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FDA vaccine chief Vinay Prasad set to leave post next month

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

WASHINGTON — The head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s division of vaccines and gene therapies is leaving the agency after a tumultuous tenure, sending biotech shares higher in late trading on Friday.

Vinay Prasad will depart the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research next month to return to his previous career in academia. ...Read more

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Federal officials say Baltimore ICE office safe amid Legionella concerns from lawmakers

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BALTIMORE — Members of Maryland’s congressional delegation are pressing for “immediate remediation” as Legionella bacteria remains in the water at Baltimore’s federal building, which houses ICE and other agencies. Meanwhile, federal officials say safety measures are already in place and there is no threat.

In a letter sent Friday to ...Read more

Communities rely on vaccination clinics, restaurant inspections and disease surveillance systems run by local and state public health departments.  Sean Rayford/Stringer via Getty Images

Public health needs steady budgets – and federal funding uncertainty cause real harms, even if the money is later restored

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Since early 2025, several large federal health grants to states have been suspended and then restored after legal challenges. On Feb. 13, 2026, for example, the federal government moved to suspend about US$600 million in public health grants to four states before a federal court temporarily blocked the action. Hundreds of millions of dollars ...Read more

Is the social media platform she's using, rather than the content she's viewing, a threat to her well-being? Fiordaliso/Moment via Getty Images

How Instagram addictiveness lawsuit could reshape social media – platform design meets product liability

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A Los Angeles courtroom is hosting what may become the most consequential legal challenge Big Tech has ever faced.

This is an inflection point in the global debate over Big Tech liability: For the first time, an American jury is being asked to decide whether platform design itself can give rise to product liability – not because of ...Read more

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How a successful Colorado startup turned into a nearly $1 billion health care fraud scheme

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Marian Houk was rehabbing from a major spinal surgery in 2022 when her physical therapist at UCHealth in Aurora, Colorado, recommended she try electrical stimulation to manage the pain.

Like many providers around the country, UCHealth sent Houk to Zynex Inc., an Englewood, Colorado-based medical device company that manufactures and sells ...Read more

The neuro disease rat lungworm has reached California

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LOS ANGELES — A disease that can cause neurological illness and meningitis in people, rat lungworm, has been found in wild opposums, rats and a zoo animal in San Diego County, indicating its establishment in California for the first time.

Researchers reported their findings in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, published by the U.S. ...Read more

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Mayo Clinic expert highlights improved survival in muscle-invasive bladder cancer and kidney cancer

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Cancers of the reproductive and urinary organs, known as genitourinary cancers, affect millions of people worldwide each year. At Mayo Clinic, Yousef Zakharia, M.D., a medical oncologist and chair of the Genitourinary Disease Group at the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, leads clinical research aimed at improving outcomes for patients ...Read more

Pennsylvania legalized online gambling in 2017. Tatiana Maksimova/Moment Collection via Getty Images

Nearly a third of Pennsylvania gamblers are at risk of problem gambling − but few seek treatment

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Nearly three times as many Pennsylvania adults gamble online today than just a few years ago.

And as online platforms make gambling easier and more convenient, some Pennsylvanians are gambling more often and may be more prone to developing problems.

We are researchers at Penn State’s Criminal Justice Research Center and the ...Read more

The parasites that cause river blindness and elephantitis have been afflicting people for centuries.  Alexis Huguet/AFP via Getty Images

Billions of dollars, decades of progress spent eliminating devastating diseases may be lost with undoing of USAID

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In Greek mythology, King Sisyphus was condemned by the god Zeus to spend eternity rolling a boulder up a hill only to have it roll back down, having to start anew every day.

His story captured our attention as researchers studying neglected tropical diseases – a collection of conditions that primarily affect poor people in low-...Read more

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Measles exposure locations in Colorado: 2 schools, 3 restaurants and a grocery store

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Colorado has its first measles outbreak of 2026, with three cases linked to students at Broomfield schools.

Measles symptoms can take up to three weeks to appear and initially are nonspecific: a fever, cough, runny nose and red eyes.

The rash, which typically starts at the hairline and moves down, appears about four days after someone becomes ...Read more

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LA County banned sales of kratom. Now some residents say they're losing a lifeline for pain and opioid withdrawal

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LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County banned sales of kratom and 7-OH in November following overdose deaths, but experts question whether the drugs alone caused the fatalities.

Residents who relied on kratom for chronic pain and opioid withdrawal now struggle to access the substance, turning to online orders and black markets.

The crackdown ...Read more

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Families defend disability services amid Medicaid cuts

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Families of Idahoans with disabilities say their lives could be upended as lawmakers in the state’s Republican-dominated legislature mull sweeping cuts.

Services at risk include the 24/7 care that allows a 39-year-old with cerebral palsy to live independently; the in-home caregiving that lets a 26-year-old with brain damage from a hemorrhage ...Read more

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States try 'public option' Obamacare plans to reduce coverage costs

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Nearly two decades ago, progressives fought to include a so-called public option — a government-run health plan — in the broad health care overhaul known as Obamacare. That effort failed, defeated by heavy lobbying from the insurance industry and opponents who decried it as a government takeover of health care.

But the final Affordable Care...Read more

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Commentary: What HBO's 'The Pitt' gets wrong about AI -- and what medicine misses

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Generative artificial intelligence has already reshaped industries such as computer programming, retail, and manufacturing. In medicine, however, fears of clinical error have slowed adoption.

At present, two-thirds of doctors report using GenAI tools in practice, though half insist that stronger safeguards are needed.

This split — between ...Read more

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Would you eat fruits and vegetables with a doctor's prescription?

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BALTIMORE -- A prescription fruit-and-vegetable program seeks to stave off illnesses caused by poor nutrition and diet in Maryland’s food-insecure communities. Backed by a $480,000 grant from the National Institute for Food and Agriculture, the program will be developed and tested by researchers from the University of Maryland, College Park.

...Read more

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GOP says Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear supports surgery for trans kids. What does his record show?

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LEXINGTON, Ky. — When Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear ran for reelection in 2023, a reoccurring Republican line of attack was that he’d allow minors to undergo gender-affirming surgeries.

Now, as the governor builds his national name ID ahead of a potential 2028 presidential run, Republicans in Kentucky and beyond are re-upping that line of ...Read more

With GLP-1 drugs becoming more accessible and affordable, they could also be within reach for substance use treatment. Michael Siluk/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

GLP-1 drugs may fight addiction across every major substance, according to a study of 600,000 people

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

A patient of mine, a veteran who had tried to quit smoking for over a decade, told me that after he started a GLP-1 drug for his diabetes, he lost interest in cigarettes. He didn’t use a patch. He didn’t set a quit date. He simply lost interest. It happened without effort.

Another patient on one of these drugs for weight loss told...Read more

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A virus without a vaccine or treatment is hitting California. What you need to know

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LOS ANGELES — A respiratory virus that doesn’t have a vaccine or a specific treatment regimen is spreading in some parts of California — but there’s no need to sound the alarm just yet, public health officials say.

A majority of Northern California communities have seen high concentrations of human metapneumovirus, or HMPV, detected in ...Read more

Environmental Nutrition: A primer on zinc

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Zinc is considered a “trace mineral” because the body requires it in such small amounts, but it is found in cells throughout the body. While it is required in small amounts, only iron is a more concentrated mineral in the body. It is available in supplement form, in some cold lozenges, and in certain fortified foods. Zinc supplements are ...Read more

The 7 healthiest cereals you can find at the grocery store

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Though convenient, is cereal actually a healthy choice? Those brightly colored boxes are often the source of added sugars and are lacking in substantial nutritional value, says Patricia Bannan, RDN. But this doesn’t mean you should avoid cereal altogether. We spoke to registered dietitians about what to look for.

The healthiest cereals are ...Read more