Despite International Kerfuffle Over Chinese Scientist’s Decision To Gene-Edit Human Embryos, Others Want To Follow In His Path
Denis Rebrikov, a Russian scientist, claims he has developed a safe way to gene-edit babies. "How it can be unethical if we will make [a] healthy baby instead of diseased?" Rebrikov told NPR during his first broadcast interview. "Why? Why [is it] unethical?" The issue has gained international attention as of late, with most experts in the field recommending caution. In other public health news: robotic ducks to help kids with cancer, a look at federally funded research, the flu, parenting, herbs and modern medicine, skeletal changes from phone use, and more.
NPR:
Russian Biologist Seeks To Edit Genes Of Human Embryos With CRISPR
A Russian scientist says he wants to create more genetically modified babies, flouting international objections that such a step would be premature, unethical and irresponsible. Denis Rebrikov, a molecular biologist who heads a gene-editing lab at the Kulakov National Medical Research Center for Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatology in Moscow, claims he has developed a safe — and therefore acceptable — way to create gene-edited babies. (Stein, 6/21)
The Washington Post:
Robotic Duck Helps Kids With Cancer Explain What They Are Feeling
It was hard enough that Savi Abdallah-Sinha was only a 2-year-old when he began undergoing chemotherapy treatment to rid his body of leukemia. What made his situation even more difficult, his parents say, was knowing that the little boy was so young he lacked the words to communicate the many varieties of acute pain he was experiencing. Each time a new drug was introduced or a round of treatment completed, the boy’s inner world remained largely mysterious to the adults caring for him. (Holley, 6/20)
Stat:
Federally Funded Research Drives One-Third Of New Patents, Report Finds
As researchers bemoan cuts in federal funding for basic science, a new study of millions of patents indicates the value of spending tax dollars on research. Ever since the great push for technological innovation during World War II and immediately afterward, the U.S. government has played an important role in fueling scientific research and innovation. About 10% of NIH grants now directly result in patents, and some commentators have argued that some industrial breakthroughs like the iPhone owe a great deal to government-funded research. (Flaherty, 6/20)
CNN:
CDC Says 2018-19 Flu Season Was Unusual If Not As Bad As The Previous Deadly Season
Lasting 21 weeks, the 2018-19 flu season was not only the longest in a decade, it was unusually marked by two separate waves of influenza A sickness, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed Thursday in a new report. An H1N1 strain dominated during an initial surge between October through mid-February, followed by a groundswell of H3N2 activity beginning in mid-February and lasting through mid-May, the CDC said. The H3N2 strain is known to cause more severe symptoms than H1N1. (Scutti, 6/20)
PBS NewsHour:
A Universal Flu Vaccine Could Finally Be Within Sight
Influenza is a shape-shifter virus that could spark a global pandemic. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health are working to deliver what is referred to as The Holy Grail in the fight: a universal flu vaccine that could protect against all strains of the virus. (Brangham and Kane, 6/20)
The Wall Street Journal:
It’s Okay To Feel Ambivalent About Your Children
Unlike many of his friends, Paul, a divorced 43-year-old publisher in Brooklyn, wasn’t nervous about having children. But now that he has them—two daughters, ages 13 and 3—he regularly finds himself fantasizing about how great life would be without them. (Parents’ names have been changed throughout to protect privacy.) He feels terrible, he says, but he misses the freedom that he once had. He struggles with what he calls “the constant clutching and neediness and lack of ability to concentrate on anything else.” In the case of his older daughter, he finds himself unable to stop comparing her to other children that he feels he likes better, which amplifies his feelings of disconnection and guilt. (Drexler, 6/21)
Los Angeles Times:
Men Are Expected To Be ‘Strong Silent Types’ — And It’s Breaking Them, Says Henry Rollins
In "The Man They Wanted Me To Be," Jared Yates Sexton explores the culture of toxic masculinity in America. To this day, toxic masculinity permeates offices, factories, highways, bars, locker rooms and pretty much anywhere else American men have taken it upon themselves to be strong, silent and seemingly impervious to the day-to-day brutalities they have invented and inured themselves to. This myth of the seemingly inalienable right to dominance and control perpetrated by men, especially by white males, has myriad catastrophic downsides. (Rollins, 6/20)
CNN:
Where Ancient Herbs Are Boosting Modern Medicine
Karen Kwai-Ching Li, known as KC, has lived in fear of her osteosarcoma, a cancer of the bone, for almost 28 years. She was diagnosed in 1991, at the age of 10, but failed medication over two months resulted in her tumors spreading, leading to an amputation of her leg. After the surgery and six rounds of chemotherapy, she went into remission. Using her prosthetic leg to get around, she continues to see Dr. Godfrey Chan, a pediatric oncologist at Queen Mary Hospital in Hong Kong, to monitor her recovery and ensure that the cancer doesn't return. (Senthilingam, 6/19)
The New York Times:
About The Idea That You’re Growing Horns From Looking Down At Your Phone …
You may be hunched over your phone right now, worrying about reports that young people are growing horns on their skulls from spending too much time hunched over smartphones. O. K., cellphones are making us rude and inattentive, but medical experts don’t totally buy the idea that technology is also warping our skeletons. The area of concern is the back of the skull where it meets the neck, a place that already has a slight, normal bump that’s easy to feel. Two Australian researchers say they have found enlargements, or bone spurs in that region, anywhere from a third of an inch to more than an inch long. (Grady, 6/20)
NPR:
Health Trainers Help Patients Stay Well In Rural Communities Far From A Doctor
Gary and Celeste Havener live 40 miles outside of Laramie in southeast Wyoming. They spend a lot of their time growing vegetables and riding horses across the prairie. A few weeks ago, Celeste fell off her horse. "[I] had a very ungraceful dismount and tweaked my knee pretty good," Celeste says. Afterwards, she lay on the ground for a while, trying to figure out how hurt she was. But she was also wondering if a visit to the closest doctor in Laramie was worth it. (Mullen, 6/20)
The New York Times:
When My Mother Forgot Me
On the day my mother forgot I existed, I sat across from her in a small cafe in the Berkshires, watching her sip her cappuccino and delicately tear off a piece of the croissant we were sharing. As she looked up and met my eyes agreeably and impersonally, I worked to get my bearings in this new world. Ten minutes earlier, when we were driving here, she had told me she couldn’t remember how we’d met. This was two years after my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. (Neuman, 6/21)
Stat:
The 23 Best Health And Science Books To Read This Summer
The first day of summer has arrived, and so has STAT’s annual book list of great reads in health, science, and medicine. Read on for recommendations from CRISPR pioneer Jennifer Doudna and CDC Director Robert Redfield. Plus, STAT readers from Boston to Ireland to Australia share their picks, in addition to our staff. Enjoy! (Mupo, 6/21)
