Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
White House Plan Would Slash Public Health Corps That Responds To Disasters, Disease Outbreaks
The Washington Post: White House Wants To Cut This Public Health Service Corps By Nearly 40 Percent
The White House is proposing to reduce by nearly 40 percent the uniformed public health professionals who deploy during disasters and disease outbreaks, monitor drug safety and provide health care in some of the nation’s most remote and disadvantaged areas. The proposal is part of a plan announced last week by the Office of Management and Budget to overhaul the federal government. It would cut the size of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps from its current 6,500 officers to “no more than 4,000 officers.” Administration officials, who have said the officers are “more expensive” than equivalent civilians, want “a leaner and more efficient organization” better prepared to respond to public health emergencies. They have not offered projections on how much might be saved. (Sun, 6/27)
The New York Times: Genealogists Turn To Cousins’ DNA And Family Trees To Crack Five More Cold Cases
When the Golden State Killer case was cracked in April with the help of a genealogist and an open-source ancestry site, many wondered if this was the new frontier of criminal investigations. This week all signs point to yes. In the last seven days, genealogical sleuthing techniques that are old to a handful of genealogists but new to most law enforcement have led to arrests in Washington State and Pennsylvania and unearthed a lead in a 37-year-old murder in Texas. All three cases were only revived when crime scene DNA was uploaded to GEDMatch, the same open-source ancestry site used in the Golden State killer case. (Murphy, 6/27)
NPR: Cancer Lessons From A Network Of Exceptional Responders
Carol Martin is 67 and has advanced, inoperable pancreatic cancer. "I have a particularly virulent form of that disease," she said. "I have squamous carcinoma, which means, according to my doctors, ordinarily the diagnosis to death is usually two months. "This June is two years out from my diagnosis." (Goldberg, 6/27)
The Associated Press: Migrating Birds Create Flu Bonanza For Scientists To Study
Huge flocks of famished birds scour the sands of Delaware Bay for the tiny greenish eggs an army of horseshoe crabs lays every spring. It's a marvel of ecology as shorebirds migrating from South America to the Arctic time a stop critical to their survival to this mass crab spawning. It's also one of the world's hot spots for bird flu — a bonanza for scientists seeking clues about how influenza evolves so they just might better protect people. (6/28)
The New York Times: Midlife Fitness May Protect Against Later Depression
Physical fitness in middle age is tied to a lower risk of later-life depression and death from cardiovascular disease, a new study reports. Both depression and cardiovascular disease are common in older people, and rates of depression are high in the presence of cardiovascular illness, especially stroke. Moreover, depression is a risk factor for adverse outcomes in cardiovascular disease patients. (Bakalar, 6/27)
Kaiser Health News: Geriatric Assessments Could Fine-Tune Cancer Care For Older Adults
In a move to improve cancer care for older adults, the American Society of Clinical Oncology is recommending that all patients age 65 and older receive a geriatric assessment when considering or undergoing chemotherapy. The goal is to better identify which patients can tolerate intensive chemotherapy, and which patients may need modified treatment regimens because of underlying conditions, such as cognitive impairment, that often go undetected by oncologists. (Graham, 6/28)
The Philadelphia Inquirer: The Era Of Circadian Lighting In Health Care Is Dawning
It puts CHOP at the forefront of a new trend — circadian lighting — that is picking up steam in health-care settings and, to a lesser degree so far, schools, high-tech workplaces, and warehouses. The idea is to tune indoor lights to mimic the brightness and color spectrum of the sun as it changes during the day. (Burling, 6/27)
