Study Shows Pain Perception Can Be Reduced By Nostalgia
During a study about feelings of pain, researchers have found that feelings of nostalgia can actually lead to weaker pain sensations. Meanwhile a report in Bangor Daily News says no one knows exactly how much chemical pollution from "forever" chemicals is found in Maine rivers.
CNN:
Nostalgia Can Reduce Perception Of Pain, Study Shows
The next time you feel pain, you might consider skipping the ibuprofen and reaching instead for an old photo. Nostalgia -- that sentimental feeling of longing for the past -- can reduce pain perception, according to new research published in the journal JNeurosci. Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Liaoning Normal University asked study participants to rate their level of pain from heat stimulation while looking at pictures that were nostalgic -- depicting old cartoons, childhood games or retro candy -- compared with more modern pictures. During the tasks, an MRI machine also scanned the 34 participants. Researchers found that observing pictures that triggered childhood memories was linked to participants reporting weaker feelings of pain. (Kent, 3/28)
In environmental news —
Bangor Daily News:
No One Knows How Many Gallons Of 'Forever Chemicals' Are Flowing In Maine's Waters
Treatment plants release millions of gallons of wastewater into Maine’s waterways each day that could contain elevated levels of so-called forever chemicals that are used in a wide variety of consumer products and have been linked to long-term health and environmental risks. But as Maine races to better understand how widespread its PFAS contamination problem is, particularly on farms and in landfills, there’s little known about the level of contamination in the wastewater these plants are releasing, nor about the concentration of forever chemicals building up in the Maine rivers onto which it’s released. (Loftus, 3/28)
AP:
Vermont Officials Seek More Time To Test Schools For PCBs
Vermont state officials have asked the legislature for more time to test older schools for PCBs, a harmful group of chemicals commonly used in building materials and electrical equipment before 1980.The PCB testing program is part of a law passed by the Legislature last year. It requires every school constructed or renovated before 1980 to test their indoor air for PCBs by July 1, 2024. The legislation came after the closure of Burlington High School two years ago because of the discovery of PCB contamination in air samples. (3/27)
KHN:
Climate Change May Push The US Toward The ‘Goldilocks Zone’ For West Nile Virus
Michael Keasling of Lakewood, Colorado, was an electrician who loved big trucks, fast cars, and Harley-Davidsons. He’d struggled with diabetes since he was a teenager, needing a kidney transplant from his sister to stay alive. He was already quite sick in August when he contracted West Nile virus after being bitten by an infected mosquito. Keasling spent three months in hospitals and rehab, then died on Nov. 11 at age 57 from complications of West Nile virus and diabetes, according to his mother, Karen Freeman. She said she misses him terribly. (Bailey, 3/28)
In mental health news —
The Washington Post:
How Medicare Can Make It Harder For End-State Dementia Patients To Use Hospice
Janet Drey knows how hard it is to predict the future, especially the future of someone who lives with dementia. In 2009, a neurologist diagnosed her mother, Jean Bishop, then age 79, with frontotemporal dementia, a disorder that irreversibly damages the front and sides of the brain. When Jean could no longer walk, speak or feed herself a year later, doctors confirmed that she had less than six months to live, Drey recalls. The prognosis fit Medicare’s definition of being terminally ill. That prognosis qualified her for hospice care, an interdisciplinary approach that prioritizes comfort and quality of life in a person’s final months. (Harris, 3/26)
The New York Times:
In Difficult Cases, ‘Families Cannot Manage Death At Home’
Where do people most want to be when they die? At home, they tell researchers — in familiar surroundings, in comfort, with the people they love. That wish has become more achievable. In 2017, according to an analysis in The New England Journal of Medicine, home surpassed the hospital as the most common place of death — 30.7 percent of deaths occurred at home, compared with 29.8 percent at the hospital. (Span, 3/26)
AP:
Friends With Paws Placing Therapy Dogs In Some WVa Schools
Some West Virginia schools will have a new face joining students this year: therapy dogs to offer companionship and comfort. Friends With Paws will be a partnership between the governor’s office, West Virginia Communities in Schools Nonprofit and the state Department of Education. The dogs will be placed in schools in counties where students are disproportionately affected by poverty, substance misuse or other at-risk situations, Gov. Jim Justice’s office said. (3/28)
In other public health news —
CIDRAP:
Reported TB Cases Drop In US Amid COVID-19
Reported tuberculosis (TB) diagnoses in the United States fell 20% in 2020 and remained 13% lower in 2021 than TB diagnoses made prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported yesterday, while a study today highlights disparities in at-home COVID testing. Before the pandemic, TB diagnoses declined by 1% to 2% each year. Mask use and distancing measures—aimed at preventing COVID spread—likely also limited TB transmission, the CDC said. TB infections were also likely missed as healthcare visits dropped during the first months of the pandemic. (Soucheray, 3/25)
The Boston Globe:
As Some States Seek To Limit Reproductive Freedoms, BU Opens ‘Plan B’ Vending Machine
When they arrived at Boston University, Molly Baker and Charlotte Beatty didn’t expect their educational paths to lead them to the American vending machine industry. They did not envision growing familiar, for instance, with the intricacies of vending credit card systems. But after overseeing the launch of a new machine on campus that distributes emergency contraception, the co-presidents of BU’s Students for Reproductive Freedom have found themselves a sudden toast of the vending world. “We made it into Vending Times!” Beatty said of their project’s recent write-up in the trade publication. The so-called “Plan B vending machine” is among the first of its kind in the United States, offering students a generic version of what is known as the “morning after” pill for $7.25, significantly less than some over-the-counter options and with privacy not afforded by a trip to the pharmacy. (Arnett, 3/27)
Chicago Tribune:
Advocates Aim To Decriminalize Psychedelic Plants In Illinois
Marine Corps veteran Justin Wigg was suffering from anger issues and other symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, but traditional medicine had been little help. So last fall, he traveled to Peru for a treatment that isn’t legal in Illinois — at least not yet. It was a psychedelic, tea-like drink called ayahuasca, brewed from two tropical plants, and it produced hallucinations that Wigg, a Chicagoan, compared to “‘Alice in Wonderland’ meets ‘Fantasia.’” On the second of four ceremonial sessions, he said, he met a spirit figure called Mother Ayahuasca who lifted his burden. “I asked her to help with anger, and it was like the snap of a fingers, just gone,” he recalled. “I wasn’t angry anymore, which I know sounds crazy, but that’s the best way I can describe it.” (Keilman, 3/28)
KHN:
‘An Arm And A Leg’: A Fight For The Right To Help
Americans get sued over medical debt. A lot. And — no surprise — many folks getting sued can’t afford lawyers. But for a non-lawyer to give even basic advice in a lawsuit is a crime. Such a helper could go to jail. Some New Yorkers are waging a legal fight to change that. A nonprofit called Upsolve wants to train people like pastors, social workers, and librarians to help others understand their rights and prepare them to represent themselves in court. In the Bronx, pastor John Udo-Okon wants to be one of those helpers. (Weissmann, 3/28)