The collection of taxes on tobacco does not even cover a 30% of the yearly cost social security has in providing healthcare to those suffering from diseases resulting from cigarette consumption, revealed an investigated coordinated by the Clinical and Sanitary Effectivity Institute of Argentina and the Costa Rica Ministry of Health with the participation of the Costa Rican Social Security Authorit...

By Wendy Anders The Costa Rican Social Security Agency (CCSS, in Spanish) announced Thursday immediate measures intended to bolster the country’s largest old age, disability and life insurance fund (IVM, in Spanish) to ensure its viability in the long term, said the CCSS press office. The agency’s board of directors approved five short-term measures this week to bolster the state pension fun...

The Costa Rican Social Security authority started implementing the pulse-oximetry screening tests in 28 health establishments for the detection of congenital heart conditions in newborn babies. The application of this screening test began in August of 2016 and so far 16 cases have been detected, out of which, two are severe and have required the intervention of specialized teams of the Costa Ri...

Food and nutrition security are not improving in Latin American - some 34 million people continue to suffer from malnutrition, 47.7 percent of children under age 5 suffer from anemia and 49.8 percent, approximately 1.3 million, have chronic malnutrition. The figures "have not varied ostensibly in the region, they remain the same and are very worrying," the World Food Program (WFP) regional dire...

Smoking pot in young adulthood does not seem to increase the risk of early stroke, but cigarette smoking does, according to a study of nearly 50,000 Swedish military conscripts. “Extensive tobacco smokers in late adolescence had a fivefold increased risk of stroke before age 45, when compared to non-smokers, and more than double the risk of stroke (up through) age 60,” study author Dr. Anna-Kar...

January 2: Colombian rebels may be preparing to lay down their guns, but the nation faces a deeper challenge to heal itself: treating mental illnesses stemming from the trauma of a half-century war. The 260,000 people killed and 60,000 missing in the civil conflict are quantified in official statistics—but uncounted millions still suffer the psychological scars. Maria—a pseudonym which the w...

The four counties of Guanacaste with larger population are in red alert due to seasonal influenza. Since the beginning of December cases of cough and flu were reported and have increased in the hospitals Enrique Baltodano in Liberia and La Anexion in Nicoya. In the past two weeks 4 deaths were reported related to the seasonal influenza, these four patients had not been vaccinated. “We’ve...

The three dispensaries licensed to sell medical marijuana in Puerto Rico opened their doors on Friday to the 1,953 patients authorized to use cannabis for therapeutic purposes. Outgoing Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla marked the occasion with a visit to one of the dispensaries. Garcia Padilla, who hands over to successor Ricardo Rossello next Monday, signed the executive order legalizing medic...

The nature of a woman's orgasm has been a source of debate for over a century. Since the Victorian era, the pendulum has swung from the vagina to the clitoris, and to some extent back again. Today, the debate is stuck over whether an orgasm can be produced through vaginal stimulation alone, or if arousal of the external clitoris is always necessary. A new review by Concordia research...

All clients of PriceSmart Costa Rica who have recently purchased frozen raw tilapia should check to see if it is part of the lot #16080816172Y with expiration date: 08/07/2018 and if so, return it to the closest PriceSmart as soon as possible to receive a full reimburse, informed PriceSmart today through its local Facebook page. PriceSmart informed that they had been notified by the Costa Rica...

The U.S. Senate Special on Aging found hikes as high as 5,000 percent in prices of some prescription drugs. The panel's 2016 investigation looked at four pharmaceutical companies and public hearings on sudden price spikes in decades-old medications, and the pricing imposed by drug industry entrepreneur Martin Shkreli and other healthcare industry executives. The high prices are making vital ...

As the debate in Washington, DC rages over the de-funding of Planned Parenthood, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences are gathering data about the effects on women’s lives of abortion and the consequences of being unable to access that care. The experiences of women who have an unwanted pregnancy and seek an abort...

By Wendy Anders Duoo Hopeful,"Underwear-designed to protect mens' balls from smartphone rays," from Facebook. While the latest craze of briefs that shield men’s genitals from cellphone radiation may work, are they really necessary?, asks The Conversation in a recent article. Sales pitches for the undergarments include claims that protecting one’s testicles from radio waves emitted by cel...

By Wendy Anders Costa Rica accepted responsibility for violating the fundamental rights of a second group of people who could not access In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) during its ban in the country, reported Elmundo.cr, a digital Costa Rican Spanish language news media. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Inter-American Court of Human Rights) made public on Tuesday that it approved of th...

Before scheduling a bikini wax, or shaving down there, consider the results of a new study. Men and women who trimmed or removed their pubic hair were nearly twice as likely to report having had a sexually transmitted infection, or STI, compared with non-groomers, researchers found after adjusting for age and number of sexual partners. The lesson, according to the study’s senior author, Dr....

A group of scientists at a California university is testing in patients with spinal cord injuries a new method of electrical stimulation to help them heal. "The spinal cord contains alternate pathways that it can use to bypass the injury and get messages from the brain to the limbs," Dr. Daniel Lu, an associate professor of neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the di...

The 2016 Monitoring the Future (MTF) annual survey results released today from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) reflect changing teen behaviors and choices in a social media-infused world. The results show a continued long-term decline in the use of many illicit substances, including marijuana, as well as alcohol, tobacco, and misuse of some prescription medications, among the nation’s teen...

Geneva, Dec. 13 — Malaria has retreated in almost all of Latin America. Mosquito nets are key in preventing malaria transmission. Costa Rica is listed as free of malaria transmission by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and it, along with several other countries will be certified malaria-free by the World Health Organization (WHO) in coming years. The exceptions to thi...

By Wendy Anders Close up of a Marijuana plant flowering during the final stages of growth. EFE/file On Tuesday, Colombia legalized medical marijuana through a decree signed by President Juan Manuel Santos, which regulates the cultivation, processing, import and export of cannabis and its derivatives for therapeutic purposes. Colombia thus joins  Mexico, 23 states in the U.S., and Uruguay, w...

  By Wendy Anders Female condom; Pixabay Public Domain Although 78 percent of women in relationships reported using some form of contraception, a recent study in Costa Rica found that half of women’s last pregnancies weren’t desired. Women aged 15-49 said the ideal number of children is two. Results of the Second National Survey of Sexual Health and Reproductive Health-2015 we...

The Christmas and New Year holiday season tend to bring a rise in depression and suicides. A researcher in Florida hopes those at risk will use a free app that has shown promise of reducing suicide risk, and has other insights for others in the mental health field. Florida State University researcher Joseph Franklin made a startling discovery during an exhaustive examination of hundreds of suic...

Montevideo, Dec. 8 — Uruguay on Thursday inaugurated the first cannabis museum in South America, seeking to show visitors the history of cannabis and educate them about the "enormous variety of uses" the plant has, according to Eduardo Blasina, museum director. Medical marijuana, Wikimedia Commons The Cannabis Museum of Montevideo (MCM) is located in the heart of the Uruguayan capital, in t...

The Burn Unit of the Costa Rican Children Hospital reached its maximum occupation capacity, this worries the authorities of the medical center, who reported that through November, 2016 reports a total of 378 cases of minors who have suffered a burn. “We are very worried ecause right now we are at 100% occupancy in the Burnt Child Comprehensive Care Unit, we even have the support of some pediatr...

As it is common in Costa Rica, the end of the year comes with a dangerous influenza virus; according to the Ministry of Health in the last six weeks there have been ten reported deaths caused by it. The types of influenza viruses present in the country are the A (H1N1) and A (H3N2). The presence of risk factors generates complications in those patients affected by the virus, eight out of th...

The Holcim plant in Lourdes, Agua Caliente, Cartago, source Facebook. By Wendy Anders In Lourdes de Agua Caliente, Cartago, the air, trees, roofs, cars, and houses are regularly bathed in dust. And it isn't the Turrialba Volcano's fault this time. This ongoing saga which is having serious health implications for the small town, was reported on yesterday by Costa Rica’s Repretel TV statio...

EFE/ 43% of Mexican and 30% of Costa Rican children begin consuming alcohol before the age of 13, according to the first results of the study about the patterns of consumption of alcoholic beverages in Latin American minors. Costa Rican expert Jorge Mora Alfaro, associate investigator of the Social Sciences Faculty of Latin America (FLACSO), explained to EFE in Miami that those percentages are ...

Lack of sleep among the U.S. working population is costing the economy up to $411 billion a year, which is 2.28 percent of the country's GDP, a new report finds. Map showing economic costs of insufficient sleep across five OECD countries. Credit: RAND Corporation According to researchers at the not-for-profit research organisation RAND Europe, part of the RAND Corporation, sleep deprivation...

Costa Rica has come a long way when it comes to the creation and development of medical devices. Going in a period of 15 years from designing devices class I (disposable devices such as catheters), to class III devices (those that are placed inside the human body). Five of the ten main cardiovascular companies in the world and 6 out of 20 most reputable enterprises of medical devices in the wor...

(Reuters) - Nestle, the world's largest packaged food group, said it had devised a new technology that has the potential to reduce sugar in some of its confectionery products by up to 40 percent without affecting the taste. The maker of Kitkat and Aero bars said its researchers have found a way using only natural ingredients to change the structure of sugar particles. By hollowing out the cryst...

Copenhagen, Nov. 29 — One in seven people with Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV, in Europe are unaware they are infected with the virus, according to a report released on Tuesday. The report was published by the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control in advance of World AIDS Day held on December 1 each year to promote ...

Though maintaining consistent schedules is challenging for many parents, a new study shows it can benefit children in the long run. Pixabay Commons The collaborative study, led by University at Albany psychologist Jennifer Weil Malatras, found that individuals who grow up with predictable, daily routines are less likely to have time management or attention problems as adults. Researchers...

Thomas Reuters Foundation - Nearly two in every five pregnancies among girls in El Salvador aged 10-12 are the result of rape and incest but the rapists nearly always go unpunished, a U.N. agency has said. Girls under 12 are four times more likely to get pregnant as a result of rape by stepfathers and relatives, mainly fathers, grandfathers, uncles and cousins, than girls aged 13 to 17, the U....

By Wendy Anders Mandro Linton (19) and Rubén Bolaños (29) were the two most recent divers to die harvesting sea cucumbers in Nicaragua; photo courtesy of La Prensa. Two recent deaths bring the total to seven sea cucumber divers who have died in Nicaragua’s North Caribbean sea since September of this year, reported Nicaragua’s daily La Prensa last week. Meanwhile, two deaths have been rec...

By Wendy Anders Photo for illustrative purposes. Gay men prepare for pornography photo shoot, courtesy of Wikipedia. "Government bodies should function equally for all, not only for women," said Miguel Moctezuma Longoria, Ph.D., professor of development studies at the Autonomous University of Zacatecas (UAZ), reported NTR Zacatecas, a digital paper in north-central Mexico. Speaking on In...

GENEVA, Switzerland — The World Health Organization declared Friday the Zika virus is no longer an international public health emergency. Dengue, Chikungunya, and Zika are spread by the Aedes aegyptie mosquito (Wikimedia Commons) The WHO's Emergency Committee on Zika and microcephaly met for a fifth time and determined the mosquito-borne disease was no longer a global health threat under In...

Dengue vaccines are already being sold in private pharmacies in Costa Rica; however, the price is of around 70 thousand colones (approximately $130), and at least three doses are required to achieve a full protection against the four serotypes that are found in the country. The dengue vaccine can be applied to people between 9 and 45 years of age and cannot be applied to pregnant or breastfee...

By Wendy Anders Egidio Robles Gamboa, was awarded the Quality of Life Improvement Award for promoting community social action. The Costa Rican Ombudsman’s Office recognized the success achieved by an initiative aimed at improving the economic, social and cultural conditions of indigenous Bribri and Cabécar women in Talamanca, Limón. The Association of Indigenous Women of Talamanca (ACOMU...

A group of students of the Technology Institute of Costa Rica (TEC) won the silver medal in the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) event, organized by MIT and that took place in Boston, MA, USA, October 27th to the 31st in the category Diagnostics. The Costa Ricans participated with their project Prostal, a system for the diagnosis of prostate cancer through the development of ...

(Reuters Health) - Just because social attitudes toward sex at older ages are more positive than in the past doesn’t mean all older women have positive feelings about sex, according to a new Australian study. Researchers found that nearly 90 percent of women over 70 in the study had low sexual desire and a much smaller proportion were distressed about it. The combination of low desire and relat...

A new radiotherapy technique already available in Costa Rica can help cure lung cancer without the need of surgery. The outpatient procedure is ideal for around a 30% of people diagnosed with this form of cancer but for whom surgery is not an option be it because of risks related to age, other health problems, or heart conditions. The application of the radiotherapy using this new technique ca...