When Francis Ngannou won the UFC heavyweight title earlier this year, the fighter didn’t splurge on anything gaudy. “I went home, and when I got there, the love that I received is something that all the money cannot buy,” says Ngannou, 35, who grew up in poverty in Cameroon. “Billionaires would love to have that, […]
New tool helps long-term care facilities decide when, how to test for COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted long-term care facilities, resulting in the deaths of 8% of residents nationwide, or 1 in 12 people. As coronavirus case rates decline and health restrictions are lifted, people who manage these facilities must now define policies to reduce disease transmission. What should that look like, with varying numbers of staff, […]
Researcher helps transgender women be seen and heard for who they are
Hand gestures or tone of voice can give an instant impression about someone, and for transgender women, that can be especially important. “Living in the society we live in, there are gender expectations for what a feminine communicator sounds like or looks like,” said Teresa Hardy, an instructor in the University of Alberta’s Faculty of […]
Video gaming helps heart defect survivor connect with others in the LGBTQ community
Mike Lane’s heart journey began as a newborn – when his skin turned blue. He was 2 days old when a cardiologist realized the reason. He was born with several congenital heart defects, including a missing ventricular septum, a narrowing of the pulmonary artery called stenosis, and a faulty pulmonary artery valve. In the coming […]
Study helps explain how religious beliefs are formed
Feeling anxious can direct our attention and memory toward supernatural beings such as gods, a University of Otago study has found. Lead author Dr. Thomas Swan, of the Department of Psychology, says the research may help explain how religious beliefs are formed. For the study, published in the International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, […]
Study helps unravel why pregnant women develop heart failure similar to older patients
Researchers at Penn Medicine have identified more genetic mutations that strongly predispose younger, otherwise healthy women to peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM), a rare condition characterized by weakness of the heart muscle that begins sometime during the final month of pregnancy through five months after delivery. PPCM can cause severe heart failure and often leads to lifelong […]
Healthy living helps ward off deadly prostate cancers in men at high risk
A nutritious diet, regular exercise and other components of a healthy lifestyle may reduce the odds of lethal prostate cancer in men with a high genetic risk for it, researchers report. “The excess genetic risk of lethal prostate cancer could be offset by adhering to a healthy lifestyle,” concluded co-lead author Anna Plym. She’s a […]
‘Brain glue’ helps repair circuitry in severe traumatic brain injury
At a cost of $38 billion a year, an estimated 5.3 million people are living with a permanent disability related to traumatic brain injury in the United States today, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The physical, mental and financial toll of a TBI can be enormous, but new research from the […]
COVID-19 telemonitoring program helps reduce hospital admissions and ER visits
The rapid upscaling of a telemonitoring program in which health care providers performed daily telemedicine check-ins on COVID-19 patients faced a unique set of challenges. How these were resolved, and early outcomes, are reported in the peer-reviewed journal Telemedicine and e-Health. “Kaiser Permanente’s Virtual Home Care Program (VHCP) was able to rapidly establish a telemedicine-based […]
Medicaid expansion helps uncover undiagnosed HIV infections
The Medicaid expansion facilitated by the Affordable Care Act led to increases in the identification of undiagnosed HIV infections and in the use of HIV prevention services such as preexposure prophylaxis drugs, says new research co-written by a team of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign experts who study the intersection of health care and public policy. […]