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Surprisingly, a narrative by my colleagues Nick Florko and Sarah Owermohle about how Grindr employed a Washington lobbyist is NOT the primary time the, uh, “social networking app” (their phrases!) has appeared in STAT reporting. A fast Google search tells me that the phrase first appeared in an early episode of The Readout LOUD. In “print,” that honor belongs to a First Opinion essay throughout the mpox outbreak in 2022.
May a proposed new threat mannequin result in extra coronary heart assaults?
Final November, a brand new threat mannequin for assessing an individual’s threat of coronary heart assault or stroke was introduced by the American Coronary heart Affiliation. It was developed particularly to enhance upon a 2013 model that was broadly criticized for overestimating threat. Final month, one research targeted instructed far fewer People (like, 40% much less!) could be candidates for statins, the cholesterol-lowering drug, with the brand new threat calculator. Now, one other research estimates that it may result in 107,000 extra coronary heart assaults and strokes over 10 years.
The analysis is creating controversy in cardiology circles whereas two medical societies formulate new pointers to tell observe, STAT’s Liz Cooney writes. Learn extra.
Quitting smoking might be one other potential use for semaglutide
Add it to the listing: A research revealed yesterday in Annals of Internal Medicine discovered that, amongst folks with kind 2 diabetes who additionally smoke, new use of semaglutide was related to a decrease threat for medical encounters associated to tobacco use dysfunction in comparison with different anti-diabetes drugs.
Researchers in contrast greater than 222,000 new customers of assorted diabetes meds, together with nearly 6,000 new semaglutide customers. Those that took semaglutide acquired fewer prescriptions and fewer counseling particularly for smoking cessation, including to analysis that means GLP-1 drugs may scale back cravings for addictive substances. The research signifies a necessity for medical trials evaluating the treatment’s potential as a therapy for tobacco use dysfunction.
Researchers are calling for higher knowledge on trans folks
Diana Tordoff, a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford, wished to discover a strategy to analyze HIV transmission that precisely accounted for trans folks, who are at higher-than-average threat of contracting the an infection. However when she got down to construct a greater mathematical mannequin, she discovered that the info didn’t exist to take action.
Mathematical fashions — like pc simulations of how a illness spreads in the actual world — are a key a part of contemplating prevention insurance policies. There are a whole lot targeted on HIV, dozens of that are used commonly all over the world, however solely seven that even think about the existence of trans folks — and even these are flawed.
Traditionally, there’s been extra of a concentrate on trans folks in HIV analysis than in every other space of well being care. However a scarcity of information on gender and sexual identification remains to be posing obstacles for public well being efforts. Learn extra from me on why the lacking knowledge is an issue for future prevention and therapy insurance policies.
Grindr needs to foyer Washington on HIV prevention and IVF
The queer relationship app Grindr is … entering into lobbying? The corporate employed The Daschle Group, based by former Senate Democratic chief Tom Daschle, to foyer on “HIV prevention; LGBTQ household formation challenges together with surrogacy and IVF,” STAT’s Nicholas Florko and Sarah Owermohle reported yesterday after studying federal disclosures filed final week.
The transfer comes as competing payments designed to guard IVF, or in vitro fertilization, sit within the Senate. Washington has additionally seen elevated lobbying round entry to PrEP, the HIV prevention medication. It’s unclear how a lot Grindr is paying Daschle’s agency to foyer on its behalf.
Learn extra on what the transfer means for Grindr and what we all know in regards to the lobbyists the corporate employed.
Have you learnt how scorching your meals is meant to be?
To be clear, there isn’t a proof which you could get the H5N1 hen flu virus by cooking and consuming the meat that lands in your fridge. In the event you’re apprehensive about hen flu, simply be sure to’re not a part of the small proportion of U.S. adults consuming uncooked milk.
However for the reason that approach our meals impacts our well being is on the thoughts today, the Annenberg Public Coverage Heart surveyed practically 1,500 People earlier this month about meals security. When introduced with varied temperatures for heating poultry, beef, and steak, then requested about which of them would kill any H5N1 virus, over half of respondents mentioned they weren’t certain. On high of that, solely about one in 4 U.S. adults use a meals thermometer both “typically” or “on a regular basis.”
In order a refresher: Cooking poultry and eggs to an inside temperature of 165 levels Fahrenheit kills micro organism and viruses. Floor beef must get to at the very least 160, whereas steak must get to at the very least 145.
How a parasite may assist get meds into the mind
There’s a really unique listing and a really highly effective bouncer on the entrance door of our brains, because the physique works laborious to maintain it secure from exterior substances. However what if anyone on the listing may convey a plus one? A mouse research revealed yesterday exhibits how a parasite that’s already in a position to cross the blood-brain barrier was engineered to deal with a mind improvement dysfunction in mice.
Scientists at MIT engineered the parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, to make and secrete therapeutic proteins as soon as it was contained in the mouse brains. This “sensible microbe” might be a gamechanger, however first, scientists want to consider the therapy’s security. Learn extra on the science from STAT’s Alia Sajani.
What we’re studying
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Combining ayahuasca compound with medicine like Ozempic may assist deal with diabetes, mouse mannequin suggests, Scientific American
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What America can be taught from Rwanda to resolve its psychological well being disaster, National Geographic
- The best way to inform if Biden drove a tough discount on drug costs, STAT
- Iowa’s six-week abortion ban is now in impact, The 19th
- Well being care’s ‘Pepsi problem’: Medical doctors’ workplaces are testing AI instruments in head-to-head pilots, STAT
