Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Our Smartphones Are Training Us To Expect Rewards Just Like Pavlov's Dogs
NPR: Why Can't I Put My Smartphone Down? Here's The Science
If the Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov were alive today, what would he say about smartphones? He might not think of them as phones at all, but instead as remarkable tools for understanding how technology can manipulate our brains. Pavlov's own findings — from experiments he did more than a century ago, involving food, buzzers and slobbering dogs — offer key insights, into why our phones have become almost an extension of our bodies, modern researchers say. The findings also provide clues to how we can break our dependence. (Doucleff and Aubrey, 2/12)
The New York Times: The Most Dreaded Opponent At The Olympics: The Common Cold
Lari Lehtonen, an Olympic cross-country skier from Finland, pulled his two sons out of kindergarten a month ago. They were not allowed to attend birthday parties. They were prohibited from crowded indoor spaces. They could have play dates, but only after a call to the friend’s parents. This may sound like a peculiar style of helicopter parenting, but Lehtonen was not worried about his children — he was worried about himself. (Segal, 2/11)
The New York Times: Promising Malaria Drug Has A Striking Drawback: Blue Urine
Tests in West Africa have found that a safe drug long used to treat urinary tract infections is also effective against malaria. But the medication has one disadvantage: it turns urine a vivid blue. “This is something we need to solve, because it could stop people from using it,” said Teun Bousema, a microbiologist at Radboud University Medical Center in the Netherlands and an author of the study, which was published Tuesday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. (McNeil, 2/9)
NPR: Why Hospitals Have A Hard Time Swapping Old Patient Gowns For New Ones
A medical company is trying to make hospital gowns less terrible — maybe even good. The company is called Care+Wear and it's currently testing out the new gowns at MedStar Montgomery in Olney, Md. You know the old gown, sometimes called a "johnny": It's got the flimsy ties and the exposed back. The new gown from Care+Wear ties at the front like a robe. (Limbong, 2/11)
The Washington Post: The Science Behind Sugar Cravings.
If you do an online search about sugar, you may become convinced that it’s evil and addictive — and that your sweet tooth will lead you to ruin. You’ll also see plenty of advice for how to curb your craving for sugary goodness. But what do we really know about how sugar affects us? Does eating sugar make us want to eat more of it? (Adams, 2/10)
Kaiser Health News: Could A Rare, Deadly ‘Superbug’ Fungus Be Gaining A Foothold?
The number of U.S. patients infected with a rare but dangerous fungal “superbug” called Candida auris has climbed quickly to 200 as of Dec. 31, according to the latest figures from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2016, there were only seven cases of the multidrug-resistant infection on the national radar. (Thill, 2/12)
The New York Times: Herpes Is Slowly Retreating, But The Infection Remains Common
The prevalence of both genital and oral herpes simplex virus infections has declined steadily since 2000. Still, roughly half of middle-aged Americans are infected. HSV-1, or oral herpes, causes cold sores around the mouth and face, and sometimes genital sores. HSV-2, genital herpes, is sexually transmitted, and causes sores around the genitals, buttocks and anus. HSV-2 can sometimes cause mouth sores as well. (Bakalar, 2/9)
NPR: App Shows Closed Captions To Hearing-Impaired Theatergoers
Jerry Bergman is sitting in the audience at a Broadway matinée performance of The Band's Visit. Despite the fact that a huge sign above the stage tells the audience — in English, Hebrew and Arabic — to turn off cellphones, Bergman is keeping his on so he can read closed captions while watching the show. He is one of an estimated 48 million Americans who have some degree of hearing loss. And he is availing himself of new technology that allows deaf and hearing-impaired people to enjoy shows with something most people have in their pocket — a smartphone. (Lunden, 2/11)
The New York Times: Are Hand Dryers Actually Full Of Bacteria? A Viral Photo Doesn’t Tell The Whole Story
The assignment from Nichole Ward’s microbiology professor was simple: Choose a location, open a petri dish for three minutes and observe what grew over the next two days. No one’s sample came back clean — a foregone conclusion given that a petri dish opened in any nonsterile room will collect microbes from the air. But when Ms. Ward returned to class with a dish that she had put in an enclosed Dyson hand dryer in a women’s restroom, the colonies of fungi and bacteria that had grown in it outstripped anything her classmates had found in their chosen locations. (Astor, 2/9)
Kaiser Health News: Doctors Learn How To Talk To Patients About Dying
Lynn Black’s mother-in-law, who had lupus and lung cancer, was rushed into a hospital intensive care unit last summer with shortness of breath. As she lay in bed, intubated and unresponsive, a parade of doctors told the family “all good news.” A cardiologist reported the patient’s heart was fine. An oncologist announced that the substance infiltrating her lungs was not cancer. An infectious-disease doctor assured the family, “We’ve got her on the right antibiotic.” (Bailey, 2/12)
The Washington Post: 7 Marathons, 7 Days, 7 Continents And One Man With Parkinson’s. Can He Make It?
During the first marathon, Bret Parker felt great — for the first 15 miles of ice and snow. “I was chugging along, and I had no symptoms,” he recalled the next day. “I was running a good pace. I said, ‘You got this.’ ”He paused. “And that was the kiss of death. I started slowing down. It got colder. It got windier. ”It was Jan. 30, and Bret was running a marathon on Antarctica. (Gardner, 2/11)
