Month: July 2023

July 19, 2023 — It’s well known that exercise is beneficial to one’s health and particularly that it protects against heart disease. But how much exercise should people get? And how should they apportion their exercise time? Current guidelines (such as those from the World Health Organization and the American Heart Association) recommend at least 150 minutes (2.5 hours) of moderate-to-vigorous exercise weekly to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease and death, but these guidelines don’t specify how those hours should be divided up. The U.K. National Health Service recommends spreading the exercise evenly over 4 to 5 days, or ... Read more

Four people are feared dead after a helicopter crash during a military exercise in Australia that also features US and UK armed forces. Exercise Talisman Sabre, which is jointly led by United States and Australia, is being conducted off the Whitsundays coast in Queensland. It is understood the helicopter crashed into the ocean off Hamilton Island with four people on board about 11pm on Friday, local time. The huge 14-day exercise features more than 30,000 military personnel from 13 nations, including the United Kingdom, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, France, Canada and Germany. ... Read more

July 20, 2023 — A finger-prick blood test can accurately identify key Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers without the need for temperature or storage control measures, results of a new study suggest. The use of blood samples to detect amyloid and other markers of Alzheimer’s has become standard procedure for monitoring patients in clinical trials. But this presents logistical challenges because it requires strict, time-limited, temperature-dependent protocols. To make this process more efficient, the researchers conducted a pilot study that investigated a new way of detecting them by dropping a small blood sample onto a blood spot card, where it dries and ... Read more

July 20, 2023 – Gout is a form of arthritis that causes intense pain, redness, and swelling of the joints and extremities. Physical complications of gout, if it’s left untreated, can include high blood pressure, heart attacks, diabetes, kidney problems, and obesity. Now, researchers are taking a closer look at another difficult health challenge that’s linked to gout: depression.  A recent study from the University of British Columbia found a significant increase in gout patients who also have the mood disorder. Their study looked at 157,426 patients and found that about 13 patients out of every 1,000 person-years received a diagnosis of ... Read more

Every year Andrea Bocelli returns to Lajatico, his hometown in Tuscany, Italy to sing at the Teatro del Silenzio (Theatre of Silence). The 64-year-old tenor convinced the local municipality to build the open air amphitheatre back in 2006, to which he contributed greatly. Apart from his annual performance there every July, the outdoor venue remains silent, as its name suggests, for the rest of the year. Highlights from the 2023 performance have been posted on his official Instagram page including a duet of Elvis Presley’s Can’t Help Falling in Love, with Emma Marrone. The song was originally recorded by The ... Read more

Like most members of the Royal Family, Queen Elizabeth II travelled the world throughout her lifetime and even lived abroad for a short period in the 1940s. The late queen uprooted her life with her husband Prince Philip in the early days of their marriage to spend a somewhat carefree two years in Malta. Renowned for its remote location in the Mediterranean Sea, the now Independent island country is the largest of its kind on the Maltese archipelago. Joined by Gozo and Comino, the unique location boasts expansive beaches, panoramic coastal views and an impressive 7000 years of history. While ... Read more

Cough syrup, aspirin, toilet paper … and hearing aids. That may be some consumers’ drugstore shopping list this fall, thanks to a new FDA rule making some hearing aids available without a prescription in pharmacies, electronics stores such as Best Buy, and online. Is that good news or bad news for the 38 million American adults estimated to have trouble hearing? It depends on whom you ask. Some advocates for those with hearing loss lobbied for the rule change, which they hope will make hearing aids cheaper, easier to get, and less stigmatized. Hearing aid makers are cheering expanded opportunities ... Read more

July 28, 2023—Women in the U.S. are dying of alcohol-related causes at a much faster rate than are U.S. men, according to a new study that tracked these deaths for 20 years. The most dramatic rise occurred in the last 3 years covered by the study. “From 2018 to 2020, there was an increase of 14.7% per year” in alcohol-related deaths in women, said study researcher Ibraheem M. Karaye, MD, DrPH, assistant professor of population health, and director of the health science program at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY. While alcohol-related deaths in men also increased greatly during that same 3-year ... Read more

July 28, 2023 – What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the term “game-changer”? For two-time Olympian, three-time Women’s World Cup player, and former professional soccer player Rosie White, it’s a condition called ulcerative colitis, and it would be a takeover that neither she nor her teammates anticipated.  “I was playing collegiate soccer at UCLA and also playing for the New Zealand national team, and I started feeling symptoms during an international game,” White said. “And I just thought that I was sick, had diarrhea, or had eaten something funny.”  “There was blood in my ... Read more

July 21, 2023 – Richard Carter had spent the morning walking the picket line outside the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, CA, with other striking actors. Now, at noon, the temperature had reached 93 F, with a hot breeze blowing. Yet Carter, a 50-something background actor who counts the television show This is Us among his credits, was still cheerful. Some might call him an “iguana,” one of those people who, like the reptiles that prefer to bask in 95 degrees, don’t complain when the temperatures skyrocket. He notices but doesn’t dwell. “I say, ‘Damn, it’s hot,’” he said, then ... Read more