Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Where Education Campaigns Fail To Improve Vaccination Rates, Small Behavioral Nudges Found To Help
The Washington Post: People Can’t Be Educated Into Vaccinations, But Behavioral Nudges Help, Study Finds
Vaccines were one of the great inventions of modern history. They helped stop America’s polio epidemic in the 1950s, when it was paralyzing thousands and killing at least 3,000 a year. They have prevented the deaths of millions worldwide from diseases such as diphtheria, smallpox, measles and tetanus. And yet many people are reluctant to get their shots or vaccinate their children. (Wan, 4/4)
Stat: SARS-Like Outbreak Among Pigs Renews Concern Virus Could Strike Humans
When a disease swept through southern China last year, killing off nearly 25,000 piglets over a period of months, scientists initially thought a diarrheal virus was to blame. They later determined it was something else: a dangerous coronavirus, the same family of viruses that 15 years ago caused a human epidemic of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome. Scientists who went looking for those viruses in bats in China’s Guangdong and Yunnan provinces had found dozens that are closely related to the SARS coronavirus. In some places, they found people living nearby who had antibodies to these viruses, suggesting they had been previously infected. (Branswell, 4/4)
The Associated Press: Getting Kids To A Good Weight By 13 May Help Avoid Diabetes
There may be a critical window for overweight kids to get to a healthy level. Those who shed their extra pounds by age 13 had the same risk of developing diabetes in adulthood as others who had never weighed too much, a large study of Danish men found. Diabetes can develop when the body can’t properly use insulin to turn food into energy. Being overweight at any age raises the chances of the most common form, Type 2. But it’s not known whether or how much that risk is reduced if people lose weight, and when. (Marchione, 4/4)
Stat: How CRISPR Works, Explained In Two Minutes
Here at STAT, we spend a lot of time trying to imagine — and render — the invisible. We’ve gone inside of a developing embryo. We’ve flown inside our mouths to show the bacterial tribes that take root there. We’ve traveled through time and space to bring back to life a hallowed surgical theater. We’ve followed sound waves through our inner ears into our brains. Of all of these fantastic journeys, one of the hardest subjects to capture, visually, has been CRISPR. Others have tried to capture the essence of the powerful gene-editing technique with the use of analogies. (Delviscio, 4/4)
Los Angeles Times: This Retinal Implant May One Day Cure Blindness Caused By Macular Degeneration
For many of the 10 million Americans who are losing their vision to a thievish eye condition with no treatment, help may be on its way. In a very early clinical trial, researchers have implanted a stem cell "patch" to repair failing retinal cells in four patients with a condition called "dry" macular degeneration. Three of the four patients who got the bioengineered implant — all of whom had lost their central field of vision and were legally blind — reported some lightening in the previously dark center of their visual field, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine. The three also saw some improvement in their ability to see shapes and focus on letters or other objects directly in front of them. (Healy, 4/4)
Stat: Monkey Study Suggests Zika Infection In Infancy Could Cause Brain Damage
A new study in primates raises the possibility that children infected with the Zika virus during infancy could be at risk of experiencing brain damage. Zika is known to destroy developing brain tissue when it infects a fetus in the womb. Scientists know less — next to nothing, essentially — about how the virus might affect the brain of an infant infected after birth. (Branswell, 4/4)
The New York Times: Bananas Vs. Sports Drinks? Bananas Win In Study
A banana might reasonably replace sports drinks for those of us who rely on carbohydrates to fuel exercise and speed recovery, according to a new study comparing the cellular effects of carbohydrates consumed during sports. It found that a banana, with its all-natural package, provides comparable or greater anti-inflammatory and other benefits for athletes than sports drinks. But there may be a downside, and it involves bloating. (Reynolds, 4/4)
