A Texas health authority is warning against "measles parties" as the outbreak in West Texas grew to at least 146 cases, with 20 hospitalized and one unvaccinated school-age child dead. The outbreak continues to mainly be in unvaccinated children.
In a press briefing hosted by the city of Lubbock, Texas, on Friday, Ron Cook, chief health officer at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock, offered the stark warning for Texans in his opening statements.
"What I want you to hear is: It's not good to go have measles parties because what may happen is—we can't predict who's going to do poorly with measles, be hospitalized, potentially get pneumonia or encephalitis and or pass away from this," Cook said. "So that's a foolish idea to go have a measles party. The best thing to do is make sure that you're well-vaccinated."
More than 50 people have died in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, most within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms. Initial analysis suggests neither Ebola nor Marburg is the cause.
An unvaccinated, school-aged child in Texas has died of the measles amid an ongoing outbreak in the state that has so far infected at least 124 people, mostly children, sending at least 18 to the hospital. Additionally, nine measles cases have been confirmed across the border in New Mexico.
On Wednesday morning, the Lubbock health officials and the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) confirmed the death, which occurred within the last 24 hours.
It is the first death in the mushrooming outbreak in Texas, and it marks the first measles death in the country since 2015, when a woman with underlying health conditions in Washington state died amid an outbreak. The death highlighted the importance of maintaining high community vaccination rates to prevent the spread of the extremely infectious disease to vulnerable people. Prior to that, the US hadn't recorded a measles death since 2003.
Jaime Bortz at home in Buffalo, New York. At 39, a few years since being diagnosed with Alzheimer's, her memory loss is accelerating.
Kate Warren for BI
When Jaime Bortz was a teenager, she'd gently take hold of her dad's hand while they walked through the mall in Buffalo, New York. She'd guide him along to prevent him from getting lost, as if he were the child, she the parent.
Then her dad, Steve Bortz, went to live in a nursing home. Jaime, a high schooler at the time, was embarrassed to tell her friends where her dad lived. She knew she never wanted to end up in a place like that.
But time is making it harder for Jaime to live at home. She's 39 now. As the clock ticks on, the gaps in her brain widen, and she becomes more confused. Memories are rapidly slipping away, much as they did for her dad. She forgets how to dress herself, can't speak in full sentences, and cries a lot, perhaps because she's still aware enough to be frustrated by what's happening.
Jaime's half-brother Todd went through this decline a decade ago. A father to three young kids at the time, he started forgetting how to drive his own bus route, often getting lost with passengers on board. In a matter of a few years, memories of who he married, what he liked to eat, and even his own shy nature were erased. He died of sepsis at 43. A year later, Todd's brother, Aaron, died at 40, with many of the same memory issues.
Jaime, Todd, and Aaron all inherited a rare PSEN1 gene mutation from their father that guaranteed they'd develop Alzheimer's at a young age. They are members of an unlucky tribe, the 1% of people with dementia who have early-onset familial Alzheimer's.
"Even with the family history, no one believed that someone her age would have it," Bonnie Bortz, Jaime's mother and Steve's widow, told me when I visited her at home in Buffalo last year. By "no one" she meant friends, family, even some doctors.
Bonniehas been a default caretaker at every turn. As a young mom, she handled Steve's decline. Years later, she helped Todd's wife, Michelle, go through it. Now 64, she's the anchor of a bustling household, caring for Jaime and her 9-year-old daughter.
"I am feeling desperate," Bonnie said. "I try to stay optimistic and positive, and I just kind of put on a harder exterior — I have to do what I got to do to get everybody through."
Bonnie is foreshadowing the burden many families will soon experience. An article published in Nature Medicine in January suggests America is set to weather a cascade of dementia cases, a doubling of Alzheimer's patients by 2060. It predicts that by then, the country will gain 1 million new dementia patients each year.
Bonnie Bortz (right), Jaime's mom, is her caretaker. Bonnie noticed early signs a few years ago. In her early 30s, Jaime started repeating herself a lot, and kept misplacing her keys and phone.
Kate Warren for BI
Families like the Bortzes are rare and warrant attention. There are just 45,000 cases like theirs worldwide. This small circle of people can offer researchers a glimpse into how Alzheimer's develops. Because they develop the first signs at early ages, researchers can separate the disease itself from other issues common among older people, like heart disease or type 2 diabetes. Early-onset cases have helped usher in a new class of Alzheimer's drugs, which have started to become available in recent years. While these antibody treatments don't cure the disease, they can slow its progression, buying families a little more time.
Still, there is much to learn. Researchers don't understand what causes the disease. Ultimately, there probably isn't just one kind of Alzheimer's that can be fixed by one single prescription. Families like the Bortzes show how far researchers still have to go in understanding dementia and developing treatments.
"It's like cancer," Fred "Rusty" Gage, who researches dementia and neurodegenerative diseases at the Salk Institute, told Business Insider. "This is not a single disease. There are different forms of it, and they're not just genetic forms versus nongenetic."
A 50/50 shot at dementia in your 30s
Bonnie knew something was wrong when Jaime moved back home in her early 30s. She kept forgetting her keys and phone and repeated herself a lot.
"The repeating of stories — that was definitely something my husband did," Bonnie said. "And it was subtle, little things." Jaime lost the insurance job she'd had for over a decade. Finally, around the time of Jaime's 36th birthday,they agreed it was time to get Jaime tested.
The type of dementia that runs in the Bortz family is genetically preordained. Someone who inherits a genetic mutation from one of their parents will almost certainly develop dementia, progressively forgetting what they've learned over a lifetime. It generally starts with short-term memories, then expands to erase aspects of who they are and how they function. People with this early-onset genetic form of the disease suffer a much earlier and faster descent than people with "regular," meaning sporadic, Alzheimer's.
Gage says that to categorically separate nongenetic forms of Alzheimer's from the forms that families like the Bortzes have is naive. Each person's genetics shape their case. For example, roughly 60% of people who carry two copies of the APOE4 gene will develop Alzheimer's during their lifetime. (The actor Chris Hemsworth, who carries a copy of the gene from each of his parents, has been open about his "4-4" status.) Other folks, through some kind of genetic luck, can carry the same genes, and may even develop the amyloid plaques or tau tangles characteristic of Alzheimer's and yet never show signs of dementia. Of Steve's four children, only one did not develop his rare form of early dementia.
"There's dozens of genes that have been found to be associated with Alzheimer's disease," Gage said. Few of them single-handedly control a person's cognitive destiny. If most dementia diagnoses are colored in shades of gray, the Bortzes' cases are harshly black and white.
Researchers say Bonnie's family is rare and warrants attention as the number of Alzheimer's cases is set to double in the US by 2060, with few — if any — reliable treatments in sight.
Kate Warren for BI
In 2023, as life at the Bortzes' house was getting more difficult, new Alzheimer's drugs were starting to become available. The blockbuster was Leqembi, a Japanese drug brought to market in the US, designed to clear out the clumps of protein, or amyloid plaques, that form between brain cells in people with dementia.
New drugs haven't been found to halt or prevent the disease, but data from one of Leqembi's clinical trials suggested it could slow progression down by about 27%. In practical terms, that means people might gain an extra four or five months of independence — of driving, perhaps, or cooking, shopping, dressing themselves, and remembering their families.
"The pessimist would look at the data as it stands and say: 'Well, we tried that. It obviously doesn't work very well, so maybe we should start looking at something else,'" Gage said.
Jaime was on early Medicare for her disability. Legally she was still allowed to drive, but her mom took her keys away after she failed a driving evaluation funded by the Alzheimer's Association. It was getting harder to remember daily minutia, like the fact that her daughter likes peanut butter toast now, or how to put a paper filter into a coffee maker.
Still, Bonnie decided not to put Jaime on antibody drugs. She knew that they presented a small risk of brain bleeds and that Jaime, because she's a woman and because of her genetics, would be at a higher risk of developing them.
"I don't want to cause more problems," Bonnie said. In 2023, Jaime was developing some muscle jerks, prompted by one of the other medications she was on. "I've never seen these medications help her in any way," Bonnie said. "Not with memory, not with anything."
After years of focusing on drugs that target amyloid plaques, scientists are starting to try new tactics. More than 100 new Alzheimer's drugs are in later-stage clinical trials. If those trials are successful, the drugs could become available to patients in the next couple of years. They include therapies designed to target neuronal tau tangles, which pulverize and kill brain cells from the inside, and others that go after the inflammation tied to Alzheimer's. Increasingly, doctors are wondering whether the anti-inflammatory effects of GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic and Mounjaro may prove effective against dementia.
"I would hope that we'd get to a good point where we look at where you are in the disease and we can fine-tune a cocktail," said Lindsay Hohsfield, an Alzheimer's researcher and associate professor at the University of California, Irvine, who cofounded a nonprofit called Youngtimers to support families like the Bortzes.
Jaime is starting to forget things, like how her 9-year-old daughter likes her toast.
Kate Warren for BI
Can you build a brain back?
Jaime's condition has progressed dramatically over the past year. When I visited her at home in snowy Buffalo in early 2024, it was harder to tell something was amiss. She could carry on a simple conversation, exchanging pleasantries with a new houseguest — but if you spent more than a few minutes with her, you might notice her start to repeat questions ("Where do you live again?") or variations of them. Sometimes, she'd nod and quickly backtrack, insisting she already knew.
Reminiscing about old memories, like her favorite '90s TV shows or her pink prom dress, was much easier than recalling newly acquired information.
I asked how her speech therapy was going, and she turned to her mom blankly. I can't know what was going on in her mind, but it seemed like she was scanning our faces for hints about how to answer and where the conversation should go next. Bonnie sensed the difference in her daughter, in the way a mother can.
Later, sitting with me in the privacy of her SUV, Bonnie pointed out Jaime's repetition. That, she told me, is what it's like everyday.
Bonnie's been there through it all, managing the appointments, fighting to get Medicare payments, and evaluating which drugs and treatments to put her daughter on and which to skip. Driving often gives her some of her few solo moments of the day. She relishes going to work, rare time by herself. Recently she hired Michelle, Todd's wife, as an aide — a familiar face who can come help take care of Jaime for about 10 hours a week.
Bonnie tries to keep thoughts of the future to a minimum. Jaime's asked her, many times, not to put her in a nursing home.
"I pray to God it doesn't get to that point, because I would hate to do that to my daughter," she said. "With that being said, I am older. I don't know. I just, I don't know."
Bonnie doesn't know how Jaime's condition will develop and what kind of support she'll require. Jaime has told Bonnie that her biggest fears are the nursing home and death.
"The difficult thing about Alzheimer's, all brain diseases, if you truly wanted to reverse, you would also not only have to clear out disease, you'd actually have to build the brain back," said Dr. Nathaniel Chin, the medical director at the Wisconsin Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. "This is not an infection where if you identify it, you kill it, you go back to being yourself. I mean, the disease has destroyed parts of your brain."
Bonnie keeps photo albums around to reminisce about new and old memories
Kate Warren for BI
Hoping for a cure
Bonnie understands there's not much you can do to stop this disease. That doesn't stop her from being a mom — from trying to do something, anything, to help her daughter.
A man sometimes comes to her house for 10-minute sessions of cold laser therapy, designed to nourish and energize Jaime's cells.
"They're not working," Bonnie tells me, laughing out loud, probably realizing how ridiculous it sounds. Still, there's a quiet optimism. "Part of me is like, well, maybe we should keep trying, you know? As a mom."
Recently Bonnie joined an online support group for families with early-onset familial Alzheimer's. There she got sucked into another tantalizing promise that a product could somehow help Jaime. She ended up sending about $600 to a man offering specialty herbal supplements before she realized he'd never send her any medicine.
"You get yourself suckered in because you want to believe that there's something out there," Bonnie said. She's also ordered expensive memory supplements advertised on TV.
In a moment of desperation, while Todd was in decline in the early 2010s, Michelle sent a letter to Dr. Phil, begging for his help. Maybe this wasn't really Alzheimer's, she wrote. Maybe, hopefully, it was some other rare, undiagnosed condition that could be cured once it could be properly identified. "It sounds stupid, but I see that he does all these different testings," she said. Deep down, she knew she wouldn't hear back, and knew he wouldn't be able to help. Still, she's contacted Dr. Phil a few times since then, including once recently, worrying about what's in store for the next generation of the family.
The throughline is a flicker of hope. Isn't there something that can help?
Jaime's daughter is playful and doting. She also gets frustrated sometimes, watching her mom lose her grasp.
Kate Warren for BI
Before Jaime's diagnosis, Bonnie was considering moving out of the house where she'd raised her kids and into a smaller home, enjoying a new empty nest. Now her old nest is full of boisterous daily activity again.
Jaime is the last of her generation going through this rapid, fatal decline, but her young daughter is sometimes angry and embarrassed about her mom's condition. She lashes out — a kid grappling with losing pieces of her mother, one day at a time.
Michelle's 20-year-old daughter, Emma, wonders whether she should get tested before deciding whether she wants to have her own children. New genetic tests, in conjunction with IVF, are allowing some people with familial Alzheimer's to choose embryos to implant that don't carry the genetic mutation.
"I want to know, but then I don't want to know — I don't want to be worried about it all the time," Emma said. "It just should be taken out of the gene pool, probably. I don't want to do that to my kids."
The outbreak may have also spread across the border to New Mexico, where nine cases have been reported. In an email to Ars, Robert Nott, the communications director for the New Mexico Department of Health, said that as of today, the department has not confirmed a connection between the nine cases and any of the confirmed cases in Texas.
However, all nine of the cases are in Lea County, New Mexico, which sits at the border with Gaines County, Texas, the epicenter of the outbreak. Of Texas' 90 cases, 57 are in Gaines, which has a vaccination rate among kindergartners of just 82 percent this school year. The lack of a clear connection between the Texas and New Mexico cases may be yet more worrying because it suggests undetected community spread and a heightened risk of transmission in Lea, the health department noted in an alert last week.
Regardless of the state of the world—whether you're staring down a Constitutional crisis or enjoying happier times, at ease on a beach—it's wise to remember that there will always be tiny worms with gaping mouths ringed by razor-sharp teeth ready to pierce your body, burrow into your skin, and tunnel through your flesh like an ambitious gopher in springtime.
I'm referring, of course, to hookworms, the blood-feeding parasites aptly named for the hook-like heads they use to latch onto their victims. In the US, they're most often found in international travelers. But, it's not out of the question that these petrifying parasites can strike on American soil, particularly in warm, moist areas. In a new clinical report in the New England Journal of Medicine, doctors in Los Angeles report just such a case, and a particularly unusual one at that.
“We still got ’em”
Before we get to the gruesome details, there are some things you should know about hookworms. As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes, there are two delightful categories of these helminths. First, there are the ones that make it to your intestines after digging into your flesh and invading your organs. Once in your guts (your small intestine, to be specific), the worms live their best lives, maturing to adults, finding mates, and reproducing, all while sucking the life-blood out of you from the inside. They release their eggs into your poop to start this charming cycle anew in anyone whose skin is exposed to sewage-contaminated soil.
It started with a bizarre burning sensation in her feet. Over the next two days, the searing pain crept up her legs. Any light touch made it worse, and over-the-counter pain medicine offered no relief.
On the third day, the 30-year-old, otherwise healthy woman from New England went to an emergency department. Her exam was normal. Her blood tests and kidney function were normal. The only thing that stood out was a high number of eosinophils—white blood cells that become active with certain allergic diseases, parasitic infections, or other medical conditions, such as cancer. The woman was discharged and advised to follow up with her primary care doctor.
Over the next few days, the scorching sensation kept advancing, invading her trunk and arms. She developed a headache that was also unfazed by over-the-counter pain medicine. Seven days into the illness, she went to a second emergency department. There, the findings were much the same: Normal exam, normal blood tests, normal kidney function, and high eosinophil count—this time higher. The reference range for this count was 0 to 400; her count was 1,050. She was given intravenous medicine to treat her severe headache, then once again discharged with a plan to see her primary care provider.
According to an update by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), all 24 cases identified in the two-week-old outbreak are in unvaccinated people. Nine of the patients (37.5 percent) required hospitalization.
Most of the cases are in children. DSHS provided an age breakdown that listed six cases as being in infants and young children between the ages of 0 and 4. This is the age group most vulnerable to measles because they have a heightened risk of complications from the disease and may be too young to be fully vaccinated with the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine. Children are recommended to get two doses of the MMR vaccine, one between 12 and 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years. One dose of MMR vaccine is estimated to be 93 percent effective against measles, while two doses are 97 percent effective.
A dairy worker in Nevada has been infected with a strain of H5N1 bird flu—genotype D1.1—that has newly spilled over to cows, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed.
The bird flu strain H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b, genotype D1.1 is the predominant strain currently circulating in wild birds in North America and was confirmed for the first time in cows in Nevada last week. According to the US Department of Agriculture, the new spillover was initially detected on January 31 via bulk milk testing. Until this point, the outbreak of H5N1 in dairy cows—which was declared in March 2024—was entirely caused by H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b, genotype B3.13. The outbreak was thought to have been caused by a single spillover event from wild birds to cows in Texas in late 2023 or early 2024.
The author (not pictured) had to learn to navigate dining with friends and family after being diagnosed with celiac disease at 18.
andresr/Getty Images
A celiac disease diagnosis requires lifelong gluten avoidance for me to stay healthy and feel my best.
At times, it has been tricky to navigate dining with family and friends.
Clear communication is key, but it's also important to set boundaries and stand up for myself.
"I'm sorry, but if you go to that restaurant, I cannot join you," I said to my aunt over the phone. At the time, I knew the restaurant my aunt and the group she was with was planning to dine at wasn't going to work for me. I had previously contacted the restaurant and someone on staff informed me that they couldn't guarantee that my food would be free of gluten. For me, it was a hard no.
I have celiac disease, which is a chronic autoimmune condition that affects the small intestine, which can be damaged when it comes into contact with gluten. I was diagnosed a few weeks before I turned 18. While it wasn't a desired birthday gift, over the last eight years I've learned to live with this issue comfortably.
The treatment for this condition is straightforward: avoid eating gluten for all your life. While this might sound drastic, it is feasible. Most foods, like veggies and fruit, as well as protein and healthy fat sources, naturally don't contain gluten. There are a good number of gluten-free options among cereals and pseudocereals too, such as rice, corn, buckwheat, and amaranth. I just have to be proactive and know what I'm putting into my body.
Still, when dining out with other people or in other people's homes, celiac disease can be psychologically challenging. Here's how I've learned to manage some common scenarios.
When dining out I research and ask for information
Where I live in Italy, the AIC (Italian Celiac Society) maintains a list of certified venues that I know will have gluten-free options. However, I often want to dine somewhere else or I am not the one deciding the location. While AIC-certified venues are safer choices for people with celiac disease, I have become quite comfortable going to non-certified restaurants, provided that I check in with them beforehand.
When dining out somewhere I haven't been before, I usually call ahead to inform them I have celiac disease and inquire about gluten-free options. I also look at the restaurant's website to explore its menu, which sometimes it indicates potential allergens or states that the restaurant's staff is trained to help customers with intolerances.
Some months ago I was invited to a friend's birthday party. When I called the restaurant we'd be attending, the staff seemed knowledgeable about celiac disease, which was a good sign. At the dinner party, I reminded them of my condition when ordering a seafood dish. They told me there was an element with gluten but they would tell the chef to prepare the dish without it and to take special care. This made me feel cared for, which is always a pleasant experience.
When eating at someone else's house I explain my dietary needs
When dining at a friend's home, I often call to discuss the menu ahead of time. If other guests are having food with gluten, like pasta, I either plan to skip that course, ask for an alternative, or offer to bring something . If I have any doubts about a dish, I know to ask the host for clarification. If they are uncertain about the ingredients, I ask them if they checked if it contains gluten when they bought it. Based on their answer, I make my choice.
Now, my friends and family know that I have celiac disease, so I don't have to explain my dietary needs in-depth anymore. Still, I sometimes should be more thorough, specifically telling them that clean cookware is needed and that they should wash their hands if they have touched food with gluten.
I'm not afraid to stand up for myself
During that call with my aunt, we decided to change the venue and go to one of my favorite restaurants, an AIC-certified venue where almost all dishes have a gluten-free version (even pizza!). She assured me it wasn't an issue if this made me feel safer, so I enjoyed a delightful dinner with my cousin, my aunt, and a friend.
Cows in Nevada have been infected with a strain of H5N1 bird flu different from the strain detected in all other herds to this point in the ongoing dairy outbreak. It's the same strain that killed a Louisiana resident in early January and sent a Canadian teenager to intensive care in early November.
The new Nevada dairy infections were first detected through milk testing conducted on January 31, according to an update Wednesday by the US Department of Agriculture. Whole genome sequencing confirmed the finding of H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b, genotype D1.1. To this point, all other dairy herds affected by the outbreak have been infected with H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b, genotype B3.13.
To date, 957 herds across 16 states have been infected with H5N1 since the outbreak began last March. That tally includes four new herds from Nevada.
When we developed the ability to convert various cells into a stem cell, it held the promise of an entirely new type of therapy. Rather than getting the body to try to fix itself with its cells or deal with the complications of organ transplants, we could convert a few adult cells to stem cells and induce them to form any tissue in the body. We could potentially repair or replace tissues with an effectively infinite supply of a patient's own cells.
Although the Nobel Prize for induced stem cells was handed out over a decade ago, the therapies have been slow to follow. In a new paper published in the journal Nature, however, a group of German researchers is now describing tests in primates of a method of repairing the heart using new muscle generated from stem cells. Although they're not yet providing everything that we might hope for, the results are promising. And they've been enough to start clinical trials, with similar results being seen in humans.
Heart problems
The heart contains a lot of specialized tissues, including those that form blood vessels or specialize in conducting electrical signals. But the key to the heart is a form of specialized muscle cell, called a cardiomyocyte. Once the heart matures, the cardiomyocytes stop dividing, meaning that you end up with a fixed population. Any damage to the heart due to injury or infection does not get repaired, meaning damage will be cumulative.
Robert F Kennedy Jr., President Trump's pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, testifies at a confirmation hearing on Wednesday, January 29, 2025.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was diagnosed with spasmodic dysphonia around 1996.
One symptom of the rare neurological disorder is a raspy, halting voice.
There is no cure for the condition, but patients can undergo speech therapy or vocal fold surgery.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump's pick to lead the nation's health services, has a neurological condition that changes the way he talks.
As he is answering questions from Senators in Washington this week, before they vote to decide whether he'll be the next US Secretary of Health and Human Services, he's answering in his distinctly raspy voice.
Kennedy, 71, previously revealed he was diagnosed with a rare neurological condition called spasmodic dysphonia when he was in his early 40s.
"It began as a mild tremble for a couple of years," Kennedy told Oprah Winfrey in 2007, adding that he believed his condition had worsened over the years.
Kennedy has also had several other health issues. He told The New York Times that he developed mercury poisoning from a diet very high in tuna and perch, and contracted a parasite that traveled into his brain. He also has an irregular heart rhythm (AFib).
What is spasmodic dysphonia?
Spasmodic dysphonia is a neurological disorder that causes involuntary spasms in the muscles of the voice box, also known as the larynx. The condition means vocal cords don't vibrate normally.
Spasmodic dysphonia can strain an individual's ability to speak, sometimes causing their voice to sound hoarse or breathy. Humming, laughing, singing, swallowing, and crying can also be impacted.
What causes spasmodic dysphonia?
The exact cause of spasmodic dysphonia is unknown.
Research has also found abnormalities in areas of the cerebral cortex — the section of the brain that controls muscle movement, the NIDCD says.
Spasmodic dysphonia may be inherited, but a specific gene for the disorder has not yet been identified.
There is no evidence that spasmodic dysphonia is caused by vaccines, but Kennedy has suggested that his disorder might've been prompted by a flu shot. "I haven't been able to figure out any other cause," he told podcaster Joshua Lane in 2021.
Afterward, he told NBC the idea is just "my own speculation."
Is spasmodic dysphonia painful?
The condition is not known to be painful, but it does make it harder to speak.
When asked if it hurts to talk, Kennedy told Winfrey "no, but it's an effort."
Kennedy told NewsNation in 2023 that he feels the condition makes it "problematical" for people to listen to him.
"I cannot listen to myself on TV," he joked. "So I feel sorry for you guys."
There is no cure for the condition, but there are treatment options available, including speech therapy and psychological counseling to treat mild cases. Botox injections can also help.
In 2024, Kennedy told NBC's Brandy Zadrozny that he recently underwent surgery in Japan to have a titanium bridge implanted between his vocal folds, which helps strengthen his voice.
Last year, a study highlighted that your doctor's office might be taking your blood pressure wrong. The current best practice is to take seated blood pressure readings with a detailed protocol: Patients must not eat, drink, or exercise for 30 minutes prior; they must have an empty bladder and sit calmly for five minutes prior to the first reading; they must sit with their feet uncrossed and flat on the floor; their back should be supported; and—a big one that's often overlooked—they must keep the arm to be measured resting on a flat surface at the height of their heart, not higher or lower.
While the setup is often different from what happens in a bustling medical office, a new study blows away quibbles over protocol and suggests that even when done perfectly, the method is second-rate. We shouldn't be sitting at all when we take our blood pressure—we should be lying down.
Heavy drinking is clearly bad for your health. But it's long been questioned whether moderate drinking is also risky—and, if so, how risky, exactly.
Health researchers have consistently found links between alcohol consumption and several types of cancers (namely mouth, throat, colon, rectal, liver, and breast), as well as liver diseases, injuries, and traffic accidents. But nailing down the health risks from the lower levels of drinking has been tricky. For one, much of the data on moderate drinking is from observational studies in different countries, cultures, and populations. They cannot determine if alcohol is the direct cause of any given association, and they may be swayed by other lifestyle factors. The resulting data can be noisy and inconsistent.
Moreover, many studies rely on people to self-report whether they drink and, if so, how much, which is problematic because people may not accurately assess and/or report how much they actually drink. A related problem is that studies in the past often compared drinkers to people who said they didn't drink. But, the trouble is, non-drinking groups are often some mix of people who are lifelong abstainers and people who used to drink but quit for some reason—maybe because of health effects. This latter group has the potential to have lingering health effects from their drinking days, which could skew any comparisons looking for health differences.
