How Game-Theory Economists Changed The Landscape Of Living-Donor Organ Transplants
Kidney donations from living donors require a close biological match, which can be devastatingly rare to find. But organ exchange chains--where one person's loved one gives to a patient, whose' loved one gives to another patient and so on--have been opening up a whole world of possibilities for some families. In other public health news: gun control, depression, diabetes, AIDS, the flu, timeout, rape survivors, meat, pregnancy and more.
The Wall Street Journal:
I Gave My Kidney To A Stranger To Save My Brother’s Life
In August, I became part of an exercise in market economics to save my older brother’s life. We participated in an innovative program that creates exchanges of goods with immeasurable value—healthy kidneys—among strangers who never would have connected otherwise. A little over a year earlier, my brother had rushed to the intensive-care unit of the Alfred Hospital while on a work trip in Melbourne, Australia, after experiencing extreme difficulty breathing. (Patel, 3/9)
The Wall Street Journal:
Rural Sheriffs Defy New Gun Measures
In swaths of rural America, county sheriffs, prosecutors and other local officials are mounting resistance to gun-control measures moving through legislatures in Democratic-led states. The “Second Amendment sanctuary” movement has taken hold in more than 100 counties in several states, including New Mexico and Illinois, where local law-enforcement and county leaders are saying they won’t enforce new legislation that infringes on the constitutional right to bear arms. (Gershman and Frosch, 3/10)
The New York Times:
Doctors Welcome New Depression Drug, Cautiously
Doctors welcomed federal approval this week of a new, fast-acting nasal spray for depression. But also they expressed concerns about its cost and long-term effects, as well as the logistics of administering it in accordance with safety requirements. The new drug, esketamine, made by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, won approval from the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday for people who have received little or no relief from other antidepressants. (Carey, 3/8)
Stat:
23andMe Will Tell You How Your DNA Affects Your Diabetes Risk
As more people get genetic testing to assess their risk of getting cancers and other serious conditions, diabetes has been almost entirely left out — largely because of the difficulty of developing a useful test. But at the South by Southwest festival on Sunday, the consumer genomics giant 23andMe announced that it will now tell its customers how their DNA affects their chances of developing type 2 diabetes, a condition better known for its link to environmental factors than genetics. (Robbins, 3/10)
The New York Times:
Bit By Bit, Scientists Gain Ground On AIDS
The unnamed “London patient” — the second person apparently cured of H.I.V. — earned all the headlines. But other research released this week at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections showed that scientists are making slow but steady progress on the tactics and medicines needed to fight the epidemic, especially in Africa. Monthly injections of long-acting H.I.V. drugs proved as good as daily pills at suppressing the virus, according to two trials involving more than 1,000 patients. In another study, Descovy, a new formulation of the H.I.V. treatment Truvada, proved just as effective at suppressing the virus, and may have fewer — or at least different — side effects. (McNeil, 3/8)
The Associated Press:
Flu May Have Peaked, But Experts Eye Jump In Nastier Strain
There's a strong chance this flu season has peaked, but health officials are watching a recent wave of illnesses from a nastier flu strain. Flu was reported to be widespread in 48 states last week, down from 49 the week before, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday in its latest report on this winter's flu season. The federal agency's flu forecasters think there's a 90 percent chance the flu season has peaked. (3/8)
The Washington Post:
The Man Who Developed Timeouts For Kids Stands By His Now Hotly-Debated Idea
After his daughter was born, Arthur Staats naturally began thinking about his role as a parent. How would he encourage good behavior and discourage bad behavior as Jennifer grew up? He didn’t like spanking. So what was a psychology professor and behaviorist in 1960 to do? Invent timeout. Or so the family story goes. (Vander Schaaff, 3/9)
The Philadelphia Inquirer:
‘I Suffered In Silence For 12 Years’: Rape Survivor Helps Black Women Talk About Sexual Violence
Nearly two decades later, [LaQuisha] Anthony has become that hope for others. Through her nonprofit called V.O.I.C.E. (Victory Over Inconceivable Cowardly Experiences), Anthony works to elevate the stories of black women and girls, who are more likely to face sexual violence, research shows, yet less likely to speak out or be believed when they do. (Pattani, 3/11)
The New York Times:
Congratulations, It’s Twins. The Doctor Is Perplexed.
It only required a glance at the ultrasound for the doctor to know that he was looking at identical twins. The positioning of two amniotic sacs attached to one placenta was the giveaway. It would be a couple of months before he could tell the mother whether to expect two boys or two girls. What seemed certain was that her babies would share a gender. And yet at 14 weeks when Dr. Nicholas M. Fisk, a maternal fetal medicine specialist at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital at the time, inspected the ultrasound, he saw something perplexing. (Murphy, 3/8)
The New York Times:
No One Is Taking Your Hamburgers. But Would It Even Be A Good Idea?
The hamburger is suddenly embroiled in a political dispute. Supporters of the Green New Deal, according to a Republican talking point, are anti-patty. “They want to take away your hamburgers,” Sebastian Gorka, a former adviser to President Trump, said last week at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Other Republicans, including Mr. Trump, have made similar claims. But the Green New Deal, a broad climate policy proposal, makes no mention of hamburgers, cows or beef. (Pierre-Louis, 3/8)
The New York Times:
We Broke The Same Bone. My Recovery Was A Breeze, Hers An Ordeal. Why?
A recent essay in The New England Journal of Medicine was titled “Heart and Sole — Of Metatarsals, Meaning and Medicine.” I had to read it. It’s not often you come across a reflection on metatarsal fractures, though they are common. I had just recovered from breaking my fifth metatarsal, the slender bone on the outside edge of the foot, so I was curious. (Kolata, 3/8)
NPR:
Pregnant And Considering Home Birth? What You Should Know
As my belly grows, I'm more and more stressed by a decision that's weighed on me for the last eight months. Where should I deliver my baby? Last summer, when I found out I was pregnant with my first baby, I initially envisioned, like most American women, a hospital delivery. In fact, that's where roughly 99 percent of U.S. children are born. That's not a surprise: The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, or ACOG, recommends hospitals or accredited birth centers as the safest option for having a baby. (McClurg, 3/11)
Boston Globe:
Who Are You Calling Senior? For Older Folks, Some Terms Are Fast Becoming Radioactive
Words once commonly used to describe older folks and their lives — “elderly,” “geriatric,” “in their golden years” — are now scorned by some as patronizing. Even durable terms like “aging” and “seniors,” still in widespread use and part of the names of countless organizations, are fast becoming radioactive. (Weisman, 3/7)
KCUR:
Lost Sleep, Violent Outbursts: Children Cope With Gun Violence Trauma
More than 3,500 children and teenagers in the United States were injured or killed in firearm incidents last year, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive. These sort of incidents have fallout far beyond the immediate damage of the bullet, including the lingering trauma of friends and classmates dealing with the violent death of a peer. ...Since the shooting, several children at the center have reported having trouble sleeping. [Marilyn] Wiggins, the program volunteer, said one of her grandsons has started questioning the concept of his mortality. (Wise, 3/9)
The Washington Post:
Look Right Here, Folks! Psychologist Points Out What Catches Your Eye, Fires Up Your Brain
What caught your attention about this article? Maybe it was the headline or its placement on a page or computer screen. But as you read these words, plenty of other things are vying for your visual attention. Color, movement, pattern expectations all beckon you. So what dictates what grabs you? “How Attention Works,” written by Stefan Van der Stigchel and translated from the Dutch by Danny Guinan, answers that question. A cognitive psychologist, Van der Stigchel is interested in how human brains process visual information. His book is slender but packed with information about how the brain navigates a complex visual world. (Blakemore, 3/10)
Nashville Tennessean:
Caring For Therapists' Mental Health: Avoiding Burnout For Those Who Heal
Without boundaries and self-care, the healing profession of therapy can cause its counselors harm. Researchers focused on practitioner attrition found that as many as two out of every three mental health workers "may be experiencing high levels of burnout." The most prevalent cause, according to a 2018 review in the Journal of Clinical Psychology, is emotional exhaustion — feeling physically and psychologically drained while at work. (Bliss, 3/10)
