’s the forerunner of serotonin. Natural supplements that contain 5-HTP are made from a plant called Griffonia simplicifolia that’s native to countries in West Africa such as Congo, Sierra Leone and Ghana, according to the University of Texas El Paso. A review published in the International Journal of Molecular Science by researchers from the University of Turin in Italy found that in recent years, scientific breakthroughs have also allowed for the production of some synthetic 5-HTP supplements. 5-HTP benefits Because 5-HTP is converted into serotonin (also known as 5-hydroxytryptamine or 5-HT) in the body, it provides a number of potential benefits for your overall health and well-being. Depression The Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database rates 5-HTP as “possibly effective” for treating depression, according to the National Library of Medicine, and it may work as well as some antidepressant drugs that are… read on > read on >

You’ve heard of eating your spinach to stay strong, but how about loading up on your flavonols? New research suggests that plant-based foods rich in these important dietary compounds could lower your chances of developing frailty as you age. Apples and blackberries are among the fruits that contain a particular flavonoid called quercetin that may be the most important to prevent frailty, the investigators added. “There may be some validity to the old saying, an apple a day keeps the doctor [or frailty] away,” said a team that included Steven Oei, from the department of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, in Boston. “Our findings suggest that for every 10 mg [milligrams] higher intake of flavonols per day, the odds of frailty were reduced by 20%. Individuals can easily consume 10 mg of flavonols intake per day since one medium-sized apple has about 10 mg of flavonols.” About 10% to 15% of older adults experience frailty. This geriatric syndrome leads to a greater risk of falls, fractures, disability, hospitalization and death. Dietary recommendations to prevent frailty typically focus on eating protein, but many other foods have health benefits, the study authors reported. “Although there was no significant association between total flavonoid intake and frailty, higher flavonols intake (one of the subclasses of flavonoids) was associated with lower odds of developing frailty,” according to study… read on > read on >

Maybe you can’t weed your garden without sneezing. Perhaps your eyes start watering when you clean your home. Did your skin begin itching last night during dinner? You may have an allergy, but you’re not alone. More than 50 million adults and children in the United States have a bad reaction to pollen, dust, mold, pet dander and other common allergens, according to the American College of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology (ACAAI). What are allergies (allergic reactions)? An allergy is your body’s reaction to an allergen such as pollen, mold and more. Pollen causes a pollen allergy and mold causes a mold allergy. It’s your immune system that reacts. It is very important because it protects you from germs and viruses, but sometimes it gets confused. “Most people don’t have an immune response to pollen, but a certain percentage of people’s immune systems see it as foreign and dangerous, and they treat it like a pathogen or infection,” said Dr. Christina Price, an allergist and immunologist at Yale Medicine in New Haven, Conn. How your body treats allergens When your immune system decides that something might hurt you, it fights back. This fight triggers those miserable symptoms like shortness of breath, hives, sneezing and itching, the ACAAI explains. In other words, while trying to protect you, your body accidentally causes harm. The most common allergy… read on > read on >

It’s a social media darling and one of the hottest prescription medications on the U.S. market. But does Wegovy really help patients lose weight? Yes, a new study suggests. Investigators analyzed data on more than 100 people using Wegovy (semaglutide). They found that after a year participants had shed more than 13% of their body weight on average. “This medication showed superior weight-loss outcome to all previously approved anti-obesity medications that were tested,” said study lead author Dr. Wissam Ghusn, a research fellow in gastroenterology and hepatology with the Precision Medicine for Obesity Program at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Semaglutide was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2017 to help control blood sugar levels and reduce the risk for heart attacks, stroke and death among patients with type 2 diabetes. For this purpose, the once-weekly injectable medication — sold under the brand name Ozempic — helps the body make more insulin, which lowers blood sugar levels for people with diabetes. But the drug was also associated with weight loss, and the FDA approved it for that purpose in 2021. Sold as Wegovy, the self-administered injectable is given at a higher once-a-week dosage of 2.4 mg. It is intended as a weight-loss medication for adults with an “overweight” body mass index (BMI) between 27 and 29 who also struggle with at… read on > read on >

(HealthDay News) – Cases of vision loss and deaths are mounting in an investigation into eye drops contaminated with a rare strain of a drug-resistant bacteria. In all, four people have died, with one new death now being reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Meanwhile, a total of 14 people have experienced vision loss, with six new cases reported last week. Infections have now been reported in 81 people living in 18 states. Four cases have involved people who have had to have their eyeballs surgically removed. The cases involve 10 brands of eye drops, most commonly EzriCare Artificial Tears. Global Pharma Healthcare’s Artificial Tears Lubricant Eye Drops were first recalled in February. The drops were distributed by EzriCare and Delsam Pharma. “Patients who have used EzriCare or Delsam Pharma’s artificial tears and who have signs or symptoms of an eye infection should seek medical care immediately,” the CDC said in its latest update. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the bacteria infecting these patients. It’s a strain never before seen in the United States, CNN reported. Among the newly identified patients, many had either recalled using the eyedrops or lived in long-term care facilities in which others were infected with the bacteria. The bacteria can spread to those who haven’t used the drops, the CDC noted. “The bacteria can spread when one patient… read on > read on >