When Doctors Are Stumped By Rare Cases, They Can Call In These ‘Disease Detectives’

The Associated Press: Finding Answers For Patients With Rarest Of Rare Diseases
The youngster's mysterious symptoms stumped every expert his parents consulted: No diagnosis explained why he couldn't sit up on his own, or why he'd frequently choke, or his neurologic and intestinal abnormalities. Then they turned to a new national network that aims to diagnose the rarest of rare diseases — and learned Will Kilquist is the only person known in the world, so far, to harbor one particular genetic mutation that triggered all those health problems. (Neergaard, 10/10)

San Francisco Chronicle: ‘Disease Detectives’ Crack Cases Of 130 Patients With Mysterious Illnesses
A national network of “disease detectives” has cracked the complicated medical mysteries of more than 130 patients with rare, previously unidentified diseases, though the bulk of the cases that come to them remain unsolved, according to an analysis of the network released Wednesday. The Undiagnosed Diseases Network — which now has 12 clinics nationwide, including one at Stanford — has a solve rate of about 35 percent, according to the analysis, published in the New England Journal of Medicine. (Allday, 10/10)

Stat: As Ketamine Clinics Spread, So Do Start-Your-Own-Business Courses 
As ketamine clinics pop up across the U.S. to offer experimental infusions for depression, anxiety, and a slew of other conditions, training programs to teach providers how to run these businesses have also started to appear. They promise to teach everyone from anesthesiologists to advanced practice nurses the ins and outs of ketamine, which has been used for decades as an anesthetic but is still under study as a therapy for psychiatric disorders. (Thielking, 10/11)

Stat: Top Democrat Flags ‘Concerns’ With Plan To Relax FDA Rules For Health Apps 
The top ranking Democrat on the Senate health committee has “a number of concerns” with how the Food and Drug Administration might regulate medical software such as smartphone apps. “It is essential that changes to FDA’s regulatory framework are done in compliance with the current statutory framework and do not compromise public safety,” the senators wrote in a letter to the FDA Wednesday. (Swetlitz, 10/10)

NPR: ICU Dementia: How Hospitals Can Prevent It
If you are one of the 5.7 million Americans who ends up in the intensive care unit each year, you are at high risk of developing long-term mental effects like dementia and confusion. These mental problems can be as pronounced as those experienced by people with Alzheimer's disease or a traumatic brain injury and many patients never fully recover. But research shows you are less likely to suffer those effects if the doctors and nurses follow a procedure that's gaining ground in ICUs nationwide. (Harris, 10/10)

Marketplace: The High Economic Toll Of Mental Illness
Mental disorders are estimated to cost the global community nearly $2.5 trillion each year — and those costs are increasing.Unlike costly physical illnesses like cancer, where expenses are largely hospital-based, mental health costs are often indirect, such as not being able to work. (Samuelson, 10/10)

Stat: New Data For Genentech’s MS Drug Shows Benefit Of Early Treatment
New long-term data on Genentech’s groundbreaking drug for multiple sclerosis, the first approved for the most aggressive form of the condition, shows it has continued to work — and that patients who started the drug earlier got the most benefit. Genentech will be presenting the data, which covers years’ worth of open-label extension studies of the drug, at the 34th Congress of the European Committee for the Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis in Berlin, which begins Wednesday. (Sheridan, 10/10)

The Washington Post: How Will 9 Billion Or 10 Billion People Eat Without Destroying The Environment?
The human population has reached 7.6 billion and could number 9 billion or 10 billion by midcentury. All those people will need to eat. A sobering report published Wednesday in the journal Nature argues that a sustainable food system that doesn’t ravage the environment is going to require dramatic reforms, including a radical change in dietary habits. To be specific: Cheeseburgers are out, and fruits and veggies are in. (Achenbach, 10/10)

KQED: Big Data Gives A Boost To Immunology Research And Potentially, Treatments
Researchers at UC San Francisco have unveiled the largest searchable database of immunology data, gathered from 10,000 people of various ages, ethnicity, and backgrounds. It could lead to more effective treatments for a wide range of immune disorders. (Ahmed, 10/10)

The Washington Post: Pancake Kidneys, A Rare Developmental Disorder, Were Found In A Man's Pelvis
In the early stages of a fetus’s development in the womb, two embryological structures move to either side of the spine, just below the ribs, and form a pair of bean-shaped organs that will be the kidneys. But in extremely rare cases, the two structures fuse in the middle, forming one kidney. And instead of moving up toward the ribs, it sinks to the pelvic area. Its odd, disc-like shape has given rise to a buffet of food names. Scientists call it a pancake kidney because it’s flat. It’s also called a cake kidney, a doughnut kidney, a shield kidney and a lump kidney. (Phillips, 10/10)

The New York Times: U.K. Appoints Minister For Suicide Prevention
Months after appointing its first minister for loneliness, Britain named a minister for suicide prevention as part of a new push to tackle mental health issues. Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday announced the appointment of the health minister Jackie Doyle-Price to the new role. She will lead government efforts to cut the number of suicides and overcome the stigma that prevents people with mental health problems from seeking help. (Yeginsu, 10/10)