Self-adjusting brain pacemaker may help reduce Parkinson’s disease symptoms

August 20, 2024 A small feasibility study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) found that an implanted device regulated by the body’s brain activity could provide continual and improved treatment for the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD) in certain people with the disorder. 

Read more in this news release from NIH.

NIH launches program to advance research led by Native American communities on substance use and pain

August 15, 2024 Many Tribal Nations have developed and continue to develop innovative approaches and systems of care for community members with substance use and pain disorders. During NIH Tribal Consultations in 2018 and 2022, Tribal leaders categorized the opioid overdose crisis as one of their highest priority issues and called for research and support to respond. They shared that Native communities must lead the science and highlighted the need for research capacity building, useful real-time data, and approaches that rely on Indigenous Knowledge and community strengths to meet the needs of Native people.

Read more in this news release for NIH. 

Routine lab tests are not a reliable way to diagnose long COVID

August 12, 2024 NIH-supported study suggests novel biomarkers that distinguish the condition from other ailments are needed. A National Institutes of Health-supported study has found that routine lab tests may not be useful in making a long COVID diagnosis for people who have symptoms of the condition. The study, part of NIH’s Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery Initiative and published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, highlights how challenging it can be to identify and diagnose a novel illness such as long COVID.

Read more in this news release from NIH.

Medicaid vision coverage for adults varies widely by state

August 6, 2024 NIH-funded study finds lack of coverage, copays, restrictive policies barriers to vital eye care for adults. A study supported by the National Institutes of Health shows that 6.5 million Medicaid enrollees (12%) lived in states without coverage for routine adult eye exams; and 14.6 million (27%) resided in states without coverage for eyeglasses. The study based on 2022-23 coverage policies, published in Health Affairs, is among the first to provide a comprehensive, state-by-state analysis of adult Medicaid benefits for basic vision services in both fee-for-service and managed care.

Read more in this news release from NIH.

NIH researchers discover potential therapeutic target for degenerative eye disease

Study reveals cellular pathology of “dry” AMD.

July 26, 2024 Researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have discovered the source of dysfunction in the process whereby cells in the eye's retina remove waste.

A report by scientists at NIH and Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, details how alterations in a factor called AKT2 affects the function of organelles called lysosomes and results in the production of deposits in the retina called drusen, a hallmark sign of dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD). According to the researchers, the findings suggest drusen formation is a downstream effect of AKT2-related lysosome dysfunction and points to a new target for therapeutic intervention.

Read more in this news release from NIH.

Over half of every dollar spent on medicines goes to middlemen and others.

July 24, 2024 There’s a long line of middlemen profiting when you get your medicine. In fact, over half of every dollar spent on medicines goes to health insurance companies, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), big pharmacies, and others. They are driving up costs for patients.

Read more in this post from Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.

As GLP-1 sales surge, insulin users fear Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly will move on without them

July 17, 2024 Around the world, patients suddenly can’t find enough of the insulins made by companies they have long relied on to do so.

In the U.S., Novo Nordisk’s recent decision to discontinue a product has left patients with fewer options. At the same time, patients are encountering shortages of other products from Novo and Eli Lilly. For months, pharmacies have been running out of vials of certain insulins that patients use to fill the pumps they wear on their body.

Read more in this article by Elaine Chen in STAT Health. 

About Cultural Competence in Nevada, 4 units

July 1, 2024 The intention of this training is to better understand and treat patients and clients who have diverse cultural backgrounds. This includes patients or residents who fall within one or more of the categories included in Nevada Resource Code 449.103.

Source: National Cancer Institute

This course is approved by the Nevada State Board of Nursing. Access the course here.

Most Americans don’t know that primary care physicians can prescribe addiction treatment

June 28, 2024 “Primary care is often people’s first point of contact in the health care system and can serve as a crucial setting to talk about addiction and receive lifesaving medications,” said Nora D. Volkow, M.D., Director of NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). “We need to provide education and support so that patients feel empowered to seek help from their primary care physician, and their doctors feel prepared to help them.”

Read more in this news release from NIH.

NIH launches $30 million pilot to test feasibility of a national primary care research network

June 6, 2024 The National Institutes of Health is investing approximately $30 million in total over fiscal years 2024 and 2025 to pilot a national primary care research network that integrates clinical research with community-based primary care. The new initiative called Communities Advancing Research Equity for Health – or CARE for Health – seeks to improve access to clinical research to inform medical care, particularly for those in communities historically underrepresented in clinical research or underserved in healthcare.

Read more in this news release from National Institutes of Health.

What Long COVID Looks Like in Children and Young Adults

May 30, 2024 At least 15 million kids have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, but it is unclear how many of them have had or are living with long COVID. The ailment includes symptoms that linger after COVID-19 or symptoms that come back after an absence of weeks or months. A person might feel short of breath, lose their sense of smell, be unable to think clearly, be tired all the time, or have other maladies that can be traced back to COVID-19.

Read more in this article from National Institutes of Health.

High H5N1 influenza levels found in mice given raw milk from infected dairy cows

May 24, 2024 Mice administered raw milk samples from dairy cows infected with H5N1 influenza experienced high virus levels in their respiratory organs and lower virus levels in other vital organs, according to findings published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The results suggest that consumption of raw milk by animals poses a risk for H5N1 infection and raises questions about its potential risk in humans.

Read more in this media advisory from National Institutes of Health.

CROWDED OUT: THE TRUE COSTS OF CROWDFUNDING HEALTHCARE

May 20, 2024 Over the past decade, charitable crowdfunding has exploded in popularity across the globe. Sites such as GoFundMe, which now boasts a “global community of over 100 million” users, have transformed the ways we seek and offer help. When faced with crises—especially medical ones—Americans are turning to online platforms that promise to connect them to the charity of the crowd. What does this new phenomenon reveal about the changing ways we seek and provide healthcare? In Crowded Out, Nora Kenworthy examines how charitable crowdfunding so quickly overtook public life, where it is taking us and who gets left behind by this new platformed economy.

Access this book by Nora Kenworthy at MIT Press.

Over 115 million pills containing illicit fentanyl seized by law enforcement in 2023

May 13, 2024 “Fentanyl has continued to infiltrate the drug supply in communities across the United States and it is a very dangerous time to use drugs, even just occasionally,” said NIDA Director Nora D. Volkow, M.D. “Illicit pills are made to look identical to real prescription pills, but can actually contain fentanyl. It is urgently important that people know that any pills given to someone by a friend, purchased on social media, or received from any source other than a pharmacy could be potentially deadly – even after a single ingestion.”

Read more in this news release from National Institutes of Health. 

Suicide Screening

May 10, 2024 Asking someone about suicide will feel like vinegar on your tongue at first but with practice, it gets easier. Learn to acknowledge the person, not the condition. Questions such as, “Have you had a problem like this in the past?” or, “What have you done in the past that has worked for you?” build a rapport with the person you are interviewing.

Dr. Naomi Paget, Fellow, American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress. Learn more at Crisis Response Care.

Top Factors in Nurses Ending Health Care Employment Between 2018 and 2021

May 6, 2024 In this cross-sectional study of 7887 nurses who were employed in a non–health care job, not currently employed, or retired, the top contributing factors for leaving health care employment were planned retirement (39% of nurses), burnout (26%), insufficient staffing (21%), and family obligations (18%). Age distributions of nurses not employed in health care were similar to nurses currently employed in health care.

Read more in this original investigation in JAMA Network Open. 

Researchers review findings and clinical messages from the Women’s Health Initiative 30 years after launch

May 1, 2024 Data from influential study underscore the importance of personalized and shared decision-making to support the health of postmenopausal women.

Read more in this media advisory from National Institutes of Health.

DEA will move to reclassify marijuana in a historic shift, AP sources say

April 30, 2024 The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will move to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, The Associated Press has learned, a historic shift to generations of American drug policy that could have wide ripple effects across the country.

The proposal, which still must be reviewed by the White House Office of Management and Budget, would recognize the medical uses of cannabis and acknowledge it has less potential for abuse than some of the nation’s most dangerous drugs. However, it would not legalize marijuana outright for recreational use.

Read more in this article from the Associated Press in STAT Politics.

There’s never a good time to drink raw milk. But now’s a really bad time as bird flu infects cows

April 29, 2024 Scientists who know about the types of pathogens — E. coli and Salmonella among them — that can be transmitted in raw milk generally think drinking unpasteurized milk is a bad idea. But right now, they believe, the danger associated with raw milk may have gone to a whole new level.

H5N1 bird flu has been circulating in dairy cow herds in multiple parts of the country, likely for months now. Testing of milk from infected cows shows the virus is present in concentrations that have taken scientists by surprise. They worry that if a raw-milk consumer inadvertently drank milk from infected cows, the results could be bad — potentially really bad.

Read more in this article by Helen Branswell in STAT Health.

Chocolate milk will stay on school lunch menus, as USDA reverses course

April 24, 2024 Chocolate milk in schools is here to stay.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday that it has abandoned a previous proposal to restrict the sale of flavored milk in elementary and middle schools. Instead, the USDA will enforce a limit on added sugars in flavored milk starting in the fall of 2025.

Read more in this article by Nicholas Florko in STAT Health.

EMTALA, a vital health law you’ve never heard of, is in danger

April 23, 2024 Anyone who has gone to a hospital’s emergency room expecting to receive medical care — not knowing where else to turn, uncertain whether a loved one is having a medical emergency and what can be done about it, or unsure if they can pay — has relied on a law they couldn’t name: the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA).

Congress enacted this law in 1986. It creates a point of rescue for anyone with a medical emergency. It is the only law in the country that ensures no matter who you are or what circumstance you are in, a hospital emergency department will provide you with emergency care.

Read more in this article by Nicole Huberfeld in STAT First Opinion.

Hospitals largely keep quiet on maternal care since Dobbs, STAT survey finds

April 22, 2024 The Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has transformed not just abortion access but maternal health care across the United States, causing physicians in states with restrictive laws to shift treatment of conditions including ectopic pregnancy and miscarriage. The full scale of the impact, though, has been obscured in a polarized political climate where physicians are often afraid to speak out, or are blocked by their hospitals from talking about their experiences post-Dobbs.

Read more in this article by Olivia Goldhill in STAT Hospitals.

Covid ignited a global controversy over what is an airborne disease. The WHO just expanded its definition

April 18, 2024 In the chaotic first few months of the Covid-19 pandemic, stores faced shortages of all kinds — toilet paper, canned food, and especially, cleaning supplies. With everyone scrubbing their groceries, mail, even library books, good luck finding antibacterial wipes or disinfectant sprays back then. That’s because public health advice in early 2020 focused on sanitizing surfaces, not protecting against a virus that could be spread through the air.

Much of that guidance could be traced back to the World Health Organization, which stated early on, and unequivocally, that Covid-19 was not an airborne disease. Even as evidence grew that coronavirus-laced particles could linger in the air indoors and infect people nearby, and researchers raised the alarm about the risks this posed to health care workers and the general public, the WHO didn’t acknowledge that Covid was airborne until late 2021.

Read more in this article by Megan Molteni in STAT Health.

Florida: Specialized Alzheimer’s Adult Daycare, Level Two (345)

April 18, 2024 New course for specialized Alzheimer's Adult Day Care. Approved by the FL Department of Elder Affairs, Curriculum Approval #SAADC 10350. Approved through April 2, 2027. Agency and corporate contracts available.

Click here to access FL Specialized Alzheimer's Adult Day Care, Level 2 

Practicing medicine at a predominantly Black institution gave me the gift I didn’t realize I needed

April 16, 2024 “You have a big voice, Dr. Grubbs,” the clinic manager said.

I flinched. The last time I heard similar words, they were part of a common refrain that I had encountered often. “You’re too direct.” “Too outspoken.” “Intimidating.” Peers who looked like me encouraged me to put my head down, make myself smaller, endure — and never, ever call out racism. This, they insisted, was the pathway to success in a predominantly white, academic medicine institution like those where I spent most of my medical career.

Until now.

“No,” the clinic manager said, “that’s a good thing.”

Read more in this article by Vanessa Grubbs in STAT First Opinion. 

Hospitals that make profits should pay taxes

April 14, 2024 As diligent taxpayers breathe a sigh of relief that the hassle of filing their tax forms is over for another year, the Internal Revenue Service continues to let most U.S. hospitals pay nothing in federal taxes. It’s time for Congress to take a hard look at the IRS’s hand in health care.

The agency uses a vague “community benefit” standard to liberally grant tax-exempt status to so-called nonprofit hospitals even as many of them are financially taking advantage of sick Americans with inflated medical bills. Several of my Johns Hopkins colleagues and I published a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association showing that some nonprofit hospitals sue and garnish the wages of low-income patients who can’t afford to pay their medical bills. Where’s the community benefit in that? Nonprofit hospitals are supposed to be compassionate and merciful, not predatory and ruthless.

Read more in this article by Marty Makary in STAT First Opinion.