A new study finds that that Black octogenarians in the United States have significantly better odds of living to 100 than their white counterparts. UTMB’s Dr. Kyriakos Markides tells the Globe that the study confirms and adds to the research he’s done on Hispanic aging.

Research supports that gratefulness offers extensive health benefits, writes Dr. Victor S. Sierpina in the Daily News. Benefits of gratefulness include improved mood, better socialization, stress reduction, quality sleep, reduced pain and inflammation, stronger immunity, and lowered risk of cardiovascular and neurocognitive problems.

UTMB’s Dr. Gulshan Sharma was named one of the chief medical officers to know by Becker’s Hospital Review. “The health system went from earning 3-star to 5-star rankings on Vizient's quality and accountability study under Dr. Sharma's leadership,” Becker’s reports.

In the last half of 2024 alone, E. coli has been found in ground beef, carrots, onions, walnuts and cheese, causing at least 186 illnesses, one death and several recalls, reports Sentient Health. UTMB’s Dr. Alfredo Torres tells Sentient Health that E. coli lives in many places, but the “Big Six” subtypes that sicken humans are all found primarily in the bodies of cattle. “So when [the cows defecate], the fecal matter is contaminated with this organism, and anything that gets in contact with the manure, or water contaminated with the fecal matter, can get contaminated with the bacteria,” Torres said. This story was also published in The Good Men Project.

The latest guidelines now recommend that all adults over 50 receive pneumococcal vaccination, as well as adults 19-49 who have a chronic health condition or are immunocompromised, write Drs. Megan Berman and Richard Rupp in their latest Vaccine Smarts column.

“Short of a big vaccine program in the cattle, I just don't see how we're going to control it,” Dr. Gregory Gray tells NPR of the ongoing spread of a new strain of bird flu. There are at least 50 known human infections in the U.S. NPR reports but Gray said “it’s pretty clear, we’re missing probably a lot of cases of H5N1 infections.” Gray was also quoted in bird flu stories in outlets such a Web MD, the Associated Press, and Slate, among others.

Scientists have recently established that following a vegan diet, even for a short time, reduces your biological age, write Drs. Norbert Herzog and David Niesel in their weekly Medical Discovery News column.