Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Research Roundup: How Pupil Size Is Linked To Intelligence; What Bees Can Teach About Alcoholism; And More
Scientific American: Pupil Size Is A Marker Of Intelligence
It has been said that “the eyes are the window to the soul,” but new research suggests that they may be a window to the brain as well. Our pupils respond to more than just the light. They indicate arousal, interest or mental exhaustion. Pupil dilation is even used by the FBI to detect deception. Now work conducted in our laboratory at the Georgia Institute of Technology suggests that baseline pupil size is closely related to individual differences in intelligence. The larger the pupils, the higher the intelligence, as measured by tests of reasoning, attention and memory. In fact, across three studies, we found that the difference in baseline pupil size between people who scored the highest on the cognitive tests and those who scored the lowest was large enough to be detected by the unaided eye. (Tsukahara et al, 6/2)
ScienceDaily/Brain Stimulation: New Tool Activates Deep Brain Neurons By Combining Ultrasound, Genetics
Neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease and epilepsy have had some treatment success with deep brain stimulation, but those require surgical device implantation. A multidisciplinary team at Washington University in St. Louis has developed a new brain stimulation technique using focused ultrasound that is able to turn specific types of neurons in the brain on and off and precisely control motor activity without surgical device implantation. The team, led by Hong Chen, assistant professor of biomedical engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering and of radiation oncology at the School of Medicine, is the first to provide direct evidence showing noninvasive, cell-type-specific activation of neurons in the brain of mammal by combining ultrasound-induced heating effect and genetics, which they have named sonothermogenetics. It is also the first work to show that the ultrasound- genetics combination can robustly control behavior by stimulating a specific target deep in the brain. (5/28)
ABC News: Why Honeybees May Be Key To Understanding Alcohol Addiction
The behavior of honeybees may hold the key to future studies of alcohol addiction, according to new research. Worker honeybees that were fed alcohol-spiked food, a sucrose solution with about 1% ethanol added, for a long period of time experienced withdrawal symptoms when cut off from the solution, according to a study published Tuesday in the scientific journal Biology Letters. (Jacobo, 6/15)
American Academy Of Pediatrics: Socioeconomic Disadvantage And The Pace Of Biological Aging In Children
Children growing up under conditions of socioeconomic disadvantage exhibit a faster pace of biological aging. DNA methylation pace of aging might be useful as a surrogate end point in evaluation of programs and policies to address the childhood social determinants of lifelong health disparities. (Raffington et al, 6/1)
American Academy Of Pediatrics: Extremely Low Birth Weight And Accelerated Biological Aging
The results of this study suggest that prenatal exposures may play an important role in aging, and that men born preterm may experience accelerated aging relative to their peers. We further highlight the need to monitor and promote the health of preterm survivors, with a particular focus on healthy aging across the life span. (Lieshout et al, 6/1)
In covid research —
CIDRAP: Parents, Women Medical Faculty More Likely To Suffer During Pandemic
Parenting and gender are each associated with a higher likelihood to leave, reduce hours, or pass on leadership opportunities, according to a survey of academic medical faculty yesterday in JAMA Network Open conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. From Sep 1 to 25, 2020, 1,186 medical, graduate, and health professional school faculty at the University of Southwest Texas in Dallas responded to the survey about their thoughts before and after the COVID-19 pandemic started. Most respondents were women (54.7%) or White (57.5%). Parents of those 18 or younger made up 55.0% of the cohort, of which 55.7% had to help with distance learning during the pandemic on their own or with a partner. The researchers note that not all respondents answered every question. (6/16)
CIDRAP: Study: Nursing Homes With Predominant Minority Populations Bore Bigger COVID Impacts
An analysis of data from 211 Connecticut nursing homes found that facilities that cared for mainly racial and ethnic minority residents had higher levels of COVID-19 illnesses and deaths. A team based at the University of Rochester in New York reported their findings today in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology. The 10-week time span they focused on was Apr 12, 2020, to Jun 19, 2020. Authors noted that Connecticut is one of the few states that kept weekly counts of COVID cases and deaths back to April 2020. In addition to state department data on nursing home cases and deaths, they also used Brown University data on nursing home characteristics to categorize the nursing homes as having low, medium, medium-high, and high proportions of ethnic and racial minorities. (6/16)
CIDRAP: Anticoagulation Tied To Fewer Deaths In Hospital COVID Patients
Anticoagulation therapy given to prevent or treat venous thromboembolism (VTE) was linked to lower death rates in hospitalized adult COVID-19 patients, but the association remained at 60 days only for the prophylactic (preventive) strategy, according to a multicenter study today in JAMA Network Open. (Van Beusekom, 6/11)
