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☆ ChatGPT’s responses to suicide, addiction, sexual assault crises raise questions in new study
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

And regulators could help monitor that such responses offer accurate and reliable information and resources. They’re underutilized already,” said John Ayers, an author of the study and a behavioral scientist at the University of California, San Diego. He said that now, while ChatGPT is still in development, is the time for public health experts and regulators to join forces with the chatbot’s developers to help curate responses to medical questions. The chatbot provided resources in two responses to a question about addiction, two responses for questions related to interpersonal violence and one response to a mental health-related question. “ChatGPT consistently provided evidence-based answers to public health questions, although it primarily offered advice rather than referrals,” the researchers wrote in their study.

Persons: They’re underutilized, ”, John Ayers, ChatGPT, “, –, ” Ayers, ” ChatGPT, “ ChatGPT, Ayers, Dr, Mike Hogarth, Sanjay Gupta, David Asch, Asch, ” Asch, he’d, Deidre McPhillips Organizations: CNN, JAMA, University of California, UC San Diego, Anonymous, Mental Health Services Administration National, Prevention, UC San Diego School of Medicine, Eating Disorders Association, CNN Health, University of Pennsylvania, Penn Medicine Center, Health Care Innovation Locations: San Diego, United States

☆ Cognitive decline accelerates after heart attack, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Sandee Lamotte | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

However, age-related cognitive decline is quite different from Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias and should not be confused with those, experts say. During the course of the research, however, over 1,000 of the participants had an acute myocardial infarction, or heart attack. Past studies found linkThis isn’t the first study to find a connection between accelerated cognitive decline and heart attacks, Smith and Silbert noted. As in the new study, people with heart attacks or angina (chest pain) had annual rates of cognitive decline before the attack similar to those of people who never had a heart attack, but then experienced accelerated cognitive decline, they added. Possible explanations may include depression after having a heart attack, which has been linked to dementia, they said.

Persons: What’s, Eric Smith, Lisa Silbert, Smith, ” Smith, Silbert, ” Organizations: CNN, Cognitive Neurosciences, University of Calgary, Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine, Aging Locations: United States, Alberta, Portland, White

☆ A New Genetic Test Takes Aim at Young Hearts
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Gina Kolata | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Despite the high hopes for the new tests, there are many questions. It can be difficult for young people to focus on possible threats to their health decades in the future, and some of Dr. Rader’s patients have put off even getting polygenic risk tests after he recommends them. “Now, whenever they experience the common aches, pains and twinges of life, they wonder if it is because they have this ‘disease,’” Dr. Redberg said. “And they may then go to the doctor or even emergency room for things they would not have previously. Dr. Iftikhar Kullo of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., asked, “Do you actually improve long-term outcomes” by using the tests and acting on them?

☆ Weight-loss surgery is becoming more common among children and teens, new research shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Deidre Mcphillips | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Millions of children and teens live with obesity in the United States, and weight-loss surgery is becoming a more common way to treat it, new research shows. The trend held strong in the first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, even as the number of weight-loss surgeries among adults dipped. Between 2020 and 2021, the number of weight-loss surgeries among youth jumped 19%. Childhood obesity is more prevalent among certain populations, including Black and Hispanic youth, according to the CDC. The new data shows that weight-loss surgery increased more than twice as much as average among these populations, up 42% among Back youth and 53% among Hispanic youth between 2020 and 2021.

☆ Pfizer oral weight loss drug may be as effective as, quicker than Ozempic injection by Novo Nordisk, study says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

An oral drug made by Pfizer causes a similar amount of weight loss as, and works quicker than, rival Novo Nordisk 's blockbuster injection Ozempic, according to results from a phase two clinical trial released Monday. The results suggest danuglipron may be as effective for weight as Ozempic over a shorter period of time. New York-based Pfizer is the latest pharmaceutical company to dip into the blockbuster weight loss drug market. Novo Nordisk's Ozempic and Wegovy catapulted to the national spotlight in recent years for being weight loss "miracles." But experts say the medicines may further perpetuate a dangerous diet culture that idealizes weight loss and thinness.

We are selling 50 shares of Eli Lilly (LLY) at roughly $442 each. Following Monday's trade, Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust will own 150 shares of LLY, decreasing its weighting in the portfolio to about 2.5% from 3.33%. We're taking some Eli Lilly off the table Monday afternoon on the stock's breakout to another new all-time high. The FDA in early January granted accelerated approval to a drug similar to donanemab, which was developed by Japanese pharmaceutical firm Eisai and U.S.-based partner Biogen (BIIB). Like Pfizer's drug, Lilly is working on an oral type-2 diabetes and chronic weight management drug called orforglipron, which could be similar to the Mounjaro injectable.

☆ Oppenheimer says investors are missing opportunities in three biotech areas and the related stocks
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Christina Cheddar Berk | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

As biopharma investors follow the latest buzz around advancements in clinical research, they may be under-appreciating opportunities in neurology, psychiatry and genetic medicine, according to a report from Oppenheimer. "Valuation multiples across disease areas show CNS [ or central nervous system] and Genetic Medicine at relative low points." In July, the Food and Drug Administration could grant full approval to Leqembi , its Alzheimer's Disease treatment. As a very new area of medicine, gene therapy has greatest potential to accelerate sales growth as treatments come to market. He described immunology multiples as "generally stable" and genetic medicine multiples as highly volatile.

☆ Contaminated water in North Carolina has been linked to a higher risk of Parkinson's in a new study of over 300,000 veterans
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A new study found a connection between contaminated water at a military base and Parkinson's disease. The risk of Parkinson's was 70% higher for over 300,000 veterans from Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. Those stationed at Camp Lejeune were there for at least three months between 1975 and 1985. Even veterans who were not diagnosed with Parkinson's disease still had "significantly higher" risk for early signs and symptoms of the illness, the researchers reported in the study. Both Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense have previously acknowledged the exposure of trichloroethylene at Camp Lejeune.

☆ Alzheimer's treatment Leqembi could cost Medicare up to $5 billion per year, study estimates
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The Alzheimer's drug Leqembi is seen in this undated handout image obtained by Reuters on Jan. 20, 2023. The new Alzheimer's antibody treatment Leqembi could cost Medicare up to $5 billion per year, according to research published in a leading medical journal this week. Medicare would spend about $2 billion per year if around 85,700 patients test positive for the disease and are treated with the Eisai and Biogen product Leqembi, according to the research published Thursday in JAMA Internal Medicine. The program for seniors would spend $5 billion if around 216,500 patients become eligible for the breakthrough treatment, according to the study. The authors said the estimated costs to Medicare are conservative and that spending on Leqembi might increase more than anticipated depending on demand and other factors.

☆ Is your job ruining your sleep? If so, this may be why
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Sandee Lamotte | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Experiencing negative changes in workplace leadership and fairness was associated with the strongest long-term impact on a worker's sleep. LumiNola/E+/Getty ImagesSleep problems included initiating or maintaining sleep, poor-quality sleep and daytime tiredness two to four times a week that lasted one month to three months. Within a two-year period of time, over half of the participants (53%) reported changes in their workplace environment. However, if the changes at work were negative, sleep issues increased — in fact 1 in 4 people in the study with a worse job environment developed problems getting enough rest. Having negative changes in the leadership and fairness sector was associated with the greatest long-term impact on sleep, more than negative changes in coworker relationships or collaboration, the study found.

☆ How promising are new drugs to treat obesity?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Katia Hetter | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —The pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly announced last week that a medication developed to treat diabetes, tirzepatide, also had a substantial effect on reducing weight. Another pharmaceutical company, Novo Nordisk, manufactures the medication semaglutide, which the FDA has already approved to treat diabetes under the brand name Ozempic and to treat obesity under the brand name Wegovy. How promising are they to treat obesity? CNN: How promising are these drugs to treat obesity? It is really important to treat obesity as the disease that it is — and having effective medications to do so is crucial.

☆ See the pitch deck these 2 best friends made on Canva to raise $675,000 for their tequila brand
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Lauren Crosmedlicott | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

They registered their tequila brand, Pimantae, while working full-time jobs in 2021. They decided to pursue angel investors and used a pitch deck they made on Canva. They considered crowdfunding and venture capital as financing options, but settled on approaching angel investors. With their first investor locked in, other investors started expressing interest. They closed their pre-seed round in September 2022 having raised £545,000, or around $675,000, between 13 angel investors and Distill Ventures — far exceeding their original £250,000 goal.

Vaping involves heating a liquid that contains nicotine in an e-cigarette which is vaporized and inhaled by the user. “Vaping was sold to governments and communities around the world as a therapeutic product to help long-term smokers quit,” Butler said. “It was not sold as a recreational product – in particular not one for our kids. Vaping concerns across the worldResearchers have found links between nicotine addiction among adolescents and children as a result of increased vaping habits. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom is also tackling high-levels of youth vaping but is pushing it as an alternative to help long-term smokers quit.

☆ ChatGPT is more empathetic than real doctors, experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Aaron Mok | Hilary Brueck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Experts found the chatbot's responses to patient questions were higher quality and more empathetic. ChatGPT can still make grave medical errors, but this study suggests AI may improve upon a doctor's bedside manner. ChatGPT may be just as good as doctors — if not better — at responding to patients' medical questions, according to a new study. The chatbot's responses were rated 3.6-times higher in quality and 9.8-times higher in empathy than those of the physicians. But ChatGPT can still make mistakes and misdiagnose, which is why doctors are cautious about letting it loose to patients at home.

☆ The Weekend-Only Exercise Plan
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Danielle Friedman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Conventional wisdom says that you need at least 30 minutes of exercise five days a week to stay healthy. But studies over the past few years suggest that working out just on the weekend can offer comparable health benefits, if you block off enough time and the exercise is intense enough. “Activity is activity, no matter what the calendar says,” said Dr. Carrie Pagliano, a physical therapist based in Arlington, Va., and a spokeswoman for the American Physical Therapy Association. One large study published last year in the medical journal JAMA found that people who met recommended weekly levels of physical activity, including weekend warriors, experienced lower rates of disease and mortality than those who were inactive. But before you hit the ground running (or biking or roller-skating) this Saturday, here are five tips from exercise scientists for embarking on a weekend-exclusive exercise routine as safely and smartly as possible.

☆ Sleep gummies: Possibly harmful doses of melatonin, CBD found
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Sandee Lamotte | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —Testing of over two dozen melatonin “gummies” sold as sleep aids found some had potentially dangerous amounts of the hormone that helps regulate sleep, according to a new study. “Four of the tested products contained levels of CBD that were between 4% and 18% higher than on the label,” Cohen said. “We choose gummies over other products because we thought parents would chose edibles to give to their children,” Cohen said. Gummies sold as sleep aids had much higher levels of melatonin than stated on the label, as well as CBD, according to the study. “However, that doesn’t mean melatonin products are going to work or they’re a good idea to take.

☆ Covid-sniffing dogs can help detect infections in K-12 schools, new study suggests
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Months prior, Glaser and her team were implementing the school’s Covid-19 testing program, using antigen nasal swab tests. It’s not as simple as just handing those things out at school and having the kids do them,” said Glaser, who oversaw antigen testing programs at some California public schools. For now, Glaser and her colleagues described in a new study the lessons they learned from the Covid-19 dog screening pilot program that they launched in some California K-12 public schools. In comparison, Covid-19 BinaxNOW antigen tests have been shown in one real-world study to demonstrate 93.3% sensitivity and 99.9% specificity. The pilot program within California public schools also has left Edwards with hope for future opportunities in which canines can help detect disease in humans.

☆ Kids under 6 ingesting illicit substances rose after Covid-19 outbreak, study shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Madeline Holcombe | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —The outbreak of Covid-19 presented many dangers for children, and a new study suggests increased illicit substance ingestions were among them. Those numbers grew by 1.8% more per month than they did before the pandemic, the study said. The results could be skewed if health care providers were on the lookout for ingestions, Dodington added. There was no association between medicinal or recreational cannabis legalization and the rate of cannabis ingestion encounters, according to the study. Safer storageIngesting drugs and alcohol are particularly dangerous for young children, Dodington said.

☆ New study suggests Black women should be screened earlier for breast cancer
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

CNN —A new study on breast cancer deaths raises questions around whether Black women should screen at earlier ages. Even though Black women have a 4% lower incidence rate of breast cancer than White women, they have a 40% higher breast cancer death rate. “When the breast cancer mortality rate for Black women in their 40s is 27 deaths per 100,000 person-years, this means 27 out of every 100,000 Black women aged 40-49 in the US die of breast cancer during one year of follow-up. They also wrote that health policy makers should pursue equity, not just equality, when it comes to breast cancer screening as a tool to help reduce breast cancer death rates. Having dense tissue in the breast can make it more difficult for radiologists to identify breast cancer on a mammogram, and women with dense breast tissue have a higher risk of breast cancer.

☆ ADHD medication abuse in schools is a ‘wake-up call’
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Sandee Lamotte | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Schools with the highest rates of teens using prescribed ADHD medications were about 36% more likely to have students misusing prescription stimulants during the past year, the study found. Schools with more White students and those who had medium levels of student binge drinking were also more likely to see teen abuse of stimulants. “But these findings were not being driven solely by teens with ADHD misusing their medications,” McCabe said. Research has also shown people who misuse ADHD medications are highly likely to have multiple substance use disorders. “Parents can make sure the schools their kids attend have safe storage for medication and strict dispensing policies.

☆ Study reveals how treating hearing loss could impact dementia risk
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Madeline Holcombe | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Treating hearing loss could mean reducing the risk for dementia, according to a new study. Hearing loss may increase the risk for dementia, but using hearing aids lowered the risk so it’s similar to those without hearing loss, according to the study published Thursday in The Lancet. A 2020 Lancet commission on dementia prevention, intervention and care suggested hearing loss may be associated with around 8% of dementia cases, but this study found that the use of hearing aids reduced the risk to levels similar to people without hearing loss, the study said. “A recent study showed that only 15% of US adults with hearing loss use hearing aids,” De Sousa said. The Hearing Loss Association of America still supports multiple avenues for addressing hearing loss, Hamlin said.

☆ A Little Alcohol Won’t Kill You or Make You Stronger
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Julie Wernau | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A new study published on Friday joins a body of evidence that shows alcohol does more harm than good. First, the good news: A nip of alcohol here and there probably won’t kill you. For a study published Friday in the journal JAMA Network Open, researchers set out to make sense of years of conflicting evidence on alcohol’s effect on health. Some research suggested that drinking alcohol improves life expectancy. Other studies had demonstrated poorer health outcomes at any level of drinking.

☆ Pfizer's Covid drug Paxlovid may reduce the risk of developing long Covid, study says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

(Photo by Rachel Wisniewski/For the Washington Post)People who take Pfizer 's Covid antiviral treatment Paxlovid shortly after infection may reduce their risk of developing long Covid, regardless of their age, vaccination status or infection history, new research suggests. The study, published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine on Thursday, found that people who took Paxlovid within five days of a positive Covid test saw a 26% lower risk of long Covid compared with those who didn't receive it. The new study comes as researchers work to fill the knowledge gap about long Covid, an often debilitating condition with limited data and no proven treatment available. Long Covid refers to new, returning or ongoing health issues more than four weeks after an initial Covid infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She called the new study "very exciting and promising" because it's the first to show an association between Paxlovid and a decreased risk of long Covid.

☆ Working out is one of the best things you can do to treat depression
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Yeji Jesse Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A new paper that analyzed data from 41 studies found that exercise had a big effect on depression. Researchers found that exercise improved depression symptoms at least as much as other treatments. They said that exercise should be offered as "an evidence-based treatment option" for patients. Aerobic exercise and resistance training had big effects on reducing depression symptoms, the authors noted, as did supervised and group exercises of "moderate intensity." A 2018 study published in JAMA Psychiatry found that strength training can help treat depression just as well as aerobic exercise.

☆ Cake Could Be the Secret to Teaching Children About Healthy-Eating Habits
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Sarah Toy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Offering cake as well as other sweets and snacks may protect against dysfunctional eating behaviors. Crystal Karges celebrated her youngest daughter’s fifth birthday last month with a gooey chocolate cake covered in white frosting and rainbow sprinkles. The next morning, she served her five children the leftover slices at breakfast alongside fruit, eggs, sausage and milk. Ms. Karges is among parents, dietitians and doctors who advocate giving children more freedom over what they eat including, at times, high-sugar, high-fat and highly processed foods. They said the approach helps children develop healthy dietary habits and protect against disordered eating—or dysfunctional eating behaviors—which affects more than 20% of children globally, according to a recent meta-analysis in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

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