Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Depression, Epilepsy, And Alzheimer's Linked With Higher Brain Acidity
Newsweek: Neurodegenerative Disorders Linked To Higher Brain Acidity
Scientists have long suspected that our brain chemistry is responsible for many neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. However, there is a lot we still don't about the molecular mechanisms behind many of these disorders. ... In a new study, published in the journal eLife, a team of 131 researchers from over 100 different laboratories around the world have demonstrated that decreasing pH levels in the brain, or increased acidity, are a common feature of a diverse range of disorders, including depression, epilepsy and Alzheimer's. (Dewan, 3/27)
ScienceAlert: Scientists Discover Heightened Toxicity Risk For Children With Autism, ADHD
A study revealed there's a difference in how children with autism or ADHD clear the common plastic additive bisphenol A (BPA), compared to neurotypical children. ... Researchers from Rowan University and Rutgers University in the US ... found that kids with ASD and ADHD couldn't clear out BPA and another similar compound called Diethylhexyl Phthalate (DEHP) with as much efficiency as other kids, potentially leading to longer exposure to their toxic effects. (Nield, 3/28)
CIDRAP: Strategy To Prevent Hospital-Onset C Diff Shows Mixed Results
A strategy designed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to prevent one of the leading causes of healthcare-associated infections in US hospitals was not associated with reduced incidence over time, researchers reported today in JAMA Network Open. ... But the study also found that the COVID-19 pandemic may have affected the results by preventing full implementation of measures included in the strategy. (Dall, 3/27)
ScienceAlert: Drinking Coffee Dramatically Lowers The Risk Of Bowel Cancer Coming Back
Coffee drinkers have a much lower risk of cancerous tumours re-growing in the bowels, according to new research. An observational study among 1,719 people in the Netherlands has found that patients with colorectal cancer who nurse at least two cups of joe a day are less likely to relapse in the future. Drinking a few cups a day also seemed to reduce their chances of an early death. (Cassella, 3/27)
Stat: GLP-1 Drugs Linked To Increased Risk Of Post-Endoscopy Infection
Diabetes and obesity GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, which can delay stomach emptying, have introduced a predicament for patients undergoing surgeries and endoscopies — the patients in some cases may still have food in their stomach even if they’ve fasted, raising concerns that they could accidentally breathe food into their lungs during the procedures. (Chen, 3/28)
Stat: Scientists Boost Immune System In Aging Mice By Making It Youthful
One of the indignities of getting older is the way your body’s defenses against microbes begin to break down, leaving you extra vulnerable to infection. Researchers studying the ways these systems change with age refer to them collectively as “immunosenescence,” or, more poetically, the “twilight of immunity.” But even as scientific understanding of the phenomenon has grown over the past decade, the forces driving it remain murky. (Molteni, 3/27)
Newsweek: HIV Cure Nearer With Way To 'Shock And Kill' Latent Virus
We might be a step closer to curing HIV, as researchers have developed a way to knock out a version of the virus lurking in the body. Using something called an HIV-like particle (HLP)—which are dead HIV particles containing HIV proteins that trigger an immune response in a patient—may help treat the disease, scientists from the University of Western Ontario's Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry and the U.K.'s University of Bristol reveal in a paper in the journal Emerging Microbes & Infections. (Thomson, 3/27)
Stat: Multiple Sclerosis Has Subtypes With Different Best Treatments: Study
For years, researchers have been hopeful they could get under the hood of multiple sclerosis. The neurological condition shows up in over 2.5 million people around the world, but it doesn’t always look the same. If science could point its light in just the right way, patients might be sorted into disease subgroups, and treated more successfully depending on their kind of MS. (Cueto, 3/27)
CNBC: Altimmune Weight Loss Drug Minimized Muscle Mass Loss In Trial
Altimmune on Wednesday said its experimental drug helped patients shed weight but also minimized the loss of muscle mass in a midstage trial, a finding that could set it apart in a potentially crowded market. (Constantino, 3/27)
The New York Times: Life-Saving ECPR V CPR: What To Know
CPR stands for cardiopulmonary resuscitation. When a person collapses and is found to have no pulse, bystanders carry out CPR by doing chest compressions while waiting for professional help to arrive. ... But now a small number of hospitals are trying a new approach. Patients who are in cardiac arrest ... can be connected to an ECMO machine, which then takes over the work of their heart and lungs. When this high-tech treatment is used during cardiac arrest, the intervention is called ECPR. (Ouyanf, 3/27)
