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Thursday, July 20, 2017





[Morning Rounds by Megan Thielking]





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Good morning, folks! A quick reminder: Nominations for STAT Wunderkinds, our search for the most innovative early-career scientists, will be closing soon. You can submit a nomination through August 4 here<http://>. And now, onto the news:



John McCain diagnosed with brain cancer



Senator John McCain has been diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. McCain had surgery last week to remove a blood clot above his left eye, and tests of that tissue found it was cancerous. “The Senator and his family are reviewing further treatment options with his Mayo Clinic care team,” his office said in a statement. STAT's Sharon Begley has an explainer on the disease — read her<http://statnews.us11.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=0488eba5f0&e=4aad33fd68>e<http://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=aac072eea0&e=4aad33fd68>.





Tobacco control policies are becoming more common



There’s been a massive uptick in the number of comprehensive tobacco control laws worldwide, according to a new report<http://statnews.us11.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=242855e459&e=4aad33fd68>. More than 60 percent of the world’s population now lives in an area with at least one major tobacco control measure, such as a ban on smoking in public areas or graphic warning labels on tobacco packaging. Some of the most significant strides in recent years:



§  Nepal, which now has the world’s largest health warnings on tobacco packaging. In 2015, the country introduced labels that cover 90 percent of the package.



§  India, where health officials launched a massive push to help tobacco users quit. The move came after a survey found nearly half of tobacco users wanted to kick the habit.



§  Turkey, the only country to implement all of the WHO’s recommended measures to rein in demand for tobacco. Those policies include restrictions on tobacco advertising, regulation of what goes into tobacco products, and public health pushes to help people quit.





Tiny lab-grown seeds sprout new, functional liver cells



There might be a new and improved way to engineer liver tissue in the lab, thanks to research harnessing the liver's unique regenerative abilities. MIT researcher Sangeeta Bhatia had already built a tissue scaffold stocked with liver cells that could be implanted into the abdomens of mice with liver damage. But those implants didn’t contain anywhere near enough hepatocytes to really make a difference for patients. So Bhatia and her colleagues created<http://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=1fdb92ef65&e=4aad33fd68> a new structure that’s less like a scaffold and more like a seed to grow a tiny liver — it included hepatocytes, but also fibroblasts, which produce collagen, and parts of endothelial cells, which go on to create blood vessels.



When they implanted the structures in mice, the organoids started to respond to the regenerative signals from the liver. They expanded to 50 times their original size, picked up more of the liver’s work, and even began forming the precursors to bile ducts — which the scientists hadn’t designed them to do.





Inside STAT<http://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=30b6e2db59&e=4aad33fd68>: Soon-Shiong expands his medical empire



[https://gallery.mailchimp.com/f8609630ae206654824f897b6/images/e37c0ee4-1f90-4310-8e41-e62e399ce4c2.jpg]<http://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=e61d060c56&e=4aad33fd68>



(molly ferguson for stat)



Biotech billionaire Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong has spent decades developing experimental cancer drugs, software systems for hospitals, and a new genetic test. Now, he has a way to test his vision with experiments on real patients. He opened a new cancer center in California last week. Earlier this month, one of his businesses took over six<http://statnews.us11.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=1b178a4f33&e=4aad33fd68> hospitals in California, after one of his nonprofits took over a Pennsylvania hospital last year. Soon-Shiong has made it clear he views those facilities as a testing ground for his ideas and products. That’s likely to be good for him, but will it also be good for his patients? STAT’s Rebecca Robbins looks at his plans — and the ethical questions they raise — here<http://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=bf259dba0b&e=4aad33fd68>.





Trump pushes for progress on health care



Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he’s gearing up for a procedural vote next week to just repeal Obamacare without any replacement. It’s a measure that, by all accounts, seems sure to fail — three GOP senators have said they won’t vote for the plan. But it’s also a plan pushed for by President Trump, who urged Republican senators yesterday not to leave the Hill for their August recess until they pass a health care bill of some kind. “Inaction is not an option, and frankly, I don't think we should leave town unless we have a health insurance plan," he said.





What telemedicine can — and can't — do for rural health



Rural health experts have rallied around the idea that telemedicine can boost access to care in more remote regions of the country. Now, the House is hearing their thoughts on how to bring that about. Dr. David Schmitz of the National Rural Health Association, who is testifying at today's hearing, tells me telemedicine can support rural care, but it’s critical to invest in hands-on care, too. “Hands-on care is needed when an unexpected car accident or early delivery of a newborn baby occurs in rural America, no matter whether you are a local resident or visiting,” he says.



A new study out in JAMA Surgery<http://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=0c83a6d348&e=4aad33fd68> points to that very need: Researchers found that while the average interval between a 911 call and the arrival of emergency medical services is just 7 minutes, in rural areas, the wait for help can stretch as long as half an hour.





The FDA is shelling out to make food safer



The FDA is serving up $31 million in new funding to help states ensure produce is safe to eat. More than 3,000 people in the U.S. die from foodborne illness each year, and thousands more are sickened by contaminated food. Last year, the FDA rolled out a new produce safety rule that sets minimum requirements for safely growing, harvesting, and storing fresh foods. The agency initially launched the grants to help states put that plan into action last year, and is now doling out another round of funding to help states invest in infrastructure to meet the new standards.





What to read around the web today

§  Her own medical future at stake, a child storms Capitol Hill. NPR<http://statnews.us11.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=433e988bc4&e=4aad33fd68>

§  Unapproved stem-cell treatments touted on federal database ClinicalTrials.gov, study says. Washington Post<http://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=5cdc32421c&e=4aad33fd68>

§  Operation Hope stops sending clients out of New England for opioid addiction treatment. Portland Press Herald<http://statnews.us11.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=23f967d364&e=4aad33fd68>





More reads from STAT

§  Uber and the gig economy used to love Obamacare<http://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=eb3011bd83&e=4aad33fd68>. What happened?

§  These cities are on the front lines of a women’s health crisis<http://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=cdfb1b8141&e=4aad33fd68>.

§  Should drug makers be banned from buying back stock? Take our reader poll<http://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=cd2fd69a21&e=4aad33fd68>.





The latest from STAT Plus

§  How do you measure value in a drug<http://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=1067029151&e=4aad33fd68> — or anything else in medicine?

§  Are short sellers<http://statnews.us11.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=729f9a5781&e=4aad33fd68> ruining biotech? That’s ‘hogwash,’ analysts say.









Thanks for reading! More tomorrow,

[Megan]















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