Blackouts Boost Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Risk Among Young Kids

MONDAY, May 5, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Power outages greatly increase a young child’s chances of carbon monoxide poisoning due to improper use of gasoline-powered generators, a new study says.

Children younger than 5 had a more than 50% increased risk of carbon monoxide poisoning during small-scale power outages affecting at le...

OpenAI Releases HealthBench Dataset to Test AI in Health Care

TUESDAY, May 13, 2025 (HealthDay News) — OpenAI has unveiled a large dataset to help test how well artificial intelligence (AI) models answer health care questions. 

Experts call it a major step forward, but they also say more work is needed to ensure safety.

The dataset — called HealthBench — is OpenAI's first...

Fresh & Ready Foods Recalls Products After Listeria Outbreak

TUESDAY, May 13, 2025 (HealthDay News) — At least 10 people in the U.S. were hospitalized with listeria infections linked to ready-to-eat foods, federal officials said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other agencies traced the outbreak to foods produced by Fresh & Ready Foods LLC of San Fernando, California. The p...

U.S. Advises Older Travelers to Avoid Chikungunya Vaccine

TUESDAY, May 13, 2025 (HealthDay News) — U.S. health officials are telling travelers aged 60 and older to avoid a chikungunya vaccine while they investigate possible side effects.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued the warning late last week.

The concern f...

Curious? Healthy Brain Aging Might Depend On It

TUESDAY, May 13, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Curiosity might have killed the cat, but maintaining such inquisitiveness could be key to preserving brain health as we grow older, a new study says.

Some forms of curiosity increase well into old age, and seniors who keep wanting to learn new things might be able to offset or even prevent Alz...

GLP-1 Weight Loss Drugs Cut Alcohol Cravings By Two-Thirds

TUESDAY, May 13, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Cutting-edge weight-loss drugs like Ozempic/Wegovy can cut alcohol intake dramatically in a short amount of time, a new study says.

People taking semaglutide or liraglutide reduced their alcohol consumption by two-thirds within four months, according to results recently published in the journa...

No Link Between ADHD Meds And Psychosis, Study Says

TUESDAY, May 13, 2025 (HealthDay News) — ADHD stimulant meds don’t increase children’s risk of psychosis, a new study says.

Analysis of stimulant prescriptions among nearly 8,400 kids with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder found no evidence that the drugs caused psychosis, researchers reported May 12 in the journal...

Hearing Aids Effective In Combating Loneliness Among Seniors

TUESDAY, May 13, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Could loneliness occur for some older folks because they can’t hear well enough to maintain essential social connections?

Hearing aids appear to be an effective method of countering an epidemic of loneliness among U.S. seniors, a new study says. 

Seniors given hearing aids ret...

HIV Pills Might Prevent Alzheimer's

TUESDAY, May 13, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Drugs that battle HIV and hepatitis B might be able to help people avoid Alzheimer’s disease, a new study says.

Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) are used to prevent HIV and hepatitis B from replicating and spreading inside a person’s body.

Now, a new analys...

First-Of-Its-Kind Surgery Uses Eye Socket To Remove Spinal Cancer

TUESDAY, May 13, 2025 (HealthDay News) — A first-of-its-kind surgery has gone through a young woman's eye socket to remove a cancerous tumor wrapped around her spine.

Surgeons threaded a thin lighted tube called an endoscope down through the 19-year-old woman’s eye socket to remove a rare, slow-growing bone tumor known as a cho...

Researchers Say Dance and Lullabies Are Learned, Not Hardwired

MONDAY, May 12, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Most parents know the soothing power of a lullaby like “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” But a new study suggests that singing to babies and even dancing may not be natural behaviors for everyone.

The study, published recently in the journal Current Biology, looked at the No...

Zepbound Outperforms Wegovy in Head-to-Head Weight Loss Study

MONDAY, May 12, 2025 (HealthDay News) — A new study has found that people taking Eli Lilly’s obesity drug Zepbound lost almost 50% more weight than those using Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy.

The study — published May 11 in the New England Journal of Medicine — followed 751 people across the U.S. who were over...

Trump Administration Cuts Funding for Life-Saving Baby Heart Device

MONDAY, May 12, 2025 (HealthDay News) — A Cornell University project to save babies born with serious heart defects has lost key funding just days after it was approved. 

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) awarded $6.7 million on March 30 to support production and development of PediaFlow, a small device to help infants with h...

Pregnancy Health Problems Increase Kids' Blood Pressure

Children have an increased risk of high blood pressure if their moms suffered from health problems during pregnancy, a new study says.

Children had higher blood pressure if their moms had obesity, gestational diabetes or high blood pressure while pregnant, researchers reported May 8 in JAMA Network Open.

The presence of just...

U.S. Illicit Opioid Use Could Be 20 Times Higher Than Previously Estimated

MONDAY, May 12, 2025 (HealthDay News) — More Americans use illicit opioids like fentanyl than previously estimated, undercutting perceived progress in confronting the U.S. opioid crisis, a new study says.

More than 1 in 10 American adults (11%) reported illicit opioid use within the past 12 months, researchers reported May 9 in J...