Concentrated, Intensive Programs Offer Short-Term Alternative To Traditional Weekly Therapy Sessions
Some patients can finish therapy in just a few weeks. The model is gaining popularity because it is proving to be as effective as long-term weekly treatments. In other public health news: vaping, med students, Lyme disease, autism, HPV, toxins in water, work wellness programs and more.
The New York Times:
With Short, Intense Sessions, Some Patients Finish Therapy In Just Weeks
Six middle- and high-school students sat around a table on a Monday afternoon, watching a psychologist write three letters on a whiteboard: O-C-D. “What does O.C.D. stand for?” the psychologist, Avital Falk, asked the group. “Obsessive-compulsive disorder,” answered a timid 12-year-old boy wearing a blue blazer and red tie. “What makes it a disorder?” Dr. Falk asked.“Because it’s messing up our lives,” said Sydney, a chatty 14-year-old with long red hair. (Petersen, 8/13)
USA Today:
Teen Vaping: FDA Weighs Ban On Flavored E-Cigarette Liquid
Teen vaping is at the tipping point before possible epidemic levels, federal officials and public health advocates agree, but they're feuding over how fast and far to go to rein in the booming electronic cigarette industry. Some of the health groups that sued the Food and Drug Administration for delaying regulation of vape products by four years charged last week that the agency let several new devices similar to the youth-favored Juul hit the market without approval. (O'Donnell, Alltucker and Chu, 8/13)
Stat:
Medical Students Are Skipping Class, Making Lectures Increasingly Obsolete
The future doctors of America cut class. Not to gossip in the bathroom or flirt behind the bleachers. They skip to learn — at twice the speed. Some medical students follow along with class remotely, watching sped-up recordings of their professors at home, in their pajamas. Others rarely tune in. At one school, attendance is so bad that a Nobel laureate recently lectured to mostly empty seats. (Farber, 8/14)
The New York Times:
Lyme Disease Is Spreading Fast. Why Isn’t There A Vaccine?
We’ve all heard the advice about avoiding Lyme disease. If you walk through wooded or grassy areas where it’s prevalent, you should use insect repellent. Cover exposed skin. Check yourself thoroughly once you return home, and take a shower. If you see a tick, pluck it off your skin with tweezers. Look out for a bull’s eye-shaped rash and flulike symptoms in the summer. About 30,000 cases of Lyme disease are reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention each year, making it the most commonly reported vector-borne illness in the United States. That number has tripled over the last 20 years. And experts estimate that the actual number of cases — not just those that happen to be reported to the agency — is more like 300,000 per year. (Zraick, 8/14)
The Washington Post:
Prenatal Tdap Vaccine: Kaiser Permanente Study Shows No Link With Autism In Children
New research has shown that a common childhood vaccination given to pregnant women does not put their children at any increased risk of autism. A Kaiser Permanente study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics found no association between the prenatal Tdap (for tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis, also known as whooping cough) vaccine and autism spectrum disorder when looking at tens of thousands of children in the hospital system. It is the latest in a long line of studies showing that there is no link between vaccines and autism. Despite the abundant scientific evidence, a persistent conspiracy theory has misled some parents into fearing vaccines. (Bever, 8/13)
PBS NewsHour:
Promoting The HPV Vaccine Doesn’t Lead To More Teen Sex, Study Shows
Teens are no more sexually promiscuous in states that have passed legislation promoting the HPV vaccine than those living in states that have not, according to a newly published study. The study, released in the journal Pediatrics, compared the District of Columbia and 23 U.S. states that passed legislation to promote the vaccine for human papillomavirus (HPV) with states with no such policies. (Santhanam, 8/13)
The Associated Press:
White House Called Toxins Contamination ‘PR Nightmare'
Lauren Woeher wonders if her 16-month-old daughter has been harmed by tap water contaminated with toxic industrial compounds used in products like nonstick cookware, carpets, firefighting foam and fast-food wrappers. Henry Betz, at 76, rattles around his house alone at night, thinking about the water his family unknowingly drank for years that was tainted by the same contaminants, and the pancreatic cancers that killed wife Betty Jean and two others in his household. (Knickmeyer, 8/13)
NPR:
Laser Treatments May Help Some Women's Vaginal Pain
Women struggling with symptoms like vaginal dryness and pain during sex, may be drawn to treatments, marketed as "vaginal rejuvenation," that claim to fix such issues. Providers who offer the treatments, often dermatologists or plastic surgeons' offices, often claim they can not only cure discomfort, but also tighten the vagina and give it a more "youthful appearance." Recently the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning to health care providers and their patients, effectively saying, please don't try to "rejuvenate" vaginas. (Watson, 8/13)
The Washington Post:
Are Rich People More Likely To Lie, Cheat, Steal?
What is about money that makes people do bad things? It seems a fair question when the news is dominated by misdeeds of the rich and powerful. The Paul Manafort trial, now entering its third week, has revealed details of his alleged crimes: defrauding banks out of tens of millions of dollars, evading taxes by stashing huge sums in offshore accounts and using riches earned through unregistered work for foreign governments to buy $15,000 ostrich and python jackets. (Wan, 8/13)
Kaiser Health News:
‘No One Is Ever Really Ready’: Aid-In-Dying Patient Chooses His Last Day
In the end, it wasn’t easy for Aaron McQ to decide when to die. The 50-year-old Seattle man — a former world traveler, triathlete and cyclist — learned he had leukemia five years ago, followed by an even grimmer diagnosis in 2016: a rare form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. An interior and urban designer who legally changed his given name, McQ had been in pain and physical decline for years. Then the disease threatened to shut down his ability to swallow and breathe. (Aleccia, 8/14)
Kaiser Health News:
Listen: The Latest On Workplace Wellness Programs
Kaiser Health News senior correspondent Julie Appleby joins a discussion on Cleveland’s WCLV about current thinking on workplace wellness programs. In Ohio, Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike DeWine is pushing a Cleveland Clinic-inspired wellness plan for Ohio’s Medicaid population. Appleby outlines how these wellness plans have historically functioned, their pros, cons and the recent regulatory developments around them. (8/14)
