Category: Health

Zuev Ali/ Shutterstock Puzzles, brain-training games and hobbies have long been said to stave off cognitive decline. But while some research has shown that intensive brain-training programmes done over several weeks can reduce cognitive impairment, such interventions aren’t very practical in daily life. So my team and I decided to explore whether doing brief brain-stimulating […]

A recent BBC report described women posing as men to get hold of testosterone gel, hoping to improve their menopause symptoms, because female testosterone products are not easily available to them. But why is the appetite for this predominantly male hormone exploding and are there risks involved? Testosterone is usually thought of as the defining […]

WASHINGTON — Public health agencies and law enforcement officials across the United States have issued urgent advisories regarding cychlorphine, a novel synthetic opioid estimated to be up to 10 times more potent than fentanyl. The substance has been linked to more than 40 fatal overdoses across multiple states, raising severe concerns among medical professionals due […]

Starocean/Shutterstock Playing with your children or meeting a friend for coffee are everyday activities that many people move between without giving much thought to how much mental or physical energy they take. For many people living with long COVID, things are different. Reading, working at a computer or concentrating on a conversation can require far […]

Daniel Hoz/Shutterstock For millions of people around the world, managing a long-term health condition means remembering to take medicines every day, often for years. But advances in long-acting medicines mean that some treatments now need to be taken only once a month, every few months or even twice a year. Long-acting medicines are designed to […]

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has brought forward the deadline for Baroness Casey’s report on social care reform to 2027, from the original 2028. He has now proposed widespread changes to how social care is funded at the Labour party conference in Liverpool. His plan is a National Care Service, which he says will be as […]

Delivery-only kitchens prepare meals for customers who may never see where their food is made. Just dance/Shutterstock When you order food through an app, how much do you know about where you’re purchasing from? This could be a restaurant on the local high street, or one located in a warehouse on a faraway industrial estate. […]

Sudden confusion in an older person needs urgent medical assessment, even when a urine test finds bacteria. Inside Creative House/Shutterstock Urinary tract infections can cause sudden confusion, known as delirium, in older people. But finding bacteria in someone’s urine does not necessarily explain their confusion, and the real cause may lie elsewhere. An older person […]

Humans and domesticated animals have lived together for millennia, and this relationship has shaped their destinies in countless ways. Animals offered people food, companionship, traction (pulling ploughs), clothing and transport. They also provided something less obvious but extraordinarily important: parchment to write on. This robust, plentiful and portable material enabled many people to record and […]

BRUSSELS — The European Commission has launched the inaugural EU Screening Week (running from September 28 to October 4), urging member states to expand routine cardiovascular health checks. Coinciding with World Heart Day on September 29, the initiative forms a key pillar of the European Union’s broader “Safe Hearts Plan”. The initiative targets condition markers […]