View this email in your browser<http://mailchi.mp/statnews/isyuoki1g1-579949?e=4aad33fd68> [STAT]<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=f0c09ae786&e=4aad33fd68> Friday, January 26, 2018 [Morning Rounds by Megan Thielking] Sponsored by [https://gallery.mailchimp.com/f8609630ae206654824f897b6/images/234367aa-9af8-40e5-a0d1-f2506c6ac09c.png] Good morning, everyone. Here's what you need to know about health and medicine this morning. Hospital fire in South Korea kills dozens A fire in a South Korean hospital that also served as a nursing home killed at least 37 people and injured more than 70 others Friday, the New York Times reports<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=b9fd7b9635&e=4aad33fd68>. The fire broke out in the hospital's main building, where there were thought to be at least 100 patients. Hospital employees and firefighters also evacuated patients from an annex used as a nursing home, carrying some out on their backs. There's growing concern about insufficient safety measures in South Korea's nursing homes as the population rapidly ages — in 2014, 20 nursing home patients, many of whom couldn't move on their own, were killed in a fire in the country. Public health schools don't want money from Philip Morris Public health schools across the U.S. and Canada are saying “no thanks” to research money from a new anti-smoking foundation that’s supported by the tobacco industry. Philip Morris poured nearly $1 billion into the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World, which was created in September and promised to support research on ending smoking worldwide. But deans at Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and 15 other public health schools say<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=5809cd53b8&e=4aad33fd68> the industry ties are too close for comfort and the foundation isn’t being transparent about the public relations boost it’ll give Philip Morris, “even as [the company] increases its marketing of products that predictably will continue to kill millions of people around the world.” Meanwhile, an FDA advisory panel recommended<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=2e53020c87&e=4aad33fd68> yesterday that the agency reject the tobacco company's bid to market its smokeless tobacco device as a safer option than cigarettes. A deadly E. coli outbreak appears to be over An E. coli outbreak tied to leafy greens that sickened 25 people appears to be over, the CDC says. One person died and eight others were hospitalized, including two people who developed a type of kidney failure. The cases cropped up in 15 states, with the last reported illness in mid-December. Health officials weren’t able to pinpoint a source, but almost all those infected reported recently eating some type of leafy greens. Canadian health officials also investigated an outbreak of the same strain of E. coli in December, which was ultimately linked to romaine lettuce. Sponsor content by Genomic Medicine Conference Discover how genomic medicine is shaping the future of personalized healthcare! The Genomic Medicine Conference<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=60071d5391&e=4aad33fd68> hosted by HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology in Huntsville, Alabama, will be held March 26-28, 2018 on the HudsonAlpha campus. This conference is designed to educate physicians, nurses, allied health professionals and clinical researchers in the technologies, applications, ethics and social impacts of the practice of genomic medicine. Register today<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=34c372f352&e=4aad33fd68> to reserve your seat! Inside STAT<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=eba852b696&e=4aad33fd68>: Where's the health care industry's plan to lower prices? Of all his campaign promises, President Trump’s vow to bring down drug prices was perhaps the most popular. A number of interest groups, from the drug industry to health insurers, spoke out loudly on the need for action. They also spent millions lobbying Congress last year. But there's a problem: The most powerful health industry players conspicuously disagree about exactly how to move forward, lobbyists, lawmakers, and congressional staffers on both sides of the aisle tell STAT. More from STAT's Erin Mershon here<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=7937583d45&e=4aad33fd68>. Why scientists are studying budding fruit fly brains [87396691-e5ca-4560-8a09-e04a5b7a5bdb.png] fruit fly brains are surprisingly beautiful. (Jon Enriquez/Mann Lab/Columbia's Zuckerman Institute) Scientists studying budding fruit fly brains have discovered new details about how the insects' central nervous system develops, which could inform research on how the human brain develops. Researchers at Columbia started by looking at the stem cells of fruit flies — which are often used as a model for humans in basic scientific research — to trace how they matured into motor neurons that can control the kicking of a fruit fly’s six legs. Instead of becoming motor neurons, some stem cells became glial cells, another type of cell found in the central nervous system, which became responsible for building the structure that helped support the motor neurons. The researchers, who just published a paper about their work in Neuron<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=275d9a48bd&e=4aad33fd68>, say their findings could one day offer a jumping-off point for research on how to generate new glial cells after someone suffers nerve damage. Confusion about yellow fever vaccine leads to wrong doses The CDC is warning that there might be some confusion about doses of the yellow fever vaccine after 15 people each were given an entire vial of the vaccine, which was supposed to be five separate doses. Sanofi Pasteur makes the vaccine in single-dose and five-dose vials. In March 2017, four people were given the five-dose vials and sent to U.S. emergency rooms, where they were evaluated and released. That mistake was reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, where CDC officials found 11 other reports at military and public health clinics. The CDC says more distinctive packaging for the two vials as well as in-clinic vaccination training might help prevent more dosing mistakes. What to read around the web today § I nearly died of a drug overdose. Would that make my dealer a murderer? Politico<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=64683071f6&e=4aad33fd68> § Will state voters keep pouring money into stem cell research? KQED<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=68f8574c45&e=4aad33fd68> § Wilder Penfield redrew the map of the brain — by opening the heads of living patients. Vox<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=9e4b8b2276&e=4aad33fd68> More reads from STAT § Pharma gets a seat at the table at private dinner with Trump<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=9a5a11b247&e=4aad33fd68> at Davos. § I’m proud to identify as disabled. I worry about the use of disability as a political strategy<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=8e6b004cc8&e=4aad33fd68>. The latest from STAT Plus § Biotech’s next big IPO<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=5b8c192b9b&e=4aad33fd68> could unravel at the 11th hour. § Groups warn against NAFTA moves that could keep drugs out of reach<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=a8dcbe61e6&e=4aad33fd68>. Thanks so much for reading! Hope you have a wonderful weekend, [Megan] [Facebook]<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=e72d69a9d1&e=4aad33fd68> [Twitter]<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=ad436d2db3&e=4aad33fd68> [STAT]<https://statnews.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&id=bdd66ea2ac&e=4aad33fd68>