‘Very Worrying’: Climate Change Fueling Deadly Rise Of Malaria In New Parts Of Africa, Advocates Caution

Reuters: Climate Change Hampers Progress On Fighting Epidemics: Global Fund
Climate change is making it harder to eradicate deadly epidemics, with rising temperatures helping mosquitoes spread malaria in higher places in Africa, the head of a global health fund said on Tuesday. Other potential deadly consequences of climate change include more intense cyclones which leave an increased risk of infections in their wake, said Peter Sands, Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. (Farge, 10/22)

Los Angeles Times: By Age 6, Kids Tend To See White Men As More 'Brilliant' Than White Women
Albert Einstein. Benjamin Franklin. Thomas Edison. Steve Jobs. Picture a brilliant person and odds are a white man will come to mind. That idea gets into kids’ heads as early as the age of 6, a new study finds. Researchers who polled more than 200 New York kindergartners and first-graders found that they had already begun to believe that white men are more “brilliant” than white women. (Khan, 10/23)

The New York Times: Deadliest Year For Pedestrians And Cyclists In U.S. Since 1990
More pedestrians and cyclists were killed last year in the United States than in any year since 1990, according to a report released on Tuesday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Most of the news about traffic safety has been good in recent decades, as vehicle manufacturers have added safety features, drunken driving deaths have fallen and seatbelt use has climbed to nearly 90 percent. But in recent years, pedestrian and cyclist deaths have been a disturbing outlier. (Bogel-Burroughs, 10/22)

The Washington Post: THC, Poison, Razor Blades And Halloween Candy: How Urban Myths Taught Parents To Fear Trick-Or-Treating
A semi-viral Facebook post from a Pennsylvania police department has become the latest example of an exhausting Halloween tradition: the spread of super-scary — but largely unfounded — warnings about poisoned Halloween candy. This time, the police in Johnstown, Pa., warned people that “drug laced edibles are package [sic] like regular candy and may be hard to distinguish from the real candy” and urged parents to check their kid’s hauls for edibles containing THC. (Ohlheiser, 10/23)

The New York Times: Black Scientists Held Back By Perceptions Of Their Priorities
Scientific research ideally is colorblind, with merit the only factor in hiring, publishing or the awarding of research grants. But the reality often falls short. Eight years ago, a study published in Science found that black researchers were 10 percentage points less likely than white ones to receive funding from the National Institutes of Health, even after controlling for factors like educational background, previous research awards and publication record. Its authors theorized that the difference might reflect an accumulation of slight advantages over the course of white scientists’ careers. (Goldberg, 10/23)

The New York Times: Two Strains Of Polio Are Gone, But The End Of The Disease Is Still Far Off 
In another milestone on the long, expensive and sometimes discouraging road to wiping out polio, global health officials announced Wednesday that two of the three strains of wild polio virus have officially been eliminated. Although that brings the world another step closer to eradication, the effort has taken far longer than was ever anticipated. When the campaign began in 1988, most public health officials and donors expected the battle to be over by 2000. (McNeil, 10/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Advice To Give Women Blood Thinners After C-Sections Draws Fire
Doctors are criticizing a recent recommendation from medical experts to give blood-thinning drugs to nearly all women who give birth by caesarean section, saying the advice may be unsafe and tainted by potential conflicts of interest. Hospitals across the U.S. have been adopting the recommendation—aimed at preventing fatal blood clots—since it was published in the medical journal Obstetrics & Gynecology in 2016. But many doctors say there isn’t any evidence to support such widespread blood thinner use and it could harm some women. (Hopkins, 10/23)

The Washington Post: Women Are More Than Twice As Likely As Men To Suffer From PTSD. Studies Are Underway To Find Out Why.
In 1991, Karestan Koenen was a recent college graduate and Peace Corps volunteer who arrived in a village in Niger eager to help local women start small businesses. When her sister came to visit during Christmas, the two decided to travel north to Agadez, a city in the Sahara. There, on the morning of Dec. 27, two male traders stopped by, trying to sell them jewelry. Koenen’s sister went to the market with one of men to have a look. While she was gone, the second man grabbed Koenen, held her down and raped her. (Cimons, 10/19)

Health News Florida: Childhood Cancer Treatment Threatened By Lack Of Medication
The shortage of a crucial drug that fights childhood cancers has left both families and hospitals in a desperate search for treatment. In July, Teva Pharmaceuticals discontinued the production of vincristine, an injection vital to the treatment of children suffering from a number of different cancers. (Bakst, 10/23)

The New York Times: The Best Time To Take Your Blood Pressure Drugs May Be At Night
Blood pressure medicines may work better if they are taken at night. Spanish researchers randomized 19,084 men and women with diagnoses of high blood pressure, half to take their medicine at bedtime and the other half when they awoke. Over a six-year follow-up, there were 3,246 coronary events — stroke, heart attack, heart failure, angina and others — and 310 deaths from cardiovascular disease. (Bakalar, 10/23)

The New York Times: Always Removes Female Symbol From Sanitary Pads
In a nod to transgender and nonbinary customers, Procter & Gamble said this week that it was removing the Venus symbol, which has historically been associated with womanhood and the female sex, from the wrappers of Always brand sanitary pads. “For over 35 years Always has championed girls and women, and we will continue to do so,” the company said in a statement. “We’re also committed to diversity and inclusion and are on a continual journey to understand the needs of all of our consumers.” (Murphy, 10/22)

The New York Times: When The Menu Turns Raw, Your Gut Microbes Know What To Do
It was a challenge unlike any other the chef-turned-graduate student had faced: Vayu Maini Rekdal had to create a menu where every ingredient could be eaten either raw or cooked. No pickling was allowed, nor fermented toppings like soy sauce or miso. Nothing could be processed in any way, so things like tofu were out. And the more sweet potatoes he could serve up, the better. “It was extremely challenging,” said Mr. Rekdal, a chemistry graduate student at Harvard. (Greenwood, 10/23)

The New York Times: How Children Get Hooked On Sugary Drinks
Slave to your sweet tooth? Researchers say the predilection for sweetened drinks — a major driver of the nation’s obesity crisis — begins in childhood. That’s one reason health experts recommend children under 2 never be given fruit juice. When it comes to children 2 to 18, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends a daily limit of 25 grams of sugar, or six teaspoons. Nice try. (Jacobs, 10/22)

The New York Times: Something In The Way We Move
Each of us appears to have a unique way of moving, a physical “signature” that is ours alone, like our face or fingerprints, according to a remarkable new study of people and their muscles. The study, which used machine learning to find one-of-a-kind patterns in people’s muscular contractions, could have implications for our understanding of health, physical performance, personalized medicine and whether and why people can respond so differently to the same exercise. (Reynolds, 10/23)

Modern Healthcare: Diagnostic Errors Most Common Safety Mistake In Outpatient Care
Diagnostic errors are the most frequent adverse safety event patients can experience in outpatient care, according to a new ECRI Institute report. The analysis, published Wednesday, found that diagnostic testing errors represented 47% of all patient safety events reported in an outpatient setting over a one-year period. The second-most common safety event was medication errors, accounting for 27% of total events. (Castellucci, 10/23)

The Washington Post: Burnout Is Affecting Doctors And Nurses At Alarming Rates, National Study Finds
Imagine a health-care system in which doctors and nurses are so exhausted and beaten down that many of them work like zombies — error-prone, apathetic toward patients and at times trying to blunt their own pain with alcohol or even suicide attempts. That is what America’s broken health care system is doing to its health workers, according to a 312-page report released Tuesday by the National Academy of Medicine, one of the country’s most prestigious medical institutions. (Wan, 10/23)

NPR: Doctors' Expectations Make Pain Treatments More Effective, Research Finds
If there's one thing you do want to catch from a trip to your doctor, it's her optimism. A new study, published Monday in the journal Nature Human Behavior, finds that patients can pick up on subtle facial cues from doctors that reveal the doctor's belief in how effective a treatment will be. And that can have a real impact on the patient's treatment outcome. (Vaughn, 10/21)

The Washington Post: Schools Are Now Letting Students Take Mental-Health Days Off
In the face of rising rates of depression, anxiety and suicide among young people, some states and school systems have started allowing students to take mental sick days off from school. Last year, Utah changed its definition of valid excuses for absences to include mental health issues. This summer, Oregon enacted a law — driven by a group of high school student activists — that allows students to take days off for mental health. (Wan, 10/22)

NPR: Police Say It Can Be Hard To Tell A Meth Case From Mental Illness
The dispatch call from the Concord, N.H., police department is brief. A woman returning to her truck spotted a man underneath. She confronted him. The man fled. Now the woman wants a police officer to make sure her truck is OK. "Here we go," mutters Officer Brian Cregg as he steps on the gas. In less than three minutes, he's driving across the back of a Walmart parking lot, looking for a man on the run. (Bebinger, 10/22)

The New York Times: Air Pollution Worsened In Recent Years, Leading To More Deaths, Study Says
New data reveals that damaging air pollution has increased nationally since 2016, reversing a decades-long trend toward cleaner air. An analysis of Environmental Protection Agency data published this week by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that fine particulate pollution increased 5.5 percent on average across the country between 2016 and 2018, after decreasing nearly 25 percent over the previous seven years. (Popovich, 10/24)

The New York Times: Trans Fats, Bad For The Heart, May Be Bad For The Brain As Well
Trans fatty acids, known to increase the risk for heart disease, stroke and diabetes, have now been linked to an increased risk for dementia. Researchers measured blood levels of elaidic acid, the most common trans fats, in 1,628 men and women 60 and older and free of dementia. Over the following 10 years, 377 developed some type of dementia. (Bakalar, 10/23)

Reuters: As Population Grows, Human Diet Must Cut Down On Meat, Sugar, Salt-Nestlé Exec
Nestlé SA, one of the world's largest food processors, believes population growth will require human diets to adapt, reducing consumption of sugar, salt and meat products, an executive said on Wednesday. "We have 7.5 billion people and the population continues to grow, so there is a need to eat more vegetables, cereals, and less sugar, meat products," said Laurent Freixe, Executive Vice President and head of operations in the Americas. (10/23)

Kaiser Health News: Compression Garments Can Ease Lymphedema. Covering Costs? Not So Easy.
Every morning, Britta Vander Linden dons compression stockings, a cumbersome process she calls “putting on my legs.” She relies on the garments to stand and walk without intense leg pain and swelling. That’s because Vander Linden, 44, was born with lymphedema. The condition affects the lymphatic system, a network of lymph nodes and vessels that move infection-fighting liquid through the body. (Heredia Rodriguez, 10/23)

Kaiser Health News: For Boomers Reframing Aging, Age-Proofing A Home Won’t Come Cheap
Dennis and Chris Cavner, in their early 70s, are preparing to move less than two blocks away into a 2,720-square-foot, ranch-style house they bought this year. But first a renovation is underway, taking the 45-year-old property all the way back to its studs. When the work is finished, these baby boomers are confident the move will land them in their forever home. “We wanted to find a house that we could live in literally for the rest of our lives,” Dennis Cavner said. “We were looking specifically for a one-story house and one that had a flat lot, to age in place.” (Jayson, 10/21)