By Joseph Golder The latest import from the Far East can’t be found on a shelf at WalMart. It’s a counterfeit COVID-19 vaccination card, complete with clumsy typos, and the federal government is confiscating them as fast as they can find them. U.S. customs officials in four U.S. cities recently seized shipments of more than […]

By Martin M Barillas The better rated a kidney dialysis center is, the more likely it is to add a patient to the transplant waitlist, according to researchers, though black patients are the least likely to secure a spot on that waitlist. Doctors at Brigham and Women’s Hospitals investigated connections between patients, dialysis centers and […]

By Abigail Klein Leichman A year and a half of lockdowns, school closures and social distancing caught adolescents at a vulnerable time in their emotional development, says Dr. Shelly Ben Harush Negari, a physician specializing in adolescent medicine. Many kids have forgotten, or haven’t had a chance to learn, how to conduct themselves outside the […]

By Evan T. Henerson A veces es más fácil dejar que la tecnología hable. Una nueva e innovadora aplicación está ayudando a los adolescentes a comunicarse sobre las dificultades que enfrentan, mediante mensajes de texto. La aplicación para teléfono celular Teen Talk, desarrollada por Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters de Los Ángeles, ofrece a los […]

By Martin M Barillas Insulin resistance, obesity and hypertension can increase the risk of major depressive disorder, according to a new study. “If you’re insulin-resistant, your risk of developing major depressive disorder is double that of someone who’s not insulin-resistant, even if you’ve never experienced depression before,” said Natalie Rasgon, a professor at Stanford University […]

By Abigail Klein Leichman Israeli researchers have determined that a third (“booster”) dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is effective at preventing both infection and severe illness. The findings from the first such study were published  Sept. 15 in The New England Journal of Medicine. Findings suggest that the third dose boosts immunity about tenfold compared […]

By Evan T. Henerson Sometimes it is easier to let the tech do the talking. An innovative new app is helping teens communicate via text about the difficult issues they face. The Teen Talk app, developed by Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles, gives teens a safe space to connect with peers. The […]

By Martin M Barillas Dogs plagued by hookworms — bloodsucking parasites — may have longer to wait for relief as research has found these parasites are resistant to all drugs commonly used to treat the infection. Ancylostoma caninum is a nematode parasite that uses its hook-like mouth to fasten itself to a host animal’s intestines. […]

MEXICO CITY — Independent cannabis producers are looking to the Mexican government for help. The LXV Legislature — the current session of Mexico’s Congress — is debating the legalization of cannabis consumption, sale and production. Independent consumers and producers are operating under their own rules. They have a silent agreement to trade and buy from each […]

Vulnerable Afghani women now have reliable telecommunications access so that local mental health workers can continue supporting their psychosocial needs during the current unrest, thanks to an Israeli nonprofit. SmartAID is providing cellphones, solar-powered battery packs, and data packages to at-risk women in Afghanistan. “After a lengthy civil war and during the time of the […]

For the first time, surgeons have successfully implanted an Aeson artificial heart in a woman facing end-stage heart failure. The surgery was performed by doctors from the University of Louisville and the Jewish Hospital at Louisville, using an implant made by Carmat, a French company. Carmat CEO Stephane Piat said the surgery, the third of […]

A new method of measuring brain activity may be able to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease up to five years earlier than current methods, leading to improved outcomes for patients, according to scientists at the University of Bath in southwestern England. The Fastball EEG technology exposes patients to a series of flashing images for two minutes on […]

Arachnophobia, an exaggerated fear of spiders and other arachnids, has long been treated by psychologists with desensitization and relaxation techniques, but these may now give way to therapy via smartphone. At the University of Basel in Switzerland, researchers have developed an augmented reality app for smartphones to help treat arachnophobia, which showed success during the […]