An HIV Med Is Tied to Too-Small Heads in Newborns

FRIDAY, Nov. 22, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- Children born to women who take the HIV drug efavirenz during pregnancy have a higher risk of small head size -- a birth defect known as microcephaly -- compared to babies exposed to other HIV drugs in the womb, new research shows.

Prenatal exposure to the drug was also linked to developmental ...

Bacteria Could Be Weapon Against Mosquito-Borne Dengue

FRIDAY, Nov. 22, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- Lab-altered mosquitoes have made a big dent in the spread of dengue fever, researchers report.

How? Australian scientists released mosquitoes carrying a bacteria that prevents transmission of the dengue virus.

The strategy resulted in a 76% decrease in dengue transmission in a com...

AHA News: Serious Heart Defects Increase Heart Failure Risk in Early Adulthood

FRIDAY, Nov. 22, 2019 (American Heart Association News) -- Babies born with serious heart defects are surviving to adulthood in greater numbers, but new research shows they face another hurdle when they get there: heart failure.

The study found children born with the most critical heart problems were 30 times more likely to develop or...

AHA News: Areas Hit Hardest by Recession Saw Jump in Heart Death Rates

FRIDAY, Nov. 22, 2019 (American Heart Association News) -- Communities suffering the most after the Great Recession had the biggest increase in heart disease deaths in the years that followed, according to a new study.

After decades of decline, the rate of deaths from heart disease and stroke has plateaued in recent years, and is actu...

New Role for Modern Family's Julie Bowen: Flu Fighter

FRIDAY, Nov. 22, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- As the long-running television show "Modern Family" wraps up its final season, one of the show's stars is taking on a new role raising awareness about the importance of preventing and treating flu.

Actress Julie Bowen was sidelined a few years ago by flu, and wishes she had known how important...

4 in 5 Adolescents Worldwide Don't Exercise Enough

FRIDAY, Nov. 22, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- Four of five older children and teens around the world don't get the recommended amount of physical activity, a new study says.

Researchers analyzed data gathered between 2001 and 2016 from 1.6 million students, aged 11 to 17, in 146 countries. They found that 81% of them did not meet World...

Two-Thirds of Child Abuse Survivors Do Well as Adults

FRIDAY, Nov. 22, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- Two in three survivors of childhood sexual abuse have good mental health, but a new study suggests that social isolation, chronic pain, substance abuse and depression can hinder recovery.

Researchers looked at 651 Canadian survivors to identify factors associated with what the researchers call ...

Don't Let Salmonella Make Your Thanksgiving a Turkey

THURSDAY, Nov. 21, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- With Thanksgiving but a week away, U.S. health officials want to be sure you don't get sick from any salmonella that might be lurking in your turkey.

In a new report, researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention detail the tracking of a recent multistate outbreak of ...

Diet Pill, Laxative Use Often Precedes an Eating Disorder

THURSDAY, Nov. 21, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- Girls and young women who use diet pills and laxatives to control their weight are at increased risk for eating disorders, a new study finds.

Researchers analyzed data from more than 10,000 girls and women, aged 14 to 36, from 2001 to 2016.

Among those who initially did not have an ...

Obesity Rates Fall for Many Young Kids in Federal Nutrition Program

THURSDAY, Nov. 21, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- Forty-one states and territories have seen drops in obesity rates among young children enrolled in a U.S. nutrition program, a new study shows.

"Improvements in national, state and caregiver guidance around nutrition and physical activity may be contributing to this decline in childhood obesi...

AHA News: Obesity, Other Factors May Speed Up Brain Aging

THURSDAY, Nov. 21, 2019 (American Heart Association News) -- The brains of middle-age adults may be aging prematurely if they have obesity or other factors linked to cardiovascular disease, new research has found.

Almost one-quarter of adults have metabolic syndrome, a set of factors that in combination amplify a person's risk of hear...

Can You Beat the Blues With 'Downward Dog'?

THURSDAY, Nov. 21, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- New evidence bolsters the belief that yoga can offer real and lasting relief to people with depression.

Dr. Chris Streeter, a psychiatrist at Boston University's School of Medicine, said the new study she led builds on earlier work showing a correlation between yoga and levels of GABA (gamma ...

More U.S. Kids Are Shunning Sweetened Drinks

THURSDAY, Nov. 21, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- American youngsters are drinking far fewer sodas and other sugar-sweetened drinks and getting far fewer calories from them than they used to, a new report finds.

But kids from more-affluent homes are benefiting more from these trends than those from poorer families, the researchers said.

Packaged Caesar Salad Suspected as Possible Source in E. coli Outbreak

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 20, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- A brand of packaged Caesar salad is an early suspect in an outbreak of E. coli that's sickened 17 people in eight states, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Wednesday.

Seven people have been hospitalized after infection with a strain of E. coli 0157:H7, including t...

AHA News: If Not for 2-Year-Old, Young Mom Might Have Died

THURSDAY, Nov. 21, 2019 (American Heart Association News) -- The night she turned 37, Barbara Jackson put her 2-year-old daughter Olivia Copeland to bed and walked to the kitchen. She felt a little odd but didn't think much of it.

The next thing Barbara remembers, she was in the hospital. Doctors were telling her she was a rare surviv...

'Designer Babies' a Long Way Off

THURSDAY, Nov. 21, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- "Designer babies" aren't going to be a reality anytime soon, researchers say.

Concerns about genetically altering embryos to have desired traits have been around nearly as long as in vitro fertilization (IVF) and the technology to screen embryos have existed.

But while recent live b...

Doctors Spot a New, Severe Lung Illness Tied to Vaping

THURSDAY, Nov. 21, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- Canadian researchers report a new twist on the spate of deaths and lung damage from vaping in the United States.

A 17-year-old boy may well be the first case of a novel type of lung injury from vaping. The condition is similar to "popcorn lung," which is seen in workers exposed to the chemica...

Infants May Not Be as Immune to Measles as Thought

THURSDAY, Nov. 21, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- A surprising new study upends the notion that antibodies passed from mother to fetus protect infants from measles for as much as a year.

In fact, infants' immunity wanes much more rapidly than once thought, researchers report in the December issue of Pediatrics. The finding drives home...

Inducing Labor Safer Bet for Late-Term Pregnancies: Study

THURSDAY, Nov. 21, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- The risk of newborn death in late-term pregnancies may be lower if labor is induced rather than taking a wait-and-see approach, a new study suggests.

It's widely believed that mothers and babies have an increased risk of problems at or beyond 42 weeks of pregnancy. (A normal-term pregnancy is...

She Lives With Seizures, and Public Stigma, Every Day

THURSDAY, Nov. 21, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- Most of the time, Eva Wadzinski is a typical college student. Then suddenly, she isn't.

Wadzinski has epilepsy and has disruptive seizure clusters as often as 40 times a day.

They are not typical "Hollywood" seizures where people convulse (tonic-clonic seizures), making it harder ...