Not sure what’s causing your child’s asthma? A new quick-and-easy nasal swab test for kids can diagnose the specific immune system drivers behind their asthma, potentially opening the door to better treatments, researchers say. The test diagnoses a child’s asthma subtype, also called an endotype. “Because asthma is a highly variable disease with different endotypes, which are driven by different immune cells and respond differently to treatments, the first step toward better therapies is accurate diagnosis of endotype,” senior researcher Dr. Juan Celedon, chief of pulmonary medicine at the UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, said in a news release from the hospital. Asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood, affecting about 1 in every 10 kids, according to the National Institutes of Health. Traditionally, doctors classify asthma into different subtypes based on the immune cells that are causing inflammation that chokes off airways. There’s T2-high driven by T helper 2 cells, T17-high driven by T helper 17 cells, and low-low in which neither type of cell appears to be the cause. Precisely diagnosing an asthma subtype involves putting a kid under anesthesia and taking a small sample of lung tissue, which is then subjected to genetic analysis, researchers said. That procedure is so invasive that it’s just not worth it for kids with milder asthma, so doctors instead must guess asthma subtype based…  read on >  read on >

Considering a New Year’s resolution to quit smoking? New research might provide all the motivation you need: Each cigarette could shorten your life by up to 22 minutes, researchers say. The findings, published Dec. 29, 2024, in the journal Addiction, were based on mortality data from British smokers and suggest that smoking a pack of 20 cigarettes a day can cost someone nearly seven hours of life. “The time they’re losing is time that they could be spending with their loved ones in fairly good health,” said Dr. Sarah Jackson, lead author and principal research fellow at University College London’s Alcohol and Tobacco Research Group. The research shows that smoking tends to erode healthy middle years of life, rather than just the later years often spent in poorer health. The research, which was commissioned by the UK Department for Health and Social Care, includes mortality data on men from the British Doctors Study and data on women from the Million Women Study, a news release says. The studies found that lifelong smokers lost an average of 10 years of life compared with nonsmokers. “In terms of regaining this life lost, it’s complicated,” Jackson said. “These studies have shown that people who quit at a very young age — so by their 20s or early 30s — tend to have a similar life expectancy to people…  read on >  read on >

If you’re a mom right now, you are likely tearing your hair out as you juggle the sizable scheduling demands of the holiday season. Maybe you feel like you are carrying the load alone. New research suggests you are not imagining things, and that it happens all year long to many moms. The study, published recently in the Journal of Marriage & Family, reveals that mothers overwhelmingly carry this “mental load.” What is mental load? It boils down to the thinking needed to keep family life running smoothly. This includes scheduling, planning and organizing tasks. Exactly how much of this responsibility do moms assume? Researchers found that mothers take on seven in 10 of all household mental load tasks. These tasks range from planning meals and arranging activities to managing household finances. “This kind of work is often unseen, but it matters, said researcher Dr. Ana Catalano Weeks, a political scientist in the Department of Politics, Languages & international Studies at the University of Bath in England. “It can lead to stress, burnout and even impact women’s careers. In many cases, resentment can build, creating strain between couples. We hope our research sparks conversations about sharing the mental load more fairly — something that benefits everyone.” In the study, her team analyzed data from 3,000 U.S. parents, measuring the share of common mental load tasks…  read on >  read on >

Single folks might seem like they’re free to have more fun, but a new study says they may pay the piper in their later years. Lifelong single folks have lower scores on life satisfaction measures than those in long-term relationships, according to a study published recently in the journal Psychological Science. Singles also score differently on measures of personality like extroversion, conscientiousness and adventurousness, results show. “There are differences between people who stay single their entire lives and people who get partnered, and for me this means that we have to take extra care of these people,” lead investigator Julia Stern, a senior researcher at the University of Bremen in Germany, said in a news release from the American Psychological Society. For the study, researchers surveyed more than 77,000 Europeans older than 50 hailing from 27 different countries. Of these participants, more than 4,900 had never been married, more than 2,900 had never lived with a partner, and nearly 2,400 had never been in a serious long-term relationship. Researchers figured that people who had been in a serious relationship in the past might have different personality traits than those who’ve never been in a committed partnership. And they were right — lifelong singles scored lower on extraversion, openness to new experiences, conscientiousness and life satisfaction, results show. All singles scored lower on those measures than…  read on >  read on >

Blue Christmas, anyone? Holiday time can be wonderful, worrisome, energizing and depressing — all at the same time. There is no doubt about it: The holidays can be darn hard, especially when the season dredges up painful feelings or memories. Rather than stirring merry and joyful feelings, the end of the year can feel sad, dark and lonesome — especially when you are missing someone or wrestling with stressors such as financial strain. “It’s important to know that it’s OK to not feel festive during this season,” Katie Godshall, a clinical assistant professor in social work at the University of New Hampshire, said. Realize that these feelings are perfectly normal, she advises. “If you’re coping with loss or loneliness, it can be significantly more difficult to feel joyful,” Godshall said, stressing that feeling a little blue doesn’t mean that you have failed. “It’s important to remember to be kind to yourself, look for a little help and try to find some comfort,” she notes. If you, like many others, are managing loss, anxiety and stress around the holidays this year, consider how to give yourself a little grace and focus on your mental health. Godshall offers basic tips and steps to help beat the blues or comfort a loved one who are struggling this holiday season. 15 Steps to Help Ease the Holiday Blues 1.…  read on >  read on >

Should you cut back on doom scrolling in 2025? Worries about money, gun violence and hate crimes ranked high among many people’s lists of worries at the end of 2024, according to a poll that is part of American Psychiatric Association (APA) Healthy Minds Monthly opinion poll series. The survey included 2200 U.S. adults. Reducing news consumption may be beneficial for your mental health, experts say. “If current events seem overwhelming it may be time to limit your news consumption,” Dr. Marketa Wills, medical director of the APA, said. “While we like to stay informed, the news can also impact our mental health, and being mindful of that impact is important,” Wells said in a news release. According to the APA’s research, American adults have remained most anxious about the economy and gun violence throughout 2024. Looking ahead to 2025, more than 1/3 of Americans surveyed (33%) say they will make mental health-related New Year’s resolutions, which is a 5% increase from last year. In fact, the increase is the highest result the APA has collected since it began asking the question in 2021. As usual, many people report that they will pledge to be more physically active in 2025; other resolutions focus on participating in mentally healthy activities. Spend more time in nature (46%) Meditation (44%) Focus on spirituality (37%) Take a social media…  read on >  read on >

Microscopic plastic particles in the air could be contributing to a wide variety of health problems, including lung and colon cancers. Tires and degrading garbage shed tiny pieces of plastic which become airborne, creating a form of air pollution that’s not very well understood, a new review says. “These microplastics are basically particulate matter air pollution, and we know this type of air pollution is harmful,” said researcher Tracey Woodruff, a professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. Microplastics are less than 5 millimeters in size, smaller than a grain of rice, researchers said in background notes. Companies around the world produce nearly 460 million tons of plastic each year, and that’s projected to increase to 1.1 billion tons by 2050, researchers said. A major source of airborne plastic is driving, researchers noted. Tires wear down as they rub against the road surface, sending microplastics into the air. For the review, published Dec. 18 in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, researchers analyzed data gathered on about 3,000 prior studies. The results showed that airborne microplastics can contribute to cancer, lung problems and infertility. Most of the studies in the review used animals, but researchers said the conclusions likely also apply to humans. “We urge regulatory agencies and policy leaders to consider the growing evidence of health harms…  read on >  read on >