Resources & Information

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.

CNN
March 19, 2025
Three hundred and twenty-one cases have been reported in the ongoing measles outbreak in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma, the states said Tuesday. This is an increase of 25 cases since an update on Friday. Texas has reported 279 outbreak-associated cases, New Mexico has reported 38 cases, and Oklahoma had previously reported four cases. Thirty-eight patients have been hospitalized, an increase of two over last week. Ninety-five cases are in children up to age 4, and 130 are among young people ages 5 to 17. Cases have been identified in 11 Texas counties and two New Mexico counties.

Given the highly contagious nature of the disease, officials expect continued spread. “This is going to be a large outbreak, and we are still on the side where we are increasing the number of cases. … I’m really thinking this is going to be a year long,” Katherine Wells, director of Lubbock Public Health, said at a briefing Tuesday.

STATNews
March 19, 2025
When psychiatrist Liz Frye first encounters a potential patient, she knows she is entering the conversation at a disadvantage. She works with people who are unhoused and living on the streets — many who’ve likely had negative experiences with health care workers in the past.

“It’s important for me to offer a different experience for the person sleeping outside and to recognize that they have no reason to trust me,” said Frye, who has been a street psychiatrist for 16 years, first in Atlanta and more recently, in Pittsburgh. She is also chair of the board of directors at the Street Medicine Institute.