Doctors and patients should beware if they’re hoping to use steroid injections to relieve the pain associated with osteoarthritis. The shots may be doing more harm than good. In a new study published in the journal Radiology, researchers looked at 459 patients in a US hospital who had received one to three corticosteroid injections into…

Women who live in states with strict and punitive abortion laws account for the majority of requests made to a website that supplies abortion medications, a new study has found. The website, Women on Web (WoW), has been run by an international non-profit since 2006 and provides abortion medications — under doctor supervision — to…

There has been a small increase in vaccine exemption rates among kindergarteners in the United States, according to a new report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The finding, published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on Thursday, shows that rates of young children not receiving vaccinations against certain diseases,…

As if life wasn’t already challenging enough for residents in low-income urban neighborhoods, new research suggests such communities are more at risk from particularly harmful, aggressive mosquitoes. Not only are there more mosquitos in such areas, but they may also be larger-bodied and more efficient at transmitting diseases, according to a study published by the…

In the battle between the adolescent penchant for hitting the snooze button and parental desire to rush them onto an early morning school bus, experts say science is increasingly siding with the snooze. The biological clock of teens is shifted, Dr. Mary Carskadon, director of the Sleep and Chronobiology Research Lab at EP Bradley Hospital,…

Toxic heavy metals damaging to your baby’s brain development are likely in the baby food you are feeding your infant, according to a new investigation published Thursday. Tests of 168 baby foods from major manufacturers in the US found 95% contained lead, 73% contained arsenic, 75% contained cadmium and 32% contained mercury. One fourth of…

Some sun protection may come at a steep price for the ocean’s coral reefs. Now, a Florida state senator wants to ban some sunscreens entirely for the potential harm they cause marine life. Sen. Linda Stewart’s proposed bill would require a prescription to use sunscreens with oxybenzone and octinoxate, two chemicals found in most sunscreens…

The Oklahoma judge who recently ordered pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson to pay $572 million for its role in the state’s opioid crisis says he made a mathematical error when calculating the judgment. As part of the landmark verdict in August, Judge Thad Balkman set aside $107,683,000 to help combat neonatal abstinence syndrome, or NAS.…

Pink tax, tampon tax, period tax — the rule goes by different names, but all refer to the sales tax people pay to purchase pads and tampons. The sales tax on these products, essential for everyone that menstruates, has long been under scrutiny. Slowly, the tide is starting to turn. On Thursday, a proposal repealing…

When it comes to concussions in high school sports, there is good news and bad news, a new study suggests. The rates of football practice concussions and recurrent concussions across all sports have gone down in recent years, according to the study, published in the journal Pediatrics on Tuesday. The bad news: Concussion rates increased…