Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Have App, Will Find Research Recruits: More Than 20,000 People Sign Up On Facebook For 'Genes For Good'
Stat: Researchers Recruit 20,000 People For Facebook-Based Genomics Project
One of the biggest challenges that researchers have traditionally faced is getting enough people to participate in studies. And patient recruitment also takes up a big portion of research funding. But one group’s model may have found a solution to that problem — by using social media and the promise of giving people their results as a recruitment tool. In a study published Thursday in the American Journal of Human Genetics, the researchers behind the Genes for Good project share what they’ve learned since launching it in 2015. (Chakradhar, 6/13)
Stat: Study Points To Enteroviruses As Possible Cause Of Paralysis In Kids
Researchers say they have strong new evidence that a virus is involved in a rare and puzzling polio-like condition that began affecting children in the U.S. about five years ago. The researchers hope their work will lead to a better test for the paralyzing condition, called acute flaccid myelitis (AFM), which has been diagnosed in more than 500 kids since 2014. The scientists used an experimental method to pull evidence of viral infections from the spinal fluid of 42 AFM patients. (Fox, 6/14)
The New York Times: How Much Nature Is Enough? 120 Minutes A Week, Doctors Say
It’s a medical fact: Spending time outdoors, especially in green spaces, is good for you. A wealth of research indicates that escaping to a neighborhood park, hiking through the woods, or spending a weekend by the lake can lower a person’s stress levels, decrease blood pressure and reduce the risk asthma, allergies, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, while boosting mental health and increasing life expectancy. Doctors around the world have begun prescribing time in nature as a way of improving their patients’ health. (Sheikh, 6/13)
The New York Times: That Sleep Tracker Could Make Your Insomnia Worse
Are you sabotaging your sleep in your quest to improve it? Many new tools are becoming available to monitor your sleep or help you achieve better sleep: wearable watches and bands; "nearable" devices that you can place on your bed or nightstand; and apps that work by monitoring biometric data, noise and movement. They can remind you to start winding down, or generate a report on your night’s slumber. (Zraick and Mervosh, 6/13)
NPR: How Doctors And Researchers With Disabilities Are Changing Medicine
Bonnielin Swenor has devoted her life to studying visual impairment in older adults. But for a long time, she didn't often discuss the motivation fueling her work — that she herself has low vision. Swenor, an assistant professor of ophthalmology at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University, has myopic macular degeneration, a condition that leaves her with extremely limited vision. (Neilson, 6/13)
Bloomberg: How Ketamine Opens A New Era For Depression Treatment
Researchers have discovered that ketamine, a drug of choice for club-goers for decades, can be used to fight severe cases of the blues. For more than three decades, patients seeking treatment for depression in the U.S. have been steered primarily to one family of pharmaceuticals. Doctors have been looking for more treatments, particularly for patients who haven’t had success with drugs or who have had suicidal thoughts. (The U.S. suicide rate increased 30% from 1999 to 2016.) Could a party drug be the key to solving the nation’s suicide crisis? (Moore, 6/14)
Bloomberg: Bayer Dangles $5.6 Billion Olive Branch To Roundup Critics
Bayer AG plans to invest about 5 billion euros ($5.6 billion) in developing alternatives to its weedkiller glyphosate as it battles more than 13,000 lawsuits claiming the herbicide causes cancer. The German chemical and drug company moved to ease concerns over the controversial chemical, saying it will open the safety certification process in Europe to public scrutiny. Bayer wants to offer farmers more options to combat weeds while standing behind glyphosate-based Roundup, which it acquired via its $63 billion purchase of Monsanto. (Loh, Kresge and Noel, 6/14)
The Washington Post: Neurofibromatosis: Paraguayan Patient Enrique Galvan Undergoes Surgery In California For Rare Skin Condition
When Enrique Galvan was growing up in Paraguay, other children called him a monster. He had been diagnosed as a toddler with a rare genetic disorder called neurofibromatosis, causing benign tumors to form on his nerve tissue and create what appeared to be pieces of extra skin drooping from his head, neck and face. It wasn’t until he was old enough to go to school that he started to notice — and other children did, too. (Bever, 6/13)
