Health & Wellness

NEW YORK — Using only her thoughts, a Massachusetts woman paralyzed for 15 years directed a robotic arm to pick up a bottle of coffee and bring it to her lips, researchers report in the latest advance in harnessing brain waves to help disabled people.

WASHINGTON — The government wants you to know that simply sporting a pair of Skechers’ fitness shoes is not going to get you Kim Kardashian’s curves or Brooke Burke’s toned tush.

Researchers studying the brains of soldiers exposed to blast injuries have found evidence of a degenerative disease also detected in athletes who have suffered repeated blows to the head, raising a worrisome prospect for thousands of combat veterans.

MILWAUKEE — One of life’s simple pleasures just got a little sweeter. After years of waffling research on coffee and health, even some fear that java might raise the risk of heart disease, a big study finds the opposite: Coffee drinkers are a little more likely to live longer. Regular or decaf doesn’t matter.

GENEVA — A quarter of those 25 or older now have high blood pressure worldwide, and almost one in 10 has worrying levels of glucose in their blood.
The World Health Organization’s tally of the latest global health statistics for the first time includes a look at blood pressure and glucose levels, two of the risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

WASHINGTON — Look for a fundamental shift in how scientists hunt ways to ward off the devastation of Alzheimer’s disease — by testing possible therapies in people who don’t yet show many symptoms, before too much of the brain is destroyed.

OTTAWA — Canadians have made slight progress in the battle to combat chronic disease through diet choices even as the nation’s children fall even further behind, a study from an independent think tank suggested Monday.

TORONTO — Medical tattoos are becoming more common, with some people choosing to ink their wrists or other body parts with warnings about a health condition instead of wearing standard MedicAlert bracelets or necklaces, says a report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

TORONTO—Ontario’s universal ’flu shot program isn’t making much progress with the under-two crowd, a new study suggests.
Vaccination rates among children aged six-23 months is very low and has been since Ontario started offering free ’flu shots for all, said the study, published today in the journal “Pediatrics.”
Ontario’s universal ’flu shot program began in 2000.

TORONTO, Ontario — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning Thursday about the so-called “liberation therapy,” a controversial procedure that proponents claim helps alleviate the symptoms of multiple sclerosis.