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Scientists researching what causes an itch in skin conditions such as eczema and dermatitis have made a major breakthrough. The research that has for the first time shown that bacteria can cause itch by activating nerve cells in the skin could help with treating itches that occur in inflammatory skin conditions, per Harvard Medical School scientists whose study was published in the journal Cell on Wednesday. (Falconer, 11/23)

If you've got itchy skin, it could be that a microbe making its home on your body has produced a little chemical that's directly acting on your skin's nerve cells and triggering the urge to scratch. That's the implication of some new research that shows how a certain bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus, can release an enzyme that generates an itchy feeling. What's more, a drug that interferes with this effect can stop the itch in laboratory mice, according to a new report in the journal Cell. (Greenfieldboyce, 11/22)

No pollution is good for anyone’s health, but a new study found that scientists may have significantly underestimated just how deadly pollution from coal-fired plants can be. It also shows how tighter regulations can work. The study, published Thursday in the journal Science, found that exposure to fine particulate air pollution from coal-fired plants is associated with a mortality risk that is 2.1 times greater than that of particle pollution from other sources. (Christensen, 11/23)

Nearly a decade on, the Flint water crisis still looms large in the minds of environmental toxin researchers. It was — and continues to be — evidence that not all communities in the United States are equally affected by environmental pollutants. (Cueto, 11/27)

Regular use of melatonin to help kids sleep has become “exceedingly common,” with nearly 1 in 5 adolescents (19 percent) using it, according to research published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. (Searing, 11/27)

Does a session on Zoom, FaceTime or Microsoft Teams leave you drained and listless? You’re not the only one: Since videoconferencing skyrocketed in popularity with the early days of the pandemic, use of such technology has soared. So have anecdotal accounts of a phenomenon some call “Zoom fatigue” — a unique state of exhaustion reported by those who feel wrung out after video calls. A recent brain-monitoring study supports the phenomenon, finding a connection between videoconferencing in educational settings and physical symptoms linked to fatigue. (Blakemore, 11/25)

A blast shattered the stillness of a meadow in the Ozark Mountains on an autumn afternoon. Then another, and another, and another, until the whole meadow was in flames. Special Operations troops were training with rocket launchers again. Each operator held a launch tube on his shoulder, a few inches from his head, then took aim and sent a rocket flying at 500 miles an hour. And each launch sent a shock wave whipping through every cell in the operator’s brain. (Philipps, 11/26)

Older Black adults who ate more whole grains appeared to have decreased memory loss as they aged, according to a study released Wednesday. Researchers at RUSH University Medical Center, in Chicago, found an association among elderly Black residents who consumed more daily servings of whole grains – such as a slice of dark bread for one serving – with lower levels of memory decline. This equated to being more than eight years younger than those who ate smaller amounts of whole grain. (Cuevas, 11/22)

Imagine you or your child gets a diagnosis so rare no one else on Earth is known to have it. Doctors can do nothing but predict a terrible downward spiral followed by death. That's the situation Luke Rosen and Sally Jackson found themselves in when their daughter Susannah was diagnosed in 2016 with an ultra-rare genetic condition. They were told their daughter, who has a mutation in a gene called KIF1A, had about five years before her condition would begin affecting her beyond repair. At year six, they met a man named Stanley Crooke who promised to develop a medication just for Susannah. (Weintraub, 11/26)

Dr. Jacob Hooker was stunned: There were only 45. Among the 145,000 people who had agreed to provide blood for research at Mass General Brigham since it began collecting samples in 2010, only 45 had autism. Hooker, scientific director of the Lurie Center for Autism at Massachusetts General Hospital, wants to identify subtypes of autism to better target research and treatment, but he couldn’t do much with so few samples. He fears that other scientists will also be discouraged. (Freyer, 11/22)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Many Autoimmune Disease Patients Struggle With Diagnosis, Costs, Inattentive Care 

After years of debilitating bouts of fatigue, Beth VanOrden finally thought she had an answer to her problems in 2016 when she was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease, an autoimmune disorder. For her and millions of other Americans, that’s the most common cause of hypothyroidism, a condition in which the thyroid, a butterfly-shaped gland in the neck, doesn’t produce enough of the hormones needed for the body to regulate metabolism. (Miller, 11/27)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: How The Thyroid Gland Mystifies Doctors And Patients

About 25 years ago, Andy Miller learned he had hypothyroidism, a condition that afflicts millions of other Americans. Curious about how this condition was affecting others, the �鶹Ů�� Health News journalist interviewed endocrinologists who treat hypothyroidism and several patients who live with it. Their stories revealed how mystifying thyroid and autoimmune conditions can be. (Tempest and Miller, 11/27)