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According to the CDC, about one in four adults has a fear of needles. Many of those people say the phobia started when they were kids. For some people, the fear of needles is strong enough that they avoid getting important treatments, vaccines or tests. That poses a serious problem for public health. Researchers have helped develop a five step plan to help prevent what they call "needless pain" for kids getting injections or their blood drawn. Guest host Tom Dreisbach talks with Dr. Stefan Friedrichsdorf of UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals, who works with a team to implement the plan at his own hospital. Friedrichsdorf told us some of the most important research on eliminating pain has come from researchers in Canada. Learn more about their work here.
Want to stop needle phobia in adults? Make shots less painful for kids
About two months after undergoing open-heart surgery, Sara England's infant son, Amari Vaca, was sick and struggling to breathe. Staff members at a local medical center in Salinas, California, arranged for him to be transferred to a different hospital via air ambulance.
Kevin Painchaud/Kevin Painchaud
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Kim Botteicher, founder and executive director of FAVOR ~ Western PA, runs the nonprofit out of the basement of an old church building in Bolivar, Pa. In addition to providing various addiction and recovery support services, she would like to hand out clean syringes to help prevent disease transmission. But doing that isn't authorized under state law.
Nate Smallwood
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Kevin Carlson, with nurse Joshua Lee (right) and respiratory therapist Eric Mathewson (left), watches a WWE match on October 2, 2023 in San Jose, Calif.
Gabriel Torres
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Surgeons perform the first transplant of a genetically modified pig kidney into a living human at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
Michelle Rose/Massachusetts General Hospital
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Ultra-processed foods contain substances you wouldn't find in your own kitchen, like high-fructose corn syrup, artificial flavor and color enhancers, anti-caking agents and emulsifiers.
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
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Edible products advertised as containing delta-8 THC offered for sale at a smoke shop in Seattle in 2022. Teens can overdo it with products like these, health officials warn.
Gene Johnson/AP
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Strength training is good for everyone, but women who train regularly get a significantly higher boost in longevity than men.
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People with metabolic syndrome, which can include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar and several other conditions, are at higher risk of getting cancer, a new study finds.
Oscar Wong/Getty Images
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Jon Kabat-Zinn is a leading researcher into the health effects of meditation. He developed the Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction protocol in 1979.
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Maria E. Garay-Serratos holds a framed photograph of her mother, who died after suffering decades of domestic violence. Scientists are trying to understand how domestic violence damages the brain.
Julio Serratos/Maria E. Garay-Serratos
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Most Americans also say women should be allowed to travel for medical care – including an abortion, a new KFF poll finds.
Gracey Zhang for NPR
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The CDC has overhauled its COVID-19 isolation guidelines, saying the virus no longer represents the same threat to public health as it did several years ago.
Markus Schreiber/AP
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Rohit Chopra, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, is working toward regulation to remove medical bills from consumer credit reports.
Michael A. McCoy/Getty Images
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Comirnaty, a new Pfizer/BioNTech vaccination booster for COVID-19, is displayed at a pharmacy in Orlando, Fla., on Friday, Sept. 15, 2023.
Joe Burbank/AP
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The $81,739.40 bill for her mother's air-ambulance ride arrived less than two weeks after she died, Alicia Wieberg said.
Lisa Krantz/KFF Health News
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