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Study: Fidgeting at Your Desk Very Necessary for Increasing Blood Flow

A new study by the University of Missouri shows that fidgeting and tapping your toes at your desk may actually help decrease the risk of arterial dysfunction.
Previous research has shown that sitting for long periods of time, such as in an airplane or car, can reduce blood flow to the legs, which can lead to gangrene, tissue death, and amputation in severe cases. But tapping your toes or keeping your feet moving during the day can actually counteract some of the risk factors.

These Contact Lenses Mistakes Could Seriously Damage Your Eyes

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) warns in a new report that people who wear contact lenses and don’t care for them properly risk developing serious infections.
About 41 million Americans wear contact lenses, and people get so used to having them in their eyes, they either forget about them or don’t believe they’re at risk for injury and infection if they don’t use them as directed.

Study Shows Some Viruses are More Potent in the Morning

A new study published in Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) suggests that viruses are 10 times more likely to be successful at infecting their hosts in the morning. Research also found that those who had a disrupted circadian rhythm because of the pattern of their jobs, jet-lag, or disrupted sleep patterns in general may be even more susceptible to infection.

The Common Cold Came From … a Camel?

New research suggests that the first human to ever catch a cold may have gotten it from his or her camel. Scientists at the University of Bonn stumbled upon the discovery while investigating Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).
A more aggressive and deadly virus than the common cold, MERS first appeared in humans in Saudi Arabia in 2012. Although camels most often carry MERS, it can spread to humans in rare cases. And when studying the virus, researchers found that it was incredibly similar to the cold virus in at least 6% of cases. [1]

Study: People Save Antibiotics for Later Use, and it is Not Good

Many people in the United States hang on to leftover antibiotics and say that if they got sick, they’d use them without going to the doctor, a new study finds.
The findings are so problematic, it’s hard to even know where to begin. However, one of the main concerns is that this practice leads people to take the drugs when they might not need them, which may further the spread of resistance to antibiotics.

NIH Official Warns that Zika Virus Could “Hang Around” for 2 Years

A National Institutes of Health (NIH) official says the end of the Zika virus could still be a year or 2 away, and that Gulf Coast states, besides Florida, are most vulnerable to the spread of the disease.
Anthony Fauci, the director the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told ABC’s “This Week”:

“I would not be surprised if we see cases in Texas and Louisiana, particularly now where you have the situation with flooding in Louisiana. There are going to be a lot of problems getting rid of standing water.” [1]

Scientists Unlock Puzzle Piece to Latinos’ Slow-Aging Process

A new study, published in the journal Genome Biology, suggests that despite a pre-disposition to a variety of health issues, Latinos age much more slowly than their counterparts of other races. This is partly due, scientists say, to their shared ancestry with the Native American population, who also age a bit more slowly than others.

WHO Releases Alarming Stats Concerning US and Maternal Death Rate

Despite the United Nations Millennium Development Goal of reducing the rate of maternal death by 75% by 2015, the maternal death rate has risen alarmingly over the past several years across the United States. This is according to new research published in Obstetrics & Gynecology.
As described by the World Health Organization, here is what maternal death means: