Just two weeks of treatment with an experimental drug can delay the onset of type 1 diabetes by several years, researchers report.

The drug, called teplizumab, is already under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration based on earlier evidence of its effectiveness.

If it gets the green light, it would become the first drug approved for delaying type 1 diabetes in high-risk pe...

So, you had COVID-19 a few months back and you still can't smell that first steaming cup of coffee in the morning. Is there anything you can do to hasten the return of that vital sense?

Experts say there is, including "physical therapy" for your nose.

"In most cases, smell loss is temporary, but it can take months or even years to recover," said researcher Dr. Tran Locke. She's an a...

Who is more likely to relapse after opioid addiction treatment -- women or men?

A new study that followed 1,100 recovering opioid users reveals that their risks are different.

The researchers followed the men and women for one year after treatment at more than 100 substance-use treatment facilities across the United States. During that time, 55% of the women and 51.5% of the men use...

Two new studies suggest that the jury is still out on whether the arthritis drug tocilizumab helps those with severe COVID-19.

Both reports were published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine. The first, from scientists at the University of California, San Diego, found tocilizumab didn't improve outcomes or reduce the risk of death in patients with severe COVID-19 pneu...

As if attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) isn't already tough on a child, new research suggests the condition might also raise the odds for a psychotic disorder later in life.

But parents should not panic.

"I would say that this finding should not be an alarm for parents and people who have ADHD, because the absolute risk for psychotic disorders remains low," sa...

Spinal cord injuries can be devastating to the more than 17,000 Americans who suffer them each year. But many patients may have new reason for hope: Early research suggests infusions of stem cells could help them regain lost sensation and movement.

These improvements may occur within days or weeks of receiving the stem cell therapy, and can last at least six months, according to the small...

Rheumatoid arthritis drugs may save lives of patients hospitalized with severe cases of COVID-19, according to a groundbreaking clinical trial.

The findings, first announced in January, have now been peer-reviewed and published in a major medical journal.

"We are delighted that our full results are now published after peer review. This confirms the robustness of our findings, that t...

A cancer diagnosis for your child is devastating enough, but new research shows the coronavirus pandemic has made the battle even harder for many families.

"Parents and caregivers of children who have cancer are already under tremendous stress," said study author Kyle Walsh, an associate professor in the department of neurosurgery at Duke University, in Durham, N.C. "And while the pandemi...

During the pandemic, people with asthma have worried that their respiratory condition might raise their risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19, but new research findings should calm their fears.

After analyzing data from 57 studies that included a total of over 587,000 people, scientists discovered that rates of asthma among people with COVID-19 were similar to rates in the general...

The emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants could require a quick pivot on the part of pharmaceutical and medical device companies, to help stay one step ahead of COVID-19.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued guidelines Monday encouraging drug and test developers to pay attention to new coronavirus variants and be prepared to make that pivot if necessary.

The guidance provides...

A number of new treatments for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a progressive eye disease, are under development. AMD is a leading cause of vision loss in older people.

About 11 million Americans have AMD, which affects part of the eye that allows you to see fine detail. There are two types: wet and dry. Wet AMD is treated with eye injections every month or two, and dry AMD with an...

Higher levels of a certain type of immune cell may explain why immunotherapy for prostate cancer is more effective in Black men than in white men, researchers say.

The finding could lead to immunotherapy-based precision treatment for localized aggressive and advanced prostate cancer in all races.

For the study, the researchers analyzed 1,300 prostate tumor samples and found that, on...

Getting bitten by a dog or wild animal is frightening, especially for kids, but a new study may help relieve some of the worry about catching rabies.

The rabies prevention treatment KEDRAB is safe and effective for patients 17 and younger, a groundbreaking pediatric clinical trial has shown.

The trial included 30 kids with suspected or confirmed rabies exposure who were treated with...

If you have cancer and you're trying to exercise to boost your health, new research suggests you don't have to knock yourself out during your workout.

Light exercise is just as beneficial as more demanding workouts for cancer patients, the researchers found.

Previous research has shown that physical activity can improve cancer patients' physical and mental health, reduce fatigue and...

An experimental antiviral drug known as peginterferon lambda can speed up COVID-19 patients' ability to shed the virus and recover, scientists report.

"One of the important things about this treatment that's different from the other things that have been studied for COVID-19 is that this is working on the person, not on the virus. So it doesn't depend at all on the strain or the sequence ...

Although Alzheimer's disease is a devastating diagnosis that is better delivered earlier rather than later, new research suggests poor patients living in rural areas may not have access to the specialists who could spot the first signs of memory declines.

The team from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., led by Sayeh Nikpay, now an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota...

A new drug combination for advanced liver cancer can extend people's lives substantially more than the long-standing drug of choice, new study findings confirm.

The treatment involves two drugs approved to fight various cancers: bevacizumab (Avastin) and atezolizumab (Tecentriq). Avastin, an intravenous (IV) drug, starves tumors by preventing new blood vessel growth.

Tecentriq, also...

While scientists still don't know what causes Parkinson's disease, new research shows an association between a drug that some men take for an enlarged prostate condition and a reduced risk of developing the illness.

A team led by scientists at the University of Iowa, working in collaboration with researchers in Denmark and China, found that the drug terazosin and similar medications may h...

Dr. Lisa Iezzoni is all too familiar with the discrimination that patients who have a disability can face: Having lived with multiple sclerosis for more than four decades and now in a wheelchair, she has also studied health care experiences and outcomes for people with disabilities for more than 20 years.

But her new survey on doctors' attitudes towards disabled patients still surprised h...

Dry and chapped lips are common during the winter, but there are a number of things you can do to protect them, an expert says.

"Cold, dry weather; sun damage; and frequently licking your lips are just some of the reasons your lips might feel dry and chapped this winter," dermatologist Dr. Noëlle Sherber said in an American Academy of Dermatology news release. "Understanding these causes...

Full doses of blood thinners can benefit patients hospitalized with COVID-19, but the severity of their illness matters, researchers say.

The new global analysis found that hospitalized patients with moderate COVID-19 may benefit from the drugs' clot-preventing powers, but patients with illness so severe it requires admission to an intensive care unit may not.

"SARS-CoV-2 infectio...

The first monthly shots to treat adults with HIV were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday.

"Currently, the standard of care for patients with HIV includes patients taking daily pills to adequately manage their condition. This approval will allow some patients the option of receiving once-monthly injections in lieu of a daily oral treatment regimen," said Dr. John...

Stem cell transplants may have long-lasting benefits for some people with aggressive cases of multiple sclerosis, a new study suggests.

Italian researchers found that among 210 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients who received a stem cell transplant -- with cells from their own blood -- two-thirds saw no worsening in their disability 10 years out.

That included 71% of patients with rela...

Noninvasive electrical stimulation of the brain, fine-tuned to specific "circuitry" gone awry, might help ease obsessive-compulsive behaviors, an early study hints.

Researchers found that the brain stimulation, delivered over five days, reduced obsessive-compulsive tendencies for three months, though in people who did not have full-blown obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

It's too...

An inhaled medication might make every day physical activity a bit easier for patients with serious scarring of the lungs, a new clinical trial finds.

The study, published online Jan. 13 in the New England Journal of Medicine, involved patients with high blood pressure in the lungs caused by interstitial lung disease (ILD).

ILD is a broad term for progressive scarring of th...

Most folks infected with COVID-19 will only have mild or moderate illness -- but that means they'll still be stuck at home and feeling really lousy.

What's the best way to cope?

In many ways, you want to behave as you would if you were suffering from a cold or the flu, said infectious disease expert Dr. Aaron Glatt.

"The general good advice we give to people is eat well, make ...

You have probably seen the social media posts: Your good friend's co-worker is raising money online to help pay for cancer treatments or another friend needs funds to pay medical bills after a car crash.

Crowdsourced fundraising seems to, at least partly, fill a gap between out-of-pocket health care costs and what people can afford.

A new study looked at what the role of one of the ...

Blood plasma from people recovering from COVID-19 could help prevent severe illness in older patients newly infected with the virus, a small new Argentinian study finds.

The findings give new hope to the notion that so-called "convalescent plasma" might have a role to play in treating COVID-19. Earlier studies had been disappointing, showing the treatment had little effect on people with...

In late December, Dr. Ada Stewart asked her staff to check on a patient who had missed an appointment.

She soon learned that the patient had no transportation for the 45-minute drive, so Stewart offered to conduct the appointment by phone instead.

"It still accomplished so much. I was able to see how their diabetes was doing, how they were preparing for the holiday seaso...

Because COVID-19 is known to raise the odds for dangerous blood clots, blood thinners have quickly become part of routine care for many hospitalized patients.

But three clinical trials testing full doses of these drugs in COVID-19 patients have now paused recruitment of critically ill patients because the medications could end up doing more harm than good.

According to experts at th...

Women who are resuscitated from cardiac arrest are less likely to receive two common treatments once they arrive at the hospital, and are much more likely to die while hospitalized than men, a new study finds.

The researchers analyzed data gathered on nearly 4,900 resuscitated out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients in the United States and Canada from 2010 to 2015. Of those, just over 37...

The holiday season can be difficult for people with cancer, especially with the added stress of the COVID-19 pandemic this year.

As they undergo treatment and cope with symptoms and side effects, they may struggle to get any pleasure from the season, according to the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey.

Emotional and physical fatigue can make it hard for cancer patients to take p...

Children with tough-to-treat epilepsy now have another choice to help them live a life free of seizures, a new study suggests.

MRI-guided laser interstitial thermal therapy, a minimally invasive procedure for kids who have drug-resistant epilepsy, is successful in more than half of all cases and has a short recovery time, researchers report.

To arrive at that conclusion, the inves...

A pair of new gene therapies promise a potentially lasting cure for sickle cell disease by subtly altering the genetic information in patients' bone marrow cells, researchers report.

Both therapies work by switching on a gene that promotes production of fetal hemoglobin, said Dr. Lewis Hsu, chief medical officer of the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America.

Sickle cell dis...

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, anecdotal reports suggested that infusing very sick patients with the blood plasma of people who'd survived the disease might help boost outcomes.

But study findings released Nov. 24 in the New England Journal of Medicine, along with disappointing results from prior trials, suggest that those initial hopes may have been unfounded.

The new stu...

When actor, writer and producer Mindy Kaling's mom was fighting pancreatic cancer, it was the biggest struggle the family had ever experienced.

Swati Chokalingam, a Boston-area obstetrician/gynecologist and Kaling's mom, died in 2012 after getting a stage 4 diagnosis eight months earlier.

Now Kaling is raising awareness for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) as official b...

The United States on Thursday recorded its second highest daily total of new coronavirus cases since the pandemic began, with 75,000 new infections, while eight states broke single-day records of new cases.

Also on Thursday, the antiviral medicine remdesivir became the first drug to gain U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to fight COVID-19.

Such drugs are urgently n...

People who use common asthma controller medications are vulnerable to developing brittle bones and suffering fractures, a new study shows.

The findings point the finger at anti-inflammatory corticosteroids -- whether taken by pill or inhaler.

Corticosteroids are widely used to prevent asthma attacks, particularly in the form of inhalers. When asthma is more difficult to cont...

In a move that widens the pool of people considered at risk for coronavirus infection, U.S. health officials released new guidance on Wednesday that redefines who's considered a "close contact" of an infected individual.

The change, issued by the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, will likely have the biggest impact in group settings where people are in repeated contact w...

A combination of two "targeted" therapies can beat back a rare form of blood cancer -- without the toxic effects of chemotherapy, a new study has found.

In a trial of 63 patients, researchers found that the drug regimen frequently wiped out all signs of the cancer -- a subtype of the blood cancer acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). And at 18 months, 95% of patients were still aliv...

Could telehealth help paralyzed stroke victims recover their motor skills faster than they would working directly with a physical therapist?

Yes, claims a new study that found patients who had participated in at least 12 weeks of at-home rehabilitation with live video consultations ("telerehabilitation") scored higher in testing of the recovery of their motor skills than those who had...

A third surge of coronavirus cases now has a firm grip on the United States, with an average of 59,000 new infections being reported across the country every day.

That tally is the highest since the beginning of August, and the likelihood is high that the country will soon see the most new COVID-19 infections a day since the pandemic began, The New York Times reported.

Actor Jeff Bridges announced on Monday that he has been diagnosed with lymphoma.

Telling his fans on Twitter, the acclaimed thespian said, "Although it is a serious disease, I feel fortunate that I have a great team of doctors and the prognosis is good. I'm starting treatment and will keep you posted on my recovery."

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prev...

TUESDAY, Oct. 20, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Seeking to slow the spread of coronavirus, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended on Monday that face masks be worn by everyone in all public transportation settings.

That includes both passengers and people working in stations, terminals and airports across the country, CBS News reported.

So far, th...

Combining medication with group or family-based therapy gives patients struggling with bipolar disorder their best shot at living stable lives, a new review suggests.

"People with bipolar disorder have significant mood swings, from periods of depression to mania," explained study author David Miklowitz, a professor of psychiatry with UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine's Semel Inst...

Three weeks after becoming the first big urban area to reopen public schools since the pandemic began, New York City is not seeing a feared surge in cases among students and staff.

Instead, health officials are seeing a surprisingly small number of COVID-19 cases, The New York Times reported.

Of 15,111 staff members and students tested randomly in the first wee...

The number of new U.S. coronavirus cases topped 60,000 on Thursday, a tally not reported since early August, as health experts worried the coming winter might push the toll even higher.

The latest numbers have also sent the country's total COVID-19 case count past 8 million, the The New York Times reported.

The surge is nationwide, with cases multiplying across the co...

The nation's top infectious diseases expert warned Wednesday that Americans need to consider canceling family gatherings for Thanksgiving because coronavirus cases are now surging in 37 states.

Dr. Anthony Fauci told CBS News that those surges might worsen if families across the country travel and gather for the beloved holiday.

"That is unfortunately a risk, when you...

Coronavirus outbreaks in the Midwest and Western United States have driven the national case count to its highest level since August, fueling fears of what the coming winter will mean for the country.

COVID-19 cases are starting to climb in 36 states, including parts of the Northeast, which is starting to backslide after months of progress, The New York Times reported. More tha...

A second coronavirus vaccine trial was paused on Monday after an unexplained illness surfaced in one of the trial's volunteers.

Johnson & Johnson, which only began a phase 3 trial of its vaccine last month, did not offer any more details on the illness and did not say whether the sick participant had received the vaccine or a placebo. The trial pause was first reported by the heal...