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Did you know that millions of people all over the world are functionally blind simply because they don’t have access to proper eye exams and eyeglasses? That’s why this October 14, we once again bring attention to blindness and other vision problems as we recognize World Sight Day 2021. How to Choose Glasses for a Child

Whether you’re scrolling through your Facebook feed, checking texts from friends and family, or chatting with fellow parents from your kid’s hockey team, you’re bound to encounter questions about whether or not it’s safe to get vaccinated. Billions of people around the world have signed on to get their shots to ward off COVID-19. But

SAN ANTONIO — Unexpected, severe, vision-threatening adverse events have quashed hopes for a safe and effective gene therapy for diabetic retinal disease. Three patients with diabetic macular edema (DME) developed hypotony requiring surgical treatment, followed by severe, progressive decline in vision. Additionally, intraocular inflammation (IOI), sometimes severe, occurred in almost all patients treated with ADVM-022,

As the country continues to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, medical experts and scientists are pushing for booster shots to ensure optimum protection against SARS-CoV-2. But so far, only Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine has been approved for the third dose, leaving millions of Americans wondering about the length of time it would take for the Moderna and

As Congress debates cutting prescription drug costs, a poll released Tuesday found the vast majority of adults — regardless of their political party or age — support letting the federal government negotiate drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries and those in private health insurance plans. The argument that pharmaceutical companies need to charge high prices to

Moderna has no plans to share the recipe for its COVID-19 vaccine because executives have concluded that scaling up the company’s own production is the best way to increase the global supply, the company’s chairman said Monday. In an interview with The Associated Press, Noubar Afeyan also reiterated a pledge Moderna made a year ago

The monoclonal antibody cocktail AZD7442 (tixagevimab and cilgavimab) reduced the risk of severe COVID-19 and death in high-risk patients by half, becoming the first long-acting monoclonal antibody to show effectiveness at both treating and preventing COVID, manufacturer AstraZeneca said Monday. Topline results of the phase III TACKLE trial found that the cocktail reduced risk of

CrossFit, the widely known fitness platform and brand with thousands of affiliated gyms, is moving into primary care with the launch of its newest service, CrossFit Precision Care. Dr Julie Foucher Developed by family medicine physician Julie Foucher, MD, and other CrossFit-trained doctors, the new service aims to help CrossFit members build plans to protect

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a guidance on the people who are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine booster shots now that the third doses from Pfizer-BioNTech have arrived.  Why We Need A Booster Shot Although the COVID-19 vaccines are designed to provide protection from the novel coronavirus, their efficacy is known

Iain Stewart is out as president of the Public Health Agency of Canada, after leading the agency through much of the COVID-19 pandemic. Stewart was also the focus of an extraordinary moment in parliamentary history earlier this year, when he was publicly admonished by MPs in the House of Commons for failing to turn over

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Hypochlorous acid causes less pain than povidone iodine when used as a disinfectant prior to intravitreal injections, researchers say. Povidone iodine is the standard of care, but hypochlorous acid could offer a viable alternative, at least in patients who find povidone iodine unbearable, said Robert L. Avery, MD, of California Retina

The prognosis for future influenza seasons is always uncertain — but this year, it is even more uncertain than usual. While influenza seasons have varied in the past, there were generally some predictable factors. For example, the influenza season typically peaks in the U.S. between December and March. However, the intensity of the influenza season

Do you enjoy drinking beer or wine? When consumed in moderation, studies show that enjoying such drinks every now and then can have positive effects on our bodies.  But as too much of anything is bad, make sure that your occasional “drink” doesn’t become a  habit and you just stick to a glass or two. Is Beer Bad for You? As drinking

The likelihood that a child will survive a near-drowning without long-term damage is substantially greater if a bystander attempts a rescue, even if that person doesn’t perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), according to new research presented October 10 at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) 2021 National Conference. “The extent to which bystander rescue is associated with

This is an excerpt from Second Opinion, a weekly roundup of health and medical science news emailed to subscribers every Saturday morning. If you haven’t subscribed yet, you can do that by clicking here. New Canadian data suggests the bold strategy to delay and mix second doses of COVID-19 vaccines led to strong protection from infection, hospitalization

Black patients get less visual acuity improvement than White patients when treated with ranibizumab for diabetic macular edema, according to the available data from clinical trials. The difference between the races disappears when the statistics are adjusted for such factors as HbA1c levels. But the findings raise questions that highlight the lack of data on

Back in April 2020, after evaluating a number of diverse data sources including bench studies, clinical trials, and epidemiologic investigations pertaining to the effects of nitric oxide (NO) upon coronaviruses, I appealed to the medical literature and research community to investigate the potential utility of arginine (ARG) supplementation in the prevention of severe COVID-19. At

Since last year, the pandemic has brought forth many challenges, most of which left us struggling with our mental wellness. But it doesn’t have to be that way. This October 10, as the whole world celebrates World Mental Health Day 2021 to raise mental health awareness, it’s important to know that there’s nothing wrong with seeking

Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center. High-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters and ultraviolet (UV) light sterilization effectively remove SARS-CoV-2 particles from the air — the first such evidence in a real-world test, researchers report in the preprint server medRxiv. The journal Nature reported this week that the

Canada’s chief public health officer says that in spite of the challenges posed by the current wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are good reasons for optimism in the latest federal modelling data. Speaking at a technical briefing on the data today, Dr. Theresa Tam said the virus’s reproductive number (Rt) has fallen below one for the first time since mid-July.

A comparison of long-term survival between patients who either did or did not undergo permanent pacemaker implantation (PPI) after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) revealed no differences, according to results of the SWEDEHEART observational study. The nationwide population-based cohort study included all patients who underwent transfemoral TAVR in Sweden from 2008 to 2018. Most Frequent

Anesthesiologist Christopher Rake, MD, was escorted out of a University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Health medical plaza on Monday after attempting to go to work without being vaccinated against COVID-19. A video of the incident, recorded by Rake himself, shows him confronting the individuals leading him out of the building. “This is what happens