Health care news

Tougher State Gun Laws, Less Teen Gun Violence By Robert Preidt HealthDay Reporter THURSDAY, Feb. 18, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- States with more gun laws have less youth gun violence, new research reveals. For the study, the researchers examined data from several states from 2005 to 2017, and found that kids were less likely to be armed in states with more gun laws, and more likely to carry a weapon in states with fewer gun laws. Louisiana and Arkansas had the highest percentage of armed youth in 2017 at 12.7%. These two states had 13 gun laws in place. New York and Iowa had the fewest kids carrying guns. The lowest rates were in New York in 2013 and Iowa in 2007, at 3% and 3.5%, respectively. New York had 63 gun laws in 2013, and Iowa had 20 in 2007, the study authors noted. "We understood the role of individual characteristics in youth gun carrying, ...

Legacy Racist Mortgage 'Redlining', Fewer Green Spaces From the WebMD Archives By Robert Preidt                 HealthDay Reporter THURSDAY, Jan. 28, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- A racist mortgage appraisal practice used in the United States decades ago has resulted in less green space in some urban neighborhoods today, researchers say. Those so-called "redlined" neighborhoods have higher rates of air and noise pollution, racial segregation and poverty -- all of which can contribute to poorer health. In the 1930s, the Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) gave neighborhoods nationwide risk grades that were based on racial makeup and other factors. "Hazardous" areas -- often those whose residents included people of color -- were outlined in red on HOLC maps. In the decades since, these neighborhoods have seen less private and public investment and have remained segregated. "Though redlining is now outlawed, its effects on urban neighborhoods persist i...

Can Facial Recognition Predict Political Orientation? Written by Heather Mason From the WebMD Archives Jan. 27, 2021 -- A facial recognition algorithm was able to correctly identify conservative versus liberal orientation remarkably better than chance, human accuracy, or a personality questionnaire, according to an article published in Scientific Reports . A study used social media photos of 1,085,795 participants – including 347,000 people of color, from the United States, United Kingdom and Canada and their self-declared political orientation, age, and gender, to identify political inclination. The analyzed photos combined many potential cues to political orientation, ranging from facial expression and self-presentation to facial morphology, the researcher says. The open-source facial recognition algorithm extracted more than 2,000 data points for the study, which were then cross-validated to compare the images with liberal and conservative faces. According to the results present...

Baseball Great Hank Aaron Dies at 86 Written by Aaron Gould Sheinin From the WebMD Archives Jan. 22, 2021 -- Henry "Hank" Aaron, whose dramatic chase of the Major League home run record in 1974 made him a baseball legend, died Friday at his home in Atlanta. The Atlanta Braves, his former team, announced Aaron's death at age 86. He died in his sleep , The Associated Press reported, and no cause of death was immediately released. Aaron, born in Mobile, AL, during Jim Crow, was last seen in public on Jan. 5, when he and former U.N. Ambassador and civil rights leader Andrew Young and former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Louis Sullivan received COVID-19 vaccinations together in Atlanta. Aaron's greatness came not just on the baseball field, where he set records for career home runs, runs-batted-in, extra-base hits, and total bases. He also became a symbol of dignity and grace as he battled fierce racism in his pursuit of Babe Ruth's record of 714 career...

Med Student Finds Buried Treasure Worth Millions Written by Laura Arenschield From the WebMD Archives Dec. 10, 2020 -- Nearly 10 years ago, an eccentric art and antiquities dealer named Forrest Fenn hid a chest of gold, precious jewels, and other treasures somewhere in the mountain forests of the western United States. It sparked a pursuit that has attracted the interest of millions of people around the world, several of whom died seeking it. Now, the hunt is over. The treasure chest's finder: a Pennsylvania medical school student. The student, Jonathan "Jack" Stuef, 32, understandably wanted to remain anonymous after finding the treasure hidden in the Wyoming wilds last June. However, a judge ruled that a federal lawsuit filed by another treasure hunter necessitated the disclosure of his name. Stuef agreed to allow his name to be published in an article Monday in Outside. He simultaneously published an essay on the website Medium , identifying himself. Stuef did no...

'James Bond' Actor Sean Connery Dies at Age 90 Written by Ralph Ellis From the WebMD Archives October 31, 2020 -- Sean Connery, 90, a veteran actor best known for his playing the dashing British spy James Bond, died Friday night in the Bahamas, according to his son, Jason Connery. Jason Connery said his father was surrounded by family. A cause of death was not given but his son said Sean Connery had been "unwell for some time," according to the BBC . "We are all working at understanding this huge event as it only happened so recently, even though my dad has been unwell for some time," Jason Connery told the BBC. "A sad day for all who knew and loved my dad and a sad loss for all people around the world who enjoyed the wonderful gift he had as an actor." Connery's publicist, Nancy Seltzer, told CNN that a private ceremony would be held "once the virus has ended." Sean Connery was the first actor to portray James Bond, also known a...

A Closer Look at Joe Biden's Health Written by Lindsay Kalter Medically Reviewed by Hansa D. Bhargava, MD on October 28, 2020 From the WebMD Archives Oct. 28, 2020 -- Uncertainty and contention surround the presidential election that is mere days away, but there is one thing we know for sure: No matter who wins, the next president of the United States will be the oldest to ever take office. President Donald Trump set the most recent record when he was sworn in at the age of 70. Now 74, he is only slightly younger than the soon-to-be 78-year-old Joe Biden. So just how healthy is Biden? Quite healthy, according to the most  recent medical assessment released by Biden's doctor in December 2019. The report from Kevin O'Connor, DO, associate professor of Medicine at George Washington University,  called Biden "vigorous" and fit to successfully be president. The information in the assessment noted that Biden is taking blood thinners and medication for acid ref...

Jamie Foxx's Sister, DeOndra Dixon, Dies at 36 By Allison Aulds This article is from the WebMD News Archive This content has not been reviewed within the past year and may not represent WebMD's most up-to-date information. See the latest news and features on Health A-Z ">From the WebMD Archives

Advocates Welcome Down Syndrome Guidance for Adults Written by Saundra Young Medically Reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MD From the WebMD Archives Oct. 26, 2020 -- "I think it's very important that these guidelines are finally coming out, because we haven't had anything like this for our family doctors, and they need this to better understand what Down syndrome is all about today." Karen Gaffney, 42, president of the Karen Gaffney Foundation, is an outspoken advocate pushing for more medical research to improve the lives of people like her who are living with Down syndrome. She was part of the focus group that helped prioritize medical issues for the new evidence-based clinical guidelines released recently on medical care of adults with Down syndrome in JAMA , The Journal of the American Medical Association . "These guidelines totally changed things for us and for our families," she says. "We'll all be more informed about issues to watch for s...

Most U.S. Women Under 50 Use Contraception: Report From the WebMD Archives By Steven Reinberg HealthDay Reporter TUESDAY, Oct. 20, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Most American women between 15 and 49 years of age use birth control , according to a new U.S. government report. Between 2017 and 2019, 65% of those women used some form of contraception, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "This report provides this unique snapshot of all women of reproductive age at a point in time," said lead researcher Kimberly Daniels. She's a demographic statistician at the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) in Hyattsville, Md. The most common types of birth control were female sterilization (18%), oral contraceptive pills (14%), long-acting reversible contraception , or LARCs (10%), and male condoms (8%). LARCs -- which include intrauterine devices and under-the-skin implants -- were most popular among women in their 20s and 30s. Among 20- ...

Cottonelle Wipes Recalled Over Bacteria Concerns Written by Allison Aulds From the WebMD Archives Oct. 14, 2020 -- Check your bathroom cabinet: Some packages of Cottonelle flushable wipes are being recalled because they may be contaminated with bacteria. The brand's parent company, Kimberly-Clark, says the recall is limited to specific lots of Cottonelle Flushable Wipes and Cottonelle GentlePlus Flushable Wipes manufactured between Feb. 7, 2020 and Sept. 14, 2020. You can check which lots are affected here . While no serious health issues have been reported, the brand says there have been some complaints about irritation and minor infection due to the wipes. "The affected product could show the presence of a bacterium ( Pluralibacter gergoviae ) which naturally occurs in the environment and in the human body," Cottonelle said in a recall notice on its website. " Pluralibacter gergoviae rarely causes serious infections in healthy individuals. However, individuals...

Autopsies Show Microplastics in Major Human Organs From the WebMD Archives By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter MONDAY, Aug. 17, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Microscopic bits of plastic have most likely taken up residence in all of the major filtering organs in your body, a new lab study suggests. Researchers found evidence of plastic contamination in tissue samples taken from the lungs, liver, spleen and kidneys of donated human cadavers. "We have detected these chemicals of plastics in every single organ that we have investigated," said senior researcher Rolf Halden, director of the Arizona State University (ASU) Biodesign Center for Environmental Health Engineering. There's long been concern that the chemicals in plastics could have a wide range of health effects ranging from diabetes and obesity to sexual dysfunction and infertility . But the presence of these microscopic particles in major organs also raises the potential that they could act as carcinogenic irrita...

First U.S. Face Transplant Recipient Dies From the WebMD Archives Aug. 3, 2020 -- The first U.S. patient to receive a partial face transplant, Connie Culp, died at 57, the Associated Press reported Saturday. Her death comes nearly 12 years after her surgery and after her husband shot her in the face in a murder- suicide attempt in 2004. Culp's husband spent seven years behind bars. The shotgun blast destroyed her nose, her cheeks and she lost most of her vision . Her face was so grotesque that kids called her a monster, the AP reported. Culp had 30 operations to fix her face, which left her unable to eat solid food, breathe on her own, or smell. In December 2008, she underwent a 22-hour operation to replace 80% of her face with material from a donor, Anna Kasper. This was the fourth face transplant in the world, though the others were not as extensive. Her surgery was performed at the Cleveland Clinic, where she died Wednesday from complications from an infection not related ...

Squirrel With Bubonic Plague Found in Colorado From the WebMD Archives July 14, 2020 -- After a squirrel tested positive for the bubonic plague in the town of Morrison in Colorado, health officials are warning that the disease can be contracted by household pets and people. Humans can be infected through flea bites , the cough of an infected animal or through direct contact with blood or tissue from an infected animal, Jefferson County Public Health officials said in a statement, CBS News reported. But they added that the risk "for getting plague is extremely low as long as precautions are taken," the statement said. The officials advised pet owners who live near wild animal populations, or suspect their pets are ill, to consult a veterinarian, CBS News reported. "Presently, human plague infections continue to occur in rural areas in the western United States, but significantly more cases occur in parts of Africa and Asia," according to the U.S. Centers for Di...

Global Population Will Peak by Mid-Century From the WebMD Archives B y Robert Preidt HealthDay Reporter TUESDAY, July 14, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- The world's population is shifting, with a new analysis predicting it will peak in 2064 at around 9.7 billion people and fall to 8.8 billion by the end of the century. The United States will have population growth until just after mid-century (364 million in 2062). That will be followed by a moderate decline to 336 million by 2100. At that point it would be the fourth most populous country, according to the modeling study published July 14 in The Lancet . As a result of these population changes and ensuing economic shifts, India, Nigeria, China and the United States will be the dominant powers by the end of the century, the study predicts. "Continued global population growth through the century is no longer the most likely trajectory for the world's population," said study leader Christopher Murray, director of the Instit...

Commentary: We Have to Do Something to Level the Playing Field From the WebMD Archives What your doctor is reading on Medscape.com: As told to Usha Lee McFarling July 14, 2020 -- Being told the operating room has already been cleaned. Being questioned by patients about where you went to medical school. Being asked for ID every time you enter your own hospital. Being told you don't look like a doctor. In a series of conversations with Medscape, Black physicians talk about racism they've faced in their training and their clinical work, the change they'd like to see, and how they're coping during this period of both pandemic and racial upheaval. When I went to away to school, what I thought was, "I'm leaving Mississippi. I know there's racism here. But in Pennsylvania, that's the north and it'll be fine." But you see the same racism ― maybe not the same degree, but you see it. I still remember vividly an evening when I was in a summer research p...