US Health News

The research found shutting schools down had little effect on virus death rates in the US but 'hurt' children's 'educational outcomes.' Meanwhile, stay-at-home orders, restaurant, bar and gym closures and visitor restrictions in nursing homes did nothing to save lives and caused 'harmful social isolation.' 'The absence of evidence that these [curbs] ...reduced pandemic deaths suggests that they may have been too aggressively pursued in some states,' the study said.

The fear of going bald is something that weighs on the minds, and scalps, of millions of men around the world. But if you're anxiously checking your hairline, there is finally good news as scientists have found a potential cure for male pattern baldness. Researchers from the University of Sheffield and COMSATS University Pakistan discovered that a sugar which occurs naturally in our bodies can stimulate hair growth in mice. The sugar, 2-deoxy-D-ribose (2dDR), was just as effective at restoring hair to the balding rodents as commercially available drug minoxidil, also known as Rogaine. Professor Sheila MacNeil, of the University of Sheffield, says: 'This could offer another approach to treating this condition which can affect men's self-image and confidence.'

Having more fat around your arms or belly could raise your risk of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, a major study suggests. Researchers in China followed more than 400,000 healthy adults without cognitive decline for nine years. Of that group, about two percent went on to develop cognitive disorders like dementia. The team then measured their body fat distribution, muscle strength, and bone density, as well as took brain scans to look for cognitive decline. They found that people with more fat around their stomachs and arms were nearly 20 percent more likely to develop cognitive diseases like dementia and Parkinson's, due to higher levels of fat around vital organs like the heart. However, having more muscle strength, better bone density, and fat around the legs reduced the risk of these diseases by up to 25 percent.

Hadeya Okeafor in Canada [shown] detailed the effects of an IVF mixup in the '90s that distinguished her from her black brothers and sisters. Her mother is white, and her father is black. But rather than her father's sperm being used to fertilize an embryo, Dr Firouz Khamsi fertilized the egg with sperm from a white brunette man.

In addition to drastically raising one's risk of obesity and, therefore, heart disease and diabetes, mukebang, or consuming that much food in a single sitting, can cause the stomach to become distended and rupture, sending food into the abdomen.

You might not think that flossing your teeth or singing in the shower could have a lasting impact on your brain. But according to experts, these are just two of the simple lifestyle tweaks proven to help prevent dementia and age-related memory loss. Exciting trials are under way into a new generation of drugs to treat Alzheimer's Disease, the commonest cause of dementia. Last week pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly announced that its drug, donanemab, reduced progression by up to 35 per cent in people with mild cognitive impairment.

The 14-year-old school-child was diagnosed with Nipah virus in the country's southern state of Kerala, and died after suffering from a cardiac arrest. Officials are now monitoring 214 people for infection, 60 of which are thought to be at high risk of having also caught the virus.