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Holly Francis, a volunteer with Boston Medical Center helped to plant some of the 20,000 purple flags in the Common that commemorate Overdose Awareness Day and kick off Recovery Month. Each purple flag represents one life lost to overdose in Massachusetts over the past 10 years. Jessica Rinaldi | Boston Globe | Getty Images Deaths from drug and alcohol use are rising among America's seniors. Drug overdose deaths more than tripled among people age 65 and older during the past two decades while deaths from alcohol abuse increased more than 18% from 2019 to 2020, according to data published Wednesday by the National Center for Health Statistics. More than 800,000 seniors suffered from drug addiction and 2.7 million suffered from alcohol addiction in 2020, according to separate data from the Health and Human Services Department. In total, more than 5,000 seniors died of drug overdoses in 2020 and more than 11,600 succumbed to alcohol, according to the NCHS data. Though drug overdose de

When it comes to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it is safe to say that no one wins if the conflict helps spread the coronavirus. Before Russia's forces began attacking its neighbor, both countries had just hit records in new daily cases, peaking at an all-time high in Ukraine in early February. On Feb. 24, the day Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the assault, there were more than 25,000 new confirmed cases in Ukraine, according to the World Health Organization. While infections had begun to fall before Russia's invasion, for multiple days in the past week the global health agency had reported no official data from the country – perhaps a reflection of the chaos and violence that has sent more than 2 million refugees to flee to other countries and scrambled its health infrastructure. No one has any real idea of how the virus may be spreading now. WATCH: Russian shelling of civilian targets causes day of carnage across Ukraine "Low rat

A recent hospital case in Spain suggests antibiotic-resistant bacteria can sometimes migrate from the bowels to the lungs, and possibly back again. Bacteria are known to travel around the human body using routes we know little about, yet it's rare to find a case study where an infection spreads in a clear-cut way. The case in Spain is an exception worth noting. The patient was admitted to an intensive care unit in the municipality of Badalona following a seizure. For 39 days, they were mechanically ventilated while doctors used antibiotics to fight off an infection in their lower airways. On day one, the patient's lungs had shown evidence of a bacteria called Pseudomonas aeruginosa – a common infection in the lungs, urinary tract, and gut – and it was suspected the patient had accidentally breathed in food, saliva, or vomit, possibly during their seizure or following ventilation. On day 12, the patient developed a urinary tract infection, which doctors treated with a differ

Collaboration can add to professional fulfillment in family medicine, mental health. Integrated care that improves patient outcomes also can be a solution for burnout for physicians and their support staff. The Primary Care Development Corp. hosted "Mitigating Burnout through Integrated Healthcare: Our Present State and Ideas to Enhance Professional Well-Being," a webinar to explain a model of collaborative care at Rutgers University. Chantal M. Brazeau, MD, chief wellness officer of Rutgers' Biomedical and Health Sciences, and Noa'a Shimoni, MD, MPH, Rutgers University associate vice president for student health and wellness, discussed the program. Both are family physicians and Brazeau is board certified in psychiatry. Professional fulfillment, built on system values, system infrastructure, and individual skills, along with a sense of community, can counteract feelings of burnout. While individual skills and resilience are important, Brazeau and Shimoni cited U.S. S

Health equity can be achieved only when every person has the opportunity to reach their full health potential, regardless of social, economic, or environmental circumstances. But the hard truth is that today, health equity is nothing more than an aspiration – particularly within the LGBTQ+ community. LGBTQ+ people are at higher risk for suicide and suicidal thoughts, mood disorders and anxiety, eating disorders, alcohol and substance abuse, and tobacco use. LGBTQ+ people also have less access to health care and have worse health outcomes. Recent research from Cigna Corporation, which surveyed 10,000 U.S. adults to better understand their vitality levels, finds that the LGBTQ+ community faces barriers in finding health care providers who are culturally trained and sensitive to their health needs. For example, 50% of LGBTQ+ individuals strongly feel their provider really listens to them, compared to 63% of heterosexual, cisgender individuals. Also, 49% of LGBTQ+ individuals strongly

Wright I, Jongejan F, Marcondes M, Peregrine A, Baneth G, Bourdeau P, et al. Parasites and vector-borne diseases disseminated by rehomed dogs. Parasit Vectors. 2020;13:546. Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar  Statista. Number of dogs and cats kept as pets worldwide in 2018. 2019. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1044386/dog-and-cat-pet-population-worldwide/. Accessed 9 Aug 2021. World Atlas. Most populous animals on earth. 2020. https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/most-populous-mammals-on-earth.html . Accessed 9 Aug 2021. Cats Protection. Cats report UK 2021. 2021. https://www.cats.org.uk/media/10005/cats-2021-full-report.pdf. Accessed 18 Nov 2021. International Cat Care. Cat friendly solutions for unowned cats. 2021. https://icatcare.org/unowned-cats/. Accessed 20 Apr 2021. International Cat Care. The different needs of domestic cats. 2022. https://icatcare.org/unowned-cats/the-d

November 18, 2022 From the U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Iowa: DES MOINES, IA – John Dale Parmer, age 59, of Osceola, was sentenced today to 24 months in prison for Social Security Fraud - Concealment. Parmer pleaded guilty on June 21, 2022. Following completion of his prison term, Parmer will be on supervised release for three years. Parmer was ordered to pay $234,552 in restitution to the Social Security Administration (SSA). In 2006, Parmer began to receive Social Security disability benefits due to becoming nearly blind. By at least 2013, Parmer's vision had markedly improved. Since 2013 Parmer consistently worked for several employers in Central Iowa, including as a mechanic and truck driver. However, Parmer did not inform the SSA that his vision had improved or that he had returned to work. From at least 2013 and continuing until 2020, Parmer knowingly concealed

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Patients who ask for their doctors' help through online portals might soon notice something new: fees for their physicians' online advice. A growing number of health systems in the Chicago area and across the country are now charging for some types of messages sent through online patient portals, such as MyChart, with fees often around $35 or less. It's a trend that's sparking mixed reactions, with some saying it seems only fair, while others see it as a cash grab. Advertisement Locally, NorthShore University HealthSystem began billing for some types of messages sent over its patient portal, NorthShoreConnect, earlier this month. It joined Northwestern Medicine and Lurie Children's Hospital in the practice. Nationally, the Cleveland Clinic generated headlines this month when it announced it would start billing for some communications. UCSF Health in California also charges for some messages. Health system leaders say most messages remain free, and they're only

Following the declaration of an Ebola outbreak in Uganda on 20 September 2022, the outbreak has now spread to seven districts (Kasanda, Kyegegwa, Bunyangabu and Kagadi districts beyond the original epicenter in Mubende district, and then to Kampala City and Wakiso). The government-led response has activated the Incident Management System in order to control the outbreak. In support of the Ministry of Health-led efforts, CEPI, Gavi and WHO have outlined a plan to accelerate research during the outbreak, to ensure access to investigational doses, and to facilitate scaling up and access to any subsequent licensed vaccine. Vaccination is usually one of the response interventions in such an outbreak, however, there are currently no licensed vaccines (or therapeutics) for Ebola disease caused by the Sudan ebolavirus (SUDV), though there are several candidate vaccines which appear to be suitable for evaluation in a clinical trial during this outbreak. By embedding research at heart o