UK researchers develop membrane that stops the Covid-19 virus

Dibakar Bhattacharyya and the membrane (UK photo by Ben Corwin) By Elizabeth Chapin University of Kentucky A team of researchers led by University of Kentucky College of Engineering Professor Dibakar Bhattacharyya and his Ph.D. student, Rollie Mills, have developed a medical face mask membrane that can capture...

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Strawberries could reduce chance of Alzheimer's, study finds

Photo illustration from berries.com Strawberries could help protect your brain from Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study from researchers at Rush University in Chicago. They found that a compound in strawberries, pelargonidin may be associated with less neurofibrillary tau tangles in the brain. "Tau tangles...

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Abortion is on Ky.'s Nov. 8 ballot in a constitutional amendment, a Supreme Court race and some state legislative elections

WFPL image In just over three months, Kentuckians will have a chance to vote on a constitutional amendment that if passed, would state that there is no constitutional right to abortion in Kentucky.  Under House Bill 91, passed in 2021, the Nov. 8 ballot will ask Kentuckians to vote "yes" or "no" on whether to...

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A woman died from Covid-19 because she mistrusted the system and fell victim to one of the shady networks selling quack cures

The pills that Stephanie received in the mail were labeled hydroxychloroquine and  ivermectin. (Photo by Meredith Rizzo, NPR) NPR tells the cautionary story of a woman who got Covid-19 and died from it after refusing medical care while she waited on an unproven treatment to arrive by mail.   The...

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Planning an event? Testing people for Covid-19 at the door can reduce spread by 40% over testing three days ahead, study says

Organizers of events can nearly cut in half the risk of their guests transmitting Covid-19 by testing them at the door, according to a new study by Yale School of Public Health epidemiologists. The research, published in the International Journal of Public Health, "is the first to use statistical analysis to gauge how effective test-timing strategies are at limiting the spread of Covid-19," a Yale news release says. Ideally, "People should...

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Baptist Health Louisville first Ky. hospital with new treatment for benign prostate enlargement, which affects 40% of adult men

Baptist Health Louisville says it is the first in Kentucky to offer an "advanced, minimally invasive treatment" to help men who suffer from an enlarged prostate gland, or benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Its sister hospital, Baptist Health Floyd, is the only full-service hospital in Southern Indiana offering the therapy. Robots are used for the procedure, trademarked as Aquablation. In it, a surgeon reaches the prostate through the...

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Beshear calls for use of masks at indoor events and in schools, more Covid-19 shots as CDC sees all counties at elevated risk

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention map Kentucky still has 80 of its 120 counties are at the highest risk level for Covid-19, and the state no longer has any counties at a low level, according to the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention risk map. Last week, seven were rated at low risk. Even before...

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State rural-health office will get $299,999 a year for the next three years to help veterans get care; one of three such grants in U.S.

The Kentucky Office of Rural Health is one of three organizations in the U.S. to receive a three-year, nearly $900,000 grant from the federal Office of Rural Health Policy to improve access to health care for veterans living in rural Kentucky and to improve the coordination of care for veteran patients. The University of Kentucky Center of Excellence in Rural Health in Hazard serves as the federally designated Kentucky Office of Rural Health. The...

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Health insurers offer $20 gift cards for Kentuckians getting first dose or booster of Covid-19 vaccine at schools, health depts.

The trade group for commercial insurers and Medicaid managers in Kentucky is offering $20 gift cards at school and health-department vaccination events for people getting a first dose or booster of a Covid-19 vaccine. The Kentucky Association of Health Plans calls it the “Healthy Back-to-School” grant program, aimed at "increasing vaccine access and acceptance by empowering local schools with funding for vaccine incentives," KAHP said in a press...

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New text-messaging program launches in Kentucky and four other states to help curb misuse of opioids for pain

The Partnership to End Addiction has announced plans to launch a personalized text messaging program to help curb opioid misuse this summer in Kentucky, Idaho, Tennessee and North and South Carolina.  The program, called RxAware, is designed to educate parents, caregivers and individuals about available non-opioid pain...

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All pandemic metrics are up in Kentucky (weekly cases +24%), and as school nears, children account for a larger share of cases

Kentucky Health News graph, from state data; for a larger version, click on it. By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News All measures of Covid-19 in Kentucky kept rising last week, with new cases up 24 percent, with a higher share of them in young people and a big increase in the most critical hospital cases. As Gov....

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16 Covid-19 vaccine clinics set across Ky. in July and August

By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Eight Kentucky health departments are participating in the "Kentucky Covid-19 Vaccine Extravaganza" in July and August to get more Kentuckians vaccinated and boosted against the coronavirus.  "It’s important for Kentucky families to stay up-to-date on Covid-19 vaccines, especially...

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Kentucky's LGBTQ+ community has opportunity to share about their access and interactions with health -care services

The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky is looking for participants in a study that aims to learn more about how lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Kentuckians access and interact with health-care services. Native Kentuckian and Duke University graduate student Cameron Love is conducting the study as a Master of...

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Saying they are probably unconstitutional, judge extends ruling blocking two Kentucky laws that would greatly limit abortion

Kentucky Health News Saying Kentucky laws limiting access to abortion likely violate the state constitution, a Louisville judge has blocked them from taking effect until lawsuits challenging them are over. Jefferson Circuit Judge Mitch Perry "systematically rejected" arguments for the "trigger law" written to ban almost all abortions when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its Roe v. Wade decision, and another law banning abortions after the sixth...

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CDC says 80 Kentucky counties are at high risk of Covid-19 and 33 are at medium risk; Beshear urges seniors to get boosted

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention map shows risk levels. By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News With 113 of the state's 120 counties with an elevated risk from coronavirus on the latest weekly risk map Thursday, it's no wonder that Gov. Andy Beshear sounded the alarm that "Covid is spreading" and strongly...

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New 988 suicide and crisis lifeline number saw a 30% increase in calls in Kentucky during the weekend it was launched

By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News The new, easy-to-remember 988 behavioral-health crisis hotline took 220 calls on the first weekend it went live in Kentucky, according to Gov. Andy Beshear, marking a 30% increase over the former 800-272-8255 number, which still works. "Calling or texting this number will connect Kentuckians...

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Get a booster now or wait for new BA.4/5 version? Depends on your circumstances, and experts' varying opinions confuse people

Getty Images photo via Kaiser Health News By Sam Whitehead and Arthur Allen Kaiser Health News Gwyneth Paige didn’t want to get vaccinated against Covid-19 at first. With her health issues — hypertension, fibromyalgia, asthma — she wanted to see how other people fared after the shots. Then her mother got colon cancer. “At...

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Kentucky, like most of U.S., sees increases in Covid-19 cases (up 17% last week) and hospitalizations (up 21%); deaths go down

Ky. Dept. for Public Health map, adapted by Ky. Health News; for a larger version, click on it. By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News This week's weekly pandemic report for Kentucky shows that Covid-19 hospitalizations increased 21 percent last week, continuing a trend of what Gov. Andy Beshear earlier called a...

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In abortion ruling's wake, Senate GOP caucus chair says Ky. must see to adoption and human services, protect jobs in pregnancy

Senate Majority Caucus Chair Julie Raque Adams (LRC photo) By Al Cross Kentucky Health News The U.S. Supreme Court's reversal of its Roe v. Wade decision means more work for the Kentucky General Assembly, a leading state senator said in a Lexington television interview broadcast Sunday. "That issue will probably take...

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Judge lifts injunction against law banning abortion in Ky. after 15 weeks; only clinic doing later abortions had suspended them

"A Kentucky law banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy may now be enforced while a legal challenge continues to a state law banning all abortions in the state," Deborah Yetter of The Courier Journal reports. "For now, abortions remain legal in Kentucky for patients with pregnancies under 15 weeks, under a different court ruling." The 15-week rule is part of a broad anti-abortion bill the Kentucky General Assembly passed this year....

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Next medical-cannabis town hall set Tuesday, July 19, in Frankfort

By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Gov. Andy Beshear's Medical Cannabis Advisory Committee will hold its next town hall meeting on Tuesday, July 19, in Frankfort.  The meeting will be held at the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Conference Center-C105 Auditorium, 200 Mero Street, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. EDT. Attendees...

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Handshakes are back, but with a note of caution for Covid-19

TheConversation.com After a long hiatus of virtual meetings, business travel, in-person conferences and corporate retreats are becoming the norm again – and so is handshaking.  "At no point during meetings or events that I’ve attended in L.A., Austin, D.C. or Cannes, France, over the past two months did I hesitate...

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CDC says 61 Kentucky counties are at high risk of Covid-19 and 45 are at medium risk; Beshear says 'be wary' of coronavirus

By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News All but 14 of Kentucky's 120 counties have an elevated risk of coronavirus on the latest federal risk map, and Gov. Andy Beshear cautioned that the transmission rates are likely high in those counties too. "We know there is a lot more Covid that is out there, and people need to really...

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