Death Sentences Are Doled Out Based on Looks
Though there are guidelines for when a convicted criminal merits the death penalty (in states that still have capital punishment), ultimately, the jury makes the decision. A new study finds that the facts of the case are not the sole determinant of whether or not a jury will issue a death sentence—based on the research, certain “untrustworthy” facial features appear to play a significant role in capital-punishment sentencing.  According to the study, published Dec. 14 in the journal Psychology Science, people associate certain facial features such as down-turned lips and heavy brows with being unt...
Source: TIME: Health - December 19, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Haley Weiss Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate Source Type: news

What to Know About the JN.1 Variant of the COVID-19 Virus
A new variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 is rising to prominence in the U.S. as winter illness season approaches its peak: JN.1, yet another descendent of Omicron. JN.1 was first detected in the U.S. in September but spread slowly at first. In recent weeks, however, it has accounted for a growing percentage of test samples sequenced by labs affiliated with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), surpassing 20% during the two-week period ending Dec. 9. By some projections, it will be responsible for at least half of new infections in the U.S. before December ends. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”...
Source: TIME: Health - December 18, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Jamie Ducharme Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 healthscienceclimate Source Type: news

Severe Obesity Is Increasing in Young U.S. Children
A new study adds to evidence that severe obesity is becoming more common in young U.S. children. There was some hope that children in a government food program might be bucking a trend in obesity rates — earlier research found rates were dropping a little about a decade ago for those kids. But an update released Monday in the journal Pediatrics the rate bounced back up a bit by 2020. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The increase echoes other national data, which suggests around 2.5% of all preschool-aged children were severely obese during the same period. “We were doing well and now we se...
Source: TIME: Health - December 18, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: MIKE STOBBE / AP Tags: Uncategorized wire Source Type: news

The Language of Hospice Can Help Us Get Better at Discussing Death
Just because death is inevitable doesn’t make it easy or natural to talk about. In a new study, researchers wondered if hospice workers—experts in end-of-life care—had lessons to teach the rest of us when it came to speaking with patients and families about death. Daniel Menchik, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Arizona who studies the use of language in different fields of medicine, spent eight months sitting in on team meetings at a hospice care facility that were also open to patients’ families. His goal was to study how both groups talked to each other about the impend...
Source: TIME: Health - December 18, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Haley Weiss Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate Source Type: news

6 Myths About IBD, Debunked
Michelle Pickens’ symptoms escalated in college. At the time, she was throwing up at least once a day, and experiencing frequent nausea, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and constipation. Juggling classes with work at a design studio became an extreme exercise in perseverance. She knew in her gut that something was wrong. Yet three different doctors “wrote it off as stress,” says Pickens, now 32, who lives in Annapolis, Md. Lab work and procedures to see inside her gastrointestinal tract showed nothing abnormal. “No one wanted to dig deeper,” she recalls. In a final act of desperation, Pickens sa...
Source: TIME: Health - December 18, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Lindsay Lyon Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate Source Type: news

A New Drug Compound Shows Promise for Schizophrenia
For people with schizophrenia, treatment is an ongoing, life-long process of antipsychotic medications and psychotherapy. Medications are key to controlling episodes, but most have serious enough side effects—including uncontrolled muscle movements, gaining weight and drowsiness—that people skip doses or decide not to take them. In a study published Dec. 14 in the Lancet, researchers report on a promising new treatment for the psychiatric disorder that could give patients better options. KarXT, developed by biotech company Karuna Therapeutics, targets a different brain chemical than most existing schizophren...
Source: TIME: Health - December 15, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Alice Park Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate Source Type: news

You ’ ve Heard of Long COVID. Long Flu Is a Health Risk, Too
Statistically, there’s a good chance you know somebody who has experienced Long COVID, the name for chronic symptoms including fatigue, brain fog, and pain following a case of COVID-19. About 14% of U.S. adults report having had Long COVID at some point, according to federal data. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] But many people don’t realize that other viruses, even very common ones, can trigger similarly long-lasting and debilitating symptoms. A study published Dec. 14 in The Lancet Infectious Diseases focuses on the risk of developing “Long flu” after a severe case of influenza. ...
Source: TIME: Health - December 14, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Jamie Ducharme Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 healthscienceclimate Source Type: news

Teens Are Taking More Reliable Birth Control
The teen birth rate in the U.S. has been declining consistently for more than 30 years, despite the fact that the number of teenage girls having sex has not changed since at least 2002. A new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests a key driver of this trend: a dramatic increase in teenage girls using long-lasting and reliable forms of contraception. The percentage of girls ages 15 to 19 using long-acting reversible contraception, which includes intrauterine devices (IUDs) and contraceptive implants, reached a reported high of 19% from 2015-2019. That’s more than three times...
Source: TIME: Health - December 14, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Haley Weiss Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate Source Type: news

WeightWatchers Is Now Prescribing Weight Loss Drugs
WeightWatchers has been through a lot of changes recently. In 2018 the popular weight loss program changed its name to WW with an updated mission: “Wellness That Works.” For the first time, that mission includes medications. Last spring, the company acquired Sequence, a digital health company, which allowed members to get prescriptions for weight loss drugs. Now the 60-year old company is launching WeightWatchers Clinic, which will give them access to telehealth weight loss management and doctors who can prescribe weight loss medications like semaglutide (Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Zepbound). [time-brightcove...
Source: TIME: Health - December 14, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Alice Park Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate Source Type: news

After Recalls and Infections, Experts Say Safer Eyedrops Will Require New FDA Powers
WASHINGTON — When you buy eyedrops at a U.S. store, you might assume you’re getting a product made in a clean, well-maintained factory that’s passed muster with health regulators. But repeated recalls involving over-the-counter drops are drawing new attention to just how little U.S. officials know about the conditions at some manufacturing plants on the other side of the world—and the limited tools they have to intervene when there’s a problem. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The Food and Drug Administration is asking Congress for new powers, including the ability to mandat...
Source: TIME: Health - December 13, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Matthew Perrone/AP Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate wire Source Type: news

Supreme Court Will Hear Case on Abortion Pill Access
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court agreed on Wednesday to take up a dispute over a medication used in the most common method of abortion in the United States, its first abortion case since it overturned Roe v. Wade last year. The justices will hear appeals from the Biden administration and the maker of the drug mifepristone asking the high court to reverse an appellate ruling that would cut off access to the drug through the mail and impose other restrictions, even in states where abortion remains legal. The restrictions include shortening from the current 10 weeks to seven weeks the time during which mifepriston...
Source: TIME: Health - December 13, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: MARK SHERMAN / AP Tags: Uncategorized News Desk wire Source Type: news

Dengue Fever Is Soaring Worldwide. Here ’s What to Know—and How to Stay Protected
Governments and public health experts around the world are sounding the alarm about the record-high spread of one of the most notorious—and incurable—diseases, which about half the world is at risk of catching: dengue. The mosquito-borne virus has a long history in warm climates but is now also emerging in regions where it had been generally unheard of—such as in Europe and parts of the U.S. By early December, there had already been more than five million dengue infections worldwide this year—a dramatic increase from some 500,000 cases in 2000—recorded across at least 80 countries and terri...
Source: TIME: Health - December 13, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Koh Ewe Tags: Uncategorized Explainer News Desk Source Type: news

Exclusive: Conversion Therapy Is Still Happening in Almost Every U.S. State
Conversion therapy—a practice aimed at changing someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity—has been widely discredited and is banned in 22 states and the District of Columbia. But more than 1,300 practitioners still offer conversion therapy in the U.S., according to a new report shared exclusively with TIME. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “It is shocking to still see so many different conversion therapy programs across the U.S., because all those programs are fraudulent,” says California Rep. Ted Lieu, who in June introduced a bill to ban conversion therapy at the federa...
Source: TIME: Health - December 12, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Jamie Ducharme Tags: Uncategorized Exclusive healthscienceclimate Source Type: news

An Explosion in Sports Betting Is Driving Gambling Addiction Among College Students
When Evan Ozmat, a Ph.D. student in psychology at the University of Albany, first began counseling undergraduates about HIV and substance abuse, he expected to hear about their health issues. Instead, he heard about problem gambling. “Since the beginning of the project three years ago, students have brought up, unprompted, gambling,” Ozmat says. “We started asking about it in every appointment and everyone has something to say. It’s everywhere.” [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The majority of the gambling takes place on mobile phones, Ozmat says, largely—although not ...
Source: TIME: Health - December 12, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Oliver Staley Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate Source Type: news

What Happens When People Stop Taking the Weight Loss Drug Zepbound
As a new generation of highly effective weight loss drugs hits the market, doctors are still trying to figure out how long people will need to take them for the best results. A new study offers a clue. Writing in JAMA, researchers report on what happens when people stop taking the weight loss drug tirzepatide, known as Zepbound. Tirzepatide can help people lose double digit percentages of their body weight, compared to single digit percentages with diet and exercise. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The study, sponsored by the drug’s manufacturer, Eli Lilly, included 670 people with a body mass in...
Source: TIME: Health - December 11, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Alice Park Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate Source Type: news