People who are diagnosed with cancer usually have a few immediate questions. What will treatment be like? Am I going to be OK? And for parents: How will I tell the kids? It can be a tough reality to face. But Kimberly Fradel, a licensed clinical social worker with UNC REX Cancer Care, encourages parents…
The flu is simple, right? You get it from germs, it feels terrible and then you get better. Turns out there’s a bit more going on. Every year, millions of people will get sick from the flu—but many don’t know how it works or spreads or what they can do to prevent it. Christopher Hurt,…
For many women, peeing while sneezing is more than a common occurrence—it’s a frequent annoyance and often an embarrassment that many experience in silence. What they might not realize is that urinary incontinence is normal: About a quarter to a third of Americans experience it. And though many might think it’s a permanent issue, it’s…
Pop quiz, just for men: What’s your doctor’s name? Wait, you do have a doctor, right? Too many men don’t have a family physician and don’t get regular checkups, says Culley Carson, MD, a urologist with UNC Medical Center in Chapel Hill. This problem is especially bad among younger men, he says. Between ages 18…
Your lungs are always at work, but you don’t notice how critical they are until they fail you. We all get the occasional cold or flu and suffer through the coughing and wheezing. Fortunately, these short-term lung problems go away. Unfortunately, millions of Americans deal with chronic lung disease, which can be life-limiting, painful and…
Many of us joke about being sleep-deprived, but the condition puts a major damper on quality of life—not to mention it can be downright dangerous. Poor sleep can lead to daytime sleepiness, accidents and difficulty carrying out daily functions. Our cognitive abilities become impaired, our reaction times slow down and we get grumpy, anxious and…
New research led by scientists at the UNC School of Medicine and NC State University demonstrates the effectiveness of using prebiotics to change the composition of the gut microbiome of those suffering from lactose intolerance.
According to the CDC, hypertension (high blood pressure) affects 70 million Americans. It’s a condition which can lead to weakening of the arteries, stroke, and heart and kidney disease if is not controlled. High blood pressure is a measured blood pressure reading of 140/90 mm Hg or higher. Shockingly, one out of three American adults…
Diet advice can be confusing, conflicting and overwhelming. Almost daily, you hear about a new study that contradicts the one you heard the week before. New studies gain traction in the media and spread like wildfire. You search the internet to read more about what you just heard on the news and you become even…
Some undergraduates haven’t figured out if graduate school is for them or even that grad school in biomedical sciences even exists. Yet they have the smarts and the talent to succeed. UNC PREP was designed for them. After four years, it’s clear the PREP program was designed to succeed.
Adults age 45 and older who engaged in moderate physical activity up to two and a half hours a week did not increase their risk of developing knee osteoarthritis over a 6-year follow-up period.
Of all the medical specialties, emergency medicine may be the most demanding. Emergency physicians work any time of the day or night. In a single shift, they may see dozens of patients in a hospital emergency department. And while other specialists are expert in one field of medicine, emergency physicians are highly trained to treat all manner of diseases and injuries...
