Category: 4. Health

The animal tranquilizers xylazine and medetomidine are in approximately one-third of the illegal opioids available in the U.S., including fentanyl, heroin and oxycodone. Animal tranquilizers enhance the user’s euphoric high from opioids, particularly in those who have developed a tolerance to the opioid. But adding the tranquilizers to these already illicit drugs could keep naloxone, a medication known to prevent deaths from opioid overdose, from working.

These are the key findings…

Alcohol, whether consumed regularly or only on special occasions, takes a toll on your body. From your brain and heart, to your lungs and muscles, to your gastrointestinal and immune systems, alcohol has broad harmful effects on your health – including causing cancer.

Alcohol is the third-leading preventable cause of cancer in the U.S., responsible for about 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths annually. In comparison, alcohol-related vehicle crashes cause around 13,500…

Research estimates that one-third or more of the unhoused population in the U.S. is age 50 or older.

Unhoused people of all ages face high rates of chronic and serious illness. They also die at younger ages compared with people who are not unhoused.

Yet, there are few options for palliative and end-of-life care for unhoused people.

Palliative care is a type of medical care that addresses pain, symptom management and the social and emotional needs for people with a serious illness,…

Strengthen Your Lab’s Quality Control System

Introduction

Choosing the right quality control (QC) system for your laboratory is essential. Not only is it required by worldwide regulations and standards such as the International Organization of Standardization (ISO), the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI), and College of American Pathologists (CAP), but QC helps ensure patient results are reliable and medically useful. Just as important…

For decades, one key aspect of healthcare has continued to elude the brightest minds: data. And there’s plenty of it; according to a report from RBC Capital Markets, nearly 30% of the world’s data volume today is generated by the healthcare industry, with a compound annual growth rate of 36%. However, despite the significant amount of data, little has been…

A 2023 report on PsychologyToday.com suggested that anger in American is at an all-time high. The rise of anger in this country has been discussed in a variety of media outlets. For example, a 2024 report on Travel.alot.com provided a list of the angriest states of America based on statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, internet comments, and the FBI’s hate crime data. According to this list, Alabama was ranked as the…

There have been concerns about the side effects of ADHD medications but the new findings, coupled with other studies, suggest that the benefits of taking these medications outweigh the risks, while highlighting the need for careful monitoring.

The study, published in The Lancet Psychiatry, conducted the largest…

Released today, the report reveals Australia has experienced a 37 per cent increase in excess heat factor over the past 20 years.

Lead author and Director of the Lancet Countdown Centre in Oceania, Professor Paul Beggs from Macquarie University, says these findings underscore the importance of long-term…

The research, published in The Journals of Gerontology: Series A, found that exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) is linked to lower scores in key cognitive abilities, particularly language skills.

NO₂ mainly enters the atmosphere through fuel combustion, originating from emissions of vehicles like cars,…