Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Longer Looks: Interesting Reads You Might Have Missed
San Francisco Chronicle: How A Nationwide Extreme Formula Shortage Is Causing California Kids With Special Needs To Suffer
For Jane Stefan, the nationwide formula shortage didn’t just mean the inconvenience of seeking an alternative brand for an infant. It triggered something much more dire: She had to have her 6-year-old daughter, Vivienne Pereira, admitted to the hospital for IV nutrition. (Said, 7/5)
NPR: The Fight To Fund Abortions In Post-Roe America
To improve abortion access, a bunch of local and national organizations known as "abortion funds" have formed over the years to help people pay for the procedure. In post-Roe America, money is now even more determinative of who can get an abortion and who can't, and abortion funds are emerging as an even more crucial mechanism to provide poor women in red states the opportunity to access care if they want or need it. (Rosalsky, 7/5)
Fox News: MIT's New Human Liver Model Reveals How It Regenerates, Providing Hope For Patients To Avoid Transplants
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), engineers developed a new liver tissue model to help reveal the stages of liver regeneration in hopes to help those individuals with liver disease, according to a new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers said by finding an effective way to stimulate the liver to regenerate on its own, some liver transplants could potentially be avoided and it may help a donated liver grow after being transplanted, according to a media release from MIT. (McGorry, 7/2)
North Carolina Health News: How To Pick A Nursing Home For A Loved One?
When the time comes near to choose a nursing home for a loved one, the ideal path is to visit one or more facilities and talk with administrators, staff, and residents, according to people familiar with this transition. But for many families, the need for a nursing home is an urgent one, precipitated by a fall or a catastrophic illness that has suddenly rendered a loved one unable to cope at home. (Goldsmith, 7/5)
Scientific American: The Quest For A 'Tick Map'
To slow down the rapid spread of tick-borne illnesses, the ideal public health strategy would be to predict where the pests are likely to be concentrated—and immediately getting this information to medical professionals and the public. That’s why researchers are trying to develop an accurate way of forecasting where dangerous ticks might be. Such a program could ideally be used like a weather map to anticipate danger areas. (Eschner, 7/7)
On brain health —
USA Today: Brain Cancer Patient Charts New Treatment Course For Rare, Lethal DIPG
Lisa Ward's son Jace has been gone for exactly a year now. But his impact on the care of children with brain cancer continues. Lisa is making sure of that. Jace, of Wamego, Kansas, was 20 and a sophomore at Kansas State University when he was diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, DIPG, a particularly aggressive form of brain cancer that usually strikes younger children. Affecting about 300 Americans a year, DIPG spreads its tentacles through the brainstem where functions like breathing and movement are controlled. (Weintraub, 7/3)
The Washington Post: A Girl, Partially Paralyzed By A Brain Injury, Is Now A Role Model
For 13-year-old Reagan Bischoff, who lives in Potomac Falls, the simple tasks that other people accomplish with ease were often the hardest and most frustrating for her: buttoning her jeans or brushing her hair. Since early childhood, she’s had to deal with the mental and physical challenges of cerebral palsy and partial paralysis on the left side of her body after brain surgery. But her determination, drive and willingness to learn and teach other kids ways to tackle those challenges recently won her an award from Brain Injury Services, a nonprofit that provides services to people with brain injuries in Northern Virginia. (Hedgpeth, 7/3)
The Washington Post: What To Do If You Hit Your Head
Falling and hitting your head can be scary. In the moment, it can be difficult to figure out how serious your injury is, what you should do next and what symptoms might signal a possible emergency. A blow to the head can cause a traumatic brain injury (TBI), bleeding in the brain, a concussion or a contusion (a bruise on the brain). But quick action can help mitigate some of the most serious potential outcomes. Here is how to assess your personal risk level after a severe head injury, and when you need to call for immediate help. (Abramson, 7/4)
The Washington Post: Bruce Murray Spent Years Heading The Ball. He Worries It Took A Toll
Bruce Murray remembers every micro detail from the 1990 World Cup: scoring a goal, assisting on another and, with a band of former college stars leading the U.S. national team, helping put a mighty scare into Italy. ... In recent years, though, Murray has forgotten to turn off the ignition of his car before entering his Potomac townhouse. He has had to remind himself that his two young children were in the back seat. A light drinker, he has gone on benders. He has checked himself in at a hotel for no apparent reason. He lost his balance on a run along the C&O Canal, tumbling into a tree and rolling into the water. At 56, Murray is among the former athletes likely to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a degenerative brain disease found in people with a history of repetitive brain trauma. (Goff, 7/5)
In celebrity news —
The New York Times: How Common Is Pancreatitis After A Colonoscopy? Travis Barker’s Condition, Explained
Travis Barker, an American musician and drummer for the rock band Blink-182, was hospitalized on June 28 with pancreatitis, TMZ first reported. ... It was initially reported that Barker recently had a colonoscopy, leading many to wonder if the two events were linked. A colonoscopy is a type of endoscopy procedure that is used to examine the inside of the gastrointestinal tract. Barker later clarified in a tweet that he had an endoscopy with a polyp removal that “damaged a critical pancreatic drainage tube.” Here’s what you need to know. (Pasricha, 7/5)
The New York Times: What To Know About Prosopagnosia, Brad Pitt’s Face Blindness Condition
The actor Brad Pitt said in a recent interview that he has prosopagnosia, a rare neurological disorder commonly referred to as face blindness. While Mr. Pitt, 58, has never been formally diagnosed with the condition, he said in an interview with GQ that he had struggled for years to recognize people’s faces. In 2013, he told Esquire that his inability to recognize people’s faces had become so severe that he often wanted to isolate himself as a result. “That’s why I stay home,” he said. (Blum, 7/6)
