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It’s important to note that your bathing and over-the-counter skin-care regimen won’t actually heal individual lesions, because psoriasis is an inflammatory disease that originates from the immune system. “It’s not something that we think about as a direct result of dry skin and bathing,” says Rashmi Unwala, MD, a dermatologist specializing in psoriasis at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. “Focusing on skin care can be detrimental to patients. Just switching their products won’t make a difference for the internal disease and delays care....

You can get strep throat by coming in contact with secretions from an infected person’s respiratory tract, such as when someone coughs or sneezes. Signs of strep throat include a very red throat that may have white patches, as well as fever, body aches and chills, pain when swallowing, and swollen lymph nodes in your neck. You can’t identify strep throat based on its symptoms alone. A doctor will need to do a throat swab and order at least one test to make a definitive diagnosis....

An allergy is the body’s overreaction to a substance in a food that’s either ingested or just present in the environment. And these culprit substances are called allergens. The causes of allergies in young children aren’t always clear, but allergists have determined that genes can play a strong role. If both parents suffer from allergies, the risk of their child having allergies is about 70 percent. If one parent has allergies, the risk is lower, at about 33 percent....

Just days after this decision, President Joe Biden announced that his Administration had helped forge a historic manufacturing collaboration between Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and one of its competitors, Merck. Under the arrangement, Merck will dedicate two facilities in the United States to making the J&J vaccine. Up until this point, the federal government had expected to deliver enough of the two previously authorized vaccines, by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, to immunize the entire country by the end of July....

The Types of JIA Oligoarticular arthritis, in which one to four joints in the body are affectedPolyarticular arthritis, in which five or more joints are affectedSystemic arthritis, which covers the whole body and includes joints, skin, and internal organsJuvenile enthesitis-related arthritis (ERA), in which the joints of the lower body (such as the ankle) and the spine are affected, according to KidsHealth.orgPsoriatic arthritis, which affects the joints and comes with a skin rash, per the Arthritis FoundationUndifferentiated, which isn’t clearly linked to one type of JIA...

While the keto diet may offer many potential benefits for diabetes management, following it requires a pretty serious commitment. So take a beat before you take the plunge — and consider these questions that can help you and your medical team determine if it’s right for you. The diet may offer additional benefits. A review published in January 2021 in BMJ suggests that a low-carbohydrate diet like keto may help bring a person with diabetes into remission, which is defined as having an A1C test result of less than 6....

“When patients come in with Hodgkin lymphoma, especially, the provider is likely to say, ‘You’re lucky. This is a highly curable type,’” says Michael Roth, MD, the director of the Childhood Cancer Survivorship Program at University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. What a doctor may not say is that HL also leads to very high incidences of later-in-life diseases, particularly when patients are children when diagnosed. “We now know that obtaining a cure for lymphoma isn’t enough,” says Dr....

High cholesterol and its close cousin high triglycerides — another type of fat, or lipid, in your blood — can increase your risk for heart disease and stroke, which is a problem because they’re leading causes of death in the U.S., according to the American Heart Association (AHA). “Everyone really needs to pay attention, because if they don’t have high cholesterol, they probably know someone who does,” says Partha Nandi, MD, host of the Dr....

Here’s everything you need to know about when they help, who they might benefit, and how to use one if you decide to try it out. What Is a Massage Gun and Why Use One? Massage guns (sometimes called “percussive massage treatment” or “vibration therapy,” too) are portable, handheld devices that look like a power drill and in some cases, sound like one. They’re almost always wireless — most use a rechargeable battery — and they come with interchangeable attachments....

Now feeling “meh” is more the status quo — almost expected. In fact, most of the people I see in therapy have experienced more change, grief, frustration, disappointment, and stress over the past year than in the last several years combined (for some, in their life so far). The pandemic contributed to a lot of this. But that stress was compounded by political tension, including the heated, drawn-out election. Political tension isn’t new to America....

I’d had magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans done in the past for medical reasons, but it was in 2021 that I learned I should’ve expressed my fear of tight spaces to my doctor. I hadn’t realized it mattered or that anyone would care. When my doctor suspected that I might have multiple sclerosis (MS), he asked if I was claustrophobic. He shared with me that he is, so he likes to ask his patients....

“When I hear this statement, I always think of the old riddle: Which weighs more, a pound of feathers or a pound of bricks?” says Laura Stusek, MS, fitness coordinator for Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah. “A pound is a pound!” Muscle vs. Fat: Clearing Up the Misconception Common sense tells us a pound of muscle and a pound of fat have to weigh the same, but they do differ in density....

The new guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommend that clinicians consider prescribing tamoxifen (Soltamox), raloxifene (Evista), or aromatase inhibitors to women age 35 and up who are at higher than average risk for breast cancer. What degree of risk warrants preventive medication must be determined by a woman and her doctor. Among the factors that will be considered include family history, genetics, and whether you have dense breast tissue....

“Several studies have reported the association between hypertension and nocturia [waking up during the night to urinate], and we think that the result of our study adds evidence showing this association,” says research author Satoshi Konno, MD, with the division of hypertension at Tohoku Rosai Hospital in Sendai, Japan. “However, only a few studies have been conducted in an Asian population, which has a higher salt intake compared with Western populations....

The rapper says that the DIY, at-home treatment has left her hair shinier after just two washes — and the supposed before-and-after pictures she posted to Instagram are undeniably convincing. She may be the first female rapper to have three diamond single certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America, per Paper Magazine, but she’s certainly not the first to use the at-home hair treatment. Countless followers who flocked to Cardi B’s comments section praised the performer for utilizing the natural remedy, as it’s deeply embedded in ayurvedic practices and Dominican culture (though it’s unclear where the practice originated)....

When skin irritation and burning woke me at the break of dawn, I knew I was dealing with overexposure to narrowband ultraviolet light (NUVB) from my phototherapy treatment the evening before. A couple decades of experience with light treatments told me as much. After a bad skin burn, I’d avoided NUVB for a few years, until my doctors convinced me to try it again. When they explained how we could start at a lower dose than normally prescribed, then increase in small increments, I reluctantly agreed....

“Tai chi is a moving mind-body exercise that has origins in Asian martial arts and traditional Chinese medicine,” explains Peter Wayne, PhD, an associate professor of medicine and the director of the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “Tai chi introduces slow, gentle, repetitive movements, with breathing integrated with body awareness, mental focus, imagery, and visualization,” he says. There’s a physical and mental element to tai chi, and more scientific research is emerging on how impactful it may be to foster overall health....

Four presenters shared new data about psoriatic arthritis (PsA), a type of inflammatory arthritis affecting people with psoriasis, an autoimmune disease. According to Johns Hopkins Rheumatology, PsA affects about 1.5 million people in the United States. Around one-third of all people with psoriasis will develop PsA. 4 Top Takeaways From EULAR for People With Psoriatic Arthritis 1. Did You Have an Echocardiogram? Heart Problems in People With PsA Can Be Detected Early What’s New A study presented by Alejandra B....

— Marcia, Illinois Sandals can be really hard on your feet. Tight straps can cause blisters and scabs, while open toes and open heels expose your skin, leading to calluses and dry, cracked patches. I suggest using bandages or pieces of moleskin to cushion your skin against chafing and dark marks. Try using Band-Aid Blister Block Cushions under tight straps or buckles, or on any areas where you feel pinching or rubbing....

RELATED: 7 of the Best Fitness Apps for People With Rheumatoid Arthritis Strength Training: It’s All Natural Experts say that if you have RA, strength training is something you should fully embrace, not back away from. “Exercise is a great anti-inflammatory,” says Gustavo Carbone, MD, a rheumatologist at the University of Miami Health System on Coral Gables, Florida. People with RA constantly ask me about natural things they can take, he says....