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What is Listeria? A Microbiologist Explains the Bacterium Behind Recent Deadly Food Poisoning Outbreaks
By Yvonne Sun Your Health

What is Listeria? A Microbiologist Explains the Bacterium Behind Recent Deadly Food Poisoning Outbreaks

Bacteria do, and will, end up in food. Everyone eats – intentionally or unintentionally – millions to billions of live microbes every day. Most are completely harmless, but some can cause serious illnesses in humans. Because of these potential pathogens, there is a long list of foods to avoid, including uncooked eggs, raw fish and […]

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5 min read

What Causes Hives and How Dangerous Can They Be? A Nurse Practitioner Explains
By Patricia A. MacCulloch Your Health

What Causes Hives and How Dangerous Can They Be? A Nurse Practitioner Explains

Every year, about 20% of Americans will get hives – those itchy, red bumps or welts that can appear after a day in the garden, taking medication, being bitten by a bug or for no apparent reason at all. Patricia A. MacCulloch is a nurse practitioner and professor of nursing who teaches about hives, among […]

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4 min read

Alzheimer’s Might Not Be Primarily a Brain Disease: A New Theory Suggests It’s an Autoimmune Condition
By Donald Weaver Your Health

Alzheimer’s Might Not Be Primarily a Brain Disease: A New Theory Suggests It’s an Autoimmune Condition

The pursuit of a cure for Alzheimer’s disease is becoming an increasingly competitive and contentious quest with recent years witnessing several important controversies. In July 2022, Science magazine reported that a key 2006 research paper, published in the prestigious journal Nature, which identified a subtype of brain protein called beta-amyloid as the cause of Alzheimer’s, […]

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An Expert Panel Has Recommended Against Taking Vitamin E or Beta Carotene Supplements for the Prevention of Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease – Here’s Why
By Katherine Basbaum Your Health

An Expert Panel Has Recommended Against Taking Vitamin E or Beta Carotene Supplements for the Prevention of Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease – Here’s Why

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued a recommendation statement in June 2022 on the use of over-the-counter vitamin supplements. Based on its independent panel of experts’ review of existing scientific evidence, the task force recommended against using beta carotene or vitamin E supplements for the prevention of cancer and cardiovascular disease, the two leading […]

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Two Surprising Reasons Behind the Obesity Epidemic: Too Much Salt, Not Enough Water
By Richard Johnson Your Health

Two Surprising Reasons Behind the Obesity Epidemic: Too Much Salt, Not Enough Water

Scientific studies and media coverage are rife with warnings on how sugar, carbohydrates, saturated fat and lack of exercise contribute to obesity. And tens of millions of Americans are still overweight or obese in large part because of the classic Western diet and lifestyle. As an educator, researcher and professor of medicine, I have spent […]

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La Crosse Virus is the Second-Most Common Virus in the US Spread by Mosquitoes – And Can Cause Severe Neurological Damage in Rare Cases
By Rebecca Trout Fryxell Your Health

La Crosse Virus is the Second-Most Common Virus in the US Spread by Mosquitoes – And Can Cause Severe Neurological Damage in Rare Cases

For the Laudick family of Greensburg, Indiana, life forever changed on Aug. 5, 2013. That was the day 4-year-old Leah Laudick told her mom, Shelly, that she had a bad headache. Two days later, Leah was hospitalized nearby with worsening headaches and a slightly elevated white blood cell count. She slept for most of the […]

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