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Soaring overdose deaths cut US life expectancy again

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. deaths from drug overdoses skyrocketed 21 percent last year, and for the second straight year dragged down how long Americans are expected to live. The government figures released Thursday put drug deaths at 63,600, up from about 52,000 in 2015. For the first time, the powerful painkiller fentanyl and its close opioid cousins played a bigger role in the deaths than any other legal or illegal drug, surpassing prescription pain pills and heroin. “This is urgent and deadly,” said Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, director of the Centers for Disease Control and ...

Scientists tune into brain to uncover music’s healing power

WASHINGTON (AP) — Like a friendly Pied Piper, the violinist keeps up a toe-tapping beat as dancers weave through busy hospital hallways and into the chemotherapy unit, patients looking up in surprised delight. Upstairs, a cellist strums an Irish folk tune for a patient in intensive care. Music increasingly is becoming a part of patient care — although it’s still pretty unusual to see roving performers captivating entire wards, like at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital one fall morning. “It takes them away for just a few minutes to some other place where they don’t have ...

Gene therapy for rare form of blindness wins US approval

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health officials approved the nation’s first gene therapy for an inherited disease, a treatment that improves the sight of patients with a rare form of blindness. It marks another major advance for the emerging field of genetic medicine. The approval for Spark Therapeutics offers a life-changing intervention for a small group of patients with a vision-destroying genetic mutation and hope for many more people with other inherited diseases. The drugmaker said it will not disclose the price until next month, delaying debate about the affordability of a treatment ...

US health officials to target high-risk alternative remedies

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health officials plan to crack down on a growing number of unproven alternative remedies, focusing on products containing dangerous ingredients that have occasionally been linked to serious injury and death. The Food and Drug Administration issued a new proposal for regulating homeopathic medicines that have long been on the fringe of mainstream medicine. The agency plans to target products that pose the biggest safety risks, including those marketed for children or for serious diseases. But under the government’s framework, the vast majority of low-risk ...

Survey: US teen use of marijuana remains high

NEW YORK (AP) — Teen use of marijuana remains high and vaping appears to be one reason, a new U.S. survey shows. One in 10 high school seniors said they had vaped marijuana at least once in the past year. It was the first time the annual survey asked about marijuana vaping and “it’s much higher than I expected,” said Richard Miech, the University of Michigan researcher who leads the study. For years, teen marijuana use in the U.S. has been seen as relatively flat. Some experts have been expecting it to rise as states loosened marijuana laws, more adults used it and fewer kids ...

‘Take all their excuses away’: Hard cases in heroin fight

CHICAGO (AP) — The van was coming for Richard Rivera, but it was taking a long time. He waited inside the entrance of Saint Anthony Hospital where he had spent the past three days getting off heroin. His next stop: a sober-living facility. As his addiction counselor, DeValle Williams, kept a silent watch, the 49-year-old Rivera griped about the people who found him a bed 22 miles away, complete with meals, job training and gym access. “They couldn’t find me a place closer?” he grumbled. Would Rivera get in the van, Williams wondered. Or would he walk away? Long before ...