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☆ Study Suggests Genetic Cause (Not Just Risk) for Some Alzheimer’s Cases
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-06 | by ( Pam Belluck | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Scientists are proposing a new way of understanding the genetics of Alzheimer’s that would mean that up to a fifth of patients would be considered to have a genetically caused form of the disease. Currently, the vast majority of Alzheimer’s cases do not have a clearly identified cause. The new designation, proposed in a study published Monday, could broaden the scope of efforts to develop treatments, including gene therapy, and affect the design of clinical trials. It could also mean that hundreds of thousands of people in the United States alone could, if they chose, receive a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s before developing any symptoms of cognitive decline, although there currently are no treatments for people at that stage. The new classification would make this type of Alzheimer’s one of the most common genetic disorders in the world, medical experts said.

Locations: United States

Listen and follow The DailyApple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon MusicAs the presidential race moves into high gear, abortion is at the center of it. Republican-controlled states continue to impose new bans, including just this week in Florida. But in Washington, the Biden administration is challenging one of those bans in a case that is now before the Supreme Court, arguing that Idaho’s strict rules violate a federal law on emergency medical treatment. Pam Belluck, a health and science reporter at The Times, and Abbie VanSickle, who covers the Supreme Court, explain how the federal law, known as EMTALA, relates to abortion, and how the case could reverberate beyond Idaho.

Persons: Biden, Pam Belluck, Abbie VanSickle Organizations: Spotify, Republican, The Times Locations: Florida, Washington, Idaho

☆ Justices Seemed Split on Emergency Abortion Access
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Matthew Cullen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Supreme Court justices appeared sharply divided today over whether federal law should allow doctors to perform emergency abortions in states that have adopted near-total bans on the procedure. The federal government argued that the Idaho measure violates a federal law requiring hospitals to stabilize or transfer patients with urgent medical issues. A broad decision could especially affect abortion access in the 14 states that have enacted near-total bans. “It could telegraph to states that what Idaho is doing either is or is not OK, and that could change those states’ abortion bans one way or another,” Pam said. “If the justices side with Idaho, it could also say to states that ‘abortion isn’t the only thing you can restrict.’”

Persons: Pam Belluck, ” Pam Locations: Idaho

☆ 5 Takeaways From the Supreme Court Arguments on Idaho’s Abortion Ban
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Pam Belluck | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The abortion case before the Supreme Court on Wednesday featured vigorous questioning and comments, particularly by the three liberal justices. At issue is whether Idaho’s near-total ban on abortion is so strict that it violates a federal law requiring emergency care for any patient, including providing abortions for pregnant women in dire situations. Here are some takeaways:The case centers on whether Idaho’s abortion ban violates federal law. Idaho’s ban allows abortion to save the life of a pregnant woman, but not to prevent her health from deteriorating. The federal government says it therefore violates the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA, which was enacted nearly 40 years ago.

Organizations: Labor Locations: Idaho

☆ Abortion Data Wars: States and Cities Debate How Much Information to Collect
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Pam Belluck | Emma G. Fitzsimmons | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the fierce debate over abortion in the United States, the subject of data collection might seem wonky and tangential. But the information that state and city governments collect about abortion patients is becoming another flashpoint in the country’s bitter divide over the issue. Some states with Republican-controlled legislatures have moved to require more information about each abortion, while some states where Democrats dominate are reducing the information they collect, fearing that it may be used to identify patients or to prosecute abortion providers. “Interstate conflict is only intensifying, and data is the first shot across the bow for how to actualize that conflict,” she added. Abortion rights supporters say they are especially concerned about the potential for anti-abortion states to use data to track patients who travel out-of-state for abortions or receive pills shipped from other states.

Persons: ”, Rachel Rebouché Organizations: Republican, Temple University Beasley School of Law Locations: United States

☆ The History Behind Arizona’s 160-Year-Old Abortion Ban
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( Pam Belluck | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The 160-year-old Arizona abortion ban that was upheld on Tuesday by the state’s highest court was among a wave of anti-abortion laws propelled by some historical twists and turns that might seem surprising. For decades after the United States became a nation, abortion was legal until fetal movement could be felt, usually well into the second trimester. Before that point, “women could try to obtain an abortion without having to fear that it was illegal,” said Johanna Schoen, a professor of history at Rutgers University. After quickening, abortion providers could be charged with a misdemeanor. “I think what was stigmatized was maybe this idea that you were having sex outside of marriage, but of course, married women also ended their pregnancies.”

Persons: ”, Johanna Schoen, “, Dr, Schoen Organizations: Rutgers University Locations: Arizona, United States

☆ A.L.S. Drug Relyvrio Will Be Taken Off the Market, Its Maker Says
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Pam Belluck | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The maker of the newest treatment approved for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis said Thursday that it would withdraw the drug from the market because a large clinical trial did not produce evidence that the treatment worked. The company, Amylyx Pharmaceuticals, said in a statement that it had started the process of withdrawing the drug in the United States, where it is called Relyvrio, and in Canada, where it is called Albrioza. As of Thursday, no new patients will be able to start the drug, while current patients who wish to continue taking the medication can be transitioned to a free drug program, the company said. It decided to greenlight the medication anyway, instead of waiting two years for results of a large clinical trial, citing data showing the treatment to be safe and the desperation of A.L.S. The disease robs patients of their ability to control muscles, speak and breathe without assistance and often causes death in two to five years.

Organizations: Amylyx Pharmaceuticals, and Drug Administration Locations: United States, Canada

☆ 4 Takeaways From the Abortion Pill Arguments
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Pam Belluck | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A majority of the Supreme Court seemed inclined on Tuesday to reject a bid to sharply limit access to abortion pills. During about 90 minutes of argument, most of the justices seemed doubtful that the plaintiffs, who do not prescribe abortion pills or regularly treat abortion patients, even had standing to bring the challenge. The justices, including several in the conservative majority, questioned whether the plaintiffs could show that they faced the moral harm they claimed to suffer from the availability of the pill, mifepristone. The case centers on whether changes the Food and Drug Administration made in 2016 and 2021, which broadened access to the drug, would have to be rolled back. Those changes made it possible for patients to obtain prescriptions for mifepristone by telemedicine and receive abortion pills in the mail, which has greatly increased the availability of medication abortion.

Organizations: and Drug Administration, telemedicine

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☆ Use of Abortion Pills Has Risen Significantly Post Roe, Research Shows
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-25 | by ( Pam Belluck | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Another report, published last week by the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights, found that medication abortions now account for nearly two-thirds of all abortions provided by the country’s formal health system, which includes clinics and telemedicine abortion services. The JAMA study evaluated data from overseas telemedicine organizations, online vendors and networks of community volunteers that generally obtain pills from outside the United States. Before Roe was overturned, these avenues provided abortion pills to about 1,400 women per month, but in the six months afterward, the average jumped to 5,900 per month, the study reported. The co-authors were a statistics professor at the university; the founder of Aid Access, a Europe-based organization that helped pioneer telemedicine abortion in the United States; and a leader of Plan C, an organization that provides consumers with information about medication abortion. Vendors in the study were vetted by Plan C and found to be providing genuine abortion pills, Dr. Aiken said.

Persons: Roe, ”, Abigail Aiken, Aiken Organizations: JAMA, Guttmacher Institute, University of Texas Locations: United States, U.S, Austin, Europe, India

☆ F.D.A. Delays Action on Closely Watched Alzheimer’s Drug
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-08 | by ( Pam Belluck | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Food and Drug Administration has decided to delay action on a closely watched Alzheimer’s drug, donanemab, which the agency was widely expected to approve this month. will instead require donanemab to undergo the scrutiny of a panel of independent experts, the drug’s maker, Eli Lilly and Company, said Friday. The decision is likely to surprise many Alzheimer’s experts, doctors and patients who had expected the medication would soon be on the market. The F.D.A.’s move was startling to the company, which had been planning for the agency to greenlight the drug during the first quarter of this year. “We were not expecting this,” Anne White, an executive vice president of Lilly and president of its neuroscience division, said in an interview.

Persons: Eli Lilly, “, Lilly, ” Anne White, ” Organizations: Drug Administration Locations: donanemab

☆ A.L.S. Drug Relyvrio Fails Clinical Trial and May Be Withdrawn From the Market
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-08 | by ( Pam Belluck | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

One of the few treatments the Food and Drug Administration has approved for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis has failed a large clinical trial, and its manufacturer said Friday that it was considering whether to withdraw it from the market. The medication, called Relyvrio, was approved less than two years ago, despite questions about its effectiveness in treating the severe neurological disorder. At the time, the F.D.A.’s reviewers had concluded there was not yet sufficient evidence that the medication could help patients live longer or slow the rate at which they lose functions like muscle control, speaking or breathing without assistance. But the agency decided to greenlight the medication instead of waiting two years for results of a large clinical trial, citing data showing the treatment to be safe and the desperation of patients with a disease that often causes death within two to five years. Now, results of the 48-week trial of 664 patients are in, and they showed that the treatment did not work better than a placebo.

Persons: ’ Organizations: and Drug Administration Locations: United States

☆ First U.S. Over-the-Counter Birth Control Pill Will Be Available Soon
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-04 | by ( Pam Belluck | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Why It MattersThe medication, called Opill, which was approved for over-the-counter sale by the Food and Drug Administration last year, will be the most effective birth control method available without a prescription, research shows — more effective than condoms, spermicides and other nonprescription methods. Some experts said they thought it might be a particularly good option for teenagers, who might otherwise rely on condoms. Reproductive health experts and members of an F.D.A. But long before that, the move to make a nonprescription pill available for all ages had received widespread support from specialists in reproductive and adolescent health and groups. In a survey in 2022 by the health care research organization KFF, more than three-quarters of women of reproductive age said they favored an over-the-counter pill, primarily because of convenience.

Persons: Lupe M, Rodriguez, ” Karen Murry, Opill Organizations: Food and Drug Administration, National Latina Institute, Reproductive

☆ CVS and Walgreens Will Begin Selling Abortion Pills This Month
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-01 | by ( Pam Belluck | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The two largest pharmacy chains in the United States will start dispensing the abortion pill mifepristone this month, a step that could make access easier for some patients. Officials at CVS and Walgreens said in interviews on Friday that they had received certification to dispense mifepristone under guidelines that the Food and Drug Administration issued last year. The chains plan to make the medication available in stores in a handful of states at first. Both chains said they would gradually expand to all other states where abortion was legal and where pharmacies were legally able to dispense abortion pills — about half of the states. Walgreens will start providing the pill within the next week in a small number of its pharmacies in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, California and Illinois, said Fraser Engerman, a spokesman for the chain.

Persons: Fraser Engerman, ” Organizations: CVS, Walgreens, and Drug Administration Locations: United States, New York , Pennsylvania , Massachusetts, California, Illinois

☆ Long Covid May Lead to Measurable Cognitive Decline, Study Finds
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( Pam Belluck | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Long Covid may lead to measurable cognitive decline, especially in the ability to remember, reason and plan, a large new study suggests. Cognitive testing of nearly 113,000 people in England found that those with persistent post-Covid symptoms scored the equivalent of 6 I.Q. But the experts said the findings are important because they provide numerical evidence for the brain fog, focus and memory problems that afflict many people with long Covid. “These emerging and coalescing findings are generally highlighting that yes, there is cognitive impairment in long Covid survivors — it’s a real phenomenon,” said James C. Jackson, a neuropsychologist at Vanderbilt Medical Center, who was not involved in the study. He and other experts noted that the results were consistent with smaller studies that have found signals of cognitive impairment.

Persons: —, ”, James C, Jackson Organizations: The New England, of Medicine . People, Vanderbilt Medical Center Locations: England, The

☆ Abortion Shield Laws: A New War Between the States
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( Pam Belluck | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Here, in a 7-by-12-foot room, abortion is being made available to thousands of women in states where it is illegal. The patients do not have to travel here to terminate their pregnancies, and they do not have to wait weeks to receive abortion medication from overseas. Instead, they are obtaining abortion pills prescribed by licensed Massachusetts providers, packaged in the little room and mailed from a nearby post office, arriving days later in Texas, Missouri and other states where abortion is largely outlawed. This service and others like it are operating under novel laws enacted in a half-dozen states — Massachusetts, Washington, Colorado, Vermont, New York and California — that have sought to preserve abortion access since the Supreme Court overturned the nationwide right to abortion in June 2022. The laws have been in use only since the summer and have not been tested in the courts, but they are already providing abortion access to tens of thousands of women in states with bans, especially low-income patients and others who cannot travel.

Locations: Boston, Massachusetts, Texas , Missouri, Washington , Colorado , Vermont , New York, California

☆ A New Abortion Access Strategy
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( Pam Belluck | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

These telemedicine shield laws block officials in red states who might prosecute or sue the abortion providers in Massachusetts, New York, California, Vermont, Colorado and Washington State. Since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade and triggered a wave of bans in conservative states, abortion rights advocates have worked to preserve access. They’ve used mobile clinics across the border from red states — and funds that cover the cost of travel to places where abortion is legal. A new toolThe providers started mailing abortion pills under the shield laws just last summer. They’ve already prescribed and mailed abortion pills to tens of thousands of women in Texas, Idaho and other places that banned abortion after the high court’s 2022 decision.

Persons: I’ve, Court’s Dobbs, Roe, Wade, They’ve Organizations: Washington State Locations: Massachusetts , New York , California , Vermont, Colorado, Texas , Idaho

☆ Study of Patients With a Chronic Fatigue Condition May Offer Clues to Long Covid
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-21 | by ( Pam Belluck | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Jennifer Caldwell was active and energetic, working two jobs and taking care of her daughter and her parents, when she developed a bacterial infection that was followed by intense lightheadedness, fatigue and memory problems. That was nearly a decade ago, and she has since struggled with the condition known as myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, or ME/CFS. Ms. Caldwell, 56, of Hillsborough, N.C., said she went from being able to ski, dance and work two jobs as a clinical research coordinator and a caterer to needing to stay in bed most of every day. “I haven’t been right since, and I haven’t worked a day since,” said Ms. Caldwell, whose symptoms include severe dizziness whenever her legs are not elevated. “I can’t read something and comprehend it very well at all, I can’t remember new things.

Persons: Jennifer Caldwell, Caldwell, haven’t, ”, “ Locations: Hillsborough, N.C

☆ Journal Retracts Studies Cited in Federal Court Ruling Against Abortion Pill
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-09 | by ( Pam Belluck | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

An academic journal publisher this week retracted two studies that were cited by a federal judge in Texas last year when he ruled that the abortion pill mifepristone should be taken off the market. Most of the authors of the studies are doctors and researchers affiliated with anti-abortion groups, and their reports suggested that medication abortion causes dangerous complications, contradicting the widespread evidence that abortion pills are safe. The lawsuit in which the studies were cited will be heard by the Supreme Court in March. The high court’s ruling could have major implications for access to medication abortion, which is now the most common method of pregnancy termination. The publisher, Sage Journals, said it had asked two independent experts to evaluate the studies, published in 2021 and 2022 in the journal Health Services Research and Managerial Epidemiology, after a reader raised concerns.

Organizations: Sage, Health Services Research Locations: Texas

☆ What to Know About the Federal Law at the Heart of the Latest Supreme Court Abortion Case
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-18 | by ( Pam Belluck | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

One of the newest battlefields in the abortion debate is a decades-old federal law called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, known by doctors and health policymakers as EMTALA. The issue involves whether the law requires hospital emergency rooms to provide abortions in urgent circumstances, including when a woman’s health is threatened by continuing her pregnancy. The Biden administration is in the middle of legal battles over the law with the states of Texas and Idaho. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the Idaho case. Enacted by Congress in 1986, EMTALA (pronounced em-TAHL-uh) requires hospitals across the country to guarantee all patients a standard of emergency care, regardless of whether they have insurance or can pay.

Persons: Biden Organizations: Labor Locations: Texas, Idaho, United States

☆ Legal Actions Seek Guarantee of Abortion Access for Patients in Medical Emergencies
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( Pam Belluck | More About Pam Belluck | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Early in her pregnancy, Jaci Statton was in her kitchen when she felt like she was going to pass out and saw that her jeans had become soaked with blood. Doctors told her the pregnancy was not viable and that it could threaten her life if an abortion was not performed soon, she said. But Ms. Statton lives in Oklahoma, a state that bans most abortions. At the third, “they said, ‘We can’t touch you unless you’re like crashing in front of us,’” Ms. Statton, 26, said in an interview. Her case is part of several legal challenges filed Tuesday involving patients and doctors in three states — Idaho, Tennessee and Oklahoma — who claim that those states’ abortion bans are preventing women with serious pregnancy complications from getting abortions, even in cases where the medical need is clear.

Persons: Jaci Statton, Doctors, Statton, “, ’ Organizations: U.S . Department of Health, Human Services, Oklahoma Children’s Hospital Locations: Oklahoma, — Idaho , Tennessee

☆ A Stroke Stole Her Ability to Speak at 30. A.I. Is Helping to Restore It Years Later.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( Pam Belluck | More About Pam Belluck | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At Ann Johnson’s wedding reception 20 years ago, her gift for speech was vividly evident. In a milestone of neuroscience and artificial intelligence, implanted electrodes decoded Mrs. Johnson’s brain signals as she silently tried to say sentences. Technology converted her brain signals into written and vocalized language, and enabled an avatar on a computer screen to speak the words and display smiles, pursed lips and other expressions. The research, published in the journal Nature, demonstrates the first time spoken words and facial expressions have been directly synthesized from brain signals, experts say. Mrs. Johnson chose the avatar, a face resembling hers, and researchers used her wedding toast to develop the avatar’s voice.

Persons: Ann Johnson’s, ”, Johnson —, —, Johnson Organizations: Technology

☆ Appeals Court Upholds Abortion Pill Restrictions
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( Pam Belluck | More About Pam Belluck | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

A federal appeals court panel said Wednesday that it would impose restrictions on the abortion pill mifepristone that would prevent the drug from being prescribed by telemedicine or dispensed through the mail. But the decision — the latest development in a closely watched lawsuit filed by abortion opponents seeking to block access to abortion pills — will not take effect until the Supreme Court ultimately decides the case. In a ruling this spring, the high court said mifepristone should remain available under the current rules until the appeals process concludes. In its ruling, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld part of a decision issued in April by a federal judge in Texas. That decision, by Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk, had nullified the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the pill 23 years ago.

Persons: mifepristone, Judge Matthew J, Kacsmaryk Organizations: U.S ., Appeals, Fifth Locations: Texas

☆ For the First Time, There’s a Pill for Postpartum Depression
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( Pam Belluck | More About Pam Belluck | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the first pill for postpartum depression, a milestone considered likely to increase recognition and treatment of a debilitating condition that afflicts about a half-million women in the United States every year. Clinical trial data show the pill works quickly, beginning to ease depression in as little as three days, significantly faster than general antidepressants, which can take two weeks or longer to have an effect. That — along with the fact that it is taken for just two weeks, not for months — may encourage more patients to accept treatment, maternal mental health experts said. The most significant aspect of the approval may not be the features of the drug, but that it is explicitly designated for postpartum depression. The hope is that it will encourage more women to seek help and prompt more obstetricians and family doctors to screen for symptoms and suggest counseling or treatment.

Organizations: Drug Administration Locations: United States

Last week, for the first time in U.S. history, federal regulators approved the sale of a birth control pill without a prescription. Pam Belluck, a health and science correspondent for The Times, explains why, after decades of brutal battles over contraception, this decision played out so differently.

Persons: Pam Belluck Organizations: The Times

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