Category: Public Health

The simple step that helped this physician lose 10 pounds

By the time I turned 40, I had gained and lost 40 pounds at least ten times. It started with the “freshman fifteen” plus another twenty-five in college. In medical school, I was introduced to sweetened coffee beverages, and I snacked on pretzels and ca…

No Quick Fix: Missouri Finds Managing Pain Without Opioids Isn’t Fast Or Easy

In the first nine months of an alternative pain management program in Missouri, only a small fraction of the state’s Medicaid recipients have accessed the chiropractic care, acupuncture, physical therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy meant to combat the overprescription of opioids.

To Fight Chinese Outbreak, Doctors Deploy Drugs Targeting HIV, Malaria And Ebola

Chinese doctors and public health officials are turning to a variety of drugs as they seek an effective treatment for patients sickened by the novel coronavirus. The evidence behind some of these medicines is flimsy, researchers acknowledge, but human trials are the only way to know whether these drugs work.

Conservative Indiana Adopted Needle Exchanges But Still Faces Local Resistance

Indiana was ground zero for shifting ideas about needle exchanges after a small town had an HIV outbreak in 2015 brought on by needle-sharing. But even as other parts of the country start to embrace needle exchanges amid the ongoing opioid epidemic, the sites remain controversial in Indiana. Only nine of the state’s 92 counties have them, after a series of closures and reopenings.

When It Comes To The New Coronavirus, Just Who Is A ‘Close Contact’?

Health officials stress that the new coronavirus devastating mainland China continues to pose minimal risk in the United States. The exception involves people who have had “close contact” with someone infected with the virus. So what exactly is close contact?

Finding Connections And Comfort At The Local Cafe

For Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers, social and emotional isolation is a threat. But hundreds of “Memory Cafes” around the country offer them a chance to be with others who understand, and to receive social and cognitive stimulation in the process.

How Lifesaving Organs For Transplant Go Missing In Transit

Scores of organs — mostly kidneys — are trashed each year and many more become critically delayed while being shipped on commercial airliners, a new investigation finds.

In Fierce Debate, Democratic Candidates Expand Health Agenda Arguments

A sampling of health policy highlights from the eighth Democratic presidential primary debate in Manchester, N.H. 

Must-Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes

Happy Friday! In news that is technically really good and exciting but is also kind of icky: yarn made from human skin could eventually be used to stitch up surgical wounds as a way to cut down on detrimental reactions from patients. As CNN reports, “The researchers say their ‘human textile,’ which they developed from […]

Trump On ‘Medicare for All’ And The Costs Of Extending Health Care To Undocumented Immigrants 

In his Feb. 4 State of the Union address, President Donald Trump said the cost of extending health care to people regardless of their citizenship status would “bankrupt” the U.S.