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Thursday, June 29, 2017
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Good morning, everyone! I'm here to get you ahead of the day's top news in health and medicine.
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How ER nurses can work to stop human trafficking
Experts are testifying at a Senate judiciary committee hearing today about what needs to be done to put a stop to human trafficking, including organ theft and forced prostitution. One group that might
be in a good position to intervene: emergency nurses. Nearly 70 percent of human trafficking victims who receive medical treatment are seen in the ER, but many of those cases aren’t caught by the health care system.
A new report out this week in the
Journal of Emergency Nursing highlights a potential intervention. A Pennsylvania hospital used a new tool in its electronic health records that flags staffers about warning signs of trafficking. They also trained nurses
on how to silently signal to patients they suspect something is wrong and get more information from the patient alone. During the first five months of the program, the hospital identified 38 potential victims of human trafficking or abuse, 20 percent of whom
accepted help.
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You can help pick the next set of public health goals
The government is setting new big-picture goals for public health in America. Every 10 years, the health department revamps its “Healthy People” initiative. Now, they’re considering what to include in
the Healthy People 2030 goals. They’ll take emerging issues into account, which will likely include the opioid epidemic and the spread of antibiotic resistance. But they also want to leverage new knowledge on the best strategies to grapple with longtime public
health issues. HHS is taking
comments — and so am I! What would you like to see health officials pay attention to in the new goals? Email me your thoughts at
[log in to unmask], and I'll share some in tomorrow's Morning Rounds.
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A bigger aspirin dose could help prevent preeclampsia
High blood pressure during pregnancy, known as preeclampsia, can cause organ failure and seizures in pregnant women. Doctors commonly prescribe 81 mg of aspirin daily to prevent preeclampisa, a new
study suggests a 150 mg dose would have more of an impact. The study divided roughly 1,600 women at risk for preterm preeclampsia into two groups: one that received 150 mg of aspirin per day, and another that received
a daily placebo. Just 1.6 percent of women taking aspirin developed preterm preeclampsia, compared to 4.3 percent of women taking a placebo.
Dr. Scott Shainker, a maternal-fetal medicine expert at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, says cutting preeclampsia rates by that much would be significant. “We would see a dramatic drop in maternal morbidity in the US, certainly maternal mortality worldwide.
And then on top of that, an incredible reduction in neonatal morbidity and mortality,” he tells STAT's Catherine Caruso.
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A crawling caterpillar made of polymers
one of the few acceptable settings for doing the worm. (EINDHOVEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY)
Scientists have
created a new material that can dance better than most of us. They created a polymer strip that’s about as big as a paperclip and moves about as fast as a caterpillar. The material — which contracts in reaction to light
— works by casting a shadow on itself. Researchers shine a light on one side of the strip, which starts to curl up and casts a shadow onto the next part of the strip. That section comes into light and starts to change shape, creating a continual wave that
propels the paper forward. Study author Anne Helene Gelebart tells me the material might one day be used to transport small devices to tricky-to-reach places during surgery.
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Inside STAT: Accelerating the hunt for new enzymes
Every weekend, Mikako Sasa grabs a bag and heads to the Denmark countryside to collect dirt and mushrooms. But what she’s really looking for are the microorganisms that produce enzymes, substances that
act as catalysts for countless biological processes. They play a critical role in nearly every function of human life and disease. The search for new enzymes is booming, thanks in part to
cheap, fast genome sequencing. Scientists are hoping to unravel their mysteries in their race to better understand disease, develop new cancer drugs, and create antibiotics that can dodge viral defenses. STAT contributor
Doug Struck has
more.
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Kenya starts distributing generic HIV drug
Kenyan health officials have announced the country is making a generic version of a commonly used HIV drug available for patients — the first country in Africa to do so. It’s estimated that 1.5 million
people in Kenya are living with HIV. Not all of those patients can tolerate the drug commonly used in the country to treat HIV infection, efavirenz. So the country’s health ministers have said they’ll start by distributing the generic version of an alternative
drug, dolutegravir, to those patients. (The brand-name version is manufactured by GSK.) They’re hoping to make the generic alternative available to all patients later this year, with Nigeria and Uganda planning to do the same this year as well.
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Scientists use baker's yeast to build a pathogen sensor
Baker’s yeast — the same kind that's used in bread and beer — might also make for a handy tool to detect fungal pathogens. Fungal pathogens cause 2 millions deaths every year, but current testing is complicated
and time-consuming. So scientists
used the yeast to create a cheap, simple fungal pathogen sensor. They swapped a receptor on the surface of yeast cells with one from Candida albicans, a deadly fungal pathogen, and then modified the yeast to turn red when
exposed to C. albicans. They've since engineered yeast to detect other fungal pathogens and also put the sensor in a dipstick test that can be used on soil, urine, serum, and blood. They hope the tests, which cost less than a penny each and don’t require refrigeration,
will make it much easier to detect fungal pathogens.
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What to read around the web today
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Inside a controversial clinic that teaches people to do poop transplants.
Buzzfeed
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In McConnell's own state, fear and confusion over health care bill.
New York Times
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The ways some “healthy voice hearers” cope might be able to help people with psychotic disorders.
The Atlantic
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Thanks for reading! More tomorrow,
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