Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
More Trouble In The Egg Aisle: 2 Liquid Substitutes Recalled Over Bleach Risk
The New York Times: Two Liquid Egg Brands Recalled Over Bleach Contamination Risk
Thousands of pounds of liquid egg substitutes sold under two popular brand names have been recalled because of the potential risk of contamination with a cleaning solution, federal safety regulators said. Cargill Kitchen Solutions in Lake Odessa, Mich., recalled about 212,268 pounds of products under its Egg Beaters and Bob Evans labels because they may contain a cleaning solution with sodium hypochlorite, also known as bleach, the Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said on March 28. (Diaz, 4/6)
The Hill: Poor Air Quality Can Increase Risk Of Depression, Study Shows
A new study indicates that long-term exposure to air pollutants could directly correlate to an increased risk for depression. The study published in Environmental Science and Ecotechnology and conducted by Harbin Medical University and Cranfield University examined the link to depressive symptoms in a Chinese adult population and six common air pollutants over 7 years. (Falzone, 4/5)
The Washington Post: CPR And Defibrillator Use Credited With Decreased Racecourse Deaths
Though more people are participating in long-distance-running events than ever before, a recent analysis found that the incidence of cardiac arrest among those running such races remains stable — and death rates from cardiac arrests during long races have fallen. Published in JAMA, the study reviewed the Race Associated Cardiac Event Registry (RACER), which collected information on the incidence of cardiac arrest during marathons and half-marathons, and compared race data from 2010 to 2023 with data from 2000 to 2009. (Blakemore, 4/5)
In cancer research —
The Washington Post: NIH Scientists Have A Cancer Breakthrough. Layoffs Are Delaying It.
Scientists at the National Institutes of Health demonstrated a promising step toward using a person’s own immune cells to fight gastrointestinal cancers in a paper in Nature Medicine on Tuesday, the same day the agency was hit with devastating layoffs that left many NIH personnel in tears. The treatment approach is still early in its development; the personalized immunotherapy regimen shrank tumors in only about a quarter of the patients with colon, rectal and other GI cancers enrolled in a clinical trial. But a researcher who was not involved in the study called the results “remarkable” because they highlight a path to a frustratingly elusive goal in medicine — harnessing a person’s own immune defenses to target common solid tumor cancers. (Johnson, 4/6)
NPR: Exercise Helps Colon Cancer Survivors Live As Long As People Who Never Had Cancer
Colon cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death worldwide, and it's on the rise among younger adults in the U.S. But research recently published in the journal Cancer, finds regular exercise can help survivors live longer — in some cases, even longer than people who've never had colon cancer. "I think the important message is, some level of activity is better than staying inactive," says Dr. Jeff Meyerhardt, co-director of the Colon and Rectal Cancer Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the study's senior author. (Godoy, 4/7)
The Washington Post: Tech Goal Is For Devices That Help General Practitioners Spot Skin Cancer
In 2017, Ezekiel Emanuel, a well-known oncologist and health policy commentator, said radiologists would soon be out of work thanks to machine learning. That hasn’t happened, but although artificial intelligence isn’t replacing radiologists, it has significantly changed their field. More than three-quarters of the AI software cleared by the Food and Drug Administration for medical use is designed to support radiology practice, says Curtis Langlotz, a radiology professor at Stanford University and president of the Radiological Society of North America’s board of directors. (Friedlander Serrano, 4/5)
