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Morning Medical Update: How stress impacts comfort food consumption; 3D printed lungs helping study health risk of aerosols; Cryptic COVID case in Columbus

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The top news stories in primary care today.

doctor desk coffee © Alena Kryazheva - stock.adobe.com

© Alena Kryazheva - stock.adobe.com

How stress impacts comfort food consumption

Studies with mice show that comfort food is commonly craved after a stressful event because of the needed boost in energy required for survival. Eating these foods also shut off the brain region that stops you from overeating. This creates problems in humans because modern stress is less related to survival.

3D printed lungs helping study health risk of aerosols

A mobile 3D printed replica of the lungs is allowing scientists to study air conditions across the state of Texas. The Mobile Aerosol Lung Deposition Apparatus, called MALDA for short has been taken to the Houston Ship Channel and an e-cigarette user’s home among other locations. Houston has some of the worst air quality in the United States.

Cryptic COVID case in Columbus

Unique and individual COVID strains are being identified across the country. Marc Johnson, a professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the University of Missouri School of Medicine, believes there is a person in Columbus, Ohio that has unknowingly had COVID for 2 years. Johnson also believes this person is “shedding thousands of times more material than a normal person ever would.” The Ohio strain is the 36th new strain Johnson’s team has found. A 37th was recently discovered in the Bronx.

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