Resources & Information

NPR
April 18, 2025
When hit with a headache or fever, people often reach for over-the-counter painkillers like acetaminophen or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) as their first line of defense. Used correctly, these drugs can be safe and effective for pain relief. That means following the instructions on the label and the advice of a health care provider.

“But that’s not how we take these medications in real life,” says Trisha Pasricha, a physician and instructor at Harvard Medical School. Some people take too much pain medication too quickly, misdiagnose an ailment and take the wrong drug, or unknowingly take multiple pain relievers at the same time.

MedPage Today
April 17, 2025
Hearing loss may play a bigger role in dementia than previously thought, data from a U.S. cohort study suggested. In a sample of nearly 3,000 older adults, up to 32% (95% CI 11.0%-46.5%) of incident dementia over 8 years could be attributable to any degree of audiometric hearing loss, reported Jason Smith, PhD, of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, and co-authors. Population attributable fractions (PAFs) were similar by hearing loss severity. For mild hearing loss, the PAF was 16.2% (95% CI 4.2%-24.2%). For moderate or greater hearing loss, it was 16.6% (95% CI 3.9%-24.3%), Smith and colleagues wrote in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery.

Medical News Today
April 2, 2025
Everyone knows that exercise plays an important role in helping you live a long and healthy life. Current United States health guidelines recommend adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise every week, and at least 2 days of strength training. However, many people face barriers to working out throughout the week, including time restraints, limited access to exercise equipment, and lack of motivation.

Now a new study recently published in the Journal of the American Heart Association says people who are only able to workout on the weekends — known as the “weekend warrior” approach — are still receiving similar health benefits than if they had spread out their workouts throughout the week.

NC Medical Society
March 26, 2025

Are you keeping a mental list of all the sources of microplastics finding their way into your daily life? You may have another culprit to consider: It’s gum, according to a new pilot study that found chewing just one piece can release hundreds to thousands of microplastics into saliva.

The study is currently being peer-reviewed and will be presented at the biannual meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Diego Tuesday. Once the review is complete, the authors hope the report will be published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials Letters later this year.

NPR
March 25, 2025
The genetic testing company 23andMe, best known for allowing people to trace their ancestry with an at-home kit, has been struggling financially for months. So when the California biotech firm announced in a statement this week that it had entered the federal bankruptcy process with the goal of finding a buyer, one question was raised for the more than 15 million users of the service: What’s going to happen to my data? The company insists customers’ information is protected. But if you would like to opt out entirely, California Attorney General Rob Bonta has released this eight-step guide to deleting your genetic data from 23andMe.

The Carolina Journal
March 24, 2025
North Carolina has once again ranked high on the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America’s list of the most challenging places to live with seasonal allergies. Raleigh is ranked as the 7th most challenging place to live in America with allergies, while Greensboro is ranked 10th. Several other major North Carolina cities, including Durham, Charlotte, and Winston-Salem, are included in the report as places with significant allergy issues. The North Carolina cities are all considered to have worse-than-average seasonal allergies.