Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Stem Cells Touted As Miraculous Cure For Some Diseases Found To Have Cancer-Causing Mutations
Stat: Cancer-Causing DNA Found In Stem Cells Used In Some Clinical Trials
Some human stem cells growing in labs that researchers have used in experiments to treat serious diseases contain serious cancer-causing mutations, scientists reported on Wednesday. The discovery raised alarms that patients could be treated for one disease, such as macular degeneration, only to develop another, cancer. Harvard scientists obtained samples of most of the human embryonic stem cell lines registered with the National Institutes of Health for use in both basic research and in developing therapies for patients with diseases including diabetes, Parkinson’s, and macular degeneration. They found that five of the 140 lines had cells with a cancer-causing mutation. (Begley, 4/26)
NPR: 'Minibrain' Study Yields Insights Into Roots Of Autism And Epilepsy
Tiny, 3-D clusters of human brain cells grown in a petri dish are providing hints about the origins of disorders like autism and epilepsy. An experiment using these cell clusters — which are only about the size of the head of a pin — found that a genetic mutation associated with both autism and epilepsy kept developing cells from migrating normally from one cluster of brain cells to another, researchers report in the journal Nature. (Hamilton, 4/26)
Kaiser Health News: Widespread Hype Gives False Hope To Many Cancer Patients
After Michael Uvanni’s older brother, James, was diagnosed with a deadly form of skin cancer, it seemed as if everyone told the family what they wanted to hear: Have hope. You can beat this, and we are here to help. The brothers met with doctors at a half-dozen of the country’s best hospitals, all with impressive credentials that inspired confidence. (Szabo, 4/27)
McClatchy: Senate Panel Approves $100 Million In Funding To Fight Zika
A Senate panel approved a bill that authorizes an additional $100 million in grant funding to fight the mosquito-carrying Zika virus. The bill could now be voted on by the full Senate before summer begins, but only if Congress doesn’t repeat last year’s delay that saw the money tied up by political wrangling for months. The money approved Wednesday would fund local mosquito-control efforts, centers that test for the virus and research into improving mosquito-control programs. (Irby, 4/26)
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Dementia Caregivers: Learning To Live In Your Loved One's Reality
Dementia is now a far more complicated realm. There are 48 kinds, including variations of Alzheimer's, Lewy body, and frontotemporal dementias, Tam Cummings, a gerontologist from Texas, told 400 family and professional caregivers last week. They all have fatal, untreatable brain destruction in common, but their symptoms and courses are different. Cummings urged family members to ask their doctors more questions — as many questions as they might ask if the diagnosis were cancer. Knowing more, she said, may help them understand and cope with the memory lapses, confusion, delusions, falls, depression, and stubbornness that often accompany dementia. (Burling, 4/26)
St. Louis Public Radio: Why We Leave Out Teeth: America’s Broken Oral Health System
In the current debates over health care, one topic rarely gets mentioned: dental health benefits. That’s because dental health has historically been separated from the rest of medicine. But today, that separation leaves many Americans with no way to prevent or treat debilitating dental health problems. (Sable-Smith, 4/26)
Chicago Tribune: Baby Who Had Extra Legs Removed From Neck At Advocate Children's Reunited With Family
An 11-month-old baby who underwent a rare surgery at Advocate Children's Hospital to remove an extra set of legs from the back of her neck has been reunited with her family in Africa. Baby Dominique's mother stood with her hands over her mouth as an escort pushed her daughter, in a stroller, toward her April 20 in the Abidjan International Airport in the Ivory Coast. The mother knelt and gently took the baby's hands in her own, touching her for the first time in more than two months. (Schencker, 4/26)
NPR: Poison Garden Curates Medicine's Medieval Roots
From the front door of the glass-walled gift shop at the Alnwick Garden in the far northeast of England, the scene looks innocent enough. A sapphire green English lawn slopes gently downward, toward traditional, ornamental gardens of rose and bamboo. Across the small valley, water cascades down a terraced fountain. But a hundred or so plantings kept behind bars in this castle's garden are more menacing — and have much to tell visitors about poison and the evolutionary roots of medicine. (Silberner, 4/27)
