Kissing can help you lose weight: According to a 2013 report on philematology, Joseph S. Alpert, MD, a professor at the College of Medicine – Tucson, writes that a simple kiss can burn 2 to 3 calories per minute, whereas a passionate kiss can burn up to 5 to 26 calories per minute.

Shad Marvasti, MD, director of public health, prevention and health promotion at the College of Medicine – Phoenix, recommends parents get their children who are 12 or older vaccinated to protect them from COVID-19. “They can get sick and I think that not being able to have kids wear masks regardless of vaccination status, I think is ethically questionable and puts our children and teachers at unnecessary risk," Marvasti said.

Over the last 10 days in Arizona, COVID-19 cases have slowly started to increase after plateauing for a while. “Cases may continue to inch up just a little bit, but I don’t expect hospitalizations to change much,” said Joe Gerald, MD, PhD, an associate professor and director of the public health policy and management program at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health.

People who contract COVID-19 even after vaccination are likely to have a lower viral load, experience a shorter infection time and have milder symptoms than unvaccinated individuals, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. "If you get vaccinated, about 90% of the time you're not going to get COVID-19," said Jeff Burgess, MD, an associate professor at the University of Arizona Health Sciences. "Even if you do get it, there will be less of the virus in you and your illness is likely to be much milder."

Tech Launch Arizona has awarded funding to five teams of students, faculty and community members to develop software or mobile apps and bring them to the public as impactful solutions to benefit society. The winners include College of Medicine – Phoenix students Jahnavi Shriram and Benjamin Conner, and faculty member M. Sriram Iyengar, PhD.

Ivo Abraham, PhD, RN, a professor at the College of Pharmacy, discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to impact oncology biosimilar utilization.

Health Sciences researchers are using artificial intelligence to quickly identify the chemical fingerprints of pulmonary hypertension before it’s too late.

The support of the Arizona Center for Rural Health assures Arizona’s rural populations will continue to benefit from health programs and services.

The highly transmissible Delta variant rapidly spreading in the U.S. and spurring calls for masks regardless of vaccination status harbors over a dozen mutations, some of which are linked to vaccine escape and heightened spread from person to person. "The mutations allow the Delta variant virus to spread more quickly and make infected people sicker," said Janko Nikolich-Žugich, MD, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Immunobiology at College of Medicine – Tucson. "Importantly, those individuals receiving all the recommended doses of the approved vaccines seem well protected even against Delta.”

A new study by University of Arizona Health Sciences researchers found that cancer cells become more aggressive when exposed to tissue stiffening and that these changes persist over time.