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Health Advice / Scott LaFee /

Since the 1920s, a visit to the dentist involving X-rays has meant both patients and staff being draped with a lead vest or apron to shield against the harmful effects of radiation.

New safety guidelines from the American Dental Association say the practice can stop because X-ray technologies has evolved significantly and there are better ...Read more

Kick to the Head

Health Advice / Scott LaFee /

A new study finds that high school football students already have differences in their brains compared to swimmers, cross-country runners and tennis players, contrary to thinking that suggested it takes years of head impacts to change brain structure.

Football players had cortical thinning and changes in brain folding as well as lower brain ...Read more

Brain or Liver

Health Advice / Scott LaFee /

New research suggests that in up to 10% of cases where a patient is diagnosed with dementia, the problem is actually undetected liver disease, which can cause similar neurological symptoms, such as cognitive impairment and changes in mood and motor skills.

The condition is called hepatic encephalopathy, a complication of cirrhosis. There are ...Read more

Chip off the Cold Tuber

Health Advice / Scott LaFee /

Potatoes cannot be grown year-round, but the makers of potato chips and similar snacks nonetheless require a constant supply of fresh spuds to meet demand. They cannot preserve potatoes in cold storage because low temperatures trigger a process called cold-induced sweetening, which converts starches into sugars.

Processing CIS-affected tubers...Read more

My COVID Diet

Health Advice / Scott LaFee /

It's not time to go grocery shopping yet, but a new published study suggests that a plant-based diet might protect people against COVID-19 infections.

The authors surveyed 702 adults, nearly half of whom has previously had COVID. Those who ate an omnivore's diet (meat, plants, everything) were more likely to have caught COVID (52%) than ...Read more

Male Gel

Health Advice / Scott LaFee /

Currently, male birth control consists of two approaches: condoms and vasectomies. The search for something more effective than the former and less drastic than the latter has produced a possible third option: injectable gel.

The gel, which recently went through a small Phase 1 clinical trial with encouraging results, is inserted into the ...Read more

Hearts and Minds

Health Advice / Scott LaFee /

Suffering a heart attack or other severe cardiac event is a life-threatening and life-changing event. It happens a lot. Every year, roughly 805,000 people in the U.S. have a heart attack -- that's about one every 40 seconds.

Physical recovery can be arduous and lengthy, but there's a mental toll as well. One in three heart patients, according...Read more

Muscular Mitochondria

Health Advice / Scott LaFee /

Exercising (or doing more of it) is a popular New Year's resolution, though usually for naught. Various studies have found that nearly one-quarter of people quit their resolution(s) by the end of the first week and almost half by the end of January. Only 8-9% stick with them for an entire year or to completion.

But if you're still busily ...Read more

Personality Versus Dementia

Health Advice / Scott LaFee /

A new study, published in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia, investigated whether any of the so-called Big Five personality traits (conscientiousness, extraversion, openness to experience, neuroticism and agreeableness) impacted risk of cognitive decline.

The scientists looked at data from 44,000 people from eight longitudinal studies, of ...Read more

Kneed to Know

Health Advice / Scott LaFee /

New research suggests that stronger quad muscles (at the front of the thigh) relative to hamstrings (in the back) may lower the risk of a total knee replacement. Scientists examined MRI data from 134 participants in the Osteoarthritis Initiative, a nationwide study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. Half of the participants ...Read more

Time Flus

Health Advice / Scott LaFee /

We're in the fourth winter in the Age of COVID-19, but experts say this season of respiratory ailments appears to be returning to pre-pandemic normalcy. Anti-COVID-19 efforts such as masking and social distancing put a damper on the spread of colds and influenza in recent years, but they appear to be coming back in normal numbers and at normal ...Read more

Such Is Life, What There Is of It

Health Advice / Scott LaFee /

Life expectancy has been falling in the U.S. in recent years, slipping from 79 years old in 2019 to 76 in 2022, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and drug use epidemic. That reverses years of progress attributed to less smoking and consequent deaths from cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

The lost years have hit men harder than women. A man's ...Read more

The Lousy Traveler

Health Advice / Scott LaFee /

Airline agents and other airport workers wryly describe fliers who crowd gates waiting to board as "gate lice," a none-too-appreciative term for an unappreciated behavior. Pushing and squeezing to get on a flight as quickly as possible often results in just making the whole boarding process slower.

So why do people do it, especially if they ...Read more

 

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