Category: Health News

  • Families First earns Quality Designation: Seacoast health news

    Families First earns Quality Designation: Seacoast health news

    Household Middle earns High quality Designation

    Families First earns Quality Designation: Seacoast health news

    PORTSMOUTH – Households Very first Wellness and Aid Middle declared that its Relatives Middle application has been selected as a Spouse and children Resource Middle of Excellent (FRC-Q) by the Wellness and Key Prevention Council.

    The Loved ones Center is the only FRC-Q in New Hampshire to be found in just a local community wellness heart. This provides strengths like owning playgroups strategically scheduled to coordinate with pediatric and prenatal times at the health centre, and for households to visit their key treatment provider, dental care supplier, and show up at household applications all in the same spot. In addition to supplying parenting lessons, playgroups, mum or dad groups and spouse and children packages at Households Initially in Portsmouth, the Family members Centre presents programs in Somersworth, Epping, Exeter and on-line.

    The Spouse and children Centre gained this distinction for the quite a few distinctive benefits it features Seacoast-region clientele.

  • First Edition: June 8, 2022

    First Edition: June 8, 2022

    Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.

    KHN:
    Some People In This Montana Mining Town Worry About The Dust Next Door 

    Steve McGrath stood in an empty lot a block from his home watching for dust. In this southwestern Montana city nicknamed “The Richest Hill on Earth,” more than a century of mining left polluted soil and water that has taken decades to clean. But at that moment, looking across the road toward Butte’s last operating open-pit mine, McGrath was worried about the air. “Here comes another truck,” McGrath said, pointing to a hillside across the street as a massive dump truck unloaded ore for the mine’s crusher. A brown cloud billowed into the air. “And there’s the dust.” (Houghton, 6/8)

    KHN:
    Patients Seek Mental Health Care From Their Doctor But Find Health Plans Standing In The Way

    When a longtime patient visited Dr. William Sawyer’s office after recovering from covid, the conversation quickly turned from the coronavirus to anxiety and ADHD. Sawyer — who has run a family medicine practice in the Cincinnati area for more than three decades — said he spent 30 minutes asking questions about the patient’s exercise and sleep habits, counseling him on breathing exercises, and writing a prescription for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder medication. (Pattani, 6/8)

    KHN:
    ‘An Arm And A Leg’: Good News For Your Credit Report 

    Credit reporting bureaus announced in March that they would start taking most paid medical debt off people’s credit reports. At first, we weren’t sure that would be such a huge deal. After all, the unpaid medical debt would still exist, people would still get harassed by debt collectors, or even sued over it. But it turns out, there are a bunch of reasons these changes could be life-changing, and we want to give credit (the good kind) where it’s due.  (Weissmann, 6/8)


    Stat:
    FDA Advisers Recommend Authorization Of Novavax’s Covid-19 Vaccine


    Experts who advise the Food and Drug Administration voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to recommend the agency issue an emergency use authorization for Novavax’s Covid-19 vaccine — a long-awaited win for a company that has struggled to get to this point. The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee voted 21 to 0 to recommend that the vaccine receive an EUA, with a single abstention. The strong vote belied the tenor of much of the day’s discussion, which started with one member of the committee, Eric Rubin, editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, questioning whether additional EUAs are needed when three vaccines are already in use in the country. (Branswell, 6/7)


    The Washington Post:
    FDA Advisers Recommend Authorizing Novavax Coronavirus Vaccine 


    Bruce Gellin, chief of global public health strategy at the Rockefeller Foundation, abstained from voting but said he was giving the vaccine a “conditional yes.” He said the vaccine was shown to be generally safe and effective when clinical trials were conducted but that “we don’t know whether that is true today.” He said it was important to monitor the vaccine’s performance as it comes into use. (Johnson and McGinley, 6/7)


    Reuters:
    Novavax COVID Shot, Aimed At Vaccine Skeptics, Overwhelmingly Backed By FDA Panel


    The timeline for Novavax is not clear. Novavax Chief Commercial Officer John Trizzino said the agency is still reviewing documents detailing its manufacturing processes submitted last week. “We hopefully expect to have product in the U.S. in our warehouse by the end of June,” he said in an interview, adding that the company plans to ship millions of doses made by its partner, the Serum Institute of India, soon after authorization. (Erman and Mishra, 6/7)


    The New York Times:
    Monkeypox Can Be Airborne, Too 


    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance last week for travelers wishing to protect themselves against monkeypox. This was one of its recommendations: “Wear a mask. Wearing a mask can help protect you from many diseases, including monkeypox.” Late Monday night, that recommendation was deleted. However, the agency still says that in countries where monkeypox is spreading, “household contacts and health care workers” should consider wearing masks. That guideline also applies to “other people who may be in close contact with a person who has been confirmed with monkeypox.” The turnabout hints at a little-discussed aspect of the current monkeypox outbreak: The virus can be airborne, at least over short distances. (Mandavilli, 6/7)


    Reuters:
    U.S. CDC Removes Mask Recommendation From Monkeypox Travel Notice To Avoid Confusion 


    The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Tuesday it had removed a mask recommendation from its monkeypox travel notice to avoid “confusion” over the disease, which primarily spreads through direct contact. “Late yesterday, CDC removed the mask recommendation from the monkeypox Travel Health Notice because it caused confusion,” a CDC spokesperson said on Tuesday. (6/7)


    AP:
    Arizona’s 1st Probable Monkeypox Case In Maricopa County


    Arizona health officials announced Tuesday that they have identified the state’s first probable monkeypox case in Maricopa County. They said testing at the Arizona State Public Health Laboratory returned a presumptive positive result and confirmatory testing is underway at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Officials said the case involves a man in his late 30s who is currently in isolation and recovering. (6/7)


    The Hill:
    Here Are The States With Monkeypox Cases


    The U.S. has not reported any deaths from the monkeypox cases, and officials are working to contain cases by identifying who was exposed to the virus and getting them a vaccine. There are currently more than 30 cases in the nation. (Lonas, 6/7)


    Stat:
    Lessons From AIDS Crisis Guide Response To Monkeypox Outbreak 


    As officials, researchers and activists scramble to control an emerging monkeypox outbreak, many are doing so with another virus constantly wedged in the back of their minds: HIV. The parallels between the two infections are limited but clear. Although the monkeypox strain now in circulation is infinitesimally milder than HIV — zero fatalities have been reported out of the more than 1,000 cases so far — it is another virus that emerged in sub-Saharan Africa and has popped up outside the continent largely in men who have sex with men. “There are, you know, echoes,” said Chris Beyrer, director of the Duke Global Health Institute. (Mast, 6/8)


    Fortune:
    Florida Is Once Again Becoming An Area Of Concern For COVID Cases


    COVID-19 cases are once again topping 100,000 per day in the U.S., and that number could be significantly higher as the number of unreported cases grows, thanks to at-home testing. But not all areas are equal when it comes to risk levels. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has ranked the risk level by county through the U.S.—and, as of Tuesday, 241 counties are ranked as having high COVID-19 levels, which is determined by whichever is higher: either new hospital admissions of people with the virus, or the percentage of inpatient beds in use by COVID-19 patients. (Morris, 6/7)


    AP:
    Washington Hospitals Again Strained By COVID-19 Spread


    Hospital officials in Washington are urging people to wear masks and warning that facilities are heading toward another COVID-19 case peak amid high spread in the community. Washington State Hospital Association CEO Cassie Sauer on Monday said at the end of last week, almost 600 people with COVID-19 were in hospitals across the state with about 20-25 patients a day on ventilators, The News Tribune reported. (6/7)


    AP:
    Bonus Pay Coming For Minnesota’s Frontline COVID-19 Workers 


    Minnesota residents who came into work during the height of the coronavirus pandemic will soon be collecting bonus pay. Workers who are eligible for so-called hero pay can begin applying online Wednesday morning and will have up to 45 days to sign up, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said. The money be divided evenly, following a period for appeals. (6/7)


    CBS News:
    Hospital Studying Long-Term Effects Of COVID In Kids


    Adriana Vaughan tested positive for COVID-19 in October 2021. Eight months later, the 12-year-old has a string of new medical issues: fatigue, headaches, stomach problems and more. Vaughan can’t even walk for six minutes without losing her breath. She says swimming, which she did before getting COVID, is also hard. … Vaughan is one of more than 70 kids being treated in the long COVID clinic at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C. Dr. Alexandra Yonts, an infectious disease specialist who runs the clinic, said fatigue is the top complaint among patients young and old. (Duncan, 6/7)


    CIDRAP:
    COVID-19 Was Leading Cause Of Duty-Related Police Deaths In 2020 


    COVID-19 caused 62{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of duty-related deaths of US police officers in the first year of the pandemic—a rate that rose to 77{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} to 82{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} among minority officers—according to a new study published in Policing: An International Journal. (Van Beusekom, 6/7)


    CIDRAP:
    Those Who Believe In COVID-19 Conspiracies May Be At Risk For Depression


    People who believe in conspiracies about the COVID-19 pandemic are at an increased risk of experiencing anxiety and depression, according to new research presented at the European Congress of Psychiatry and published in Frontiers in Psychiatry. The research was based on survey results of 700 volunteers who answered a newly created COVID-19 Conspiratorial Beliefs Scale developed by researchers at several Polish universities. Participants also took the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale survey, as well as the Generic Conspiracist Beliefs Scale (covering topics such as aliens from other planets) to compare results. (6/7)


    Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
    Wisconsin Supreme Court OKs Releasing COVID Data On Businesses


    More than a year after Wisconsin’s largest business lobby sued to stop the state from releasing data on companies with COVID outbreaks, a narrowly divided Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled in favor of releasing the records. The majority opinion, written by Justice Rebecca Dallet, asserts that Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce did not have the right to challenge the state health department’s authority to release public records. The state legislature in 2003 limited when people can challenge the release of public records to a few clearly defined circumstances after a number of high profile cases in which teachers accused of having sex with students tried to stop the release of their personnel records. The slew of subsequent lawsuits bogged down the open records process in local government so much that it essentially defeated the intent of the open records law. (Chen, 6/7)


    Axios:
    Biden Administration Seeks To Suppress Hospital Safety Data


    Consumer groups are pushing back against a Biden administration proposal that would block public access to key hospital safety data such as infection rates, falls and incidence of bed sores. Medicare is accepting comments from the public through June 17 on the rule, saying it is proposing the data suppression “due to the impact of the COVID-19 [public health emergency.]” … “The public has a right to know what happened during the pandemic. We have a right to know when lives are at risk and which hospitals did the best job of protecting their patients,” said Leah Binder, CEO of the Leapfrog Group, an organization that grades hospital care.(Reed, 6/7)


    CIDRAP:
    Molnupiravir Cut Need For Higher Levels Of Care In Non-Severe COVID-19


    Nonhospitalized, unvaccinated COVID-19 patients who received Merck’s antiviral molnupiravir had less need for respiratory support and fewer acute-care visits than those given a placebo, finds the secondary analysis of the phase 2/3 randomized, controlled MOVe-OUT trial published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine. (6/7)


    Becker’s Hospital Review:
    26 Million People Stuck In Paxlovid ‘Deserts’


    At-home COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid was inaccessible to more than 26 million Americans January through March, according to a recent GoodRx analysis. The pharmacy “deserts” spanned 42 percent of the nation’s counties and mainly fell in rural areas. One of the possible causes for the supply drought is the shaky test-to-treat initiative, which faces fewer COVID-19 tests and a public wary of taking a new medication. (Twenter, 6/7)


    CIDRAP:
    Moderna Launches Phase 3 Trial Of MRNA Flu Vaccine


    Moderna today announced the launch of a phase 3 trial of its mRNA seasonal flu vaccine, which has a goal of immunizing about 6,000 adult participants in the Southern Hemisphere, which is entering its flu season. In a statement, the company said the vaccine candidate, one of several respiratory disease vaccines in development, encodes for the hemagglutinin glycoprotein of the four flu virus strains recommended by the World Health Organization. It added that the surface glycoprotein is an important target for generating broad protection against flu and is the primary target for current flu vaccines. (6/7)


    Bloomberg:
    New Drug Prices Soar To $180,000 A Year On 20{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} Annual Inflation


    While gasoline and food prices soar, few products rival the inflation in prices on newly launched prescription drugs, according to a new study. The median launch price of a new drug in the US soared from $2,115 in 2008 to $180,007 in 2021, a 20{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} annual inflation rate over the period, researchers at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston found. Even after adjusting for factors such as drugmakers’ focus on expensive disease categories like cancer and estimated discounts that manufacturers give some purchasers, the annual inflation rate in launch prices over the period was still almost 11{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c}. (Langreth, 6/7)


    NBC News:
    Hospitals Are Required To Post Prices For Common Procedures. Few Do.


    Few hospitals are posting the prices of their common procedures online, despite a federal law that went into effect more than a year ago. The Hospital Price Transparency Law is intended to make the hidden costs of services such as X-rays, medical tests or colonoscopies clear to patients before they enter the hospital. But a study published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association added to mounting evidence that hospitals are largely ignoring the law.  (Sullivan and Dunn, 6/8)


    Stat:
    Study Suggests A New Harm From Hospital Mergers: Less Price Transparency


    Health care economists argue hospital mergers can raise costs and lower quality. And now, a new study adds another downside: Hospitals in concentrated markets are also less likely to be transparent about their prices. Researchers pored over the websites of more than 5,200 hospitals to check on their adherence to the federal Hospital Price Transparency Final Rule, which took effect in January 2021. Their research letter, published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, shows compliance is dismally low — less than 6{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} — adding to previous research and media reports that found the same. (Bannow, 6/7)


    Modern Healthcare:
    FTC Takes Aim At PBM Business Practices In New Inquiry


    The Federal Trade Commission will intensify its scrutiny of pharmacy benefit manager business practices, the agency announced Tuesday. The probe, which the commission unanimously approved, will focus on how vertical integration in the PBM sector affects access and pricing in the prescription drug market, according to a news release. The FTC will require the six largest PBMs to provide information about their activities. The regulator plans to send compulsory orders to CVS Health’s CVS Caremark, Cigna’s Express Scripts, UnitedHealth Group’s OptumRx, Humana, Blue Cross and Blue Shield-affiliated Prime Therapeutics, and MedImpact Healthcare Systems. CVS Caremark, Express Scripts and OptumRx collectively control about 80{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of the PBM market. (Goldman, 6/7)


    Modern Healthcare:
    California Doctors Union Avoids Strike With Tentative Contract


    A union representing 1,300 resident physicians and fellows at three Los Angeles County hospitals reached a tentative contract with the county, averting a potential strike, the labor organization said Tuesday. The Committee of Interns and Residents, a local chapter of Service Employees International Union, entered additional negotiations with the county following its vote late last month to authorize a strike. No details were released on the tentative pact’s specifics or when members would vote on it but in a news release, the union said the proposal contained “significant material gains for resident physicians.” (Devereaux, 6/7)


    The Boston Globe:
    ‘The Numbers Just Continue To Rise’: Patients Awaiting Psychiatric Treatment Crowd Emergency Rooms


    On Monday, nearly all of South Shore Hospital’s pediatric emergency beds were occupied by children who were suicidal. The 10 patients, some of whom had been there 12 days or more, were waiting for a place that could take them and care for their mental health needs. Another 18 adults were in the emergency department with behavioral health issues, also waiting for beds at South Shore or another facility. One person had been there 17 days. Hospital officials throughout the state say they are seeing unprecedented volumes of behavioral health patients who are sicker than ever before, a leading contributor to emergency room crowding, which officials say has worsened in recent weeks. (Bartlett, 6/7)


    Axios:
    Heat Waves Could Soon Have Names


    There’s a growing effort to name and categorize heat waves the way we do hurricanes — to call attention to their significance, alert people to dangerous temperatures and prod public officials into action. Heat waves are the deadliest type of weather emergency in the U.S. They’re bigger killers than floods, tornadoes or hurricanes — and they’re growing in frequency and intensity due to global warming. (Kingson, 6/8)


    Billings Gazette:
    Voters Want To Keep Recreational Pot, According To Early Returns


    Yellowstone County voters want to keep their access to local recreational marijuana dispensaries. In the first batch of results from Tuesday’s election, 21,903 voters opted to keep recreational marijuana sales legal in Yellowstone County compared to 15,869 who voted to ban sales. Voters were asked whether to overturn legalized recreational marijuana sales in Yellowstone County following a move in December by Yellowstone County commissioners to place the question on the June ballot. It’s the third time since November 2020 that Billings voters have cast a ballot asking about recreational marijuana. Montana voters in 2020 overwhelmingly approved legalizing recreational marijuana; in Yellowstone County the vote was more narrow, 50.7{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} to 49.3{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} in favor, a difference of roughly 1,100 votes. (Rogers, 6/7)


    Dallas Morning News:
    Garland ISD Will Clean Up Soil With High Levels Of Arsenic At Middle School Campus


    Garland ISD has plans to remove soil near Sam Houston Middle School after a third-party contractor report found some areas with high levels of arsenic. On Friday, Garland ISD’s executive director of facilities and maintenance, Paul Gonzales, sent out a letter to families attending the school announcing that there would be a cleanup process this summer. The report, which The Dallas Morning News obtained via an open records request, comes almost a year after the EPA alerted Garland ISD about its findings of lead contaminated soil at Park Crest Elementary, which is directly across the street from Sam Houston. The EPA began a cleanup process to remove the lead contaminated soil on district property and in the surrounding neighborhood last August. (D’Annunzio, 6/7)


    Oklahoman:
    Oklahoma City-County Health Department To Offer Free Mammograms On June 10


    The Oklahoma City-County Health Department will be offering free mammograms on Friday, June 10. The event is in partnership with OU Health, Stephenson Cancer Center and The Market at Eastpoint, 1708 NE 23. The mobile mammography unit will be at The Market to screen women over the age of 40. All services are free, and if any abnormalities are found, diagnostic testing and follow-up will also be offered at no cost. (6/7)


    Stateline:
    One Region Led A 13-State Pandemic Baby Boomlet


    New England has seen an unusual uptick in births during the coronavirus pandemic as more highly educated residents, especially those in their 30s, seized working from home as an opportunity to start a family. All six New England states were among the 13 states where births increased between 2019 and 2021. New Hampshire and Tennessee were the only states with more births last year than in 2014, the last time births rose nationally. The New England baby boomlet is notable in a region with the lowest birth rates in the nation—and it contrasts with a long-term national decline in births. (Henderson, 6/7)


    AP:
    Police: DNA Technology Connects Man To Florida Serial Rapes 


    Advanced DNA technology helped detectives link the cases of six women to a man accused of being the “pillowcase rapist” for a string of rapes back in the 1980s.Robert Koehler is currently jailed in neighboring Miami-Dade County, where he faces charges for assaulting a woman in the early ’80s as well, Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony said in a Tuesday morning news conference. Authorities believe Koehler, 62, may have committed 40 to 45 rapes, terrifying victims by breaking into their homes at night, the sheriff said. (Frisaro, 6/7)


    CBS News:
    Jif Peanut Butter Recalls Now Include Ice Cream, Candy And Chicken Salad


    Add peanut butter cup ice cream to a growing list of recalled food made with Jif peanut butter that is linked to an outbreak of salmonella that has sickened 16 people in the U.S. Americans are being cautioned against eating a range of baked goods, sandwiches, candy, trail mix and ready-to-eat salad products made with the recalled Jif peanut butter, as snacks are pulled from stores, vending machines and restaurants nationwide amid a multi-state outbreak of salmonella. (Gibson, 6/7)


    NBC News:
    Family Sues Meta, Blames Instagram For Daughter’s Eating Disorder And Self-Harm


    A preteen girl’s “addictive” use of Instagram resulted in an eating disorder, self-harm and thoughts of suicide over several years, according to a lawsuit against the platform’s parent company, Meta. The lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California late Monday, heavily cites the Facebook Papers, a trove of internal Meta research documents leaked last fall that revealed that the tech giant knew Instagram was worsening body-image and other mental-health issues among teenage girls in particular. (Cook, 6/7)


    AP:
    Some Cancer Patients Can Skip Treatments, 2 Studies Show


    After surgery, some cancer patients can safely skip radiation or chemotherapy, according to two studies exploring shorter, gentler cancer care. Researchers are looking for ways to precisely predict which cancer patients can avoid unneeded treatment to cut down on harmful side effects and unnecessary costs. One new study used a blood test to determine which colon cancer patients could skip chemotherapy after surgery. Another suggests some low-risk breast cancer patients can omit radiation after lumpectomy. (Johnson, 6/7)


    Reuters:
    Sanofi’s Dupixent Gets U.S. Approval To Treat Eczema In Young Children


    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc’s anti-inflammation drug Dupixent to treat eczema in young children, the two companies said on Tuesday. Dupixent is now the first approved treatment for moderate-to-severe eczema in young children, Sanofi and Regeneron said. (6/7)


    CNN:
    Prescription Cannabis Products With More THC May Ease Chronic Pain, At Least A Little, Study Finds 


    People who suffer from chronic pain may find small-to-moderate pain relief for the short-term when using certain prescription cannabis products with higher THC to CBD levels, but there are some worrisome side effects, according to new research. Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is the chemical compound in the marijuana plant that makes you high. Cannabidiol, or CBD, is the second most prevalent active chemical in cannabis, but it does not make you high. Both have been associated with pain relief. “The findings are in line with what we know,” said Yasmin Hurd, a professor of pharmacological sciences, neuroscience and psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. She was not involved with the study. (LaMotte, 6/8)


    The Washington Post:
    Type 2 Diabetes May Accelerate Brain Function Decline As People Age


    In older people with Type 2 diabetes, the brain appears to age at an accelerated rate — about 26 percent faster than normal, according to research published in the journal eLife. Relying on brain scans, brain functioning tests and other data from 20,314 people, ages 50 to 80, the researchers compared neurological changes in those who did and did not have Type 2 diabetes. In both groups, they found declines in executive functions such as working memory, learning and flexible thinking, as well as declines in brain processing speed. (Searing, 6/7)


    The Washington Post:
    ‘Needle Spiking’ Reports Grow In France, Belgium And Britain


    She had eagerly looked forward to going home for the holidays and reuniting with friends over dinner and drinks. Instead, Eva Keeling, 19, says, she wound up injected by a stranger with a needle, leaving her unable to speak or function while at a bar in her hometown of Stafford, in northern England. “We went outside [the bar] for some fresh air … then I ended up losing all control of my body, the ability to walk, hold my head up, I couldn’t talk — I was projectile vomiting everywhere,” Keeling told The Washington Post. (Suliman and Francis, 6/7)


    Reuters:
    Chernobyl Radiation Detectors Back Online, Levels Normal — IAEA


    Radiation detectors in the Exclusion Zone around Ukraine’s defunct Chernobyl nuclear power plant are back online for the first time since Russia seized the area on Feb. 24, and radiation levels are normal, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Tuesday. “Most of the 39 detectors sending data from the Exclusion Zone … are now visible on the IRMIS (International Radiation Monitoring Information System) map,” the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement. “The measurements received so far indicated radiation levels in line with those measured before the conflict.” (6/7)


    This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.

  • Misinformation Clouds America’s Most Popular Emergency Contraception

    Misinformation Clouds America’s Most Popular Emergency Contraception

    A model of specialty mozzarella cheeses. A assortment of all-natural-gas storage terminals. And America’s top rated-marketing unexpected emergency contraception.

    At a second when 50 percent of U.S. states stand poised to outlaw or sharply curtail abortion services, the last-ditch capsule for ladies aiming to stave off an unwanted being pregnant rests in the unlikely stewardship of two private equity firms whose expenditure portfolios vary from Italian food items to vineyard management to children’s cough medicine.

    Kelso & Co. and Juggernaut Money Associates bought Program B One particular-Action from Teva for $675 million in 2017 as the Israeli-based pharmaceutical giant was providing off its world wide women’s overall health enterprise. In the decades considering the fact that, the drug has come to be America’s most greatly utilized around-the-counter unexpected emergency contraception and — at an typical expense of $45 for every dose — one of the optimum-priced above-the-counter remedies sold in the U.S.

    Basis Client Healthcare, the business owned by Kelso and Juggernaut that sells Strategy B, has managed to aggressively industry the product or service though remaining beneath the radar of anti-abortion activists and Republican lawmakers who vilify it as another kind of abortion.

    But the company’s stewardship and women’s continued accessibility to Program B have come to be matters of urgent worry as the religious perception that everyday living begins before a fertilized egg implants in the uterus gains forex as a respectable legal standard among Republican lawmakers in state capitals and in Congress. If the Supreme Courtroom cements a leaked draft selection to overturn Roe v. Wade without explicitly deferring to the clinical common of when a pregnancy begins — which is after implantation — Republican-managed legislatures could declare Prepare B and intrauterine products, or IUDs, to be abortifacients.

    States that enact laws to confer “personhood rights” to fertilized eggs, embryos, and fetuses would open up a new frontier in legislation that dictate the choices available for women who are pregnant and individuals who search for not to become expecting. The states contemplating this sort of a transfer incorporate Alabama, Missouri, and Kansas.

    Complicating that political battle, women’s health and fitness advocates say, is that Basis Shopper Healthcare and the Fda have failed to correct out-of-date wording on the product’s label that has led to rampant misinformation about how Plan B performs.

    The language in concern, mentioned as component of System B’s “drug information,” warns that the tablet could avert “attachment of a fertilized egg to the uterus.” But various scientific studies have demonstrated that is not the system of motion for Prepare B, a hormonal medication that delays ovulation and can avoid sperm from fertilizing an egg. Investigation also shows Strategy B does not damage an current being pregnant, in accordance to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

    That packaging language has been cited, nonetheless, to justify laws in at the very least 9 states that exclude Plan B from federal government household scheduling courses and contraception protection mandates or that permit pharmacists to refuse to offer Prepare B on moral grounds.

    The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2014 conclusion in Burwell v. Passion Lobby Suppliers cited the FDA’s webpage about Program B in ruling that necessitating loved ones-owned businesses with spiritual convictions to shell out for health insurance coverage coverage for contraception violated a federal legislation safeguarding spiritual freedom.

    Equally, a bill right before Congress that would involve Office of Veterans Affairs services to include the cost of all types of contraception for feminine veterans has been stalled by opposition to the inclusion of System B. “The Approach B tablet kills a infant in the womb when a lady is currently pregnant,” U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) erroneously stated throughout a floor discussion. “The VA should not be paying out for abortion.”

    European authorities essential the language be dropped from Program B packaging sold in individuals nations around the world in 2015, and it has been rejected by the Worldwide Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics and American clinical associations.

    Making a equivalent label improve in the U.S. would require Basis Purchaser Healthcare to petition the Food and drug administration — an action that women’s wellness advocates say is very long overdue.

    “The Fda isn’t heading to modify it until the organizations occur in with the facts and check with for a label alter,” explained Susan Wood, a health and fitness plan professor at George Washington University and previous director of women’s well being at the Fda. A label update would be “straightforward because there is human info that exhibits that it performs prior to ovulation.”

    “It’s the company’s responsibility,” she additional.

    Basis Customer Healthcare, in an emailed response to a list of questions from KHN, declined an job interview and reported it would not remark on product sales figures, conversations with the Food and drug administration, or investment programs.

    “The mission of FCH is and generally has been raising the education and learning and availability of Strategy B One-Step® crisis contraception for women of all ages throughout the region,” the organization wrote. “We function with a wide variety of partners to guarantee all people understands how the products works and when it ought to be taken, and with stores to make absolutely sure the product or service is offered in all major retail merchants.”

    The Food and drug administration also declined to remark, citing regulations that protect “the confidentiality of industrial info.”

    Emboldened by the Supreme Court’s leaked draft final decision on Roe and its previously determination to let Texas’ 6-week abortion ban to acquire influence, lawmakers in several Republican-led states now are brazenly looking at bans on crisis contraception and IUDs.

    Approach B’s labeling concern dates to its inception as an more than-the-counter tablet in 2006. When the drug corporation that owned Prepare B at the time, Barr Prescription drugs, sought Fda permission to provide it around-the-counter, the exertion confronted opposition from anti-abortion forces, according to historical accounts, as perfectly as interviews with individuals involved. Those people forces provided a member of the scientific advisory panel examining the application. Dr. Joseph Stanford, a Mormon health practitioner who considered daily life begins at fertilization, argued that a distant probability existed that Strategy B could avert implantation of a fertilized egg.

    In spite of possessing no scientific evidence to support that assert, the business agreed to list the put up-fertilization system on the packaging as a way of having the application accredited.

    That seemingly innocuous capitulation has paid out dividends for abortion opponents, codifying in formal authorities files a system of motion that would be used to blur the line involving contraception and abortion, stated Christopher ChoGlueck, an assistant professor of ethics at New Mexico Tech who has documented the historical past of crisis contraception.

    Basis Purchaser Healthcare’s financial commitment in Program B is hard to assess: Non-public equity corporations are needed to disclose only constrained facts, obscuring their operations and holdings.

    But drug market analysts say the business enterprise is clearly profitable. Emergency contraception is reasonably reasonably priced to make, mentioned Samantha Miller, co-CEO of Cadence Wellness, a biopharmaceutical company producing about-the-counter beginning manage drugs. And the shoppers are mostly younger girls who invest in the pill around the counter even if they — or their mom and dad — have wellness coverage.

    Amongst 2013 and 2015, 22{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of females ages 15 to 44 who had ever had intercourse claimed possessing utilized crisis contraception products at the very least at the time, an increase from 4{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} in 2002, according to a KFF evaluation of Centers for Disorder Command and Avoidance survey facts.

    Private equity corporations commonly raise resources from institutional traders, often with a emphasis on creating quick-expression revenue. When Kelso and Juggernaut Capital acquired Approach B in 2017, the campaign to stop federal abortion legal rights, cresting immediately after a long time of lawful challenges, would have made the invest in of the nation’s most popular unexpected emergency contraception a tantalizing option. “Private fairness senses a likelihood wherever susceptible people today are involved,” reported Eileen Appelbaum, co-director of the Heart for Financial and Plan Investigation.

    Interestingly, 1 of the most important buyers in two Kelso cash invested in Basis Consumer merchandise is the Teachers’ Retirement Technique of Louisiana, a single of at least 13 states with result in legislation that would ban abortion if Roe falls.

    Other traders from anti-abortion states involve the University of Houston Technique endowment and the Houston Police Officers’ Pension Program.

    “With clients obtaining up Prepare B, this could be really good for their traders irrespective of their stage of comfort and ease profiting off of Program B,” explained Eileen O’Grady, of the Non-public Equity Stakeholder Venture, who researches the tangled holdings of non-public equity corporations.

    Miller and other industry authorities say Foundation can sustain its $45 typical rate tag for System B mainly because of its market place dominance. Decreased-priced generic crisis contraception is offered, mainly online, stated Dima Qato, affiliate professor of clinical pharmacy at the College of Southern California. But Strategy B’s distribution arrangements with national pharmacies, Walmart, and Concentrate on have mainly locked out competitors.

    “People really don’t use the generics, and not numerous locations have them,” claimed Qato. “You want to make sure it is successful. There is a choice for the manufacturer.”

    However, if a Supreme Courtroom final decision permits states to criminalize abortion and selected contraceptives, Kelso and Juggernaut’s expense would surely be imperiled. States oversee pharmacy legislation, leaving sufficient home for legislatures to allow for pharmacies to refuse to dispense unexpected emergency contraception.

    “Texas and other states will declare this is equivalent to an abortion capsule,” mentioned Qato, “and they will say you cannot promote it.”

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  • People With Diabetes 4 Times More Prone to Long COVID | Health News

    People With Diabetes 4 Times More Prone to Long COVID | Health News

    By Denise Mann HealthDay Reporter

    People With Diabetes 4 Times More Prone to Long COVID | Health News

    (HealthDay)

    MONDAY, June 6, 2022 (HealthDay Information) — Diabetes improves the odds that a COVID-19 an infection will be serious, and folks with diabetic issues might be up to four situations extra most likely to build prolonged-lasting indicators, new exploration indicates.

    “Although far more knowledge is desired, some early experiments recommend that diabetes may possibly be a hazard component for extended COVID, and as a result very careful monitoring of people today with diabetic issues for advancement of extended COVID may perhaps be recommended,” explained examine creator Jessica Harding, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Emory College Faculty of Drugs in Atlanta.

    Long COVID indications run the gamut from tiredness, shortness of breath and cough to brain fog, dizziness and modifications in style or smell. These signs could arrive and go or persist and can past for months immediately after the original COVID an infection, in accordance to the U.S. Facilities for Condition Manage and Prevention.

    Accurately how diabetic issues can increase to the danger for extended COVID is not absolutely comprehended, but a lot of theories exist.

    “Diabetic issues is a long-term sickness with accompanying irritation,” explained Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonologist at Lenox Hill Healthcare facility in New York Metropolis, who was not aspect of the research. “Something that amplifies that inflammatory state may well direct to unremitting irritation or extended COVID.”

    For the new examine, Harding and her colleagues examined scientific studies wanting at very long COVID signs or symptoms in men and women with and without having diabetes. In all, 43{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of 7 research integrated in the new evaluation determined diabetes as a potent threat component for long COVID.

    This just isn’t the final say on the make a difference, mainly because the reports provided in the new examination bundled lots of various teams of men and women, clusters of indicators and experienced a number of adhere to-up times, creating it hard to draw a organization summary, Harding claimed.

    “Vaccines, boosters and masks are the finest prevention for first COVID-19 infection,” she mentioned. “However, if contaminated, it may well be recommended [for someone with diabetes] to often observe glucose amounts, and adhere to prescribed glucose-lowering agents the place correct, to minimize and handle extended COVID risk.”

    The findings had been offered Sunday at a meeting of the American Diabetes Affiliation, in New Orleans. Conclusions presented at professional medical meetings are viewed as preliminary right until posted in a peer-reviewed journal.

    Exterior industry experts who reacted to the conclusions agree that individuals with diabetes want to double down on their initiatives to keep wholesome throughout this ongoing pandemic.

    “Having diabetic issues and COVID-19 may well be a possibility for going through extended-phrase damaging effects of COVID-19,” explained Marlon Pragnell, vice president of analysis and science at the American Diabetic issues Affiliation. “Persons with diabetic issues may have additional extreme condition that could manifest in excess of a longer period of time of time.”

    The information is crystal clear: “Get vaccinated,” Pragnell stated. “You could get breakthrough COVID-19, but there are much less studies of very long COVID in people who are vaccinated.”

    It truly is similarly essential to maintain your blood sugar in examine if you have diabetes.

    “The worse your diabetic issues is heading into COVID-19, the even worse your results will be,” Pragnell claimed.

    Having a healthier diet regime, having normal exercise and keeping a typical excess weight are vital for managing diabetes and staying nutritious, he famous.

    Dr. Eunice Yu, health-related director of COVID-19 Recovery Treatment at Henry Ford Health and fitness in Detroit, agreed.

    “We are however learning about the mechanisms underlying extensive COVID, which will help us far better fully grasp why diabetes people appear to be additional inclined,” she stated.

    If you get COVID and have diabetes, check your blood sugar extra thoroughly for a few of months after an infection as diabetes could also be far more significant right after COVID, Yu instructed.

    “Great relaxation, standard physical exercise and eating a healthful diet can reduce ongoing destruction and support distinct the virus,” she mentioned.

    If COVID-19 signs aren’t acquiring far better or new types are popping up, see your medical doctor for an evaluation, Yu additional.

    “Men and women do get far better,” she mentioned. “We really don’t have a silver bullet, but we do have methods to support people with prolonged COVID.”

    Resources: Jessica Harding, PhD, assistant professor, Emory University College of Medication, Atlanta Len Horovitz, MD, pulmonologist, Lenox Hill Healthcare facility, New York Town Marlon Pragnell, PhD, vice president, research and science, American Diabetic issues Affiliation Eunice Yu, MD, medical director, COVID-19 Recovery Care, Henry Ford Wellness, Detroit American Diabetes Association meeting, New Orleans, presentation, June 5, 2022

    Copyright © 2022 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

  • Abortion Rights Advocates Say They Need More Men’s Voices | Health News

    Abortion Rights Advocates Say They Need More Men’s Voices | Health News

    By DEEPTI HAJELA, Linked Push

    NEW YORK (AP) — If Donovan Atterberry imagined about abortion at all as a youthful man, it was perhaps with some imprecise discomfort, or a memory of the anti-abortion protesters exterior the clinic that he would go on his way to the park as a baby.

    It became actual to him in 2013, when his girlfriend, now his wife, turned pregnant with their initial little one together. She’d had a healthier pregnancy before, his stepdaughter, but this time genetic tests uncovered a deadly chromosomal ailment in the developing fetus, one that would very likely result in a stillbirth and also potentially place her everyday living at chance for the duration of a shipping.

    “As a gentleman, I didn’t know how to console her, how to recommend her,” Atterberry, now 32, remembers. “I claimed, ‘If I experienced to decide on, I would choose you.’ … It wasn’t a make a difference of do I think in abortion or I do not imagine in abortion. At that place, I was thinking about her everyday living.”

    She selected to terminate the being pregnant and “it changed my entire point of view … on bodily autonomy and points of that nature,” explained Atterberry.

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    So a lot so, that he now works as a voting engagement organizer for New Voices for Reproductive Justice, which focuses on the well being of Black women of all ages and women, with abortion accessibility staying among the parts of concern.

    “What I’m seeking to express is that it is a human correct for an individual to have a preference,” he explained.

    That Atterberry is a man in support of abortion rights is not unusual in accordance to polls, a greater part of American gentlemen say they support some amount of obtain to abortion. And background is replete with adult men who have performed energetic roles in supporting abortion, as a result of organizations, as legislators and in the case of Dr. George Tiller, as an abortion company. Tiller was assassinated in church by an anti-abortion extremist in Kansas in 2009.

    However, there is space for a great deal a lot more who are inclined to communicate out and be energetic in the political battles above abortion availability, Atterberry says.

    Exactly where guys have usually played an outsize role is in pushing for and enacting abortion constraints — as advocates, state elected officials and most a short while ago, as a U.S. Supreme Courtroom justice. Justice Samuel Alito authored a draft of a high court docket ruling that would overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade selection setting up a nationwide right to abortion. The draft, which was leaked to a news outlet very last month, appears to have the aid of the greater part of the six guys sitting on the nine-justice court.

    Gals have often taken the direct in the battle to maintain abortion rights, for evident factors: They are the types who give beginning and who, in so numerous cases, are tasked with caring for young children after they are introduced into the planet.

    No 1 is calling for that management to adjust, stated David Cohen, a regulation professor at Drexel University who specializes in legislation and gender.

    “Men must not be out there making an attempt to run the movement or take away leadership positions,” he said. “But currently being a component of it, supporting, listening and currently being active are all things that gentlemen can and should be carrying out.”

    That’s what Oren Jacobson is hoping to do at Males4Choice, the group he co-started in 2015, in which the objective is to get adult men who say they guidance abortion rights to talk out and do much more, these kinds of as protesting, creating it a voting precedence, and particularly chatting to other adult men.

    “Everything we’re undertaking is centered on having what are really thousands and thousands of men — who in concept are professional-option but are wholly passive when it will come to their voice and their power and their time in the combat for abortion rights and abortion obtain — to get off the sidelines and step in the fight as allies,” he reported.

    It has not been the least difficult of duties.

    Abortion “is pretty much hardly ever a discussion within of male circles until it’s launched by any person who is impacted by the situation in most situations,” he reported. “Not only that, but … you’re chatting about a seriously stigmatized concern in modern society. You are speaking about sexual intercourse and sexuality, you are talking about anatomy, and none of those people points are issues that fellas experience significantly comfortable speaking about.”

    But it is a thing that influences them and the society they are living in, notes Barbara Risman, sociology professor at the College of Illinois at Chicago.

    “Sexuality has grow to be so built-in into our lives, no matter if or not we’re partnered,” she mentioned. “That is immediately relevant to women’s regulate of fertility — and gals do not command fertility in a environment in which abortion is not lawful. … Certainly, heterosexual sexual independence is dependent on the skill to end an undesirable pregnancy.”

    Also, a modern society in which the state has a say in reproductive conclusions could direct to one in which the state has regulate above other choices that could have an affect on men more straight, Cohen explained.

    “Abortion legislation, abortion precedent is not just about abortion, it’s also about managing personal particulars to your lifetime,” he said. “So whether it’s your sex existence, your household lifetime, other parts of your private daily life, healthcare care, final decision-earning, all of all those are wrapped up into abortion law and abortion jurisprudence and abortion plan,” he reported.

    Because the Supreme Court draft was leaked, Jacobson reported he is viewed additional adult males talk out about abortion access and present extra desire in his group’s work than he has in the earlier a number of a long time.

    What stays to be noticed, he claimed, “is no matter whether or not it is likely to catalyze the style of allyship that’s needed now and frankly has been necessary for a lengthy time.”

    Copyright 2022 The Associated Push. All legal rights reserved. This product might not be printed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  • Could You Spot and Save a Person Drowning? | Health News

    Could You Spot and Save a Person Drowning? | Health News

    By By Robert Preidt HealthDay Reporter, HealthDay Reporter

    Could You Spot and Save a Person Drowning? | Health News

    (HealthDay)

    SATURDAY, June 4, 2022 (HealthDay Information) — When you are at a beach front or pool, would you be ready to detect someone who’s drowning and just take action to help you save them?

    “Even the most expert swimmers can be in risk if the weather is lousy, currents are robust or a health care crisis happens in the water,” stated Dr. Gillian Schmitz, president of the American College or university of Crisis Doctors (ACEP). “Most drowning incidents are preventable, but it only can take seconds for a tragedy to occur.”

    On ordinary, 11 individuals die in accidental drownings just about every day in the United States, and drowning is one of the foremost causes of loss of life amongst 1- to 4-calendar year-olds, in accordance to the U.S. Centers for Illness Control and Prevention.

    It can be hard to figure out regardless of whether anyone is drowning, so ACEP outlined the indications:

    • Bobbing or floating in position.
    • Head tilted back with mouth open up.
    • Head small in the water, with mouth at drinking water degree.
    • Seeking to roll about onto the back again.
    • Hyperventilating or gasping for breath.
    • Hair about brow or eyes.
    • Eyes glassy and empty, not able to emphasis, or eyes shut.

    If a person seems to be in difficulty in the h2o, just take speedy action. Get enable from a lifeguard or phone 911. Do not try to rescue a drowning particular person when you happen to be also in the water until you are trained to do so. Drowning persons may panic and try out to pull any one nearby underwater with them, the ACEP described.

    As a substitute, lengthen or toss a floating object to the particular person. When they are safely out of the water, tilt their head back again, lift their chin and check out for breath. Flip the person on their side to help them expel h2o.

    If the individual is not respiratory, everyone skilled should start to execute palms-only CPR until finally to start with responders get there.

    “Discovering to swim and turning into familiar with h2o protection are options that can help you save a existence,” Schmitz reported in an ACEP information launch. “Uncomplicated steps to keep away from danger can support preserve anyone safe.”

    Hold the next ways in brain:

    • Usually designate a accountable adult to supervise small children in or in the vicinity of drinking water.
    • Apparent any free toys from the pool location to decrease tripping dangers.
    • Never use toys as flotation devices. Use life jackets for activities in or in the vicinity of lakes, rivers, or oceans, specifically for youngsters and weaker swimmers.
    • When swimming in purely natural bodies of water, be wary of hidden dangers these kinds of as robust currents, sharp rocks, or tangles of vegetation.
    • Normally examine the weather forecast in advance of drinking water activities.
    • Use the buddy program when swimming.
    • You should not drink alcoholic beverages right before or throughout water actions or although supervising little ones.
    • People today with medical ailments or those people using selected medicines may have to have additional safety measures.

    Source: American Higher education of Crisis Physicians, news launch, May possibly 26, 2022

    Copyright © 2022 HealthDay. All legal rights reserved.