Resources & Information

Medical News Today
August 16, 2024
Using music to help treat mental illness is one focus of mental illness research. Experts are interested in understanding music therapy and how to achieve the best results from its use. A study published in Cell Reports looked at some of the underlying mechanisms involved in the effectiveness of music therapy as a treatment for depression. The researchers found that subjective enjoyment was a key factor in seeing an effective response in participants with treatment-resistant depression. The results further highlight the underlying reasons why music therapy is helpful and what steps could enhance its effectiveness.

NPR
August 15, 2024
If it seems like a lot of people are getting COVID right now, you’re not imagining it. We’re in the middle of a worldwide summer COVID-19 wave. A high or very high level of COVID-19 virus is being detected in wastewater in almost every state, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At least 10 other states have a high amount of COVID in the wastewater.

Medical News Today
August 13, 2024
Since the invention of the very first sugar substitute saccharin in 1879, scientists have been continuing to look for ways to create the sweet taste of sugar without the calories it has. Recently, sugar alcohols have become a common sugar replacement. Sugar alcohols tend to be slightly less sweet or equally as sweet as natural sugar, allowing them to seamlessly replace sugar in some foods. One commonly used sugar alcohol is erythritol — a sugar alcohol naturally found in certain fruits and vegetables and is commercially made through the fermentation of a simple sugar called dextrose found in corn. Previous research has linked erythritol to an increased risk for cardiovascular issues, such as a study published in March 2023 that found an association between erythritol use and an increased risk for major cardiovascular events including heart attack and stroke.

NPR
August 2, 2024
A new generation of blood tests promises to change the way doctors diagnose and treat Alzheimer’s disease. The tests offer a fast and easy way for physicians to learn whether a patient with symptoms of cognitive decline also has the brain changes associated with Alzheimer’s. Evidence of those brain changes is required before doctors can prescribe one of two recently approved drugs that can slow down the disease. As demand for those drugs rises, blood tests could play a crucial role in identifying patients in the early stages of Alzheimer’s who would benefit from treatment.

NPR (via Goats and Soda)
July 27, 2024
Happy dog days of summer, readers!

Heat waves continue and worsen in parts of the world, and temperature records have been breaking all season. Beating the heat is on many people’s minds — including ours. We published Dr. Gulrez Shah Azhar’s suggestions for how to stay cool in the absence of air conditioning – as he did growing up in a part of India where temperatures soared into the 100s. And we asked for your tips and tricks. You send us a heat-relief wave, involving ice, chilled pickles and an Arctic immersion — via TV.

CDC
July 16, 2024
The CDC released the annual update to the Disability and Health Data System (DHDS), providing quick and easy online access to state-level health data on adults with disabilities. The latest data, from the 2022 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), reveal that more than 1 in 4—over 70 million—adults in the United States reported having a disability in 2022.

For the first time, the 2022 BRFSS collected data on experiences with Long COVID, defined as symptoms lasting three months or longer that the person did not have before COVID, to help us better understand the relationship between disabilities and Long COVID. Of particular concern is the finding that Long COVID symptoms were more prevalent among people with disabilities (10.8%) than among those without disabilities (6.6%).