ArcaMax

In the wooded highlands of northern Arkansas, where small towns have few dentists, water officials who serve more than 20,000 people have for more than a decade openly defied state law by refusing to add fluoride to the drinking water.

For its refusal, the Ozark Mountain Regional Public Water Authority has received hundreds of state fines ...Read more

People with a complex heart, kidney and metabolic-related condition who got better quality sleep were less likely to have an advanced stage of the illness than those getting poor sleep, according to a new study.

The investigation looked at the link between sleep quality and advanced cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic, or CKM, syndrome. It was ...Read more

Tim Winard knew he needed to buy health insurance when he left his management job in manufacturing to launch his own business.

It was the first time he had shopped around for coverage, searching for a plan that would cover him and his wife, who was also between jobs at the time.

“We were so nervous about not being on a company-provided plan,...Read more

When Stephanie Russo Carroll, a citizen of the Native Village of Kluti-Kaah in Alaska, set out to earn her doctorate in tribal health 15 years ago, she focused her research on tribal cultural and health programs within six tribes.

She needed vital statistics data, such as birth and death rates, for each of them. But getting that data from the ...Read more

Does your child suddenly have diarrhea and vomiting? The cause might be norovirus.

Norovirus is a common illness that spreads quickly--especially during winter--but it can make people sick anytime. Norovirus is the leading cause of vomiting and diarrhea from acute gastroenteritis in the United States and is also the leading cause of foodborne ...Read more

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.

Children actively meditating experience lower activity in parts of the brain involved in rumination, mind-wandering and depression, our team found in the first brain-imaging study of young people under 18 years old, published in 2022. Over-activity in this collection ...Read more

PLEASANTVILLE, Iowa — Zach Mecham has heard politicians demand that Medicaid recipients work or lose their benefits. He also has run into a jumble of Medicaid rules that effectively prevent many people with disabilities from holding full-time jobs.

“Which is it? Do you want us to work or not?” he said.

Mecham, 31, relies on the public ...Read more

The National Institutes of Health employee said she knew things would be difficult for federal workers after Donald Trump was elected. But she never imagined it would be like this.

Focused on Alzheimer’s and other dementia research, the worker is among thousands who abruptly lost their jobs in the Trump administration’s federal workforce ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Offices, courthouses, a jail and a psychiatric facility throughout Maryland — most in downtown Baltimore — all found Legionella bacteria in their water systems last year, but state law doesn’t have any regulations to address it on a large scale. One group hopes to change that next legislative session.

Legionella is the ...Read more

People who most frequently encounter everyday discrimination – those subtle snubs and slights of everyday life – are more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression.

What’s more, that finding remains true no matter the person’s race, gender, age, education, income, weight, language, immigration status or where they live.

...Read more

ATLANTA — Legislation regulating the prescription of puberty blockers for transgender minors and banning use of the State Health Benefits Plan for gender-affirming care were approved by House panels this week.

Both bills were approved on party-line votes, with Republicans supporting the measures, putting them in position to reach the floor ...Read more

No joke, I look forward to this column every year. And I cherish the contributions from you readers.

Terry W. from St. Louis writes: “I so enjoyed your column about corny jokes. My mom loved puns and would use them as often as she could. One that has to be heard instead of read is ‘I thought it was an oyster but it’s not!”

Lori M. in ...Read more