New shingles vaccine boosts protection
Q: I recently read that the new shingles vaccine might be better than the older vaccine. I did have one shot of the older vaccine about seven years ago. Should I get this new one? A: Shingles is caused by the same virus — the varicella zoster virus — that causes chickenpox. Once you have had chickenpox, the virus that caused it remains alive inside your nerves. It is inactive, but it ... READ MORE
Palliative care is for anyone seriously ill
Dear Mayo Clinic: What’s the difference between palliative care and hospice care? Answer: People often confuse palliative care and hospice care, thinking they are the same thing. But they’re not. Palliative care focuses on improving quality of life for anyone who has a serious illness. Hospice care is a form of palliative care for people whose illness has advanced to the point... READ MORE
New injectable drugs reduce migraines
New, long-acting drugs may hold hope for millions of people who often suffer migraines. Studies of two of these medicines, given as shots every month or so, found they cut the frequency of the notoriously painful and disabling headaches. The drugs are the first preventive medicines developed specifically for migraines. They work by interfering with a substance involved in modifying nerve ... READ MORE
Maryland starts selling medical marijuana
Maryland began the sale of medical marijuana to residents in pain in late November, ending years of delays by embarking on a program that features some of the most liberal policies in the nation on who can qualify for the prescribed cannabis. Dozens of people stood outside a licensed dispensary, Potomac Holistics in Rockville, where owners began making sales soon after receiving their... READ MORE
A new twist on DNA
It’s one of the first lessons in high school biology: All life is made up of four DNA building blocks known by the letters A, T, C and G. Paired together, they form DNA’s ladder-like rungs. Now there’s a new rung on that ladder. Scientists are expanding the genetic code of life, using man-made DNA to create a semi-synthetic strain of bacteria. And new research shows those... READ MORE
New test profiles patients’ cancer genes
U.S. regulators have approved a first-of-a-kind test that looks for mutations in hundreds of cancer genes at once, giving a more complete picture of what’s driving a patient’s tumor and aiding efforts to match treatments to those flaws. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Foundation Medicine’s test for patients with advanced or widely spread cancers, and the Centers for... READ MORE
Mini-organs can help find best treatments
Els van der Heijden, who has cystic fibrosis, was finding it ever harder to breathe as her lungs filled with thick, sticky mucus. Despite taking more than a dozen pills and inhalers a day, the 53-year-old had to stop working and scale back doing the thing she loved best, horseback riding. Doctors saw no sense in trying an expensive new drug because it hasn’t been proven to work in... READ MORE
Massive study seeks 1 million volunteers
In a quest to end cookie-cutter healthcare, U.S. researchers are getting ready to recruit more than 1 million people for an unprecedented study to learn how our genes, environments and lifestyles interact — and to finally customize ways to prevent and treat disease. Why does one sibling get sick but not another? Why does a drug cure one patient but only cause nasty side effects in the... READ MORE
Foster parents give and find love
The nationwide heroin epidemic has not left Baltimore unscathed. Drug-addicted parents who can no longer care for their children have led to an increasing number of kids who need a secure, stable and loving home environment — a home provided by foster moms like Janis Oglesby. Oglesby, who lives in Baltimore County and is “past 65,” has been a treatment foster care parent with the... READ MORE
NIH offers tool to locate alcoholism help
The phone calls come — from fellow scientists and desperate strangers — with a single question for the alcohol chief at the National Institutes of Health: Where can my loved one find good care to get sober? The government recently released a novel online tool to help — the Alcohol Treatment Navigator — which provides access to directories of alcohol treatment providers and a list ... READ MORE
Health 2024
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