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A species of mosquito that has infected people with the Zika virus in at least two states has also been detected in California, according to a recently published study. According to the study, published in June 2018 in the journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, researchers at the University of California in Davis infected three species of mosquitoes — Californian Aedes aegypti, Culex tarsalis, and Culex quinquefasciatus — with Zika strains from 2015 outbreaks in Puerto Rico and Brazil, and a 1966 outbreak in Malaysia....

Spasticity: The Double-Edged Sword For example, this morning I struggled with what I call “two-by-four syndrome.” When I fall down, instead of being limp, my body becomes straight as an arrow, like a two-by-four piece of wood. This seems to me like miscommunication between the brain and the spinal cord. It is as if the brain is saying “Tighten the limb; it’s too loose.” If a caregiver wants to intervene and help, they do not expect the two-by-four syndrome....

The guidelines largely reflect previous advice about preventing cancer. The new advice, however, homes in on exercise duration and specific foods to avoid or limit. As many as 20 percent of all new cancer cases in the United States can be attributed to poor diet, obesity, inadequate physical activity, and alcohol intake, the authors say. The recommendations are based on a review of scientific evidence conducted by the International Agency on Cancer Research (IARC) and other major nonprofit and government health groups, says Laura Makaroff, DO, the senior vice president for prevention and early detection at ACS....

Overdose fatalities hit a grim milestone last year, surpassing 100,000 for the first time and shattering the record for annual fatalities set in 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Two-thirds of the overdose deaths in 2021 involved synthetic opioids like fentanyl. “If you think about what has happened in the last two years since COVID began, it used to be that one person would die every 11 minutes of an overdose of opiates,” says Nancy Davis, cofounder and president of Cure Addiction Now (CAN), a nonprofit funding research to develop new treatments for substance use disorders....

RELATED: Most People With Rheumatoid Arthritis Aren’t Happy With Their Treatment Now, after a panel exhaustively examined the latest research, the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) has developed new guidelines for the medical treatment of RA. The guidelines were published in Arthritis Care & Research in July 2021, after a draft was first released to physicians and the media on November 9, 2020. First Update to RA Treatment Guidelines in 5 Years The recommendations update previous guidelines from 2015, continuing the ACR’s practice of reevaluating and revamping its guidelines every five years, according to Liana Fraenkel, MD, MPH, an adjunct professor of medicine at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, and the lead investigator for the update....

While previous research has shown some indication that there is a link between good sleep and what we eat, research has not yet revealed exactly how the two influence one another. “There is not much information on sleep and specific nutrients in food,” says Eirini Mamalaki, lead author of the study and a PhD candidate at Harokopio University in Athens, Greece. Mamalaki and colleagues assessed the diets and sleep patterns of 1,639 adults ages 65 and over from a suburb of Athens and an urban area in Greece, via questionnaires that participants completed....

The treatment represents the first new approach in 20 years for this subtype of breast cancer, said the lead author of the study, Stephen Johnston, PhD, a professor with the Royal Marsden Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in London. Hormone receptor positive (HR-positive) breast cancer is the most common type of breast cancer. Many patients with early-stage disease are cured using a range of treatments, including surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and hormone treatment....

Scientists have identified certain factors that raise a woman’s risk of developing the most common form of ovarian cancer, epithelial ovarian cancer. Yet only a small percentage of women with these risk factors will develop the disease. Most won’t — and researchers are still working to understand exactly why. Clinical studies based on this finding are investigating new prevention, early detection, and treatment strategies. (2) Ovarian Cancer Risk Factors: What You Can and Can’t Control Women may be able to lower their risk in some ways but not others....

In a study published in the April 2021 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers found that food insufficiency — an extreme form of food insecurity defined as households without enough food to eat at least once a week — increased to 10 percent of the U.S. population in June 2020, a 25 percent increase from March 2020. Out of these households, over 90 percent reported mental health symptoms such as anxiety, lack of pleasure (anhedonia), or depression....

Serves 1 Ingredients Salad 2 cups kale, finely chopped ½ cup cooked quinoa ¼ cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed ½ cup cherry tomatoes, halved ¼ avocado, cubed Dressing 1 tbsp olive oil 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar 1 tsp grainy mustard 1 pinch sea salt 1 pinch ground black pepper Directions title: “Plant Based Lunch Recipe Loaded Kale Salad With Balsamic Vinaigrette Recipe” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-02” author: “Ronald Swoager” Serves 1...

But accidents happen, and sometimes exposure can’t be prevented. Luckily, most reactions to poison ivy aren’t serious and can be treated at home. In more severe cases, though, medical attention is necessary to control symptoms and prevent any complications that could cause lasting damage. When to See a Doctor for Poison Ivy In most cases, it’s not necessary to see a doctor for a rash caused by poison ivy. But if your reaction is particularly severe or long-lasting, you should seek medical attention....

Testing how far we can walk (assisted or unassisted) and how fast we can do it is often the way many MS neurology appointments begin. In many cases, once someone has progressed to needing a wheelchair for mobility, insurance will no longer cover elements of therapy — physical therapy and occupational therapy, for example — because a paperwork threshold has been crossed. RELATED: All About Assistive Devices for MS Mobility...

“Negative emotions are perfectly normal in those circumstances, [so] don’t blame yourself,” says Esther Sternberg, MD, research director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine. “Of course you feel angry when you can’t do the simple things you used to be able to do like open up a jar or reach for something on a high shelf; that’s normal.” This anger response might even be a built-in biological response, says Madelyn Petrow-Cohen, LCSW, SEP, a psychotherapist based in the New York City metro area....

Rose, the author of Untangled: A Story of Resilience, Courage, and Triumph, says that once she started to tell family, friends, and people at speaking engagements about PTSD, she started to face stigma. “I’m pretty articulate, and I look okay, so those two things already set me up for a lot of stigma,” she says. People would often tell her, “You don’t look sick,” “When are you going to get over it?...

A study published on November 18 in the journal PLoS One focused on how racism within a community — rather than just among healthcare workers or other individuals — affects COVID-19 cases and deaths. Researchers looked at COVID-19 cases and racial attitudes on a county level, overlaying health information with data about racial attitudes collected through Harvard University’s Project Implicit— an online assessment of a person’s explicit (conscious) and implicit (unconscious) biases and prejudices....

That’s the takeaway from a comprehensive new review by researchers at the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom. While many studies have been published that have seen an association between a plant-based diet and better heart health, they’re mostly observational studies, so it is impossible to say if the diet caused better health outcomes. But a new review, published July 23 in the Journal of Hypertension, looked only at clinical trials in which a test group was given a particular plant-based diet and a control group was given a more standard diet....

Surviving an attempt, however, certainly doesn’t mean the struggle is over. What happens in the hours, days, and weeks that follow is crucial. Suicide attempt survivors need love, empathy, compassion, care, and support. And yet it can be tough for them to find that support. While there are countless resources available for suicide loss survivors, a quick internet search for help for suicide attempt survivors yields few results. (I would know....

Some people confess that they worry about everything. Others are more selective, fretting about specific things, but not everything. Some people claim that they have always been worriers and label themselves as “born worriers.” Other people can point to a specific life event which started them down the path of anxiety. RELATED: Is It Worry or General Anxiety Disorder? Input From Those Who’ve Lived With RA for a Long Time Being diagnosed with a chronic disease, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), is an example of a life event that can trigger worry....

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York listed Ocasek’s cause of death as hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease with a contributing factor of emphysema. Ocasek supplied the lead vocals and wrote most of the songs for the Cars, who made their self-titled debut in 1978. The band’s hits included “My Best Friend’s Girl,” “Shake It Up,” and “You Might Think.” After the group parted ways in 1988, Ocasek went on to release several solo records and produce albums for many popular music acts including Bad Brains, Weezer, and No Doubt....

There is, however, no cure for schizophrenia. Most people with the disease will require a combination of medications and psychotherapy (talking with a trained therapist), and social services. (1) Getting Schizophrenia Symptoms Under Control Your doctor may suggest that you be admitted to a hospital at first to help get your symptoms under control. The Prevalence of Schizophrenia: How Common Is the Disease? Approximately 100,000 young people in the United States experience an episode of psychosis each year, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)....