A couple from Edinburgh describe what it’s like to use a male contraceptive gel.

Uptake rates from children receiving the vaccine by five years of age have dropped slightly but remains high at 96.6%

A 56-year-old pizzeria owner from Glen Cove, New York, died in the Dominican Republic last week, his family says, marking the latest in a series of mysterious deaths of American tourists in the country.

Vittorio Caruso’s relatives told News 12 Long Island that he died on June 17. According to his sister-in-law, Lisa Maria Caruso, they received a phone call saying that Vittorio was sick before, minutes later, receiving another call informing them that he had died.

RELATED: Dominican Republic Health Official Claims Cynthia Day Died from the 'Shock' of Seeing Fiancé Dead

The U.S. State Department confirmed Caruso’s death to Fox News on Friday. According to the outlet, Caruso died at the Boca Chica Resort in Santo Domingo.

A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department confirmed to PEOPLE that a U.S. citizen had died in June in the Dominican Republic.

Lisa Maria told Fox News that Caruso had gone into “respiratory distress after drinking something.”

RELATED: California Man Reveals He Felt 'Sick Enough to Die' While on Dominican Republic Vacation

Older brother Frank Caruso told the New York Post that Vittorio was “very healthy” when he left for vacation.

“He went to the doctor before he left, and he had no problems,” Frank said. “I spoke to the doctor. He called me when he found out he died, and he said he did not see anything wrong before he left.”

The family expects to receive the autopsy results on Monday, News 12 reported.

RELATED: 47 Jimmy Buffett Fans Get Violently Sick On Group Trip to Dominican Republic

According to the U.S. State Department, at least nine American tourists have died since the summer of 2018 after falling ill in the country — and dozens more have gotten sick.

The FBI is investigating at least six of the deaths. Some of them died in what appeared to be bizarre — and similar — circumstances. The agencies involved are not yet releasing further details about the investigations.

According to the FBI, federal agents are on the island nation to investigate six cases: four from various Bahia Principe properties and two deaths at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

The bodies of Edward Nathaniel Holmes and his fiancée Cynthia Ann Day were discovered in their hotel room at the Grand Bahia Principe La Romana resort on May 30.  Miranda Schaup-Werner, 41, collapsed on May 25 shortly after mixing a drink from the minibar in the Luxury Bahia Principe Bouganville. Pennsylvania native Yvette Monique Sport, 51, collapsed in 2018 at the Bahia Príncipe resort in Punta Cana.

At the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Punta Cana, David Harrison, 45, died in July 2018, and Robert Bell Wallace, 67, died last April.

RELATED: Pa. Woman Who Died in Dominican All-Inclusive Had Heart Attack, Says Resort

Officials from the U.S. and the Dominican Republic say that despite the media scrutiny, the deaths do not represent a statistical outlier.

“Speaking generally, we have not seen an uptick in the number of US citizen deaths reported to the Department,” a statement from the U.S. State Department said. “While the overwhelming majority travel without incident, we want to assure all Americans that we continue to work actively with the Dominican authorities at the very highest levels to ensure that U.S. citizens are safe and feel safe while in the Dominican Republic.”

Carlos Suero, the Dominican Republic’s Ministry of Public Health spokesman, told Fox News, “It’s all a hysteria against the Dominican Republic, to hurt our tourism, this is a very competitive industry and we get millions of tourists, we are a popular destination.”

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Practicing self-love is important, but it doesn't always come easy. Body-positive influencer and motivational speaker Mary Jelkovsky knows this—and she took to Instagram to share how she learned to love herself by banishing one commonly used word from her vocabulary and social media.

“I have a confession to make: when I first started sharing the message of self-love, I wasn’t 100% authentic,” she wrote in the caption of the post—which featured side-by-side photos of herself on the beach, each showing off her butt in a bikini. “I wasn’t 100% authentic because I was tortured by the worst word in the English language: T-O-O.”

RELATED: This Influencer Posted a Photo in Her Bra and Underwear to Show the Biggest Problem With Dieting

“I took photos of my yummy rolls and shared them as long as it wasn’t ‘too much.’ A little bit of cellulite was totally cool as long as it wasn’t ‘too much,’” she continued. “Too much. Too little. Too big. Too small. Too radical. Too quiet. Too thin. Too fat. Too smart. Too dumb. Too mean. Too nice. I’ve literally heard it all….And I’m f*cking done with it.”

RELATED: This Influencer Flaunted Her Cellulite in a Bikini to Shut Down Liposuction Rumors

"Stop being afraid of being T-O-O anything because other people’s opinions literally don’t matter! All that matters is that you like you," she wrote. 

Within hours, her message received thousands of likes—and dozens of comments that proved how much it resonated with her followers. 

RELATED: This Influencer Just Proved Those Photos of ‘Perfect’ Butts You See Online Don’t Show the Whole Truth

“Too sensitive. Too emotional. Too quiet. I'm learning to love these qualities but it's hard some days,” one commenter wrote. 

“I used to get told I was ‘too much’ all the time in school and college,” another wrote. “I still don’t know what that means but I don’t care anymore. Being me is all that matters.”

To get more body positivity delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for the Real Wellness WomenIRL newsletter

You’ve been for a run or a gym session, only to find that you are coughing, even though you don’t have a cold or flu.

Your breathing was just fine during your workout, but now you’re having a coughing fit. What could this be?

Coughing occurs when your lungs are trying to expel irritants in the airways and can be triggered by allergens such as pollen or dust if you’re prone to seasonal allergies. Sometimes poor air quality can also affect your airways and lead to coughing.

You could also be suffering from a condition known as exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB). This used to be known as exercise-induced asthma. What happens is that the airways become constricted as a result of physical activity. People who already have asthma are more likely to suffer from EIB.

EIB is caused by the loss of heat or water from the airways when we are rapidly breathing in dry air. Symptoms usually occur ten to fifteen minutes into a workout or directly after a workout, and include:

• Wheezing
• Difficulty breathing
• Tightness in the chest
• A sore throat

What triggers EIB?

There are many factors that can trigger EIB, whether you exercise indoors or outdoors. These include:

• Air pollution
  
• Dust
• Allergens such as pollen
• Abnormally cold and dry or humid air
• Chlorine in swimming pools
• Paints, cleaning agents or carpets inside your gym

It’s not always EIB

It’s not always EIB that causes coughing, as there are people who cough without the tell-tale wheezing and shortness of breath. According to research by the University of Iowa, it’s possible that vigorous physical exercise can trigger slight respiratory irritation without any narrowing of the airways.

When you exercise, you breathe faster and often through your mouth, which doesn’t filter and lubricate the air from outside, and which happens when you breathe through your nose. When you breathe at a normal rate, the air is moistened and warmed before entering the lungs.

Suddenly, however, as you increase your workout speed, you start breathing faster and most likely through your mouth. You may also be exposed to irritating debris in the air that can cause a cough. This is not serious, though, and will stop soon after you finish your workout, according to the research.

Minimise coughing after exercise

Training through winter for your next race or simply maintaining your workout routine? Here’s how to combat the cough.

• Wear a buff over your mouth and nose when going for a run in cold air.
• Make an effort to breathe through your nose while exercising.
• Warm up before a vigorous workout so that you can slowly increase your breathing rate.
• Try to avoid possible triggers such as changing your route.
• Bring your own yoga mat to the gym.
• See your doctor or an allergist for a proper treatment plan if your coughing is extreme.
• Shower immediately after exercising to remove allergens or chlorine from your body.
  

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Marelize Wilke

Out of all illicit psychoactive substances, cannabis is the most frequently used worldwide. As is the case with other forms of addition, cannabis use disorder (CUD) develops by frequent and harmful use of cannabis. A new report from the Danish psychiatric project, iPSYCH, found that a specific gene is associated with an increased risk of cannabis abuse. 

The researchers of the study, whose findings were published in Nature Neuroscience, found that people with CUD are more likely to have variations in their CHRNA2 gene, and this variation affects how much of a specific nicotine receptor is formed. In people who have low levels of this receptor in the brain, there is a greater risk of cannabis abuse.

Associate Professor Ditte Demontis from Aarhus University in Denmark and her colleagues, including scientists from Iceland and the US, tapped into the complete genome of more than 2 000 cannabis users against the genome of 50 000 subjects who it was assumed did not have the condition. CHRNA2 was found in the former subjects. The process was repeated in an analysis of a further 5 500 cannabis users against more than 300 000 non-cannabis users, and produced the same results.

Although it was previously known that substance abuse is the result of environmental and genetic factors, until now the specific genetic factors had not been identified. However, the researchers pointed out that having the gene does not automatically turn people into pot smokers – it simply makes them more likely to become addicted to it, if they start using it. 

Cannabis use worldwide

ScienceDaily notes that cannabis is the most commonly used illegal drug in both Denmark and internationally, and that around one in 10 users becomes addicted to the drug. The South African Society of Psychiatrists (SASOP) is reportedly concerned that there is a growing public perception of cannabis as a “harmless” plant.

Marna Acker, an occupational therapist at Akeso Clinic Nelspruit, explained that although cannabis seems to be a drug that adolescents enjoy experimenting with, use of this popular drug could lead to poor attention span, memory and hearing loss, poor cognitive impairment, and cardiac and lung impairment. In severe cases, cannabis-induced psychosis may occur.

Another frightening statistic is that drug consumption in South Africa is estimated to be twice the world norm. According to EWN, one in six people starts using the psychoactive drug when they reach adolescence, while Emily Feinstein, executive vice president for the Center on Addiction said last year that when teens and young adults use cannabis, they are almost twice as likely to become addicted as adults. The findings of the iPSYCH study could provide valuable information about people who end up developing CUD.

iPSYCH study ‘first of its kind’

The study is the first of its kind on this scale and Demontis highlighted the need to direct more research towards understanding the nature of addiction, and to determine whether other genes also impact cannabis addiction.

“Our hope is to be able to improve treatment and perhaps in the long-term even prevent this abuse,” she said.

Zaakiyah Ebrahim

A UK-based finger-prick blood test tested 400 nurses for the most common type of anaemia at this year’s Royal College of Nursing congress (RCN), reports the Nursing Times. The results indicate that 15–20% were found to have iron deficiency anaemia, without being aware of the fact. This prevalence rate is higher than in the rest of the male and female population, with the exception of pregnant women.

The test was led by Professor Toby Richards and his research team from University College London in Liverpool in May 2019. 

Performance affected

Richards and his team also asked RCN members to fill out a questionnaire to find out the possible causes of their anaemia. These included:

• Heavy menstrual bleeding
• Being vegetarian or vegan
• Having recently given birth

Richards raised the point that women are more likely to be anaemic, and that one should consider that the profession is female-dominated. Nurses were also likely to be blood donors, with 20% of donors being in the healthcare industry.

Having a high anaemia rate among nurses might negatively impact on their performance at work, said Richards. “That’s one in six to eight nurses potentially under-performing while being the population that should be advising others,” he added. The team told Nursing Times that the results are concerning, especially when considering that nurses are already performing under a great deal of pressure.

Following these findings, Richards said that more needed to be done to educate nurses about the condition, especially because they are the ones giving medical and health advice to the general public.

South African nurses also overworked

Although no tests to determine the iron deficiency levels among South African nurses have been carried out, last year there were reports of the profession experiencing critical staff shortages, leading to nurses being overworked, particularly at public health facilities. This was in spite of thousands of nurses being unemployed.

Short-staffed hospitals and the appalling conditions they work under leave nurses feeling frustrated and “sick and tired”. One nurse told IOL that four nurses often had to attend to 100 patients. The Citizen reported that an estimated 18% of South African Nursing Council (SANC)-registered nurses aren’t practising due to poor working conditions, while some work two jobs in both the public and private sector, so that they can make ends meet.

Since iron deficiency anaemia has a significant impact on lifelong health, if it is found that a high percentage of South African nurses also have the condition, raising awareness and taking steps to ensure nurses aren’t overworked is crucial to ensuring maximum productivity.   

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Zakiyah Ebrahim

The new rules follow teenager Natasha Ednan-Laperouse suffering a fatal reaction to a sandwich in 2016.

Where and when you should be cleaning to avoid infections and illness in your family, according to experts.

Slow progress is being made on junk food advertising restrictions and calories labelling, it is claimed.