Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
2016 Election Triggered Clinical Depression For Some, But Social Buffers Helped Protect Others From Distress
Los Angeles Times: How Your Brain May Have Shielded You From Depression After The 2016 Election If You Didn't Like The Result
For some people the election of Donald Trump was a glorious moment of triumph. For others, it was a debilitating moment of trauma. But for a team of researchers at UCLA, it was the perfect opportunity to test how the brain responds to political distress. "A lot of research on stress in the brain looks at events that occur on an individual level," said Sarah Tashjian, a graduate student in psychology at UCLA who led the work. "We wanted to see if we could extrapolate that to a larger event like a shift in the political climate" (Netburn, 2/8)
Stat: In Startup, George Church Bets Cryptocurrency Will Boost DNA Sequencing
Agenomics startup co-founded by genetics pioneer George Church of Harvard emerged from stealth mode on Wednesday, proclaiming that blockchain, the technology that underlies transactions of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, will help people understand their genome, find cures for (unspecified) diseases, and, unlike most existing genomics companies, guarantee that individuals will retain permanent ownership of their DNA data. Nebula Genomics will do all of this, and more, through the hottest technologies since fire: Blockchain will insure private untraceable transactions between individuals selling their genomic data and companies buying it, and a cryptocurrency called Nebula tokens will make the whole thing go round. (Begley and Garde, 2/7)
The Washington Post: Robin Williams's Suicide Was Followed By A Sharp Rise In 'Copycat' Deaths
“Hanged.” The front page of the New York Daily News said it all in one word on Aug. 13, 2014. Above the capital letters, which filled nearly a third of the page, was a photo of comedian Robin Williams with a somber expression, dead at age 63. The headline, unfortunately, contravened the most basic recommendations of the World Health Organization and suicide prevention experts for how the media should cover suicide, including “toning down” accounts, to avoid inspiring similar deaths. News of Williams's death appears to be associated with a nearly 10 percent rise in the number of suicides in the United States in the five months that followed, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE. (Nutt, 2/7)
Los Angeles Times: Snooping Around In Hospital Pipes, Scientists Find DNA That Fuels The Spread Of Superbugs
The pipes carrying away the effluvia of very sick people are bound to be nasty, dirty places. But just how unwholesome they are is made clear in a new report showing that the pipes beneath a hospital intensive care unit are a throbbing, seething hookup zone for antibiotic-resistant bacteria. (Healy, 2/6)
The Baltimore Sun: Hispanic Women More Likely To Die After Breast Cancer Diagnosis
Breast cancer is the leading cause of death among Hispanic women, in part because many are not knowledgeable about the U.S. health care system or fluent in English. While they are less likely to get breast cancer than other ethnic groups, Hispanic women who are diagnosed are 20 percent more likely than white women to die from the disease. They are more likely to learn they have breast cancer at later stages of the disease, when tumors are larger. (McDaniels, 2/8)
Kaiser Health News: Changing The Way We Look At Dementia
In November, six people with Alzheimer’s disease and related types of cognitive impairment stood before an audience of 100 in North Haven, Conn. One by one, they talked about what it was like to live with dementia in deeply personal terms. Before the presentation, audience members were asked to write down five words they associated with dementia. Afterward, they were asked to do the same, this time reflecting on what they’d learned. (Graham, 2/8)
