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☆ Vaccines Didn’t Turn Back Mpox, Study Finds. People Did.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( Apoorva Mandavilli | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Why It Matters: Vaccines often arrive too late to stamp out outbreaks. Public health messaging can “be really powerful to control epidemics, even as we’re waiting for things like vaccines to come,” he said. Some experts unrelated to the work were not convinced that behavioral change was largely responsible for stemming the outbreak. “Add in some vaccine-induced immunity in this group and a bit of behavior change, and it will be even more effective,” he said. “As we’ve seen with Covid, the behavioral change only lasts so long,” she said.

Persons: Miguel Paredes, Paredes, ”, Bill Hanage, Thomas Skinner, Virginia Pitzer, we’ve Organizations: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Food and Drug Administration, Vaccines, Harvard, of Public Health, Disease Control, Yale School of Public Health Locations: Seattle, North America, Chan, resurging

☆ Cancer Deaths Are Falling, but There May Be an Asterisk
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-17 | by ( Gina Kolata | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The cancer society highlighted three chief factors in reduced cancer deaths: declines in smoking, early detection and greatly improved treatments. Breast cancer mortality is one area where treatment had a significant impact. That includes metastatic cancer, which counted for nearly 30 percent of the reduction in the breast cancer death rate. Breast cancer treatment has improved so much that it has become a bigger factor than screening in saving lives, said Ruth Etzioni, a biostatistician at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. “The biggest untold story in breast cancer is how much treatment has improved,” said Dr. H. Gilbert Welch, a cancer epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Persons: “, ”, Donald Berry, Sylvia K, Plevritis, Ruth Etzioni, Mette Kalager, H, Gilbert Welch Organizations: University of Texas, Anderson Cancer Center, Stanford University, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, University of Oslo, Oslo University Hospital, Brigham, Women’s

☆ AI is helping the healthcare industry and could transform the way patients get drugs and treatments
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-22 | by ( Nicholas Fearn | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

In the pharmaceutical industry, AI may one day accelerate new-drug development. In the foreseeable future, McClain expects the healthcare industry to use AI technology to design personalized medicines. Risks to considerWhile AI offers promise for the healthcare industry, there are also a variety of risks professionals using AI must consider and mitigate. Showalter said that a lack of "comprehensive regulations" can also make using AI technology in healthcare settings risky. With this in mind, he said, the medical industry must understand the "fundamentals of AI and its applications in healthcare."

Persons: —, Sean McClain, McClain, Tim Showalter, Showalter, it's, Fred, haven't, Surya Josyula, Josyula Organizations: Experts, Service, Northwestern Medicine, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, UW Medicine, University of California, Fujitsu, Aichi Cancer, Fujitsu Laboratories of America Locations: University of California San Diego, Nagoya, Japan, China, United States

☆ Can Certain Foods Really Reduce Your Cancer Risk?
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-27 | by ( Nikki Campo | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

On average, more than one in three people in the United States will develop cancer at some point in their lifetime, according to the American Cancer Society. And many of those cases, they say, can potentially be prevented, including by making changes to your diet. Scientists have a good idea of what foods you should avoid to reduce your risk of cancer, such as red and processed meats, “fast” or processed foods, alcohol and sugary drinks. But knowing what to eat isn’t always straightforward, said Johanna Lampe, a cancer prevention researcher at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle.

Persons: Johanna Lampe Organizations: American Cancer Society, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center Locations: United States, Seattle

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' fund to support homeless families announced $117 million in new grants on Tuesday to organizations across the U.S. and Puerto Rico, which is a part of a $2 billion commitment Bezos made in 2018 to support homeless families and to run free preschools. That brings the amount granted by the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund to benefit homeless families to almost $640 million. The Salvation Army of Greater Charlotte received a second grant this year after first being awarded $5 million by the fund in 2018. The Bezos Day 1 Families Fund did not give a timeframe for when the pledged $2 billion would be distributed or what portion would go to homeless families. Last year, Bezos gave away $122.2 million and has pledged around $12.8 billion in charitable donations, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Persons: Jeff Bezos, Bezos, Lauren Sánchez, Deronda Metz, ” Metz, Amanda Andere, “, can’t, Andere, Sánchez, Jacklyn Bezos, Miguel, Fred, Dolly Parton, José Andrés, Van Jones Organizations: Fund, Salvation Army, Greater Charlotte, Girls, Urban Institute, National Coalition for, Homeless, Housing, Urban Development, Amazon, CNN, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Associated, Lilly Endowment Inc, AP Locations: Puerto Rico, Seattle, Maui

☆ Covid-19 has changed and so has our immunity. Here’s how to think about risk from the virus now
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-28 | by ( Brenda Goodman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +19 min

So if people are less likely to be hospitalized or die from a Covid-19 infection now, has the danger passed? Through genetic bad luck, some people may just be at higher risk of serious reactions to Covid-19 infections, and they probably wouldn’t know it. Researchers defined it as any new or continuing symptoms more than 90 days after a Covid-19 infection. Based on his experience treating long Covid patients, Griffin said that the percentage reported in the Australian paper seems high. Earlier in the pandemic, pediatric infectious disease specialists were on the lookout for a rare complication of Covid-19 infection in kids called multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C.MIS-C starts two to six weeks after a Covid-19 infection.

Persons: CNN —, we’ve, aren’t, Good, ”, Megan Ranney, Covid, ” Ranney, that’s, Evusheld, haven’t, you’ve, they’re, They’re, Mandy Cohen, It’s, –, Jesse Bloom, Daniel Griffin, it’s ‘, Griffin, “, Peter Chin, Chin, Hong, Nathaniel Hendrix, Hendrix, it’s, hasn’t, she’s, Kristin Englund, shouldn’t, Dr, Sanjay Gupta, “ It’s, Ellie Murray, ” Murray Organizations: CNN, US Centers for Disease Control, Yale School of Public Health, Covid, National Institutes of Health, FDA, US Department of Health, Human Services, CDC, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, HHS, Columbia University, University of California, Census Bureau, Nature Medicine, American Board of Family Medicine, Nature, Veterans Affairs, Cleveland Clinic, CNN Health, Boston University School of Public Health Locations: South Africa, Botswana, United States, China, Seattle, Israel, Denmark, United Kingdom, Portugal, US, Switzerland, Thailand, Australia, San Francisco, Ohio

☆ China had almost 2 million excess deaths after the end of ‘zero-Covid,’ U.S. study finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-26 | by ( Jennifer Jett | Cheng Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

There were almost 2 million excess deaths in the two months after China lifted its "zero-Covid" restrictions, a U.S. study found, contradicting official figures from Beijing that have been criticized as too low. Researchers estimate there were 1.87 million excess deaths from all causes among people 30 years and older from December 2022 to January, according to the study from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle published Thursday. "Our study of excess deaths related to the lifting of the zero-Covid policy in China sets an empirically derived benchmark estimate," the researchers wrote. The way the study estimates data is not "scientifically rigorous," but it is nonetheless an "objective" and "beneficial" attempt, Jin added. Jin said the actual data could be a few percentage points lower or higher than the study estimates.

Persons: Fred, Jan, Zhanwei Du, Lauren Ancel Meyers, Jin Dong, Jin Organizations: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, University of Hong, University of Texas, Baidu Locations: China, U.S, Beijing, Seattle, Tibet, University of Hong Kong, Austin

☆ Nearly 2 million excess deaths followed China's sudden end of COVID curbs - study
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( Bernard Orr | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The study by the federally funded Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle was taken from a sample of mortality data published by some universities in China and internet searches. It found an estimated 1.87 million excess deaths from all causes occurred among people over 30 years of age between December 2022 and January 2023, and were observed in all provinces in mainland China except Tibet. In the study, researchers performed statistical analysis using information from published obituaries and data from searches on Baidu, a popular Chinese internet search engine. "Our study of excess deaths related to the lifting of the zero-COVID policy in China sets an empirically derived benchmark estimate. The World Health Organization says there have been 121,628 COVID deaths in China, out of a total global toll of almost 7 million.

Persons: Thomas Peter, cremations, China's, COVID, Bernard Orr, Lincoln Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Baidu, Health Commission, Global, World Health Organization, National Bureau of Disease Control, Prevention, Global Times, Thomson Locations: Beijing, China, Rights BEIJING, U.S, Seattle, Tibet

☆ Scientists race to understand highly mutated coronavirus variant spotted in four countries, including the US
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-18 | by ( Brenda Goodman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —A highly mutated new variant of the virus that causes Covid-19 has countries on alert as scientists scramble to understand how far it has spread and how well our immunity will defend against it. The World Health Organization designated BA.2.86 a “variant under monitoring” on Thursday, a designation that encourages countries to track and report the sequences they find. SSI scientists stressed that it’s still too early to say anything about the severity or contagiousness of the new variant. Get CNN Health's weekly newsletter Sign up here to get The Results Are In with Dr. Sanjay Gupta every Tuesday from the CNN Health team. The XBB descendant EG.5 is currently the dominant variant in the US, causing an estimated 20% of all new Covid-19 cases in this country.

Persons: Jesse Bloom, ” Bloom, ”, Morten Rasmussen, Mandy Cohen, we’ve, “, ” Cohen, Dr, Sanjay Gupta Organizations: CNN, Omicron, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, World Health Organization, EG, WHO, Statens Serum Institut, US Centers for Disease Control, UK’s Health Security Agency, CNN Health, University of Michigan, White House Locations: Seattle, Israel, Denmark, United States, United Kingdom

☆ Radioligand therapy, a 'game-changer' for cancer treatment, forces manufacturers to race against a ticking clock
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

Ash from the eruption disrupted flights across Europe — including a time-sensitive shipment of experimental radioligand therapy that Sartor was expecting from Norway. Radioligand therapy, also called radionuclide or radiopharmaceutical therapy, is a targeted form of cancer treatment that delivers radiation directly to cancer cells. Once the radioactivity decays, it can no longer kill the cancer cells as effectively, which means radioligand therapy has a limited window of viability. Expensive to produce and ship fastNuclear medicine has been used to treat cancer for decades, and radioligand therapy itself is not new. In 2008, he traveled to a medical conference in Toronto where he heard about radioligand therapy for the first time.

☆ Merck could keep its patent edge by shifting Keytruda cancer drug to a simple shot
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Michael Erman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

If successful, Merck could begin marketing the new formulation within a few years, a top Merck executive told Reuters. "The clock for that patent would start ticking from the time we would get that patent approved." Drug patents have a guaranteed term of exclusivity for 20 years after receiving a patent under U.S. law, but sometimes the companies are able to add additional patents that extend their exclusivity. Merck's patents on the subcutaneous version of Keytruda could protect that formulation until at least 2040, according to Tahir Amin, co-founder of drug patents watchdog group Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge (I-MAK). Northwell's Mulloy said moving patients to subcutaneous versions of drugs also opens up spots in infusion centers for additional patients.

☆ HIV vaccine candidate induces immune response in early clinical trial
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —An experimental HIV vaccine has been found to induce broadly neutralizing antibodies among a small group of volunteers in a Phase 1 study. “We know that broadly neutralizing antibodies are a potentially effective strategy to prevent HIV,” del Rio said. “However, the incorporation of many different shots into an HIV vaccine regimen is unappealing. More than 20 HIV vaccine clinical trials are ongoing around the world, according to the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. But having an HIV vaccine available would make protection against the virus more accessible, he said.

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