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Editorial: Migrant health care workers can be ensnared in modern indentured servitude

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

As Western Pennsylvania's population continues to age, and the region's workforce continues to contract, the region will need increasing numbers of caretakers, more than the region can supply.

In recent years, immigrants have emerged as a reliable way to bolster this workforce, but an ongoing National Labor Relations Board case reveals exactly...Read more

Kate Wells/Michigan Public/TNS

After Congress ended extra cash aid for families, communities tackle child poverty alone

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

If you bring a baby into the Hurley Children’s Center clinic in downtown Flint, Michigan, Mona Hanna will find you. The pediatrician, who gained national prominence for helping uncover the city’s water crisis in 2015, strode across the waiting room in her white lab coat, eyes laser-focused on the chubby baby in the lap of an unsuspecting ...Read more

Smart choices for colon cancer screening

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the leading cause of cancer-related death in men under age 50 and the second-leading cause in women in that age group. But fewer than 20% of the more than 19 million Americans between ages 45 and 49 have been screened for CRC. The recommendation is that everyone start getting screened at 45 -- and even younger with ...Read more

Eighty-Year-Old Man Considers Having A Child With His Partner

Health Advice / Keith Roach /

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a reasonably healthy 80-year-old man who is fortunate enough to have a partner of a child-bearing age. She would like to bear us a child. I am concerned about any potential problems with my old genes and any birth defects that might be caused by them. Please help us decide. -- R.B.

ANSWER: This is a question I hear from ...Read more

ANDA CHU/Bay Area News Group/TNS

These Bay Area counties will launch mental health 'CARE' courts. Can they help solve homelessness?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

As communities across the Bay Area continue to grapple with jarring scenes of human suffering on the street, counties in the region are rolling out new state-mandated mental health courts aimed at getting people with serious psychiatric disorders into treatment and housing.

Statewide, most counties must launch CARE courts — conceived of by ...Read more

Aubin Mukoni/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

First US case of mpox variant reported in California

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

LOS ANGELES — The first case in the U.S. of a more severe mpox variant has been confirmed in a person who had recently traveled to East Africa and was treated in San Mateo County, the California Department of Public Health announced Saturday.

The person diagnosed with the Clade I variant is isolating at home and recovering, while people who ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Walking pneumonia, whooping cough surge in San Diego County

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

SAN DIEGO — San Diego County’s public health department warned local doctors Friday that the region is in the midst of a significant increase in walking pneumonia cases, especially among children ages 2 to 4, echoing a national trend recently observed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And this surge has not arrived ...Read more

DREAMSTIME/TNS

Pharmacies are yanking cold medicines from shelves. So what are the options now?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Feeling stuffy and ready to reach for NyQuil, Benadryl, or Sudafed PE?

Not so fast.

The Food and Drug Administration has proposed ending the use of oral phenylephrine, a common ingredient found in many cold and allergy medicines — and some pharmacies already are yanking the popular products off shelves.

Florida researchers have been ...Read more

Clarence Tabb Jr./The Detroit News/TNS

H5N1 bird flu infects 5 more humans in California, and 1 in Oregon

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

As H5N1 bird flu spreads among California dairy herds and southward-migrating birds, health officials announced Friday six more human cases of infection: five in California and one in Oregon — the state’s first.

A seventh presumptive California case is awaiting confirmation from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

All of ...Read more

Joe Raedle/Getty Images North America/TNS

Scientists fear what's next for public health if RFK Jr. is allowed to 'go wild'

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Many scientists at the federal health agencies await the second Donald Trump administration with dread as well as uncertainty over how the president-elect will reconcile starkly different philosophies among the leaders of his team.

Trump announced Thursday he’ll nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be secretary of the Health and Human Services ...Read more

Aaron Lavinsky/Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Minnesota health insurers warn of 'dire' premium spikes, lost coverage in 2026

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Chief executives at Minnesota’s four largest nonprofit health insurers are warning premiums could spike and thousands of residents could lose coverage in 2026 if the state’s congressional delegation doesn’t help save enhanced federal tax credits that subsidize coverage bought through the public MNsure exchange.

The extra federal subsidies...Read more

Alejandro A. Alvarez/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

These yoga, meditation, and mental-health businesses see more demand post-election

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

PHILADELPHIA — At 7:15 a.m. Nov. 6, just hours after Donald Trump was declared the winner of the presidential election, the mood in a Washington Square West yoga studio felt heavy.

“Folks were sobbing throughout class,” said Callie Kim, founder of Tuck Barre & Yoga. Students expressed a variety of emotions: “Sadness, frustration, ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

On Nutrition: Veggie questions

Health Advice / Nutrition /

Donna T. from Bismarck, North Dakota, writes: “When the variety of fresh veggies is limited, I buy frozen. I do, however, like to keep store-purchased canned veggies in my pantry and use them in tight squeezes. I am confused by statements that canned veggies are highly nutritious and comparable to frozen. Comparing nutrition labels does not ...Read more

Juanrvelasco/Dreamstime/TNS

Oakland clinic gets medical device maker to disclose risk of false blood-oxygen reading

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

LOS ANGELES — The pulse oximeter, a device that measures the degree to which red blood cells are saturated with oxygen, is one of healthcare's most fundamental tools.

So when Dr. Noha Aboelata learned that research stretching back decades showed that the devices routinely failed patients with darker skin tones, she took action.

Aboelata, the...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Mayo Clinic researchers recommend alternatives to hysterectomy for uterine fibroids, according to study

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Uterine fibroids are a common condition that affects up to 80% of women in their lifetime. Nearly half of those women will experience symptoms that affect their quality of life and fertility, including severe pain and anemia. Uterine fibroids are the major reason for the removal of the uterus by hysterectomy.

However, Mayo...Read more

63-Year-Old Debates Getting Shingles And Chicken Pox Vaccines

Health Advice / Keith Roach /

DEAR DR. ROACH: A few months ago, you wrote about the benefits of the shingles vaccine. At 63, I'm one of the 1% who has never had, nor been exposed to, chicken pox. I was tested in 2022 for varicella-zoster virus antibodies, and the results were negative. My current physician wants me to get the shingles vaccine, even though I can't get ...Read more

The newest oldest way to dodge advanced prostate cancer

If you catch prostate cancer early, it can often be actively watched or minimally treated. But, over time, it may progress, making aggressive treatment necessary to block or defeat its spread.

An exciting new Johns Hopkins University study says that if you upgrade your diet, you may be able to keep your cancer from progressing. How? By choosing...Read more

Rebecca Noble/Getty Images North America/TNS

Second Trump presidency raises big questions for health care

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Donald J. Trump’s second presidency may significantly alter health care and public health in Minnesota, especially if Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gets the opportunity to bring his vaccine skepticism to federal agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Trump’s pledge to let Kennedy “go wild” on those agencies drew ...Read more

Getty Images/Getty Images North America/TNS

California dengue cases prompt swift response from public health officials

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Jason Farned and his team at the San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District had spent years preparing for the likely arrival of dengue, a dangerous virus typically found in tropical climates outside the mainland United States.

They’d watched nervously as invasive Aedes mosquito species that can carry the virus appeared in Los ...Read more

Paregoric Is Seldom Prescribed Due To Its Abusive Potential

Health Advice / Keith Roach /

DEAR DR. ROACH: Could you kindly tell me about the current status of paregoric? Has it been banned by the Food and Drug Administration? Is it available anywhere in the United States? I remember using this product occasionally as a teenager back in the 1960s. It was a miracle drug for stopping diarrhea, and it was available over the counter. ...Read more