Health & Fitness

Summary: Young children on the autism spectrum achieved joined attention similar to that of a neurotypical child when playing with their parents. Source: Cell Press For decades, autism research has relied on data collected during lab tasks or interviews with clinicians that are more constrained than the child’s day-to-day interactions with others. A study published in the journal Current Biology on May 12 challenges the status quo by observing toddlers in more natural play settings. By using a head-mounted camera to track kids’ eye movements as they played with toys, scientists observed that children with autism achieved joint attention—measured by time spent looking at the same toy at the same time as their parent—at typical levels. To understand how children interact with social partne...

(WXYZ) — The Centers for Disease Control has updated the COVID-19 community risk level, placing nearly all of Southeastern Michigan in the high-risk of community transmission level. The updated map places Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw, Livingston and St. Clair counties at the high-risk level. Monroe and Lenawee counties are at the medium risk of community transmission level. Several other counties in other parts of the state are also at that level. When a county is in a high risk of community transmission, the CDC recommends wearing a mask indoors in public and on public transportation. Doctors in Oakland County say this is not a time to let your guard down. “I want people to protect themselves and to protect the people around them,” said Dr. Matthew Sims, an infectious disease speci...

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Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center. As the nation largely abandons mask mandates, physical distancing, and other covid-19 prevention strategies, elected officials and health departments alike are now championing antiviral pills. But the federal government isn't saying how many people have received these potentially lifesaving drugs or whether they're being distributed equitably. Pfizer's Paxlovid pill, along with Merck's molnupiravir, are aimed at preventing vulnerable patients with mild or moderate covid from becoming sicker or dying. More than 300 Americans still die from covid every day. National supply counts, which the Biden administration has shared sporadically, aren't the only...

Summary: Having three or more children was associated with an increased risk of cognitive decline later in life. Source: Columbia University A new study at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and the Robert Butler Columbia Aging Center and Université Paris-Dauphine—PSL, found that having three or more versus two children has a negative effect on late-life cognition. The results further indicated that this effect was strongest in Northern Europe, where higher fertility decreases financial resources but does not improve social resources in this region. This is the first to study the causal effect of high fertility on late-life cognition. Until now fertility has not received much attention as a potential predictor of late-life cognition compared with other factors, such as ...

A growing proportion of COVID-19 deaths are occurring among the vaccinated, a new ABC News analysis of federal data shows. In August of 2021, about 18.9% of COVID-19 deaths occurred among the vaccinated. Six months later, in February 2022, that proportional percent of deaths had increased to more than 40%. Comparatively, in September 2021, just 1.1% of COVID-19 deaths occurred among Americans who had been fully vaccinated and boosted with their first dose. By February 2022, that percentage had increased to about 25%. Experts said the increase in breakthrough deaths is expected with more Americans reaching full vaccination status. "These data should not be interpreted as vaccines not working. In fact, these real-world analyses continue to reaffirm the incredible protection these vaccines...

Photo: Andrey_Popov (Shutterstock) Some medical incidents are inextricably linked to the childhood experience: Kids throw up a lot for some reason, they skin their knees, they have their tonsils removed, and they get ear infections. Of course, these things can happen to grown-ups, too, but it’s much less common. Still, because some maladies are so closely associated with kids, it can take some time before an adult recognizes the symptoms their body is displaying. Ear infections are a great example of this. You can get an ear infection in your grown years, but if you’re stuck thinking that only happens to children, you might put off getting checked out. Let’s avoid that possibility by discovering the symptoms and causes of ear infections in adults. Can adults can get ear infections...

David Putrino, a rehabilitation and long Covid researcher at the Mount Sinai medical school in New York City, has watched mounting evidence that suggests between 4 and 36 percent of Americans infected with Covid have symptoms lasting at least six months. It makes him nervous, and not just for the patients dealing with the long-term symptoms. He’s nervous because as the pandemic outbreak continues, many more people will be put at risk for long-term disability as the virus continues to spread. Meanwhile, policymakers don’t seem to be accounting for the risk of long Covid in public health recommendations. The condition did not figure into the CDC’s guidance on removing or reinstating preventive measures — those were based on deaths and intensive care unit hospita...

Octopuses are doomed to be orphans from a very young age. After a female octopus lays her eggs, she stops eating and begins self-mutilating, tearing off her skin and biting off the tips of her tentacles.   By the time a young octopus wriggles out of its egg, its mother is already dead. A few months later, its father will die, too. The short and grim life of the octopus has long fascinated scientists. In 1944, researchers hypothesized that mating was somehow hitting a molecular "self-destruct" button within the sea creatures. It's taken nearly 80 years, but that vague hypothesis is at last taking shape. Researchers have recently figured out that mating seems to change several critical biochemical pathways based on cholesterol into various hormones in female octopuses. "We know cholest...

A baby fox has tested positive for bird flu H5N1 in Minnesota, state officials revealed Wednesday, in the first case to be reported in a wild mammal in America. The State's Department of Natural Resources said the fox kit was found lying outside a fox den and being unable to use its back legs in Anoka County, near Minneapolis. It was taken in by a family to be brought to a wildlife sanctuary the following morning, but it died overnight in their care. Michelle Carstensen, the state's wildlife health group lead, told DailyMail.com the fox had likely caught the virus after eating an infected wild water-fowl or domestic poultry that had the virus from a nearby farm. The family picked up the fox to take to a nearby wildlife sanctuary almost three weeks ago, state health officials said. Only on...