The New York Times: Dr Martin Makary Chosen To Head The FDA
President-elect Donald J. Trump announced on Friday that he would nominate Dr. Martin A. Makary, a Johns Hopkins University surgeon with a contrarian streak, to be commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Makary, 54, rose to prominence more than a decade ago as a critic of the medical establishment, speaking out about patient safety and working with hospitals to improve practices. He also gained attention during the pandemic, weighing in on herd immunity, vaccines and masks in 2021, roiling some doctors who were still contending with packed I.C.U.s and hundreds of deaths a week. (Jewett, 11/22)

Politico: Trump To Nominate Makary To FDA 
Makary emerged during the Covid pandemic as a critic of the FDA — first on how long it took the agency to review data leading up to its approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and then for not considering changes to recommendations for children in light of the risk of a rare heart condition in young males that’s been linked to the shot. His suggestion that the agency slow-walked the first Covid vaccines to undermine then-President Trump prompted fierce pushback from agency leaders. Four years later, Makary, a Johns Hopkins gastrointestinal surgeon who advised the first Trump White House, stands to be recognized for his vociferous support of the president-elect’s pandemic response. (Gardner and Lim, 11/22)

ABC News: Trump Picks Johns Hopkins Surgeon Who Argued Against COVID Lockdowns To Lead FDA 
After the pandemic, Marty Makary began turning back to his initial focus railing against an overpriced health care system. He's long argued that the system is broken, overcharging patients and running unnecessary tests. He also began speaking more critically about America's food system, echoing a message embraced by Trump's pick for health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. "We've got a poisoned food supply. We've got pesticides. We've got ultra-processed foods and all sorts of things that have been in the blind spots in modern medicine," Makary told Fox News this September. (Flaherty and McDuffie, 11/22)

Stat: Trump’s Pick To Run FDA Is Top Exec Of Company That Provides Compounded Weight-Loss Drugs
Martin Makary is an executive of the telehealth company Sesame, which connects consumers to physicians who can prescribe compounded weight-loss drugs. If confirmed as FDA commissioner, Makary would take the lead of the agency as it grapples with high-stakes policy issues that could impact Sesame’s business. The FDA — and patients — have been caught in the middle of a fight between the makers of branded drugs used to treat obesity and pharmacies that have been compounding cheaper versions of those drugs for more than two years. (Wilkerson, Zhang and Palmer, 11/24)

MedPage Today: Trump's FDA Pick Is MedPage Today's Former Top Editor
President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Marty Makary, MD, MPH, to run the FDA. Makary served as the editor-in-chief of MedPage Today from January 2020 through the end of 2021. Makary has written three books on medicine and healthcare: Blind Spots, The Price We Pay, and Unaccountable, the last of which was turned into a TV series called "The Resident." A theme of all three books is challenging the status quo in medicine, questioning the evidence base for certain treatments and established clinical practices. Among his top issues, Makary has taken on the high costs of healthcare and medicine's penchant for overtreatment. He also authored Mama Maggie, a book about a woman who aids the poor people of Egypt's slums. (Fiore, 11/22)

Also —

Stat: Seven Criticisms Of FDA Covid Policies Offer Hints About Makary's Priorities
Johns Hopkins surgeon Marty Makary has criticized – sometimes with harsh language –  the Food and Drug Administration that President-elect Trump has tapped him to lead. (Zhang, 11/24)

Stat: ‘We Dodged A Bullet’: Biotech And Pharma React To Selection Of Marty Makary For FDA Commissioner
STAT reporters reached out to key figures in biotech, pharma, and medical devices to find out what they think about President-elect Trump’s pick of Johns Hopkins pancreatic surgeon Martin “Marty” Makary as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. (DeAngelis, Feuerstein, Herper, Lawrence, St. Fleur and Wosen, 11/23)

Politico: Trump Picks Former Florida Rep. Dave Weldon To Lead CDC 
President-elect Donald Trump has tapped former Florida Rep. Dave Weldon, a physician and vaccine safety skeptic, to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While in Congress, Weldon introduced legislation to move oversight of vaccine safety from the CDC to an independent agency within HHS. He has also repeatedly voiced serious reservations about the independence of the federal government’s vaccine safety review process, and previously suggested that a mercury-based preservative once commonly used in vaccines, thimerosal, is linked to a rise in autism. (Messerly, 11/22)

Bloomberg: Donald Trump's CDC Director Pick Is Former Congressman Dave Weldon 
For the first time in its 78-year history, the nominee for CDC director will require Senate confirmation, a change promoted by Republicans who say the agency needs more accountability. ... Weldon was a practicing physician before serving multiple terms in Congress starting in 1994. As a congressman, he promoted the idea that thimerosal, a mercury-containing vaccine preservative, caused children to become autistic. He also sponsored legislation to ban thimerosal from childhood flu vaccines. The CDC, which Weldon has now been tapped to lead, says on its website that “research does not show any link between thimerosal and autism.” (Smith, 11/22)

Florida Today: Trump Nominates Former Space Coast Congressman Weldon To Head Centers For Disease Control
During his tenure in Congress, Weldon championed religious and anti-abortion causes, gun rights and strengthening American national security. Weldon helped secure money to construct the East Central Florida VA Clinic. He also supported multiple bills to criminalize human cloning ad sat on the Appropriations, Science, and Health and Human Services committees, among others. (Berman, 11/23)

The Washington Post: Who Is Trump's Proposed CDC Director Dave Weldon? 
Weldon, who served in Congress for 14 years from 1995 to 2009, attracted national attention for his involvement in the case of Terri Schiavo, a brain-damaged Florida woman whose husband’s attempts to remove her feeding tubes and end her life attracted national attention — and prompted interventions by congressional Republicans. The attempt to remove Schiavo’s feeding tubes was a “grave injustice,” Weldon said on the floor of Congress in 2003. He petitioned her family in 2005 to personally review her case. (Sun, 11/22)

In related news —

NBC News: Vaccines Don't Cause Autism. What Does?
Timothy Caulfield, research director at the University of Alberta’s Health Law Institute in Canada, who studies health misinformation, said that people often are more willing to believe conspiracy theories about conditions such as autism, whose causes are complex and not fully understood, than diseases with clear causes. (Szabo, 11/22)

Politico: Trump Chooses Fox News Contributor Dr. Janette Nesheiwat For Surgeon General 
President-elect Donald Trump said Friday he has chosen Dr. Janette Nesheiwat to serve as surgeon general in his new administration. Nesheiwat is a Fox News medical contributor and serves as a medical director at CityMD, a network of urgent care centers in New York and New Jersey. Nesheiwat, who specialized in emergency and family medicine, has supported vaccines that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s nominee for HHS secretary, has cast doubts about. But she at times seemed to criticize the CDC’s guidance about Covid vaccines. She has also called into question the standards of care for youth with gender dysphoria from the American Academy of Pediatrics. (Frazier and Payne, 11/22)

USA Today: Trump Picks Fox News Medical Contributor As US Surgeon General
A graduate of the University of South Florida, Nesheiwat completed her medical residency at University of Arkansas Medical Center in Fayetteville and completed ER rotations with Johns Hopkins University. She’s an author of “Beyond the Stethoscope: Miracles in Medicine,” which is touted as offering stories of miraculous recoveries, experiences in the ER, and global medical missions that illuminate the transformative power of prayer and unwavering dedication to healing and service, according to a description of the book by its publisher. (Ramaswamy, 11/23)

The New York Times: Trump Picks Dr. Janette Nesheiwat To Be Surgeon General
In a social media post, Dr. Nesheiwat pledged “to work tirelessly to promote health, inspire hope, and serve our nation with dedication and compassion.” A spokeswoman for CityMD said Dr. Nesheiwat has worked there for 12 years. The company has had a major impact on medical care in the city. Many New Yorkers now often find it more convenient to drop by one of its storefront clinics than book an appointment with their primary care doctor because they are open on weekends and into the evenings. ... In September 2022, Dr. Nesheiwat told NashvilleVoyager that she had taken care of more than 20,000 Covid-related patients over the past two years. (Goldstein, 11/23)

Newsweek: How Janette Nesheiwat And RFK Jr Could Be Split On Vaccines 
As the debate over vaccine safety and policy continues to polarize the public, two prominent figures—Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, Donald Trump's pick for surgeon general, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's pick for health and human services secretary—represent starkly different perspectives. Their differing views could see the cabinet divided over the key issue of the vaccine mandate in an administration that has not yet made any firm remarks on whether it supports vaccines. While Nesheiwat has been a proponent of vaccines, Kennedy Jr. has been one of the most vocal critics, often touting conspiracy theories and misinformation. (McHardy, 11/23)

The Washington Post: Trump Health Picks Largely Untested In Fighting Disease Outbreaks
When the next pandemic strikes, Americans will again depend on a cadre of senior health officials to steer the nation’s response and reassure the public. But the team rapidly assembled by President-elect Donald Trump is largely untested, possesses scant infectious-disease expertise and has often questioned vaccines and other interventions overseen by the agencies they have been tapped to lead. (Sun, Diamond, Roubein and Nirappil, 11/24)

The New York Times: Trump’s Choices For Health Agencies Suggest A Shake-Up Is Coming
President-elect Donald J. Trump’s eclectic roster of figures to lead federal health agencies is almost complete — and with it, his vision for a sweeping overhaul is coming into focus. Mr. Trump’s choices have varying backgrounds and public health views. But they have all pushed back against Covid policies or supported ideas that are outside the medical mainstream, including an opposition to vaccines. Together, they are a clear repudiation of business as usual. (Anthes and Baumgaertner, 11/23)

AP: Trump's Health Agency Picks Could Help Carry Out Kennedy's Overhaul
The team that President-elect Donald Trump has selected to lead federal health agencies in his second administration includes a retired congressman, a surgeon and a former talk-show host. All could play pivotal roles in fulfilling a political agenda that could change how the government goes about safeguarding Americans’ health — from health care and medicines to food safety and science research. In line to lead the Department of Health and Human Services secretary is environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine organizer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Stobbe, 11/23)

In related news —

AP: US Towns Plunge Into Debates About Fluoride In Water 
For about 50 years, adding cavity-preventing fluoride to drinking water was a popular public health measure in Yorktown, a leafy town north of New York City. But in September, the town’s supervisor used his emergency powers to stop the practice. The reason? A recent federal judge’s decision that ordered U.S. regulators to consider the risk that fluoride in water could cause lower IQ in kids. “It’s too dangerous to look at and just say ‘Ah, screw it. We’ll keep going on,’” said the town supervisor, Ed Lachterman. (Stobbe, 11/21)

NBC News: Florida's Surgeon General Advises Against Adding Fluoride To Drinking Water
On Friday, Florida’s Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced that communities in the state shouldn’t add fluoride to drinking water because of what he called the “neuropsychiatric risk associated with fluoride exposure.” Fluoride has long been proven to drive down tooth decay by strengthening teeth, which Ladapo acknowledged in the guidance. But he added that there are also possible “safety concerns related to systemic fluoride exposure,” including reductions in IQ. While some studies have suggested potential links, the research is considered preliminary and far from definitive. (Edwards, 11/23)

Also —

Undark: Interview: What Biden's Covid Czar Learned From The Pandemic
Ashish Jha, the dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health, served as the White House Covid-19 response coordinator from March 2022 to June 2023. On Monday, after delivering the keynote for an infectious disease symposium at the University of Michigan, Jha sat down with Undark to discuss what the country got wrong, and what it got right, during the pandemic. The interview also touched on Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the politics of public health. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity. (Talpos, 11/22)

KFF Health News: Journalists Reflect On Trump Picks, Racism And Public Health, And Unnecessary Dental Implants
KFF Health News and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media in the last two weeks to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances. (11/23)

NPR: Trump Taps Brooke Rollins Of America First Policy Institute For Agriculture Secretary
President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Brooke Rollins, president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, to oversee the Department of Agriculture, one of the most sprawling federal agencies. ... As the new head of USDA she would oversee nearly 100,000 employees, and would oversee the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which makes up over half of its nutrition budget, as well as the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and school meal regulation. She would be the second woman to lead the department, following Ann Veneman who served under President George W. Bush. (Bustillo, 11/23)

The New York Times: Trump Picks Brooke Rollins, A Conservative Lawyer, To Lead Agriculture Dept.
While Congress determines much of the department’s funding levels in the farm bill, the incoming secretary exerts great influence over federal food policy. Under the Biden administration, the department, led by Tom Vilsack, has prompted the largest-ever permanent increase in food stamp benefits, strengthened antitrust rules in the meatpacking sector and invested billions in regenerative or so-called climate-smart farming practices. (Qiu, 11/23)

Trump picks Scott Turner to lead HUD —

Politico: Trump Selects Former NFL Player Scott Turner To Lead Housing Agency
President-elect Donald Trump selected motivational speaker and former professional football player Scott Turner of the America First Policy Institute to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, offering him a pivotal role in an area that has become one of Americans’ biggest concerns. ... As HUD chief, he would likely seek to slash the department’s funding, reverse Biden-era fair housing policies and overhaul homelessness programs, all goals laid out by the Trump campaign. While Turner’s views on housing issues aren’t clear, the AFPI agenda calls for “addressing the root causes of homelessness” rather than pursuing the “housing first” approach that Democrats favor. (O'Donnell, 11/22)

AP: What To Know About Scott Turner, Trump's Pick For Housing Secretary 
Turner, 52, is the first Black person selected to be a member of the Republican’s Cabinet. Turner grew up in a Dallas suburb, Richardson, and graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He was a defensive back and spent nine seasons in the NFL beginning in 1995, playing for the Washington Redskins, San Diego Chargers and Denver Broncos. ... Turner joined the Texas House in 2013 as part of a large crop of tea party-supported lawmakers. He tried unsuccessfully to become speaker before he finished his second term in 2016. He did not seek a third term. Trump introduced Turner in April 2019 as the head of the new White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council. Trump credited Turner with “helping to lead an Unprecedented Effort that Transformed our Country’s most distressed communities.” (Licon, 11/23)

In other news —

The Washington Post: Elon Musk And Vivek Ramaswamy Ready 'DOGE' For War With Washington 
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are interviewing job candidates and seeking advice from experts in Washington and Silicon Valley — pushing a sweeping vision for the “Department of Government Efficiency” past the realm of memes and viral posts into potential real-world disruption. Tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to lead an advisory panel to find “drastic” cuts to the federal government, the billionaire “DOGE” leaders have spent the past week in Washington and at Mar-a-Lago, seeking staff and interviewing seasoned Washington operators, legal specialists and top tech leaders, according to five people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reflect private deliberations. (Dwoskin, Stein, Bogage and Siddiqui, 11/24)

Modern Healthcare: Medicare Residency Slots Target Primary Care, Psychiatry
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is focusing on primary care and mental healthcare in its latest Medicare residency payments. CMS on Thursday released 200 new graduate medical education residency slots, many of which are set aside for students looking to pursue careers in primary care and psychiatry. (Early, 11/22)

CBS News: Why The U.S. Medical Field Is Pushing For More Black Doctors
As a child, 40-year-old Dontal Johnson dreamed of becoming a doctor, but never saw himself represented in the profession. "I had never seen a Black doctor growing up, and one of the crazier things is I never saw a Black doctor until I hit college," Johnson said. Johnson decided to apply to medical schools in Texas, but when a friend told him about a potential school in Nashville, Tennessee, full of Black students, he was in disbelief. (Duncan, 11/22)

In other health industry developments —

Stat: UnitedHealthcare Pays Its Optum Providers Above-Market Rates
UnitedHealth Group is paying many of its own physician practices significantly more than it pays other doctor groups in the same markets for similar services, undermining competition and driving up costs for consumers and businesses, a STAT investigation reveals. (Herman, Ross, Lawrence and Bannow, 11/25)  

Modern Healthcare: UnitedHealth's Medicare Advantage Ratings To Be Recalculated
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services must recalculate UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare Advantage Star Rating for the 2025 plan year and immediately publish its updated score on Medicare.gov, a federal judge ruled Friday. Judge Jeremy Kernodle, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, ruled CMS violated the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946 by improperly reviewing the UnitedHealth Group subsidiary’s foreign language call center services. (Tepper, 11/22)

The Boston Globe: How Lawrence General Is Integrating Holy Family Hospitals Post-Steward
Strolling into the cardiac unit at Holy Family Hospital, the top executive of Holy Family’s new owner, Lawrence General Hospital, stood erect and listened intently as nurses in scrubs ran through their wish lists: more staff, more supplies, fresh paint — “a little lipstick,” in the words of one nurse — to brighten up the floor. Dr. Abha Agrawal assured the overburdened staff that she had begun hiring and restocking supply cabinets in the post-Steward Health Care era. (Weisman, 11/24)

Modern Healthcare: CHS To Sell ShorePoint Health System To AdventHealth For $265M
Community Health Systems signed a definitive agreement to sell Florida-based ShorePoint Health System to AdventHealth for $265 million. The agreement involves two hospitals — ShorePoint Health Port Charlotte and certain assets of ShorePoint Health Punta Gorda — in addition to ancillary businesses such as physician clinics, outpatient services and a freestanding emergency department. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025 and is subject to regulatory approvals, according to a Friday news release. (Hudson, 11/22)

Modern Healthcare: Medically Home, Inbound Health Aim To Expand Hospital-At-Home
Medically Home, Vivalink and Inbound Health are looking to make it easier for health systems to staff, monitor and manage patients getting hospital-level care at home through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver. More than 370 health systems have applied for the waiver over the past four years. However, some have not yet launched hospital-at-home programs in part because of cost, staffing shortages and logistical problems, among other challenges. Some may also be waiting to see if Congress will extend the waiver, which is set to expire at the end of December. (Eastabrook, 11/22)

Modern Healthcare: Sanford Virtual Care Center Expands Rural Telehealth Offerings
A large rural health system is banking on a 60,000-square-foot building to take its virtual care efforts to the next level. Sioux Falls, South Dakota-based Sanford Health on Tuesday rolled out its new $40 million virtual care center. With an eye towards rural patients, the center will help train clinicians use telehealth while accelerating development of artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies. (Turner, 11/22)

KFF Health News: Anti-Fraud Efforts Meet Real-World Test During ACA Enrollment Period
Unauthorized switching of Affordable Care Act plans appears to have tapered off in recent weeks based on an almost one-third drop in casework associated with consumer complaints, say federal regulators. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which oversees the ACA, credits steps taken to thwart enrollment and switching problems that triggered more than 274,000 complaints this year through August. (Appleby, 11/25)

Also —

The New York Times: So Many Days Lost At The Doctor’s Office
Medical care can be wearying and time-consuming, especially for seniors. Researchers are beginning to quantify the burdens. (Span, 11/23)

The Washington Post: From The ER To Your House: Why Hospitals Are Treating Patients At Home 
An IV bag dangled from a curtain rod, pumping fluids into the patient. A paramedic drew a blood sample as an Olympic women’s rugby match blared on the television facing the woman’s bed. Lucia Louis was home. Not that long ago, she lingered in an emergency room, stricken with a painful salmonella infection. Rest in the ER proved elusive. Doors slammed, and a patient profanely told a nurse to shut up. Urine drenched a shared toilet. Louis yearned to lay on her reclining Sleep Number king-size mattress rather than a flimsy hospital bed that made her back ache. (Nirappil, 11/25)

USA Today: Singulair May Be Linked To Severe Mental Health Side Effects: FDA Study
A new study on a drug widely prescribed for asthma is binding itself to receptors in the brain and is linked to severe mental health issues and suicide, according to new research. The Food and Drug Administration presented the preliminary results of a study on the asthma drug Singulair, which is sold generically as montelukast, to a "limited audience" at the American College of Toxicology meeting in Austin, Texas on Nov. 20, according to Reuters, which reviewed the scientific presentation. (Gomez, 11/24)

FiercePharma: Gilead Supports ‘Sanctuary’ For Black Breast Cancer Patients
Triple-negative breast cancer, or TNBC, is a rare and especially aggressive form of breast cancer that grows and spreads faster than other types. Black and Hispanic individuals are disproportionately affected; Black patients, in particular, have about twice the risk of developing TNBC compared to white patients and the lowest TNBC survival rate across all races. Despite that heightened risk, there’s still a lack of resources and research specifically targeting Black triple-negative breast cancer patients. A new initiative is aiming to fill in that gap: With backing from Gilead, a group of cancer support organizations has unveiled the Black TNBC Sanctuary, a website equipped with information about the disease and ongoing clinical research, plus a wealth of resources spanning nearly two dozen areas, such as community support, genetic testing, survivorship and mental health. (Park, 11/20)

FiercePharma: Neurology Patient Groups Call Out Pharma For Inadequate Investment In Treating Disease
Neurology patient groups have chided the pharma industry for investing too little into treating disorders of the nervous system. The call for more spending rang out from a survey, which found neurology patient groups are less satisfied with the current level of investment than their peers in other therapeutic areas. (Taylor, 11/19)

FiercePharma: Pfizer Led Industrywide Sales Surge In Q3 After Several Quarters Of Dominance By Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk
After six straight quarters in which Eli Lilly or Novo Nordisk achieved the highest year-over-year revenue growth among the top companies in the biopharma industry, there was a new champion in the third quarter—and it was a major surprise. With a 32% increase in sales, Pfizer delivered the No. 1 bump among large drugmakers in the period, topping the sales growth figures for Novo (21%) and reigning champion Lilly (20%). (Dunleavy, 11/25)

On weight loss drugs —

AP: As Many As 1 In 5 People Won’t Lose Weight With GLP-1 Drugs, Experts Say
In clinical trials, most participants taking Wegovy or Mounjaro to treat obesity lost an average of 15% to 22% of their body weight — up to 50 pounds or more in many cases. But roughly 10% to 15% of patients in those trials were “nonresponders” who lost less than 5% of their body weight. Now that millions of people have used the drugs, several obesity experts told The Associated Press that perhaps 20% of patients — as many as 1 in 5 — may not respond well to the medications. It’s a little-known consequence of the obesity drug boom, according to doctors who caution eager patients not to expect one-size-fits-all results. (Aleccia, 11/23)

The Wall Street Journal: A 12-Year-Old’s Journey Into The World Of Ozempic 
Kait Handler spent much of her life in a battle with food noise. It started in childhood when she would “shame eat” packets of Devil’s Food cookies after school and hide the wrappers. As an adult, she stewed over whether to order a salad or a cheeseburger for lunch. When her daughter, Birdie, started exhibiting similar behaviors around age 8, she recognized them right away. She noticed Birdie would fixate on the promise of particular foods, like ice cream, and get upset when she couldn’t eat them. She watched her regularly eat adult-size portions at meals and ask for seconds. She heard her make negative comments about how she looked in her clothes. It felt familiar. (Janin and Jargon, 11/23)

San Francisco Chronicle: Bird Flu Found In Raw Milk Sold At Bay Area Grocery Stores
California agriculture officials confirmed Sunday that avian influenza, or bird flu, was detected in raw milk produced by a Fresno County facility that sells its products at dozens of Bay Area grocery stores. Traces of the infectious virus were found in a sample of raw milk sold by Raw Farm LLC of Fresno County that Santa Clara County public health workers bought at an unidentified retail outlet, the California Department of Public Health said in a statement Sunday afternoon. (Mishanec, 11/24)

The Guardian: Nine People Hospitalized In Listeria Outbreak Linked To South Carolina Food Processor 
A listeria outbreak linked to ready-to-eat meat and poultry products from a South Carolina food processor has caused 11 illnesses in four states, with nine hospitalizations, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A woman who was pregnant with twins was also sickened. Both of the fetuses died, but listeria was found in a sample from only one. The CDC said seven listeria cases had been reported in California, two in Illinois, and one each in New York and New Jersey. Seven people said they shopped in person or online at markets where Yu Shang products were sold and two people said they ate Yu Shang ready-to-eat chicken. (Helmore, 11/23)

More health news from across the U.S. —

The Boston Globe: Effort To Boost Public Health In Mass. Takes A Step Forward
Massachusetts is mandating new public health performance standards to improve the patchwork of local services responsible for ensuring restaurants are clean, pools are safe, and disease outbreaks are tracked and reported. The legislation empowers the state Department of Public Health to set new quality controls for Massachusetts’ 351 local public health departments and requires DPH to provide resources to help local departments meet those goals, including training and funding. (Laughlin, 11/24)

The Daily Yonder: Rural Residents Struggle More With Medical Debt
According to new research from the University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center, rural residents are not significantly more likely to be worried about their medical bills than their urban counterparts, but they are more likely to have trouble paying them. (Carey, 11/23)

The Mercury News: Santa Clara County Activates Hotline For Non-Police Crisis Response
Heading into the holiday season, which experts and authorities say has long coincided with an uptick in stress, anxiety and depression, Santa Clara County has streamlined access to a program that responds to instances of serious emotional distress without police intervention. About a year after it was initially proposed, the county has established a direct phone line to its Trusted Response Urgent Support Team, or TRUST. By contacting 408-596-7290, callers will be relayed straight to the program, which provides over-the-phone counseling support, and has four community-staffed field teams to help South Bay residents in person. (Salonga, 11/24)

CBS News: Oakland County Woman Convicted In $1.4 Million Health Care Fraud Scheme
A 71-year-old Oakland County woman has been convicted for her role in a health care kickback scheme that costed Medicare over $1.4 million, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Mary Smettler-Bolton is convicted of one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and receive illegal health care kickbacks and one count of violating the federal Anti-Kickback Statute. (Lentz, 11/23)

St. Louis Public Radio: Lawyers Sue SSM Health, Pediatrician For Alleged Sexual Abuse
Two St. Louis-area attorneys have filed suit against SSM Health on behalf of 30 people who claim a St. Louis County pediatrician sexually assaulted them. The suit, filed Thursday in St. Louis County Circuit Court by attorneys Kayla Onder and Ben Crump, alleges Dr. Craig Spiegel sexually abused people, including minors, while he worked on the premises of SSM Health DePaul Hospital. (Fentem, 11/22)

CNN: Vaping Immediately Affects Vascular Health And Oxygen Levels, Study Shows, Even Without Nicotine 
Vaping has an immediate effect on how well the user’s blood vessels work, even if the e-cigarette doesn’t contain nicotine, according to new research. The research – which has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal but is a presentation at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago – showed that using an e-cigarette with or without nicotine also decreased a metric known as venous oxygen saturation, which may mean the person’s lungs were taking in less oxygen. (Christensen, 11/25)

The Washington Post: Why Your Organs May Be Aging Faster (Or Slower) Than The Rest Of You 
New research shows aging is not a uniform process. Parts of our bodies start aging earlier than others, right down to our organs and cells. (Reynolds, 11/25)

CBS News: "Pink Cocaine" Is The Latest Street Drug. This Team Of Researchers Has Been Warning The Public About It For A Year
The death of music star Liam Payne. Sex trafficking allegations against Sean "Diddy" Combs. A deadly car crash involving an Instagram model. Many Americans have only recently learned of the drug known as "pink cocaine" from a deluge of celebrity horror stories. Joseph Palamar, an associate professor of population health at NYU Langone, would say they are late to the party. "A lot of people just think it's this new powder that's going around," Palamar said. "It's a pretty pink powder, and everyone's starting to use it, when it really started increasing was around mid-2023."  (Hanson, Geller and Sherman, 11/24)

NBC News: Cold Plunges May Have Fewer Benefits Than Hot Baths, New Study Suggests
Ice baths after exercise are hot, especially among influencers. But a new small study suggests that recreational athletes perform better if they soak in a hot tub rather than a frigid one, especially if there are breaks in their workouts, such as halftime in football and soccer, according to a report presented Thursday at the 2024 Integrative Physiology of Exercise Conference in University Park, Pennsylvania. (Carroll, 11/23)

NPR: Want To Prevent Dementia? Calculate Your 'Brain Care Score'
Dr. Jonathan Rosand ... and his collaborators have developed a way to gauge and track brain health, with a 21 point scale, called the brain care score. The score helps people understand the importance of daily habits — such as sleep, diet and exercise. (You can calculate your score in about five minutes.) ... About 40% of dementia cases could be prevented or delayed by addressing 14 modifiable risk factors, according to a Lancet commission report. And even people who have genetic risk factors can benefit. (Aubrey, 11/25)

In global health news —

AP: Russia Bans Adoption To Countries That Allow Gender Transition 
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday signed into law a bill banning adoption of Russian children by citizens of countries where gender transitioning is legal. The Kremlin leader also approved legislation that outlaws the spread of material that encourages people not to have children. The adoption ban would apply to at least 15 countries, most of them in Europe, and Australia, Argentina and Canada. Adoption of Russian children by U.S. citizens was banned in 2012. (11/23)

BBC: What Happened When A City Started Accepting - Not Evicting - Homeless Camps
As cities across North America grapple with homelessness, one Canadian city has taken a different approach by regulating tent encampments instead of banning them, as it tries to tackle what one official calls the issue "of the decade". (Yousif, 11/25)

The Washington Post: New Menopause Benefits Are Showing Up In Some Company Health Insurance Plans 
A growing number of companies have begun to offer employees access to menopause-related benefits in their health insurance, including paid time off, access to health providers knowledgeable about menopause, coverage of medication for menopause symptoms, and even altered work schedules and relaxed dress code options. These benefits are meant to help employees cope with symptoms such as hot flashes, depression and other physical discomforts. (Kritz, 11/24)

In other news about women's health —

The Guardian: Makeup, Fragrance And Hair Dye Use In Pregnancy Leads To More PFAS In Breast Milk – Study
Higher usage of personal care products among pregnant or nursing women leads to higher levels of toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” in their blood and breast milk, new research shows, presenting a serious health threat to developing children. The new study helps connect the dots among previous papers that have found concerning levels of PFAS in personal care products, umbilical cord blood, breast milk and shown health risks for developing children. (Perkins, 11/23)

Houston Chronicle: How The Menninger Clinic Helped A Mom With Postpartum Depression
When asked at age 4 what she wanted to be when she grew up, Houston native Adelaide Blandford simply responded, “a mom.” Now the 32-year-old spends her days with her son Robert, who turns 2 in December. “It’s my dream job,” Blandford said. Not long ago, however, reaching this ideal felt impossible. A serious case of postpartum depression stood in the way, and nearly cost Blandford her life. (Peyton, 11/24)

The Washington Post: Inside A Sleek Hotel, New Moms Find Postpartum Pampering And Sleep 
After hours upon hours of labor, an unplanned C-section, an impossibly long walk to the car and a jittery drive away from the hospital, Charlotte Campbell felt like most new moms: Overwhelmed. Exhausted. Anxious. Then she and her husband pulled up to a sleek Northern Virginia hotel, took the elevator to the 19th floor and entered Sanu Postnatal Retreat. (Shammas, 11/24)

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The Guardian: Home Is The Most Dangerous Place For Women, Says Global Femicide Report
An estimated 140 women and girls across the world die at the hands of their partner or family member every day, according to new global estimates on femicide by the UN. The report by UN Women found 85,000 women and girls were killed intentionally by men in 2023, with 60% (51,100) of these deaths committed by someone close to the victim. The organisation said its figures showed that, globally, the most dangerous place for a woman to be was in her home, where the majority of women die at the hands of men. (Kelly, 11/25)

MedPage Today: Workplace Violence Is Not Just 'Part Of The Job' 
Not surprisingly, nurses experience workplace violence more frequently than other healthcare workers. They are at the bedside responding to call lights, updating relatives, assessing and reassessing their patients, administering medications, and completing a host of other vital duties. We have heard both female and male nurses called almost every imaginable expletive, slur, and insult. Patients frequently mock, comment on, and ogle the physical appearances of their caregivers. The impact of workplace violence on healthcare workers has not been well-studied. Our colleagues reported that they were affected by the incident moderately or severely in 24% of events. Interestingly, we coded the "severity" of events, and there was no correlation between the coded severity of the event and the personal impact the healthcare worker reported. This highlights the need to address all forms of workplace violence, not just the more "severe" types like physical aggression. (Maria C. Doehring and Megan M. Palmer, 11/23)

MedPage Today: If You Are Pro-Psychiatry, Should You Be Anti-RFK Jr.? 
Much has been written about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s radical health plans to eliminate fluoride from the drinking water and suppress vaccines, among other lame-brain schemes. But relatively few people are aware of his anti-psychiatry views, possibly endangering the health of a large swath of the populace. Kennedy's views are dangerous. He has no understanding of mental illness or addiction medicine. He is an environmental attorney who lacks the credibility to be making medical decisions for millions of Americans. Worse yet, his stance on mental health is clearly anti-psychiatry. (Arthur Lazarus, 11/22)

Stat: RFK Jr. Should Launch A Marshall Plan For Obesity
Should Robert F. Kennedy Jr. be confirmed as secretary of Health and Human Services, it will bring real political power to the network of wellness influencers who populate the Make America Health Again movement. (Vishal Khetpal, 11/25)

Stat: Prognosis: Under Trump, The CDC Is In Big Trouble, But The FDA Might Be OK
If there is a message in President-elect Trump’s Friday night reveal of who he intends to nominate for key health care positions in his administration, it is this: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are in big trouble. The Food and Drug Administration might be OK. Of course, none of the picks, from the presumptive Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on down, have articulated what they intend to do.  (Matthew Herper, 11/23)