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The World Health Organization (WHO) has listed vaccine hesitancy—the delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccines despite their availability—as one of its top 10 health threats facing the world in 2019. The phenomenon has taken hold in a number of countries around the world in recent times, and notably in the U.S. as well. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that while coverage of most recommended vaccines remained relatively stable and high in 2017 for American children aged 19 to 35 months, the percentage who have received no vaccinations has quadrupled since 2001. According to a...

Hong Kong scientists claim they have made a potential breakthrough discovery in the fight against infectious diseases -- a chemical that could slow the spread of deadly viral illnesses. A team from the University of Hong Kong described the newly discovered chemical as "highly potent in interrupting the life cycle of diverse viruses" in a study published this month in the journal Nature Communications. The scientists told AFP Monday that it could one day be used as a broad-spectrum antiviral for a host of infectious diseases -- and even for viruses that have yet to emerge -- if it passes...

You know the one, with all of the stylishly dressed young women killing it in the workplace, telling you that they’ve “armored up” against an unplanned pregnancy? It’s clever enough, as the Nexplanon implant goes into one’s arm. Unfortunately, Merck (the makers of Nexplanon) may have to come up with another clever slogan for their device, as reports have surfaced that the matchstick-sized implant has a nasty habit of migrating elsewhere in a woman’s body, instead of staying put in her arm. Like other methods of long-acting reversible contraception (or, “LARCs”), the Nexplanon implant is increasingly favored by patients and...

Some shoulder conditions may become more common as you age. You probably don't think about your shoulders much, until you suddenly experience pain in one of them. Shoulder pain can make a simple act — brushing and drying your hair, reaching behind your back to fasten a bra, or grabbing something overhead — seem like a monumental task. As you age, you're more likely to experience shoulder pain from a variety of common conditions. "Shoulder problems are very common," says Dr. Arun Ramappa, associate professor of orthopedic surgery at Harvard Medical School. The pain can come on gradually or abruptly,...

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was spotted for the first time since undergoing surgery to remove cancerous growths from her lung. The surgery was serious enough for Justice Ginsburg to miss the last 3 days at the Supreme Court ... something that has never happened in her 25-year storied career on the high court.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday that all residents, regardless of citizenship status or ability to pay, will be guaranteed comprehensive health care. The recently re-elected Democratic mayor of the country's largest city announced on MSNBC Tuesday the government will pay for any and all resident's comprehensive care, including those who aren't eligible to receive comprehensive Medicaid coverage. The city's more than 600,000 uninsured residents, including its more than 300,000 undocumented residents, are included in this de Blasio guarantee.

New York City will begin guaranteeing comprehensive health care to every single resident regardless of someone's ability to pay or immigration status, an unprecedented plan that will protect the more than half a million New Yorkers currently using the ER as a primary provider, Mayor de Blasio said Tuesday. It's not health insurance, his spokesman clarified after the surprise announcement on MSNBC. "This is the city paying for direct comprehensive care (not just ERs) for people who can't afford it, or can't get comprehensive Medicaid -- including 300,000 undocumented New Yorkers," spokesman Eric Phillips tweeted. Politico reported the mayor said...

How to GUARANTEE Success with Your Health and Fitness Program Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared last year, but the principles haven’t changed, and what better way to start the new year! I’ve recently been discussing why so many are failing to implement health and fitness programs—it’s because health and fitness are NOT a priority. But let’s say that you received that message and are ready to make health and fitness a priority. How will you guarantee the success of your program? The power of habit. Uh, okay,,, you may be thinking that the answer sounds pretty basic. But I...

Democratic superstar Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spent an hour with First Lady Chirlane McCray on Friday discussing mental health issues. Cortez told reporters gathered outside of Gracie Mansion afterward that she and McCray spent much of the time talking about the First Lady’s mental health initiative. “It went really well, we were discussing the first lady’s mental health program throughout New York City and we are trying to figure out ways that we can really create conversations around mental health in communities,” the congresswoman-elect said.

Nancy Pelosi says there are three reasons the Democrats took back the House: “Health care, health care and health care.” She may be right. Half the Democratic TV ads were on health care. By one estimate, Democratic candidates spent a reported $90 million on health care ads alone. If nothing else, they have really promised to do something about health care. So what’s their plan? To find out I went to a site called A Better Deal, which is maintained by Senate Democrats. This site tells you what you would expect to happen if the Democrats had captured the Senate...

The health benefits of sardines include the prevention of heart diseases, certain types of cancers, and age-related macular degeneration. They also help strengthen bones, boost the immune system, improve insulin resistance, and rejuvenate the skin.

Exercising just 10 minutes every other day may reverse the effects of aging Fitness marketers often use extreme language (“Breakthrough!” “Miraculous!”) to describe the latest hot workout or gear. But scientists and doctors are now using superlatives to discuss what many consider to be one of the most important new fitness approaches in decades: high-intensity interval training, or HIIT, an approach to exercise that people can do in relatively little time, but with oversize benefits. If you ever did wind sprints in high school, then you know what HIIT is — brief bursts of very intense exercise followed by periods...

During last year’s Dallas Marathon relay, Dwayne Pickens had only 5.2 miles for his segment, and he was confident that he’d breeze through it, considering he’d run eight miles the weekend before. About two miles in, the breathing issues started. He told Runner’s World that it was a cold morning, so he thought the cool air was affecting his lungs and making it more challenging to breathe. The next thing he remembers is waking up in the emergency room, where he found out that, technically, he’d been dead on the course for about two minutes. Although he’d never had any...

On November 30, 2018, George H.W. Bush, 41st President of the United States, died of vascular Parkinsonism, a disease with many of the same risk factors as those for strokes and a heart attack. However, he did not have the two major risk factors for heart attacks: He was not overweight and he exercised regularly (and vigorously, at least in his younger days). -snip- details -snip_ He Did Everything Right Readers of my biographical articles on the deaths of notable people often comment on how frequently I criticize my subjects for their self-destructive lifestyle choices -- lack of exercise, a...

AN AMBITIOUS pig farmer raising muscle-bound mutant porkers for the bacon market is selling their sperm on Facebook. The Cambodian-based breeder is flogging the semen - along with insemination kits - to others looking to move into the 'Frankenswine' market. Mutant ...one of the giant pigs greedily gobbles up his massive dinner at a farm in Cambodia ______________________________________________________________ Scientists in South Korea have been credited with originally genetically-engineering double-muscle hogs to avert a future pork shortage crisis. They carefully altered pig genes to create super-sized swines capable of producing more meat than usual breeds. Farmyard footage shows similar porky 'monsters'...

Pediatricians have to deal with all kinds of interesting situations in their daily work with children, and kids eating random objects is one of them. Children just love to stick stuff in their mouths, and while parents do their best to keep tiny toys away from eager eaters thereÂ’s always a chance that something like a Lego finds its way into the stomach of a youngster. A half-dozen pediatricians decided to see what effect, if any, a tiny yellow Lego head would have on their own bodies by volunteering to swallow them. Their findings were reported in the Journal of...

Life expectancy in the United States declined again in 2017, the government said Thursday in a bleak series of reports that showed a nation still in the grip of escalating drug and suicide crises. The data continued the longest sustained decline in expected life span at birth in a century, an appalling performance not seen in the United States since 1915 through 1918. That four-year period included World War I and a flu pandemic that killed 675,000 people in the United States and perhaps 50 million worldwide. Public health and demographic experts reacted with alarm to the release of the...

A Las Vegas father has been hospitalized in a critical condition after receiving his flu shot, which his wife blames for her husband's life-threatening condition.

When it comes to the oldest justice currently serving on the Supreme Court, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the message has long since set in for liberals. Donald Trump is going to be in office for two or possibly six more years and for at least the next two, the GOP controls the Senate. How much longer will she remain on the bench? After her recent health scare (a fall resulting in some broken ribs), some alarmed Democrats are growing resentful that Ginsburg didn’t retire when Barack Obama was in office and she had the chance to give up her seat to...

A size 28 lingerie model from New York is embracing her fuller figure after receiving nasty jibes from internet trolls. Leah Stanley, 29, started her Instagram account, that now has over 92,000 followers, in a bid to encourage other women to enjoy their curves after she grew up without a strong plus-sized influence. 'I've received countless comments and messages regarding my health, lifestyle and life overall. I've been told I should kill myself, that I should learn to stop eating or that I'm unhealthy and only promoting an unhealthy lifestyle,' says Leah.