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For the study, researchers looked at electronic health record data on infection rates among 579,372 fully vaccinated individuals in the United States, including 30,183 people diagnosed with substance use disorders. All of the participants were vaccinated between December 1, 2020, and August 14, 2021, and none of them had COVID-19 infections prior to vaccination. While 3.6 percent of people without substance use disorders subsequently got diagnosed with COVID-19, average breakthrough infection rates reached 7 percent among those with addiction issues....

When the hepatitis C virus enters the body, it enters the cells of the liver and can cause damage. This leads to inflammation, as the body tries to repair the damage and get rid of the virus, says Donald Jensen, MD, a professor of medicine at Rush University in Chicago. “Over the years, this inflammation causes scar tissue to form, just like if you have a cut on your skin and end up with a scar....

No matter what it’s called, a flare can be tough to deal with, particularly when you’re newly diagnosed and still learning about the nature of MS. “A flare is defined as the appearance of a new neurologic sign or symptom, or maybe the recurrence of something which happened in the past that went away and now comes back,” says Barbara Giesser, MD, a neurologist and MS specialist at Pacific Neuroscience Institute at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California....

Research shows the same inflammation that causes joint problems in people with psoriatic arthritis can also damage other areas of the body, including the eyes, according to the Arthritis Foundation. Eye dryness, eye pain, and conjunctivitis are some common problems associated with psoriatic arthritis. A less-frequent psoriatic eye condition is inflammation in the middle layer of the eye, known as uveitis, which can lead to permanent eye damage and vision loss if left untreated....

Scandinavian researchers followed the coffee consuming habits of more than half a million people over a span of 20 years and determined that those who drank filtered coffee were less likely to die from cardiovascular disease (CVD) than those who preferred unfiltered versions of the beverage. Past research has shown that this is because filters remove significant amounts of the two chemical compounds found in coffee that are known to raise lipid levels....

Some common eye conditions, like the ones described below, may affect people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). But there are steps to take to safeguard eye health and avoid permanent damage. Dry Eyes “RA can be associated with extra-articular [meaning outside the joint] manifestations, and dry eyes are one of the most common problems,” says Ana-Maria Orbai, MD, instructor of medicine in the division of rheumatology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore....

– Patti, Ohio There are a couple of possible explanations. While we tend to think about sneezing as being caused by allergies or a cold, there are many other situations that can also cause us to sneeze. Some people sneeze when exposed to bright sunlight, while others sneeze when they pluck their eyebrows. We also sneeze when nerves in the mucous membranes of our nose are stimulated. The sneeze is our body’s attempt to rid us of the cause of the irritation; it’s a reflexive action beyond our control....

— Andrea, California Both untreated allergic conditions and allergy medications can cause mood changes. When people have severe nasal allergies, they often complain of feeling irritable and utterly exhausted. Others describe a nervous agitation. People who have chronic hives may also report similar fluctuations in mood that correspond to outbreaks. People who have had anaphylactic reactions often describe a strong sense of impending doom during the early stages of the reaction....

How to Wear Flattering Colors One of the easiest ways to instantly look thinner is to wear flattering colors. Everyone knows that black is the most flattering color, which is why every woman should have the perfect little black dress. Black never fails to make you look slim and elegant. On the other hand, lighter colors, like white and khaki, can add pounds and give the illusion of a larger frame....

In a large-scale meta-analysis published June 2021 in the journal Hypertension, researchers found that people who took hypertension medications that travel out of blood vessels and enter the brain, known as crossing the blood-brain barrier, experienced less cognitive decline than those who used blood pressure drugs that stay only in the bloodstream. “We know that lowering blood pressure is beneficial for cognitive decline and risk for dementia, but there’s lots of different drugs....

Besides soy milk’s sterling nutritional profile, there are many reasons why you might want to try his beverage in your coffee, smoothie, or cereal. Maybe you dislike the taste of cow’s milk or are trying to avoid dairy, and you prefer soy milk to other nondairy alternatives. Or maybe you’re living with a milk allergy or are lactose intolerant, which means you have trouble digesting a sugar called lactose (the carbohydrate found in cow’s milk), says Barbara Schmidt, RDN, the nutrition lifestyle program specialist at Norwalk Hospital in Norwalk, Connecticut....

We sat down with Porges to discuss his current work and to learn more about his perspective on wellness. What are you working on now? My current efforts are focused on developing new technology devices that can target, detect, and document the effect of new therapies on the unconscious neural circuits responsible for our “defense-danger” and “safety” responses to the world around us. These responses are key to what I call the polyvagal theory, which provides a new and, I believe, more comprehensive understanding of how humans, in their ongoing quest for safety and survival, monitor and mediate their reactions to the world: The theory posits that the nervous system, without any conscious thought on our part, efficiently and effectively decides whether the environment is dangerous or safe....

EBV, mono’s primary driver, is extremely common — so much so that not having been infected with EBV is much rarer than being infected by it at some point. As many as 90 to 95 percent of adults have been infected with EBV, says Eric Johannsen, MD, an associate professor of infectious disease at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison, who specializes in EBV....

You’re more likely to have difficulty with dairy when you have Crohn’s disease that involves the small intestine. You may lack the natural enzyme lactase, which is needed to digest lactose. “This loss is in large part due to small intestinal damage from the Crohn’s disease,” explains Jeffry A. Katz, MD, a gastroenterologist at University Hospitals in Cleveland. To avoid unpleasant Crohn’s symptoms when you want to indulge a dairy craving — and get necessary calcium — learn which dairy products you can eat in moderation and when to substitute lactose-free or lower-lactose alternatives....

According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), people who are HIV positive are twice as likely to be depressed as people without the virus. Compounding the problem, people with HIV may withdraw from friends and family as a way of hiding their physical and emotional issues. Doctors at NIMH and around the country now recognize that HIV itself may contribute to mental health problems because the virus can spread to the brain....

When your immune system is functioning properly, it’s able to stop or fight off germs or foreign cells that can cause you harm, according to the Cleveland Clinic. So, it makes sense to want to know how to keep your immune system at peak function. But is there anything you can do to boost your immune system, or is boosting the immune system just a concept created to market wellness products such as packaged foods, drinks, and supplements?...

“GERD can certainly contribute to bad breath problems,” says Chin Hur, MD, MPH, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston and director of gastrointestinal health outcomes research at Massachusetts General Hospital. In some people, he explains, food doesn’t move efficiently out of the stomach, starts to decay there, and can contribute to bad breath and GERD. Others with GERD may actually regurgitate small amounts of undigested food, which can also cause bad breath....

Like many natural remedies, moringa is a tempting alternative to prescription drugs. “A lot of people are averse to going on medication, and as chronic disease continues to be an issue, [natural remedies] seem like a cure-all,” says Ginger Hultin, RD, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, based in Seattle. Mainly, moringa (Moringa oleifera, or M. oleifera) is touted for its high concentration of antioxidants, as well as its ability to lower blood sugar, improve heart health, and reduce inflammation....

RELATED: Everything You Need to Know About the Cold and Flu Tonsillitis is caused by either a viral or bacterial infection. Antibiotics are prescribed when tonsillitis is thought to be the result of the latter type of infection (as they can help symptoms and prevent complications), but not for tonsillitis caused by viral infections (because antibiotics don’t work against viruses), Dr. Rowan says. “But in most cases the infections will resolve on their own without any antibiotics,” Rowan adds....

In a study published on March 8, 2021, in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), researchers from the Four Corners Youth Consortium, a group of doctors and scientists who are researching youth concussion, sought to unravel how the type of headache experienced by pediatric patients with concussion may be a factor in how quickly they recover. The team evaluated the recovery time of nearly 300 adolescents ages 5 to 18 who visited a traumatic brain injury (TBI) clinic during a span of roughly 1....