Vaping Devices, Electronic Cigarettes Touted As Smoking Cessation Aids, But Some Data Suggests Otherwise
There's a growing field of conflicting data on the benefits and harms of the products. In other public health news: organs, cancer patients' end-of-life plans, Lyme disease, suicide, police violence and more.
The Wall Street Journal:
Vaping Doesn’t Often Help Smokers Quit, New Study Finds
Makers of electronic cigarettes and other vaping devices often tout their products as smoking cessation aids. But new research suggests that the devices haven’t helped many U.S. smokers quit. In a study published Monday in the journal PLOS One, researchers at Georgia State University found that U.S. adult smokers who didn’t use electronic vaping devices were more than twice as likely to quit as those who did. (McKay, 7/9)
The New York Times:
Dying Organs Restored To Life In Novel Experiments
When Georgia Bowen was born by emergency cesarean on May 18, she took a breath, threw her arms in the air, cried twice, and went into cardiac arrest. The baby had had a heart attack, most likely while she was still in the womb. Her heart was profoundly damaged; a large portion of the muscle was dead, or nearly so, leading to the cardiac arrest. Doctors kept her alive with a cumbersome machine that did the work of her heart and lungs. (Kolata, 7/10)
Stat:
Physicians’ Beliefs May Override Cancer Patients’ Wishes For End-Of-Life Care
[Dr. Nancy] Keating, also a physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, studies how to deliver high-quality care to patients with cancer. Her latest work examines the factors that contribute to large hospital-by-hospital differences in end-of-life spending for cancer patients. The new study reveals that the variation in the intensity of treatment stems more from the availability of services and physicians’ discomfort navigating end-of-life choices than from patients’ wishes. From surveys, conducted between 2003 and 2005, Keating found that physicians in higher-spending areas reported less comfort addressing end-of-life issues. They felt less equipped to treat end-of-life symptoms, to discuss “do not resuscitate” status, and to present care options such as hospice to their patients. (Farber, 7/9)
Stat:
Charity Launches $330M Initiative To Fund High-Risk Life Sciences Projects
One of the world’s largest biomedical research charities is setting up a new $330 million initiative to fund high-risk projects — an effort it hopes can help researchers challenge the status quo in the life sciences. The Wellcome Trust says that it is establishing what it is calling the Leap Fund — an independently run offshoot that will seek out and provide funding for outside-the-box science. (Branswell, 7/9)
PBS NewsHour:
For Terminally Ill Cancer Patients, Where You Live Can Shape End-Of-Life Care
If you are a terminally ill cancer patient, where you live can determine how much it will cost for you to die. ...What drives those price differences? A physician’s medical philosophy and practice styles propelled higher medical bills, and patients in geographic areas with fewer primary doctors and hospices per capita also tended to have higher end-of-life costs, the study said. (Santhanam, 7/9)
The Wall Street Journal:
New Effort For Lyme Disease Vaccine Draws Early Fire
Efforts to bring a vaccine for Lyme disease to the market have run aground amid heated debate over the years. Now, a European company is in the early stages of creating a vaccine for the increasingly common tick-borne disease. Lyme disease patient-advocacy groups—who disagree with the protocols used by most doctors for the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease—are already raising concerns. (Reddy, 7/9)
The Philadelphia Inquirer:
College Students Train To Help Peers At Risk For Suicide, Depression And More
Training that prepares college students to recognize and respond to signs of mental distress among their peers is now found at hundreds of universities across the nation. College counselors say a growing number of students like Griffith-Gorgati are opting to learn how to help address issues ranging from sexual assault to depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. (Pattani, 7/10)
The Washington Post:
Police Violence Affects African Americans’ Mental Health, A Study Says
“#IfIDieInPoliceCustody Know that the color of my skin was the only crime committed,” a woman tweeted in 2015, three days after Sandra Bland was found dead in her Texas jail cell. “Nothing will happen to the Police in the Freddie Gray case . . . ” a man tweeted three days after the death of a 25-year-old Baltimore man whose fatal spinal injury while in police custody in 2015 triggered protests throughout the nation. These sentiments — perception of a systemic unfairness and a loss of faith in institutions — are common among black people in the days and months following police killings of unarmed African Americans, according to a study published last month in the medical journal the Lancet. (Logan, 7/9)
The Washington Post:
If You’ve Ever Been Hangry, This Is What Your Body May Be Telling You
Have you ever been grumpy, only to realize that you’re hungry? Many people feel more irritable, annoyed or negative when hungry — an experience colloquially called being “hangry.” The idea that hunger affects our feelings and behaviors is widespread. But surprisingly little research investigates how feeling hungry transforms into feeling hangry. (MacCormack, 7/9)
