Health category, Page 114

Sometimes you just have to take things into your own hands. Stuart Urch of Greensburg learned that lesson while dealing with lingering injuries from playing high school football — and it’s led him into a career as a personal trainer. The 24-year-old is offering private and group training sessions at...

In response to a recent column in which I suggested canola oil as one good choice for popping corn “since it is low in saturated fat and has a high enough smoke point not to burn at higher temperatures,” a reader from Capitola writes: “The circle of people I associate...

Dandruff is a common chronic scalp condition marked by flaking of the skin on your scalp. It isn’t contagious or serious, but it can be embarrassing and sometimes difficult to treat. The good news is that dandruff usually can be controlled. Mild cases of dandruff may need nothing more than...

Every year, there is controversy involving the flu vaccine. How effective is it? Should you get it? But a new study aims to address another question: When is the best time to get the shot? An analysis from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine found that tens of thousands...

Blood drives • Central Blood Bank will host a blood drive 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday in Harmon House Care Center, 601 S. Church St., Mt. Pleasant. Appointments: 866-366-6711 or centralbloodbank.org. Screenings • Level Green Lions are sponsoring a health awareness screening 7-10 a.m. Saturday in their Community Building, 123 Murrysville...

When Beverly Dunn called her new primary care doctor’s office last November to schedule an annual checkup, she assumed her Medicare coverage would pick up most of the tab. The appointment seemed like a routine physical, and she was pleased that the doctor spent a lot of time with her....

Have you ever found yourself starting to yawn just because you saw someone else do it? It’s not your imagination: Yawns really are contagious! In fact, humans can feel the urge to yawn after seeing, hearing or even just thinking about someone else doing it. Scientists have been trying for...

WASHINGTON — As ominous music plays in the background, the narrator of a radio ad echoes objections from drugmakers by warning that a Trump administration proposal to apply international pricing to certain Medicare drugs would be a nightmare for seniors. The one-minute spot is the handiwork of the Alliance for...

A huge study suggests the Apple Watch can detect a worrisome irregular heartbeat at least sometimes — but experts say more work is needed to tell if using wearable technology to screen for heart problems really helps. More than 419,000 Apple Watch users signed up for the unusual study, making...

PHILADELPHIA — Health officials say there are at least 46 cases of the mumps at Temple University and three others from surrounding counties, the most cases in the city since 2010. That’s up from 16 cases reported last week. The Department of Public Health for Philadelphia said Friday it recommends...

State officials are working to better understand the risk of tick-borne illnesses with a new multi-year study. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is conducting a five-year study that started in July 2018. It’s part of the Pennsylvania Lyme Disease Task Force recommendations for combating the growing cases of Lyme...

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — A federal judge, citing an “unprecedented measles outbreak” in suburban Rockland County, New York, has denied a request to let 44 unvaccinated children return to school. Parents of students in the Green Meadow Waldorf School in Chestnut Ridge have sued the county health department. They say...

NEW YORK — An international group of scientists and ethicists on Wednesday called for a temporary global ban on making babies with edited genes. It’s the latest reaction to last November’s announcement that gene-edited twins had been born in China, which was widely criticized. Mainstream scientists generally oppose making babies...

WASHINGTON — U.S. health regulators are moving ahead with a plan designed to keep e-cigarettes out of the hands of teenagers by restricting sales of most flavored products in convenience stores and online. The new guidelines, first proposed in November, are the latest government effort to reverse what health officials...

My college experience included this life-skills lesson: Drink alcohol on a full stomach, so you don’t get inebriated too quickly. Of course, most college students shouldn’t be drinking at all, but we know from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism that close to 60 percent of college students...

NEW YORK — Somewhere in the Midwest, a restaurant is frying foods with oil made from gene-edited soybeans. That’s according to the company making the oil, which says it’s the first commercial use of a gene-edited food in the U.S. Calyxt said it can’t reveal its first customer for competitive...

Duquesne University researchers are using a $1.5 million grant to study how emotions can have an influence on certain types of physical pain. The study will look at chronic bladder pain, a condition that has no known cause and is difficult to treat. The condition affects more women than men....

Perhaps one of the most dreaded parts of turning 50 is being handed the order to get a colonoscopy. While regular colon screening can be uncomfortable, Dr. John Kisiel, a Mayo Clinic gastroenterologist, says this screening is a crucial step in catching colorectal cancer and precancerous polyps early. Kisiel says...

What’s new in the world of weight loss? For one thing, the word “diet” is often replaced nowadays by terms like “eating plan” or “lifestyle change.” One reason for that is the negative association people have with the idea of a diet, says Julianne Hagan, a licensed dietitian/nutritionist and owner...

Packing a healthy lunch seems like an easy task, but sometimes all the sandwich choices may seem daunting. Many deli, or processed meats, are packed with preservatives, nitrates and sodium that could raise your risk of heart disease and other health issues. So is there a better choice to build...

A drug company is recalling some packs of birth control because the pills may be mislabeled and lead to unintended pregnancy. Florida-based Apotex Corp. is recalling four lots of Ethinyl Estradiol USP pills because they may contain defective blisters with incorrect tablet arrangements and an empty blister pocket. According to...

Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala, Jr. wants residents to consider cleaning out their medicine cabinets while they are setting their clocks ahead this weekend. He says it’s a good way for people to make their homes and the community safer. “The beginning of daylight saving time is the...

FREMONT, Calif. — A California family is devastated that their relative was told he didn’t have long to live by a doctor appearing on a robot’s video screen. San Francisco Bay Area news station KTVU reported Thursday that 79-year-old Ernest Quintana went Sunday to Kaiser Permanente Medical Center’s emergency department...

PHILADELPHIA — Health officials say at least 16 cases of mumps have been confirmed at Temple University, the most cases in the city since 2011. The Department of Public Health for Philadelphia said Thursday the effectiveness of the mumps vaccination tends to wane over time so it’s not necessarily a...