Health Highlights: Feb. 7, 2020

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

Baby Carriers Sold at Target, Amazon Recalled Because Infant Can Fall Out

About 14,000 Infantino soft infant and toddler carriers have been recalled because their buckles can break and put children at risk of falling, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says.

The recalled models are Go Forward 4-in-1 Evolved Ergonomic, Flip Front2back and Up Close Newborn. They were sold at Target and other stores across the U.S., and online at Amazon.com from November 2019 through December 2019 for between $30 and $50.

No injuries or incidents involving the recalled carriers have been reported, according to CPSC.

It advised consumers to immediately stop using the recalled infant carriers and contact Infantino about how to get a free replacement carrier.

Consumers can go to the company’s website or call 1-800-840-4916.

—–

Chinese Doctor Who Was Among First to Warn About Coronavirus Dies From the Virus

The Chinese doctor who was silenced by authorities when he was one of the first to sound the alarm about the coronavirus has died from the virus, according to the hospital where he was being treated.

Li Wenliang died early Friday morning, according to the Wuhan City Central Hospital, The New York Times reported.

“We deeply regret and mourn this,” the hospital said on the Chinese social media site Weibo.

In a Feb. 1 story, the Times described Li’s efforts to raise concerns about a cluster of illnesses that were similar to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which ravaged China and spread to other countries nearly two decades ago.

The article also revealed Li’s summons by upset health officials.

“If the officials had disclosed information about the epidemic earlier,” Li told The Times. “I think it would have been a lot better. There should be more openness and transparency.”

Li’s death is a sensitive issue for the Chinese government, according to the Times.

As authorities struggle to deal with the epidemic, they’ve attempted to muffle widespread criticism that they mismanaged their response to the initial outbreak in Wuhan, a city of 11 million in Hubei Province.

Censorship in China has increased in recent days following a flood of online criticism and stories by Chinese journalists exposing the mistakes that caused the government to underestimate the threat of the coronavirus, the Times reported.

—–

Plant Therapy May Lower Workers’ Stress

Gazing at a plant at work could help ease your job-related stress, a new study suggests.

It found that looking at a plant for a few minutes and taking care of it led to slight drops in high levels of anxiety among workers at an electric company in Japan, and decreased resting heart rate in another 27% of employees, CNN reported.

The study was published in the HortTechnology journal.

The findings suggest that encouraging workers to take three minute “nature breaks” could improve their mental health, according to study author Masahiro Toyoda, a professor and horticultural therapy specialist at the University of Hyogo, CNN reported.

Copyright © 2019 HealthDay. All rights reserved.