Don Sapatkin

Monday’s action followed by one month the agency’s approval of another first — a monoclonal antibody immunization for newborns — against respiratory syncytial virus, the leading cause of infant hospitalizations in the United States

A new study has found that magnesium sulfate given between 30 weeks and 34 weeks’ gestation did not lower the incidence of cerebral palsy in premature infants.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cleared the way for the first immunization approved to protect all young infants and at-risk older babies against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). There are questions, though, about when insurance coverage will kick in.

A huge study in Sweden found that the risk was greatest when both parents had been diagnosed with any of a large range of mental illnesses.

A large prospective study found large, statistically significant effects of heartburn on sleep quality.

A demonstration project showed that frequent testing reduced the median time to diagnosis by nearly 14 months.

Leaving the room because of how a partner sleeps is surprisingly common, a survey found. People make all sorts of other accommodation, too.

Between 9% and 12% of American adults have insomnia, and 85% of them also are diagnosed with comorbid conditions like type 2 diabetes and dementia. While the numerous health consequences of comorbid insomnia have been well-documented, the additional costs for specific disease groups have not been measured in large studies — until now.

Most babies born to mothers who used opioids during pregnancy are delivered with a form of addiction called neonatal abstinence syndrome. It is treated in the hospital, but how long the treatment lasts depends on the severity of withdrawal symptoms called neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome — the amount of distress that the newborn is experiencing.

Standard guidelines that insomnia treatment for people with alcohol use disorder be delayed until abstinence is achieved delays therapy for many people — and most patients still struggle with sleep even after successfully quitting alcohol.

Some effects of poor sleep (fatigue, daytime dysfunction) resemble some symptoms of long COVID. As it turns out, infected women who were healthy sleepers before and early in the pandemic were less likely to report long COVID symptoms.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) can be deadly for the very young and the old and frail. GSK's vaccine will be marketed under the brand name Arexvy and Pfizer's under the name Abrysvo.

The purpose of the federal vaccine safety reporting system often is misunderstood, and its data can be easily used to spread false information about vaccination. A new report from the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania looks at how it was manipulated to raise doubts about COVID-19 vaccines and suggests remedies.

In one of the largest and longest-lasting studies of workplace culture and employees’ sleep patterns, Scandinavian researchers found both a clear link between the two and improved sleep over time when leadership increased psychosocial resources.

Seasonal influenza kills hundreds of thousands of people every year due to a constantly changing virus and highly inefficient vaccine production. A universal flu vaccine could deal with the first problem, and mRNA technology with the second.

Researchers have spent a century trying to develop a vaccine against malaria, one of the world’s biggest killers. The first shot to be approved, two years ago, is 30% effective. A new one, in the works for three decades, has a reported 77% efficacy and a licensee with the capacity to produce 200 million doses a year.

Children aged 10 to 14 who identify as sexual minorities (or weren’t sure about their sexual orientation) have more trouble sleeping. Depression and family issues such as conflict with their parents explained part of that difference, according to a new study.

The federal government is hoping that newly simplified vaccination guidelines will lead more Americans to get vaccinated against COVID-19. In other pandemic news, HHS announced plans to keep vaccines and treatments free for the uninsured, and an appellate court sided with the Biden administration's disputed vaccination requirement for federal contractors.

Insomnia is responsible for a lot of angst — and worse. Treatment is fairly straightforward. But for one cause of insomnia, the mechanism of treatment — and whether it works — remains elusive.

Despite decades of research, no available vaccine targets respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a disease that causes hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide among young children and older adults. Interim results of two late-stage trials of Pfizer’sRSV prefusion F vaccine suggest the vaccine is efficacious, although the low RSV infection rates during the high COVID-19 pandemic years limited some of the findings.

Vaccine hesitancy has many causes. A new study examined how the nocebo effect — beliefs that negative side effects will occur — may be a factor in people’s response to COVID-19 vaccination and could play into hesitancy dynamics.

Although it’s not likely to pass, at least not this year, opponents say the proposal is already accelerating the spread of false claims and sowing distrust of physicians.

Global polio eradication efforts have reduced cases of the deadly disease by 99.99% in 35 years. Yet it continues to circulate in over 30 countries. The most dangerous form is endemic in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where it seeds outbreaks elsewhere.

Increasing numbers of adults are getting vaccinated at pharmacies. But many states limit pharmacists’ ability to immunize children. Pharmacist participation in the federal Vaccines for Children program is even more restricted.

Vaccination rates are struck below levels needed to eradicate measles. Members of three generations of a family with expertise in vaccines propose a novel approach to improving measles vaccination rates. It could include a whistle.