It’s Been More Than A Year Since U.S. Diplomats Were Pulled From Cuba And Everyone Is Still Stumped On What Made Them Sick
The mystery is stoking tensions, not only between the U.S. and Cuba, but also internally in Washington as theories continue to be shot down. In other public health news: blood pressure, gut microbiomes, red meat, genetics, aging and more.
ProPublica:
The Strange Case Of American Diplomats In Cuba: As The Mystery Deepens, So Do Divisions in Washington
Yet more than a year after the CIA secretly shut down its Havana station and the State Department withdrew most of its diplomats from Cuba in response to the incidents there, escalating a bitter new cold war between the two countries, U.S. investigators still have no clear idea who or what made the Americans sick. A sprawling investigation has enlisted law enforcement agents, intelligence officers and defense experts, as well as scientists and medical specialists from within and outside government. (Golden and Rotella, 11/9)
The New York Times:
Under 40 With High Blood Pressure? Be Wary Of Heart Risks
Adults under 40 with high blood pressure are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease later in life, researchers have found. A prospective study published in JAMA included 4,851 American adults whose average age was 36. They had their blood pressure measured on two occasions at the start and were followed for an average of 19 years. Over the period, there were 228 instances of coronary heart disease, stroke, heart failure or peripheral artery disease. (Bakalar, 11/8)
The New York Times:
The Ecosystem In Immigrants’ Guts Is Shaped By The Place They Call Home
Bodies that migrate across borders undergo tremendous change. Immediately, feet alight on alien terrain, ears channel novel sounds and noses breathe in unfamiliar scents. More gradually, daily routines fall into new rhythms, cultural norms hybridize and dreams evolve. Another transformation occurs deep within the body, two recent studies from the Netherlands and United States find, as the trillions of microbes that live in the human digestive system shift in composition. (Yin, 11/8)
Miami Herald:
Taxes On Red Meat Save Lives, Cut Health Care Costs: Study
A team of researchers led by Oxford population health scientist Marco Springmann have published a study that says there’s a relatively simple way to save 220,000 lives per year, and to cut about $41 billion in global annual health care costs. ...If authorities imposed a meat tax, for public health reasons, of 34 percent on unprocessed meats — meats that have not been smoked, cured, salted or preserved with chemicals like nitrates — and a whopping 163 percent on processed meats — like bacon, sausage, pastrami or hotdogs — enough people would shy away from meat to prevent 220,000 people from dying each year. (Martinez, 11/8)
The New York Times:
Crossing From Asia, The First Americans Rushed Into The Unknown
Nearly 11,000 years ago, a man died in what is now Nevada. Wrapped in a rabbit-skin blanket and reed mats, he was buried in a place called Spirit Cave. Now scientists have recovered and analyzed his DNA, along with that of 70 other ancient people whose remains were discovered throughout the Americas. The findings lend astonishing detail to a story once lost to prehistory: how and when humans spread across the Western Hemisphere. (Zimmer, 11/8)
Stat:
Animal Rights Group To Drug Makers: End Test That 'Traumatizes' Rodents
A leading animal rights group wants four big drug makers to abandon a decades-old test that has been used for antidepressant research, over concerns the testing may traumatize rodents while failing to yield any reliable outcomes for drug development. At issue is the so-called forced swim test in which mice, rats, guinea pigs, and gerbils are placed in beakers filled with water and forced to swim in order to keep from drowning. The test has been used to gauge the effectiveness of antidepressants on the theory that an animal will swim or struggle longer, and spend less time floating, after being given one of these pills. (Silverman, 11/8)
Boston Globe:
Millions Of Older People Fall Each Year. Sometimes The Effects Can Be Dire
Not much information has been released about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s falling and breaking her ribs. The Supreme Court has issued a terse statement saying that the 85-year-old justice fell in her office, went home, but then went to the hospital for observation and treatment for fractures to three ribs on her left side. But one thing is clear: Falls are a problem for older people. The risk of falling rises as people get older and, once falls happen, they can cause broken bones — and even more serious problems, including disability and death. (Finucane, 11/8)
NPR:
Sadness Circuit Found In Human Brain
Scientists may have caught a glimpse of what sadness looks like in the brain. A study of 21 people found that for most, feeling down was associated with greater communication between brain areas involved in emotion and memory, a team from the University of California, San Francisco reported Thursday in the journal Cell. "There was one network that over and over would tell us whether they were feeling happy or sad," says Vikaas Sohal, an associate professor of psychiatry at UCSF. (Hamilton, 11/8)
