Our canine and feline friends are goofy, attentive, and always manage to put a smile on our faces — and new research suggests man’s best friend provided dog owners with the extra love and social support they needed to get through a year of lockdowns, social distancing, working from home, and a raging global health crisis. In a study published in December in the journal PLoS One, scientists reported that dog owners had more social support and fewer depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with peers who didn’t own a dog....

Dyslexia is a learning disability that affects a person’s ability to read. But it has nothing to do with reduced intelligence, lack of motivation, or poor eyesight. Rudolf Berlin, the 19th-century German ophthalmologist who first named this condition in his young patients, could find nothing wrong with their vision and speculated that the problem must have to do with the anatomy of the brain. (1) And that’s what scientists now believe: The structure of brain, along with genetics, probably leads a person to develop dyslexia....

A major goal is to alleviate some of the confusion around this often-misunderstood chronic skin condition in order to eliminate certain stigmas. One common misperception is that eczema affects each person in basically the same way — as patches of itchy, dry, inflamed skin. But the symptoms of eczema actually vary widely, says Peter Lio, MD, a clinical assistant professor of dermatology and pediatrics at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago and board member of the National Eczema Association (NEA)....

“The prevalence of sexually active high school students getting tested for an STI in the past year is relatively low, despite national guidelines,” says a coauthor of the study, Nicole Liddon, PhD, a senior health scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). These findings are important, as they provide the first national estimates of annual STI testing among a representative sample of U.S. high school students, she adds....

Follicular lymphoma is a form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Follicular lymphoma is a type of cancer that scientists refer to as indolent, meaning it’s usually slow-growing. Follicular lymphoma is the most common type of indolent lymphoma in the United States. Non-Hodgkin lymphomas begin when a type of white blood cell — either a T cell or a B cell — begins growing abnormally. The cell divides repeatedly, making more abnormal cells that can then spread to other parts of the body by way of the lymphatic system....

H. pylori can cause inflammation of your stomach’s lining, which is known as gastritis. The infection is also considered the primary cause of peptic ulcers — sores in the lining of your stomach or duodenum (a part of the small intestine). Additionally, H. pylori is a risk factor for some types of stomach cancer. Treating the infection can improve gastritis symptoms, eliminate ulcers, and may reduce your chances of developing stomach cancer, too....

Headaches and the Common Cold How do you know when you have a common head cold as opposed to a flu virus? Common cold symptoms are less serious than flu symptoms and they usually come on more slowly. You can expect a common cold to last as long as 10 days. Symptoms usually start two to three days after exposure to a cold virus — the incubation period. There is no cure for the common cold because viruses, unlike bacteria, do not respond to antibiotics....

High blood pressure is a leading cause of heart attack, stroke, heart failure, and kidney disease, so it’s a serious condition that we all must be more conscious of as we age. African-Americans in particular should pay careful attention to blood pressure: In one year, the overall death rate from high blood pressure was 40 percent for African-American females and 52 percent for African-American males — more than for any other group....

The most important medicines taken for MS are known as disease-modifying therapies (DMTs), because they can keep the condition in remission or prevent it from worsening. According to the National MS Society, the median annual list price of DMTs has risen in recent years, and in one case reached a whopping $88,000. For years the National MS Society has heard people with the disease describe the financial burden of the drugs they must take....

Fortunately, strep throat is easily treated with readily available antibiotics. But early diagnosis is important to protect your child’s health. Getting your child tested for strep throat usually requires a doctor’s visit, which means taking time off work and taking your child out of school — an inconvenience that adds to what researchers estimate is a total U.S economic cost per year of up to $539 million for childhood strep....

The study followed 85 women who breast-fed their babies and 99 women who didn’t. The groups were similar in many ways that could impact their risk for developing type 2 diabetes: number of prior pregnancies, age, pre-pregnancy weight, blood sugar levels and glucose tolerance during pregnancy, and exercise habits. Women Who Breast-Fed Had Improved Glucose Tolerance After 3.6 Years Two months after delivery, both groups of women still had similar glucose tolerance, a measure of how easily the body converts sugars from food into energy....

Complications of Crohn’s disease can include gum inflammation and sometimes cavities, but the most common are mouth sores — the same aphthous ulcers, or canker sores, that many people get every now and then, explains Paul Casamassimo, DDS, a member of the section of dentistry at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Common trouble spots are between the lower lip and gums, under or on the edges or base of the tongue, and inside the cheeks....

Pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, which reduces your risk of becoming infected with HIV when taken every dayPost-exposure prophylaxis, or PEP, which reduces your risk of becoming infected if you take it within 72 hours of being exposed to HIV Headache and dizzinessDiarrheaFatigueNausea and vomitingPainNerve problemsRashUnusual fat loss or fat buildup (lipodystrophy)Insulin resistanceBone loss (osteoporosis)Lactic acidosis, a buildup of lactic acid in the bloodstreamSwelling of the mouth or tongueLiver inflammation or damage...

But these stress symptoms are merely the signals of the deeper impact that chronic stress can have on every organ and system in your body, from your nervous and circulatory systems to your digestive and immune systems. The Good News About Stress Not all stress is bad, and the hormones that the body produces in response to stress aren’t, either. Their levels actually fluctuate throughout the day as you adapt to challenges like waking up (yes, that’s an example of stress), getting stuck in traffic, or being surprised on your birthday....

More than 60 percent of Republicans and nearly 80 percent of Democrats report being stressed about the current political climate in the United States, according to the Stress in America 2020 report from the American Psychological Association (APA). And that’s not all, a Gartner study published in February 2020 found that nearly half of Americans reported being sidetracked at work by the upcoming U.S. presidential election. It’s a trend that appears to be growing....

Not so fast. Some people believe that you actually can tap into your subconscious through the power of hypnosis. Hypnosis is a deep, dreamlike state in which you can hear and respond, and you may be more open to questions and suggestions. It has long been used as a way to conquer addictions, including alcohol abuse, overeating, and nail biting. While there is some controversy about hypnosis being more theatrical than legitimate, it is used in clinical practice to treat things like chronic pain, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to a review study published in April 2017 in the journal Neuroscience of Consciousness....

Here are six IBD-friendly fruits and vegetables to try this summer, so that you can still enjoy the delicious produce that the season brings. 1. Peach and Nectarine Ice Pop Molds Now that summer is here, peaches and nectarines have crowded out apples and citrus fruits on supermarket shelves and in farmer’s market displays. There is nothing quite like sinking your teeth into a juicy peach or nectarine on a hot summer day, and luckily, people with IBD can generally tolerate these fruits because they are soft and don’t contain seeds or stems....

The answer is complex and depends on the type of diabetes and frequently other factors such as diet, lifestyle, and environment. “For most people who have diabetes, it is not due to a straight genetic group of factors or to environmental ones, but rather it is a combination of both,” says Mónica Alvarado, a certified and licensed genetic counselor who is the regional administrator for genetic services at Kaiser Permanente in Pasadena, California....

The Importance of Choosing Good Drinks for Diabetes When you have type 2 diabetes, your body’s cells can no longer efficiently absorb blood sugar (glucose), the body’s main energy source, due to a condition called insulin resistance. Insulin resistance leads to an elevated blood glucose level (called hyperglycemia), which increases the risk for diabetes complications, including heart disease, kidney failure, and nerve damage (neuropathy). What you choose to eat and drink can affect your blood sugar level dramatically, the Mayo Clinic points out....

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble, rather than water-soluble, vitamin — so when you get it through your diet, you’ll best absorb it alongside a fat-containing food, such as almonds, peanut butter, or avocado. The vitamin is important for your health: Research suggests that it may help with everything from athletic performance to heart disease, and may even help protect against type 2 diabetes. What Does Vitamin D Do for Our Bodies and Our Health?...