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AS can be difficult for others to understand. The condition is rare and less well known than other types of arthritis; yet estimates show that spondyloarthritis — which is the family of arthritic conditions that includes AS — affects up to 1 percent of people in the United States. This can make it hard to talk about your condition with those closest to you, such as your friends, loved ones, and new partners, and even your healthcare team....

The study involves one of the most exciting cancer advances of the past decade — immunotherapy — applied to one of the worst types of breast cancer. Triple negative breast cancer is an aggressive subtype of breast cancer that accounts for about 10 to 20 percent of all breast cancer cases. It has proved resistant to many standard forms of treatment. Immunotherapy drugs, such as Keytruda, have only recently been tested on breast cancer....

According to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), widespread influenza activity was reported in 30 U.S. states in the week ending January 5, 2019. Flu activity is expected to continue increasing, with the highest activity likely to occur by the end of February. That means a lot more people with fever, body aches, runny nose, and sore throat — all of which are also characteristics of a group of common viruses known as adenoviruses....

According to the People article, Curtis’s drug addiction began when she was prescribed opioids for minor plastic surgery in 1989 to correct “hereditary puffy eyes.” “I was ahead of the curve of the opiate epidemic,” Curtis told the magazine. “I had a 10-year run, stealing, conniving. No one knew. No one.” For the next 10 years Curtis waged a battle with addiction, lying and stealing from friends and family. She first told her husband, the actor-director Christopher Guest, about her addiction on the day she attended her first recovery meeting, in February 1999....

The study, a collaboration between researchers at Duke, Harvard, and the University of California in San Diego, adds an important insight into a problem that has affected millions of people who have not fully recovered their sense of smell after COVID-19. The findings were published online December 21, 2022, in the journal Science Translational Medicine. Millions Have Not Fully Recovered Their Sense of Smell After COVID-19 One symptom long associated with COVID-19 infection is loss of smell, says the senior author of the study, Bradley Goldstein, MD, PhD, associate professor in head and neck surgery and communication sciences and neurobiology at the Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina....

For the study, researchers compared trends in outpatient mental health care before the pandemic — from 2016 to 2018 — to what happened in 2020 when stay-at-home orders limited access to care. The number of in-person visits declined 22 percent in March 2020 compared with the same period in pre-pandemic years, followed by plunges of 50 percent in April and 56 percent in May. But starting in April 2020, the total volume of mental health care visits exceeded pre-pandemic levels, driven by gains in telemedicine appointments that more than made up for the loss of in-person encounters, researchers reported in Health Affairs....

While it’s hard to know exactly how prevalent it is, research suggests that up to 60 percent of patients with advanced lung cancer experience dyspnea. A person with dyspnea might be able to breathe normally while sitting or standing, “but [if] they take some steps, go up a flight of stairs, or walk around the mall, [they] feel short of breath,” says Jonathan Riess, MD, an oncologist and a lung cancer specialist at UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center in Sacramento, California....

Although your pattern of moles is most likely determined by your genetics, sun exposure can cause you to have more moles, and can cause the ones you already have to get darker. New moles tend to appear and existing ones tend to get larger and darker during your teen years and if you become pregnant. Types of Skin Moles If you have a mole, you may be wondering if it’s harmless or if you should see your doctor about it....

The researchers found that it is prevalent in about 81 percent of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) — specifically, 83 percent of women with MS and 78 percent of men. They also found that MS fatigue is associated with knock-on symptoms like anxiety, sleepiness, and depression. RELATED: MS, Depression, and Fatigue: Expert Examines How to Break the Vicious Circle Why Study the Obvious? I led what could only have been a collective chorus of “DUH!...

MS symptoms such as fatigue, numbness, tingling, weakness, memory issues, vision concerns, and balance problems can be debilitating. They can also progress over time, unnoticed by those around you. If you’re not focused on it, even you may not realize the ways that MS is changing your day-to-day life. MS is often called an unpredictable condition, but you don’t have to settle for a lifetime of uncertainty. Having the right MS management in place — and reevaluating it regularly — can help you take charge of your health and your life....

But time does its thing; it’s now early July as I write. My surgery’s clock has ticked down to slightly more than a week from now. In all the time since, I’ve devoted at least a portion of each week to cancer stuff: reading things, buying things (or, more accurately, clicking around the internet shopping for things and viewing before and after photos and video testimonials). It can be confusing to decide which comfort pillow or surgical drain contraption, or front-close bra or postsurgical dress/PJ pants/robe will be to my liking....

The new watch, which will go on sale later this month, is equipped with an electrocardiogram (ECG) monitor, and can send alerts to the wearer if it detects a heart rate that seems too low. It can also detect irregular heart rhythms and alert the user if they may have atrial fibrillation, or afib. Ivor Benjamin, MD, president of the American Heart Association, who was present at the unveiling of the watch on September 12, 2018, commented, “I’m inspired by the lifesaving potential of technology and applaud Apple’s innovation and commitment to health....

“For patients where the diagnosis between eczema and psoriasis isn’t clear, tape strips could be used instead of a biopsy,” says Emma Guttman-Yassky, MD, PhD, lead author and director of the Center of Excellence in Eczema and director of the Laboratory of Inflammatory Skin Diseases at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. A biopsy is a procedure in which a piece of skin is removed so that it can be examined under a microscope....

On-site medical professionals administered CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) for approximately 10 minutes before Hamlin was placed on a stretcher and transported via ambulance to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he is undergoing further testing and treatment, per the statement. What Is Cardiac Arrest and How Is It Different From Heart Attack? In cardiac arrest, a malfunction of the heart’s electrical system causes the heart to stop beating properly, according to the American Heart Association (AHA)....

Dr. Olopade’s work revolves around the intersection of genetics, breast cancer, and racial health disparities. Her research on aggressive breast cancers in young Black African and Black American women has revealed variants of genetic mutations that raise risk for breast cancer and link these two communities. The Walter L. Palmer Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine and Human Genetics and director of the Center for Clinical Cancer Genetics and Global Health at the University of Chicago Medicine, Olopade earner her MD from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria in 1980....

There are many ways to do IF, but the general idea is that you’ll set strict periods of time in which you don’t eat, and eat as you normally would while not fasting. You might choose to do alternate-day fasting and eat every other day. You might choose an “eating window” each day, and fast outside of that window. You might fast for two days a week and eat normally for the other five, in an approach called “5:2 fasting....

Our review team’s February 2022 user survey found that 60 percent of customers with Oticon hearing aids were able to hear better and participate more in conversations with multiple people and in meetings with larger groups of people than they could without their hearing aids; 50 percent of users found Oticon’s devices easy to clean; and more than 50 percent said that changing or recharging batteries was easy. Keep reading to learn more about Oticon hearing devices, the advantages and disadvantages of this well-known brand, and the essential things to look for when buying hearing aids....

The company said in a statement that it is recalling six lots of brand-name Accuretic tablets with nitrosamine levels above the acceptable daily intake, along with several lots of generic versions of this blood pressure drug. Everyone is exposed to some level of nitrosamines, which are found in water as well as foods including cured and grilled meats, dairy products, and vegetables, Pfizer said in its recall notice. Many medicines contain low levels of nitrosamines, and people can take them daily for decades without increasing their cancer risk....

Epilepsy Causes, Treatment, and Prevention Epilepsy — a disorder in which a person has recurring, unprompted seizures due to abnormal electrical activity in the brain — affects an estimated 50 million people worldwide. In about half of those people, the cause of the epilepsy is unknown. Among the other 25 million individuals, the cause may be a defect in the structure of the brain, a tumor or stroke, or a severe head injury — the most common known cause in young adults, according to the Epilepsy Therapy Project....

“Patients taking probiotics for Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis, or IBS should consider stopping,” says Grace Su, MD, a professor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and the chair of the panel that drafted the guidelines. “The supplements can be costly, and there isn’t enough evidence to prove a benefit or confirm lack of harm.” Probiotics are microscopic organisms — including certain bacteria and yeast — that live in the digestive tract and are also found in a variety of foods and dietary supplements....