Technology To ‘Turn Off’ Genes Responsible For Trans Fats Exists. But Is It Ready For Prime-Time?
When it comes to altering genes in the food we eat, some experts want to tread carefully while others want to embrace the healthier food. In other public health news: glaucoma, the human cell atlas, c-sections, empathy, family planning apps, growth hormones, depression, online dating and more.
The Washington Post:
CRISPR: Are Gene-Edited Ingredients Already In Your Food?
In a gleaming laboratory hidden from the highway by a Hampton Inn and a Denny’s restaurant, a researcher with the biotech firm Calyxt works the controls of a boxy robot. The robot whirs like an arcade claw machine, dropping blips of DNA into tubes with pipettes. It’s building an enzyme that rewrites DNA — and transforming food and agriculture in the process. (Dewey, 8/11)
Stat:
Glaucoma May Be An Autoimmune Disease, Study Finds
Researchers at Massachusetts Eye and Ear were stumped when they saw T cells in the retinas of mice with glaucoma, so they called in an immunologist. Now their collaboration has produced the intriguing conclusion that glaucoma might be an autoimmune disease. In a paper released Friday, they reported that T cells, key soldiers in the immune system’s defense against microbes, play a role in the prolonged retinal degeneration seen in glaucoma. They also identified the target of the T cells: heat shock proteins, manufactured by both human cells and the bacteria residing within us. (Farber, 8/13)
NPR:
'Human Cell Atlas' Helps Scientists Trace Building Blocks Of Disease
If you flip open a biology textbook or do a quick search on Google, you'll quickly learn that there are a few hundred types of cells in the human body. "And it's true, because in broad categories, a few hundred is a good characterization," says Aviv Regev, a core member of the Broad Institute, a genetics research center in Cambridge, Mass. But look a little closer, as Regev has been doing, and a far more complicated picture emerges. (Weintraub, 8/13)
PBS NewsHour:
After A C-Section, Women Who Want A Vaginal Birth May Struggle To Find Care
Some women who have had one or more cesarean sections, like she did, may want to give birth vaginally with their next child, a practice known as a vaginal birth after cesarean, or VBAC. VBACs are controversial in the American medical community, and some hospitals or doctors refuse to perform them, despite guidance from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists that they are a safe option for many women. (Enkling, 8/12)
The Washington Post:
Empathy Researcher Tania Singer Created An Intimidating Work Environment, Former Colleagues Say
If there is anyone who knows the potentially devastating effects of hurt feelings, it is Tania Singer. The 48-year-old neuroscientist has spent her career looking at the physical, social, even economic benefits of making people more empathetic. She has mapped the brains of people watching their loved ones experiencing pain, for example, and sought scientific answers to questions about the roots of good and evil that have puzzled humans since the dawn of sentience. (Wootson, 8/12)
Stat:
FDA Clears Natural Cycles, Controversial App For Contraception
The FDA on Friday cleared the first-ever app to prevent pregnancy — but not everyone is convinced it works. The app, Natural Cycles, isn’t your typical form of contraception. It asks women to take their temperature upon waking and keep a daily log in its interface. It uses that data to help women keep track of when they’re ovulating. (Sheridan, 8/10)
Politico Pro:
Anti-Sex Trafficking Activists Enlisting Health Providers
The vast majority of trafficking victims are believed to come through the health care system at some point, making providers well-positioned to intervene. But advocates say they’re trying to combat limited awareness among providers and dispel persistent misconceptions about trafficking victims. (Goldberg, 8/10)
Los Angeles Times:
In The Game Of Online Dating, Men And Women Try To Level Up, Study Finds
In the world of online dating, men and women are looking to find someone a little out of their league, according to a new study. Scientists who analyzed user data from a popular dating site have found that heterosexual men and women reach out to potential dating partners who are on average about 25% more attractive than they are. The findings, published in the journal Science Advances, shed new light on the patterns and priorities of men and women when playing the online dating game. (Khan, 8/10)
San Jose Mercury News:
Hoping To Save Limbs And Toes, California Moves To Curtail Diabetes
More than 2.5 million people in the state have been diagnosed with adult diabetes, or Type 2, and risk a similar fate if it goes unchecked. That’s especially true for low-income patients, who may lack regular preventive medical services. ...That disparity is part of the impetus for a new diabetes prevention program for patients in Medi-Cal, the state’s version of the federal Medicaid health program for low-income residents. (Gorn, 8/12)
Kaiser Health News:
Advances In Treating Hep C Lead To New Option For Transplant Patients
After her kidneys failed from the same illness that took the lives of her mother and brother, Anne Rupp went on dialysis in May 2016, spending three hours a day, three times a week undergoing the blood-cleaning procedure. She hated it. Rupp, who had polycystic kidney disease, joined more than 95,000 other Americans on kidney transplant lists. She knew the wait could stretch out for years. (Appleby, 8/13)
The Washington Post:
Short Boys May Get Growth Hormones But The Decision Is Difficult
Erica Nicholson knew that her son, Sam, was small. Considering that she was barely 5 feet and 100 pounds and that his older sister was a “peanut,” it didn’t seem unusual. “I make small babies,” Nicholson said. But her daughter was growing. Sam, however, was so small that he looked like a baby compared with his peers, she said. When he was 4, his feet did not touch the ground on a training bike his sister had used at the same age. (Vander Schaaff, 8/12)
WBUR:
Treating Teen Depression Might Improve Mental Health Of Parents Too
An estimated 12.8 percent of adolescents in the U.S. experience at least one episode of major depression, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. According to previous studies, many of those teens' mental health is linked to depression in their parents.But new research suggests there's a flipside to that parental effect: When teens are treated for depression, their parents' mental health improves, too. (Chatterjee, 8/12)
The Washington Post:
Teens Don’t Get Enough Sleep, And That Can Affect Their Health
Did you sleep well last night? If not, you’re in good company. About a third of American adults don’t get the recommended seven hours of sleep per night, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many people don’t get enough sleep or sleep poorly because of their jobs or hectic schedules: They work long shifts at night or have to rush to get their kids ready to catch a 6 a.m. school bus. Some 50 million to 70 million Americans have a chronic sleep disorder such as insomnia or sleep apnea, a condition in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts throughout the night. (Underwood, 8/11)
The Washington Post:
New School Year Nerves Can Sometimes Be Dangerous Anxiety
Back-to-school season is upon us, and while some kids look forward to returning to class, others are a bundle of nerves. Parents may reassure and soothe, but they may also worry: Does my anxious child have a real problem? “Anxiety is a normal, healthy human emotion,” says John Walkup, a psychiatrist at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago. (Adams, 8/12)
