June 6, 2025 | Vol. 54, Issue 11

The only bilingual Chinese-English Newspaper in New England

health

Heart Disease: What You Can Do Today to Reduce Your Risk

This is the second is a series of articles on how to protect against heart disease and improve cardiovascular health. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and globally. Though it affects people of all races and socioeconomic statuses, a 2021 Nature article found that “large differences in cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality exist between migrant populations and host populations.” Migration itself “generally has an adverse effect on health, particularly cardiovascular and metabolic health, which […]

Ultraprocessed Foods Linked to Cancer: An Interview with Tufts University’s Dr. Fang Fang Zhang

Last month, a study published in the medical journal The BMJ (a weekly peer-reviewed medical journal published by the British Medical Association) connected the consumption of ultraprocessed foods to a higher risk for colorectal cancer. Dr. Fang Fang Zhang, a researcher at the Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, led this project, focusing specifically on the effects of ultraprocessed diets on cancer risk through a large cohort study over 28 years. A key finding in her study […]

Aspirin, Heart Disease, and You

Once upon a time, bloodletting and lobotomies were common medical procedures. Cocaine was prescribed for depression, and doctors treated asthma with cigarettes. Conventional medical wisdom – fortunately for us – changes over time. The progress of science is cumulative: as we gather more evidence, we build upon our existing knowledge and abandon those practices for which there is little empirical support. Earlier this year, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), a volunteer panel of experts that issues evidence-based […]

close up photo of a rat trapped inside the cage

Boston’s response to the rat crisis has been Inadequate

Boston is currently battling against a swelling number of rats residing in the city. Due to the closure of multiple restaurants and businesses as a result of the pandemic, rats are migrating into residential areas of the city in search of new food sources. According to the data collected from Boston’s 311 app, which is used to report rat sightings, rat and rodent-related complaints increased by 48% from 2019 to 2021. Rats pose a public health issue as the Norwegian rat, the most common species in Boston, can spread diseases such […]

person holding test tubes

World Health Organization Declares Global Emergency as Monkeypox Spreads

It all started in Wisconsin. A three-year-old child was bitten by a prairie dog purchased from a local pet store. Shortly after, the child developed a high fever and a strange rash and had to be hospitalized. The child’s parents also developed the rash, but were otherwise asymptomatic. The Milwaukee Health Department tested the child and the prairie dog and confirmed that the cause of the child’s symptoms was the monkeypox virus, first discovered in crab-eating macaque monkeys in 1958. […]

man people woman street

How Massachusetts is Responding to the National Crisis in the Aftermath of the Dobbs Supreme Court Decision

In the first few days after the decision of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the landmark Supreme Court case that overturned Roe v. Wade and eliminated the constitutional right to abortion, thousands of Bostonians protested the ruling. They gathered in front of the State House and in Copley Square, marching and chanting across downtown Boston. They held signs displaying messages such as “guns have more rights than women in the U.S.A,” “bans off our bodies,” and “abortions save lives.” […]

Childhood Obesity Fueled By Consequences of the Pandemic

Politics, to paraphrase the philosopher John Gray, is nothing more than a series of imperfect remedies for recurring problems. No policy results in unmixed blessings; every decision we make has both good and bad consequences. So it is with the mandates and restrictions that have ruled our social life for the past two years. Lockdowns, school closures, and mask-wearing reduced the transmission of COVID-19 and prevented some serious illnesses and deaths. But two years on, we are vastly more knowledgeable […]

Banning Juul e-cigarettes: Government Intervenes to Protect Youth

“This really doesn’t make sense to me,” says Jenny (name changed by request), a rising senior at a Boston exam high school. “There are so many cannabis shops now all over the place. I’m too young for that, but I don’t want it. I don’t want pot or tobacco like my friends. Juul is convenient, affordable, and a better alternative to what my friends are doing. Why is it now being banned?” Jenny, who asked her name to be withheld […]

Baby Formula Crisis Hits Minority, Immigrant Women

Since the shutdown of the Sturgis Michigan Abbot Laboratories plant in February 2022, mothers have been scrambling to find baby formula. That story is widely known. But what is less discussed is how acute the loss of formula has been felt by minority and immigrant women who depend so much on baby formula to go back to work. “My client, Mrs. Wong, began to worry (early on) when the cashier at Stop & Shop told her that she could only […]

Baby Formula Shortage and Minorities

“It’s so sad. It shouldn’t be like this. We need formula for our kid, and where is this formula going to come from?” This is a lingering question from mother of two, Capri Isidoro, struggling to breast feed her one-month-old daughter. After giving birth, the hospital gave her baby formula without consulting her on any wish to breastfeed first, a common occurrence among minority moms. The baby formula shortage puts Hispanic and Black women at risk the most. The CDC […]

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