Author: Healthcare Propulsion Staff

Ruthia He, the founder and former chief executive officer of telehealth startup Done Global, was sentenced to six years in prison on Tuesday and fined $1 million in connection with an Adderall fraud scheme.  He, along with a former top doctor at the telehealth company, was convicted in November of conspiring to distribute Adderall and other stimulants online. A San Francisco jury found He, and David Brody, the company’s former clinical president, guilty on two conspiracy counts—one count related to healthcare fraud—and four counts of distribution of controlled substances. He was also convicted of one count of conspiracy to obstruct…

An unusual vaccination rule in Wales has given scientists some of the clearest evidence so far that a vaccine might help protect against dementia. In a new study led by Stanford Medicine, researchers examined health records from older adults in Wales and found that people who received the shingles vaccine were 20% less likely to be diagnosed with dementia over the following seven years than those who did not receive the shot. The results, published April 2 in Nature, support a growing idea that certain viruses that affect the nervous system may raise the chance of developing dementia. If these…

The pull-up and chin-up are the ultimate measures of upper-body strength because they’re all you need. Both exercises build a beefier back, stronger arms, and a rock-solid grip. But many lifters leave plenty of gains on the pull-up bar. Instead, they rely on their arms instead of building the full-body tension needed for better reps. Here’s what they’re missing: The first rep starts before your elbows bend, at the moment your hands grip the bar. Better reps begin with a better setup. The active hang, packed shoulders, a braced core, engaged glutes, and a body that’s working as one. Skip…

With support from artificial intelligence, an international group of scientists has taken an important early step toward creating more effective defenses against the monkeypox virus (MPXV). This virus can cause intense pain and, in severe cases, death, with the greatest risk to children, pregnant women and people with compromised immune systems. In a study published in Science Translational Medicine, the researchers reported that mice produced strong neutralizing antibodies after receiving a viral surface protein identified through AI analysis. The result suggests a promising direction for future mpox vaccines or antibody treatments. During 2022, mpox spread across many countries and sickened…

Washington State University scientists have identified a way to interfere with a key viral protein, stopping viruses from entering cells where they can trigger disease. The finding points to a potential new direction for antiviral therapies in the future. The study, published in the journal Nanoscale, focused on uncovering and blocking a specific molecular interaction that herpes viruses rely on to gain access to cells. The work brought together researchers from the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering and the Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology. “Viruses are very smart,” said Jin Liu, corresponding author of the study and a…

Available for over a yearIranian writer, Shahrnush Parsipur, who spent her life documenting what it meant to be a woman living under repression in Iran, died this week in the US, at the age of 80. Anita Rani talks to Iranian journalist Paxima Mojavvezi about Shahrnush, a pioneer of feminist literature, whose book Women Without Men was banned in Iran, but nevertheless became an underground bestseller. According to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, around two-thirds of women will develop at least one uterine fibroid during their lifetime – that’s a non-cancerous growth that develops in or around the…

Artificial intelligence disease detection and care coordination platform Viz.ai announced Thursday it is partnering with neuroimaging and quantitative analysis solutions platform Cortechs.ai to expand its reach in neurodegenerative disease. The collaboration will expand the company’s Viz Neuro Suite with an initial focus on multiple sclerosis (MS). Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) analysis from Cortechs.ai’s NeuroQuant MS will be integrated directly into care coordination workflows. Viz.ai Chief Medical Officer Tim Showalter, M.D., told Fierce Healthcare in an emailed statement MS is the “starting point” for Viz Neuro Suite. “But we see this as the beginning of a broader effort in neurodegenerative disease,” Showalter…

New findings from the University of Birmingham suggest that regularly eating foods rich in flavanols, including tea, berries, apples, and cocoa, may help protect men’s blood vessels from the negative effects that occur during long periods of sitting. Sedentary habits are widespread in modern life. Young adults spend an estimated six hours a day seated, and extended sitting is known to reduce how well blood vessels function. Earlier research has shown that even a small 1% drop in vascular function, measured through brachial Flow-mediated dilatation (FMD), corresponds to a 13% rise in the risk of cardiovascular conditions such as heart…

UnitedHealthcare is rolling out a new benefit option aimed at making it easier for employers to offer more personalized wellness programs. Called Lifestyle Spending Accounts (LSAs), the benefit allows employers to offer a stipend that members can put toward wellness solutions. The LSAs are integrated with UnitedHealth’s UHC Store, which is a digital storefront where members can purchase select health and wellness programs at a discount. The accounts exist alongside health savings accounts or flexible spending accounts, allowing individuals to purchase health and wellness generally not available under HSAs or FSAs, UnitedHealthcare said. The store is integrated into UnitedHealthcare’s member…

For more than two decades, scientists have explored a group of cancer drugs known as CD40 agonist antibodies. Early experiments suggested these treatments could strongly activate the immune system and help it destroy cancer cells. However, results in people were disappointing. Clinical trials showed only modest benefits, and the drugs often caused serious side effects such as widespread inflammation, dangerously low platelet levels, and liver damage. These reactions occurred even at relatively low doses. In 2018, researchers led by Jeffrey V. Ravetch at Rockefeller University reported a potential breakthrough. The team redesigned a CD40 agonist antibody to improve its effectiveness…