Health, features and articles | Educational Science

Oct 31, 2015

Eyes May Offer Window into Cardiovascular Disease

Vision problems may sometimes be the only symptom a person has of a serious cardiovascular condition, a new case report suggests. In the case, a 77-year-old man in Greece experienced three short episodes of blurred vision in his right eye. The five-minute episodes stretched over an hour in total, and...

Oct 31, 2015

Is Digital Hoarding a Mental Disorder (And Do You Have It)?

A man who takes thousands of digital pictures weekly and spends hours every day organizing the photos on his computer could have a condition that, until now, has never been described in medical literature. The patient might have digital hoarding disorder, according to the authors of a recent report on...

Oct 31, 2015

'Last-Resort' Antibiotics Fail Against New Superbugs

Some bacteria have finally breached the last wall of humans' antibiotic stronghold, according to a new study from China. In the study, researchers found a gene in one strain of Escherichia coli (E. coli) that protects these bacteria against one of the antibiotics considered to be a last resort. Moreover,...

Sep 30, 2015

Breast-Feeding Mothers Gain Support in Hospitals

Breast-feeding mothers are now getting more support from hospitals, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2013, over half of the hospitals in the United States were meeting at least five of 10 common recommendations for hospitals to support breast-feeding, up from...

Sep 30, 2015

Many Americans Don't Get Recommended Vaccines Before Travel

Americans who travel abroad often do not receive the recommended vaccines that would protect them from certain illnesses, new research suggests. One study of Americans visiting travel clinics found that more than half of those who were recommended to get a measles vaccination did not do so before traveling. Another...

Sep 30, 2015

Daniel Fells' Infection: How Often Does MRSA Lead to Amputation?

The nasty superbug MRSA has been linked to life-threatening conditions such as body-wide inflammation and organ failure, and now the NFL reports that New York Giants player Daniel Fells may lose his foot due to complications from an MRSA infection. Fells was taken to the emergency room with a high...

Sep 30, 2015

Magnets Might 'Unlock' Paralyzed Arm After Stroke

People who suffer a stroke face many physical and emotional hurdles on their long road to recovery. But now, there may be a glimmer of hope for those with one common stroke symptom: partial arm paralysis that leaves the affected limb frozen to the person's side like a broken wing....

Sep 30, 2015

Plague Began Infecting Humans Much Earlier Than Thought

The germ that causes the plague began infecting humans thousands of years earlier than scientists had previously thought. Researchers analyzed teeth from the remains of 101 individuals that were collected from a variety of museums and archaeological excavations. They found DNA of the bacterium that causes plague, called Yersinia pestis,...

Sep 30, 2015

Cutting Sugar Made Obese Kids Healthier in 10 Days

There can be no more dancing around the fact that, for children, consuming added sugar contributes to a litany of chronic diseases, particularly obesity, Type 2 diabetes and heart disease, scientists concluded in new research published today (Oct. 27). In the study, researchers closely monitored 43 obese children and found...

Sep 30, 2015

Rare Case: Man with Brain Disorder Can't Recognize His Reflection

A man who thought he saw a stranger in the bathroom mirror, when he was actually looking at his own reflection, turned out to have a rare neurological condition, a new case report finds. The 78-year-old man in France, identified in the report as Mr. B, noticed a stranger in...

Aug 31, 2015

Daily Marijuana Use Among College Students Reaches 30-Year High

The percentage of U.S. college students who say they smoke marijuana daily or nearly every day is at its highest in more than three decades, according to a new survey. In 2014, 5.9 percent of college students said they smoked marijuana 20 or more times in the prior month. That's...

Aug 31, 2015

Do 'Brain Training' Games Really Work? (Op-Ed)

Dr. John Swartzberg is an internist and specialist in infectious disease, and chairman of the editorial board of the UC Berkeley Wellness Letter and berkeleywellness.com. He is also a clinical professor emeritus of medicine at the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health and the University of California, San...

Aug 31, 2015

Teens Use E-Cigarettes to 'Vape' Pot

Nearly one-fifth of high school students who use e-cigarettes have tried putting pot into the devices, according to a new study of Connecticut teens. E-cigarettes vaporize, rather than burn, substances, allowing users to inhale nicotine (or THC, the active ingredient in cannabis) without taking in the carcinogens that are caused...

Aug 31, 2015

Marijuana Use May Raise Risk of Developing High Blood Sugar

Marijuana may raise people's risk of developing prediabetes, a condition in which blood sugar levels are abnormally high but not high enough to warrant a diagnosis with type 2 diabetes, a new study finds. In the study, researchers found that people who used large amounts of marijuana during young adulthood...

Aug 31, 2015

Happy? Sad? Breastfeeding May Affect Babies' Awareness of Social Cues

Breastfeeding might affect the way babies with a certain genetic makeup perceive other people's emotions, according to a new study. In the study, researchers looked at the relationship between being breastfed and perceiving emotions in 49 female and 49 male 7-month-old infants. The babies were shown photos of faces whose...