Health News

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease brought on by tobacco

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) refers to a progressive group of lung diseases, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema, that make it hard to breathe. Millions of people around the globe die each year because of COPD, and nearly 16 million people in the U.S. have a form of the disease. The No. 1 cause of […]

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Emotional support animals can provide quantifiable benefits to people with serious mental illness

A team led by a social work researcher at The University of Toledo has published the first empirical evidence that emotional support animals can provide quantifiable benefits to individuals with serious mental illness who are experiencing depression, anxiety and loneliness. The research brings credence to the many anecdotal reports of emotional support animals having positive […]

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Nephrologists Make the Case for Cystatin C-Based eGFR

A patient’s estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) remains a pillar for diagnosing chronic kidney disease (CKD) and tracking its progression. But nephrologists now recognize that eGFR values based entirely on measurement of serum creatinine, the common approach, may be misleading because of nonrenal factors that can skew serum creatinine levels up or down. The solution, […]

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Pharmacist + App Cuts Errors, Hospitalization After Transplant

A pharmacist-led intervention that involves use of a smartphone app with home monitoring significantly reduced medication errors, adverse events, and hospitalizations among kidney transplant patients, new findings show. “To our knowledge, this is the first large, randomized controlled trial demonstrating an improvement in medication safety outcomes in organ transplantation using a mobile health–based technology coupled […]

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How research on chronic illnesses will improve COVID-19 treatment

A new paper in Oxford Open Immunology, published by Oxford University Press, examines prior findings in the field of neuroimmunology that suggest potential treatment strategies for patients suffering long-term symptoms from COVID-19. Though COVID-19 was initially believed to be a short-term illness, lasting between one and three weeks, it’s clear that a substantial number of […]

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CDC: 20.4 percent of U.S. adults had chronic pain in 2019

(HealthDay)—In 2019, more than 20 percent of U.S. adults reported chronic pain in the last three months, according to a November data brief published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Health Statistics. Carla E. Zelaya, Ph.D., from the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Maryland, and colleagues examined […]