Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Sperm Counts Have Been Dropping For Decades -- And Companies Are Seizing Opportunity To Ease Men's Concerns
The New York Times: Men Are Panicking About Their Sperm Count
Dr. Paul Turek was on his way to speak to employees at a cryptocurrency investment firm one recent afternoon about a growing anxiety for the men in the office: what’s going on with their sperm? Is there enough? Is the existing supply satisfactory? Are we men enough? “They’re worried, right?” Dr. Turek said. “And we’re O.K. with the worry.” (Bowles, 7/25)
Stat: Zika's Destructive Power Might Be Turned Against Tumors, Scientists Say
As the world discovered in 2016, the seemingly benign Zika virus is capable of inflicting life-altering damage when it finds its way into the developing brains of fetuses. Now scientists hope to harness that horrible potential as a weapon to fight cancer. Several research groups are exploring whether Zika viruses could be unleashed on cancers, effectively wiping out the dangerous cells of a brain or central nervous system cancer. One group, at Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando, published findings of early-stage work Wednesday in the journal PLOS One. (Branswell, 7/25)
The Washington Post: Physician-Assisted-Suicide Opponent J.J. Hanson Chose To Live Out His Last Days
There was a time — several months after J.J. Hanson was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, but several years before he died from it — when, he once said, he might have considered ending it all. The husband and father said in 2015 that the previous year, he learned that he had a Grade 4 brain tumor called glioblastoma multiforme and was given four months to live. He had been fighting the cancer, but now, sick in bed and worried about becoming a burden to his family, he was lost in his thoughts. (Bever, 7/25)
NPR: Brain Injuries And Shoulder-Launched Assault Weapons
Chris Ferrari was just 18 the first time he balanced a rocket launcher on his right shoulder and aimed it at a practice target. "Your adrenaline's going and you're trying to focus on getting that round to hit, and then you go to squeeze that trigger and, you know." Boom! (Hamilton, 7/25)
The Wall Street Journal: How Virtual Reality Is Being Used To Treat Eating Disorders
Shortly after the young woman walks into Howard Gurr’s psychology practice, she is taken to a beach and encouraged to relax. She is helped to feel calm and let go of her worries. Dr. Gurr then changes course, bringing his patient to a restaurant or other place that is a source of anxiety. Dr. Gurr doesn’t change offices every day. He’s a therapist who is using virtual-reality scenery to tackle the anxieties and body-image issues of patients with eating disorders like anorexia, bulimia and binge eating. (Colville, 7/25)
Iowa Public Radio: Sharp Increase In Gun Suicides Signals Growing Public Health Crisis
The conversation around gun violence in the U.S. usually focuses on homicides, urban crime and mass shootings. But the overwhelming majority of gun deaths in America don't involve bad guys with guns. They're caused by people deliberately harming themselves. (Mann, 7/26)
The Washington Post: Pregnant Women Took Generic Viagra In A Clinical Drug Trial. Eleven Babies Died.
Dutch doctors were trying to answer a simple question about a popular drug: Could the active ingredient in Viagra be used to help a particular group of at-risk babies often born tiny and premature with slim chances of survival? The study had already been conducted in New Zealand and Australia, according to Amsterdam Universitair Medische Centra (University Medical Center), which headed the latest trial. The Dutch component involved some 183 pregnant women who suffered from fetal growth restriction, where an underdeveloped placenta can’t get enough oxygen or nutrients to a gestating baby. (Wootson, 7/25)
The Washington Post: Happy Birthday, Louise Brown! 40 Years After The First IVF Baby, 8 Million More And Counting
“I would hope that within a very few years … instead of this being a seven-day wonder this will become a fairly commonplace affair.” Those prescient words were spoken by Robert Edwards, a 52-year-old Cambridge physician on July 25, 1978, when he announced the wondrous birth of baby girl who was the first to be conceived outside the body. Louise Joy Brown, born healthy and screaming at 5 pounds 12 ounces, made headlines around the world and gave new hope to infertile couples everywhere. Scientists “hailed it as a momentous medical achievement,” according to the New York Daily News. “The jubilation was tempered, however, by warnings over the morality and ethics of producing human life in the laboratory.” (Cha, 7/25)
