Nearly 90 Percent Of Participants Who Carry A BRCA Mutation Wouldn’t Be Caught By 23andMe’s Test For Breast Cancer, Study Finds

The New York Times: Don’t Count On 23andMe To Detect Most Breast Cancer Risks, Study Warns
In 2010, Dr. Pamela Munster mailed her saliva to 23andMe, a relatively new DNA testing company, and later opted in for a BRCA test. As an oncologist, she knew a mutation of this gene would put her at high risk for breast and ovarian cancer. She was relieved by the negative result. Two years later, after she learned she had breast cancer, she took a more complete genetic test from a different lab. This time it was positive. A study of 100,000 people released earlier this month suggested that this experience could be widespread. Nearly 90 percent of participants who carried a BRCA mutation would have been missed by 23andMe’s test, geneticists found. (Murphy, 4/16)

NPR: CRISPR Research Moves Out Of Labs And Into Clinics Around The World
The powerful gene-editing technique called CRISPR has been in the news a lot. And not all the news has been good: A Chinese scientist stunned the world last year when he announced he had used CRISPR to create genetically modified babies. But scientists have long hoped CRISPR — a technology that allows scientists to make very precise modifications to DNA — could eventually help cure many diseases. And now scientists are taking tangible first steps to make that dream a reality. For example, NPR has learned that a U.S. CRISPR study that had been approved for cancer at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia has finally started. (Stein, 4/16)

The New York Times: Parents Mourning Stillbirth Follow Familiar Patterns On YouTube
For 24 agonizing hours, Monica Franco-Pineda prepared to deliver a stillborn baby. She and her husband, Walter, had learned on Oct. 14, 2010, four days past her due date, that their son, Gabriel, no longer had a heartbeat. “I had a lot of time to digest what was going to happen,” she remembers. Mrs. Franco-Pineda, a flight attendant and photographer in British Columbia, spent part of this time searching online for answers to her questions: What would it be like to give birth to a baby who wasn’t alive? How would he look? What did other people do? Her online research led to her discovery of videos that memorialize stillborn children, posted by parents who had undergone stillbirth themselves. Watching these helped her to feel less alone. (Ro, 4/16)

Stat: Families Hit By Inherited Diseases Oppose Ban On Embryo Editing 
Changing a single DNA “letter” in the genome of a very early embryo has the potential to correct a genetic defect not only in any resulting baby but also in all of that baby’s descendants. That, warn opponents of such “germline editing,” would change the human gene pool, a step they worry could have unforeseen and irreversible consequences. They also argue that known carriers of genetic diseases could have embryos screened for harmful mutations before being used in IVF. (Begley, 4/17)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Pregnant Women Less Likely To Get Depression Treatment, May Turn To Substance Use, Study Finds
Half of all pregnant women who experience depression do not get any treatment, and some may turn to alcohol, marijuana, and opioids to self-medicate, a study of national data found. The research, which was published this month in Psychiatric Services in Advance, involved responses from 12,360 women to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health between 2011 and 2016. (Pattani, 4/17)

Modern Healthcare: U.S. Task Force Finds Problems With Preemptive Lead Screenings
A federal task force on Tuesday said it doesn't have enough evidence to require lead screenings for pregnant women and children if they show no symptoms. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force updated its recommendations for the tests, changing its 2006 stance that rejected routing screenings in pregnant women who don't show signs of high lead exposure. (King, 4/16)

The Associated Press: Telemedicine, Walk-In Clinics Cloud Role Of Family Doctor
Lisa Love hasn't seen her doctor of 25 years since she discovered telemedicine. Love tried virtual visits last summer for help with a skin irritation and returned for another minor problem. She doesn't feel a pressing need to seek care the old-fashioned way, especially since she also gets free health screenings at work. No more waiting for the doctor's office to open. Convenience rules in health care now, where patients can use technology or growing options like walk-in clinics and urgent care centers to get help whenever they need it. (4/16)

Miami Herald: FIU Scientists Counter Antibiotic Resistance With Arsenic Drug
For the generations of high school students whose English class assignments included reading Joseph Kesselring’s play, “Arsenic and Old Lace,” the idea of arsenic as an aid to health seems either amusing or frightening. But a group of Florida International University researchers from the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine and an international team from Japan have discovered a new broad-spectrum antibiotic that contains arsenic, FIU announced Tuesday. (Cohen, 4/16)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Shingrix Shingles Vaccine Shortage: Still 'Day To Day' In Wisconsin
Shortages of the new vaccine, known as Shingrix and approved in 2017, continue and are expected to last throughout the year. The limited supply has forced health systems, physicians and pharmacies to adopt different strategies on how to manage it. (Boulton, 4/16)

The Associated Press: Baby Boy Receiving Treatment After He Was Born Without Skin
Doctors are working toward a diagnosis and care plan for a baby boy who has spent the first three months of his life in hospitals after he was born without skin. Ja'bari Gray has been hospitalized since his birth on Jan. 1 at Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, the San Antonio Express-News has reported. With most of his skin missing, except for on his head, he was initially diagnosed with aplasia cutis, a rare congenital absence of skin. (4/16)

WBUR: Offering Therapy For Youth Struggling With Sexuality And Gender Issues
Massachusetts has joined 15 other states in banning a controversial practice known as "conversion therapy" for minors. The new law bars health workers, including counselors, from trying to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of anyone under 18. (Bologna and Kaufman, 4/16)