Health

Will FDA's latest restrictions reduce underage vaping and smoking?

The Food and Drug Administration moved to ban sales of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars while announcing new guidelines for retailers selling flavored e-cigarettes in order to curb the rise in underage smoking and vaping. The ban is the biggest…

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FDA to crack down on menthol cigarettes, flavored vapes

By Mike Stobbe, Associated Press

The move represents a major step to further push down U.S. smoking rates, which have been falling for decades.

E-cigarette company limits sales of some flavors to discourage underage use

By Mike Stobbe, Associated Press

E-cigarettes are generally considered a less dangerous alternative to regular cigarettes, but health officials have warned the nicotine in them is harmful to developing brains.

Big studies give mixed news on fish oil, vitamin D

By Marilynn Marchione, AP Chief Medical Writer

Fish oil taken by healthy people, at a dose found in many supplements, showed no clear ability to lower heart or cancer risks. Same for vitamin D. But higher amounts of a purified, prescription fish oil slashed heart problems and…

From shell-shock to PTSD, a century of invisible war trauma

By MaryCatherine McDonald, Marisa Brandt, Robyn Bluhm, The Conversation

We now know that what these combat veterans were facing was likely what today we call post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. We are now better able to recognize it, and treatments have certainly advanced, but we still don’t have a…

The medical story behind Thomas Eakins' gory masterpiece

By Dr. Howard Markel

It is difficult for the 21st century observer to imagine the shock and revulsion Thomas Eakins provoked with both "The Gross Clinic" in 1876.

HHS recommended that the DEA make kratom a Schedule I drug, like LSD or heroin

By Ike Swetlitz, STAT

The Department of Health and Human Services asserted in a letter to the Drug Enforcement Administration that two chemicals in kratom should be classified as Schedule I substances, meaning that the chemicals have “a high potential for abuse” and that…

Medicare to cover more home care services and safety devices

By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press

The changes are a sign of growing recognition that practical help can have a meaningful impact on patients' well-being and reduce costs for taxpayers.

Low income explains poorer survival after a heart attack more than race, study finds

By Elizabeth Cooney, STAT

A new study examining how long black or white people survive after a heart attack concludes that it’s socioeconomic status, far more than race, that explains who fares better.