by Deborah Franklin

Three weeks ago we told you of the brouhaha surrounding researchers in England who announced they'd created sperm from human stem cells ("All That Wriggles Is Not Science"). Critics at the time sniffed to reporters that the would-be sperm-makers were over-claiming. That the wiggling cells in a dish indeed had tails, but there was no proof that they were truly potent (or had other important sperm-like characteristics).

Now we're getting word that at least a few paragraphs of that "sperm" scientific manuscript were also plagiarized.

Oops.

(istockphoto.com)

Though the editors of Stem Cells and Development didn't publicly question the underlying science or its conclusions, they did retract the paper -- setting off yet another brouhaha over whether now they were being too tough. Harry Moore, a stem cell biologist at the University of Sheffield, who'd been critical of the initial study, told Nature this week about the retraction,

If there's nothing else behind this, it seems a little harsh.

Continue reading "Artificial Sperm Not So Hot" >

by April Fulton

Would a cool name change improve public relations for the public option? Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), thinks so.

Rockefeller tells All Things Considered's Robert Siegel in an interview to air Friday night: "I don't think people like the name."

The public option -- the government-created, non-profit health insurance program being proposed to compete with private insurance -- gets high marks from some, but others fear it means the government will take over health care.

How about the ice cream option, says Sen. Rockefeller (Susan Walsh / AP (c) 2009)

"I wish we could call it the ice cream option... because it's the free market system. If people don't want anything to do with the public plan, they keep what [insurance] they have... it's optional, optional, optional," he says.

Continue reading "Would A New Name Change The Health Care Game?" >

by Deborah Franklin

It's August-eve and Friday -- a good time, in the heat of summer, to catch up on the health of U.S. beaches and world fisheries.

First, in regards to seafood: An authoritative new survey of the seas, published in Friday's Science, suggests it may not be too late to restore the bounty of world waters after all -- if fishermen act now. Recent strict curbs on fishing in some regions -- some quite painful to the industry -- are working, the survey shows. Some popular fish are coming back from the brink in New England, southern Australia and several other regions.

We're far from home free. As NPR's Richard Harris reports, the new census shows overfishing in some waters is still dangerously depleting some favorite seafood species, such as bluefin tuna in Europe. Harris notes,

The researchers find that 14 percent of the 170 species they studied are now at less than 10 percent of their original numbers. That's how they define a fishery 'collapse.'

(Read past the jump to find out if your favorite beach is clean)

Continue reading "Morning Rounds: Healthiest Fisheries and Beaches" >

by Deborah Franklin

(iStockphoto.com © 2009)

Medicare is 44 years old today, and politically-laden "birthday parties" are taking place nation-wide. At the public library in Burlington, Iowa, party-goers got cake, coffee, and a list of Medicare's accomplishments "as a public insurance plan." As buzzflash.com puts it,

The fact that Medicare got one year older during a historic struggle for comprehensive healthcare reform is something akin to being born on Christmas: Everyone's partying, but you're not sure it's really about you.

NPR's Joanne Silberner points out that Medicare today is

a lot bigger than President Lyndon Johnson thought it was going to be when he signed the legislation providing money for doctor and hospital care for seniors. Medicare now includes home health care, hospice, and kidney dialysis, and covers people with disabilities.

That growth has a price, Silberner notes. "Medicare represented 3.5 percent of the federal budget in 1970 and 15 percent of the budget in 2008."

Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent special cards out today, too, though not exactly birthday cards.

(More after the Jump on how Speaker Pelosi is arming House Dems for "Battlefield August")

Continue reading "Happy Birthday, Medicare -- Now, Psych Up For Battle" >

by April Fulton

Paging Dr. Gupta: Dr. Besser's on your back.

Dr. Richard Besser of CDC is swapping his lab coat for a microphone at ABC News.

Besser, the public face plastered across televisions nationwide when the new H1N1 swine flu broke out this spring, will become senior health and medical editor in September.

His calm, poised TV appearances gave journos great pause, since public health officials are generally not known for their clarity of message or their telegenics. Besser has been with the Public Health Service since 1991, but not surprisingly, has television reporting experience going way back.

When the Obama Administration chose New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden to head the agency in May, we figured Besser might be looking for a new gig.

Here he is on CNN in April when the flu first became big news in the U.S.

by Deborah Franklin

It's one thing to set a priority list for who should get the first batch of swine flu vaccine, and quite another to convince those who most need the shots to get them.

Behind the scenes at yesterday's CDC meeting of vaccine planners, the experts worried that whatever list they produced could actually wind up reducing the number of people vaccinated.

For example, only 15 percent of pregnant women in America typically get a seasonal flu shot, though it's long been recommended for all of them. Convincing obstetricians to push pandemic flu shots could remain a tough sell, too, the CDC's Pascale Wortley told the expert panel Wednesday. "It is tremendously challenging and has been for a while," she said.

The experts noted that luring teens and college students to get the vaccine won't be easy either -- getting young adults to the doctor is notoriously tough.

Continue reading "Morning Rounds: Psychology Of Swine Flu Vaccine 'Prioritizing'" >

by Deborah Franklin

Health officials aren't certain that a swine flu vaccine will be ready by early fall. Nonetheless, a government-appointed panel of vaccine experts met Wednesday to vote on a priority list of who should get the first batch.

The tentative list that the CDC advisory committee came up with was -- in no particular order:

-- Pregnant women, for two reasons. First, because the evidence suggests they're more likely than other adults to develop serious complications or die when infected with swine flu (or seasonal flu). And second, because they pass their immunity on to the fetus, which health officials hope will also help protect the infants after birth.

-- Household contacts and caregivers of children under six months. Infants that young can't be vaccinated, so immunizing their family members and others who care for them is the best way to keep the babies under six-months-old safe.

-- The 14 million health care and emergency service workers in the United States. That's because they could spread the illness to vulnerable populations, and also because high absenteeism among health care workers could bring down the health care system.

-- All children, adolescents, and young adults age six months to 24 years. A number of reasons for this. Epidemiological data gathered so far suggest that the youngest in this group have a higher-than-average risk of getting so sick with the new H1N1 flu that they need hospitalization. And older kids, teens and young adults tend to quickly spread flu through schools. Plus, there's a domino effect through the economy when parents have to stay home to care for sick kids.

-- Adults age 25 through 64 who have underlying medical conditions, such as heart or respiratory illness, diabetes, or other conditions that suppress their immune systems. Swine flu is likely to hit them harder than healthy adults.

(Read past the jump to find out who's at the back of the line and why.)

Continue reading "CDC Advisors Reveal Priority List For Swine Flu Vaccine" >

by Deborah Franklin
There's headline news for both sides of the gender gap this morning: Pregnant women are four times more likely to need hospitalization for swine flu and aren't getting anti-virals fast enough, according to the CDC. A CDC group is meeting today to recommend whether women who are pregnant should be among the first in line to get the pandemic vaccine. Meanwhile, the FDA warns that many men taking "nutritional supplements" to build muscle are actually gulping down unregulated amounts of hidden steroids that can severely injure the liver and kidneys.

When a pregnant woman develops flu symptoms, many obstetricians are hesitant to prescribe antiviral drugs out of fear of harming the fetus.

But they're making a big mistake, according to the CDC's Denise Jamieson, who studied the cases of 34 pregnant women who got very sick with swine flu between April and mid-June. Six of the previously healthy women died. In her Lancet study making headlines this morning, Jamieson said the world's 3.3 million pregnant women seem to be extra vulnerable to serious complications when infected with the new H1N1 flu, and should get anti-viral drugs within 48 hours of their first symptoms. She told the AP,

"The message is don't delay appropriate treatment because she's pregnant."

A CDC panel meeting today is expected to recommend that pregnant women get top priority in access to a new swine flu vaccine when it becomes available this fall. But the decision is likely to be controversial among some factions clamoring for vaccine, and others who don't want to be immunized.

(More on flu vaccine priorities and body-building supplements after the jump.)

Continue reading "Morning Rounds: Pregnant Women Need Swine Flu Vaccine And Anti-Virals Fast" >

by Deborah Franklin

( / istockphoto.com © 2009)

Don't stop flossing now, but the FDA today has good news for those of us who happen to have a filled cavity or two...or 15.

After years of review, the Agency has at last issued a final regulation on the use of dental fillings that contain mercury. The bottom line on these old-school, silver-colored fillings: Don't worry. As the FDA says:

While elemental mercury has been associated with adverse health effects at high exposures, the levels released by dental amalgam fillings are not high enough to cause harm in patients.

(Read past the jump for more on why dentists should nonetheless keep the exam room door open)

Continue reading "Dental Fillings With Mercury A-OK Says FDA" >

By Deborah Franklin

Sure, blueberries are loaded with anti-oxidants, but cauliflower? ( / istockphoto.com © 2009)

Maybe it's really an apple peel a day that keeps the doctor away.

Reporting for "Your Health" podcast this week took NPR's Allison Aubrey to the labs of federal chemists who spend their days grinding up fruits and veggies and then chemically analyzing which parts of which foods provide the most nutrients to keep us healthy. (You can check the type and amount of nutrients in your lunch -- even if it's McDONALD'S, Apple Dippers with Low Fat Caramel Sauce -- at the USDA's online database.)

Aubrey delves into the questions of whether it's better to eat most foods raw or cooked, and why microwaving is better than boiling. (Hint: Raw cauliflower ranks higher than you might think.)

The podcast also catches up with NPR's Joanne Silberner to hear what the FDA is doing at ports to make sure the U.S. food supply is safe. And Aubrey sits down with NPR's health care correspondent Julie Rovner for an inside look at whether the bills under consideration are likely to increase or decrease what you pay for your insurance -- and the sort of coverage changes you're likely to see.

Listen to the podcast here

or subscribe to have "Your Health" delivered to you mailbox each week.

by Deborah Franklin

Put down the muffin now.

You can eat too much of a good thing, and new research confirms that not only are many Americans doing just that, but the nation is running up a big health bill because of it. Medical complications from obesity added $147 billion to the nation's health care bill last year, a new study in Health Affairs shows.

That's compared to $78.5 million a decade ago -- primarily because so many more people (37 percent more) are now considered obese, the researchers say. "Normal weight individuals" incur about $700 in annual prescription drug costs, the Wall Street Journal points out, compared to an average of $1,300 by those who are obese.

WebMD notes that if America slimmed down, the nation would spend 9 percent less on health care. Easier said than done.

...more than a third of us are obese -- and another third of us are overweight. That's a scary statistic. Here's a scarier one: Seventeen percent of U.S. children and teens are so overweight they're in the top five percent of body size for their age on growth charts. A less nice way to put it: These kids are already obese.

Okay, enough numbers. Kids and their parents can't reverse this problem on their own, everybody agrees. On Friday the CDC published data on two dozen community-based strategies many experts think could help, from luring farmers markets to high-rise lobbies and poor neighborhoods, to pushing physical education and club sports in the schools and limiting screen time in childcare centers.

Safeway's CEO Steve Burd has been lobbying Capitol Hill with another idea: Guarantee steep discounts in insurance premiums to employees who lose weight, lower their cholesterol, or otherwise demonstrate they're getting healthier.

(Read past the jump to learn why some health groups are aghast)

Continue reading "Morning Rounds: Should Employers Pay People To Slim Down?" >

by Deborah Franklin

The science side of NPR's health and science desk has a couple of very cool stories today that we don't want you to miss:

Paleontologist Erin Marie Williams is studying the bones of Rwanda's "gorillas in the mist." (Amandine Eriksen / © 2009)

First, an exclusive field dispatch -- the first of a dozen or so that we'll post each day over the next couple of weeks -- from a paleontology grad student who has spent the last month unearthing secrets about the life and health of mountain gorillas in Rwanda.

Erin Marie Williams, a former NPR intern-turned-paleontology-grad-student, and her colleagues from Rwanda and around the globe are searching the bones of some of Dian Fossey's "gorillas in the mist," and their progeny. The scientists expect the clues they turn up to help conservationists protect the remaining 700 live gorillas in Rwanda.

But just as important, says Williams, the results should help paleontologists "more accurately decode what is written in the fossilized remains of early human ancestors."

(Read past the jump to test your visual perceptiveness against a crow's)

Continue reading "Evolutionary Clues from Rwanda's Gorillas: Dispatches From The Field" >

by Deborah Franklin

Two very different stories percolating through this morning's news share one of the key themes of modern life: When making any decision on behalf of yourself, your neighbors, or strangers, how much risk is tolerable, and at what cost?

In our own lives, how we answer that question in one case rarely translates to the next. (How many of you new parents who tossed out all your plastic baby bottles in fear of BPA still yak on your cell phone while driving?) Fear, convenience, and competing costs and risks all play a role in how we decide.

And so it is with today's news -- one story about where to build a bio-safety lab and another about how stringent a surgical team should be to make certain they don't spread a very rare disease.

First, on the weather front: Texas and Kansas have been tussling for several months over whether the government should build a new $523 million bio-safety lab in Kansas, as the Homeland Security Administration has been planning. A group of Texans sued to stop the project, claiming that putting a research lab that studies foot-and-mouth disease, African swine fever and other high-risk viruses in Tornado Alley is asking for trouble. The Cattleman's Association agrees. But Kansans are crying foul -- they say the court case is just sour grapes from Texans still hoping to grab the job-rich facility for themselves.

Watch for the battle to escalate this week. The Washington Post this morning reports that the Government Accountability Office thinks the Department of Homeland Security "greatly underestimated the chance of accidental release and major contamination" of such research. The issue is likely to boil over again, the Post says, at a Congressional hearing planned for Thursday.

(More on tainted scalpels and the cost of protecting blood from brain disease after the jump)

Continue reading "Morning Rounds: Risk Debates Over Tainted Scalpels And Tornadoes" >

by Joanne Silberner

Dr. Joseph Ballinger gives New York nurse Margorie Hill of Montefiore Hospital a flu shot in the midst of the 1957 pandemic. /AP

In the midst of all the talk about swine flu, U.S. health officials paused today to remind everybody that seasonal flu can be a killer, too, and to urge us all -- especially children -- to take stronger precautions this year.

The CDC says it is "recommending" that children betweeen the ages of six months and 18 years get the seasonal flu vaccine as soon as it becomes available in the next couple of months. That word choice is stronger then the usual "encouragment" that kids get a flu shot "when feasible," the CDC's Anne Schuchat told a press briefing.

The advice is aimed at protecting young people and shielding everyone they come in contact with, she says. Kids tend to spread flu and, come fall, both the old and new strains are likely to be circulating simultaneously in the Northern Hemisphere.

But how bad is the new H1N1 flu likely to be in the U.S.?

No telling for sure. Schuchat says the worst case scenario suggests that 40 percent of Americans will "be affected" by swine flu over the next two years -- meaning they'll either get sick themselves, or have to interrupt their daily lives to take care of someone who is sick.

But that's only if the new vaccines that are just now being tested don't work, and if people ignore the old tried-and-true advice to wash hands often and to avoid coughing, sneezing, or otherwise breathing on others when ill.

Schuchat had some more advice for summer camps that seem to be handing out Tamiflu like candy: Stop. Indiscriminate use of anti-viral drugs among people who aren't sick or otherwise vulnerable, she says, could inspire the new H1N1 flu -- or the old flu -- to figure out a work-around.

by Deborah Franklin

How can anybody resist a sweet-looking mouse named Tiny?

Chinese researchers writing in this week's Nature and Cell Stem Cell about their advance in stem cell research may have been trying to the defang the politics surrounding the controversial issue when they released a photo of one of their first mice made from skin cells. (He lives! He breeds!) They told the press that the little guy even has a name. Tiny.

Hmmm...Maybe health care legislation could benefit from a pint-sized mascot, too. Senate leader Harry Reid announced yesterday that his side of Congress will not have a health bill ready before August, despite President Obama's entreaties.

The House is still working hard to meet the August deadline, Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel told NPR's Steve Inskeep on Morning Edition. Emanuel says the real deadline is the end of the year and he and President Obama expect a bill by then. One of the big hurdles for all sides, he agrees, is reconciling the cost of the plan.

For 40 years we've had a debate about health care that was solely about expanding coverage. For the first time, you have the dual goals of controlling costs and expanding coverage.

(Read Past The Jump To Hear How Obama's Money Guys Suggest Controlling Costs)

Continue reading "Morning Rounds: Stem Cell Mice and Taming Health Costs" >

by April Fulton

No spending slow down here istockphoto.com

While it's no surprise that the pharmaceutial industry is spending lots of money to lobby Congress on health care this year, what are they getting in return?

An analysis by NPR's Dollar Politics team of Andrea Seabrook and Peter Overby finds that America's biggest drug makers spent $40 million lobbying Congress over the last three months.

That's $40 million in the last three months -- far ahead of other health care lobbying expenditures, as reported so far.

But it's more than the dough, it's what that money bought: an army of lobbyists to swarm Capitol Hill, and possibly the strength to keep a few key issues they don't like off the table, like government price controls and re-importation of drugs from Canada.

Check out the interactive graphic illustrating the firms the drug industry trade group alone spent.

by Deborah Franklin

Pro Teams are requiring genetic testing of hot prospects. Slippery slope? /istockphoto.com

Let's talk baseball and genes.

It's not every day that a sportswriter quotes a bioethicist, but worried ethicists have been sounding off in the New York Times sports section all week. The problem: Major League Baseball has been forcing some top young Latin American prospects and their families to verify their identities with a DNA test.

And even if you and your kids don't have a million-dollar signing bonus pending with the Yankees, this story has implications for you, too, so take note.

First a little background: Pro baseball scouts say they've been forced to turn to genetic testing by cases like the Nationals' Esmailyn Gonzalez.

The Nationals were chagrined in February to learn that a star "19-year-old" they'd signed for $1.4 million in 2006 was actually 23. That means he was probably close to his peak ability at signing, rather than still developing.

Now, legal experts are divided over whether a potential employer who subjects prospects from outside the U.S. to DNA tests violates GINA -- the tough genetic privacy law that Congress passed last year. (The part of the law restricting employers officially goes into effect on November 21.)

But ethicists are very clear that what the teams are doing violates the law's spirit. A ball club that asks for a test to verify identity today may be strongly tempted to check tomorrow for genes that predispose a player to future illness or injury.

As Kathy Hudson, director of Johns Hopkins' Genetics and Public Policy Center told the Times,

The point of GINA was to remove the temptation and prohibit employers from asking for or receiving genetic information.

The risk to players -- and to you -- isn't just hypothetical.

(Read past the jump to learn how gene tests can still affect your ability to get life insurance)

Continue reading "DNA Testing in Major League Baseball Could Affect You, Too" >

by Deborah Franklin

President Obama lobbed his arguments for health care reform over the heads of legislators and lobbyists last night, aiming for American living rooms with a prime-time press conference. His main retort to those who have argued that his plan costs too much: Doing nothing will increase the nation's deficit even more.

Meanwhile, the FDA yesterday fired another warning shot to makers of electronic cigarettes, battery-powered machines that spew tobacco-flavored nicotine vapor. A new FDA analysis of the vapor turned up known carcinogens and other nasties in addition to nicotine, which makes the machines drug delivery devices and subject to FDA approval, the Agency maintains. Many users assume the products, mostly made in China and sold online, are safer than cigarettes, but that's a big assumption. The FDA's deputy commissioner Joshua Sharfstein told the New York Times,

We're concerned about them because of what we know is in them and what we don't know about how they affect the human body.

The Charlotte Observer's story from the heart of tobacco country says the $100 million e-cigarette industry "is still small potatoes compared to the tobacco companies," which "aren't looking to e-cigarettes for their future." Big Tobacco is, however, turning high-tech, the Observer notes. R.J. Reynolds, for example,

has focused its attention on making products that don't produce secondhand smoke, don't require spitting and don't create a lot of trash. The result has been a finely milled tobacco that's made to be discreet -- similar to mints or chewing gum.

(Read the news about simian AIDS after the jump)

Continue reading "Morning Rounds: Health Sell, E-tobacco, And Monkey AIDS Myth" >

by Deborah Franklin

How much heat can the human body take? /istockphotos.com

Let's hear it for all the scientists who go first. Sure, being a human guinea pig has its risks, but life is never boring.

Take for example, Sir Charles Blagden, who in 1775, took a few pals and their dog into a room heated up to 240 degrees Fahrenheit --well above the boiling point of water -- to see, well, to see what would happen.

To hear all about their story and the beauty of sweat, listen to the piece by NPR's Robert Krulwich tonight on All things Considered.

Also check out the cool video version of the tale by Krulwich and animator Lev Yilmaz.

Just don't try this at home. Your dog may survive, but she'll hate you.

by Deborah Franklin

Bring out the swashbucklers.

It's thrust and parry time for health care legislation, with all sides reaching for their sharpest weapons. This week's sword: Abortion. Meanwhile, some Australian nurses are wielding their own weapons in the southern hemisphere -- hypodermic syringes filled with the first swine flu vaccine to begin human tests.

First, from Capitol Hill: Conservative anti-abortion Republicans, with the support of Mike Huckabee and Focus on the Family's James Dobson, announced this week they'll host a "Stop the Abortion Mandate" webcast on Thursday.

They're hoping to rile passions against a provision in some health bills under consideration that would include abortion coverage in a public health care plan. As U.S. News reports, the language of the announcement wasn't subtle.

The political power grab...could lead to a massive abortion industry bailout -- something the overwhelming majority of Americans oppose, and certainly cannot afford in these tough economic times.

(For the Dem's parry, and more on swine flu shots in Oz, read past the jump)

Continue reading "Morning Rounds: Abortion Sharpens Health Care Debate, And Aussies Get Swine Flu Shots" >

by Deborah Franklin

Hang up, already, and drive! /istockphotos.com

Late last night, the New York Times posted on its website a 2002 report by the U.S. Department of Transportation that reviews the risks of using a hands-free phone while driving.

The review document, only now coming to light after a FOIA request by advocacy groups, reaches the same conclusion that the series on multi-tasking by NPR's Jon Hamilton hammered home last fall: Driving while on the phone -- even a hands-free phone -- can be as distracting as driving drunk, and probably causes a significant number of crashes. Don't do it.

According to the Times, the former head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says he was pressured by higher ups in 2002 to

...withhold the research to avoid antagonizing members of Congress who had warned the agency to stick to its mission of gathering safety data but not to lobby states.

Um, okay. Suppressing scientific data -- even preliminary data -- is a very bad thing, we agree.

But to go on to suggest, as one California state senator quoted by the Times does, that the delay in publishing this particular report "cost thousands of lives," seems far-fetched.

(Read past the jump to for more on why)

Continue reading "Cell-Phone Driving -- And Denial" >

by Deborah Franklin

They've trimmed the fat ---and then some --- from NYC restaurant menus, and the California budget.

Headlines today suggest New Yorkers don't miss the trans-fats that were banned from their take-out two years ago. But Californians are already yelping from the crash-diet of cuts that the latest stab at a state budget is set to make in health care, education, and state parks -- a dreary precedent for states across the nation in similar straits.

First the unappetizing budget from the West Coast: Rather than raise taxes, the budget agreement reached last night by the Republican Governor and key Democratic legislators would make about $15 billion in cuts.

Roughly $1.3 billion in cuts would come from Medi-Cal, the state's health care program for the poorest of the poor, and $124 million from "Healthy Families," California's version of the nationally subsidized program that provides health insurance to 930,000 additional children whose parents make a little too much to qualify for Medi-Cal. Another $226 million in cuts would come from in-home support services for the frail and disabled. That's just the beginning.

Continue reading "Morning Rounds: Slashing Fat, And More, On Both Coasts" >

by Allison Aubrey

Umbrellas, hats, and sunscreen block Vitamin D as well as harmful rays iStockphoto

The sunshine vitamin is under review. The American Academy of Dermatology has issued a new statement acknowledging that people who regularly cover-up and wear sunscreen to protect their skin from wrinkles and cancer may be at risk for vitamin D insufficiency. What's a health-savvy person to do?

David M. Pariser, MD, FAAD, president of the American Academy of Dermatology says,

The vitamin D position statement supports the Academy's long-held conviction on safe ways to get this important vitamin -- through a healthy diet which incorporates foods naturally rich in vitamin D, vitamin D-fortified foods and beverages, and vitamin D supplements.

But not all experts are on the same page. Listen to this week's "Your Health" podcast from NPR for my interview with Vitamin D researcher Michael Holick, who directs the Bone Health Care Clinic at the Boston University Medical Center. Holik makes the case that a little exposure to UV rays is the best way to ensure adequate Vitamin D.

(To listen to the podcast, read past the jump)

Continue reading "Who Needs More Sun? Maybe You" >

by Deborah Franklin

The word "rationing" -- long a third rail in American health care -- has jumped into the headlines this week, with editorialists on all sides of debate hoping to define or redefine the term to their advantage.

Princeton ethicist Peter Singer makes the old style argument in yesterday's New York Times Magazine that it is no longer tenable to consider it "immoral to apply monetary considerations to saving lives." Singer writes,

...health care is a scarce resource, and all scarce resources are rationed in one way or another.

The conservative blog HumanEvents.com, which calls itself "Headquarters of the Conservative Underground", jumped at Singer's bait. The NYT article, the blog says,

provides plenty of insight into the rationality of rationing and why Americans might want to drop what they're doing, grab pitchforks and torches, and descend upon Washington to slay this Frankenstein monster.

Tom Barton, editorialist for the Savannah Morning News makes a more personal case for rationing, in the story of his grandmother, who he says suffered from her expensive care.

Continue reading "Morning Rounds: Is Rationing Still A Dirty Word?" >

by Deborah Franklin

Sure, she's pretty, but beware her six-foot Humboldt cousin /istockphoto.com

Feeling a little miffed to be stuck in town in steamy July?
Send this e-postcard to your pals at the beach:

Swarms of five-foot long Humboldt squid are once again roiling the waters off California's coast -- thrilling biologists and spooking scuba divers -- this time just off the beaches of San Diego and Orange County.

NPR's Robert Siegel talks tonight with Scripps marine biologist Nigella Hillgarth on All Things Considered about what it's like to swim with the sleekly curious creatures. Five or six feet long. Six arms. Two "feeding tentacles." A sword-like beak, and "large eyes that look very much like a vertebrate's," Hillgarth says.

It's like looking at sharks -- they are fascinating and beautiful, but also dangerous.

Continue reading "Jumbo Squid Spook California Divers" >

by April Fulton

As the costs of health care spiral, people sometimes turn to the Wild West world of homeopathic remedies and faddish diet plans to address their self-diagnosed problems.

While some of these natural remedies have been proven effective, I think most of us would rather be in an ER equipped with an EKG than one stocking essential oils.

Enter a couple of British satirists David Mitchell and Robert Webb -- a.k.a. That Mitchell and Webb Look, who make us appreciate the value of science and medicine on this sunny Friday afternoon.

Here's a spoof of how an emergency room visit without medical equipment might go. Click here for a video of the pair, posing as phony "lifestyle nutritionists" who panic when faced with an educated consumer.

Thanks to the Science-Based Medicine blog for pointing us to the videos.

by Deborah Franklin

Keep your eye on Massachusetts.

Three years after instituting a plan that subsidizes health care for many of its residents, Massachusetts now has the lowest uninsured rate in the U.S. -- 2.6 percent, compared to the U.S. average of 15 percent. But the nation's leading experiment in near-universal health care is also straining at the seams, with revenues yanked down and costs pushed up by a continuing recession.

So yesterday an influential state commission with representatives from the state legislature, insurers, hospitals and doctors voted unanimously for a radical solution: Within the next five years, upturn the way doctors and hospitals are paid.

Instead of paying providers for each office visit, lab test, or procedure, the state would pay networks of doctors and hospitals a flat monthly or annual fee for each patient they care for.

(But wouldn't providers be tempted to dump the sickest, most expensive patients? Read past the jump to see why the commission thinks not)

Continue reading "Morning Rounds: Lessons From Massachusetts?" >

by April Fulton

UAB Engineering Students use the Wii for CPR from uabnews on Vimeo.

Nintendo seems to be carving out a niche with all the new health-related applications that keep popping up for their interactive video gaming system Wii.

That white rectangle remote that allows players to control on-screen actions is movin' on up from recreational use, like improving a golf or tennis swing; to medical use, like training students in CPR, or helping with physical therapy.

It is also credited with reducing X-ray techs' wrist strains and preparing surgeons for laproscopic surgery.

(Our sister blog, Monkey See has a slightly disturbing video showing college kids testing out virtual surgery, and trust me, the simulated surgery is the least disturbing part.)

But what else can Wii do?

Help senior citizens challenge each other to bowling matches, that's what, says our Two-Way blog.

Any other cool apps, medical or otherwise, we've missed?

by Julie Rosenthal, MD

The author's monster lurks on an eyelash Dr. Ralph Eagle/Wills Eye, Philadelphia

Picture the most disgusting, creepy creature you can imagine -- one that haunts your nightmares. Now imagine that as part of the job you love you have to come face to face with that monster.

I'm a resident doctor at a hospital in Philadelphia. During my training, I've helped with childbirth and surgery. I've handled blood, guts, and gore, and haven't been fazed.

But recently, during a shift in our eye emergency room, I encountered pubic lice, or crabs, on a patient's eyelashes.

Continue reading "A New Doctor Deals With Fear And Loathing" >

by Deborah Franklin

The flurry of news about Alzheimer's disease this week and the blizzard of health legislation news blowing down from Capitol Hill should prompt the same reaction in careful readers. First: Read between the lines. And second: Hold your applause until the end.

For example, on the health care front, Senators Christopher Dodd and Orrin Hatch told Morning Edition's Steve Inskeep that they're committed to working together on health care legislation, though their vote on the bill coming out of their committee yesterday was strictly partisan. This wrestling match is far from over.

As for Alzheimer's:

More than 3,000 brain researchers are gathered in Vienna this week to mull over the latest in Alzheimer's research, and the association sponsoring the meeting has been churning out press releases, which is largely why there's been daily news. One study getting a lot of press suggested that moderate drinking could curb one's risk of getting the illness; another said having combat-related PTSD could increase the risk.

The New England Journal of Medicine published (probably not coincidentally) its own newsy Alzheimer's study today on genetic testing for the disease.

It's been known for years that people who have inherited two copies of a particular variant of a gene linked to cholesterol metabolism -- ApoE -e4 -- are much more likely to getting Alzheimer's dementia. But doctors have just as long discouraged people from getting the test because a) it's not a perfect predictor and b) there's no preventive treatment for the disorder. Getting tested under such conditions, doctors thought, could prematurely devastate perfectly healthy people who got bad genetic news.

The NEJM study suggests people getting such news actually don't panic. "This has upended those assumptions," Boston University's Dr. Robert Green, who headed the study, told the New York Times.

But before you race out to get the test, there are big caveats to consider.

(Problems with the study detailed after the jump)

Continue reading "Morning Rounds: Health Care And Alzheimer's: Details Matter" >

by April Fulton

Senator, you may need one of these. Eamonn/Flickr

 

The ornate Beaux-Arts style Russell Caucus Room, where the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee meets, has witnessed its share of historic events. The Watergate hearings, the McCarthy hearings, the Iran contra hearings, and today, committee passage of a health overhaul bill all took place there.

But HELP Acting Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) may have gone too far when he waxed poetic on one infamous set of hearings, says NPR's Julie Rovner, who was on the scene.

"There were many important events that occurred in this room over the years. In fact, the hearings on the examination on what happened to the Titanic..." Dodd said.

But he caught himself: "...Which is not maybe the best example to use considering the effort we are undertaking," Dodd added hastily.

by Deborah Franklin

One woman, big influence. Look at the family tree. /istockphoto.com

Yesterday we told you about the drive by the FDA's new deputy, Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, to get antibiotics banned from animal feed as a way of protecting the drugs' potency in people.

That's just the latest in a long string of activist moves by Sharfstein, who took on the AMA and campaign contributions as a Harvard med student, and stood up to drugmakers and Big Tobacco (among others) as the health commissioner of Baltimore.

Today we have a better sense of where that deep streak of feistiness comes from -- stretching back at least three generations.

In the middle was Josh's mom, Dr. Margaret Sharfstein, a pediatrician who was only one of five women in her med school class at Albert Einstein. Josh's dad, Dr. Steven Sharfstein, was the former president of the American Psychiatric Association who threw a bright spotlight in 2005 on the involvement of mental health professionals in interrogations at Guantanamo Bay.

But further back was Margaret's mother, Pearl N. Shiling. A longtime social worker who died late last week at age 90, Ms. Shiling fought a few public health battles herself.

(Read more about Ms. Shiling's daring after the jump)

Continue reading "The Roots of Public Health Activism: A Grandmother's Tale" >

by Deborah Franklin

Let the darts game officially begin.

House Democrats yesterday formally released their proposal for health overhaul -- complete with details on how they'd pay for it -- and tacked it to the wall. But, as NPR's Julie Rovner points out in this morning's Morning Edition, this draft of the bill is just a starting point. In headlines this morning, critics are already taking aim at familiar targets in the House bill: New taxes. On the rich.

As the New York Times points out:

Starting in 2011, a family making $500,000 would have to pay $1,500 in additional income tax to help subsidize coverage for the uninsured. A family making $1million would have to pay $9,000.

Families making less than $350,000 would not be taxed. The Times has a handy chart to help you see how you and your family would fare, and the AP has a quick breakdown on who and what would be covered.

(More on how small businesses would be affected after the jump)

Continue reading "Morning Rounds: How The House Would Pay For Health Overhaul" >

by Deborah Franklin

"Trillion-dollar-price-tag" is misleading, some say /istockphoto.com

Words matter. As Congress tries to hammer out a deal to overhaul health care, the phrase of the day is "price tag." Most estimates put the cost of the plans under consideration at more than a trillion dollars.

But as NPR's Congressional Correspondent David Welna points out, it's important for reporters writing about the plans to put all those zeros in perspective. He writes:

These are estimates that cover a ten-year period. Better to say "the cost of the plan is a trillion dollars over the next ten years" than "the plan would cost a trillion dollars", which many people (I've asked) assume is the annual price tag of a healthcare revamping.

Averaged out over a decade, a trillion dollar healthcare scheme costs $100 billion a year. That's about a 4% increase over what's currently being spent on healthcare annually, whereas $1 trillion would be a 40% increase.

(Read past the jump for other ways to think of that cost)

Continue reading "What's The Real Cost Of Health Care?" >

by Deborah Franklin

There's always a catch. This morning's news brings two tales of unintended consequences: A "miracle surgery" with long-term complications, and "miracle drugs" fed to animals that may be making people sick.

First the surgery: Doctors and media around the world this morning are hailing the good luck of a 16-year-old Welsh schoolgirl who lived 10 years with a "piggyback" heart, and then was eventually able to have it removed after her own failing heart, surprisingly, healed completely.

Hannah Clark was a gravely ill 2-year-old with few options in 1995 when London doctors decided that grafting an extra heart (from an infant who had died) onto her own was Hannah's best chance for survival.

The radical surgery worked, and much to the surprise of her doctors, Hannah's own heart healed over time -- enough so that when surgeons finally removed the "piggyback" heart, 10 years later, Hannah was able to thrive on her own.

But listen to Hannah describe how thrilled she is to be able now to live and work and play like any other teen after the extra heart was removed and you'll get a glimpse of how tough it can be to live as a transplant patient. Take too little immune suppressive medicine and you hurt the transplanted organ. Take too much and you risk serious infection or cancer (which Ms. Clark did get). Not to mention the expense.

The miracle remedy was worth it, the teen told reporters. Still, "I'm really glad I don't have to rely on life-saving drugs anymore."

Meanwhile, there are hints from a hearing yesterday on Capitol Hill that the new FDA hopes to add a measure to health overhaul legislation that would severely limit farmers' use of antibiotics in animal feed, in hopes of preserving the drugs' usefulness for people.

(Read past the jump to hear which uses of antibiotics the FDA hopes to ban and why)

Continue reading "Morning Rounds: Piggyback Transplants And Antibiotics in Animals" >

by Richard Knox

Growing the new H1N1 virus in eggs is proving tough for vaccine makers /istockphotos.com

Even with the best-case scenarios, it was a very tall order -- make enough of a new swine flu vaccine to blunt the edge of a pandemic in time for flu season this fall.

Forget best-case. The World Health Organization says the virus that's being injected into eggs to create the pandemic vaccine is not growing well at all. Compared to seasonal flu viruses, it's growing only 25 to 50 percent as fast.

Scientists don't understand why. It seems a crucial surface protein on the new H1N1 virus, called hemagglutinin, is not very stable.

The bad news, announced at a press briefing today, has thrown vaccine researchers around the planet back to square one. They've scurried to isolate new samples of the virus from infected people and are working at top speed to hybridize those fresh strains with a standard flu virus that they know grows well in chicken eggs.

If they're lucky, they could have a new "seed strain" in hand later this month.

Not a moment to lose: Human tests with the pandemic vaccine are scheduled to begin in August. If those go well, manufacturers could still start cranking out the stuff by October.

(read past the jump to hear of hurdles that still loom)

Continue reading "Manufacturing Problems With Swine Flu Vaccine" >

by Deborah Franklin

"The Great Masticator," Horace Fletcher, advised chewing more to live longer /Paul Fornier/Public Domain

Talk about Slow Food: Raise your hand if somebody, somewhere along the way, has told you to chew your food "32 times (or 50 times or some other big number) before swallowing?"

That advice, we learn from NPR's Allison Aubrey in this week's "Your Health" podcast, started not with your grandma but with the Victorian industrialist-turned-food-faddist Horace Fletcher.

A British tycoon with friends in high places, Fletcher convinced the likes of Thomas Edison, Henry James, Franz Kafka, John D. Rockefeller, J.C. Penny and legions of everyday eaters that if only everybody chewed their food to the point of liquefaction, the world would be a better place.

As he detailed in his 1913 book "Fletcherism: What It Is," the big guy (relatively speaking; 217 pounds on a 5'6" frame, before he slimmed down) argued that chewing food to pulp before you swallow it leads to better absorption, which means you need to eat less of it, which means you need to buy less of it, which means more money in your pocket to buy other things. (No wonder the retailers liked Fletcher's plan, which also sounds Very Green).

But does all that chewing make any difference to health?

In 1928, a few years after Fletcher's death, a Chicago physiologist apparently decided to put the method to the test. Every couple of years, he'd swap his usual gobble-and-go lifestyle for an 18 month stretch of dedicated mastication.

(Read past the jump to hear how those 32 chews per swallow hurt his typing but improved his chess game)

Continue reading "Chew, Chew, Chew!" >

by Deborah Franklin

With President Obama expected to jump into the congressional health care debate this week with both feet, journalists are pressing harder to discern likely winners and losers with each proposed plan.

Time Magazine says one likely loser, in whatever bill emerges: Boutique, for-profit hospitals owned by doctors. These hospitals typically lack an emergency room or other community clinics, focusing instead on highly lucrative specialties like orthopedics and cardiology. The physician owners say their hospitals provide top-notch care, but critics say they are understaffed and drive full-service community hospitals out of business by skimming the highest paying patients

Time says there are now about 220 such hospitals nationwide -- a doubling since 2001 -- with another 80 under development. The current leading House and Senate bills under consideration would ban further construction.

Meanwhile, Bill Moyers this weekend talked to a former insurance company exec who recently quit over what he says are his industry's attempts to sabotage health care reform, despite all the talk about making nice.

(Read why he says he quit, after the jump)

Continue reading "Morning Rounds: Boutique Hospitals And Health Insurers" >

by Deborah Franklin

You get coconut water -- not the milk --from immature fruit like these /istockphoto.com

Why yes, say the folks at Consumer Reports who went to the trouble of contrasting and comparing.

Turns out the "water" -- a clear juice you can get in bottles, or served with a straw straight from the "nut" in the tropics -- comes from young coconuts. It's tasty, low in calories, and has a few minerals. It's even been shown in very preliminary research to tug down bad cholesterol levels -- in rats.

Coconut milk, on the other hand, comes from the mashed up innards of mature coconuts. It has a whopping 552 calories per cup (compared to coconut water's 46), and 50 grams of its fat is saturated. Ouch.

Still, don't get overeager and sub in the "water" for the "milk" in recipes, say the CR chefs. It'll throw off the taste and texture of your dish. Better to go ahead and occasionally enjoy that tasty Thai soup for lunch, and then cut calories elsewhere, or pump up your exercise to burn the fat.

Got any other health questions of your own?

It's time. You all did wonderfully well on yesterday's science quiz, but surely you, too, have a few coconut-like queries you've been wondering about.

Let us know, and we'll start publishing answers (and, maybe, the further questions they raise) -- at least once a week -- in the blog. Consider it a sort of Science-Out-of-the-Box spin-off, or Science Question Friday.

You can ask your questions on any health- or science-related topic in comments below, or send them more quietly to us here.

Please do. The lines are very open.

by April Fulton

Really, we don't want to see you again any time soon istockphoto.com

If you get out of the hospital after heart surgery and you have to go right back because you have pnemonia, it might mean the hospital didn't address your health problems properly.

It costs the health system billions to readmit patients, and it happens a lot -- one out of five Medicare patients are readmitted within 30 days, says CMS.

Hospital Compare, the government website that tracks hospital quality, yesterday added new data that will make it easier for the public to compare hospital recidivism rates over the last three years.

Continue reading "Readmission Data May Cause Pain For Hospitals" >

by Deborah Franklin

Today's headlines bring new twists in the ongoing battle to stave off pandemic flu and food-borne infections.

First, flu. July has barely begun, but federal health officials are already preparing a back-to-school plan that will likely put swine-flu vaccine clinics -- and 100 million doses of vaccine -- on school campuses by mid-October (assuming that it's safe, and works).

At a "flu summit" at NIH yesterday, officials said the vaccine wouldn't be just for students; schools are a handy venue for getting to young people, who seem to be at most risk of serious illness with this H1N1 flu strain. Children, pregnant women, health care workers and young adults with chronic illnesses would likely be first in line, with another 500 million doses to be deployed through the fall as they become available. Getting vaccinated will probably be voluntary, said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

The national flu plan still has soft spots that need firming, the Washington Post notes. For example, frustrated local leaders said they'd like stronger guidance about if and when to close schools in the midst of a widespread outbreak. But the CDC's Richard E. Besser said closing schools will only help contain the flu if kids are kept home, instead of sent off to libraries, malls and community centers by beleaguered -- or working -- parents.

Meanwhile, the mystery of how E.coli 0157 got into cookie dough continues. It turns out the strain of bacteria that turned up in one package of Toll House dough from Danville, Va. in June is genetically different from the strain that sickened at least 72 people across 30 states.

Did multiple strains infect the same package?

Continue reading "Morning Rounds: Swine Flu Plan And E.coli Update" >

by April Fulton

All hail the mighty istockphoto.com

If you've ever wondered how much pay it takes to play in Washington's health care debate, check out the Center for Responsive Politics post today on how much the pharmaceutical, insurance and health professional lobbying groups have paid.

Some eye-opening excerpts:

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, which represents the drug industry, has spent $27.2 million since last year on lobbying.

The senior citizen advocacy group AARP? They've spent $31 million on lobbyists.

And the American Medical Association has spent $24.9 million, followed closely by the American Hospital Association at $23.8 million.

That's a lot of loafers.

So what are they getting in return? Check out NPR's series called Dollar Politics, which follows the money and influence trail, and our coverage here on what the dealmaking means to you.

Thanks to NPR's Power, Money and Influence Correspondent (his real title!) Peter Overby for the tip.

by Deborah Franklin

A science quiz you'll like (no cramming required) /istockphoto.com

Never miss a chance to simultaneously impress and show up your smarty-pants brother-in-law or boss. With that in mind...

The Pew Research Center has come up with a 12-question online science quiz. (Relax. It's all True/False or Multiple Choice. No essays.)

For example:

-- How are stem cells different from other cells?

-- What did scientists recently discover on Mars?

-- Is all radioactivity man-made?

The quiz, which is part of a nationwide poll and report on Americans' knowledge of science, also lets you check your score against those surveyed. (Here's a freebie: Fifty-six percent of Americans incorrectly believe that antibiotics kill viruses as well as bacteria).

The Pew's report offers insights into how much Americans trust science and scientists. Only 49 percent of those surveyed said they believe the earth is getting warmer because of human activity. (Eighty-four percent of scientists said they agree).

Only 32 percent of Americans queried said "humans and other living things have evolved over time" and "evolution is the result of natural processes such as natural selection." Eighty-seven percent of scientists agreed. (What's up with the other 13 percent?)

The pollsters also asked Americans to say "yes" if they agree that the following professions "contribute a lot to society's well being."

(Read after the jump to see how your profession rates)

Continue reading "Quick -- Test Your Science IQ" >

by Deborah Franklin

Yo, independent film makers and wannabes: Need a little extra cash? Federal health officials are announcing a flu ad contest this morning for you creative-types.

More on that in a minute, but first: Anti-aging researchers say cutting way back on calories may not be the only way to lengthen life. In a new mouse study, an antibiotic that suppresses the immune system seemed to stretch the lifespan, too. "Elderly" female mice fed the drug lived 14 percent longer than normal; male mice lived nine percent longer.

According to Technology Review,

While the drug was not as effective as a limited diet initiated early in life, it was far more powerful than a limited diet begun at the same advanced age.

The antibiotic used -- rapamycin -- has nasty side-effects, so don't even think of trying this at home. And a 60 year-old-human isn't exactly like a 20-month-old mouse, though both are considered elderly by 35-year-old scientists.

Still, outside researchers say the results suggest a promising new metabolic target for anti-aging research.

Now, more on the contest: The Obama folks in charge of preparing the U.S. for a flu pandemic are apparently tired of plain vanilla public service announcements, and are reaching beyond the marketing pros for something a little edgier (and cheaper).

(details on what they're looking for after the jump)

Continue reading "Morning Rounds: Live Long And Prosper (Or At Least Pick Up $2,500 From Uncle Sam)" >

by Jon Hamilton

Francis Collins was all smiles at a White House ceremony last March when President Obama signed an Executive Order on stem cell research. Ron Edmonds/AP

President Obama has picked a physician and geneticist best known for his work on the Human Genome Project to lead the National Institutes of Health, NPR has learned.

Francis Collins led the government's effort to decode the entire DNA sequence of a person. That project was completed in 2003, ahead of time and under budget.

At the time, Collins was director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at NIH. He left the institute in 2008.

Before coming to the NIH, Collins established himself as a scientist at the University of Michigan. His research team there discovered the genes responsible for cystic fibrosis and Huntington's disease.

Collins describes himself as a devout Christian who sees no conflict between his faith and science.

If confirmed by the Senate, Collins would take over an agency with a budget of more than $30 billion.

by Deborah Franklin

News of lab-created sperm a bit premature /istockphoto.com

Researchers from northeast England claim in a study published today to have successfully prodded some human embryonic stem cells into becoming sperm.

The announcement drew a flurry of interest this morning, especially from the British press. But other researchers scrutinizing the study say that what's been created -- at least so far -- is still a long way from the real deal.

There's no proof these little cells could actually fertilize an egg, and good reason to think they couldn't.

"I am unconvinced from the data presented in this paper that the cells...can be accurately called 'spermatozoa,'" Allan Pacey, an infertility specialist at the University of Sheffield told the Associated Press. Though the lab-produced cells have the right number of chromosomes, and some proteins characteristic of sperm, they don't seem to have the proper shape or movement of authentic sperm, Paley said, and aren't developed enough to be functional.

Continue reading "All That Wiggles Is Not Sperm" >

by Deborah Franklin

Pain relievers took another hit this week, with the FDA announcement that two more prescription narcotics -- Darvon and Darvocet (a form of the drug containing acetaminophen -- must carry a strongly labeled, boxed warning about the risks of overdose.

Meanwhile, analgesic creams and rubs like Bengay or IcyHot that contain the aspirin-cousin "salicylate," may heat up the skin in a distracting way, but the evidence that they relieve pain is murky at best, according to scientists who reviewed them.

Interestingly, it's not because Darvon (sold generically as propoxyphene) is such a strong opiate, but because it is relatively weak that problems arise, doctors say. Patients who don't get relief from the prescribed amount may be tempted to take more, which increases the risk of serious side effects, such as heart problems and fall-inducing dizziness.

The Washington Post notes that of the 22 million prescriptions for Darvon and Darvon-like drugs prescribed every year, "nearly 40 percent...are used by people 65 and older."

The FDA decision was a middle path. Some consumer advocacy groups thought the drug should be phased out completely, as the European Union's FDA-equivalent decided last month.

Continue reading "Morning Rounds: More Headaches For Pain Relievers" >

by Deborah Franklin

What's a happy brain look like, anyway? /istockphoto.com

Punch "brain scans" into Google News today and you'll turn up recent stories on MRI images that supposedly depict brains that are "racist," and others that show brains "deeply in love."

But look a little more critically at the studies behind those stories on the emotional brain. As NPR's Jon Hamilton explains tonight on All Things Considered, journalists and even scientists sometimes get seduced by the pretty pictures of a brain scan, and don't realize how misleading they can be as a measure of thought, emotion, or personality. As Hamilton says:

The images appear amazingly crisp and precise. But scientists say the truth behind them is a little fuzzier.

Continue reading "When Brain Scans Mislead" >

by Joanne Silberner

Swine-flu parties are still a bad idea /istockphotos.com

Some bad party themes (Everybody Trade Pants!) just won't go away.

The BBC says that some people in the United Kingdom are now deliberately exposing themselves to friends who have the new H1N1 flu. We first heard about "swine flu parties" in the U.S. in May, and apparently the notion is still making the rounds. The goal of these soirees: Try to catch the flu in its current, relatively mild form, effectively vaccinating yourself.

Don't do it. In the early days of the outbreak, officials from the CDC specifically warned against this practice. There was no telling then -- and there's no telling now -- if or when the virus will mutate into a form that's more frequently deadly. (And remember that some otherwise healthy children and adults are dying right now from the current "mild" version).

Plus, even if you get away with few symptoms you may inadvertently spread the nasty party favor to pregnant women or others with damaged immune systems who are especially vulnerable to flu complications.

One has to wonder what's on the menu at a swine flu party, besides a neighbor's germs.

Continue reading "Pin The Tail On The Piggy?" >

By Alix Spiegel

Diagnose yourself over the internet? Tell us about it /istockphoto.com

National Public Radio and the radio program This American Life are working together to produce an hour-long special on the health care system that will air this fall. As part of the program, we want to take a closer look at people who practice medical self-diagnosis.

Specifically, we need stories from people who are armchair (or television or Internet-educated) "doctors" -- ordinary patients who show up at their real doctor's office with a diagnosis or test or medication already in mind.

Have you ever seen an ad or public service announcement on television that inspired you to ask your doctor for a particular test or pill?

Have you ever have spent hours on the Internet researching medical problems, diagnosed yourself, and then gotten some medication or treatment for that diagnosis that didn't turn out so well?

Let us know if you have a story like this or know someone who has a story like this that they might be interested in sharing. We're particularly interested in cases of self-diagnosis that didn't work out well for one reason or another.

Please write to us here and tell us your story.

Many thanks!

by Deborah Franklin

As the new team at the FDA launches its mid-summer clean-up, where better to start than the kitchen?

At a press conference later today, the agency is expected to take aim at food poisoning -- salmonella and E.coli, in particular -- by tightening the rules that govern how manufacturers handle eggs and improving the food tracking system so that it's easier to quickly trace contaminated ingredients to their source.

We can also expect tighter rules on the handling of produce by the end of this month, and tighter poultry inspections and standards by the end of the year, according to FDA and industry sources quoted by AP and Reuters. Still no word on how E.coli got into Toll House cookie dough at that plant in Danville, Virginia.

Meanwhile, with yesterday's announcement that the Obama administration has rolled back some restrictions on the federal funding of stem cell research, several cash strapped states are hoping to lure some of that research money and new jobs.

Continue reading "FDA Tightens Food Rules As NIH Relaxes On Stem Cells" >

by April Fulton

Salute! respres'/flickr

As we ease on into this long Fourth of July holiday weekend, some of us have these deep thoughts to share:

-- Will Sen. Chris Dodd's technical difficulties on a press conference call today portend a summer of health care debate plagued by bad elevator music and coughing fits?

-- Why do certain southern states continue to eat their weight in potato chips every year?

-- And, is it better to risk your stomach or your liver for pain relief?

The rest of us are looking forward to firing up the grill, waving some flags and watching the fireworks from a safe distance.

See ya back here on Tuesday.

by Sue Goodwin

Non-malignant tumors are scary, too /istockphoto.com

Until recently, I haven't been a big user of social media.

Like many fifty somethings, I've been astounded by the amount of time some of my younger colleagues spend on their Facebook accounts. For me, just keeping up with email can be overwhelming, much less a phone call to the parents and the BFFs at least once a week.

And then, about a year ago, I started smelling burnt rubber. It's called an olfactory hallucination, and is an indicator that something's not right in your brain. After a biopsy and a surgery, I was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor two months ago.

Continue reading "What Do You Do When It's 'Just' Benign?" >

by April Fulton

Good Morning.

The business community is reeling following Wal-Mart's surprising announcement that it would join a major union to support a controversial proposal to require employers to either provide health insurance to employees or pay into a government fund.

The ever-colorful Neil Trautwein, vice president of the National Retail Federation, tells Fox News yesterday in this video that if Wal-Mart made some sort of back door deal, it may come back to bite the company. Literally.

"If you offer an alligator an arm, chances are it's going to come back for the other arm and both legs, so I just don't think it's a success strategy," he says.

Continue reading "Morning Rounds: Biz Bashes Wal-Mart, Drug Coverage Saves Money, Argentina Adjusts To Flu" >

by Deborah Franklin

Please write right now /istockphoto.com

Calling all patients: We need your help with a few stories we're investigating.

Have you ever gone to your doctor and asked for a medication after seeing an advertisement on television? Did that turn out well? Did that turn out badly?

Do you feel like you need to be aggressive with your doctors because it's difficult to get the attention you need from the medical system?

Have you ever been misdiagnosed by a doctor in a way that has changed your approach to the medical system?

Have you ever become aware of a disorder that you suffer from by watching a public service announcement that educated you about a disease?

Do you spend a lot of time on the internet looking at health information and researching medical issues that you feel are related to you?

We're looking into stories about what it means to be a modern patient and we might like to speak with you (if, that is, you want to speak to us).

If you read the questions above and feel like you have a story to tell, please let us know ASAP.

You can write privately to us here. (Please put "Assertive Patient" in the Subject line.)

Many thanks!

by Deborah Franklin

As L.A. coroners continue to hunt down the cause of pop star Michael Jackson's death, prescription drugs are under suspicion, according to the Los Angeles Times, which notes this morning that investigators have been carting away bags of pills from the late singer's house. Among the drugs mentioned: powerful sedatives and "prescription painkillers" -- though none were named.

Meanwhile, coincidentally, a panel of FDA advisors voted yesterday 20 to 17 to recommend that several of the world's leading prescription painkillers -- including best-selling Percocet and Vicodin -- be taken off the market. The drugs consist of a narcotic bundled with acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol. That's a particularly dangerous combo, as the New York Times observes:

High doses of acetaminophen are a leading cause of liver damage and the panel notes that patients who take Percocet and Vicodin for long periods often need higher and higher doses to achieve the same effect.

Note: The FDA isn't required to follow the advice of its advisory committee, though it usually does. And though Jackson's toxicology reports are still pending, early evidence suggests he died because his heart stopped, not his liver.

In other news, "C-reactive protein," a blood marker of inflammation that many cardiologists thought might be a key contributor to heart disease, now looks like more of a spectator than a player, according to a study in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association.

Continue reading "Morning Rounds: When Painkillers Kill " >