View this email in your browser<http://mailchi.mp/statnews/isyuoki1g1-577633?e=4aad33fd68> [STAT]<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=6ab27e9f28&e=4aad33fd68> Wednesday, October 25, 2017 [Morning Rounds by Megan Thielking] Sponsored by [https://gallery.mailchimp.com/f8609630ae206654824f897b6/images/6e1c3216-158e-450f-a443-f1716c2a7827.png] Good morning, everyone! Casey Ross here filling in for Megan. On to today's news: Vaccine committee tackles a hefty agenda Look for some vaccine news today from Atlanta. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices — experts who advise the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on what vaccines Americans should receive — is meeting and a new shingles vaccine is on the agenda. The committee is expected to recommend GSK’s Shingrix, which received FDA approval<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=b5c7f379f9&e=4aad33fd68> on Friday. The group will likely debate whether to give the vaccine a preferential recommendation, suggesting doctors should use it over the other shingles vaccine, Merck’s Zostavax. Also on the agenda: whether a third dose of mumps vaccine<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=c70850d583&e=4aad33fd68> should be used to control increasingly common outbreaks, and what to make of a surprising study<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=ce8c8864c0&e=4aad33fd68> that raised concerns about an increased risk of miscarriage after receiving a flu shot. STAT's Helen Branswell is at the meeting; watch our homepage for news throughout the day. Are federal efforts to combat the opioid crisis working? Top federal health officials will brief Congress today on the fight against opioid addiction. The hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee will feature testimony from FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb and Neil Doherty, an administrator in the DEA’s office of diversion control. The goal is to update committee members on work to implement opioid-related provisions of the 21st Century Cures Act and the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act. But members will also hear about investigations into “pill dumping” by wholesale drug distributors, a hot topic following a Washington Post-"60 Minutes" exposé that led U.S. Rep. Tom Marino to withdraw from consideration<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=9db0c9e7fb&e=4aad33fd68> as President Trump’s drug czar. Watch the hearing live here<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=b1e373334a&e=4aad33fd68> at 10 a.m. ET. A new window into the human brain [https://gallery.mailchimp.com/f8609630ae206654824f897b6/images/e422654d-42b3-410f-b1c2-d014bac6d4d8.png] human pyramidal cells, like this one, are one cell type in the new data (Allen Institute for Brain Science) At one time or another, haven’t we all wanted to peer into the inner workings of someone else's brain? Well, the Allen Institute for Brain Science is taking another step toward that ideal by adding human brain cells to their vast online database. The publicly-available tool — which up till now has just included mouse cells — now has info on the appearance, characteristics, and gene expression profiles of various types of human brain cells. The cells offer an unusual window because they were taken from living patients, not post-mortem tissue samples. Allen Institute researchers developed a way of keeping the cells alive for more than two days, providing time to study the activity of single neurons. The first release of data will include electrical data recordings from 300 live cells derived from 36 patients, along with 3-D digital reconstructions for 100 cells. Check it out here<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=db8989f5fc&e=4aad33fd68>. Sponsor content by STAT Plus What does it take to build a biotech? A lot, it turns out. Subscribe to STAT Plus<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=1bfdab5921&e=4aad33fd68> today to join our Nov. 2 subscriber event at LabCentral in Cambridge, MA. We’ll sit down with MIT professor Bob Langer, a legendary entrepreneur who’s been the driving force behind more than 30 companies, and several startup founders to explore the wild and winding road from scientific inspiration to successful biotech, and learn what it takes to turn a great idea into a thriving startup. Networking and happy hour included. Subscribe for a special rate of $20/month for your first three months<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=cd30d754d2&e=4aad33fd68> to hold a seat. Inside STAT: Popping a pill for performance anxiety For decades, doctors have written off-label prescriptions for a heart drug known as propranolol to people suffering from performance anxiety. A San Francisco startup called Kick is now planning to bring the beta blocker — reformulated into a minty lozenge to be taken about an hour before you have to perform — to a mass market via telemedicine. That's raising concerns among some social anxiety experts, in part because propranolol isn’t recommended for first-line treatment of performance anxiety. Still, the app's founder says, there is a need for treatments that help people manage their fears. STAT's Rebecca Robbins has more here<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=a649a09c6b&e=4aad33fd68>. New doubts about robot-assisted surgeries Robot-assisted surgery is increasingly common in U.S. hospitals — but a pair of new<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=51b3c82aaf&e=4aad33fd68> studies<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=5874dfe376&e=4aad33fd68> indicate the technology may not be all that helpful for some procedures. Robot-assisted kidney and rectal surgeries cost more and were slower than conventional laparoscopic methods, the studies reported, and delivered no better results for patients. The findings are somewhat surprising given the established benefits of robot-assisted surgery for prostatectomies. However, those benefits, while clear compared to open surgery, have been harder to demonstrate when measured against laparoscopic procedures. An accompanying editorial<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=d17566f036&e=4aad33fd68> in JAMA notes that hospitals have so far absorbed the added costs of robot-assisted surgery, but their willingness to do so could change amid the nation’s transition to value-based care. “Without clear demonstration of improved outcomes associated with robotic-assisted procedures, the complicated issue of the cost will become increasingly important,” the editorial concludes. U.S. preterm births tick upward, a worrying reversal The nation’s preterm birth rate increased in 2016, earning the U.S. a “C” on the March of Dimes Premature Birth Report Card<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=8a2627c6f4&e=4aad33fd68>. The rate increased to 9.8 percent from 9.6 percent, after nearly a decade of decline. Preterm birth is the largest contributor to infant death, with more than 380,000 babies born in the U.S. each year before 37 weeks of pregnancy. The reasons for the increase are unclear, although March of Dimes President Stacey Stewart says racial and ethnic disparities play a role. Nationwide, black women are 49 percent more likely to deliver preterm compared to white women. Bringing Boddities into the classroom STAT is launching a new feature today to help readers learn from our Boddities video series. We've created a web page<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=4b10e688e0&e=4aad33fd68> to pair the videos with short classroom worksheets that explore the science behind these biological quirks. We’re working on adding more worksheets to the mix, so please email thoughts and suggestions to your Boddities host (and STAT reporter) Megan Thielking at [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>. What to read around the web today § Body brokers buy and sell cadavers in a largely unregulated market. Reuters<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=1191e6396b&e=4aad33fd68> § Navajo midwives plan first-ever Native American birth center. Colorlines<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=261bcf0f46&e=4aad33fd68> § World leaders rehearse for a pandemic that will come ‘sooner than we expect.' Washington Post<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=2313f3b18a&e=4aad33fd68> More reads from STAT § Video: Polar bear attacks and darkness: inside a hospital at the top of the world<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=f17eec5ecf&e=4aad33fd68>. § The case for Medicare-for-all,<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=d8d6a813af&e=4aad33fd68> from America's future docs. § Why do we call it that? Backstories of seven disease names<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=7f3a77b36e&e=4aad33fd68>. The latest from STAT Plus § Mr. Quixote goes to Washington<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=ab6b3f592a&e=4aad33fd68>? A bill would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices. § Why fruit fly genes get the coolest names<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=708bf14ffb&e=4aad33fd68>. § Celgene raises prices<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=024232a11e&e=4aad33fd68>, again and again. Have a great day — and if you like this newsletter, please tell a friend to sign up! [Megan] [Facebook]<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=a5a61f1ae4&e=4aad33fd68> [Twitter]<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=7b8b342fb5&e=4aad33fd68> [STAT]<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=c2943e374b&e=4aad33fd68>