Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
An Invisible Killer: This Fatty Particle Triples Risk Of Heart Attacks But Most People Don't Even Know It Exists
The New York Times: A Heart Risk Factor Even Doctors Know Little About
To millions of Americans, Bob Harper was the picture of health, a celebrity fitness trainer who whipped people into shape each week on the hit TV show “The Biggest Loser.” But last February, Mr. Harper, 52, suffered a massive heart attack at a New York City gym and went into cardiac arrest. He was saved by a bystander who administered CPR and a team of paramedics who rushed him to a hospital, where he spent two days in a coma. (O'Connor, 1/9)
USA Today: Dry January: What Are The Benefits? And Is It Worth It?
With the booze-filled December behind us, many Americans will try to make up for their eggnogs, wines and other holiday spirits with Dry January, a 31-day break from all alcohol. The practice gained popularity after a British nonprofit promoted it in 2013, becoming a government-backed public health campaign the next year aimed at improving health, trimming waistlines and fattening wallets. But will putting down the bottles for a month make up for the recent weeks' revelry? Yes and no, according to a smattering of data and experts on the subject. It might depend on your goal. (Hafner, 1/8)
Los Angeles Times: Banning Seven Words At The CDC Would Have At Least Seven Serious Consequences For Public Health
"It's a beautiful thing, the destruction of words," George Orwell writes in the fifth chapter of his dystopian novel, "1984." Four public health experts from Emory University in Atlanta, just a stone's throw from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, beg to differ. In an editorial published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, they said it would be "damning, immoral and unacceptable" for CDC officials to act on reported admonitions from the Trump administration to avoid the use of seven words and phrases in the agency's official budget documents. (Healy, 1/8)
Los Angeles Times: Why The United States Is 'The Most Dangerous Of Wealthy Nations For A Child To Be Born Into'
It's no surprise that the United States ranks absolutely last in child mortality among the world's wealthiest countries — that's been true for years. A new study examines how this sad situation came to be. According to data from the World Health Organization and the global Human Mortality Database, the problems go all the way back to the 1960s. It was during that decade that the U.S. infant mortality rate (for babies less than a year old) and the U.S. childhood mortality rate (for those between the ages of 1 and 19) began to exceed the combined rates for the other 19 richest nations. (Kaplan, 1/8)
Bloomberg: Bill Gates Says Private Sector Can Profit From Public Health
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation wants corporations to join its efforts in advancing public health, not just because it’s the right thing to do -- but because it can be lucrative too. Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft Corp. and the second-richest person in the world, told private sector companies on Monday that he needs their help to solve pressing issues in global health. Drugmakers stand to benefit financially from joining the combined efforts, Gates said in prepared remarks at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference in San Francisco. (Levingston, 1/8)
Stat: Intellia And Editas Play Down CRISPR Findings, As Shares Fall On New Paper
Top executives for genome-editing companies on Monday pushed back against a new unpublished paper that raised concerns about preexisting immune responses to CRISPR-based therapies, insisting the issues outlined in the study were either already being addressed or were not relevant to the medicines being developed. The paper, which was posted Friday on the preprint site bioRxiv, sent shares of Intellia Therapeutics and Editas Medicine down sharply Monday morning. Shares of CRISPR Therapeutics also declined. (Joseph, 1/8)
The Wall Street Journal: Walk-In Doctor Visits At Work? Welcome To The Office Health Center
On Wednesday mornings, Stephen Fealy, an orthopedic surgeon in New York, heads downtown to see his patients. But instead of going to his office, Dr. Fealy sees patients in theirs—at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. He examines a couple of dozen Goldman employees, from managing directors to junior analysts and administrative assistants. Dr. Fealy, a sports-medicine specialist with the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, works alongside several other physicians at the Goldman Sachs clinic on the 10th floor of the firm’s headquarters, near Wall Street. (Lagnado, 1/8)
USA Today: Burn Injuries May Have Found Hairy Solution
Hairy skin may not seem like a desirable thing — until you don't have it. Burn and blast victims who require skin reconstruction often do not develop hair follicles or sweat glands on their new skin, which can have a physiological as well as cosmetic impact. Sweat glands aid with thermoregulation and hair can help mediate the sense of touch. So researchers have long sought a way to develop better replacement skin that would allow its wearer to sweat and sport hair, just like those who have not undergone such procedures. (Rudavsky, 1/9)
The Washington Post: Court To Weigh If One Parent Has The Right To Use Frozen Embryos If The Other Objects
During three emotional days of divorce talks, Drake and Mandy Rooks managed to agree on how to divide up almost every aspect of their old lives down to the last piece of furniture. Only one thing remained: the frozen embryos. There were six of them, created from his sperm and her eggs, and they had been left over from when the couple had gone through in vitro fertilization some years earlier. The couple had had three children using the technology, and Drake was done. He didn’t want any more children in general, and certainly not with Mandy. She felt differently. (Cha, 1/9)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Weight Loss Drug Study: Anti-Obesity Drug Shrinks Harmful Fat Cells
According to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 70 percent of U.S. adults are considered to be overweight or obese. ...But now, researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston say they’ve discovered a drug that could significantly reduce body weight without reducing food intake. (Pirani, 1/8)
Sacramento Bee: Study: Extended Ibuprofen Use Can Impair Fertility In Men
Ibuprofen is a common over-the-counter drug that helps with pain and inflammation. However, for men, it could compromise their ability to procreate, a new study suggests. (Harris, 1/8)
Los Angeles Times: Romaine Lettuce Is A Bad Choice Right Now, Health Agencies Warn
If you've somehow missed the huge warnings so far, we beg of you: Do not eat romaine lettuce. There's no official government recall in the United States - yet. But with two dead and many more sickened in the United States and Canada, major health organizations are advising you avoid the stuff. This all began in December, when the Canadian Government warned consumers to avoid romaine due to potential contamination with E. coli. (van Hare, 1/8)
Kaiser Health News: Her Sister’s Keeper: Caring For A Sibling With Mental Illness
When sisters Jean and Ruby were growing up in Harlem, they invented a game of make-believe called “Eartha.” The little girls would put on their prettiest dresses and shiniest shoes and sit down to tea as grown-up ladies. They discussed details of their hoped-for husbands and children, and all the exciting things they would do together. But 45 years later, the sisters’ lives are nothing like they imagined. Ruby Wilson, 54, has paranoid schizophrenia and lives in an assisted living facility in North Carolina. Her sister Jean Moore, 57, is her legal guardian. (Gold, 1/9)
