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☆ Scientists propose long Covid definition based on key symptoms in large study
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

South_agency | E+ | Getty ImagesScientists funded by the federal government have proposed a definition of long Covid based on symptoms identified in a large study published Thursday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The scientists assigned points based on how much each symptom distinguished participants with long Covid from those who did not catch the virus. There are no tests that can diagnose long Covid based on markers in the blood. Scientists participating in RECOVER are trying to understand the underlying biology that causes long Covid, which could potentially lead to such tests in the future. Horwitz said the proposed definition could help create a rubric to diagnose patients with long Covid in a manner similar to Lupus.

May 17 (Reuters) - Federal appeals court judges appeared to express support on Wednesday for opponents of the abortion pill mifepristone to pursue their challenge to its U.S. approval, which has potentially far-reaching consequences for abortion access across the country. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans to overturn last month's unprecedented ruling by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, Texas suspending mifepristone's approval. [1/2] A patient prepares to take Mifepristone, the first medication in a medical abortion, at Alamo Women's Clinic in Carbondale, Illinois, U.S., April 20, 2023. Circuit Judges James Ho and Wilson were appointed by Donald Trump. SAFE AND EFFECTIVEMifepristone remains available for now, following an emergency order from the U.S. Supreme Court putting Kacsmaryk's order on hold during the appeal.

[1/2] A patient prepares to take Mifepristone, the first medication in a medical abortion, at Alamo Women's Clinic in Carbondale, Illinois, U.S., April 20, 2023. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File PhotoMay 17 (Reuters) - U.S. appeals court judges began hearing arguments on Wednesday in a legal battle over the availability of the abortion pill mifepristone, with potentially far-reaching consequences for abortion access across the United States. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans to overturn last month's unprecedented ruling by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, Texas suspending mifepristone's approval. Danco Laboratories, which sells the drug under the brand name Mifeprex, is also expected to argue before the court. The emergency room doctors said they were being forced to complete surgical abortions, which was against their conscience, for women who took the pill and failed to complete a medical abortion.

[1/2] A patient prepares to take Mifepristone, the first medication in a medical abortion, at Alamo Women's Clinic in Carbondale, Illinois, U.S., April 20, 2023. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File PhotoMay 17 (Reuters) - A federal appeals court in New Orleans will hear arguments on Wednesday in a closely watched case brought by anti-abortion activists seeking to ban the abortion pill mifepristone, with potentially far-reaching impact on abortion access across the United States. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn last month's unprecedented ruling by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, Texas suspending mifepristone's FDA approval. Mifepristone remains available for now, following an emergency order from the U.S. Supreme Court putting Kacsmaryk's order on hold during the appeal. Whichever way the 5th Circuit panel rules, the decision is sure to be appealed, first to the full court and then to the U.S. Supreme Court.

☆ DeSantis signs slew of anti-transgender rights measures into law, affecting bathrooms, healthcare, and pronouns
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

DeSantis signed three anti-trans bills into law ahead of an anticipated 2024 run. Though he decried LGBTQ+ material and called for "normalcy" for minors, children stood next to him onstage during the bills' signings. Another bill DeSantis signed into law Wednesday prevents doctors from offering treatments such as hormone therapy, puberty blockers, and surgery — such as breast removal — to transgender minors, even in cases where parents consent. The legislation — officially known as the Parental Rights in Education Act — was panned by LGBTQ+ rights organizations as "Don't Say Gay." But a bill DeSantis signed into law Wednesday went even further to eradicate such teachings so they only happen in the limited curriculum parameters after eighth grade.

☆ Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst lead $50 million seed round in Hippocratic AI to deliver large language models to healthcare providers
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Hippocratic AI is a large language model company aiming to serve healthcare providers. Now, the entrepreneur is marrying his interest in healthcare with his experience as a multi-time AI founder to create Hippocratic AI, a healthcare-focused large language model company. First, Hippocratic AI tested its large language model against 114 different healthcare certifications, 105 of which its model outperformed OpenAI's GPT-4 on, Shah told Insider. Despite its intensive model training efforts and recent hefty capital infusion, Hippocratic AI has yet to release a product. "This language model business has turned software development back into a capital intensive business," he said.

☆ How a Few Stories of Regret Fuel the Push to Restrict Gender Transition Care
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Maggie Astor | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Missouri legislature last week passed a ban on transition care for transgender youth. As more American teenagers have identified as transgender, it is difficult to say how many will transition medically — many transgender people do not — and precisely how many will later change course. Methodology, demographics and even the definition of detransition vary widely from study to study, which typically show that between 2 percent and 13 percent of people detransition, and not always because of regret. Leading medical groups in the United States, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association, say transition care should be available to minors and oppose legislative bans. Many experts say policymakers should ensure access to high-quality care, including thorough individual evaluations to determine which treatments are appropriate and at what age.

☆ Camp Lejeune Water Strongly Linked to Parkinson’s Disease
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Ben Kesling | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Water processed for Camp Lejeune, N.C., was contaminated for decades by improper chemical-disposal procedures. Photo: Allen G. Breed/Associated PressMarines and sailors who were exposed to toxic water at Camp Lejeune, N.C., are much more likely to suffer from Parkinson’s disease than their counterparts who were stationed elsewhere, according to a study published Monday. Troops stationed at Camp Lejeune for even just a few months during the years 1975-85 are 70% more likely to suffer from Parkinson’s disease than troops who were at Camp Pendleton, Calif., according to findings from researchers who accounted for other factors in making their determination. Their report was published by the Journal of the American Medical Association. The VA-funded study was led by Dr. Samuel Goldman, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco Medical School and a staff physician at the San Francisco VA Medical Center.

☆ A Birth Control Pill May Soon Be Available Over the Counter. Here’s What to Know.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Alisha Haridasani Gupta | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Food and Drug Administration advisers concluded that the benefits outweighed the risks of making a hormonal contraceptive pill — sold under the brand name Opill and produced by the French company HRA Pharma — available without a prescription. follows the nonbinding recommendation of its advisers — and there is a chance the agency might not — Opill would become the first and only birth control pill to be available over the counter since oral contraceptives were introduced in the U.S. in 1960. A 2022 survey found that 77 percent of more than 5,000 female participants favored the idea of getting the birth control pill over the counter, with many saying it would be more convenient and efficient to get it without a prescription. Progestin-only pills have been widely used in the United States since the first one was approved in 1973. Like other oral contraceptives, they require a prescription from a health care provider or, in some states, a pharmacist.

☆ Emergency Room Visits Have Risen Sharply for Young People in Mental Distress, Study Finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Matt Richtel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The NewsMental health-related visits to emergency rooms by children, teenagers and young adults soared from 2011 to 2020, according to a report published on Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The sharpest increase was for suicide-related visits, which rose fivefold. The research, drawn from data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, looked at the annual number of mental health-related E.R. The number of visits rose for many conditions, including mood and behavioral disorders, substance use and psychosis. But the increase in suicide-related issues was most pronounced, increasing to 4.2 percent of all pediatric emergency room visits in 2020 from 0.9 percent in 2011.

☆ Those Melatonin Gummies May Have More Than You Bargained For
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Liz Essley Whyte | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Calls to poison-control centers from caregivers worried about melatonin their children ingested have grown sharply. Photo: Jeff Greenberg/Universal Images Greoup via Getty ImagesPeople who consume melatonin gummies to get a good night’s rest might be ingesting more natural sleep aid than they bargained for, scientists say. In an analysis of 25 melatonin gummy brands, researchers found that most had more melatonin than their label disclosed—with one brand’s product containing nearly 350% more, according to the analysis published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Another brand said its gummies contained melatonin and cannabinoid oil, though researchers found that they really contained only cannabidiol, an ingredient derived from cannabis.

☆ What Happens If You Don’t Pay Your Student Loans?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: +9 min

Read on to understand the details of not paying your student loans:What happens if you don’t pay your student loans? “The key is to communicate with their servicer or lender.”What happens when you don’t pay your student loans varies by loan type: Defaulting on federal student loans can follow you for life, whereas private student loan collections efforts have a statute of limitations. Here’s a closer look at what happens when you don’t pay your federal student loans, followed by what happens when you don’t pay your private loans. What happens if you don’t pay your federal student loans? “The Fresh Start program is likely the best pandemic-era student loan program to actually fix structural problems hurting student loan borrowers,” says Farrington.

☆ Live updates: Supreme Court protects access to abortion pill
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Elise Hammond | Matt Meyer | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

A patient prepares to take Mifepristone, the first medication in a medical abortion, at Alamo Women's Clinic in Carbondale, Illinois. Along with misoprostol, mifepristone is one of the drugs used for an abortion via medication, as opposed to surgery. Someone having a medication abortion takes mifepristone and then, after 24 to 48 hours, takes misoprostol. Side effects of mifepristone: Mifepristone usually doesn’t have many side effects, doctors say, but as with any drug, there can be short-lived ones. Preliminary data published February 2022 from the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization focused on sexual and reproductive health that supports abortion rights, showed that medication abortion accounted for 53% of all abortions in the US.

☆ A.I. takes center stage at HIMSS health conference
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

HIMSS conference attendees walk the exhibition floor Source: HIMSSDebates over artificial intelligence and its role in health care took center stage at the HIMSS Global Health Conference in Chicago this week, where more than 35,000 physicians, executives, engineers and health-care workers convened to discuss the latest advancements in health and technology. Generative AI refers to programs that can use fairly complicated prompts from end users to generate text or images. Just as generative AI has captured the attention of the general public, it has also captivated the medical community. HIMSS attendees told CNBC they believe generative AI can help with these tasks. More than 35,000 people attended the HIMSS conference in 2023 Source: HIMSS

The Supreme Court maintained access to the abortion drug mifepristone on Friday. The court took on the issue after a federal judge in Texas issued a ruling suspending FDA approval of mifepristone. Drugs like mifepristone and misoprostol have been under heightened scrutiny from abortion opponents since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last June. Earlier in April, a federal judge in Amarillo, Texas, issued a ruling suspending mifepristone's FDA approval, arguing the approval itself was unlawful. Following the Supreme Court's reversal on abortion rights, Democrats heavily campaigned on the issue of abortion in the 2022 midterm elections.

☆ A Texas judge's abortion pill ruling was 'extraordinary' because it let doctors ban a drug they neither use nor prescribe, the DOJ said in a bid to reverse the decision
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The Justice Department filed an emergency motion seeking a stay on last week's abortion pill ruling. Anti-abortion activists lacked standing to challenge FDA approval of the drug, the department says. But anti-abortion doctors are neither in a position to use nor prescribe mifepristone, the DOJ said. Feds criticize anti-abortion studyIn their filing, Justice Department lawyers also took aim at the sources Judge Kacsmaryk cited to justify his decision. The Justice Department, in turn, described the source as "an article" that was "based entirely on fewer than 100 anonymous blog posts submitted to a website titled 'Abortion Changes You.'"

☆ As weight-loss drugs hit the U.S. market, doctors debate how to use them
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Patrick Wingrove | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/2] The American Medical Association logo is seen at their office in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 30, 2020. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/March 30 (Reuters) - As powerful new obesity drugs enter the U.S. market, medical associations are keen to advise their members on how to best use them for patients. "These new compounds are game changers, there's no doubt about it," said Anthony Comuzzie, chief executive of The Obesity Society. The group last provided obesity treatment guidelines in 2013 alongside the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology. OBESITY AS A DISEASEThe American Medical Association, the nation’s largest medical group, recognized obesity as a disease in 2013.

[1/2] A vehicle is towed from the property as community members pray while visiting a memorial at the school entrance after a deadly shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. March 29, 2023. Security experts said the Covenant School apparently had good safety protocols. It was a grim reminder that any campus could be the target of gun violence, spurring educators around the country to review security protocols and try to reassure parents. Protective measures notwithstanding, Corcoran said the Covenant School shooting exposed how deadly such attacks can be even when school leaders "did everything right." It is not clear that hardening school security always works.

☆ Americans desperate for the hot weight-loss drug Ozempic are turning to Canada and Mexico because they can't afford it at home
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

She found CanShipMeds.com, one of many websites that says it ships a similar drug, Ozempic, from Canada at a lower cost. Delp is hardly the only American searching for weight-loss drugs across the border in Canada or Mexico. Medicare, the federal program that provides health coverage for people 65 and older, doesn't cover weight-loss drugs at all, though there's a push to change that. People are looking to Canada and Mexico for cheaper OzempicCrystal Cox/Business InsiderUntil insurance coverage improves, people will look abroad to afford the weight-loss drugs. Want to tell us about your experience with weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro?

☆ Who is Matthew Kacsmaryk, the Trump-appointed Texas judge who could ban abortion pills?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Matthew Kacsmaryk is a Texas federal judge who was nominated by Donald Trump in 2017. Kacsmaryk graduated from Abilene Christian University in 1999 and received his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law in 2003. The Post reported that it was during law school when Kacsmaryk focused on abortion rights. Kacsmaryk also served as the executive editor of the Texas Review of Law & Politics and received two Dean's Achievement Awards, according to the questionnaire. During his undergraduate years, studying political science, Kacsmaryk was outspoken about his conservative views and stances on abortion.

☆ Quake deals new blow to Syrian medics after years of war
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Khalil Ashawi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

AL-DANA, Syria, Feb 21 (Reuters) - As a nurse working near the frontlines of the Syrian war, Ibrahim Zeidan endured many desperate moments including when shelling destroyed a hospital, leaving him trapped by rubble. But he says an earthquake which hit the region on Feb. 6 has proved the most difficult challenge yet for medics in the rebel-held region, overwhelming health facilities already battered by more than a decade of conflict. The night of the disaster, Zeidan oversaw the evacuation of infants from the hospital where he was working in the town of al-Dana. CCTV footage from the hospital showed masonry falling and equipment shaking as the quake struck. Zeidan previously worked at a hospital that operated out of a cave in the Kafr Zeita region of the rebel-held northwest.

Feb 15 (Reuters) - Emergent BioSolutions Inc's (EBS.N) over-the-counter version of opioid overdose reversing drug received unanimous support from U.S. Food and Drug Administration's panel of advisers, sending shares of the contract drugmaker up nearly 16% after market. The vote puts the naloxone-based treatment Narcan on track to potentially become the first opioid overdose drug to be sold OTC nationwide. Naloxone rapidly reverses or blocks the effects of an overdose, restoring normal respiration. However, most panelists emphasized that OTC use of the nasal spray was safe and proposed ways to improve its labeling, to avoid using the drug wrong. Signage is seen outside of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) headquarters in White Oak, Maryland, U.S., August 29, 2020.

☆ Childbirth is far more dangerous for women than the abortion pill, American Medical Association tells the Texas judge weighing mifepristone ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The American Medical Association is urging a Texas judge to reject an effort to ban mifepristone. This is not an opinion — it is a fact based on hundreds of medical studies and vast amounts of data amassed over the course of two decades," the brief states. But pregnant teenagers, the medical groups note, have levels of progesterone far greater than their non-pregnant peers. "There is no reason to think, nor is there evidence to show, that preventing the absorption of progesterone for a brief window would have any effects on adolescent development," the brief states. Republican attorneys general also submitted a brief arguing that the availability of the drug infringes on the right of states to regulate abortion.

☆ FDA advisors recommend over-the-counter use of life-saving opioid overdose treatment Narcan
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Narcan nasal spray quickly reverses an overdose from heroin and prescription painkillers. The Food and Drug Administration's independent advisors on Wednesday unanimously recommended over-the-counter use of the nasal spray Narcan to reverse opioid overdoses, which would significantly expand access to the life-saving treatment. Emergent BioSolutions ' Narcan is the most commonly sold treatment for opioid overdoses. Emergent BioSolutions said Narcan would be available for the over-the-counter market by late summer if the FDA approves it next month. Opioid overdose deaths spiked 17% during the pandemic from about 69,000 in 2020 to nearly 81,000 in 2021.

☆ A transgender pharmacist says she felt 'dehumanized' after an Arkansas GOP lawmaker asked her about her genitalia during a public hearing
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Natalie Musumeci | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

An Arkansas GOP lawmaker asked a transgender pharmacist about her genitalia during a bill hearing. "That's horrible," Gwendolyn Herzig replied when McKee asked her, "Do you have a penis?" McKee asked Herzig, who was testifying against the bill at the time, prompting her to respond, "A trans female, yes sir." "You're the one that brought that into the discussion," McKee told Herzig, who shot back: "I never said anything about genitalia." Herzig told Insider on Wednesday that she felt "shock" and "disgust" when McKee asked about her genitalia.

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