New study finds microplastics in chewing gum
Chewing gum fiends might want to think twice before popping in another piece of gum. A pilot study found that chewing gum can shed microplastics into saliva. Specifically, gum can release hundreds to thousands of microplastics per piece, which can potentially be ingested, according to the American Chemical Society. Microplastics...
Penn Township physical therapist helps to fill gap in care for fast heart rate syndrome
Doctors have pitched countless theories to Irwin resident Lauren Karcher regarding the laundry list of health problems she had experienced in the past 15 years. Emergency room doctors suspected she suffered from transient ischemic attacks — also known as mini-strokes — and a rheumatologist told her she was in the...
Aldi shredded cheese recalled for metal contamination
If you’ve purchased shredded cheese from Aldi recently, you might want to double check the brand. The Happy Farms by ALDI Colby Jack (a blend of Colby & Monterey Jack finely shredded cheeses) that has best-buy dates listed as July 13 and 14 have been recalled by the U.S. Food...
Westmoreland agency on aging celebrates uptick in staffing, performance rates
Carrie Nelson is proud to help prevent and address abuse, neglect and exploitation of elderly Westmoreland County residents. But when the county Area Agency on Aging lost 75% of its protective services care managers in the summer of 2022, Nelson, as executive director, was put in a difficult position. “We...
Senate confirms Mehmet Oz to take lead of Medicare and Medicaid agency
WASHINGTON — Former heart surgeon and TV pitchman Dr. Mehmet Oz was confirmed Thursday to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Oz became the agency’s administrator in a party line 53-45 vote. The 64-year-old will manage health insurance programs for roughly half the country, with oversight of Medicare,...
Shingles is awful, but here’s another reason to get vaccinated: It may fight dementia
WASHINGTON — A vaccine to fight dementia? It turns out there may already be one — shots that prevent painful shingles also appear to protect aging brains. A new study found shingles vaccination cut older adults’ risk of developing dementia over the next seven years by 20%. The research, published...
Supreme Court sides with the FDA in its dispute over sweet-flavored vaping products
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled for the Food and Drug Administration in its crackdown on sweet-flavored vaping products following a surge in teen electronic cigarette use. But the justices’ unanimous decision throwing out a federal appeals court ruling is not the final word in the case, and...
Mass firing of federal health workers includes Pittsburgh region
More than 200 federal employees who work at the Bruceton Research Center, a research facility south of Pittsburgh, will lose their jobs by June 30, they were told this week. They work at the Pittsburgh Mining Research Division of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, part of the...
There’s a new push to put whole milk back in school meals. Here’s what you should know
More than a dozen years after higher-fat milk was stripped from school meals to slow obesity in American kids and boost their health, momentum is growing to put it back. Federal lawmakers have revived bills that would allow whole and 2% milk to be served again in schools, in addition...
FDA’s top tobacco official is removed from post in latest blow to health agency’s leadership
WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration’s chief tobacco regulator has been removed from his post as part of sweeping cuts to the federal health workforce on Tuesday, the latest in a series of actions that have cleared out many of the nation’s top experts overseeing food, drugs, vaccines and...
Mass layoffs underway at the nation’s public health agencies
Employees across the massive U.S. Health and Human Services Department received notices Tuesday that their jobs were being eliminated, part of a sweeping overhaul designed to vastly shrink the agencies responsible for protecting and promoting Americans’ health. The cuts include researchers, scientists, doctors, support staff and senior leaders, leaving the...
Allergies hitting you already? You’re not alone
Sneezing earlier than normal? Congested? Eyes watery? You’re not alone or imagining it. Allergy specialists in Western Pennsylvania say allergy seasons are getting longer and intensifying. Patients with allergy symptoms started visiting Allegheny Health Network allergist and immunologist Dr. Ali Ayyash in mid-February. “Typically, the spring pollen season starts towards...
Pa. measles cases prompt CVS to push vaccine statewide
Following the confirmation of at least five measles cases in Pennsylvania, CVS Health reminded patients of its services that offer the measles vaccine to unvaccinated commonwealth residents. Pennsylvania’s first measles case of the year was reported in Montgomery County outside of Philadelphia on March 2, and the second was reported...
A stroke survivor speaks again with the help of an experimental brain-computer implant
Scientists have developed a device that can translate thoughts about speech into spoken words in real time. Although it’s still experimental, they hope the brain-computer interface could someday help give voice to those unable to speak. A new study described testing the device on a 47-year-old woman with quadriplegia who...
Under the new Trump administration, this year’s Transgender Day of Visibility has a different tenor
On the campaign trail, Donald Trump used contentiousness around transgender people’s access to sports and bathrooms to fire up conservative voters and sway undecideds. And in his first months back in office, Trump has pushed the issue further, erasing mention of transgender people on government websites and passports and trying...
Mexico bans junk food sales in schools in its latest salvo against child obesity
MEXICO CITY — A government-sponsored junk food ban in schools across Mexico took effect Saturday, officials said, as the country tries to tackle one of the world’s worst obesity and diabetes epidemics. The health guidelines, first published last fall, take a direct shot at salty and sweet processed products that...
Top vaccine official resigns from FDA, criticizes RFK Jr. for promoting ‘misinformation and lies’
WASHINGTON — The top vaccine official with the Food and Drug Administration has resigned and criticized the nation’s top health official for allowing “misinformation and lies” to guide his thinking behind the safety of vaccinations. Dr. Peter Marks sent a letter to Acting FDA Commissioner Sara Brenner on Friday saying...
Deadly, drug-resistant fungus CDC calls ‘urgent threat’ is spreading in hospitals
A deadly, drug-resistant fungus that preys on the sick and old is continuing to spread in hospitals and senior care facilities across the country, killing more than 1 in 3 infected. Candida auris, a type of yeast that can cause life-threatening illness, was first identified in the U.S. in 2016...
Michigan patient dies after contracting rabies from organ transplant
A Michigan resident died earlier this year after contracting rabies from an organ transplant, health officials said. The patient had the organ transplanted at a hospital in Ohio in December and died in January, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Lynn Sutfin said. A subsequent investigation that also...
Health and Human Services to lay off 10,000 workers, close agencies in a major restructuring
WASHINGTON — In a major overhaul, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will lay off 10,000 workers and shut down entire agencies, including ones that oversee billions of dollars in funds for addiction services and community health centers across the country. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. criticized...
Kansas measles cases double to 23 and new Ohio outbreak sickens 10
A measles outbreak in Kansas doubled in less than a week to 23 cases and has “a possible link” to outbreaks in Texas and New Mexico that have sickened more than 370, the state health department said Wednesday. And health officials in Ohio say a single case identified in Ashtabula...
Trump to nominate acting CDC director Susan Monarez for the position, White House official says
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will nominate Susan Monarez, the acting director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a longtime federal staffer, to the permanent position, a White House official confirmed Monday. Trump abruptly withdrew the nomination of his first pick, David Weldon, earlier this month....
Target brand green beans recalled over unknown foreign object risk
Target’s brand of green beans have been recalled due to a foreign object contamination risk — and Pennsylvania is affected. Del Monte Foods issued a voluntary recall last month for nearly 200,000 cans of the Target brand Good & Gather Cut Green Beans, Today reported. The cans affected are “Best...
Covid spurred both public health advances and science skepticism
One of the nation’s most outspoken vaccine experts believes the U.S. is already forgetting a critical lesson reinforced during the covid-19 pandemic: Vaccines save lives. Dr. Peter Hotez said increased vaccine hesitancy, misinformation and politicization are jeopardizing people’s health. As dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor...
Pandemic led to radical, lasting changes in health care industry
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