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The rise and fall of America’s deadly love affair with the cigarette

NEW YORK (AP) — Cancer stick. Coffin nail. Cowboy killer. Those are nicknames, through the decades, for the cigarette — the once-glamorous desideratum of American society that has been tied to tens of millions of U.S. deaths. The cigarette is not an invention of the United States. And while Marlboro is a top-selling international brand, more than 100 countries make cigarettes. The largest manufacturer is in China. But U.S. ingenuity drastically altered the global tobacco industry. And American culture embraced it in the 20th century, making it — for a time — a symbol of ...

Woman weighs treatment against her potential risk of fracture

DEAR DR. ROACH: I'm a very healthy and active 74-year-old woman, and I'm also quite proactive with my health. I get bone scans done every two years and have osteopenia in both my hips and spine. But because of a T12 fracture in 2018, which was followed by a kyphoplasty, I was recently ...

First U.S. surgeon to implant dynamic spine is Gladstone native

DALLAS, TEXAS — A medical device developed in the Netherlands and cleared for use by the FDA in January has successfully been implanted in a child in the United States for the first time. Performing the surgery at Scottish Rite for Children in Dallas, Texas was pediatric orthopedic surgeon ...

Explaining an adverse drug reaction called DRESS syndrome

DEAR DR. ROACH: Could you explain what happened to me with a condition called DRESS syndrome? I had back-to-back urinary tract infections (UTIs) that were about six weeks apart. For the first one, I was treated with three days of an antibiotic, and it went away. For the second, I was given ...

Explaining autoimmune hemolytic anemia and its treatments

DEAR DR. ROACH: I'm about to turn 70. A month ago, I was diagnosed with autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) that's idiopathic. Two CT scans and many blood tests have cleared me of all tumors; however, my spleen's enlarged. My hematologist put me on prednisone, which is working very well. I ...

Want to lower your risk of dementia? It doesn’t involve a blood test

WASHINGTON (AP) — New blood tests that might predict Alzheimer's years before symptoms begin may sound tantalizing for people who worry about later-in-life dementia. But doctors say they aren't quite ready yet — and besides, you don't need a test before trying to lower your risk. The ...