Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Longer Looks: Interesting Reads You Might Have Missed
The New York Times: America’s Hidden Racial Divide: A Mysterious Gap In Psychosis Rates
Black Americans experience schizophrenia and related disorders at twice the rate of white Americans. It’s a disparity that has parallels in other cultures. (Bergner, 12/3)
The Guardian: The Brain Microbiome: Could Understanding It Help Prevent Dementia?
Nine years ago, Nikki Schultek, an active and healthy woman in her early 30s, experienced a sudden cascade of debilitating and agonising symptoms – including cognitive and breathing problems and heart arrhythmia – and was investigated for multiple sclerosis. But three brain scans and numerous X-rays later, there was still no diagnosis or treatment plan. Now, she shows no signs of degenerative brain disease. It turned out she had multiple chronic infections, including Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria, which causes Lyme disease and which had stealthily reached her brain. (Fleming, 12/1)
Fox News: Health New Brain Therapy Allows Paralyzed Patients To Walk Again: 'I Feel My Legs'
In a Switzerland study, two people with spinal cord injuries received deep brain stimulation therapy and were able to walk without assistance and even climb stairs. (Rudy, 12/5)
Bloomberg: The Quest to Turn Human Waste Into Medicine
After success in early stage trials, MaaT Pharma is on the verge of becoming the first company to have an approved microbiome-related product for cancer care. (Gale, 12/5)
The Washington Post: In The Town Erin Brockovich Made Famous, Residents Still Fear Dirty Water
As the popular movie “Erin Brockovich” winds to an end, a character named Donna Jensen wins $5 million from Pacific Gas & Electric, part of a $333 million legal settlement the community won in 1996 after the utility was accused of contaminating the groundwater here for years, sickening some residents. What the movie didn’t show is what happened next. (Foster-Frau, 12/1)
The Colorado Sun: University Of Colorado Studies Eye Transplants To Cure Blindness
Here’s an incomplete list of things that doctors are able to transplant from one human to another: a heart, a lung, a kidney, a liver, a pancreas, a face, a hand, skin, bone marrow, stem cells and blood. But not eyes. A team of scientists and doctors at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus hope to change that through groundbreaking work on whole eye transplants, and now they’ve scored a big investment from the federal government to help them do that. (Ingold, 12/6)
The New York Times: The Allure Of ‘Microdosing’ Ozempic
Some people are taking tiny amounts of weight loss medications, hoping to drop pounds while avoiding side effects. Does it work? (Blum, 12/5)
Florida Today: Comfort Canines Combat Stress At Melbourne-Orlando International Airport
The new program at the Melbourne airport, in conjunction with Space Coast Therapy Dogs, was about four years in the making. (Paulson, 12/2)
