Dec 19 Do female doctors lead to healthier patients? By Shefali Luthra, Kaiser Health News Female doctors may on average be better than their male counterparts at treating patients in the hospital, according to a new study published today. Continue reading
Dec 18 Watch 3:31 Heroin deaths exceeded gun homicides in 2015 By PBS News Hour Last year, more than 30,000 people died from opioid overdoses, which cause almost two-thirds of all overdoses in the U.S., according to data released last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those data also show that last… Continue watching
Dec 18 With latest Zika research, our picture of the virus gets cloudier By Helen Branswell, STAT Two new reports this week not only failed to arrive at a consensus about the virus, they may have sown even more confusion. Continue reading
Dec 18 Trump action on health care could cost Planned Parenthood By Andrew Taylor, Associated Press One of President-elect Donald Trump's first acts next year could come on Republican legislation to cut off taxpayer money from Planned Parenthood. Continue reading
Dec 16 Watch 6:47 Rate of black lung disease among miners may be 10 times higher than reported By PBS News Hour Lung disease is a well-known deadly consequence of working in the coal industry. But a new NPR study finds miners are suffering from the most advanced form of the disease at a rate ten times higher than the government has… Continue watching
Dec 16 Column: Why age doesn’t get in the way of good sex By Miri Forbes, Nicholas Eaton and Robert Krueger, The Conversation A satisfying sex life has been found to be important for health and well-being, regardless of age. Continue reading
Dec 16 Think you’re too old to be an organ donor? Think again By JoNel Aleccia, Kaiser Health News Organ donations from senior citizens rarely happen. But older kidneys are an untapped resource and could help relieve the organ shortage, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Torino in northwest Italy. Continue reading
Dec 15 Watch 8:14 How safe is super-concentrated marijuana? By PBS News Hour Now legal in eight states, there are unanswered questions about the impact of recreational marijuana on public health. To maximize potency, pot can be purified for maximum THC, its psychoactive ingredient. But a lack of research and restrictions on these… Continue watching
Dec 15 The many mixed messages schools send students on healthy eating By Laura Santhanam In schools, where companies enjoy a captive audience, food marketing is widespread -- on pizza packaging, football game scoreboards and vending machines, for example. But the messages on healthy eating in the classroom often conflict with both that marketing and… Continue reading
Dec 15 ‘Shock and kill’ therapy offers fresh hope for HIV cure, researchers say By Anne-christine d’Adesky, KQED Future of You The HIV research community is increasingly optimistic about the “shock and kill” treatment approach, which appears to remove all traces of the virus from an individual’s body. Continue reading