Early detection of colon cancer can prevent a majority of deaths from this disease, possibly as much as 73 percent of them. But just 50 to 75 percent of middle-aged and older adults who should be screened regularly are being tested. One reason, doctors say, is that the screening methods put many people off. There […]
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Olivia Munn Had Double Mastectomy After Breast Cancer Diagnosis
The actress Olivia Munn said on Wednesday that she had been given a diagnosis of an aggressive form of breast cancer last year and soon after had a double mastectomy as part of her treatment. Munn, 43, who has starred in dozens of movies and television shows, including the HBO series “The Newsroom,” wrote in […]
Read MoreChildren Whose Mothers Had Pregnancy Complications May Face Heart Risks
Women who develop high blood pressure or diabetes in the course of pregnancy are more likely to give birth to children who develop conditions that may compromise their own heart health at a young age, scientists reported on Monday. By the time they are 12 years old, these children are more likely to be overweight […]
Read MoreCancer Diagnosis Like King Charles’s Is Not Unheard-Of
A patient checks into the hospital for a routine procedure to treat an enlarged prostate. And, unexpectedly, a test done in the hospital — perhaps a blood test or an X-ray or an examination of the urethra and the bladder — finds a cancer. Apparently, something like that happened to King Charles III. When the […]
Read MoreWhy Cholesterol Is Important For Health and How To Lower It
While 86 million adults in the United States have high cholesterol levels, one third of Americans say they haven’t had their numbers checked in the last five years. Getting your cholesterol tested — and under control — is critical to preventing heart disease and other serious health problems. But figuring out when to test and […]
Read MoreWe Are in a Big Covid Wave. But Just How Big?
The curves on some Covid graphs are looking quite steep, again. Reported levels of the virus in U.S. wastewater are higher than they have been since the first Omicron wave, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, though severe outcomes still remain rarer than in earlier pandemic winters. “We are seeing […]
Read MoreIs Biological Age Testing Accurate or Useful?
If you’ve ever been to a high school reunion, you know that some people seem to age faster than others. Twenty-five years after graduation, one classmate can appear a decade younger than the rest, another a decade older. “People know that intuitively,” said Dr. Nir Barzilai, director of the Institute for Aging Research at the […]
Read MoreMystery Amid an Anthrax Outbreak in Africa
Five African countries are battling outbreaks of anthrax, with nearly 1,200 people affected so far and 20 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. But the official tally belies confusion about the exact nature and scale of the outbreaks, which may complicate the efforts needed to contain them. Of the 1,166 presumed anthrax cases in […]
Read MoreU.S. Offers Another Round of Free Covid Tests Through the Mail
Just in time for the holiday season, the Biden administration is offering Americans a fresh round of free at-home coronavirus tests through the Postal Service. The administration revived the dormant program in September, announcing then that households could order four free tests through a federal website, covidtests.gov. Beginning Monday, households may order an additional four […]
Read MoreInfants Are Born With Syphilis in Growing Numbers, a Sign of a Wider Epidemic
The rise in sexually transmitted infections in the United States has taken a particularly tragic turn: More than 3,700 cases of congenital syphilis were reported in 2022, roughly 11 times the number recorded a decade ago, according to data released on Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Syphilis during pregnancy can lead […]
Read MoreEnding TB Is Within Reach — So Why Are Millions Still Dying?
At Kaneshie Polyclinic, a health center in a hardscrabble neighborhood of Accra, the capital of Ghana, there is a rule. Every patient who walks through the door — a woman in labor, a construction worker with an injury, a child with malaria — is screened for tuberculosis. This policy, a national one, is meant to […]
Read MoreMany Younger Women Are Iron Deficient: Risks, Causes and Symptoms
Iron that isn’t used for hemoglobin or other functions is stored in the bone marrow and liver as a protein called ferritin. When the body’s iron stores dip, the remaining iron is redirected to the maintenance of red blood cells at the expense of heart, brain and muscular functions, Dr. Munro said. If the body […]
Read MoreYounger Women Get Lung Cancer at Higher Rates Than Men
Over the last several decades, the rates of new cases of lung cancer have fallen in the United States. There were roughly 65 new cases of lung cancer for every 100,000 people in 1992. By 2019, that number had dropped to about 42. But for all that progress, a disparity is emerging: Women between the […]
Read MoreNew A.I. Tool Diagnoses Brain Tumors on the Operating Table
Once their scalpels reach the edge of a brain tumor, surgeons are faced with an agonizing decision: cut away some healthy brain tissue to ensure the entire tumor is removed, or give the healthy tissue a wide berth and risk leaving some of the menacing cells behind. Now scientists in the Netherlands report using artificial […]
Read MoreFDA Wants to Oversee Lab Tests It Says Put Patients ‘At Risk’
The Food and Drug Administration said on Friday that it was moving to close what has widely been viewed as a loophole allowing certain lab tests — like those that determine the profile of a tumor or the genetic health of a fetus — to bypass review with virtually no tracking or oversight. The agency […]
Read MoreFull-Body MRI Scans Like Prenuvo Have Become a Status Symbol. Do They Work?
For $2,499, Prenuvo will try to predict your future. The company offers a roughly hourlong session of magnetic resonance imaging, or M.R.I., that scans your entire body, searching for early signs of cancer, aneurysms, liver diseases and even multiple sclerosis. In recent months, images of celebrities and influencers posing in branded scrubs in front of […]
Read MoreWhy It’s Alarming That Poland Can Test Women for Abortion Pills
Nearly three years ago, Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal effectively ended legal abortion in the country. Since then, the Polish government has vigorously repressed the nation’s reproductive rights movement and ramped up surveillance of women who are suspected of terminating their pregnancies. Authorities have violently dispersed demonstrations, threatened activists with prison time and ordered doctors to record […]
Read MoreDo Expired Covid Tests Work? What to Know During the Surge
Can heat damage at-home tests? Extreme heat can mess with tests. According to the F.D.A., at-home tests work best when you use them in an environment that’s between roughly 59 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit. If a test is delivered to you on a sweltering day, for example, the agency recommends bringing the package inside and […]
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