As manufacturers press to shrink electronic devices, small children across the country are getting put at high risk of big harms by swallowing small button- and lithium coin-batteries, research shows. The round, shiny, and ubiquitous batteries have proven to be irresistible to the pint-sized and curious, who gulp them down after they find them scattered….
Continue ReadingAdvertising
Medicine struggles with hype, disinformation, and miscommunication
The quality of medical-scientific information is strained — and patients should know this, be warned, and watch for ways to protect themselves from bungled communication, bluster, hype, misinformation, and disinformation. Although regular folks may have unprecedented access via the internet to resources on medical services and developments, a trio of recent news articles underscore the….
Continue ReadingWith Omicron vaccines approved, U.S. pushes for fall flu and Covid shots
As summer ends, millions of Americans should pop around the corner for a healthy double — that is, a pair of vaccinations, one targeted against the latest, widely circulating coronavirus Omicron variants and the other shot to fight the seasonal flu, federal health officials say. The newest booster for the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron variants….
Continue ReadingDon’t get in an injury pickle by overdoing trendy games
The newly familiar thwack, pop, and crack of the pastime of pickleball, alas, is increasingly accompanied by some other sounds — the moans and groans of picklers who find themselves with injuries that can be more than annoying for older aficionados of this trendy sport. Noe Sariban, a pickleball instructor, former pro player, and a….
Continue ReadingGen Z becomes stoner generation with record-high pot and hallucinogen use
Generation Z and young millennials have become the nation’s leading group of stoners, setting record highs for their use of marijuana, hallucinogenic drugs, nicotine, and booze. This has occurred even as federal regulators have gotten called out for failing to crack down, after chest-thumping promises to do so, on the noxious but popular practice among….
Continue Reading$1.7 billion verdict underscores complexity of vehicle liability cases
Even the strongest believer in the wisdom of juries in civil lawsuits had to take a pause. But, yes, the verdict in an Atlanta case has been correctly reported. Jurors deliberating on the damages caused in roll-over of a Ford 250 truck did, indeed, order the automaker to pay the family of two people killed….
Continue ReadingAs U.S. gears up for fall pandemic battles, a disease-fighting leader retires
This fall our nation will go once more into the breach, with federal officials hoping that another big push for vaccinations against the coronavirus and flu will stave off the deadly surges of contagions that have caused the fundamental health measure of life expectancy to plummet in a historic way. Still, the announced retirement of….
Continue ReadingListen up: Lower-cost hearing aids, finally, are an option for millions without a prescription
Is it time for a glimmer of optimism about reducing at least one unacceptably high health care cost? Say hear, hear then, to the federal Food and Drug Administration’s removing the last regulatory block to consumers with mild to moderate hearing loss buying cheaper, easier to access, over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids — potentially as soon….
Continue ReadingCoronavirus guidelines ease, as concerns persist about polio, monkey pox and flu
Federal health officials have eased guidelines for most regular folks on how best to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, even as monkeypox cases and vaccination efforts for that viral illness keep increasing and the detection of once-controlled polio raises concern. Indicators about the severity of the next influenza season also worry experts. With the coronavirus,….
Continue ReadingD.C. drivers need to learn a key safety lesson: Slow down near schools
With students returning to classes in a few weeks, motorists need to make an important safety pledge to youngsters and their communities in Washington, D.C.: Please, for goodness’ sake, slow down. This is not happening as it should, putting kids at heightened risk, a new study has found. As the Washington Post reported: “D.C. drivers….
Continue Reading