Omega-3 fatty acids, which are abundant in fish and fish oil supplements, appear promising for maintaining lung health, according to new evidence from a large, multi-faceted study in healthy adults supported by the National Institutes of Health. The study provides the strongest evidence to date of this association and underscores the importance of including omega-3 fatty acids in the diet, […]

Providers are no longer required to share data with the state of Oklahoma’s newly operational health information exchange. The revised rules await Governor Kevin Stitt’s approval. WHY IT MATTERS The Oklahoma Health Care Authority initially required the state’s healthcare providers to upload and share consenting patient records in the statewide online database authorized under the Health Information Act.  When mental […]

The Food and Drug Administration’s July 13, 2023, approval of the first over-the-counter birth control pill, called Opill, broadens the options for people seeking to prevent pregnancy. When Opill becomes available, presumably in the first quarter of 2024, it will be sold in grocery and convenience stores, in pharmacies and through online retailers. The Conversation asked Sarah Lynch, a pharmaceutical […]

Like the flower, our sweet kitty Lilly would flourish in a quiet environment in the tri-state area, where she can bask in the sun’s rays and listen to the soft voices of her people. Lilly’s foster describes her as curious, affectionate and always wanting to go where you go—a furry little shadow, if you will! A typical day for Miss […]

What do kidney and pancreas transplants have to do with airplane regulations? Tucked into the hundreds of pages of legislative language to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration is a provision to change the life-or-death process by which human organs are flown commercially from donor to recipient. But where on the plane organs are stowed during flights has been a long-standing […]

Despite having an estimated two times higher risk of death than white Americans from the COVID-19 pandemic, Indigenous people in the U.S. and Canada experienced surprisingly positive outcomes––they exhibited an impressive collaborative strength. Principal investigator Naomi Lee is the first author on a recent publication in The Lancet Infectious Diseases that demonstrated Indigenous people have the ability to thrive anew. […]

Researchers from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have found that cancer patients who continued to smoke after their diagnosis were significantly more likely to receive treatment for tobacco use when “nudges” to provide tobacco treatment were directed at clinicians through the electronic health record. The findings strengthen the case […]

Reviewers’ Notes The research, funded by the British Heart Foundation and published in the journal Circulation, opens the prospect of treating the condition at the earliest stages. Being able to detect HCM earlier than ever before will also assist trials investigating gene therapies and drug treatments aimed at stopping the disease developing in those at risk. HCM is an inherited […]

A study of data from about 500,000 people in the UK Biobank has uncovered small but statistically significant associations between signs of systemic inflammation and later risk of dementia. Dr. Krisztina Mekli of The University of Manchester, UK, and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on July 19, 2023. Millions of people around the world have […]

On a cold spring morning, Washington University in St. Louis virologist Jacco Boon, PhD, and wildlife ecologist Solny Adalsteinsson, PhD, flap and drag a large white flag through a woodsy area on the western edge of St. Louis County. Boon, an associate professor of medicine in infectious diseases at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and Adalsteinsson, a […]