Resources & Information

The Carolina Journal
March 24, 2025
North Carolina has once again ranked high on the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America’s list of the most challenging places to live with seasonal allergies. Raleigh is ranked as the 7th most challenging place to live in America with allergies, while Greensboro is ranked 10th. Several other major North Carolina cities, including Durham, Charlotte, and Winston-Salem, are included in the report as places with significant allergy issues. The North Carolina cities are all considered to have worse-than-average seasonal allergies.

CNN
March 19, 2025
Three hundred and twenty-one cases have been reported in the ongoing measles outbreak in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma, the states said Tuesday. This is an increase of 25 cases since an update on Friday. Texas has reported 279 outbreak-associated cases, New Mexico has reported 38 cases, and Oklahoma had previously reported four cases. Thirty-eight patients have been hospitalized, an increase of two over last week. Ninety-five cases are in children up to age 4, and 130 are among young people ages 5 to 17. Cases have been identified in 11 Texas counties and two New Mexico counties.

Given the highly contagious nature of the disease, officials expect continued spread. “This is going to be a large outbreak, and we are still on the side where we are increasing the number of cases. … I’m really thinking this is going to be a year long,” Katherine Wells, director of Lubbock Public Health, said at a briefing Tuesday.

STATNews
March 19, 2025
When psychiatrist Liz Frye first encounters a potential patient, she knows she is entering the conversation at a disadvantage. She works with people who are unhoused and living on the streets — many who’ve likely had negative experiences with health care workers in the past.

“It’s important for me to offer a different experience for the person sleeping outside and to recognize that they have no reason to trust me,” said Frye, who has been a street psychiatrist for 16 years, first in Atlanta and more recently, in Pittsburgh. She is also chair of the board of directors at the Street Medicine Institute.

Medical News Today
February 14, 2025
Stroke remains a major health challenge in the United States, ranking as one of the leading causes of and long-term disability. According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 795,000 people experience a stroke annually, with someone dying from a stroke nearly every 3 minutes. Alarmingly, nearly one in four strokes are recurrent, affecting individuals who have already suffered a previous stroke. Preventing strokes and mitigating their impact on individuals and families is crucial. A new study offers hope, highlighting the potential of salt substitutes as a promising strategy to reduce stroke recurrence and mortality.

JAMA Network
February 7, 2025
When the VOICES of Black Women pilot study launched in late 2023, its coprincipal investigator Lauren McCullough, PhD, MSPH, was the first participant to enroll. The study, which the American Cancer Society (ACS) launched nationally last May, aims to explore environmental and behavioral factors that influence cancer risk and outcomes in a cohort of more than 100,000 Black women, making it the largest ever research initiative involving this population.

In the coming years, the study will enroll tens of thousands of Black women between the ages of 25 and 55 years who do not have a history of cancer. The goal: to better understand the specific drivers of cancer in this group and to inform approaches to address cancer disparities. The study will take place across 20 states and the District of Columbia, where collectively more than 90% of Black women in the US live.

American Heart Association
January 30, 2025
Flossing your teeth at least once a week may be linked to a lower risk of stroke caused by a blood clot blocking brain blood flow and irregular heartbeats, according to a preliminary study to be presented at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2025. The meeting is in Los Angeles, Feb. 5-7, 2025, and is a world premier meeting for researchers and clinicians dedicated to the science of stroke and brain health.

“A recent global health report revealed that oral diseases — such as untreated tooth decay and gum disease — affected 3.5 billion people in 2022, making them the most widespread health conditions,” said study lead author Souvik Sen, M.D., M. S., M.P.H, chair of the Department of Neurology, Prisma Health Richland Hospital and the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Columbia, South Carolina. “We aimed to determine which oral hygiene behavior — dental flossing, brushing or regular dentist visits — has the greatest impact on stroke prevention.”