Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
New Generation Of Sperm Tests Aim To Feed 'Big Hunger' For Information On Male Infertility
Stat: Sperm Test 2.0: New Diagnostics Aim To Clarify Male Infertility
Traditional sperm tests don’t reveal much.They can assess how many sperm a man produces, whether sperm are misshapen, and how well they swim. But that’s about it. Determined to extract more data, several startups are developing next generation tests that they hope will help men better understand their fertility. The goal: To explain why some men who have normal sperm counts still cannot conceive. (McFarling, 10/17)
HealthDay: Election Is Turning Out To Be Unhealthy Source Of Stress For Many Americans
The 24/7 coverage of the acrimonious U.S. presidential election has caused stress for more than half of American adults, regardless of party affiliation, according to a survey conducted by the American Psychological Association (APA)... Overall, 52 percent of Americans age 18 and older said the election is a somewhat or very significant source of stress. That included 55 percent who align with Democrats and 59 percent with Republicans.The survey also found that 38 percent of respondents said political and cultural discussions on social media cause them stress. (10/14)
NPR: Skeptics Question The Value Of Hydration Therapy For The Healthy
Yana Shapiro is a partner at a Philadelphia law firm, has an exhausting travel schedule and two boys, ages 9 and 4. When she feels run-down from juggling everything and feels a cold coming on, she books an appointment for an intravenous infusion of water, vitamins and minerals. "Anything to avoid antibiotics or being out of commission," the 37-year-old says. (English, 10/17)
NPR: Is A Smartphone Accurate Enough To Monitor Heart Conditions?
Digital gizmos can monitor your heart, whether it's a wrist-worn fitness tracker or a smartphone app to help cardiologists analyze diagnostic tests. The question is whether they're going to do your heart any good. The short answer: it depends. New research finds that wrist-worn fitness trackers become less accurate with more vigorous exercise, which presumably is when you'd most want to know your heart rate. The study, published Wednesday in JAMA Cardiology, tested the Apple Watch, FitBit Charge HR, Basis Peak and Mio Alpha wristbands. (Ross, 10/15)
Dallas Morning News: Ebola Leaves Survivors With Debilitating Reminders Like Blindness, Epilepsy
Ebola no longer dominates the headlines but for an estimated 17,000 survivors of the largest Ebola outbreak in history, the struggle is not over. Many who survived the West African outbreak that sickened nearly 30,000 people between 2014 and 2016 are living with a constellation of long-term symptoms known as post-Ebola syndrome. Some of those Ebola survivors are right here in Texas. A Fort Worth doctor fell sick with Ebola while working in Liberia and two nurses became infected in Dallas while caring for the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S. (Yasmin, 10/15)
The Star Tribune: Minneapolis Medical Conference Will Address Why Men And Women Are Treated Differently For Heart Attacks
Women's hearts are more susceptible to certain kinds of diseases, and they produce symptoms that can lead to different care in emergency situations than men would get. Rather than feeling the classic complaint of extreme pressure in the chest during a heart attack, some women feel shortness of breath or upper-abdominal pain that they or their doctors may chalk up to acid reflux or anxiety. Even though coronary heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, clinical trials for medical devices to treat cardiovascular disease still enroll two men for every female participant. That long-standing imbalance — and the efforts to address it — will be a topic for discussion this week at AdvaMed 2016, the national med-tech industry conference at the Minneapolis Convention Center that runs through Wednesday. (Carlson, 10/16)
