NIH Strives To Recover Reputation After Recent Ethical Controversies
The most publicized of the controversies involved a study on the benefits of moderate drinking and scientists' attempts to woo the alcohol industry to fund the study. NIH Director Francis Collins acknowledged the setbacks, but the agency hopes to make clear the lapses are one-offs and not indicative of a larger cultural problem. In other public health news: suicide, Parkinson's disease, exercise, Lyme disease, brain injuries, and more.
Stat:
Ethical Stumbles Test NIH's Reliance On Private Sector For Research Funding
The National Institutes of Health received $7.5 billion in funding in 1990 — an amount that was seen as so paltry that Congress decided the country’s biomedical researchers needed help. So lawmakers found a way to aid the NIH in a delicate ethical dance: They created a nonprofit that could turn to pharmaceutical manufacturers and soda companies to fund research into their fields, all while attempting to prevent the science from being compromised by the big-money interests picking up the tab. (Facher, 8/1)
MPR:
How Public Health Officials Are Responding To Rising Suicide Rates
In the United States, suicide rates have spiked in the past two decades — and Minnesota has seen one of the biggest jumps, according to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Public health officials are working to figure out why, and how to respond. (Wurzer, 7/31)
The New York Times:
Alan Alda Reveals He Has Parkinson’s Disease
Alan Alda has been living with Parkinson’s disease for over three years, the actor revealed Tuesday in an appearance on CBS’s “This Morning.” “The reason I want to talk about it in public is that I was diagnosed three-and-a-half years ago, and I’ve had a full life since,” he said. “I thought it’s probably only a matter of time before somebody does a story about this from a sad point of view,” he added, pointing out that one of his thumbs had been twitching in recent TV appearances. “But that’s not where I am.” (Marshall, 7/31)
The New York Times:
Take A Vacation From Exercise? Your Body May Not Thank You
At the height of summer, naps at the beach can be alluring, and many of us may find ourselves tempted to take prolonged vacations from exercise. But two new, admonitory studies involving both older and younger adults who temporarily cut back on their physical activity indicate that the metabolic consequences of not moving much for a few weeks can be pervasive and persistent, lingering to some extent even after people start moving around normally again. (Reynolds, 8/1)
Georgia Health News:
Lyme Disease: A Complex Medical Challenge
With some patients, including Geraldina, the standard antibiotic treatment doesn’t work. Disagreements about treatment are part of a wide-ranging controversy over Lyme disease, which extends to the issues of testing, diagnosis, nomenclature and even the type of tick that’s transmitting the infection. (Morrow and Miller, 7/31)
NPR:
Heading Soccer Balls Could Harm Women's Brains
The first rule of soccer is pretty obvious: don't use your hands. But soccer's signature move, heading the ball, can cause a detectable impact on players' brains. And according to a study published Tuesday in Radiology, female players are more sensitive to the impact than males. The study authors found that female amateur soccer players who frequently head balls showed more white matter brain alterations than their male counterparts. The study included 49 women and 49 men, ages 18 to 50, and examined MRI imaging of players' brains. Each female player was compared to a male player of a similar age and with other similar characteristics including frequency of heading exposure. (Watson, 7/31)
WBUR:
Price Of HIV Test Falls, Raising Hopes In Global AIDS Fight
The Clinton Health Access Initiative, along with several other development agencies, has brokered an agreement to make routine HIV tests more accessible. They're aiming to make HIV viral load tests available for $12 a piece, slashing the price in some markets by more than 50 percent. (Beaubien, 7/31)
Modern Healthcare:
Women Still A Rarity In High-Paying Surgical Specialties
Women make up just 5% of the active physicians in orthopedic surgery, according to a 2015 report from the Association of American Medical Colleges. The percentage is likely to rise, but only marginally, with data showing that about 14% of orthopedic residents are women. Those low numbers mean that women have less opportunity to make a big impact on patient care and increase the wage gap between male and female doctors. Women orthopedic surgeons on average made $40,953 less than their male counterparts, according to a 2016 JAMA Internal Medicine study. (Castellucci, 7/28)
Sacramento Bee:
Ibuprofen Safe For Infants, Sutter Sacramento Doctor Finds
A study pioneered by a Sutter Sacramento doctor has determined Ibuprofen is safe for children under 6 months old. Ibuprofen is primarily used on infants to treat fever, but children 6 months old or younger need a prescription to be treated with ibuprofen. (Holzer, 7/31)
St. Louis Public Radio:
Play Raises Awareness About Alzheimer's Disease Among African-Americans
When actors in the play "Forget Me Not" take the stage tonight at the Grandel Theatre in St. Louis, they’ll have an important mission. They aim to raise awareness that African-Americans have a higher incidence of Alzheimer’s disease than whites, and to provide tips about how to recognize the symptoms of the brain disease. (Goodwin, 8/1)