Other Health Care News: Inmate Safety, Bacteria And Tumors, Preemie Technology And More
A look at some of the health news developments that are happening alongside the pandemic.
The Associated Press:
Texas Jail Says Guards Didn't Notice Inmate Giving Birth
A woman managed to go into labor and give birth alone in a Texas jail cell without any corrections officers noticing until after she had delivered the child, a sheriff’s official said Thursday. The woman had the baby in a Fort Worth jail cell on May 17, according to Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Lt. Jennifer Gabbert. (Bleiberg, 5/29)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Prison Accused Of Ignoring Signs Diabetic Inmate Was In Crisis
Whaley’s death in December 2017 is now the subject of a federal lawsuit that once again points to flaws in the medical care provided to Georgia’s state prison inmates. AJC investigations have repeatedly found that misdiagnoses and delayed or denied treatments have led to a grim legacy of deaths. Substandard prison medical care also has cost the state millions of dollars in lawsuit settlements in recent years. (Robbins, 5/29)
Stat:
Bacteria Form Distinct Populations In Tumors Depending On The Cancer Type
In what outside experts called the most rigorous and comprehensive survey of bacteria in human tumor samples, scientists have discovered distinct populations of microbes living inside different types of tumors: In other words, breast and brain and pancreatic tumors have their own characteristic microbiomes. Recent research has revealed an intriguing relationship between microbes and cancer, including how bacteria in the gut can affect the way immunotherapies like checkpoint inhibitors or even standard chemotherapy work to shrink tumors. (Cooney, 5/28)
Stat:
AstraZeneca Results May Alter Treatment For Some Lung Cancer Patients
In April, AstraZeneca halted a clinical trial of its genetically targeted lung cancer drug Tagrisso based on what it called an “overwhelming benefit” observed in patients with early-stage disease. On Thursday, details from the study were revealed for the first time. AstraZeneca wasn’t exaggerating. After two years of follow-up, 90% of the lung cancer patients given Tagrisso following surgery were alive without a recurrence of their tumors, doubling the benefit seen with patients offered a placebo. Overall, Tagrisso reduced the risk of lung cancer relapse by 83% compared to placebo — the strongest result ever reported for a clinical trial of this type. (Feuerstein, 5/28)
Houston Chronicle:
Houston Preemie One Of First To Try Imaging Hat For Awake Babies With Brain Disorders
Aries is one of the first four children to test the Cap-based Transcranial Optical Tomography, or CTOT, a transcranial near-infrared optical imaging system developed by doctors at UTHealth. CTOT is a wired hat that uses infrared light to map a child’s brain, said Dr. Manish N. Shah, a pediatric neurosurgeon at UTHealth and director of the Texas Comprehensive Spasticity Center at Children’s Memorial Hermann. It’s the first device of its kind that can be used on children. (Garcia, 5/27)
Stat:
Scientists 3D-Map The ‘Little Brain Of The (Rat) Heart’
Even cardiologists might not know — or pay attention to — the intracardiac nervous system. This “little brain of the heart” is a system of nerves working in concert with the brain itself to keep communication flowing smoothly and sometimes to go further, protecting cardiac muscle after a heart attack. A team of scientists from Thomas Jefferson University and the University of Central Florida have mapped out the network of neurons in the rat heart in 3D, creating a framework to better understand how this little brain works in animals and what could potentially be done for people when it’s disrupted by disease. (Cooney, 5/27)
Stat:
AI Systems Trained On Data Skewed By Sex Are Worse At Diagnosing Disease
The artificial intelligence model showed great promise in predicting which patients treated in U.S. Veterans Affairs hospitals would experience a sudden decline in kidney function. But it also came with a crucial caveat: Women represented only about 6% of the patients whose data were used to train the algorithm, and it performed worse when tested on women. (Robbins, 5/25)
