The Zika virus led to a massive number of people getting infected across the world. Although it is more commonly spread through mosquitoes, sexual intercourse with an infected person can also lead to the infection of the other persons. A new study reveals that in this scenario, women have a higher risk than men of being infected.

Researchers from the Gladstone Institute performed a study regarding the transmission of the Zika virus through sex. According to, Shomyseh Sanjabi, the lead author of the study, and an investigator at the Gladstone research organization, the virus triggers a delay in the immune response of a woman’s genital organ. This delay is what allows the virus to mostly go undetected when it’s transmitted through sex. Their researchers’ finding support previous epidemiological studies which showed that women have a higher risk of a Zika infection.

If you’re not familiar yet with the Zika virus, then you should know that if infected, adults have mild symptoms which pass after a few days or weeks at most. However, the virus has long-term effects when it manages to infect pregnant women as it causes babies to be born with various birth defects like microcephaly, an abnormally small head, and brain. Cases of microcephaly in Brazil and the rest of South America have skyrocketed to several thousand since the outbreak of the virus back in 2015.

For their study, Gladstone researchers used female mice which were infected with the Zika virus either through mosquito bites or vaginally. In normal cases, the infection of a cell leads to the release of interferon. This molecule represents the body’s first defense against a variety of harmful pathogens. In its fight with the virus, interferon triggers a response from our immune system to attack the virus.

After three days of close examination of the mice infected with the Zika, researchers discovered that mice infected by mosquitoes had a much stronger response of their immune systems compared to those infected vaginally. Closer analysis revealed that the latter group of mice didn’t have any detectable levels of interferon in their genitalia.

The immune systems of this group of mice only began combating the virus only one week since the initial Zika infection, when it reached lymphoid tissues. After eventually eliminating the virus from their systems, researchers still found small traces of the virus in the mice’s vagina.

The study was published on November 16^th in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

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New studies have revealed that statins have more beneficial effects than researchers previously thought. One team of Taiwanese researchers discovered that the cholesterol-lowering drugs can boost the survival odds of patients who suffered a cardiac arrest. Another group from Massachusetts found that statins could reduce the risk of death from certain forms of arthritis by at least 30 percent.

If you’re not familiar with this specific type of drugs, know that statins are a class of medication that lowers the cholesterol levels and thus reduce the risk of heart attack, heart disease, and stroke. This is the primary purpose they have been used for since they were first introduced. However, researchers have discovered two new beneficial effects.

First, researchers from the National Taiwan University Hospital as well as the College of Medicine in New Taipei City analyzed the medical records of around 138,000 cardiac arrests patients in Taiwan. They discovered that patients which already took statins like Crestor or Lipitor had a 19 percent chance of surviving a hospital admittance after a cardiac arrest. They also had a 47 percent chance of actually being discharged and up 50 percent more likely to be alive a year later.

Researchers observed the greatest improvements were seen in patients with type-2 diabetes. They think that statins help improve survival odds by stabilizing the coronary plaque and prevent a significant rupture which leads to a cardiac arrest.

Second, scientists from the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston discovered that the drugs in question reduce mortality risks by 30 percent in patients suffering from ankylosing spondylitis as well as psoriatic arthritis. Both disorders involve the inflammation of joints, however, the first type affects those in the spine and is characterized by back pain and stiffness.

The study revealed that besides the cholesterol-lowering effects of statins, the drugs also have anti-inflammatory properties which benefit the cardiovascular health of patients. The researchers analyzed 2,904 patients with those two type of arthritis which started taking statins between 2000 and 2014. They compared their results with those of another 2,904 patients with the same condition but who did not take statins.

They found a 30 percent reduction in mortality risk associated with ankylosing spondylitis or psoriatic arthritis in patients who took the drugs compared to those that did not.

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After the official announcement was made and Donald Trump was appointed President-elect, women across the country started considering intrauterine devices. In the months leading to Donald Trump’s takeover, pro-choice advocates and supporters have turned their attention to alternative, long-lasting prophylactic measures as a way of making sure that in the four years of his presidency, they will not be in a position to need expensive health care services or pregnancy termination operations.

The headlines of most women-oriented magazines such as Vogue, Glamour, and Elle, were focused on the topic of pregnancy prevention.

The idea is that one of the main items on the President-elect’s agenda is to repeal the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare. While the system is flawed in many ways, one of its stronger suits is the fact that it offered women free access to birth-control.

Now, when the act is repealed, women will have no choice but to pay for the medication, which almost always comes at a steep price.

Moreover, the President-elect has often expressed his dislike of Planned Parenthood clinics, claiming that he would do everything in his power to shut down as many as possible. This means that women across the country will soon have to travel long distances and go through extensive procedures to terminate a pregnancy.

All of these factors heavily weigh on the side of contraceptive rods or intrauterine devices. Apart from the fact that they still have a few months in which the procedure would be performed free of charge, they will also have a guarantee of protection on the long term.

The best part is that the devices are removable and their effects are reversible.

An IUD procedure is simple and rather painless. During the operation, a doctor implants the small device into the woman’s uterus. Its only goal is to kill sperm before it has a chance to reach an egg. According to the CDC, hormonal implants have a failure rate of only 0.2 percent, while copper devices present a 0.8 failure rate.

Intrauterine devices are effective for approximately 10 years.

During his campaign, the President-elect has not expressed a desired to ban birth control measures, but he repeatedly stated that all Planned Parenthood federal funding would be cut.

Are you considering the use of intrauterine devices?

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With the flu season starting to gradually set in, the debate regarding whether the flu and other types of vaccines are more helpful than harmful for your health. Doctors always recommend getting a flu shot to prevent the spreading of the disease, but new reports also warn about the dangers of serial vaccinations.

The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention issued a report which evaluated the state of flu vaccines in the 2015-2016 seasons. It revealed that only 41.7 percent of all the surveyed adults with ages between 18 to 64 got a flu shot. Another new survey from CityMD, which is a network of centers for urgent care, found that around 52 percent of questioned millennials, do not plan to get the vaccine. Twenty five percent out of which saying that the rising cost of the shot was the main reason they will avoid it.

This types of reports paint of bleak picture when we consider that all the research until now recommends we get a flu shot. However, a new study calls into question how often should we receive the flu vaccine. Dr. Danuta Skowronski is the lead author of the study and the lead epidemiologist for flu and emerging pathogens at British Columbia Centre for Disease Control.

The study analyzed various flu seasons during the previous years and found that people who got vaccinated every year for at least three years in a row, had a much higher chance of being infected with the flu virus in a future season. Another interesting finding is that people who skip at least or two years of the annual recommended flu shot can benefit the most when they actually decide to get it.

Dr. Skowronski pointed out that although they can’t explain as of yet why serial vaccination poses this negative effects, it still raises some important questions regarding the recommendations that doctors have wholeheartedly issued during the flu season. The study’s finding may not yet have any immediate implications for the policies of flu vaccines, but together with other similar studies, it adds to a growing concern about a future change.

Will you get a flu shot this season? If not, why and what’s the last time you have been vaccinated?

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The Attorney General of the state of Pennsylvania has filed a lawsuit against the Grane Healthcare nursing homes company. The filed documents claim that the institution meant to provide care for the elderly and assist them in their daily lives did not have enough staff to provide basic patient care.

According to the consumer protection lawsuit filed on Friday, the accusations against the company also involve the fact that during a visit from the Department of Health inspectors, the company lied about its staff levels. Several patients and their needs were ignored for a high number of days, even weeks in some cases.

For example, a resident in one of the nursing homes administered by the company did not for two weeks and wasn’t able to wash his hair for almost a month. Additionally, the same patient required daily treatments of a medical cream which was skipped 19 times in just a month.

Grane Healthcare is based in the O’Hara Township near the city of Pittsburg, but the official lawsuit was filed at the Commonwealth Court in Harrisburg. This specific court deals with issues which involve a business that is regulated by the state, as is the situation of this case.

The company has released a statement in which they deny the claims as being completely unfounded. The company has suggested that this lawsuit is motivated partly by the fact that a new private law firm stands to gain financially by partnering with the state.

According to Bruce Beemer, the Attorney General of Pennsylvania, the state has ample evidence that the nursing homes were severely understaffed which led to a major decrease in the quality of the care provided if there was any at all. This situation happened despite Grane advertising as having a high staff-to-patient ratio. The reality of the situation, according to the state, is that when the inspectors were not there, the number of staff dropped.

The state also claims that the low levels of staff and other problems led to fraudulent billing. This is due to the fact that the patients did not receive the care paid by their healthcare insurance programs, either public or private. As such, the lawsuit seeks damages worth $1,000 per every violation of the consumer law of Pennsylvania, or $3,000 if the victim was 60 or older.

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In the US, fewer men underwent prostate surgeries in the last months thanks to a screening advice. New recommendations were made and they warned men that screening was not necessary and might even harm them. People are now debating prostate surgeries.

The issue here is that screening men for prostate cancer might do more harm than good. A new report shows that in the last period of time there has been a decline in the number of prostate surgeries in the U.S. This might be because fewer men got screened for prostate cancer.

The report that was published recently shows how this debate affected men across the U.S.  Many doctors agree that screening is necessary because men might not be aware of the fact that they have cancer. If they don’t know about this disease, they can’t treat it and it might become worse.

Doctors also mentioned that some of the recommendations are out of line and might harm people.  Reports also showed that prostate cancer is a common disease and almost 250,000 men from the U.S have it every year. It is a dangerous disease that kills more than 26,000 men every year.

The problem is that some tests might harm men because they can detect small non-cancerous tumors that wouldn’t have harmed them. If doctors detect these tumors they can’t be sure if the person has cancer and the treatment that most men receive can cause other side effects like incontinence and impotence.

This is why more and more people are thinking of skipping the usual screening tests. If this happens, a person can’t know if he is sick which is another problem. Both ways men can suffer from their choice. If they choose screening and they treat their tumor they might develop incontinence. If they choose to avoid screening they might have cancer that remains untreated.

The ones that really need the screening are men between 55 and 70 because there are more risks for them. If doctors find something there they will make prostate surgeries to get cancer out, if it spread too much.

The fact that the number of prostate surgeries is declining is not a great thing because people need to go to check-ups and fight any diseases or illness they have.

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A new study showed that if a person has high “good cholesterol” levels he still presents some risk compared to those who have low “bad cholesterol” levels. That means that it is more effective to lower the bad cholesterol than to raise the good one. These two types of cholesterol are HDL and LDL but are more known as the good one and the bad one.

Very high or low levels of HDL ( the good one) might raise the risk of heart diseases. Until now people believed that they should have high levels of HDL but this study showed that higher levels of HDL are not good. People should have normal levels of good cholesterol and low levels of bad cholesterol.

In order to lower the levels of bad cholesterol (LDL) people need to take some medications that contain statins. This treatment blocks the enzyme that produces cholesterol. The problem is that some people don’t respond to the treatment as expected and doctors started to think about a new way of helping people.

They wanted to see what happens if people produced more good cholesterol. Researchers believed that high levels of HDL could have the same effect as low levels of LDL. The study showed that it is not the case.

In order to conduct this study, researchers studied almost 640,000 people diagnosed with a cardiovascular condition in the past. These people were aged between 40 and 105. The average age was 57.2. All of these people were divided into groups so that researchers could study the effect of the bad and the good cholesterol.

People who had low levels of HDL had a bigger risk of having a heart disease. On the other hand, people who had higher levels of HDL than normal had a bigger risk of non-cardiovascular related deaths.

“The link between good cholesterol and heart disease is complex,” said lead author Dennis Ko, associate professor from the University of Toronto in Canada

Researchers were not able to establish the real connection between cholesterol and heart diseases but the findings show that there are some links. Levels of good cholesterol and bad cholesterol are all tied to the heart. They can either help it function or they can cause several problems.

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Recent research suggests that cranberries are not an effective remedy against UTI but merely a myth. Although previous surveys indicated that these fruits might reduce multiple infections which occur in younger women, they cannot be regarded as a treatment.

In other words, doctors underline that the best way to address this issue consists of antibiotics. Dr. Manisha Juthani-Mehta, a Yale School of Medicine infectious disease specialist, said that she hoped cranberries would be a reliable natural treatment, but it turned out they weren’t.

Dr. Manisha is the lead author of the latest study, which has revealed that these fruits do not reduce UTIs in female patients although during the survey they took many cranberry capsules for twelve months.

Also, according to Dr. Lindsay Nicolle, UTI expert, these findings can be regarded as solid proof that cranberry products are not a reliable medical recommendation to women suffering from urinary tract infections.

She continues by saying that doctors should not promote cranberry products as having any benefit. Based on the statistics, around 50 percent of all women will experience minimum one UTI during their lifetime.

Regarding symptoms, younger women might suffer from a constant need to urinate, while they will also experience an excruciating pain during this process. On the other hand, women who are no longer in the reproductive age, especially senior patients over the age of 65, will experience malaise, fatigue, and fever.

It is worth mentioning that men can suffer from this condition as well, especially seniors due to problems related to enlarged prostates. According to Dr. Kalpana Gupta, UTI expert from the Boston University School of Medicine, spermicides and sexual activity are the leading causes that increase the risk of UTI among younger women.

She explains these risks by underlining that sex stimulates bacteria movement inside the urethra. Women, unlike men, have a much shorter urethra, so bacteria can quickly reach the bladder causing an infection.

Worse, spermicides promote this conditions because they kill beneficial bacteria and allow the dangerous ones to thrive. She further added that UTI could not be regarded as a health condition related to hygiene management.

There are other theories which suggest that cranberries are rich in proanthocyanidins, a substance which tackled the E. coli responsible for UTI infection. That is why Dr. Gupta believes that some women suffering from recurrent UTIs may want to consider cranberry products based on their doctor’s suggestion.

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A recently founded startup company that has a somewhat unique service has attracted the attention of investors. Habit, a company focused on offering a personalized nutrition service in the form of meal kits, founded by Neil Grimmer, a co-founder of Plum Organics has attracted a $32 million investment from Campbell Soup.

The Campbell Soup Company has recently disclosed that they are the sole investor in Habit, which plans to launch a personalized nutrition service tailored to a person’s DNA. This approach to food based on science and data is the result of the Grimmer’s lifelong experiences, which he hopes to make them more mainstream. Habit also hopes to avoid the idea of one-size-fits-all diets by promoting a more innovative approach to our eating habits.

Unfortunately, the Habit meal kits will not be available until the early few months of next year. However, if you are interested in this new personalized nutrition service, the company has already started a waitlist.

The specific details of how the service will actually work aren’t all available as of yet. However, from it is known that before you’ll have your personalized meal delivered, you first need to get a test kit. The kit will analyze the specifics of your DNA, body metrics, blood, and a variety of other personal information. The company will use this data to determine the ideal nutrients in what ingredients are best suited for your body. Additionally, you can enlist the help of “coaches” recommended by the company in order to reach your health golds.

The company can either limit their service at offering the personalized nutrition data or they can even send specific meals to your doorstep if you decide to opt for the service. This type of nutrition comes highly acclaimed by the founder of the company. He stated that he was able to lose 25 pounds in six months through data-driven diets. He underwent genetic tests, blood analysis and determined how his body processed foods.

Campbell Soup has decided to invest in Habit because it recognizes how the food industry is being changed by the fusion of technology, food, and well-being. Through their partnership with Habit, the company hopes to be part of the future of food industry.

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In an attempt to better comprehend how pot affects our body, a team of international researchers has created a 3D atomic-level image of the marijuana receptor in our brain. They also studied how weed’s active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)l is being activated in the brain.

When trying to understand how marijuana affects our bodies when consumed, researchers thought that creating a 3D model of the marijuana receptor would facilitate their work. However, the development process of the model presented several difficulties. Researchers struggled to create a crystal form of the marijuana receptor when it was bound to a stabilizing molecule which can block the functions of the receptor.

After some number of attempts, the scientists successfully recreated the crystal form of cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1). After analyzing it, they observed that the complex structure of the receptor has an underlying complicated and expansive binding network consisting of many sub-pockets and channels which connect to the various parts of the receptor.

According to the study, CB1 is part of a large class of receptors known as G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR). They fulfill important roles in a high number of physiological functions. When certain external substances are bound to a GPCR, the G protein within the cell becomes active and creates a specialized cellular response. This reaction can be blocked using AM6538, the stabilizing molecule used on CB1. For this reason, scientists think that it can be a possible addiction treatment.

Researching the CB1 receptor might provide key insights on why certain THC molecules can cause complex and even adverse effects. The new 3D model of the marijuana receptor will help future research with the better understanding of the effects and drugs. It may even impact the creation of drugs from pain, obesity, inflammation, and more.

The study was led by several prominent researchers such as Zhi-Jie Liu, Laura Bohn, Raymond C. Stevens, and Alexandros Makryannis alongside other scientists. Their work was published in the journal Cell and attracted funding from several institutions like the GPCR Consortium, National Nature Science Foundation of China, the Shanghai Municipal Government, and more.

With marijuana gradually becoming a mainstream recreational drug, researchers, drug companies, and governments want to have a better understanding of how the drug affects people. For this reason, a high number of studies attempting to unravel its effects have been started.