Can practicing self-compassion help people achieve weight loss goals?
Losing weight is extremely difficult because high-calorie, delicious food is very accessible. Despite best intentions, it’s common to wind up overeating. These setbacks can be frustrating and demoralizing and often lead people to abandon their goals. A new study from the Center for Weight, Eating and Lifestyle Sciences (WELL Center) in Drexel University’s College of […]
Clinical Challenges: Diagnosing Axial Spondyloarthritis
The diagnosis of axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) can be highly challenging because its hallmark symptom — chronic back pain — is experienced by some 20% of adults at some point in their lives. Yet axSpA only accounts for 0.5% to 1% of those cases, “so axSpA is lost within a sea of chronic back pain,” said […]
Practicing mindfulness can help people make heart-healthy eating choices
Practicing mindfulness focused on healthy eating can be good for the heart, a new study shows, because it improves self-awareness and helps people stick to a heart-healthy diet. When people who had elevated blood pressure participated in an eight-week mindfulness-based blood pressure reduction program for the study, they significantly improved their scores on measures of […]
Opinion | Never Ask Me to Be a Medical Expert Witness (Again)
Lazarus is an adjunct professor of psychiatry. Once, I agreed to be an expert witness. Never again! Not because I was grilled on the witness stand for several hours. Not because my qualifications were questioned. And certainly not because I was compensated poorly for my time. Rather, I don’t ever want to have to defend […]
I’m A Nurse Practitioner Caring For Trans Kids. Here’s What The GOP Doesn’t Want You To Know.
“How many parents will have to watch their children’s light dim because our state legislators feel emboldened to overstep the provider-patient privilege?” the author asks. Orathai Mayer / EyeEm via Getty Images I sit across the exam room from a happy, healthy 16-year old boy. His voice cracks just a little as he tells me […]
Opinion | ‘It Is a Horrifying Prospect’: What We Heard This Week
“It is a horrifying prospect that many more individuals could die because they will be forced to remain pregnant against their will.” — Jen Villavicencio, MD, of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, on how maternal mortality in the U.S. will likely be impacted by the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade. “Besides […]
How Can Public Health Officials Increase Trust in Their Agencies?
Why do some people no longer trust public health agencies? Is it because COVID-19 wasn’t quickly eliminated? Not necessarily, according to researchers. “In a crisis of this scale, the U.S. public’s trust in public health agencies for information is not strongly related to organizations’ ability to eliminate the outbreak,” wrote Gillian SteelFisher, PhD, deputy director […]
Are You A Failed Flosser? This Will Convince You To Finally Stick To A Routine.
If you feel guilty because you don’t floss your teeth, at least you’re in good company. Studies say that only three in 10 Americans floss regularly, even though it’s the best way to remove up to 80% of the plaque that’s lurking between your teeth. Yes, regular tooth brushing is important, but so is flossing, […]
COVID Superspreader Events Still Exist. Here’s What They Look Like Now.
We haven’t heard much about superspreader events in the past year or so, mainly because we haven’t really been looking for them. The United States defunded and scaled back its testing and contact tracing programs in early 2022, and in doing so, we lost track of just how widespread COVID is. But if you’ve been […]
Producing ammonia through electrochemical processes could reduce carbon dioxide emissions
Ammonia is commonly used in fertilizer because it has the highest nitrogen content of commercial fertilizers, making it essential for crop production. However, two carbon dioxide molecules are made for every molecule of ammonia produced, contributing to excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. A team from the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas […]