STAT reporters won three SABEW Best in Business awards as well as four honorable mentions.
Two Harvard doctors are suing the Trump administration over the removal of two articles from the Patient Safety Network (PSNet), which is run by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, part of HHS. The researchers, who authored separate papers, argue that the removals are a violation of the First Amendment. One paper on endometriosis noted that trans and nonbinary people could also suffer from the condition. The other, on suicide risk assessment, identified LGBTQ+ people as a high-risk group.
“The government has absolutely no business dictating what facts are permissible or dictating what views researchers and academics and doctors can express,” said Rachel Davidson, a staff attorney at the ACLU Massachusetts.
The growing measles outbreak — which started in West Texas and has so far spread to New Mexico and Oklahoma — is the country’s largest in six years with more than 250 reported cases. One death is confirmed, and officials are investigating another in an unvaccinated person who tested positive posthumously.
Typically, the fatality rate for measles is roughly one (but maybe up to three) deaths for every 1,000 cases. But with one, maybe two deaths already, that simple statistic has led researchers to wonder if the disease is more widespread than it currently appears. “These two individuals could just be incredibly unlucky,” said epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina. “It’s just surprising, particularly given how few deaths we’ve had over the past 10 years.”
The federal government’s top addiction researcher laughed when STAT’s Lev Facher asked her how the Trump administration’s recent policy changes at the NIH have affected her work. “They have increased my blood pressure and heart rate,” Nora Volkow said, while a spokesperson on the other side of the room referred him to HHS. Luckily, Volkow was able to answer his other questions, in a Q&A published today.
One topic of conversation: Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is pretty open about the fact that he’s in long-term recovery from alcohol and opioid addictions. Volkow spoke about whether or not there are benefits to having somebody with that experience as the top health official, and also about the secretary’s views on using 12-step programs to recover from opioid use disorder, as opposed to medications like methadone and buprenorphine.
I want to highlight two interesting papers that published yesterday in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology:
Brains (concussed): In a study of 187 college athletes, researchers found that those who got a concussion while playing (25 of them) still showed signs of brain injury on MRI scans when they were cleared to play their sport again, a couple of months later, and even a year after being cleared. Persistent changes from pre-concussion scans were seen in the athletes’ cerebral blood flow and in white matter microstructure. But these effects were only in the brain — the athletes did not see clinical symptoms persist that long, the authors noted. More long-term research is needed to understand if and how the brain re-normalizes. The study also reinforces existing concerns about the damage that repeated concussions could cause, the authors add.
Driving (post-seizures): The American Academy of Neurology, American Epilepsy Society, and Epilepsy Foundation of America updated their joint position statement (from 1994!) on models for drivers’ licences for people with epilepsy. The update incorporates some of AAN’s newer positions from 2007, perhaps most notably calling for doctors to be able — but not required — to report drivers who pose an elevated risk, without legal liability for deciding either way. See the statement for more specifics, but the most basic position remains unchanged from the previous statement: People with epilepsy should experience a minimum of 3 months without seizures before getting behind the wheel again.
Successful science and research efforts require a certain level of stability and predictability. But recently, a dizzying number of policy moves by the Trump administration have hit scientific and research communities, including funding freezes, peer review disruptions, language bans, and more.
In a new First Opinion essay, National Postdoctoral Association executive director and CEO Thomas P. Kimbis writes that the administration’s actions have had an “astounding” impact on postdocs. These people — who have graduated, but temporarily continue to do mentored research — do essential work within American academia. NPA recently published the results of a survey that went out to nearly 300 postdocs. Among respondents, 43% reported that their jobs or positions were under threat, while more than a third said their research is delayed or in jeopardy.
Trans and intersex Americans’ health is suffering. The Trump administration could make it worse, The 19th
Some CT scans deliver too much radiation, researchers say. Regulators want to know more.
