Study sheds light on liver damage risk
A new study published in the journal of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology shows that alcohol consumption nearly doubles the risk of severe liver damage among people with large bellies, diabetes, or high blood pressure. According to CNN, nearly half of all Americans have high blood pressure and more than a third have pre-diabetes.
Seniors suffer in 'pharmacy deserts'
A study published in the journal Health Affairs found that nearly 30 percent of U.S. pharmacies closed between 2010 and 2021, leaving many communities in so-called pharmacy deserts. According to the New York Times, reduced access to pharmacies poses a particular threat to older adults, the vast majority of whom take at least one prescription drug each year. Pharmacies also dispense 80 percent of shingles vaccines and as much as 70 percent of flu shots, and provide other essential basic health services that many seniors rely on.
Kidney cancer vaccine shows promise
A personalized anti-tumor vaccine showed promising initial results in a clinical trial of nine patients with advanced kidney cancer, generating measurable immune responses in all participants. According to Harvard Medical School, cancer researchers at Harvard's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute created individualized vaccines for each study participant with genetic material from their own tumors in order to train their immune systems to target and destroy cancerous cells. The researchers say that these positive early results are a strong indicator that personalized vaccines are a feasible future treatment option for certain types of cancers.