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☆ Trans and nonbinary students have long had a place at women’s colleges. Here’s what they want you to know
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Elizabeth Wolfe | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +17 min

And Smith – while it opens its doors to trans women and some nonbinary applicants – does not accept admissions applications from trans men. Avery is among the trans and nonbinary students who do not identify as women and yet have been attending women’s colleges for decades. Nanney noted that scholars have identified trans alumni of women’s colleges as early as the 1980s. “There’s a lot of resistance, especially from leadership, to use the term ‘historically women’s college’ because they think that connotes the idea that these colleges are no longer ‘women’s colleges,’” Nanney said. He now identifies as a trans man and contributes to the Wellesley Trans Archive, a student-run Tumblr page that documents stories of past and current trans students.

☆ Researchers Identify Possible New Risk for Breast Cancer
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Roni Caryn Rabin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Now, a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer could “be updated every time she gets a new mammogram.”Background: Breast Density MattersBreast density is now an acknowledged risk factor for breast cancer, albeit one of many. Dozens of states have started requiring mammography centers to notify women if they have dense breast tissue. In March, the Food and Drug Administration recommended that providers tell women about their breast density. But this is the first study to measure changes in density over time and to report a link to breast cancer. One next step may to be examine breast density over time in women taking medication to prevent breast cancer to see if the density decreases, Dr. Knudsen suggested.

☆ US FDA panel backs restricted use of AstraZeneca's prostrate cancer drug
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 28 (Reuters) - A panel of U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisers on Friday voted for the restricted use of British drugmaker AztraZeneca Plc's (AZN.L) experimental treatment, jointly developed with Merck & Co (MRK.N), for a type of prostate cancer. The FDA panel voted 11-1 with one abstention, in favor of Lynparza, in combination with other medications – abiraterone and prednisone or prednisolone – as a first-line treatment for a type of treatment-resistant prostate cancer in adult patients. They were withdrawn last year as second line of treatment for ovarian cancer patients after the FDA limited the use of PARP inhibitors and requested companies to pull the drug. Lynparza is already approved by the FDA to treat a type of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, as well as a different form of prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer among men in the United States with about 288,300 new cases in 2023, according to the American Cancer Society's estimates.

☆ Screen to shield sacred moment of King Charles' coronation unveiled
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The three-sided screen will shield Charles when he is anointed with holy oil, consecrated in Jerusalem, on his hands, breast and head, shortly before he is crowned at London's Westminster Abbey on May 6. Buckingham Palace said it was historically regarded "as a moment between the sovereign and God" with the screen there to protect its sanctity. "Now this three-sided screen provides absolute privacy." "It is such a private, sacred moment," she told Reuters "It's a mystic moment." "It's utilising stuff that might have been used as firewood but actually we're using it for something very special," Gutfreund said.

☆ Top diets for heart health, according to American Heart Association
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Sandee Lamotte | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

But which diet best meets the dietary guidelines of the American Heart Association? In a new scientific statement, leading experts in nutrition ranked 10 popular diets on their ability to meet the AHA’s evidence-based dietary guidance for heart health, published in 2021. “The American Heart Association says no one should drink alcohol if they haven’t started,” Gardner said. Aimed at doctorsWhile people concerned with heart health can and should use the new AHA ranking of the 10 diets, the scientific statement was written for physicians, Gardner said. Top diets for heart health are predominately plant-based, the AHA statement says.

☆ Why ‘Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret’ Still Matters
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Elisabeth Egan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When I arrived at the Crosby Street Hotel for a screening of “Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret?,” a man in the lobby located my name on a list, then directed me to a line for the coat check. Mine said, “Are You There, God? It’s Me, Elisabeth.”Unfortunately, I’d stopped reading the invitation after “Please join us for an afternoon with Judy Blume”; what more did I need to know? I was Margaret, too.

☆ Merck revenue falls after dramatic drop in sales of Covid antiviral treatment
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Merck on Thursday reported first-quarter revenue that fell 9% from the same period a year ago largely due to a steep drop in sales of its Covid antiviral treatment molnupiravir. Sales of molnupiravir plunged to $392 million during the period, down 88% from the $3.2 billion reported in the first quarter of 2022. Merck said the decrease is primarily the result of lower sales in the U.S., U.K., Japan and Australia. The company reported total revenue of $14.5 billion during the quarter, down nearly $1.5 billion from the same period a year ago. But Merck's pharmaceutical unit saw higher sales of the blockbuster antibody treatment Keytruda, which increased 20% to $5.8 billion during the quarter.

☆ Consultancies are coming off a pandemic boom. Are they still worth hiring?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Management consultancies helped design vaccination programs during the pandemic and are currently providing advice on how to rescue one of the world’s biggest banks. The $230 billion management consulting industry is a broad church: it includes companies offering everything from project management expertise to designing new organizational structures. Many big firms — think EY and KPMG — also conduct audits and advise on their clients’ tax issues, though these services are generally seen as distinct from their consulting work. In The Big Con, published in February, prize-winning economist Mariana Mazzucato and her co-author Rosie Collington argue that management consultancies “infantilize” governments by keeping them dependent on their services. Nearly 80% of firms surveyed globally have told the think-tank that consultants’ work is either of high or very high quality, she noted.

Choosing whether to rent or buy has never been a simple decision — and this ever-changing housing market isn't making it any easier. With surging mortgage rates, record rents and home prices, a potential economic downturn and other lifestyle considerations, there's so much to factor in. "This is an extraordinarily unique market because of the pandemic and because there was such a run on housing so you have home prices very high, you also have rent prices very high," said Diana Olick, senior climate and real estate correspondent for CNBC. In December 2022, it was more cost-effective to rent than buy in 45 of those metros, the real estate site found. In the top 10 metro regions that favored renting, monthly starter homeownership costs were an average of $1,920 higher than rents.

☆ 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.

☆ Biogen isn't concerned about competing with Eli Lilly in the Alzheimer’s drug space, CEO says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Biogen isn't worried about competing with Eli Lilly as they both attempt to bring an Alzheimer's drug to the market, Biogen's CEO said Tuesday. Researchers argue that the accumulation of amyloid plaque is a crucial first step toward the cognitive decline observed in Alzheimer's disease. Eli Lilly didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. He said that will likely require Eli Lilly and Biogen to roll out maintenance doses that will keep plaque levels low. Biogen is banking on the success of its drug leqembi after the disastrous approval and rollout of its old Alzheimer's drug aduhelm last year.

☆ Modern Body Horror Is Turning Breastfeeding Into an Act of Terror
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Kyle Macneill | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Brandon Cronenberg’s body-horror “Infinity Pool” is a movie that leaks. It’s as viscous as it is vicious, fueled by endless fluids: blood, sweat, tears, urine, semen and vomit. Breastfeeding, it turns out, is the most horrifying act of them all. A slew of recent horror movies and series, including “Infinity Pool,” “Barbarian,” “Titane” and “The Baby,” have featured erotic lactation, brutalized nipples and demonic nursing. There’s no fixed formula for creating these scenes, the “Infinity Pool” intimacy coordinator Casey Hudecki explained.

☆ 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.

☆ Fact Check-Mammograms do not expose women to Hiroshima-level radiation
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Breast cancer screenings reduce deaths from breast cancer and have considerably lower radiation levels than nuclear or atomic bombs, contrary to claims circulating in a video on social media. Dr Veronique Desaulniers, a bio-energetic chiropractor according to her LinkedIn profile, warns about the purported dangers of breast cancer screening in the clip posted on Instagram (here). “A decade of annual mammography would yield a total radiation dose 10 times that: 3.6 mSv,” he adds. A reduction in breast cancer deaths has been primarily attributed to mammography screening and early breast cancer detection (here). There is a radiation risk to the breasts of teenagers and women in their early 20s due to development, however, the risk drops rapidly as women age, according to Kopans.

☆ Health plans could soon reduce coverage for preventive care. Here's what to know
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Annie Nova | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Around 100 million people with private insurance got preventive care required under the ACA in 2018, one estimate found, making it the provision with the widest reach. Insurers generally must not impose copays or deductibles on the recommended preventive care. "Many preventive care services are not covered by this decision," Simon said. Health plans will still be required to ensure no copays for many preventive services, including birth control and mammograms, Simon said. Some states have their own mandates, meanwhile, around free preventive care.

☆ World Health Day: 5 easy steps to get healthier
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Madeline Holcombe | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Wouldn’t it be nice if there were some undiscovered ingredient, and one bite of it would cure all our health concerns? But scientists do know the recipe to better health, and it is a long-term practice of good habits when it comes to sleep, eating, exercise, socialization and stress. In honor of the 75th anniversary of the World Health Organization, here are the factors that add up to better health and what you can do today to improve in these areas. Fortunately, a balanced diet, good sleep, exercise and social support can help with stress reduction. You may be thinking, I am already stretched thin in my day — adding in all these health behaviors will cause stress by itself.

☆ I began selling stickers on Etsy as a fun hobby and now make 6-figures from my business. Here's how I got started.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Dorothy Cucci | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Jenkinson makes hundreds of thousands of dollars a year from selling stickers and courses. Mim JenkinsonI wanted a creative hobby to keep my mind occupied, so I started to make stickers for my planner. A few months after I started, I started getting questions from customers about how I was making the stickers. I aim to find out what I can make easier for them, whether they're buying or making stickers. I would never have imagined that selling stickers would've had the impact that it's had on my life.

☆ Alzheimer’s patients retain the benefits of Leqembi even when they stop the drug, Eisai says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Alzheimer's patients who take Leqembi retain the benefits of the treatment even when they stop taking it, new research by Eisai shows. The findings also come as Eisai and Biogen try to regain their footing after the polarizing approval and disastrous rollout of its other Alzheimer's disease therapy, aduhelm, last year. In the analysis, Alzheimer's patients stopped taking Leqembi after 18 months in a phase two clinical trial and later resumed the treatment in an extension trial. Amyloid is a protein that builds up on the brain in Alzheimer's patients and disrupts cell function. That means Alzheimer's disease progressed at a slower rate in patients who received Leqembi compared to those who took the placebo during the clinical trial.

☆ Eli Lilly says experimental Alzheimer's drug reduces brain plaque in early study
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Eli Lilly 's experimental Alzheimer's drug lowered levels of brain plaque in patients who are in the earliest stages of the devastating disease, initial data shows. Researchers have argued that accumulation of amyloid plaque is a crucial first step toward the cognitive decline observed in Alzheimer's disease. The early data comes as Eli Lilly continues its decades-long bid to bring an Alzheimer's drug to the market. Eli Lilly found the drug caused a "rapid and robust" clearance of amyloid plaque, the presentation said. But Tewari said it's unclear if clearing amyloid plaque will lead to clinical benefits like a reduction in cognitive decline.

☆ Cancer Patients Choose Lifestyle Over More Aggressive Treatment
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Brianna Abbott | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Mary Ellen Boyd plays pickleball, hikes and goes line-dancing once a week. When the 81-year-old retiree in Connecticut was diagnosed with breast cancer last year, she decided to have just part of her breast removed and skipped some treatment to keep her dance card full. “Once I got my arms around it and really understood it wasn’t a death sentence, then next thing I wanted to do was say, OK, how do I maintain my lifestyle?” she said.

☆ Judge strikes down Obamacare coverage of preventive care for cancers, diabetes, HIV and other conditions
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

A federal judge on Thursday struck down an Obamacare mandate that required most private health insurance plans to cover preventive care such as certain cancer screenings and HIV prevention drugs. You can find the full list of covered preventive services the judge struck down here. Judge Reed O'Connor in U.S. Northern District of Texas struck down those coverage requirements and blocked the federal government from enforcing them. The Affordable Care Act mandated free coverage of health services recommended by an independent panel of experts called the Preventive Services Task Force. They had also sought to overturn the federal mandate that requires Obamacare compliant plans to cover birth control with no out-of-pocket costs.

☆ European stocks rebound as banking jitters ease
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Sruthi Shankar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

European banks (.SX7P) rose 0.9% after shedding 3.8% on Friday, when Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) sparked a rout in the sector. "Many investors still don't want to touch the banking sector for fears there is more distress to come," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell. "Yet for every bleak situation, there is always someone who sees an opportunity to make money, hence why we're seeing a rise in the share price of many European banks today." European stocks are looking to end the first quarter of the year with gains, buoyed by signs of economic resilience and hopes that central banks are near the end of their tightening cycles. However, European banks are set to end the quarter nearly flat amid the banking sector turmoil.

☆ Novartis buoyed by trial success in early-stage breast cancer
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Ludwig Burger | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Swiss firm's shares jumped 5.8% on Monday to a four-week high by 0734 GMT, after it said a panel of independent supervisors recommended stopping the trial early because an interim analysis had shown a clear benefit. Kisqali has been approved to treat hormone-driven breast cancer that has spread to other body parts, where it has taken market share from Pfizer's (PFE.N) Ibrance. Rival drug Verzenio by Eli Lilly (LLY.N) has approval in the early setting for women at high risk of recurrence after surgery. Kisqali, which saw sales gain 31% to $1.2 billion last year, is one of two new drugs with a particularly important role for the group's future sales growth. Detailed trial results will be presented at a medical conference, Novartis said, without identifying the meeting or its timing.

☆ Sanofi, Regeneron unveil 'blow-out' smoker's lung drug data
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Ludwig Burger Jubabu | Ludwig Burger | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Sanofi and Regeneron said in a statement on Thursday a Phase III trial involving 939 current or former smokers also showed improvements in lung function, quality of life and COPD respiratory symptoms. JP Morgan analyst Richard Vosser said the trial update had "blow-out data" in store for investors, and that market consensus for 2027 Dupixent sales of 15.7 billion euros would likely be topped-up by between 1 and 2 billion euros. The anti-inflammatory drug accounted for 8.3 billion euros, or more than 19% of the French group's overall sales of 43 billion euros, last year. Sanofi reports combined global Dupixent sales from its alliance with Regeneron. Sanofi and Regeneron on Tuesday announced the European Commission had approved Dupixent to treat severe atopic dermatitis in young children.

☆ Fox News producer alleges Tucker Carlson's team plastered photos around the office of Nancy Pelosi in a bathing suit 'revealing her cleavage'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A Fox News producer alleges Tucker Carlson's team posted photos of Nancy Pelosi in a bathing suit around the office. The lawsuit alleges the photos revealed Pelosi's cleavage, with the "joke" being that she looked bad. Apparently, the 'joke' was that Speaker Pelosi looked terrible in a bathing suit," the lawsuit alleges. A producer for a different Fox News show, the lawsuit alleges, called Bartiromo "not as credible as male anchors" at the network. The spokesperson did not comment on the allegations regarding sexism in the workplace or the alleged images of Nancy Pelosi.

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