Regulatory Action Lags Even As Carbon Monoxide Deaths From Keyless Cars Mount
Many people think that when they take the keys from the car, the vehicle turns off. But it remains on, and deadly gas can seep into their homes as a result. In other public health news: suicide, cancer, gene-editing, senior bullying, Ebola, sepsis and more.
The New York Times:
Deadly Convenience: Keyless Cars And Their Carbon Monoxide Toll
It seems like a common convenience in a digital age: a car that can be powered on and off with the push of a button, rather than the mechanical turning of a key. But it is a convenience that can have a deadly effect. On a summer morning last year, Fred Schaub drove his Toyota RAV4 into the garage attached to his Florida home and went into the house with the wireless key fob, evidently believing the car was shut off. Twenty-nine hours later, he was found dead, overcome with carbon monoxide that flooded his home while he slept.“ After 75 years of driving, my father thought that when he took the key with him when he left the car, the car would be off,” said Mr. Schaub’s son Doug. (Jeans and De Puy Kamp, 5/13)
The New York Times:
His College Knew Of His Despair. His Parents Didn’t, Until It Was Too Late.
In the days after her son Graham hanged himself in his dormitory room at Hamilton College, Gina Burton went about settling his affairs in a blur of efficiency, her grief tinged with a nagging sense that something did not add up. She fielded requests and sympathy notes from the college, promising the dean of students a copy of his obituary “so you can see how special Hamilton was to him.” This was why his suicide “makes no sense,” she added in a puzzled aside. The next day, Ms. Burton accepted condolences from the college president, and assured him “how right a choice Hamilton was” for her son. (Hartocollis, 5/12)
Stat:
Head Of Biden Cancer Initiative Draws On Own Diagnosis To Speed Research
Greg Simon has worn many hats: in industry, at think tanks, and in and around the White House. Though he once worked under Al Gore as a domestic policy adviser, among other posts, in recent years his focus has narrowed to cancer — largely because he is a survivor himself. ... These days, Simon is heading up the Biden Cancer Initiative — tapped by former Vice President Joe Biden to find ways to improve the broader system of cancer care. (Keshavan, 5/14)
Stat:
A Pencil, Not A Pair Of Scissors: CRISPR Pioneers' New Company Bets On Base Editing To Cure Disease
Months after its dozen scientists began working in secret on what’s been called “the most clever CRISPR gadget” so far, the latest company hoping to deploy genome-editing to cure diseases came out of stealth mode on Monday. Beam Therapeutics, which registered as a corporation in Massachusetts in March and has been doing experiments since last year, is debuting as CRISPR companies are popping up like dandelions, but right out of the gate Beam stands out in a crowded field. Its three founders are among the world’s leading CRISPR’ers, Editas Medicine (EDIT) has an equity stake, and in addition to the $13 million it’s raised (from Arch Venture Partners and F-Prime Capital Partners), it has commitments for another $85 million. (Begley, 5/14)
The Associated Press:
A Surprising Bullying Battleground: Senior Centers
The unwanted were turned away from cafeteria tables. Fistfights broke out at karaoke. Dances became breeding grounds for gossip and cruelty. It became clear this place had a bullying problem on its hands. What many found surprising was that the perpetrators and victims alike were all senior citizens. Nursing homes, senior centers and housing complexes for the elderly have introduced programs, training and policies aimed at curbing spates of bullying, an issue once thought the exclusive domain of the young. (Sedensky, 5/12)
The New York Times:
Ebola Erupts Again In Africa, Only Now There’s A Vaccine
Ebola has erupted again in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the country’s ninth outbreak since the virus was discovered there in 1976, and world health officials are moving unusually swiftly to contain the outbreak. Two days after a laboratory confirmed that the virus had killed two people in the remote Equateur Province, teams from the country’s health department, along with doctors from the World Health Organization and Doctors Without Borders, had reached Bikoro, a market town about 20 miles from Ikoko Ipenge, the village at the outbreak’s epicenter. (McNeil and Cumming-Bruce, 5/11)
The Washington Post:
Teenage Behavior Can Be Understood Through Brain Development
Teenagers! They chew Tide Pods and have unprotected sex. They use social media we haven’t even heard of and are walking hormone machines. It’s easy to mock their outsize sense of self and their seemingly dumb decisions. But not so fast, says cognitive neuroscientist Sarah-Jayne Blakemore: The adolescent brain is nothing to laugh at. (Blakemore, 5/13)
NPR:
Researchers Test Vitamin C Treatment For Sepsis
Scientists have launched two large studies to test a medical treatment that, if proven effective, could have an enormous impact on the leading cause of death in American hospitals. The treatment is aimed at sepsis, a condition in which the body's inflammatory response rages out of control in reaction to an infection, often leading to organ damage or failure. There's no proven cure for sepsis, which strikes well over 1 million Americans a year and kills more than 700 a day. (Harris, 5/11)
The Baltimore Sun:
With Help From Maryland Doctors, Horse Racing Industry Takes On Concussions
Jockeys take huge risks for little pay — riding atop horses weighing more than 1,000 pounds running 40 miles per hour. They are independent contractors, responsible for their own health care, and typically paid per race plus a small share of any winnings. The horse racing industry has long tolerated and even encouraged an ethic of racing battered and bandaged -- but, like football and other sports, the dangers of concussions may be driving a change at the tracks. (Cohn, 5/11)
The Washington Post:
Noise Exposure Is Becoming ‘The New Secondhand Smoke’
One of the quietest places in this noisy city is in the middle of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which draws 7 million visitors a year. Most don’t know of the tiny Astor Chinese Garden Court tucked deep within the giant museum. And so, it is quiet here. In a city whose cacophony can reach 95 decibels in Midtown Manhattan — way above the federal government’s recommended average of no more than 70 decibels — the commotion over all that racket involves irate residents, anti-noise advocates, bars, helicopter sightseeing companies, landscapers and construction companies, as well as City Hall. (Fetterman, 5/12)
