The makeup of bacteria that colonize a man’s penis can help predict the risk of a serious and hard-to-treat vaginal infection in his female partner, new research suggests. Bacterial vaginosis, also known as BV, can lead to problems in pregnancy and make a woman more vulnerable to several sexually transmitted diseases. More than 20% of women worldwide get BV. For this study, researchers tracked 168 couples and found that women whose partner had BV-related bacteria on their penis were more likely to develop BV within a year. “Our results show that penile bacteria can accurately predict new cases of BV in women who did not have BV to begin with, up to six to 12 months in the future,” said lead author Supriya Mehta. “This is important, because it suggests that reducing these bacteria from the penis may reduce BV cases or improve treatment outcomes in women.” Mehta is an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The study authors stressed that they are not saying that exposure to certain types of penile bacteria actually causes BV, though that’s possible. But it’s also possible that, over time, or with repeated exposure, penile bacteria may upset the natural balance of microbes in a woman’s vagina, indirectly raising her BV risk. Mehta noted that BV can be related to behaviors other than sex,…  read on >

Concussion symptoms aren’t always evident, so parents of student-athletes need to know the signs and seek a diagnosis if their teen gets hurt, experts say. Only those closest to a teen may be able to identify the sometimes subtle changes in mood and emotion stemming from a concussion, said Dr. Rory Tucker, a sports medicine specialist at Penn State Bone and Joint Institute in Hershey, Penn. “Parents may notice a change in their teen’s sleep patterns,” Tucker explained. “He or she may be more withdrawn, socializing less with friends or family members, more emotional or tearful. They may have anger outbursts or be more nervous than they were before.” Since doctors may be unfamiliar with a patient’s usual mental state, parents need to advocate for their children. “Medication is rarely necessary in the long term, but while a concussion is healing, it can sometimes be beneficial to take medication to control moods,” Tucker said in a Penn State news release. “We also use medications to assist with sleep. Impairment of sleep can have a detrimental impact on emotional health and how people interact with others.” It’s also important for parents to know that concussion symptoms can be similar to those of depression and anxiety, and that a concussion can worsen existing mental health problems. Dr. Craig DiGiovanni is a postdoctoral fellow in psychiatry and behavioral…  read on >

If you’re working from a home office these days, it’s important to have an environment that won’t injure you, an expert says. It’s good to have a break about every 30 minutes to protect your back, shoulders and arms, said Kermit Davis, an expert in office ergonomics at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. “The body doesn’t like static postures continually,” he said. “You don’t want to do all sitting or all standing all the time. You want to alter your position and change it up throughout the day.” Davis said that while you can work at home, you can’t take home all the comforts of your office. “You can use your laptop from home, but it is designed to be a short-term option,” he said. “It should be used for a few hours while traveling. It is not meant to be used for eight or nine hours each day.” An evaluation of home workstations of university employees who began working at home during the coronavirus pandemic was revealing. Many chairs were the wrong height: 41% were too low; 2% were too high. Although 53% of workers’ chairs had armrests, 32% didn’t use them and 18% were improperly adjusted. Not using armrests can put stress on forearms and strain in the upper back. The evaluation also found that 69% were not using the chairback…  read on >

MONDAY, Aug. 10, 2020 (HealthDay News) With millions of American children soon returning to school, a new study shows that at least 97,000 kids were infected with COVID-19 during the last two weeks of July. According to the new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association, at least 338,000 U.S. children had tested positive through July 30, The New York Times reported. That means that more than a quarter of those cases had come up positive in the second half of July alone. Already, some schools have tried to reopen and then had to order quarantines or close after COVID-19 cases were reported among students and staff, the Times reported. North Paulding High School in Georgia, which gained national attention last week after videos of crowded hallways made their way onto social media, announced Sunday it would switch to online instruction for Monday and Tuesday after at least nine coronavirus cases were reported there. In the new report, states in the South and West accounted for more than 7 of 10 infections. The count could be higher because the report did not include complete data from Texas and parts of New York State outside of New York City. Missouri, Oklahoma, Alaska, Nevada, Idaho and Montana were among the states with the highest percentage increase of child infections during that period,…  read on >

The Trump Administration is weighing a new rule that would temporarily block an American citizen or legal permanent resident from returning to the United States from abroad if authorities believe the person might be infected with the coronavirus. President Donald Trump has already imposed sweeping rules that ban entry by foreigners into the United States, citing the risk of allowing the virus to spread from hot spots around the world. But so far those rules have not applied to American citizens and foreigners who have established legal residence here, The New York Times reported. Now, a draft regulation proposes giving the federal government the power to do so in individual, limited circumstances, the Times reported. Federal agencies have been asked to submit feedback on the proposal to the White House by Tuesday, the newspaper said. The draft of the proposal, parts of which were obtained by the Times, does state that any order blocking citizens and legal permanent residents must “include appropriate protections to ensure that no constitutional rights are infringed.” And it adds that citizens and legal residents cannot be blocked as an entire class of people, the newspaper reported. Whether the Trump administration has the legal authority to block citizens and permanent residents from returning to their own country is unclear, the Washington Post reported. But one official said the administration is contemplating…  read on >

The coronavirus pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement have prompted some Americans to take a break from social media, new research finds. The national survey by Ohio State Wexner Medical Center of 2,000 people found that 56% changed their social media habits because of tensions brought on by current U.S. events. While 29% said their social media use increased because of these tensions, 20% said they had taken breaks from social media. “Stepping away and reconnecting with reality offline is an important step to take for your mental health,” said Ken Yeager, director of the Stress, Trauma and Resilience Program at the medical center. “Being constantly immersed in this stressful environment and being overexposed to contentious or traumatic events can make you feel like the world is a less safe place to be,” Yeager said in a center news release. “And because these stressors have persisted over a long period of time, it’s wearing on people’s ability to cope with that stress.” The stress resulting from these events has increased depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and substance abuse, Yeager added. “Even though you can’t control what happens on social media, it’s important to recognize how it may affect you and take steps to limit your exposure,” Yeager said. These tips can help: Get off the internet and stop scrolling social media. Instead, reconnect…  read on >

Midwestern states are starting to see surges in coronavirus cases, just as Southern and Western states are scrambling to contain their own outbreaks of COVID-19. Missouri, Montana and Oklahoma are among those witnessing the largest percentage surge of infections over the past week, the Washington Post reported. At the same time, the number of new cases in Florida, Mississippi and Alabama still outpaced all other states. Experts also see worrying trends in major East Coast and Midwest cities, the Post reported, and they anticipate major outbreaks in college towns when classes resume in August. Still, President Trump continued his push to fully reopen schools on Monday. “Ideally, we want to open those schools. We want to open them,” Trump said during a White House coronavirus task force briefing. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, on Monday agreed with that sentiment, telling CNN that schools and college campuses across the country should be able to reopen, but officials need to make safety a priority. The default position with kindergartens, grade schools and high schools should be to reopen them, Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN. On college campuses, Fauci said plans should include testing people before they arrive on campus, when they arrive and quarantining them for 14 days. “If done properly, it would not be…  read on >

Older Americans are feeling stressed by COVID-19 and prolonged social isolation, but they’re also showing their resiliency, a new study finds. Most of these adults have turned to a range of tools to stay in touch, researchers report. “Many of the social venues that help older adults stay engaged are effectively cut off now with social distancing. While the internet can help with some connections, it is hard to replace human contact,” said researcher Kerstin Emerson, a clinical associate professor of gerontology at the University of Georgia’s Institute of Gerontology. “And for some, these remote connections aren’t possible due to no reliable internet.” For the study, Emerson surveyed more than 800 adults aged 60 and older between March 30 and April 12, when they had been in lockdown for 17 days. “Part of the reason I did that was because I wanted to see if there was a difference by age groups, among the ‘younger old’ and ‘older old,’ who may have different work responsibilities and living situations,” she said in a university news release. Emerson found that about 40% of 60- to 70-year-olds felt moderately or very stressed and out of control of their lives. Among this group, more drinking and eating was seen. Also, some exercised more and some less than usual. Those aged 71 and older seemed to cope with stress better…  read on >

As the daily U.S. coronavirus death toll averaged more than 1,000 for the ninth straight day on Tuesday, governors from seven states banded together to shorten turnaround time for COVID-19 test results. Three Republican governors and three Democratic governors signed an interstate testing agreement on Tuesday, The New York Times reported. Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio and Virginia will work with the Rockefeller Foundation and two U.S. manufacturers of rapid tests to buy 3 million tests, the newspaper said. A seventh state, North Carolina, later joined the pact, CNN reported. The bipartisan plan illustrates just how bad testing delays are across the country. The United States is testing about 755,000 people a day, up from about 640,000 per day a month ago, the Times reported. But with testing chemicals and other equipment in short supply, and a surge in coronavirus cases nationwide, many Americans are still having to wait many days for results, the Post reported. Most people who are tested do not receive results within the 24 to 48 hours recommended by public health experts to slow the virus’s spread and quickly conduct contact tracing, according to a new survey by researchers from Harvard University, Northeastern University, Northwestern University and Rutgers University, the Times reported. People who had been tested for the virus in July reported an average wait time of about four days,…  read on >

If you’re younger than 65 years old and obese, COVID-19 poses a special danger to you. A new study reports that the more obese you are, the more likely you are to either die from infection with the new coronavirus or require lifesaving mechanical ventilation to survive. Morbidly obese COVID-19 patients are 60% more likely to die or require intubation, compared with people of normal weight, researchers found. Patients who were mildly obese were 10% more likely to die or need a breathing machine, while those who were moderately obese were 30% more likely, according to the study. “Increasing obesity was associated with an increased risk of lung failure or death in COVID-19,” said lead researcher Dr. Michaela Anderson, a pulmonologist at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City. But obesity only posed a risk for people under 65, researchers added. Anderson said that’s probably because older folks are sicker, more frail, and more likely to develop respiratory failure with COVID-19 due to health problems unrelated to their weight. She and her colleagues reviewed medical records for nearly 2,500 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in March and April at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. They looked at body mass index (BMI), which is based on height and weight. Obesity begins at a BMI of 30; morbid obesity is 40 or over. “At the beginning…  read on >