Detroit Mental Health Task force members work to raise awareness
July 20th, 20181 DETROIT — Detroit City Councilman Roy McCalister Jr. and the Mental Health Task Force held a public meeting in the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center on Tuesday, July 17, where approximately 30 people expressed ideas on raising awareness about mental health issues. Attendees included Council members, administration officials, community...
Safety tips for July 4th: Preventing firework burns
July 3rd, 20180 As the Fourth of July nears, many communities across the country are gearing up to enjoy firework shows. If your patriotic celebration includes self-starter fireworks or hand-held sparklers, take precautions to avoid injury. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, last year there were 13,000 fireworks-related...
Gov. Snyder dedicates June 25 as Men’s Mental Health Awareness Day in Michigan
June 25th, 20180 LANSING – Gov. Snyder has declared June 25 as Men’s Mental Health Awareness Day in Michigan. In partnership with the Healthy Men Michigan campaign, the governor aims to raise awareness and opportunities to improve the quality of life for men or their loved ones struggling with problems related to mental health and mental...
Low-income workers protest Bill Schuette’s opposition to Medicaid
June 9th, 20180 DETROIT— On Thursday afternoon, a group of more than 100 low-income voters met outside Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette’s office in Detroit to protest his pledge to cut Michigan’s Medicaid expansion. A community member with the group said 700,000 Michigan residents who have Medicaid could be affected by the...
Little girl’s gift to Beaumont Children’s Hospital helps local kids
June 5th, 20180 DEARBORN — Lara Nasr Eddin, aged 6, loves to help people. “She’s always giving,” said her mom, Rana Aboukhair. “I have to pack her two lunches because she’s always giving away her food to other kids.” Lara is a kindergartner at Bedford Elementary School in Dearborn Heights. “I read at a second-grade level,” she...
Florida’s Muslim free clinic a ‘blessing’ to uninsured, low-income patients of all faiths
June 3rd, 20180 David Gagner was having seizures. But he did not have nor can afford health insurance, so he sought care at a Baptist Health emergency room. There he was told he had another option in the future, the volunteer-run Muslim American Social Services, or MASS, clinic that provides free health care to uninsured, low-income adults of all...
Survey: 80 percent of American Muslims observe Ramadan by fasting
June 2nd, 20180 The Pew Research Center has found that 80 percent of U.S. Muslims say they observe Ramadan by fasting during daylight hours. More of the U.S.’s 2.15 million Muslim adults say they do this than say that they pray five times a day (42 percent) or attend mosque weekly (43 percent). More Muslim women say they observe Ramadan in this way...
Hot tea tied to higher cancer risk for smokers and drinkers
February 9th, 20180 Drinking scalding hot tea is associated with an increased risk of esophageal tumors in people who also smoke and drink alcohol, two habits that already make many cancers more likely, a Chinese study suggests. Among Chinese adults who drank at least one beer, cocktail or glass of wine daily, those who also consumed burning hot tea...
Many people take dangerously high amounts of ibuprofen
February 9th, 20180 Many adults who use ibuprofen and other so-called nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) drugs take too much, increasing their risk of serious side effects like internal bleeding and heart attacks, a U.S. study suggests. About 15 percent of adults taking ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil) or other NSAIDs like aspirin, naproxen (Aleve),...
Gallup: Uninsured Americans rises most in near decade
February 2nd, 20180 WASHINGTON — The number of Americans without healthcare insurance rose by 3.2 million people between 2016 and 2017, or 1.3 percentage points to 12.2 percent, according to a Gallup poll released on Tuesday, the biggest jump in the uninsured rate in nearly a decade. Several factors likely contributed to the jump, Gallup said,...
How alcohol damages stem cell DNA and increases cancer risk
January 26th, 20181 LONDON — Drinking alcohol produces a harmful chemical in the body, which can lead to permanent genetic damage in the DNA of stem cells, increasing the risk of cancer developing, according to research published on Wednesday. Working with mice in a laboratory, British scientists used chromosome analysis and DNA sequencing to examine...
While the opioid crisis looms Neurontin prescriptions rise
January 19th, 20180 ATHENS, OHIO — Prescriptions for nerve pain medications like Neurontin and Lyrica have more than tripled in recent years, according to a recent U.S. study. The study suggests the rise is driven by chronically ill older adults already taking opioids. "Nearly one in 25 adults takes a gabapentinoid during a year, which matters because...
Stress in schools could be reduced with a partnership between doctors and teachers
January 19th, 20180 CHICAGO — A teacher turned doctor has made some suggestions about lowering stress levels in students. Dr. Kavitha Selvaraj of the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago suggested giving teachers a professional support network, strategies to de-escalate charged situations and ways to manage behavior in children with...
Study: Married heart patients more likely than singles to survive
January 12th, 20180 People with heart disease have better long-term survival odds when they are married, a recent U.S. study suggests. Compared to divorced, widowed and never-married peers, who were up to 71 percent more likely to die during a follow-up of several years, married patients also had fewer heart risk factors like high blood pressure and were...
10 things to avoid if you want to stay healthy this winter
January 5th, 20180 1. Sugar Avoid sugar, especially artificial sugars like aspartame. Sugar is in everything that comes in a package, from candy bars to even the "healthy" items like granola bars. Sugar is a huge threat to the body because it weakens the immune system. When the immune system is weak your body has to work harder and this puts it in a......
With the frigid temps comes higher bills, help is available to ease energy burden
January 3rd, 20180 DETROIT, MI – Additional funding to help local households during the 2018 winter heating season has come to Wayne County. Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency (Wayne Metro) received funding through the 2018 Michigan Energy Assistance Program (MEAP) to provide Home Energy Supports and Assistance for individuals and families in...
Detroit pharmacy and pharmacist summarily suspended over alleged dispensing controlled substances
December 28th, 20170 LANSING - The Dept. of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) served orders summarily suspending the controlled substance license of Joe’s Discount Pharmacy in Detroit and the pharmacist license of Yousef Kosho, who is responsible for the pharmacy’s compliance with the Public Health Code. The Michigan Public Health Code...
Fathers’ depression affects kids’ depression, too
December 15th, 20170 Fathers who show signs of depression may be more likely to have kids who show signs of depression, especially in their teen years, according to a new study in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Previous research has shown an association between maternal depression and adolescent depression, but few studies have looked for links between...
Babies learn what words mean before they can use them
December 15th, 20170 Babies begin to learn words and what they mean well before they begin talking, and researchers are beginning to understand how they do it. "I think it's especially intriguing that we find evidence that for infants, even their early words aren't 'islands'; even with a very small vocabulary they seem to have a sense that some words and......
Health conditions that most commonly affect men
December 8th, 20170 By Dr. S. George Kipa, MD According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, men are 24 percent less likely than women to have seen a doctor in the past year. The unfortunate reality, however, is that males are also more likely to die from eight out of the 10 leading causes of death in the U.S. than...
Coalition emerges to fight legalized marijuana ballot proposal
December 2nd, 20172 LANSING — While supporters of a ballot proposal to legalize marijuana for recreational use cleared their first hurdle by turning in more than enough signatures to tentatively qualify for the November 2018 ballot, more challenges are on the horizon. An opposing committee — Healthy and Productive Michigan — formed on Wednesday to......
FDA approves digital pill that tracks when patients take it
December 2nd, 20171 WASHINGTON — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first digital pill with an embedded sensor to track if patients are taking their medication properly, marking a significant step forward in the convergence of healthcare and technology. The medicine is a version of Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.'s established...
Stress results in either better study habits or stimulant misuse in college
December 1st, 20170 DEARBORN — The holiday season has arrived and with it students' elevated stress levels. Even though they have much to look forward to in December, like a relaxing break, that doesn't divert their attention from all the work they have to do at the end of the semester to be able to enjoy it. While college stress is endless, it......
