Category: Health

Deaths among mothers during pregnancy and childbirth declined nationwide in 2024, according to new federal health data released Wednesday, with early indicators pointing to a potential continuation of this downward trend in 2025.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention documented 649 maternal deaths in 2024 throughout pregnancy and the immediate postpartum period. This represents a decrease from the 669 fatalities recorded in 2023 and continues a declining pattern from 2022 and 2021, when maternal mortality reached its highest point in over five decades.

Early data from 2025 indicates this encouraging pattern may be persisting, according to Eugene Declercq, a Boston University researcher who analyzes federal health statistics.

However, Declercq cautioned that preliminary figures can shift when finalized, as delayed death certificates arrive or initial reports get excluded during review processes. The 2024 numbers experienced similar adjustments, initially appearing higher than 2023 figures in provisional reports.

“All you could reasonably say is that the provisional 2025 data look promising,” Declercq said in an email.

Federal health officials track fatalities occurring during pregnancy, delivery, and the 42-day period following birth when deaths stem from pregnancy-related complications. Primary causes include severe hemorrhaging, blood clots, and infections, though Wednesday’s report did not break down specific causes for the 2024 deaths.

Maternal mortality surged during the coronavirus pandemic as COVID-19 posed particular risks to expectant mothers, while overwhelmed healthcare providers may have dismissed pregnant patients’ concerns.

The decline of COVID-19 represents the primary factor behind falling death rates since 2021, Declercq explained. Enhanced medical care initiatives may also be contributing to the improvements.

The CDC analysis found the 2024 maternal mortality rate stood at approximately 18 deaths per 100,000 live births, which did not represent a statistically significant improvement from the previous year.

“The declines are welcome, but they are small and only bring us back to where we were six years ago” before the COVID-19 surge, Declercq said, adding there is a need for more attention to the problem.

Among developed nations, the United States maintains one of the highest maternal death rates. Previous studies have documented significant racial disparities, with Black women experiencing mortality rates far exceeding those of white women.

The latest CDC findings showed Black women’s maternal death rate in 2024 exceeded white and Hispanic rates by more than three times. Additionally, women aged 40 and above faced mortality rates more than triple those of younger mothers.

NEW YORK — New York’s top legal official is directing a major Manhattan medical center to restart transgender healthcare services for young patients after the facility discontinued the program following federal funding concerns.

Attorney General Letitia James sent correspondence to NYU Langone stating the medical center’s choice to close its Transgender Youth Health Program breaks state anti-discrimination regulations by “jeopardizing access to medically necessary healthcare for some of the most vulnerable New Yorkers.”

James’s office warned of “further action” should the medical facility fail to immediately restart hormone treatments, puberty blockers and additional care for transgender minors.

NYU Langone representatives chose not to respond to the correspondence.

The major hospital network revealed last month it would discontinue specific gender-affirming treatments for patients younger than 19 due to the “current regulatory environment” and the recent exit of a medical director.

“We are committed to helping patients in our care manage this change,” the hospital stated previously.

This decision followed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announcing plans to eliminate federal Medicaid and Medicare payments to hospitals offering gender-affirming care to children, as part of broader regulatory measures affecting transgender individuals.

However, these proposals did not formally alter federal statutes and did not affect a “medical institutions’ existing duties and obligations under New York law,” stated the February 25 correspondence signed by health care bureau chief Darsana Srinivasan.

“The sudden discontinuation of medically necessary transgender healthcare can have severe, negative health outcomes,” Srinivasan wrote. “Accordingly, the Attorney General is extremely concerned by your institution’s decision to cease the provision of care to this vulnerable, minority population.”

The correspondence establishes March 11 as the deadline for NYU Langone to show compliance.

Attorney general representatives refused to specify what measures would follow if the hospital maintains its current policy.

Multiple hospitals nationwide have already suspended transgender youth treatments after President Donald Trump issued an executive order threatening to eliminate research and education funding from hospitals permitting the “chemical and surgical mutilation of children.”

This action and its accompanying language faced widespread criticism from transgender advocacy organizations and leading medical associations.

“This sets a very dangerous precedent for all areas of health care, if the government can cherry-pick one area of medicine to use to withhold necessary funding from entire groups of people,” said Dr. Scott Leibowitz, a psychiatrist and board member for the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.

Federal health officials issued warning letters Tuesday to 30 telehealth companies accused of making deceptive claims about compounded weight-loss medications.

The Food and Drug Administration says these companies marketed compounded GLP-1 medications on their websites in ways that could confuse consumers into believing the products were identical to FDA-approved weight-loss treatments like Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Ozempic, as well as Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro.

According to the agency, several companies falsely claimed their compounded medications were equivalent to approved GLP-1 treatments. Some firms also concealed the actual source of their products by using their own brand names, creating the false impression they were the original manufacturers.

“We are paying close attention to misleading claims being made by telehealth and pharma companies across all media platforms — and taking swift action,” stated FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, who described this as part of “a new era of enforcement.”

These warning letters represent the second wave of enforcement actions against telehealth companies since federal regulators began cracking down on deceptive direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical marketing in September, the FDA reported.

An Arizona-based compounding pharmacy that worked with telehealth giant Hims & Hers Health is preparing to bring back its controversial weight-loss medication after removing it from the market due to federal regulatory concerns, according to a Tuesday report from Endpoints News.

Strive Pharmacy officials indicated they intend to restart distribution of their compounded weight-loss pill, but this time through different healthcare providers rather than Hims. Company management told Endpoints News they haven’t established a specific timeframe yet and want to “wait to see how everything settles out before we reintroduce it.”

The controversy began last month when Hims unveiled plans to sell a compounded oral version of the weight-loss drug semaglutide for $49 per dose. This pill was essentially a copycat version of pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy pill, which had just hit the market weeks earlier.

The bold strategy quickly drew fierce opposition from both Novo Nordisk and federal regulators. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration responded by forwarding the matter to the Department of Justice and warning that it might limit access to the raw ingredients that compounding pharmacies use to create their own versions of brand-name medications.

The pharmaceutical industry felt the impact on Tuesday, with Novo Nordisk’s stock price falling nearly 2% in Denmark trading, while competitor Eli Lilly dropped 1.7% following the news report.

Neither Strive Pharmacy nor Novo Nordisk provided immediate responses when contacted for comment by Reuters.

A major pharmaceutical company based in South Africa is positioning itself to enter the Canadian market with a generic alternative to the widely-used diabetes medication Ozempic, with regulatory approval potentially coming as early as late spring.

Stephen Saad, chief executive of Aspen Pharmacare, announced Tuesday that his company’s unbranded equivalent of Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster diabetes treatment could receive Canadian registration within the next few months.

“We’re getting feedback from the regulators. From what we can see, we could have a registration in late Q2 or Q3 of this calendar year, so some time between May and September,” Saad explained during an interview.

The South African pharmaceutical giant is positioning itself to become among the earliest companies to offer generic alternatives to Ozempic in the Canadian marketplace. This opportunity arose after Novo Nordisk’s exclusive patent protection for semaglutide, the active compound in diabetes treatment, lapsed in January.

The development could potentially provide Canadian patients with more affordable access to this diabetes medication that has gained significant popularity in recent years.

A Japanese pharmaceutical company announced Tuesday it is shutting down all clinical trials for a promising skin condition medication following safety concerns that emerged during recent reviews.

Kyowa Kirin made the decision to halt development of rocatinlimab, an experimental treatment that was undergoing testing for severe eczema, prurigo nodularis, and moderate-to-severe asthma. These conditions typically cause patients to experience dry, irritated, and inflamed skin.

Company officials determined that continuing the trials posed too great a risk to patient safety after conducting a comprehensive safety analysis of their global testing program.

The safety evaluation, completed over recent weeks, revealed troubling patterns of cancerous tumors that appeared connected to viral or immune system complications. Investigators discovered two additional cases of Kaposi’s sarcoma – a rare form of skin cancer – bringing the total to three confirmed or suspected cases among trial participants.

The experimental medication works by blocking OX40, a specific protein involved in inflammatory responses and immune system reactions throughout the body.

“This is deeply disappointing news, as we had hoped to bring a safe and effective treatment to patients,” stated Abdul Mullick, who serves as chief operating officer for Kyowa Kirin.

The pharmaceutical company had previously ended its partnership with Amgen for developing and marketing this treatment earlier in 2024.

Kyowa Kirin is now working to inform medical researchers conducting the trials and government regulatory agencies about the termination. The company plans to release additional information once they complete their comprehensive data analysis.

Moving forward, Kyowa Kirin will maintain control over all aspects of the rocatinlimab program, including any required regulatory submissions and potential future development plans.

Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly is getting ready to introduce a new oral weight loss medication in the United States, with plans to potentially launch as early as the second quarter of 2024, pending final regulatory approval.

Lucas Montarce, the company’s Chief Financial Officer, announced Monday that Eli Lilly is moving forward with preparations to bring orforglipron to market once the Food and Drug Administration gives its approval.

Speaking at the TD Cowen healthcare conference, Montarce expressed optimism about the timeline, stating: “On track in the US, expect to see potentially that product coming into the market as early as Q2.”

The announcement comes as demand continues to grow for effective obesity treatments across the country.

A critical international review that could strip the United States of its measles elimination designation has been pushed back from April to November, according to a New York Times report citing a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson.

The Pan American Health Organization had originally scheduled the expert panel meeting for April to evaluate whether continuing measles outbreaks warrant removing America’s elimination status.

Nations earn elimination status when they successfully prevent continuous measles transmission for at least 12 months.

However, U.S. health authorities requested the postponement to allow additional time for analyzing measles surveillance information, according to the report. The Department of Health and Human Services has not yet responded to requests for comment.

The Pan American Health Organization confirmed the delay in a statement, saying: “At this time, PAHO can confirm that the assessment to review the United States’ measles elimination status has been rescheduled to November 2026, during the Commission’s regular annual meeting.”

The postponement comes as health officials continue monitoring measles cases across the country to determine if transmission patterns threaten the nation’s elimination status.

Recent headlines about international conflicts and other troubling events have left many people feeling overwhelmed as they wake up to news alerts, social media feeds, and dinner table discussions dominated by distressing stories.

Mental health professionals emphasize that experiencing stress and anxiety from current events – or feeling like the world has suddenly become chaotic – represents a completely normal human response, though finding healthy ways to manage these feelings remains crucial for psychological well-being.

“Fear, sadness, confusion… these are very normal reactions to very extreme circumstances,” explained Michael S. Ziffra, a Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine professor and psychiatrist, in comments to The Associated Press. “People shouldn’t feel guilty, or they shouldn’t feel like it’s wrong to feel anxiety. It’s a very normal human response. The key is to know how to manage it.”

Ziffra reports that beginning in 2020 – when the COVID-19 pandemic, social upheaval, and natural disasters dominated headlines – he has “absolutely, without question” observed more patients discussing heightened anxiety triggered by current events.

His patients describe various responses: some need to vent their feelings, others discuss compulsive social media browsing, while many express emotions of powerlessness and frustration.

Mental health experts stress that these reactions are completely expected and natural. Sometimes these feelings can even lead to constructive outcomes – motivating people to engage in advocacy work, participate in social or political groups, or reach out to elected officials.

Many individuals respond by seeking additional information about unfolding events. However, like most aspects of life, maintaining balance proves essential.

“The problem is, for a lot of people, they just kind of wallow in it. They ruminate and obsess and just sort of stew in it,” Ziffra noted.

Today’s digital environment places virtually unlimited information just one click away – or even closer, with social media algorithms automatically delivering content and phone notifications interrupting daily routines. People now have constant access to round-the-clock news coverage, while smartphone cameras can instantly capture and spread disaster footage and images within moments.

Dana Rose Garfin, a psychologist and professor at University of California, Los Angeles, has spent years examining “cascading collective traumas” and studying how continuous media coverage of COVID increased public anxiety. She observes that modern news consumption patterns differ dramatically from past habits.

Rather than reading a daily newspaper or watching evening news once per day, people today experience “much more exposure” to current events.

This increased exposure leads to distress as people learn about disasters and breaking news developments.

“In terms of any kind of crisis, people turn to the media for information. And that’s a very logical, rational and helpful reaction,” Garfin explained.

“But, what we’ve seen in our research is there’s this sort of reciprocal effect. An event happens, people learn about it, they turn to the media to learn more about it, and they’re really distressed,” she continued, describing how this creates a difficult cycle to escape. “It sort of activates these processes where then they’re both more distressed and want to know more about this event because they’re distressed.”

While experts acknowledge people’s natural desire to stay informed about current events, they offer guidance for consuming news responsibly without becoming overwhelmed or emotionally drained. Their primary recommendation involves reducing or eliminating social media use and compulsive “doomscrolling.”

“I don’t immerse myself in social media, and that’s a very conscious decision on my part to protect my own mental, and physical, health,” stated Roxane Cohen Silver, a University of California, Irvine psychologist who collaborated on research with Garfin. She expressed particular concern about disturbing images and videos that spread rapidly on social media platforms, potentially causing distress and lasting anxiety through repeated viewing.

“I think that one can stay informed without immersing oneself in graphic images,” she emphasized.

Garfin recommends discovering more “enjoyable” methods for staying informed, such as reading thoughtful news articles, listening to podcasts, or watching news programs. “That’s different than this kind of letting the algorithm suck you in for eternity in a mindless fashion.”

Experts also encourage people to use timers when browsing their phones. Both iPhone and Android systems offer built-in features to help monitor and limit screen time.

Ziffra advises selecting unbiased news sources. “Try to avoid things where it’s very partisan and where there’s going to be a lot of inflammatory content, because that’s going to likely exacerbate your anxiety and make you feel anxious, angry, scared.”

Even when concerning news events occur thousands of miles away and don’t directly affect someone reading about them, they can still trigger significant stress and anxiety. For this reason, medical professionals encourage people to develop alternative coping strategies.

“People have a lot of inherent knowledge of what helps them… and things that they find comfort in, which is different for everybody,” Garfin observed.

Mental health professionals recommend various approaches for redirecting attention, including breathing techniques, walking, pursuing hobbies, socializing with friends, consulting therapists, engaging in creative activities, and practicing self-care.

“Things that are going to get your mind off of all of the obsessing and worrying and really putting your thoughts on something more positive,” Ziffra suggested.

Schools looking to add whole milk back to their cafeteria offerings will need to navigate several logistical hurdles, according to a nutrition education specialist.

Brianna Henton, who serves as director of youth engagement and outreach for the United Dairy Industry of Michigan, explained that educational institutions already have permission to include whole milk in their meal programs. However, she noted that federal guidelines from the USDA are still being developed to provide clearer direction.

“Schools do have the option to put this on their menu today, (but) the USDA still needs to come up with” additional guidance, Henton stated.

The transition faces practical challenges including increased expenses and refrigeration capacity issues that could delay widespread adoption across school districts nationwide.

Federal health officials announced Monday they are giving pharmaceutical companies extra time to enroll in a groundbreaking program designed to bring down prescription drug costs for Americans receiving Medicaid benefits.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has moved the application deadline from March 31 to April 30, 2026, for drug manufacturers interested in participating in the new payment structure.

The initiative aims to reduce medication expenses within the Medicaid system, which serves low-income individuals and families, bringing those costs in line with what other developed countries pay for prescription drugs.

The interim head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emphasized Monday that vaccination remains the strongest defense against measles as the nation grapples with rising case numbers.

Acting Director Jay Bhattacharya stressed the importance of the MMR vaccination in a video message shared on social media platform X. “There is no cure for measles, which is why prevention is so critical,” Bhattacharya stated. “The MMR vaccine remains the most reliable and effective way to prevent it.”

The health official announced that the CDC is deploying additional resources to assist prevention and response initiatives nationwide, while maintaining regular communication with state and local health departments.

“We stand ready to provide CDC technical staff, laboratory support, vaccines and therapeutics upon request,” he explained in the video message.

According to the most recent CDC statistics, health officials documented 1,136 confirmed measles infections across the United States through February 26, 2026.

Bhattacharya assumed the interim CDC leadership role in February while simultaneously serving as director of the National Institutes of Health.

DOVER (TV Delmarva) — As millions of Americans increasingly rely on artificial intelligence for guidance, technology companies are now launching specialized chatbots designed to address medical and health concerns.

This past January, OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT Health, a specialized version of its popular chatbot that can review medical records, fitness app data, and information from wearable devices to respond to health-related inquiries. The service currently has a waiting list for access. Meanwhile, Anthropic, another AI developer, provides comparable capabilities through its Claude chatbot for select users.

Both technology firms emphasize that their artificial intelligence systems, called large language models, are not meant to replace medical professionals and should never be used for diagnosing illnesses. The companies position these tools as aids for interpreting complex medical test results, preparing patients for medical appointments, or identifying significant health patterns within medical records and app data.

Medical professionals and researchers who have tested ChatGPT Health and similar technologies view them as potentially beneficial compared to current alternatives.

While AI systems aren’t flawless and may occasionally provide inaccurate information, they typically deliver more tailored and relevant responses than what patients might discover through internet searches.

“The alternative often is nothing, or the patient winging it,” explained Dr. Robert Wachter, a medical technology specialist at University of California, San Francisco. “And so I think that if you use these tools responsibly, I think you can get useful information.”

A key benefit of these newer chatbots is their ability to provide responses based on individual medical histories, including medication lists, patient age, and physician notes.

Wachter and other experts suggest that even without uploading medical records to AI systems, users should provide comprehensive details to receive better responses.

However, Wachter and colleagues emphasize certain situations require immediate medical care rather than chatbot consultation. Warning signs like difficulty breathing, chest discomfort, or severe headaches may indicate medical emergencies.

Even for non-urgent health concerns, both patients and physicians should maintain “a degree of healthy skepticism” when using AI programs, according to Dr. Lloyd Minor from Stanford University.

“If you’re talking about a major medical decision, or even a smaller decision about your health, you should never be relying just on what you’re getting out of a large language model,” stated Minor, who serves as dean of Stanford’s medical school.

While AI chatbots offer advantages when users share personal medical details, it’s crucial to recognize that information provided to AI companies lacks protection under federal privacy regulations that typically safeguard sensitive medical data.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, imposes penalties including fines and imprisonment for healthcare providers, hospitals, insurance companies, or medical services that inappropriately share medical records. However, this legislation doesn’t cover chatbot developers.

“When someone is uploading their medical chart into a large language model, that is very different than handing it to a new doctor,” Minor noted. “Consumers need to understand that they’re completely different privacy standards.”

OpenAI and Anthropic both claim they maintain health information separately from other data types and apply enhanced privacy safeguards. Neither company uses health data for training their AI models. Users must actively choose to share information and can withdraw access whenever they wish.

Despite growing enthusiasm for AI technology, independent research on these systems remains limited. Initial studies indicate programs like ChatGPT can perform well on advanced medical examinations but frequently struggle during real-world interactions.

A recent Oxford University study involving 1,300 participants discovered that individuals using AI chatbots to investigate hypothetical medical conditions didn’t make superior decisions compared to those using web searches or personal judgment.

When presented with detailed written medical scenarios, AI chatbots accurately identified underlying conditions 95% of the time.

“That was not the problem,” said lead researcher Adam Mahdi from the Oxford Internet Institute. “The place where things fell apart was during the interaction with the real participants.”

Mahdi’s research team identified multiple communication issues. Users frequently failed to provide chatbots with essential information needed to properly identify health problems. Additionally, AI systems often delivered mixed responses containing both accurate and inaccurate information, leaving users unable to differentiate between reliable and unreliable advice.

The 2024 study didn’t evaluate the most recent chatbot versions, including newer options like ChatGPT Health.

Wachter believes improving chatbots’ ability to ask follow-up questions and gather crucial details from users represents an important area for development.

“I think that’s when this will get really good, when the tools become a little bit more doctor-ish in the way they go back and forth” with patients, Wachter explained.

Currently, one method to increase confidence in AI-generated information involves consulting multiple chatbots, similar to seeking second medical opinions.

“I will sometimes put information into ChatGPT and information into Gemini,” Wachter said, referring to Google’s AI platform. “And when they both agree, I feel a little bit more secure that that’s the right answer.”

A pharmaceutical company announced positive results Monday for an investigational oral medication designed to treat a specific form of blood pressure condition.

United Therapeutics reported that their experimental drug successfully achieved all primary and secondary endpoints in advanced-stage clinical testing. The oral treatment is being developed as a potential therapy for patients suffering from a particular type of blood pressure disorder.

The announcement on Monday highlighted the completion of late-phase study objectives for the investigational medication, marking a significant milestone in the drug’s development process.

Federal regulators announced Monday they plan to prohibit Elevance Health from accepting new enrollees in its Medicare Advantage prescription drug plans due to ongoing compliance failures.

According to a company filing, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services informed the health insurance company of the pending sanctions, which are set to begin March 31, 2026, unless the identified problems are resolved to the agency’s satisfaction.

The announcement caused Elevance shares to drop 3% during premarket trading Monday.

Federal officials stated the proposed penalties stem from Elevance’s failure to meet specific Medicare Advantage risk adjustment data submission standards.

According to the February 27 notice, Elevance has not properly submitted data corrections for diagnosis codes lacking adequate medical record support through the government’s mandatory electronic systems since November 13, 2018.

Rather than using the required digital submission process, Elevance has consistently delivered this information using encrypted USB flash drives, a delivery method federal regulators have clearly prohibited.

Officials noted that Elevance maintained this rejected practice as recently as October 10, 2025.

In response, the health insurance company stated it updated its submission procedures in April 2023 and emphasized that the planned suspension will not affect current members already enrolled in the prescription drug coverage plans designed for seniors.

TUCSON, Ariz. — With an oxygen tank strapped to her back due to COPD, Marcia OBara guides a group of bird enthusiasts along flat pathways, each person moving at their own comfortable speed. The atmosphere is relaxed and supportive, free from the competitive spirit often found in traditional birding groups.

OBara leads “Birding for Every BODY,” one of several monthly excursions organized by the Tucson Bird Alliance in partnership with Pima County, Arizona. The program represents a nationwide effort to make bird watching and nature experiences available to individuals with physical and other challenges.

“It’s an opportunity for people to get out and see birds without pressure, no matter how long it takes or how many birds we see,” explained OBara, a former nurse who has coordinated these inclusive outings for three years. She noted that people with disabilities frequently struggle to participate in conventional birding trips, particularly when competitive enthusiasts focus on spotting as many species as possible.

OBara carefully plans each accessible expedition, confirming that pathways are easy to navigate and restroom facilities can accommodate wheelchairs and mobility scooters. She verifies the availability of water fountains, shaded areas, and seating options. During walks, OBara monitors the group’s progress and adjusts the tempo accordingly.

“I used to work in rehab, so I usually know what people need,” OBara said.

Although the excursions welcome participants using wheelchairs and scooters, individuals with such equipment seldom join the walks, possibly due to concerns about keeping pace, OBara observed.

“But we’d encourage them to come,” OBara said.

During one February outing at a Tucson-area park, OBara highlighted a phainopepla, a slim bird with a distinctive crest resting on a mesquite branch, feeding on the bright red mistletoe berries. Nearby, mallards and other waterfowl splashed in ponds and foraged on the ground.

“It’s nice to just be outside and not think of anything else,” commented Rhea Guertin, a retired visitor from Rhode Island who winters in Tucson for four months annually. She relied on a walking stick for balance.

“I’m just slow,” she explained.

Evelyn Spitzer, a former teacher from the Tucson area, also used a walking aid due to a heart condition and recent surgical recovery.

The organized movement to include people with disabilities in birding dates back to at least 2018, when former Texas educator Virginia Rose established the nonprofit organization Birdability. Rose has been wheelchair-bound since sustaining a spinal injury at 14 years old.

“Our vision is that birding be truly for everybody and every BODY, regardless of disability,” stated Cat Fribley, Birdability’s executive director. She explained that participants face various challenges including mobility restrictions, vision impairment, chronic conditions, intellectual or developmental differences, mental health issues, neurodivergence, hearing loss, and other medical concerns.

Fribley, who uses a mobility scooter due to multiple disabilities, can travel five to six miles on accessible trails in her Iowa City, Iowa neighborhood while bird watching.

“In the winter, I bird on my back deck with my coffee,” she said.

Accessible birding takes many forms, including observation from vehicles, canoes on waterways, or simply through home windows, according to advocates.

Birdability has collaborated with the National Audubon Society to create a crowd-sourced database of accessible birding sites across the country and provides guidance to able-bodied birders on creating more welcoming environments.

The organization’s website features numerous resources and adaptive equipment, including camera mounts for car windows and applications that help blind individuals identify and record bird songs.

Occupational therapist Freya McGregor suggests binocular harnesses that distribute weight across the back and chest, reducing strain on shoulders and neck compared to traditional neck straps.

McGregor, who lives with a permanent knee injury, operates Access Birding, which educates nature organizations like state parks and local Audubon groups about trail accessibility.

Birding “really brings you joy,” said Jerry Berrier, a 73-year-old Massachusetts bird enthusiast who has been blind since birth. “There is happiness from being out in nature.”

Berrier discovered his passion as a college student when he learned to recognize numerous bird vocalizations to fulfill a biology course requirement. He later instructed blind and deaf-blind individuals on using computers and mobile devices at the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts.

He records bird sounds for his website, www.birdblind.org, helping blind bird lovers document and share their experiences. Last year, he started the “Any Bird, Any Body” podcast with friend Gary Haritz.

Berrier also helped coordinate the first national bird-counting event for blind participants in the United States. The event attracted several hundred people last year, who documented bird calls they heard during a 24-hour period. This year’s event expands internationally on May 3-4.

“We encourage people to reach out to local organizations to help blind people with the bird-a-thon, he said. “A disability can be very isolating.”

The recent British Academy Film and Television Arts Awards ceremony has sparked difficult conversations among Black individuals living with Tourette syndrome after an attendee’s vocal tic produced a racial slur during a presentation by two Black actors from “Sinners.”

Chloe Winston, a 24-year-old who experiences coprolalia – the same type of verbal tic as BAFTA nominee and Tourette advocate John Davidson who shouted the offensive word – described her conflicted emotions about the situation. “It’s been pretty difficult because I feel like there’s such a clash between both sides,” Winston explained. “A tic is not intentional, but it still causes harm. And I think that does require accountability.”

The outburst occurred precisely when Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were announcing the evening’s opening award, creating a controversy that dominated Sunday’s ceremony coverage. Initial reactions included outrage that the performers and other Black guests were exposed to the slur, followed by frustration from disability advocates over misunderstanding about Tourette syndrome. The BBC faced particularly harsh criticism for broadcasting the uncensored slur during their delayed coverage two hours later, unlike most major award shows that use brief delays to prevent such incidents.

Both BAFTA and BBC issued apologies that many deemed inadequate, with the BBC announcing plans to remove the segment from their iPlayer streaming platform.

The controversy has motivated Black individuals with Tourette syndrome, including politicians and social media influencers, to share their perspectives. They emphasize that compassion for those with the condition doesn’t diminish the hurt experienced by the Black community, while calling for recognition of the damage caused. Some express concern that misconceptions about Tourette syndrome might worsen racial profiling or bias against Black people with the disorder.

Advocacy organizations are now leveraging this moment to expand support networks for Black individuals who feel marginalized by their Tourette syndrome diagnosis.

According to the Tourette Association of America, Tourette syndrome represents a neurodevelopmental condition marked by unexpected, uncontrollable movements and sounds known as tics. These manifestations can be physical or vocal, ranging from barely noticeable to severely debilitating.

Dr. Jeremiah Scharf, a tic disorder expert at Massachusetts General Hospital, explained the neurological basis: “We know that there’s this sort of sensory and motor loop happening. And again, similarly in the vocalizations, they typically start with things like coughing, sniffing, or other just non-specific sounds.”

Symptoms typically emerge during elementary years and reach their peak intensity between ages 10 and 14, Scharf noted. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates approximately 1.4 million Americans live with Tourette syndrome or related persistent tic disorders.

Coprolalia involves “the involuntary utterance of obscene and socially unacceptable words and phrases,” affecting an estimated 10-15% of those with Tourette syndrome, according to the association. The organization warns against judging individuals based on their tic content.

These verbal eruptions – usually profanity and offensive language – stem from biological factors that stress can intensify, including sleep deprivation or emotional distress, Scharf explained. The tics resist control and occur involuntarily, comparable to sneezing.

“Unfortunately, for this subset of people, it is incredibly disabling because they don’t want to say those things. It’s very distressing to them,” Scharf said, speaking generally rather than about the specific BAFTA situation. “They feel significant remorse about it.”

Managing severe tic disorders involves various approaches from medications to behavioral interventions. Teaching the brain to manage tics “takes an enormous amount of practice in terms of recognizing when the tics are coming,” Scharf noted, though no universal treatment exists.

Jhónelle Bean, a Black American Sign Language interpreter with Tourette syndrome, addressed the polarized BAFTA discussion through TikTok, where her video about the situation’s complexity has attracted over 3 million viewers.

“Two things can be true at the same time,” Bean stated. “Just because he ticced that does not mean it was intentional. But then also that still caused hurt or harm for people that heard it, which again is why I’m mad at the BAFTAs and the BBC for keeping it in the broadcast in the first place because they had the power to take it out.”

Bean also highlighted discriminatory “ableism” responses suggesting Davidson “should have been locked away, he should’ve had a muzzle, things like that.” However, she disagreed with social media users telling those offended by the slur to simply “get over it.”

New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who is Black and has Tourette syndrome, described the physical and mental difficulty of suppressing tics. As someone who also experiences coprolalia, Williams acknowledged Davidson’s attempt to leave the situation, though noted “maybe he could have moved a little sooner.”

“For me, it was all about making sure we’re practicing care. And I don’t think that happened for the two actors that were there or the Black folks who were there or people who didn’t want to hear the word,” Williams said.

Reice Griffin, a 20-year-old Tourette Association of America rising leader and ambassador, described constant anxiety for Black individuals with Tourette syndrome or tic disorders. She has encountered people who witness her tics and assume drug use or aggressive behavior, with police interactions creating additional stress.

“Law enforcement is not well equipped to deal with Tourette syndrome, but also historically, as a Black person, you never really want to be around law enforcement,” Griffin observed.

The association, which provides “I Have TS” identification cards, actively works to increase support for people of color.

Griffin recently participated in a virtual support group for Black young adults and speaks at schools and community events to build confidence.

“I thought that because I had Tourette syndrome that, like, public speaking was out the window,” Griffin reflected. “If I could help another young Black girl with Tourette syndrome not feel as alone or help people get diagnosed — that’s the dream.”

Williams agrees that Black individuals with Tourette syndrome lack adequate support and tries to help by sharing his experiences, leading to direct contact from New Yorkers.

“Sometimes in the street or an event people will bring their family member up which is always a pretty emotional space for me because when I see the kid, I know what they’re going through,” Williams said.

Social media platforms are flooded with influencers promoting electrolyte supplements and sharing homemade recipes, but medical professionals warn that many health claims surrounding these popular drinks should be viewed with skepticism.

These electrically charged minerals help control chemical processes throughout the body, according to Julia Zumpano, a registered dietitian with the Cleveland Clinic. When it comes to staying hydrated, they maintain proper fluid distribution between cells.

Our bodies primarily lose electrolytes through perspiration, especially sodium chloride found in regular table salt. Consuming excessive amounts of plain water during heavy sweating can further reduce salt levels, creating an imbalance. These specialized beverages and powders aim to restore hydration while replenishing lost minerals, typically including potassium and magnesium along with various sugar forms.

For most healthy individuals, the kidneys effectively maintain proper electrolyte balance naturally. Any excess amounts are eliminated through urination, explains Hunter Huston, a kidney specialist at Vanderbilt University who also advises a British company developing electrolyte programs for endurance athletes.

“Taking an electrolyte-enriched drink, just for health purposes, probably isn’t doing much,” he said.

Despite the surge in “rapid hydration” and “advanced hydration” products, the question remains: who truly needs them?

The story begins in 1965 at the University of Florida when assistant football coach Dwayne Douglas approached Robert Cade, the university’s first kidney researcher, with a puzzling observation about players not urinating after games.

“That question changed our lives,” Cade said.

The answer was straightforward: players couldn’t urinate because they were losing massive amounts of fluid through sweat. Cade’s team discovered that a single player could shed up to 18 pounds during one game. Beyond water loss, they were also depleting sodium and chloride while losing both plasma and blood volume, which weakened their performance and endurance.

Cade created a salty mixture to restore the water and minerals players were losing. He added sugar to help the digestive system absorb sodium more effectively. His initial attempt made him sick, but adding lemon juice improved the taste slightly. Though still unpalatable, the team’s enhanced performance became undeniable, particularly during second halves when opposing players began struggling in Florida’s oppressive heat and humidity.

Cade, who passed away in 2007, never anticipated that Gatorade would become a consumer staple.

Although electrolyte supplements seem ubiquitous today, not everyone requires them.

Huston suggests that plain water suffices for workouts under two hours. Most healthy people can handle losing approximately 2% of their body weight through sweat before experiencing noticeable effects including increased thirst, exhaustion, and muscle cramps.

Individual differences matter, however. Some people perspire more heavily or have particularly salty sweat.

Extreme athletes participating in ultramarathons often seek professional testing to measure their sweat output and receive customized nutrition strategies.

“Most folks that are exercising, that are, say, doing a marathon, are gonna be way past that two hours, and it does then make sense to be thinking about, ‘What’s going to be my fluid and electrolyte replacement plan?’” Huston said.

Darren Rovell has tracked sports drinks’ evolution from specialized products to mainstream beverages. The author of “First in Thirst: How Gatorade Turned the Science of Sweat Into a Cultural Phenomenon” and former Bodyarmor investor recalls receiving Gatorade as a high school runner with explanations that its poor taste indicated its effectiveness.

The formula became increasingly sweet during the 1990s. Following PepsiCo’s 2001 acquisition, Gatorade appeared everywhere, including pizza restaurants, raising questions about whether it had simply become another soft drink variety.

Rovell believes electrolyte companies promote the notion that their products either transform consumers into athletes or enhance existing athletic performance.

“It all starts in the aspiration of being better, but you know we do have to check ourselves,” he said.

Today’s supplements contain vastly different electrolyte concentrations, notes Patrick Burns, an emergency medicine physician at Stanford Health Care who occasionally competes in ultramarathons. With sodium levels varying by five times between brands, consumers shouldn’t assume all products are equivalent.

Burns also cautioned against excessive potassium supplementation due to potential health risks.

He observed that many brands now offer sugar-free options, despite glucose being essential for rapid sodium absorption.

“They’re not internally consistent, at all, with what they’re trying to sell you,” he said. “For optimal absorption, you need some sugar in with your salt.”

“Electrolytes can help, especially with heavy sweating or exercise, but for most people, they’re not something you need every single day, and you definitely don’t need large amounts of it,” the Cleveland Clinic’s Zumpano said.

For healthy individuals who aren’t sweating intensely, these beverages likely won’t cause harm but won’t provide benefits either.

“You’re getting extra sugar, and there’s no reason (for) rapid absorption of sodium because you’re not sodium depleted,” said Mark Segal, a kidney specialist at the University of Florida College of Medicine. Most people obtain sufficient salt and potassium from their regular diet, he explained.

Regarding homemade electrolyte powders, experts say it’s possible but requires proper knowledge. They recommend avoiding recipes from social media influencers.

“How do you know how much you need?” Zumpano asked. “There’s a large margin of error there. I’d probably just avoid it.”

European drug authorities have given their approval to a revolutionary treatment for sleeping sickness that could dramatically accelerate efforts to wipe out the deadly disease across Africa.

The European Medicines Agency committee approved acoziborole, developed by pharmaceutical company Sanofi, on Friday. This approval represents a vital milestone toward making the medication accessible in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where sleeping sickness cases are most prevalent, and eventually throughout other African nations.

Advocates for the treatment explain that just three tablets taken simultaneously in a single dose offer a much simpler and more accessible option compared to existing treatment protocols, which often force patients to make difficult journeys to medical facilities.

“This disease is on the brink of elimination” and the new drug could accelerate progress toward finishing the job, said Dr. Junior Matangila of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative, an international organization focused on new treatments.

Should sleeping sickness be successfully eliminated, Sanofi representatives point out it would mark the first instance of an infectious disease being eradicated without using a vaccine.

However, Monica Mugnier, who studies sleeping sickness at Johns Hopkins University, believes while the medication represents a significant treatment advancement, it remains unclear how transformative its approval will ultimately prove. Uncertainties still exist regarding where the disease-causing parasite may be hiding, she noted.

“This isn’t solved yet,” she said.

The disease spreads through tsetse fly bites, insects found exclusively in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa. These flies transmit a parasite to humans through their bites.

Initial symptoms may resemble flu-like illness, but conditions deteriorate as parasites multiply and spread throughout the body, eventually reaching the nervous system. The characteristic symptom that gives the disease its name involves disrupted sleep patterns where patients stay awake during nighttime hours but feel drowsy throughout the day. Without treatment, patients may fall into comas and die.

Scientists have struggled to create a vaccine against this microscopic, worm-like parasite due to its remarkable ability to change its protein exterior, making it extremely challenging to develop lasting immune protection, Mugnier explained.

Fighting the parasite has depended on strategies to eliminate the flies and medications to treat infected individuals. Progress has been challenging, as many affected people live in isolated regions far from medical centers.

“It’s a disease of poverty,” said Matangila, who is based in Congo.

Cases of sleeping sickness increased significantly during the 1970s and 1990s when political and economic turmoil plagued sub-Saharan Africa. The situation was worsened by available medications that were both toxic and caused severe pain.

Medical treatments began improving in the early 2000s, contributing significantly to a sharp decrease in reported infections. By 2009, cases fell below 10,000 for the first time in fifty years. In 2024, fewer than 600 cases of the most prevalent form of sleeping sickness were reported, though the actual number of infected but undiagnosed individuals remains unknown.

The World Health Organization has established an objective to halt transmission of this form of sleeping sickness by 2030.

Existing treatments can span ten days and demand challenging travel from remote villages to hospitals. Many patients have required spinal procedures to help physicians determine infection stages and appropriate medications.

This is where acoziborole makes its impact. A small but critical study involving approximately 200 patients in Congo and Guinea showed that over 95% of treated patients were considered cured after 18 months.

Sanofi representatives used this research to seek approval for the medication to treat the most common type of human sleeping sickness. The drug can treat patients 12 years and older for both early and advanced infections, eliminating the need for spinal procedures.

Sanofi has committed to donating doses to the World Health Organization, ensuring patients receive the medication at no cost.

A pharmaceutical company has received federal approval for a groundbreaking treatment targeting children who suffer from a rare genetic condition that results in dwarfism.

On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration granted authorization to Ascendis Pharma for their innovative once-weekly therapy, according to company officials. The treatment is specifically designed to help children diagnosed with the uncommon genetic disorder.

The newly approved medication represents a significant development in treating this rare condition that affects children’s growth and development.

HARRISBURG, Pa. — During an October club soccer practice, Sofia Tepichin was defending against an approaching opponent when she redirected the ball and jumped over the player’s extended leg. Landing awkwardly, she heard a distinct “pop” sound.

She collapsed immediately as sharp pain pierced her left knee, knowing instinctively the severity of her situation. The moment was, as she described it, “heartbreaking.”

“And I knew personally that I tore my ACL,” Tepichin said.

Tepichin became another statistic in the alarming trend of female high school athletes suffering anterior cruciate ligament tears, a serious knee injury that experts say the athletic community must address more aggressively.

While decades of prevention research exists, parents, scientists and athletic trainers argue that teams, coaching staff and sports organizations fall short in protecting young female athletes and informing families about risks.

High-profile ACL injuries among athletes like Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn frequently make headlines, and many people dismiss these injuries as unfortunate accidents or inevitable consequences of competitive athletics.

However, teenage female athletes experience these injuries at dramatically higher rates than male peers — some research indicates up to eight times more frequently — and more often than adult athletes, typically during non-contact situations in sports requiring rapid directional changes, according to researchers.

Experts in biomechanics, athletic training and physical therapy point to pre-practice warmup routines and muscle-building programs — including FIFA 11+ or PEP protocols — that can significantly lower the risk of an injury causing severe physical and psychological damage to young competitors.

Unfortunately, most coaching staff lack proper education or professional guidance, and high school female athletes compete with substantially fewer resources compared to professional and college programs. Consequently, injury-prevention protocols are seldom integrated into regular coaching practices and training sessions.

“The real crime in this is that the data has been out there for 25 years,” said Holly Silvers-Granelli, a physical therapist and biomechanics researcher who advises athletes, professional teams and major sports leagues on injury prevention. “People are clamoring for answers, and the answers are largely there.”

While ACL injury trends remain somewhat unclear, the National ACL Injury Coalition — established by the Aspen Institute and New York’s Hospital for Special Surgery — reported that analysis of high school athletic trainer data revealed nearly 26% growth in average annual ACL injury rates among high school athletes between 2007 and 2022.

Female athletes experienced rate increases exceeding 32%, while male rates rose 14.5%, according to the coalition’s findings.

Following injury, high school athletes and families frequently navigate recovery independently. ACL injuries often necessitate surgical intervention and year-long rehabilitation involving physical therapy and strength conditioning, costs that insurance may not completely cover.

The healing process disrupts athletes’ daily routines and self-identity: they lose team fellowship and watch from sidelines, creating emotional challenges that can match the physical trauma, parents report.

Numerous high school athletes who sustain ACL tears never regain their previous performance level, with some never returning to their sport, according to the National ACL Injury Coalition. Additionally, once injured, they face increased risk of subsequent ACL injuries and long-term issues including degenerative joint disease, researchers note.

The coalition advocates treating ACL injuries with the same seriousness as brain injuries, following professional and youth sports’ efforts to enhance training, regulations and equipment standards for concussion prevention and identification.

Sophia Gerardi, a Pennsylvania Apollo Ridge High School sophomore who suffered an ACL tear during a December basketball game, learned from doctors that she must permanently wear a knee brace during sports participation. Following January surgery, she’ll miss volleyball season and hopes to return for next winter’s basketball.

Similar to many girls with ACL tears, she doesn’t remember receiving any ACL injury-prevention education.

Coach surveys reveal many lack knowledge about risk-reduction programs, proper training to implement them, or encouragement to learn these methods, according to Vince Minjares, who directs the Aspen Institute’s ACL injury prevention initiative. Some coaches inform Minjares that such programs consume excessive time.

He remains optimistic about changing attitudes.

This spring, the American Youth Soccer Organization — a major national youth soccer entity — will launch new age-appropriate neuromuscular training programs designed to prevent ACL injuries through specialized warm-ups.

Coaching staff will receive exercise routines in manageable segments with video demonstrations. The objective involves establishing beneficial habits before preteens enter more physical and competitive levels.

“My biggest shock was that this didn’t already exist,” said Scott Snyder, AYSO’s senior director of programs and education. “Everyone I talk to says, ‘Yeah, that makes perfect sense,’ but nobody’s done it yet.”

Last year, biomechanical researchers at Scottish Rite for Children hospital in metropolitan Dallas started offering high school teams resources typically available only at professional and collegiate levels.

They developed pre-season injury-prevention training specifically designed for female athletes to enhance strength and movement quality. Each athlete receives a complimentary motion-capture 3D assessment at the eight-week program’s beginning to identify strength, movement or balance deficiencies. A concluding assessment determines whether the program decreased injury risk.

Future programs might incorporate nutrition and sleep components, said Sophia Ulman, who leads the hospital’s Movement Science Laboratory.

“My team and I got tired of studying ‘why, why, why’ when there’s so many different possibilities to answer that question. And we wanted to move into the ‘what is the solution,’” said Ulman. She noted that other U.S. biomechanics laboratories are attempting similar community outreach.

Plano East High School in Texas participated in the program, where players — including Tepichin — had experienced multiple ACL tears in recent years.

Cristy Cooley, Plano East’s coach, emphasized that receiving direct instruction from trained professionals in proper exercises and movement techniques creates significant impact.

“It’s one thing talking about it,” Cooley said. “But it’s a totally different thing to show us.”

Like other parents, Tiffany Jacob discovered crucial information about ACL injury prevention that she wishes she had known before her daughter — East Plano sophomore Aliya Jacob — tore her ACL last February. For example, the surgeon informed them that three weekly strength training sessions are essential for soccer players.

“Something’s got to change,” Tiffany Jacob said. “Coaches, clubs, something. They have to do something to prevent this because it’s just such a horrible injury.”

Aliya — who knows at least seven other female soccer players with ACL tears, her mother noted — has returned to playing for East Plano. She endured twice-weekly physical therapy, rehabilitation isolation and, her mother said, “figuring out who you are when you’re not playing soccer.”

Tepichin, now a high school senior, remembers her surgeon advising her to spend a few days processing her sadness and frustration — then commit fully to recovery.

She’ll miss her final year of high school and club soccer. Her next field time may be at Saint Vincent College in Pennsylvania, where she’s committed to the NCAA Division III program.

Tepichin has consulted a sports psychologist, received support from others who underwent the surgery — her sister, father and friend — and established new routines after previously maintaining constant activity with two soccer teams and employment.

“There’s not a day that I go that I’m not working out or doing something,” she said, “or getting better for my health and my recovery.”

Health officials in Spain’s Catalonia region have notified the World Health Organization about what they suspect is human-to-human transmission of swine flu, according to a regional health authority representative who spoke with Reuters on Friday.

The suspected transmission involves the A(H1N1)v strain of the swine flu virus, the spokesperson confirmed from Barcelona.

In his Indianapolis living room, JaKobi Burton gently holds his newborn daughter, his affection clear in every tender touch.

However, this new father’s dedication began well before his baby’s arrival. Burton participated in every doctor’s visit and completed training through Dads to Doulas, an initiative from Dear Fathers that prepares Black expectant fathers to offer comprehensive support – physically, emotionally and spiritually – throughout pregnancy and beyond.

Both Burton and his wife, Crystal Wilmot-Burton, recognized their pregnancy carried significant dangers, not only due to their age – both in their 40s – but also their race. Government statistics reveal Black women face nearly 3.5 times higher risk of death during childbirth compared to white women.

Medical experts and community leaders believe that equipping Black expectant fathers with enhanced involvement skills – through federally supported initiatives and community organization resources – could help reduce these alarming statistics. Program coordinators report a notable change in how some Black men now openly share their pregnancy anxieties and concerns.

“I want you to know that I was involved and that I was looking out for you from the very beginning and I’m always going to be your biggest protector,” Burton tells his one-month-old daughter. “That’s what I did from the beginning of this experience, trying to learn as much as I could.”

Unequal healthcare access, medical disparities and discriminatory treatment contribute to varying death rates among women of different ethnicities, reports the National Center for Health Statistics. Recent viral phone recordings – including one from Indiana – document medical personnel dismissing Black women’s concerns during labor.

Black women’s maternal death rates far exceed those of other ethnic groups. In 2023, they experienced 50.3 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to CDC data. White women had 14.5 deaths, while Hispanic and Asian women faced 12.4 and 10.7 deaths respectively.

The National Healthy Start Association, established in 1998 to improve infant and maternal survival rates, employs “fatherhood practitioners” across its 116 locations. These specialists, working alongside case managers, provide men with resources including online seminars, text messaging support and culinary instruction.

Kenneth Scarborough, NHSA’s fatherhood and men’s health consultant for a decade, observes growing inclusion of male partners in efforts to protect pregnant women’s health.

“There’s more research that is being done to be able to change those narratives, without a shadow of a doubt,” Scarborough said. “The challenge with that is still getting these institutions to understand the value of making sure that Dad is there and he is at the table.”

Medical professionals continue to marginalize Black fathers, “on the fringes of the conversation” while society frequently portrays them as “scary and rough,” explained Dr. Ndidiamaka Amutah-Onukagha, founder and director of the Center of Black Maternal Health and Reproductive Justice at Tufts University.

She reports numerous stories of fathers being overlooked during medical consultations, despite father participation being “directly correlated with better outcomes.”

Black patients often receive advice to find physicians who share their background, which Wilmot-Burton pursued.

“I thought maybe she would be more caring, be more willing to listen to my issues, which she was,” she said.

However, Black physicians represent a small fraction of OB-GYNs nationally. Among approximately 43,700 practicing OB-GYNs, only 7.5% are Black women, based on 2023 American Medical Association and Association of American Medical Colleges statistics. Black men comprise an even smaller portion at 2.3%.

Deborah Frazier, National Healthy Start’s CEO, emphasizes that medical institutions must abandon negative attitudes toward father participation. Black and Hispanic fathers continue facing assumptions of abandonment.

“We have data and interviews with fathers, and those fathers have told us that they wanted to be there with their partners, and they wanted be present for their births,” Frazier said.

Charles Johnson IV established 4Kira4Moms in 2017 following his wife Kira’s death from bleeding during cesarean surgery at Los Angeles’ Cedars-Sinai hospital. Johnson filed suit against the facility in 2022, claiming she died due to institutional racism.

Fathers must learn to balance firmness with diplomacy while maintaining a “force in the room,” according to the organization’s executive director Gabrielle Albert.

“What if you happen to be 6-foot-5 and 200-something pounds? If you speak up, what’s gonna happen?” Albert said. “Let’s role play conversations. How do you push back against the doctor?”

Last August – two months before Wilmot-Burton’s delivery – Burton joined eleven other expectant fathers practicing with infant dolls at a Dads to Doulas session. Instructor Kyra Betts Patton informed them that research indicates engaged fathers-to-be can reduce premature birth risks.

“The largest timeframe for maternal mortality, you’re looking at 43 to 100 days after you’ve had a baby. No one’s there but the partner,” Patton said.

Burton credits the training with giving him confidence to speak up during the pregnancy, bringing question lists from class to each medical visit.

“I pushed hard prior to the delivery to make sure that our birth plan was followed, even though it wasn’t completely. But she (Phoenix) still turned out great and was delivered successfully,” said Burton. He also completed courses with the Indiana Breastfeeding Coalition.

Wilmot-Burton praises her husband for attending these programs while managing work and graduate studies. His support proved essential, particularly during times of illness or anxiety.

“I would encourage other Black women to make sure their partners are on board to attend some classes or read books,” she said, “and definitely go to as many appointments as they can.”

Major American food manufacturers and grocery chains are announcing sweeping changes to remove synthetic coloring agents and artificial sweeteners from their products, driven by the “Make America Healthy Again” movement and shifting consumer demands.

Target joined the growing list of companies making these commitments on Friday, announcing it will exclusively stock breakfast cereals manufactured without certified synthetic colors starting by the end of May 2026.

The nationwide trend follows statements from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and federal health officials who announced last April their goal to eliminate certain ingredients, including artificial food coloring, due to potential connections to health issues such as ADHD, obesity and diabetes – though many researchers say more studies are needed in this area.

Kennedy has also spoken out against high sugar intake in typical American diets.

Mars will launch products free of artificial colors across their gum, fruit candy and chocolate lines in 2026, affecting popular brands like Extra, Skittles, Starburst and M&M’s.

Hershey has committed to removing synthetic dyes from their snack products by the close of 2027.

J.M. Smucker announced plans to eliminate synthetic food coloring from all consumer products by late 2027, while also working to stop distributing products containing synthetic dyes to elementary and secondary schools during the 2026-2027 academic year.

Conagra Brands will strip synthetic dyes from their frozen food lineup and stop using artificial colors in school meal products by the end of 2027, with school changes taking effect by 2026-27.

Nestle USA aims to completely remove synthetic food coloring from their American food and drink offerings by mid-2026. The company reports that more than 90% of their current product lines are already free of artificial dyes.

General Mills, which makes Cheerios, will eliminate artificial colors from their complete American retail operation and remove synthetic dyes from all cereals and school foods by summer 2026, with full completion by late 2027.

Kraft Heinz will stop introducing new products containing artificial colors in America and work to remove synthetic dyes from current products by 2027’s end.

Walmart-owned Sam’s Club plans to remove more than 40 ingredients, including artificial colors and aspartame, from their Member’s Mark private label products by the end of 2025.

Tyson Foods will reformulate products containing petroleum-derived synthetic dyes by May 2025’s end, and eliminate high fructose corn syrup, sucralose, BHA/BHT and titanium dioxide from branded American products by late 2025.

WK Kellogg will remove FD&C colors from affected products by 2027’s conclusion and stop launching new products with these colors starting January 2026, while reformulating school cereals to exclude synthetic dyes.

PepsiCo will eliminate artificial colors from school food offerings beginning this upcoming academic year, with full portfolio transition to natural colors planned within the next few years. The beverage giant also indicated it will use regular sugar in products like Pepsi if customers prefer it.

Coca-Cola plans to offer a cane sugar-sweetened version of Coke in the United States.

Kellanova is on schedule to remove synthetic colors from school foods during the 2026/27 school year and from retail products by December 31, 2027.

Campbell’s Company will eliminate all FD&C colors from their food and beverage lineup during the second half of fiscal year 2026.

Walmart will remove all synthetic dyes and over 30 additional ingredients including preservatives, artificial sweeteners and fat substitutes from their American private brand foods by January 2027.

A groundbreaking study reveals why men typically bounce back from injuries faster than women, and it all comes down to biology.

Scientists at Michigan State University have discovered that male immune systems are naturally better at stopping pain signals, which may explain why chronic pain affects women more frequently than men.

The research team, led by Geoffroy Laumet, found that specific immune cells called monocytes create a protein known as interleukin-10 that essentially switches off pain messages from nerves. This process is fueled by male hormones like testosterone.

“The difference in pain between men and women has a biological basis. It’s not in your head, and you’re not soft. It’s in your immune system,” Laumet explained.

During experiments with injured laboratory mice, researchers observed that males had significantly more of these pain-blocking immune cells compared to females. The male mice also recovered from injury-related pain much quicker.

The findings were confirmed in human subjects as well. Among 245 people healing from various injuries, men experienced faster pain relief and showed elevated levels of the beneficial monocytes and interleukin-10 protein.

To test the hormone connection, scientists gave testosterone supplements to female mice that had their ovaries surgically removed. These mice showed increased interleukin-10 levels and quicker pain recovery. Conversely, when male mice had their testosterone-producing organs removed, their pain relief slowed dramatically.

The study, published in Science Immunology, suggests that women’s slower pain recovery puts them at higher risk for developing long-term chronic pain conditions.

Researchers say this discovery changes the focus “from how pain starts to why pain persists” and opens doors for developing new treatment approaches.

“This opens new avenues for non-opioid therapies aimed at preventing chronic pain before it’s established,” Laumet noted.

The next phase of research will explore how medical treatments could target this biological pathway to boost interleukin-10 production in patients.

In related medical news, an experimental cancer drug called rezatapopt showed promising results in early trials for treating aggressive tumors with specific genetic mutations. The drug, developed by PMV Pharmaceuticals, targets the Y220C mutation in the p53 gene and helped restore the gene’s ability to suppress tumor growth.

Among 77 patients with advanced cancers that weren’t responding to standard treatments, researchers saw tumors shrink or disappear in 20% of patients with the targeted mutation, with even better results at higher doses.

“Historically, targeted therapy for TP53 mutations has not been available,” the research team wrote in The New England Journal of Medicine.

A larger clinical trial is now underway testing the most effective dose of 2,000 milligrams daily in patients with ovarian, lung, breast, and other solid tumors.

Meanwhile, separate research reveals that state laws restricting abortion access are creating shortages of obstetricians and gynecologists. Data from 2010 to 2021 shows that Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers laws have reduced the number of OB/GYNs by more than two per 100,000 women of childbearing age.

The shortage hasn’t been offset by increases in midwives, nurse practitioners, or physician assistants specializing in women’s health, according to findings published in Health Economics.

“These findings reveal that abortion restrictions can have much broader effects on maternal healthcare access, raising important considerations for policymakers and healthcare systems nationwide,” said study leader Quan Qi from the University at Albany.

Health experts are stressing the importance of careful food label examination as Alpha-Gal Syndrome cases continue to climb. The condition triggers red meat allergies that can be hidden under various product descriptions on packaging.

Eden Stewart, who works as an educator with the University of Missouri Extension, emphasizes that shoppers must stay alert when checking ingredient lists. The syndrome’s associated red meat sensitivity can appear under multiple different terms on food labels, making thorough inspection crucial for consumer safety.

To address the growing number of Alpha-Gal syndrome diagnoses, the University of Missouri Extension has developed multiple educational materials to help guide affected individuals through safe food shopping practices.

The estate of Henrietta Lacks has reached a settlement agreement with pharmaceutical company Novartis over the unauthorized use of her cells, which were harvested without consent in 1951 and later became fundamental to major medical breakthroughs.

The settlement terms remain confidential after being completed in Maryland federal court this month.

Both the Lacks family and the Switzerland-based pharmaceutical company issued a joint statement saying they are “pleased they were able to find a way to resolve this matter filed by Henrietta Lacks’ Estate outside of court” while declining to provide additional details.

This marks the second legal resolution for the estate, which has filed multiple lawsuits against biomedical corporations for profiting from what they describe as a discriminatory healthcare system that exploited African American patients like Lacks. The agreement concludes the legal battle between one of the world’s major pharmaceutical manufacturers and the family of a woman who succumbed to cervical cancer at 31 years old and was laid to rest in an unmarked burial site.

The 2024 legal action demanded Novartis pay “the full amount of its net profits obtained by commercializing the HeLa cell line,” referring to what the lawsuit characterized as “stolen cells.”

Medical professionals at Johns Hopkins Hospital extracted Lacks’ cervical tissue in 1951 without her awareness, and these cells from her cancerous tumor became the first human cells capable of indefinite growth and division in laboratory conditions. The HeLa cell line revolutionized modern medicine, facilitating numerous scientific breakthroughs and medical developments, from genetic research to COVID-19 vaccine creation, yet the Lacks family received no financial benefit despite the immeasurable contributions to scientific progress.

Johns Hopkins maintains it never commercialized or earned money from the cell lines, though numerous corporations have secured patents for their applications.

Last year, the Lacks estate secured a confidential settlement with biotechnology firm Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. Family attorneys argued that company continued profiting from the cells long after the HeLa cell line’s origins became widely recognized, unfairly benefiting from Lacks’ biological material.

Additional legal cases filed by the estate remain ongoing. Shortly after resolving the Thermo Fisher Scientific matter, estate lawyers initiated litigation against Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical in Baltimore federal court. Legal proceedings against both Ultragenyx and pharmaceutical company Viatris continue.

Family attorneys have suggested more lawsuits may be forthcoming.

Lacks grew up as an impoverished tobacco farmer in southern Virginia before marrying and relocating with her spouse to Turner Station, a predominantly Black neighborhood near Baltimore. The couple was raising five children when physicians found a cervical tumor and preserved a portion of her cancer cells obtained during a medical procedure.

Unlike typical cell samples that quickly deteriorated after removal from the human body, her cells continued living and multiplying in laboratory settings. Scientists named them the first immortalized human cell line because researchers could grow them continuously, allowing scientists worldwide to conduct identical experiments using the same cellular material.

The extraordinary scientific implications and the effects on the Lacks family, several of whom suffered from ongoing health conditions without medical coverage, were chronicled in Rebecca Skloot’s bestselling 2010 book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.” The story was later adapted into an HBO film featuring Oprah Winfrey as her daughter.

DETROIT — When Joelle Haley’s labor began on Christmas Day, she delivered her son Kieran just two days later at only 24 weeks into her pregnancy. As her premature newborn lay in the dimly lit room at Detroit’s hospital, both mother and baby needed something extra for comfort. That something turned out to be vibrant, soft octopi that Haley would craft from yarn.

At the Children’s Hospital of Michigan Neonatal Intensive Care Unit within DMC Hutzel Women’s Hospital, these adorable donated octopi serve a dual purpose for premature infants — they provide comfort while keeping tiny fingers occupied so babies don’t pull on critical medical tubing and equipment.

“Leaving my son at the hospital was incredibly difficult, even though I trusted the staff completely, because I worried ‘what happens if he becomes distressed and has nothing to soothe him at that moment?’” Haley explained Thursday. “Knowing he has something close by that can comfort him makes me feel better, which allows me to care for myself too.”

These octopi follow the Japanese craft tradition known as Amigurumi, which involves creating small stuffed creatures from yarn, and they’re made in an array of bright colors.

After hearing a nurse mention that such items would benefit the NICU, Haley decided to put her crocheting skills to work. The 30-year-old, who has been crocheting since elementary school, has personally created approximately 20 of these creatures and has enlisted help through social media platforms.

“When I last tallied them up, we had received 175 donations, with more still coming in. Contributors sent them from across Michigan,” she noted while bringing a fresh batch to the hospital, where staff placed them in infant bassinets.

Many babies in the unit need respiratory assistance, explained Dr. Jorge Lua, who serves as medical director for the Children’s Hospital of Michigan Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at DMC Hutzel Women’s Hospital.

“Keeping those tubes secure is crucial. Infants sometimes grasp them and inadvertently remove them,” Dr. Lua stated. “When a breathing tube gets displaced, the infant experiences respiratory distress. They cannot breathe properly. Their oxygen levels drop. This can extend the time needed to get them stable again.”

Haley frequently observed her baby boy pulling at the tubes that connected him to NICU machines.

“Knowing I could assist other babies gives me a sense of comfort,” Haley shared. “Watching my son with his octopus reassures me that he’ll feel secure and comforted during my absence. I hope it provides that same peace of mind to other families.”

According to Haley, each octopus requires roughly 30 minutes to complete.

“My mother introduced me to crocheting as a way to manage anxiety,” she said about the craft. “The rhythmic movements give me something to concentrate on and help me feel more relaxed.”

WASHINGTON — Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary has announced plans to implement a new pilot program providing financial bonuses to agency staff members who finish drug evaluations before their deadlines.

During a Thursday staff meeting, Makary outlined the initiative that would begin distributing quarterly bonus payments to eligible employees starting around August. The Associated Press obtained presentation materials and audio from the meeting.

“My job as your commissioner is to be your advocate and to fight for you,” Makary stated to FDA personnel, noting that securing approval for the payment system required “some wrangling.”

“If you don’t like it, we can get rid of it, but usually everybody loves money,” Makary added.

The new system creates several concerns, particularly regarding how payments will be allocated among the large teams that typically work together on drug evaluations. Workers not directly involved in drug reviews, including facility inspectors, won’t qualify for these payments. The program also raises ethical questions about whether reviewers might feel pressured to accelerate processes crucial for verifying medication safety and efficacy.

For decades, the FDA has collected fees from pharmaceutical companies to fund additional personnel for expedited reviews of new prescription medications and vaccines. While the agency operates under industry agreements with specific timelines and performance measures for completing reviews, it has never previously provided direct financial incentives to workers for meeting or surpassing these targets.

According to presentation materials shown to FDA staff, the bonus system is designed “to recognize and reward staff who find ways to be more efficient delivering high-quality work activities that ultimately benefit patients.”

Senior agency officials explained during the meeting that payments would be calculated using “weighted time savings” accomplished by employees and their teams, combined with assessments of “work quality and work complexity.”

“This program values speed, but never at the expense of quality,” according to one presentation slide.

This announcement comes during a period when the agency is experiencing significant staffing losses in its drug review divisions due to retirements and departures following broader workforce reductions and buyout offers across other agency departments. FDA records indicate that the drug and biologics centers responsible for overseeing prescription drugs, vaccines, and biotechnology products have lost approximately 20% of their workforce since President Donald Trump assumed office one year ago.

Furthermore, some agency reviewers are unable to participate in certain projects because they are currently interviewing for positions within the pharmaceutical industry.

The initiative could also harm public trust in the FDA, which has frequently faced criticism for being too closely connected to the drug companies it regulates.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who supervises the agency, has characterized FDA staff as “a sock puppet” of industry since taking his position as the nation’s leading health official last February.

Approximately 70% of the FDA’s drug program funding comes from user fees paid by pharmaceutical companies submitting products for review. This arrangement has enabled the agency to employ thousands of additional scientists and reduce review timeframes by more than half compared to pre-funding levels.

Since joining the agency last April, Makary has introduced several initiatives aimed at accelerating FDA reviews, including providing one-month drug evaluations for new medications serving “national interests.” Within just the past two weeks, Makary announced the FDA would eliminate its long-standing requirement for two clinical trials in drug reviews and establish a new approval pathway for treatments that can only be tested in limited patient populations.

These announcements promoting accelerated, simplified approvals occur as the agency faces scrutiny regarding its recent management of vaccines, gene therapies, and other specialized treatments.

The FDA’s chief scientist and vaccine director, Dr. Vinay Prasad, has personally overturned staff decisions by rejecting multiple experimental therapies and biotech drugs, citing requirements for additional research and more conclusive evidence.

Earlier this month, Prasad declined to accept Moderna’s application for a new mRNA influenza vaccine, stating its clinical trial was inadequate. However, less than a week later, the agency changed its position, agreeing to review the vaccine after Moderna committed to conducting an additional study involving older patients.

A significant transformation in organ donation practices is reshaping how lifesaving transplants happen across the United States, according to new research published Thursday.

Medical professionals are seeing a dramatic rise in organ donations from patients whose hearts have stopped beating, rather than from those declared brain dead – a change that has fundamentally altered the transplant landscape in just over two decades.

Known as donation after circulatory death (DCD), this approach represented nearly half of all deceased organ donors nationwide in 2023, a remarkable increase from just 2% in 2000, researchers from NYU Langone Health discovered.

Advanced medical technology has enabled doctors to overcome previous obstacles in preserving organs as the heart ceases function, driving this surge during a time when the nation desperately seeks solutions to address organ shortages. Currently, more than 100,000 Americans remain on transplant waiting lists, with thousands dying while waiting for organs. Last year saw approximately 49,000 transplant procedures completed.

However, the NYU study revealed significant regional disparities in circulatory death donations, indicating that improved education for hospitals and communities could potentially expand access to these critical procedures even further.

The research, featured in JAMA medical journal, emerges amid concerning incidents where potential donors displayed signs of life, creating uncertainty about transplant protocols.

Federal authorities and certified organ procurement organizations are now developing enhanced safety measures, with these new research findings potentially influencing future policy decisions.

“Donation after circulatory death is complex and we need to make sure we are doing it well,” explained Dr. Babak Orandi, a transplant surgeon at NYU and study co-author. “If we stop doing it or severely restrict it, there would be pretty significant repercussions for patients.”

Traditional organ donation typically involves brain death declarations, where medical testing confirms complete loss of brain activity. In these cases, patients remain on ventilators to preserve organs until surgical removal.

Circulatory death donation becomes possible when patients suffer injuries incompatible with survival but retain some brain function, and families decide to discontinue life support. Death occurs as the heart gradually ceases beating. Medical guidelines require a mandatory five-minute waiting period after heart stoppage to ensure it won’t resume before doctors can declare death.

Legal requirements strictly prohibit donation and transplant teams from participating in life support decisions, and they cannot be present when support is withdrawn. Organ recovery only begins after official death declaration. If death doesn’t occur within approximately two hours, organs become unusable and recovery attempts are abandoned.

The NYU research team examined information from the national Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network and 55 regional organ procurement organizations.

In 2023, circulatory death donations comprised more than half of all donors at 24 organ procurement agencies, though this varied dramatically across regions, with some organizations reporting as low as 11%.

Hospital capabilities influence these numbers significantly, according to the Association for Organ Procurement Organizations. While life support withdrawal decisions are routine, smaller or rural medical facilities may lack familiarity with the additional procedures required for donation.

Technology adoption also plays a crucial role. Organ quality can deteriorate as hearts stop, temporarily cutting off oxygen supply. Following death declaration, a technique called normothermic regional perfusion enables surgeons to briefly restore blood circulation to chest and abdominal organs – while avoiding the brain – during the delicate removal process.

This innovation has expanded the use of organs from older, more medically complex donors after cardiac death, though temporarily restoring circulation after death has sparked ethical debates.

The Health Resources and Services Administration is developing new national policies to strengthen safeguards for this donation type. One proposed change would allow anyone involved with potential donors who questions whether conditions are appropriate for life support withdrawal to request a pause in preparations.

Additional proposals would mandate that organ procurement organizations document proper neurological examinations by hospitals caring for potential donors and provide comprehensive education to families about required procedures.

The Association of Organ Procurement Organizations has established similar guidelines, with some organizations already implementing hospital checklists.

The association also recommends conducting life support withdrawal in intensive care units rather than operating rooms to reduce public confusion about death timing and when organ teams become involved, stated association president Jeff Trageser.

“Donation after circulatory death requires a lot of buy-in from the community, including the local hospitals, to make this happen,” Orandi noted. “A couple of cases out of many, many cases has led to a loss of trust.”

Federal health regulators announced Thursday they have granted full approval to a Boehringer Ingelberg medication targeting patients battling advanced lung cancer who have already undergone previous treatments.

The Food and Drug Administration’s decision represents just the second drug to receive clearance through the agency’s Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher pilot program, a special pathway designed to expedite certain treatments.

The approval provides a new treatment option for patients facing this challenging form of cancer who have exhausted other therapeutic approaches.

Federal health regulators are preparing to launch a financial incentive program designed to accelerate the drug approval process, according to a Bloomberg News report published Thursday.

The Food and Drug Administration will implement a quarterly bonus system for scientific reviewers who finish drug evaluations ahead of their deadlines while maintaining high standards, sources familiar with the initiative told Bloomberg.

Scientists participating in the program could earn bonuses valued at several thousand dollars each quarter for expedited, quality work, the report indicated. Agency officials are expected to unveil the program during an internal FDA meeting scheduled for today.

When contacted by Reuters, the Department of Health and Human Services, which supervises the FDA, had not yet provided a response regarding the bonus program.

Bloomberg’s reporting also revealed that the agency is actively recruiting more than 1,000 additional scientists as part of a comprehensive strategy to speed up drug evaluation timelines.

The bonus system is set to launch on April 1 and will cover reviewers working within the FDA’s two primary divisions responsible for evaluating pharmaceuticals and vaccines. The first bonus payments are anticipated to be distributed around August, according to the report.

Federal health authorities announced Thursday that a dangerous botulism outbreak connected to ByHeart infant formula has officially concluded, with no additional cases documented since mid-December, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The outbreak affected a total of 48 infants beginning in 2023. Health officials noted this number represents a slight decrease from earlier reports after three children received different diagnoses unrelated to botulism.

Every affected infant required hospital care, though authorities report no fatalities occurred during the outbreak.

Health officials remain uncertain about the specific details of how, when, or where the organic whole-milk powder formula became infected with bacteria capable of causing severe illness, paralysis, and potentially death in infants under one year old.

The majority of cases emerged after August, when California’s Infant Botulism Treatment and Prevention program noticed a concerning increase in illness reports among babies who had consumed ByHeart products.

The New York-based company initially pulled two specific batches from shelves in early November, then broadened the recall to include all their products within days. Federal authorities later stated they couldn’t eliminate the possibility of contamination in products manufactured since the company began operations in March 2022. Retailers across the country removed the formula, which had been marketed as offering “next-to-breast milk benefits.”

Food and Drug Administration investigators have not yet determined the underlying cause of the contamination.

The agency released a statement explaining they had found 17 different bacterial strains in samples taken from patients, sealed formula containers, and raw ingredients. These samples “add to the available evidence needed to investigate the root cause of this outbreak,” though they don’t provide a conclusive answer, according to the agency.

FDA officials previously suggested that powdered whole milk used in ByHeart formula production might have been a contamination source.

Food safety specialists describe botulism cases from infant formula as extremely uncommon, calling the ByHeart situation unprecedented in both scale and reach.

The illness develops when infants consume botulism spores that grow in their digestive system and create a harmful toxin targeting the nervous system. While death rates previously reached 90%, current treatment methods have reduced fatalities to under 1%.

The sole available treatment involves an intravenous medication called BabyBIG, created from blood plasma donated by adults who received botulism immunization. California’s specialized program serves as the only global supplier of this treatment.

ByHeart held approximately 1% of the American infant formula market and previously distributed roughly 200,000 containers monthly. Parents whose children became ill reported selecting the $42-per-can formula based on its promoted health advantages.

NEW YORK — Healthcare workers at a major New York hospital system have resumed their duties this Thursday, following the conclusion of a lengthy labor dispute that lasted more than six weeks.

Over 4,000 nursing staff members at NewYork-Presbyterian facilities walked off the job on January 12th as part of a broader labor action that also impacted two additional major private hospital networks in New York City — Montefiore and Mount Sinai.

While nursing staff at Montefiore and Mount Sinai concluded their work stoppage on February 11th after reaching agreements with the New York State Nurses Association, NewYork-Presbyterian nurses turned down that initial proposal and continued their protest. They finally voted to accept a new three-year agreement this past Saturday, bringing their 41-day work stoppage to an end.

The final agreement includes enhanced staffing protocols, wage increases exceeding 12% spread across three years, and protections regarding artificial intelligence implementation, the union reported.

According to union representatives, approximately 15,000 nursing professionals across the three hospital systems initially participated in the work stoppage. The action affected select facilities within each network but did not impact any city-operated medical centers.

Throughout the labor dispute, all three hospital systems — Montefiore, Mount Sinai, and NewYork-Presbyterian — hired thousands of temporary nursing staff, relocated certain patients to other facilities, and postponed some medical procedures. Hospital administrators maintained they continued providing quality patient care, including complicated surgical operations. However, some patients and family members reported delays in basic care tasks.

The nursing staff cited overwhelming patient loads and alleged attempts by hospital management to reduce healthcare benefits as primary concerns. Hospital leadership disputed these assertions and characterized the union’s contract demands as unreasonable.

This wasn’t the first recent labor action at these facilities — nurses at certain Mount Sinai and Montefiore locations also conducted a brief three-day strike in 2023.

A groundbreaking legal battle against major tech companies continues Thursday in Los Angeles, where a California woman is scheduled to give testimony about how childhood exposure to social media platforms damaged her mental well-being.

The plaintiff, identified in legal documents as Kaley G.M., started using YouTube when she was just 6 years old and began accessing Instagram at age 9. She alleges these early experiences with social media led to serious mental health struggles, including depression and body dysmorphia.

According to her legal team, both Meta Platforms and Google deliberately designed their services to create dependency among young users while being fully aware that social media exposure could cause psychological harm to children.

Her scheduled court appearance follows testimony from her previous psychotherapist, who told the court Wednesday that teenage social media use was a “contributing factor” in the woman’s psychological difficulties.

This legal challenge reflects a growing worldwide movement to hold social media companies accountable for potential damage to young people’s mental health. Australia recently implemented a complete ban on social media access for anyone under 16, while several other nations are exploring similar protective measures.

Both YouTube and Meta have rejected these accusations, stating that the evidence presented does not validate the plaintiff’s assertions about their platforms causing harm.

The plaintiff’s legal representatives brought in the therapist to establish groundwork for the current trial phase, which examines whether and how Kaley’s childhood interaction with these platforms impacted her psychological state.

Earlier portions of the trial concentrated on examining what these companies understood about social media’s effects on children and their marketing approaches targeting younger demographics. Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg provided testimony indicating his company considered but ultimately decided against launching products specifically for children.

For a successful outcome, Kaley’s attorneys must demonstrate that the companies’ platform design or operational methods played a significant role in either causing or intensifying her mental health problems.

Country music legend Dolly Parton is expanding her philanthropic reach by supporting children’s healthcare in Tennessee. The East Tennessee Children’s Hospital revealed Thursday it has been renamed Dolly Parton Children’s Hospital following a major donation from the Grammy-winning artist.

In a video message, Parton expressed her commitment to helping young patients and their families. “Ever since I’ve been in a position to do my part, to help others, I have tried to do just that. Especially when children and families need it most,” Parton said in a video announcement. “I’ve always believed that every child deserves a fair chance to grow up healthy, hopeful and surrounded with love.”

The country star’s charitable work extends far beyond this latest contribution. Through her Imagination Library program, Parton distributes 3 million complimentary books monthly to children nationwide. She also contributed $1 million toward Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s research efforts that supported development of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. Her foundation additionally funds college scholarships and disaster relief efforts.

While hospital officials did not disclose the donation amount, President and CEO Matt Schaefer emphasized that Parton’s contribution will guarantee “every child who walks through our doors receives the treatment they deserve.”

Adam Cook, who serves as the independent nonprofit facility’s chief development and public affairs officer, assured the community that patient care standards will remain unchanged. The donation “encourages us to continue to support our mission,” Cook noted.

“This is a generational collaboration that will transform pediatric care in this region,” Cook said in a statement to the Associated Press. “It will positively impact patients and families for decades to come.”

The financial backing arrives during a challenging period when rural medical facility closures have reduced healthcare access for millions of Americans.

Since opening its doors in 1937, the medical center has maintained a policy welcoming all children regardless of background, faith, or financial circumstances. The primary facility in Knoxville serves as the hub for more than 20 locations throughout eastern Tennessee.

Parton expressed gratitude for the opportunity to support the hospital’s medical staff and encouraged community involvement. “I can’t do it all myself,” she said in the video.

A federal health advisory panel will examine COVID-19 vaccine side effects and persistent coronavirus symptoms during an upcoming meeting next month, according to a government announcement.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is scheduled to discuss and potentially vote on guidance related to COVID vaccine injuries and long COVID symptoms at their March 18-19 gathering, based on documentation filed in the Federal Register.

The committee’s guidance traditionally influences how health insurers make coverage decisions, shapes state requirements for school vaccinations, and helps doctors counsel their patients and families. Last year, the entire 17-member panel was dismissed and replaced by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has expressed skepticism about vaccines.

Social media wellness gurus are promoting a technique they say can transform high-calorie foods like rice, pasta, and potatoes into diet-friendly alternatives simply by refrigerating them after cooking.

While their claims aren’t entirely accurate, researchers have found some legitimate science behind this cooling method that could benefit those trying to manage their weight.

For years, health and nutrition influencers have been advocating for a scientific process known as retrogradation. They encourage followers to cook starchy foods, refrigerate them, and then warm them up again, promising this technique will reduce the caloric content.

The process of retrogradation does exist, though the reality is more nuanced than social media suggests.

The bulk of carbohydrates and calories in these foods comes from starch, which exists in two forms: amylose, which resists digestion, and amylopectin, which breaks down easily. Amylopectin gets processed rapidly and causes blood sugar to surge, while amylose digests slowly and keeps blood sugar more steady.

Raw starchy foods like uncooked potatoes contain primarily the difficult-to-digest variety (known as resistant starch), but the cooking process transforms it into the easily processed type. This transformation explains why people with diabetes must carefully monitor their intake of cooked starches.

The cooling process that excites influencers works like this: refrigerating cooked starches initiates retrogradation, which changes the easily digested starch back into the resistant form, making it harder for the body to process even after reheating.

So what does this mean for calorie counts and blood sugar management? Here’s what research reveals:

Scientific investigations into retrogradation’s dietary effects have typically been limited in scope and have concentrated on how resistant starches affect blood glucose, especially in diabetic patients.

Several research studies conducted since 2015 have demonstrated that participants who consumed rice that had been cooked and subsequently chilled experienced notably lower blood glucose responses compared to those who ate freshly prepared rice. These results have gained broad scientific acceptance.

However, fewer studies have examined whether retrogradation actually decreases the available calories in these foods.

Dr. David Ludwig, an endocrinologist and researcher at Boston Children’s Hospital, offers a measured perspective. “It doesn’t appreciably change the calorie content of that food,” he explained. “(But) it may well affect your hormones and metabolism in a way that makes controlling calories a lot easier.”

While retrogradation’s impact on calories isn’t as immediate or significant as some claim, Ludwig believes it still holds value as part of a healthier eating approach.

Consuming foods rich in resistant starch prevents the typical blood sugar spike that occurs after eating cooked carbohydrates, he noted. This benefit extends beyond diabetic patients.

Research indicates that these sugar spikes stimulate the brain’s reward pathways and create cravings, increasing the likelihood of overeating during snacks and subsequent meals.

Additionally, these blood sugar surges boost insulin production, which not only increases hunger but also shifts the body’s metabolism toward storing more calories as fat, Ludwig explained.

“When the food retrogrades, it digests more slowly,” he said. “It’s going to keep your blood sugar more stable. You’ll have less insulin to drive fat storage and likely have an easier time avoiding overeating.”

While chilling can theoretically reduce some negative effects of a diet heavy in refined starches, Dr. Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, questions its practicality. He says it would need to be done consistently to be effective, and he doubts whether most people can maintain this practice.

The process also isn’t universally applicable. Retrogradation produces better results with certain grain types than others. Food manufacturers often prefer rice varieties that naturally contain less resistant starch because they cook faster. Since this information typically isn’t available to shoppers, consumers can’t easily determine when chilling will make a meaningful difference.

Willett also emphasized that retrogradation only addresses blood sugar concerns.

“Chilling does not restore the losses of fiber, minerals and vitamins that have been removed in the refining process,” he said.

Instead, he recommends a simpler approach: replacing refined grains with minimally processed whole grains prepared using standard cooking methods.

Meta announced Thursday that Instagram will begin sending alerts to parents when their teenage children conduct multiple searches for content related to suicide or self-harm. These notifications will only reach families who have signed up for the platform’s existing parental supervision tools.

The social media giant explained that it currently prevents such harmful content from appearing in teenagers’ search results and instead redirects users to mental health resources and crisis hotlines.

This new safety measure arrives while Meta faces significant legal challenges concerning child protection. Currently, a Los Angeles courtroom is examining allegations that Meta’s social platforms intentionally create addiction and cause harm to young users. Simultaneously, a separate case in New Mexico is investigating whether the company adequately shields children from sexual predators on its services. Numerous families, school systems, and government agencies have filed lawsuits against Meta and competing social media companies, alleging these platforms are purposely designed to create dependency while failing to protect young users from harmful content that may contribute to depression, eating disorders, and suicidal thoughts.

Company leadership, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, has rejected claims that their platforms cause addiction. While testifying under oath in the Los Angeles proceedings, Zuckerberg maintained his position that current scientific research has not established a causal link between social media use and mental health problems.

Parents will receive these safety alerts through multiple channels including email, text messages, or WhatsApp notifications, based on their available contact details, plus direct notifications within their own Instagram accounts.

“Our goal is to empower parents to step in if their teen’s searches suggest they may need support. We also want to avoid sending these notifications unnecessarily, which, if done too much, could make the notifications less useful overall,” Meta explained in their official announcement.

The company also revealed plans for additional parental notifications regarding teenagers’ conversations with artificial intelligence systems. “These will notify parents if a teen attempts to engage in certain types of conversations related to suicide or self-harm with our AI,” Meta stated. “This is important work and we’ll have more to share in the coming months.”

Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly shared updated findings Thursday from a clinical comparison study involving their experimental weight-loss medication orforglipron and competitor Novo Nordisk’s oral diabetes drug in diabetic patients, providing more comprehensive information about adverse reactions.

The study revealed that approximately 58% of participants taking the higher 36-milligram dosage of Lilly’s experimental medication experienced mild-to-moderate adverse reactions, including nausea, diarrhea and vomiting. In contrast, 45% of patients receiving the 14-milligram dose of oral semaglutide reported similar issues.

Novo Nordisk markets oral semaglutide as Rybelsus for type 2 diabetes patients to manage blood sugar levels. The trial showed that roughly 10% of participants receiving the 36-milligram orforglipron dosage stopped their treatment due to adverse effects, while only 5% of those taking 14-milligram Rybelsus discontinued therapy for the same reason.

Participants taking orforglipron also experienced an average increase in heart rate during the study period.

Earlier results released in September demonstrated that the 36-milligram orforglipron dosage reduced average blood glucose levels by 2.2%, outperforming the 1.4% reduction seen with 14-milligram Rybelsus.

Weight loss results showed participants on 36-milligram orforglipron shed an average of 8.9 kilograms (19.7 pounds), representing 9.2% of their body weight. Those taking 14-milligram Rybelsus lost an average of 5 kilograms (11 pounds), or 5.3% of their weight.

“We think that the totality of the profile here is a trade-off that patients will be very happy to make because they are getting better glycemic control and better weight loss as well as no restriction on dosing with food and water,” said Kenneth Custer, president of Lilly Cardiometabolic Health.

Both Lilly’s orforglipron and Rybelsus work by mimicking the appetite-suppressing GLP-1 hormone, the same target as Lilly’s successful injectable medication tirzepatide, which is marketed as Mounjaro and Zepbound.

National Public Radio host A Martinez recently sat down with Jerome Adams, the former United States Surgeon General, to discuss the upcoming confirmation process for the person anticipated to become the country’s next chief medical officer.

The conversation focused on the hearing process that will determine whether the nominee will be approved for the nation’s top health position.

European regulators announced Wednesday they are implementing strict new safety measures for importing a key ingredient used in baby formula from China, following a contamination crisis that made dozens of infants sick across the continent.

The European Commission said it will now require special safety certificates for all shipments of arachidonic acid (ARA) oil coming from Chinese suppliers after batches tainted with cereulide toxin entered the baby formula supply chain, causing nausea and vomiting in infants.

Major baby formula manufacturers including Nestle and Danone were forced to pull products from store shelves in widespread recalls that resulted in millions of dollars in financial losses.

According to the commission’s announcement Wednesday, the Chinese-sourced arachidonic acid oil “was likely to constitute a serious risk for human health.”

“Consignments should be accompanied by an official certificate stating that all the results of sampling and analyses show the absence of cereulide toxin,” the commission said.

“To ensure food safety and to avoid the entry into the union of unsafe arachidonic acid oil originating in China, this regulation should enter into force as a matter of urgency.”

Formula manufacturers have stopped purchasing supplies from Cabio Biotech, the Chinese company identified as the source of the tainted ingredient. The company did not respond to requests for comment.

When questioned about Cabio Biotech’s involvement in the recall crisis earlier this month, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said: “I would like to point out that the Chinese government takes food safety very seriously and will continue to take strong measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.”

California wildlife officials have shut down popular elephant seal viewing tours after confirming that seven seal pups have contracted avian flu at Año Nuevo State Park. Additional animals are displaying symptoms of the illness, researchers announced Wednesday.

Scientists from UC Santa Cruz and UC Davis confirmed this marks the first documented case of the bird flu virus affecting marine mammals in California waters.

The global avian flu pandemic that started in 2020 has killed millions of domestic birds and infected wildlife across the globe. Marine mammals like seals and sea lions have proven especially susceptible to the disease. Recent outbreaks have claimed thousands of sea lions in Chile and Peru, thousands of elephant seals in Argentina, and hundreds of seals along New England’s coast.

While health officials consider the virus low-risk for humans, they’re urging the public to stay away from the seals and keep pets at a safe distance.

Each winter, thousands of massive elephant seals migrate to Año Nuevo State Park, located roughly 90 minutes south of San Francisco, for their breeding season activities including fighting, mating and birthing. This natural phenomenon attracts countless tourists and nature enthusiasts who come to observe Earth’s largest seal species, either from designated public areas or through guided docent-led excursions into the breeding colonies.

The park’s viewing areas are now closed and all tours have been suspended “out of an abundance of caution,” according to Jordan Burgess, deputy district superintendent for California’s Department of Parks and Recreation. Officials believe this action will help prevent potential disease transmission that could occur from human foot traffic through elephant seal habitats, she explained.

“We’re definitely not panicking about human exposure at this point,” Burgess stated, emphasizing that the priority is protecting both seal populations and public health.

Christine Johnson, who heads UC Davis’ Institute for Pandemic Insights at the Weill School of Veterinary Medicine, said researchers detected the outbreak rapidly due to heightened surveillance efforts in recent years. After observing sick and deceased animals on February 19th and 20th, scientists gathered samples for analysis at the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System. Laboratory results confirmed the presence of HPAI H5N1 virus in the specimens.

Approximately 30 additional animal samples are awaiting test results, Johnson noted.

University scientists are collaborating with state and federal wildlife agencies along with The West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network to continue monitoring the affected animals.

A tragic incident in Rhode Island serves as a deadly reminder of winter weather dangers after a college football player lost his life to carbon monoxide poisoning while trying to charge his phone during a power outage.

Joseph Boutros, a 21-year-old student at Salve Regina University, was discovered unresponsive in his vehicle Monday outside a campus building in Newport, Rhode Island. Emergency responders determined the young man died accidentally from carbon monoxide exposure after snow from a major winter storm blocked his car’s exhaust system.

The massive storm had left hundreds of thousands without electricity throughout the Northeast region. Newport Police Captain Joseph Carroll explained that Boutros had informed another student he planned to use his vehicle to charge his phone since the area had lost power. The university’s football program expressed being “heartbroken” over Boutros’ passing in a social media announcement.

Rhode Island residents continued dealing with storm aftermath Wednesday, with many facing a third consecutive day trapped at home due to unplowed neighborhood streets.

While winter storms bring obvious dangers like icy conditions and freezing temperatures, one of the deadliest threats from heavy snowfall remains invisible to human senses.

Understanding carbon monoxide dangers becomes crucial during power failures and frigid weather conditions.

Winter months and periods following significant snowfall create elevated carbon monoxide poisoning risks, according to Centers for Disease Control data. Cold temperatures lead people to rely more heavily on heating equipment and furnaces that produce this deadly gas.

Various equipment failures can block adequate ventilation systems, with accumulated snow frequently obstructing exhaust outlets and air vents.

Medical professionals call carbon monoxide the “silent killer” since people cannot smell, see, or taste this dangerous substance. Extended contact with carbon monoxide prevents blood from delivering oxygen to vital body organs.

Initial symptoms include severe headaches, confusion, and fatigue, which progress to loss of consciousness, seizures, and ultimately death.

Dangerous carbon monoxide accumulation occurs when individuals operate heating equipment without adequate airflow or ventilation systems — including running vehicles in enclosed garages, moving outdoor grills indoors, or using gas cooking appliances for warmth. Tragic situations similar to Monday’s fatal incident often involve people waiting in vehicles for extended periods without realizing blocked exhaust systems.

A significant historical example occurred during 1978, when a severe snowstorm dumped two feet of snow across New England within approximately 30 hours. The rapid snowfall stranded about 3,000 automobiles and 500 commercial trucks along an eight-mile stretch of Massachusetts highway, according to New England Historical Society records.

During that storm, 14 individuals died from carbon monoxide exposure while trapped in their snow-covered vehicles.

Vehicle-related incidents represent just one danger source. A devastating 2022 storm claimed more than three dozen lives, including at least one person who died when snow covered heating system vents and sent carbon monoxide into their New York residence.

Jake Fisher, Consumer Reports’ senior director of automotive testing, notes that sitting in running vehicles typically poses minimal risk under normal circumstances. However, drivers should watch for warning indicators and schedule annual vehicle inspections. Automobiles become more susceptible to exhaust system leaks following accidents and require professional evaluation before returning to service.

“Engines emit a lot of very dangerous chemicals and gases,” Fisher said. “If your car is not running right and you hear it sounding funny, you really do need to get it checked out.”

Pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences announced Wednesday that their investigational HIV medication in single-tablet form demonstrated strong patient tolerance with minimal dropout rates during clinical testing, potentially offering HIV patients a new treatment option once their viral levels are controlled.

The company shared comprehensive findings from an advanced clinical study at a Denver medical conference Wednesday, as they prepare to seek regulatory approval for the experimental drug combination.

Study data revealed that patients stopped taking the medication due to side effects at rates of just 1.6% and 0.5% across the two study groups, figures researchers considered notably low.

After 48 weeks of treatment in the same study, only 0.8% of participants taking the new single-pill combination showed detectable virus levels in their bloodstream, while 1.1% of those continuing their previous multiple-pill treatments had detectable viral loads.

Researchers tested the medication in HIV patients who already had suppressed viral levels, including individuals transitioning from complicated multiple-pill treatment plans or from currently recommended single-tablet therapies.

Study participants also indicated greater satisfaction with their treatment after making the switch to the investigational medication, based on findings published in The Lancet medical journal.

The pharmaceutical company stated they intend to provide data from both clinical trials to regulatory agencies for review. No regulatory body has yet granted approval for this drug combination.

Health authorities in South Carolina are seeing hopeful signs that the country’s most significant measles outbreak in over three decades may be beginning to subside, with infections declining for two consecutive weeks.

During a Wednesday briefing, state epidemiologist Dr. Linda Bell credited the dedicated efforts of public health workers for the positive trend. “The hard work and long hours that frontline, often entry-level epidemiologists, have put into this response are largely responsible for this downward trend that is actually occurring a bit earlier than previously projected,” Bell stated, while cautioning that the outbreak “is not by any means over.”

South Carolina has enlisted assistance from infectious disease specialists through the nonprofit CDC Foundation to help manage the crisis, which has become the most extensive measles outbreak nationwide since 1992. As of Tuesday, health officials have documented 979 confirmed cases.

The disease surge started in October and has primarily affected communities in the state’s northwestern counties, particularly around Greenville and Spartanburg areas.

Federal health officials announced Wednesday that they have cleared a new liquid medication designed to treat a rare hormone disorder in children, providing families with a more convenient treatment option.

The Food and Drug Administration authorized Eton Pharmaceuticals’ medication called Desmoda, an oral liquid version of desmopressin specifically formulated to treat central diabetes insipidus, also known as arginine vasopressin deficiency. This uncommon condition occurs when the body cannot produce enough of the hormone responsible for controlling water balance, leading to extreme thirst and frequent urination.

Medical experts say the new approval tackles a significant treatment challenge, as physicians must precisely calibrate medication doses to maintain proper fluid levels and prevent harmful changes in sodium concentrations, particularly in young patients.

Company officials project that Desmoda could bring in between $30 million and $50 million in yearly revenue at its peak performance.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center has discontinued its gender transition surgical services, becoming another healthcare facility to halt these procedures amid concerns over potential federal funding cuts under the Trump administration. The Nashville-based medical center’s decision comes as President Trump has pledged to prevent taxpayer money from funding medical treatments aimed at helping individuals transition to live as a different gender.

Vanderbilt’s situation draws particular attention due to a 2022 incident where one of the medical center’s administrators was recorded on video justifying gender transition surgeries by stating that “these surgeries make a lot of money.” This recording brought significant scrutiny to the institution’s motivations for offering such services.

The medical center joins a growing list of hospitals across the country that have ceased providing these surgical procedures as healthcare institutions navigate the changing federal policy landscape regarding gender transition treatments.

An Indian pharmaceutical company is preparing to introduce a more affordable alternative to popular diabetes and weight-loss medications next month, according to industry sources and documents obtained by Reuters.

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, headquartered in Hyderabad, is expected to roll out its generic semaglutide injection in India during March, marketing it under the brand name Obeda. The medication contains the same active ingredient found in Novo Nordisk’s widely-used diabetes treatment Ozempic and weight-loss medication Wegovy.

Government records show that the Indian drugmaker has submitted trademark applications for both the Obeda brand name and its associated logo.

When contacted for comment, a company representative stated: “As semaglutide is yet to be officially launched, it would not be appropriate to refer to or publish any name as the brand name at this stage.” The pharmaceutical company declined to specify whether their Obeda product will target diabetes treatment or weight management.

The timing coincides with approaching patent expiration dates, as semaglutide’s intellectual property protection in India concludes in March 2026. This has sparked competition among Indian drug manufacturers to develop cost-effective alternatives.

India faces significant health challenges that make such medications particularly relevant. The nation ranks second globally in adult diabetes cases, trailing only China, according to International Diabetes Federation data. Research published in The Lancet projects that India could see more than 440 million people classified as overweight or obese by 2050.

Company leadership has outlined ambitious sales projections for the new product. G.V. Prasad, who serves as Co-Chairman and Managing Director of Dr Reddy’s, revealed plans to distribute approximately 12 million injectable semaglutide pens during the initial year. The pricing strategy aims to undercut existing branded products substantially, potentially offering savings of up to 60%.

The company has secured regulatory permission to produce and distribute a generic equivalent of Ozempic, while still awaiting approval for a Wegovy alternative. Although Ozempic received official approval specifically for diabetes management, medical professionals frequently prescribe it for weight reduction purposes.

The competitive landscape intensified last year when both Novo Nordisk and American competitor Eli Lilly introduced their diabetes and weight-loss treatments to the Indian market. Lilly’s Mounjaro quickly achieved the distinction of becoming India’s highest-grossing medication by monetary value.

Acknowledging the competitive environment ahead, Prasad commented: “Everybody is going to launch, so we’ll have to figure out who will get market share.”

Fancy bottles and compelling marketing messages promising miracle hair transformations often make shoppers question whether they should swap their budget-friendly drugstore shampoo for a luxury product costing five times more.

Hair care specialists and dermatologists confirm that reasonably-priced shampoos and conditioners available at local stores can perform just as effectively as their high-end counterparts that feature attractive social media campaigns and celebrity endorsements. Medical professionals recommend that consumers focus on ingredient lists, understand their specific scalp conditions and hair needs, and consider their complete styling routine — consulting a physician when uncertain about persistent issues.

High-end products may perform effectively and sometimes contain costly active components, dermatologists note. Additional pricing factors include company size and investments in organic components, environmentally-friendly farming practices, and recyclable packaging materials.

Dr. Crystal Aguh, who serves as a dermatologist and heads the Ethnic Skin Program at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, explained that she typically divides patients into two categories: those with damage-prone hair and those with damage-resistant hair.

The damage-prone category encompasses individuals with highly curled hair, those who apply chemical treatments, and people who regularly use heated styling equipment. She noted that damage-resistant characteristics include naturally oily and straight hair textures.

Individuals with fragile hair should steer clear of shampoos listing sodium lauryl sulfate as a primary component, Aguh explained. This ingredient strips away significant amounts of sebum, the natural protective oil coating that shields hair strands. When sebum is removed, hair may become extremely dry and prone to breakage.

For individuals with curly or chemically-treated hair, Aguh suggests reducing washing frequency to prevent excessive sebum removal. She recommended that people with tightly coiled hair should cleanse only once weekly. Those with wavy, color-treated hair might achieve better results washing every two to three days.

Hair that resists damage and tends toward oiliness with straight texture can handle daily washing routines.

While costly shampoos and conditioners may deliver good results, budget-friendly alternatives can achieve comparable performance, Aguh stated. She emphasizes to her patients that “it’s not the products, it’s the process” that most significantly impacts hair wellness, including washing frequency, coloring treatments, and heat styling habits.

“Instead of spending hundreds of dollars thinking, ‘If I just find the right shampoo, right conditioner, all of my troubles will go away,’ you also have to just look at what your process looks like … because that will often do the trick,” she explained.

She confirmed that combining premium and mass-market products works perfectly fine, and consumers shouldn’t feel pressured to purchase complete product lines from expensive brands.

According to Aguh, certain popular brands maintain lower prices because large corporations manufacture them, allowing for cost savings through mass production. In contrast, expensive brands may operate with smaller teams and limited resources, preventing them from achieving similar cost efficiencies.

For dandruff treatment specifically, Aguh frequently suggests over-the-counter options rather than prescription treatments. However, she stressed that persistent dandruff concerns warrant medical consultation.

Dr. Joe Tung, a dermatologist with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, advised people to view shampoo as scalp skincare rather than merely a beauty product.

“Hair itself is biologically inactive once it grows out, but underneath the surface of the skin on the scalp is a full ecosystem with stem cells, immune cells, oil glands, nerve endings,” he explained. “When that ecosystem is balanced, the scalp feels comfortable and hair grows optimally; when it is disrupted, people can experience itching, flaking, excess oil, or hair loss.”

Tung emphasized that consumers should prioritize their scalp’s requirements when selecting shampoo, while conditioner choices should depend on hair texture and existing damage. He noted that dandruff and scalp irritation respond well to shampoos targeting inflammation and bacterial imbalances, while dry or chemically-processed hair benefits from mild cleansers paired with nourishing conditioners.

While expensive hair care products sometimes justify their cost, Tung stressed that a product’s performance depends on active ingredients rather than marketing appeal. “An antifungal ingredient works because of its molecular activity, not because it comes in a luxury bottle or from a prestigious brand,” he stated.

Premium shampoos often feature more sophisticated conditioning compounds and calming ingredients that may enhance comfort during frequent washing, Tung noted. However, some luxury formulations include fragrances or plant extracts that might irritate sensitive skin. He pointed out that straightforward formulas typically work better for people with skin sensitivities.

MOKO Organic Beauty Studio in Philadelphia carries organic shampoos and conditioners priced between $24 and $45. Owner Monique Mason described the salon’s commitment to offering products beneficial for both scalps and environmental health.

Mason identified ingredients as the primary factor affecting price among various considerations. Organic formulations typically exclude inexpensive sulfates, artificial fragrances, and parabens commonly found throughout the personal care market, she explained. Mason also investigates the manufacturing practices of brands she carries to verify their environmental responsibility claims.

“I get to know them, whether they’re family-owned, how they farm, how they source their ingredients,” she said.

In Columbus, Ohio, some young children are getting their reading abilities evaluated before they even step foot in a classroom — it’s happening right in their pediatrician’s office.

As childhood literacy struggles continue nationwide, Nationwide Children’s Hospital has launched a program to evaluate reading skills during routine medical visits for children beginning at age 3. The goal is to identify potential reading difficulties before they become bigger problems and provide parents with tools to support their children at home.

“They are all doing developmental screenings, they’re all talking to parents repeatedly,” explained Sara Bode, who serves as the hospital’s medical director of school-based health. “So this is an opportunity.”

The hospital strategically selected clinic locations based on their closeness to schools where students scored poorly on kindergarten readiness evaluations. Data from the state’s kindergarten readiness assessment shows that over 63% of kindergarten students in Columbus City Schools were not meeting language and literacy benchmarks during the current 2024-2025 academic year.

The literacy crisis extends well beyond Columbus borders. According to the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress — commonly referred to as the nation’s report card — only slightly more than 30% of fourth-grade students demonstrate reading proficiency nationwide. This represents a decline of 4 percentage points since 2019, as educational systems continue working to recover from pandemic-related learning setbacks.

While medical facilities don’t traditionally conduct reading evaluations, several major pediatric hospitals, including Boston Children’s Hospital, have begun offering early literacy resources to families, recognizing how crucial reading skills are for child development.

Children who start kindergarten with weaker reading abilities typically find it difficult to improve in subsequent years. Research from The Children’s Reading Foundation shows that nearly three-quarters of kindergarteners who score in the lowest 20% on readiness tests remain in that bottom tier through fifth grade.

Medical professionals have historically concentrated their developmental evaluations on physical milestones like walking and speaking at appropriate ages. However, Bode noted that children might pass standard pediatric screenings while still lacking other essential skills needed for kindergarten success.

To tackle this challenge, the pediatric facility rolled out literacy evaluations at approximately half of its 13 clinic locations, with each site having a dedicated literacy coordinator. Since the program’s 2022 launch, staff have completed over 2,400 assessments. The hospital primarily serves families without insurance or those covered by Medicaid, representing high-needs communities.

The screenings don’t aim to diagnose specific learning disorders such as dyslexia, but instead pinpoint areas where children might benefit from extra help.

Devin Kearns, an early literacy expert at North Carolina State University, believes having resources beyond the school system to catch reading problems early is beneficial, though selecting appropriate screening methods remains crucial.

Nationwide’s coordinators utilize an assessment tool that evaluates children as they work through a book during their medical appointments — available in both English and Spanish. Staff needed time to perfect the timing, learning to avoid periods right after vaccinations when children might be distressed, but the reading evaluations typically require just 10 minutes.

Following each assessment, coordinators develop individualized literacy plans that identify specific areas requiring additional practice.

These appointments also allow staff to demonstrate activities parents can implement at home, such as reading stories aloud, according to Carneshia Edwards, who oversees the hospital’s kindergarten readiness initiative.

“When we’re doing the screenings, families are kind of concerned that their kids don’t know certain things and it’s not necessarily about that piece of it,” Edwards noted. “It’s just more so exposing them more than anything.”

Before 3-year-old Juri Sleet underwent her literacy evaluation, her grandmother Quintina Davis was concerned that Juri lacked sufficient early learning experiences. However, working with the literacy coordinator at their clinic helped Davis discover numerous activities she could pursue at home with Juri.

“She didn’t know as much, but our coordinator was very patient with her,” Davis shared.

After completing screenings, coordinators assemble literacy packages containing various tools and activities for home practice. These materials are also shaped by input from Columbus City Schools educators regarding what skills students need when entering kindergarten.

The package contents depend largely on program donations. Common items include dry-erase boards for letter writing and books for reading practice. However, the kits might also contain safety scissors or pencils with rubber grips to enhance fine motor abilities.

“Parents are the first teachers, so we really try to encourage them to sit down with their child and just kind of work with them before going into kindergarten,” Edwards emphasized.

Coordinators maintain contact with families they’ve worked with, sometimes connecting children to early education initiatives like the federally-supported Head Start preschool program or SPARK, which provides educational home visits.

When children return for clinic visits a year later, coordinators meet with them again. For Juri, now 4 years old, the follow-up appointment demonstrated how much progress she had achieved over twelve months, her grandmother reported.

During that year, Juri had improved significantly in identifying letters, sounds, and sight words. With her literacy coordinator’s assistance, Juri also began attending preschool at a nearby YMCA, Davis explained. She’s been performing “awesome” there, Davis said, and she’s excited to watch her continue developing.

“The goal is to make sure by the time she starts kindergarten, that she’s absolutely ready without having a lot of challenges,” Davis stated. “So right now, I think she is heading towards that way.”

A unique California medical program that delivers the globe’s only treatment for life-threatening infant botulism brings hope to devastated families in an unexpected way – whimsical birthday cards celebrating their children’s first year of life.

Each year, employees at California’s Infant Botulism Treatment and Prevention Program create and send approximately 200 handmade cards to honor the recovery of youngsters who battled this uncommon and serious illness.

Recently, this recipient list has expanded to include many American infants impacted by a botulism outbreak linked to tainted ByHeart baby formula.

Amy Mazziotti from Burbank, California, was among those who received a birthday greeting for her son Hank this past September, following his 12-day hospital stay after consuming the contaminated ByHeart formula.

“The fact that they take the time to send hand-drawn cards to each baby is incredibly special,” Mazziotti expressed. “When you’re worried about your baby, it’s the small acts like this that somehow feel really big.”

Robin Hinks, a program assistant, oversees the card initiative, handling everything from artwork to distribution and record-keeping.

“I am a big fan of drawing animals with party hats,” Hinks explained, describing her preference for crayons and colored pencils. “Like, here’s a frog with some balloons and a little penguin.”

While the program’s main mission focuses on diagnosing and treating this condition that develops when infants consume botulism spores that grow in their intestines and create a harmful toxin affecting the nervous system and causing paralysis, the personal touch matters greatly. Mortality rates previously reached 90%, but proper treatment has reduced deaths to under 1%.

The exclusive treatment, called BabyBIG, consists of an intravenous medicine created from combined blood plasma of adults who received botulism immunizations. California’s program serves as the worldwide supplier.

Given the rarity of this disease, affecting roughly 200 children annually, the botulism center has evolved into a vital resource and support network for families navigating this difficult experience.

“Support of the babies and their families remains paramount to our program and our mission,” stated Dr. Jessica Khouri, the program’s senior medical officer.

Heather Goody from Gallipolis, Ohio, remembered feeling isolated when her daughter MaryEllen developed infant botulism in 2016. Almost ten years later, Goody continues managing a Facebook community called Infant Botulism Awareness, connecting parents of affected children. The group now includes over 500 members.

She vividly remembers the emotional impact of receiving MaryEllen’s first birthday card.

“It brought all the feels, but most importantly the feeling of gratitude that she was thriving in all areas of life,” Goody recalled.

This ongoing relationship was championed by the late Dr. Stephen Arnon, who alongside his team in 1976 discovered this specific type of botulism affecting infants under one year old, then dedicated the following 45 years to developing effective treatments.

Arnon, who passed away in 2022, maintained regular contact with families of children affected by infant botulism, keeping them informed as his research advanced.

Currently, almost 1,500 families belong to the botulism program’s parent community, including children who received treatment twenty years ago. Members celebrate everything from preschool milestones to college admissions and other significant achievements.

“Former patients have gone on to have families of their own and keep in touch with us,” Khouri noted. “It really is an incredible part of the work we do.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced this week that its vaccine advisory committee will convene on March 18, according to information posted on the agency’s official website.

The scheduled meeting was confirmed in an update published Tuesday on the CDC’s online platform.

BANGKOK — Thai health authorities announced Tuesday that the deaths of 72 tigers at two northern Thailand tourist attractions resulted from canine distemper virus, not bird flu, easing public health concerns about human transmission.

The tiger deaths occurred over approximately 10 days from February 8-18 at animal parks located in Mae Taeng and Mae Rim districts within Chiang Mai province.

“There has not been an animal-to-human infection case,” Public Health Minister Pattana Promphat stated during a Bangkok news conference at Government House.

Laboratory examinations conducted by the Chiang Mai regional livestock office revealed genetic material from canine distemper virus and bacterial infections in the deceased animals, but confirmed no presence of avian influenza type A virus, commonly called bird flu.

Health officials continue monitoring individuals who recently handled the tigers, though no symptoms have appeared among staff or visitors so far.

“If we detect any sick persons, we will prepare for a nationwide monitoring measure,” explained Monthien Khanasawat, who leads the Public Health Ministry’s Disease Control Department. “This will include contact tracing and treatment as necessary.”

The announcement appeared designed to calm public fears about bird flu, which has resurged across parts of Asia. Between 2004 and 2007, Thailand recorded 17 fatalities among 25 people infected with poultry-related influenza, according to ministry data.

Canine distemper virus affects both dogs and cats, but produces more severe symptoms in large felines like tigers. The infection spreads through bodily fluids and airborne transmission. Thai officials noted that tigers in captivity face heightened vulnerability due to stress and inbreeding conditions.

Livestock Development Department Director-General Somchuan Rattanamangklanan reported that all tiger remains underwent complete necropsies before cremation and burial. Workers properly disinfected, photographed and disposed of carcasses to prevent any unauthorized use.

However, veterinarian Visit Arsaithamkul, who participated in the post-mortem examinations, raised concerns about the infection’s unclear origins. Through a Facebook post, he suggested that contaminated food from a shared supplier might explain the outbreak, given that both facilities sit just 30 kilometers apart.

When contacted for additional details, Arsaithamkul declined further comment. Both attractions, operating under the Tiger Kingdom brand, remain temporarily closed. Park operators have not responded to requests for statements.

Thai health officials maintain vigilance regarding potential bird flu threats. Monthien advised citizens to exercise caution with poultry consumption after an unnamed neighboring country reported a human bird flu infection.

Bird flu first jumped from animals to humans in Hong Kong during 1997, followed by a pandemic that spread throughout Asia beginning in 2003. Thailand’s previous outbreak led to the destruction of tens of millions of birds and dramatically reduced poultry consumption due to infection fears.

A bite from the Lone Star tick can trigger Alpha-Gal syndrome, a condition that leads to an allergic reaction to red meat. These ticks have spread throughout several regions of the United States, including the Northeast, South, mid-south, and Midwest areas, typically inhabiting forested locations with thick vegetation and undergrowth.

University of Missouri extension educator Eden Stewart explains that understanding the symptoms is crucial, though not every tick bite will result in developing this meat allergy condition.

A specialized program based in San Francisco has been dedicated to helping nervous passengers overcome their aviation phobias for half a century.

The clinic offers a comprehensive four-day training program designed to support individuals who struggle with flight anxiety. As part of the therapeutic process, participants get hands-on experience with actual aircraft, including walking up boarding steps and entering a Boeing 787.

The program focuses on gradual exposure to aviation environments, allowing anxious travelers to become familiar with the sounds and visual elements of air travel in a controlled, supportive setting. This approach helps participants build confidence before taking actual flights.

The long-running initiative has provided a safe space where people with flight phobias can work through their fears with professional guidance and peer support from others facing similar challenges.

Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk announced Tuesday that an experimental obesity medication developed in partnership with United Biotechnology produced remarkable weight reduction results during clinical testing.

The investigational drug, known as UBT251, works by targeting three different hormone receptors – GLP-1, GIP, and glucagon – and led to an average weight loss of nearly 20% among study participants over a six-month period, according to the company’s announcement.

United Biotechnology conducted the clinical trial to evaluate both the safety profile and effectiveness of the weekly injection treatment. Researchers tested three different dosage levels – 2 milligrams, 4 milligrams, and 6 milligrams – against a placebo in Chinese participants who were either overweight or obese.

Study participants began the trial with an average body weight of 92.2 kilograms (approximately 203 pounds). Those receiving the highest dose of UBT251 experienced a maximum average weight reduction of 19.7%, while participants given the placebo only lost 2.0% of their body weight during the same 24-week treatment period, Novo Nordisk reported.

The results represent a statistically significant difference between the treatment and control groups, marking another potential breakthrough in obesity treatment development.

OAKLAND, Calif. — Roughly 31,000 healthcare workers at Kaiser Permanente facilities in California and Hawaii will clock back in on Tuesday, bringing their month-long work stoppage to a close as union leaders report meaningful progress in contract talks.

The United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals announced Monday that “significant movement at the bargaining table” led to their decision to suspend the walkout. Union officials have not revealed specifics about what breakthroughs occurred during recent negotiations or outlined terms of any preliminary agreement.

“According to the union, returning members to their patients and their livelihoods is the clearest path to securing a final agreement and building on the progress achieved during the strike,” the organization stated.

Kaiser Permanente management has not yet responded to the union’s announcement about ending the work stoppage.

The labor action, which launched on January 27, represents the second significant strike by this union in recent months. Workers previously walked off the job for five days in October, leading to resumed talks that ultimately stalled in December.

Striking employees, including pharmacists, midwives and rehabilitation therapists, argued their compensation has failed to match rising costs of living while understaffing issues prevent adequate patient care.

Union members sought a 25% pay boost spread across four years, claiming their current wages lag behind comparable positions by at least 7%.

The healthcare giant had offered a 21.5% raise over the same timeframe. Company representatives argued their unionized staff already earns 16% more than industry counterparts on average, and meeting striker demands would force higher costs onto patients.

Medical facilities stayed operational throughout the strike, though some face-to-face appointments moved to telehealth platforms and certain non-urgent procedures were postponed.

Based in Oakland, Kaiser Permanente runs one of America’s biggest nonprofit healthcare networks, providing services to 12.6 million patients across 600 medical facilities and 40 hospitals, primarily in western states.

Meanwhile in New York City, nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital system voted Saturday to accept a new contract, ending their own strike that lasted over a month.

Two additional major New York hospital networks, Montefiore and Mount Sinai, resolved their nursing strikes earlier this month through contract deals with the same union.

Israeli health authorities disclosed Monday that roughly 50% of vegetables imported from Palestinian territories contain toxic chemical residues at dangerously elevated concentrations.

During a Knesset Health Committee session, officials reported that approximately 15,000 tons of agricultural products enter Israel annually from these regions, with significant contamination detected across multiple vegetable varieties.

Ziva Hamma, who leads the Health Ministry’s Food Risk Management Department, informed committee members that current testing protocols allow produce shipments to reach markets before laboratory analysis results become available.

According to reporting by The Jerusalem Post, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories announced plans to implement an eight-month suspension period following discoveries that contamination rates reached 50% for cucumbers, 49% for tomatoes, and 66% for hot peppers from Palestinian Authority regions.

The new suspension protocol would require all produce to remain warehoused until testing confirms pesticide levels meet safety standards.

Laboratory analysis revealed that 13% of tested produce contained more than five different chemical pesticides, while 14% of samples showed presence of organophosphates – neurotoxic compounds associated with developmental risks in fetuses, infants, and children, as well as increased Parkinson’s disease risk.

Samir Maadi, Agricultural Coordinator at the Civil Administration, explained that contaminated produce gets removed from sale immediately, with responsible farmers facing temporary market exclusion. Among approximately 3,000 farmers in the program, several hundred have faced disqualification. Banned producers may return to selling after three months, provided they pass subsequent inspections.

MK Amit Halevi from the Likud party criticized the situation, stating: “The data provided by the Health Ministry itself shows that the food of Israeli citizens is poisoned, and the Coordinator of Government Activities’ considerations should not influence the ministry’s decisions.”

Halevi further commented: “Israeli citizens have been suffering from cancer for years because of this produce and the Health Ministry remains silent. Employees of the Ministries of Agriculture and Health have failed in their duties and their mission and obeyed the Civil Administration to poison the citizens.”

The lawmaker also encouraged individuals who developed cancer potentially linked to contaminated produce consumption to pursue legal action against Civil Administration leadership who approved the import procedures.

WASHINGTON — Federal health regulators unveiled plans Monday for a streamlined approval process designed to accelerate the development of personalized treatments for patients battling uncommon medical conditions, particularly rare genetic disorders that pharmaceutical companies have historically avoided due to limited profit potential.

The draft Food and Drug Administration framework would establish a fresh regulatory route for individualized therapies that have undergone testing in only small patient groups, given the difficulties of conducting extensive clinical studies. While the FDA’s announcement highlighted gene editing technologies, agency leaders indicated the new framework could apply to various other treatments and medications.

This represents a transformation that patient groups, advocates, and researchers specializing in uncommon diseases have pursued for years, as these conditions typically don’t align with standard pharmaceutical business models or the FDA’s conventional approval procedures.

“It is our priority to remove barriers and exercise regulatory flexibility to encourage scientific advances and deliver more cures and meaningful treatments for patients suffering from rare diseases,” FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said in a release.

The development follows Makary’s announcement last week that the FDA would eliminate its longstanding requirement for two clinical trials in standard drug evaluations. This marks another modification to FDA protocols and guidelines, many implemented without following traditional federal procedures for updating agency regulations.

Top FDA officials emphasized that these recent modifications, including Monday’s proposed pathway, don’t represent entirely new FDA policies. The agency will accept public feedback on its preliminary guidance for 60 days before moving toward finalization.

Academic scientists have recently demonstrated their ability to utilize cutting-edge technology to fix specific genetic defects in individual patients. In the previous year, researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania created a treatment using CRISPR, the Nobel Prize-recognized gene editing technology, to help an infant born with an uncommon condition causing dangerous ammonia accumulation in the bloodstream.

Under current procedures, the FDA mandates that pharmaceutical companies prove their experimental treatments are both safe and effective through clinical studies comparing patient groups receiving the therapy against those given placebo treatments or alternative interventions. Larger patient enrollment typically produces more reliable evidence.

However, for medical conditions affecting only a small percentage of the global population, drug manufacturers frequently lack motivation to invest the millions required to complete studies and navigate the FDA approval process, which can extend beyond a decade.

Monday’s announced pathway would establish a uniform process for authorizing experimental treatments while importantly providing companies opportunities to market these therapies commercially.

The FDA currently permits experimental drug use through “compassionate use” programs for individuals with no alternative treatment options. However, this process proves difficult to navigate and strictly prevents companies or researchers from earning profits on treatments not yet approved by the FDA.

The new pathway’s designation — plausible mechanism — refers to the standards FDA regulators will demand before approving any experimental therapies.

FDA officials indicate this approach will be limited to well-understood conditions where reasonable evidence suggests the therapy will target the disease’s underlying genetic or cellular mechanisms. Researchers must also verify that the therapy successfully addressed the patient’s specific genetic or biological abnormality.

New research shows that vaccination rates for hepatitis B in American newborns were already falling significantly before federal health officials officially changed their guidance last December.

A study published Monday in JAMA found that the percentage of babies receiving hepatitis B shots within their first month of life dropped by more than 10 percentage points from 2023 to 2025.

For decades, vaccination rates had been steadily increasing as the federal government supported giving newborns their first hepatitis B shot shortly after delivery. However, under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently modified its recommendation, now only advising the vaccine when mothers are infected with the virus or their infection status is unclear.

Hepatitis B is a serious virus that damages the liver and represents the primary cause of liver cancer globally. While most adults can fight off the infection naturally, it becomes a lifelong condition in over 90% of infected babies and up to half of young children who contract it.

Government health records demonstrate that newborn vaccination reduced hepatitis B cases among American children by almost 90% following the 1991 recommendation for birth doses.

“If the rates of vaccination decline too significantly, we may see a resurgence in hepatitis B infections in infants and children,” said study leader Dr. Joshua Rothman, a pediatrician at the University of California, San Diego.

JULY 2023 TURNING POINT

The researchers found that vaccination rates began dropping in July 2023, a time that matched increased public discussion and news coverage about childhood immunizations.

During this timeframe, vaccine skeptic Kennedy appeared on a popular Joe Rogan Experience podcast episode that received widespread attention, according to the study authors.

Kennedy, President Donald Trump, and other prominent figures have made claims linking childhood vaccines to autism, despite scientific evidence showing no such connection. Federal authorities have withdrawn recommendations for six different childhood vaccines over the past year.

The study tracked vaccination data from 2002 through 2025, covering more than 12 million births through Epic Systems Corp records. From 2002 – three years before official guidelines recommended medically stable newborns receive the vaccine before leaving the hospital – until 2023, birth-dose vaccination rates climbed from approximately 21% to 83.5%.

By August 2025, that figure had decreased to 73.2%, the analysis showed.

In December 2025, an advisory committee selected by Kennedy eliminated the long-standing recommendation. The panel determined that when mothers test negative for hepatitis B, parents should work with their physicians to decide if and when their children should receive hepatitis B vaccines.

The advisors, many sharing Kennedy’s vaccine-critical perspective, presented no new evidence of harm from the immunization. Instead, they contended that widespread vaccination was excessive given infection risks. The CDC, which Kennedy oversees, quickly adopted this position.

Medical experts have cautioned that this policy shift could undermine decades of public health achievements.

Rothman noted he hasn’t seen research yet documenting increased infection cases.

“The reason pediatricians and the American Academy of Pediatrics still recommend the birth dose for all newborns is that it serves as a safety net,” Rothman said.

“If the maternal test ends up being a false negative, if there’s an unexpected household or caregiver exposure, or if the infant’s follow-up is delayed, this birth dose provides early protection.”

WASHINGTON – Federal health officials on Monday unveiled a new regulatory approach designed to accelerate the approval process for customized genetic treatments targeting rare, life-threatening conditions, permitting pharmaceutical companies to use smaller, tightly controlled research studies when conventional large-scale trials aren’t practical.

The initiative seeks to modernize approval criteria for personalized genetic medications, establishing a route for treatments designed for patient populations too limited in size for standard clinical trials.

This approach could grant patients faster access to potentially life-saving therapies that might otherwise become stalled due to insufficient data collection capabilities, while maintaining safety oversight through post-market monitoring requirements.

The regulatory framework provides pharmaceutical manufacturers with more definitive guidelines for creating genome-modification and RNA-based medications, while mandating they demonstrate why traditional randomized studies aren’t workable, gather real-world data following approval, and conduct confirmatory research for expedited authorization. Federal regulators cautioned they reserve the right to remove products from the market if follow-up studies prove unsuccessful or remain incomplete.

This draft guidance, initially presented in November, would enable companies to pursue approval using preliminary effectiveness indicators and a treatment’s scientific foundation, instead of requiring comprehensive randomized clinical trials. The framework encompasses genome-editing and RNA-based treatments, with potential expansion to additional precision therapies.

Companies would continue collecting real-world data post-approval to validate effectiveness and track safety, while ensuring patient safeguards including informed consent and independent review board supervision.

Regulators emphasized the importance of early collection of baseline and disease progression data. For treatments addressing various mutations within identical genes, they suggested observational research and coordinated protocol structures to enable data sharing among similar products.

“We anticipate that we’re going to get a flood of applications for treatments of rare diseases,” a senior FDA official told reporters.

Production standards would stay the same, though manufacturers may utilize previous experience and proven methodologies to expedite development timelines.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Monday that Ralph Abraham has resigned from his role as Principal Deputy Director, with the departure taking effect immediately due to unexpected family commitments.

CDC officials have not yet disclosed who will fill Abraham’s position following his sudden resignation.

The departure comes amid ongoing leadership transitions within the nation’s top health agencies. Jay Bhattacharya, who leads the National Institutes of Health, has taken over as the CDC’s acting director as part of broader reorganization efforts within the health department during this election period.

Jim O’Neill, a Deputy Security official with Health and Human Services who had been leading the CDC in an acting capacity since August, left both of his positions earlier this month.

Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly announced Monday that federal regulators have given the green light for a new delivery system for its popular weight-loss medication Zepbound. The FDA-approved four-dose KwikPen provides patients with an entire month’s worth of treatment in one convenient device.

This development puts Lilly ahead of competitor Novo Nordisk, whose Wegovy weight-loss treatment has been available in the United States as a single-dose weekly injection pen since 2021.

The new Zepbound KwikPen will carry a starting price of $299 monthly for patients paying out of pocket, specifically for the 2.5-milligram dosage. The multi-dose injection device will come in six different strength options: 2.5 mg, 5 mg, 7.5 mg, 10 mg, 12.5 mg, and 15 mg.

Lilly already uses the KwikPen technology for delivering Mounjaro, its diabetes medication. The device has been available in several major international markets including the United Kingdom, Australia, Middle Eastern countries, and Canada.

The FDA gave Zepbound its approval in 2023, and the medication is currently offered in the United States through single-dose autoinjectors and vials. According to prescription data, Zepbound has surpassed Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy to become the leading weight-loss treatment in the American market.

For years, Lori Sepich was a smoker who occasionally forgot to take her blood pressure medication. Despite these risk factors, the thought of experiencing a heart attack never crossed her mind.

“It just wasn’t registering with me,” explained the 64-year-old Memphis resident, who has endured two heart attacks spanning 13 years.

Sepich’s experience reflects a widespread reality affecting millions of American women. Cardiovascular disease impacts over 60 million women nationwide, encompassing conditions such as heart disease, stroke, heart failure, and atrial fibrillation. Contrary to popular belief that heart attacks primarily affect men, women face significant vulnerability as well.

Statistics reveal that cardiovascular disease claims the lives of one in five American women annually, with 37,000 deaths specifically attributed to heart attacks.

“Cardiovascular disease stands as the leading cause of death among women. It will impact either you or someone close to you,” explained Dr. Sharonne Hayes, a cardiologist practicing at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. “Understanding heart attack warning signs and responding appropriately is crucial.”

Multiple strategies exist for reducing cardiovascular risks.

The American Heart Association developed guidelines known as “Life’s Essential 8,” which include: improving diet quality, eliminating tobacco use, achieving quality sleep, increasing physical activity, managing cholesterol levels, and controlling weight, blood sugar, and blood pressure.

Association president Dr. Stacey Rosen recommends scheduling routine medical appointments to address these prevention strategies, monitor overall health, and review any family history of cardiac issues.

Medical professionals also emphasize discussing risk factors that specifically or disproportionately impact women.

Women face higher rates of autoimmune disorders such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, conditions that trigger inflammation and potentially elevate heart disease risk. Additionally, women experience depression more frequently, which correlates with inflammation and harmful behaviors like prolonged bed rest.

Additional conditions linked to increased cardiovascular disease risk include pregnancy-related high blood pressure or diabetes, pregnancy loss, and stillbirth. Menopausal symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats have also been connected to elevated blood pressure and other cardiovascular risk factors.

Popular culture often portrays heart attacks as middle-aged men suddenly grasping their chest before collapsing.

However, Hayes notes that reality differs significantly: “It’s probably not going to resemble those dramatic Hollywood heart attacks.”

While chest pain or discomfort represents a typical symptom, many other warning signs exist.

“Women tend to experience additional symptoms more frequently than men,” Rosen noted.

These alternative symptoms encompass back pain, breathing difficulties, cold sweats, fatigue, nausea, dizziness, anxiety, jaw discomfort, and finger tingling.

Medical researchers haven’t definitively determined why symptom patterns vary between genders, though some studies indicate that biological differences may contribute to these variations.

Another distinction involves symptom onset: women may experience more gradual symptom development compared to men. Hayes frequently hears similar accounts from patients: “Symptoms appeared and fluctuated somewhat over time, but I sensed something was wrong.”

“When you suspect even the slightest possibility of a heart attack, immediately call 911,” Rosen advised, emphasizing that “it’s preferable to overreact rather than dismiss something potentially life-threatening.”

Medical experts recommend ambulance transportation to hospitals, which possess superior emergency response capabilities compared to urgent care facilities or physician offices.

Treatment delays can result in serious harm or death.

“Extended delays can lead to more severe damage,” Rosen warned.

During her initial heart attack, Sepich delayed seeking treatment too long. She had largely ignored her cardiac health issues since receiving a diagnosis of severe, hereditary high blood pressure at age 17.

Easter Sunday 2005 brought intense chest pressure, nausea, and pain spreading down her arms.

“I deliberately ignored those warning signs because I was completely shocked,” she recalled. “Fear overwhelmed me.”

She proceeded with church services and family gathering, then reported to work the following day. Eventually, her physician’s insistence led her to the emergency room, where she received six stents and remained hospitalized for one week.

Her response improved during her second heart attack, resulting in another stent placement after her cardiologist discovered nearly complete blockage in the heart’s main artery.

Today, Sepich maintains controlled blood pressure, hasn’t smoked for over twenty years, and exercises nearly daily.

She encourages other women to acknowledge heart disease risks honestly.

“Denial allowed me to rationalize my behavior. I could think, ‘This won’t harm you,’” Sepich reflected. “But it does cause harm. It can be fatal.”

A growing number of people are developing a unusual food allergy that prevents them from eating red meat, and it’s all because of tick bites.

The condition, known as alpha-gal syndrome, occurs when individuals become allergic to a sugar molecule called alpha-gal that exists in mammalian meat. According to Eden Stewart, who works as a Field Specialist in Nutrition and Health education at the University of Missouri, the syndrome develops after being bitten by a Lone Star tick.

Medical experts are reporting an increase in diagnosed cases of this meat allergy across the country. The University of Missouri Extension recently published information to help people better understand this emerging health concern.

The syndrome can cause serious allergic reactions when affected individuals consume beef, pork, lamb, and other mammalian products, making it a significant dietary and health challenge for those diagnosed.

Tens of millions of Americans experience aerophobia, a condition characterized by intense anxiety about air travel. For the past five decades, a specialized Bay Area program has dedicated itself to helping nervous passengers conquer their fears and board aircraft with confidence.

The California-based clinic has been providing support and treatment to travelers who find themselves gripped by fear at the thought of flying, offering them tools and techniques to overcome their aviation anxiety and navigate air travel successfully.

HARARE, Zimbabwe — In a dusty area outside Zimbabwe’s capital city, dozens of young women, mothers carrying infants, and men gathered in lines Thursday to receive doses of a revolutionary HIV prevention medication that requires just two injections annually.

The southern African nation, which has experienced tens of thousands of HIV-related fatalities over the last twenty years, has become among the initial countries to distribute lenacapavir, an extended-release medication that officials believe will reduce new infection rates.

Clinical trials have shown the treatment provides nearly complete protection, leading some medical experts to call it a game-changer for vulnerable populations. However, others caution that transforming this scientific breakthrough into widespread success will depend on addressing funding limitations, healthcare system weaknesses, and maintaining patient participation.

Following her injection at the Zimbabwe launch event, Constance Mukoloka emerged from a mobile healthcare unit with a bright smile of relief after becoming one of the initial recipients.

“I am safe, I can work with confidence now,” the 27-year-old sex worker explained, discussing how taking daily preventive pills for preexposure prophylaxis, known as PrEP, frequently caused problems with clients and was hard to maintain regularly — endangering herself and others.

Mukoloka represents one of the earliest recipients of a donor-funded lenacapavir distribution program spanning 10 African nations. Medical authorities and advocates believe this medication could transform HIV prevention approaches if governments can overcome obstacles related to expenses and vulnerable healthcare infrastructure.

Created by Gilead Sciences in California, the introduction of lenacapavir in targeted high-risk nations receives backing from the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR, working alongside the Global Fund.

Zimbabwe provides the injection at no cost to vulnerable groups including sex workers, teenage girls and young women, gay men, and expectant or nursing mothers.

For Mukoloka, this treatment means far more than simple convenience.

“When I took tablets, customers would see a container of pills and leave. They would never return due to fear,” she explained. “They couldn’t tell the difference between PrEP and treatment drugs. With the work we do, that stigma costs you money.”

Zimbabwe has offered daily oral PrEP for years along with condoms, vaginal rings, and shorter-duration injections. Still, consistent use has remained problematic, especially for individuals experiencing stigma or irregular routines.

“I work in beer halls looking for clients. Sometimes I would get drunk and forget to take my drugs,” Mukoloka noted. “Sometimes I would work all night and not have time. Some clients refuse protection. They say … ‘Why should I use protection when I have paid?’”

Medical officials view lenacapavir’s subtle nature and lengthy effectiveness as crucial benefits for key groups like sex workers, making it valuable in combating HIV transmission.

“Prevention must fit into real life. If a health solution is too complicated, too demanding, or too visible, people simply won’t use it,” stated Douglas Mombeshora, Zimbabwe’s health minister, during Thursday’s launch ceremony. “Lenacapavir represents a new way of doing things.”

Other southern African countries including Zambia and Eswatini have also introduced the medication.

Zimbabwe, Eswatini, and Zambia, formerly major HIV hotspots worldwide, have become leading examples of epidemic management in recent years, meeting World Health Organization goals for testing, treatment, and viral suppression.

Despite these achievements, new infections continue causing concern, especially among teenage girls and young women.

The United Nations children’s agency reports that HIV rates among adolescent girls and young women aged 10-24 remain “persistently” three times higher than their male peers in sub-Saharan Africa, caused by gender inequality, poverty, and unequal healthcare access.

Throughout sub-Saharan Africa, females of all ages represented 63% of new HIV infections in 2024, according to UNAIDS. In other global regions, approximately 73% of new 2024 infections affected males.

Zimbabwean authorities expect roughly 46,000 individuals across 24 locations to receive treatment during lenacapavir’s initial rollout phase, representing a small portion of potential need in this country of approximately 15 million residents.

Plans for subsequent phases remain unclear. Government officials express hope that beneficiary numbers will grow as additional donor-funded supplies become available. They also aim to purchase their own doses for broader distribution but, like many African governments, face insufficient funding.

Medical professionals, experts, and activists caution that real-world challenges could limit the drug’s early potential across Africa, a continent exceeding 1.5 billion people, particularly due to expensive mass distribution costs for governments.

Kenya, which received its initial 21,000 lenacapavir doses this week, announced the injection would cost approximately $54 per person annually at negotiated rates, still representing a substantial expense for many.

Gilead Sciences has committed to selling its medication without profit to low and middle-income countries significantly affected by HIV.

Bellinda Thibela, who focuses on health justice and access at Health GAP, an international advocacy group, called this move “a bit comforting” but insufficient alone on a continent where healthcare systems depend heavily on declining external funding, particularly following President Donald Trump’s foreign aid reductions.

Difficulties will persist in nations that were “80% to 90% dependent on U.S. funding,” Thibela observed. “What’s the point of having a reduced price if there is no staff and equipment in clinics?”

While numerous medical professionals consider lenacapavir a major advancement, they emphasize it should supplement, not substitute, existing prevention methods.

“Condoms remain key. They are cheap and they also prevent other sexually transmitted infections,” explained Enerst Chikwati, Zimbabwe program director at AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

However, for early users like Mukoloka, the medication’s effects already seem transformative.

“I am elated. I can go for a whole six months feeling safe,” she said.

A significant nursing strike affecting New York City hospitals has officially concluded after nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian approved their new employment agreement on Saturday, bringing an end to labor action that lasted more than a month.

The walkout began January 12th when over 4,000 nurses employed by the private NewYork-Presbyterian hospital network left their posts. These healthcare workers are scheduled to resume their duties in the upcoming week following the contract approval by the New York State Nurses Association, where 93% of union members voted in favor of the three-year agreement.

Earlier this month, nurses at two additional major private hospital networks – Montefiore and Mount Sinai – concluded their own labor disputes by reaching contract settlements with the identical union organization.

“We are so happy with the wins we achieved, and now the fight to enforce these contracts and hold our employers accountable begins,” union President Nancy Hagans said in a statement Saturday.

Hospital administrators at NewYork-Presbyterian expressed anticipation for their nursing staff’s return, stating the agreement “reflects our respect for our nurses and the critical role they play as part of our exceptional care teams.”

Representatives from both the union and hospital management announced Friday they had achieved a preliminary agreement. Union membership conducted voting on the proposal Friday and Saturday.

The approved contract contains enhanced staffing measures, wage increases exceeding 12% across the three-year term, and protective measures concerning artificial intelligence implementation, the union reported.

According to union officials, the initial strike encompassed approximately 15,000 nursing professionals across the Montefiore, Mount Sinai and NewYork-Presbyterian systems. The work stoppage impacted select facilities within these three networks and did not include any municipally-operated hospitals.

Throughout the strike period, all three hospital systems – Montefiore, Mount Sinai and NewYork-Presbyterian – hired thousands of replacement nursing staff, relocated certain patients to other facilities, and postponed non-essential medical procedures. Hospital leadership maintained they continued providing quality patient care, including complicated surgical operations. However, some patients requiring additional assistance and their family members reported delays in basic care tasks.

The striking nurses cited overwhelming patient loads and alleged the hospitals were attempting to reduce health insurance benefits. Hospital administrators disputed these accusations and characterized the union’s contract demands as unreasonable.

Nursing staff at certain Mount Sinai and Montefiore locations previously conducted a work stoppage in 2023, which concluded after three days.

Experts are drawing parallels between excessive social media use and addictive substances like gambling, drugs, and tobacco products.

Although mental health professionals continue debating where normal usage ends and problematic behavior begins, there’s widespread agreement that countless individuals feel trapped by platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat.

These tech companies have financial motivations to maximize user engagement, generating billions through targeted advertising. Fighting against endless feeds, dopamine-triggering short videos, and the validation from likes and comments can feel overwhelming. Some users also find themselves drawn to controversial content, negative news cycles, and online arguments.

While much attention has centered on young people’s social media habits, adults face similar risks when platform usage begins disrupting their daily routines.

Stanford University School of Medicine’s Dr. Anna Lembke, who serves as medical director of addiction medicine, describes addiction as “the continued compulsive use of a substance or behavior despite harm to self or others.”

During testimony at a significant social media litigation case in Los Angeles, Lembke explained that these platforms become addictive due to the “24/7, really limitless, frictionless access” users maintain.

However, some researchers challenge using “addiction” to describe heavy social media consumption, insisting true addiction requires identifiable symptoms like intense cravings and withdrawal effects.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders doesn’t officially recognize social media addiction, partly because professionals lack consensus on defining it and understanding how existing mental health conditions contribute to excessive use.

Despite this diagnostic uncertainty, many experts believe problematic social media consumption can still cause real harm.

“For me, the biggest signpost is how does the person feel about the ‘amount,’ and how viewing it makes them feel,” explained Dr. Laurel Williams, a psychiatry and behavioral sciences professor at Baylor College of Medicine. “If what they discover is they view it so much that they are missing out on other things they may enjoy or things that they need to attend to, this is problematic use. Additionally, if you leave feeling overwhelmed, drained, sad, anxious, angry regularly, this use is not good for you.”

Key warning signs include neglecting responsibilities, hobbies, or relationships in favor of scrolling, unsuccessful attempts to reduce usage, and negative feelings about your social media habits.

University of Melbourne professor Ofir Turel, who researches social media behavior, acknowledged there’s “no agreement” on defining social media addiction and doesn’t “expect agreement soon.”

“It’s obvious that we have an issue,” Turel noted. “You don’t have to call it an addiction, but there is an issue and we need, as a society, to start thinking about it.”

Williams recommends understanding how social media algorithms and advertising target users before attempting to limit usage.

“Think of social media as a company trying to get you to stay with them and buy something — have the mindset that this is information that I don’t need to act on and may not be true,” she advised. “Get alternate sources of information. Always understand the more you see something, anyone can start to believe it is true.”

California Institute of Technology postdoctoral scholar Ian A. Anderson suggests starting with minor adjustments to prevent automatic app opening. Relocating apps on your phone or disabling notifications are “light touch interventions,” while more comprehensive approaches might include keeping phones out of bedrooms or other frequent-use areas.

Built-in technology features can help manage screen time on both iPhone and Android devices.

iPhone users can access Screen Time controls through their settings menu, allowing them to establish Downtime periods that disable phone functions during chosen hours.

These controls enable users to restrict entire app categories like social media, games, or entertainment, or target specific applications with time limits.

However, these restrictions are relatively easy to bypass, functioning more as gentle reminders than absolute barriers. When attempting to open restricted apps, users receive options for additional minutes, delayed reminders, or complete override.

When gentle approaches prove insufficient, more aggressive strategies may be necessary. Some users report success switching their phones to grayscale mode, making screens less appealing to dopamine-seeking brains. iPhone users can adjust color filters in settings, while Android users can activate Bedtime Mode or modify color correction settings. Switching to basic flip phones represents another option for curbing social media impulses.

Several startups offer physical barriers between users and their apps. Unpluq provides a yellow tag that must be held against phones to access blocked applications. Brick and Blok function similarly, requiring users to tap or scan square plastic devices to unlock apps.

For more extreme measures, various phone lockboxes and cases are available, including products originally designed for parents managing teenagers’ device usage.

Yondr, known for phone-locking pouches used at concerts and schools, also manufactures home phone storage boxes.

When technological solutions fail, examining underlying causes for social media dependency might be beneficial. Excessive usage could indicate deeper issues like anxiety, stress, isolation, depression, or confidence problems. In such cases, therapy options are becoming increasingly accessible.

“For people struggling to stay away — see if you can get a friend group to collaborate with you on it. Make it a group effort. Just don’t post about it! The more spaces become phone free, the more we may see a lessened desire to be ‘on,’” Williams concluded.

Federal health regulators have given the green light to a new psychiatric medication developed by Vanda Pharmaceuticals, marking another treatment option for patients with severe mental health disorders.

The pharmaceutical company announced Friday that the Food and Drug Administration has cleared their drug for treating two serious psychiatric conditions, though specific details about the conditions were not disclosed in the initial announcement.

The approval represents a significant milestone for Vanda Pharmaceuticals as they bring their mental health treatment to market for patients who may benefit from this new therapeutic option.

A group of nearly 40 healthcare executives from around the world recently completed an intensive tour of Israel’s medical innovation centers, exploring how groundbreaking research transforms into life-saving technologies used globally.

The delegation arrived at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot on a clear February day, though visible damage from an earlier Iranian missile strike served as a stark reminder of ongoing regional tensions. The attack had destroyed dozens of laboratories conducting critical cancer and disease research.

Dr. Daniel Kraft, founder of Exponential Medicine and a physician-scientist working at the crossroads of technology and healthcare, shared his perspective with The Media Line. “The future of health and medicine is coming faster than you think,” Kraft said. “It’s not the technology; it’s often the convergence of a new operating system for the future of health and medicine.”

According to Kraft, Israel’s unique advantage lies in its concentrated environment where artificial intelligence, digital health tools, diagnostic systems, and clinical facilities operate within close proximity. This density speeds up the development process significantly. “Health and medicine are a universal need and collecting point,” he explained, noting that medical collaboration often continues even when political relationships face challenges.

The visiting healthcare leaders participated in a program jointly organized by Israel Tech Mission and 8400 The Health Network, Israel’s primary HealthTech ecosystem accelerator. The network serves as a bridge connecting the country’s medical innovation ecosystem with global health sector leaders.

As the primary organization supporting Israel’s HealthTech and Life Sciences sector, 8400 The Health Network played a crucial role in designing the program’s agenda and facilitating connections between international visitors and key Israeli stakeholders.

The initiative aimed to showcase both current obstacles and emerging opportunities within the ecosystem, while identifying areas of mutual strategic benefit and establishing pathways for long-term investment, collaboration, and partnerships. The organization continues supporting ongoing relationships, helping transform initial meetings into enduring partnerships and sustained strategic involvement.

The participants included investors, company founders, advisors, and operators from the United States and international markets, all sharing a common goal: understanding how laboratory discoveries in Israel successfully transition into global healthcare applications.

David Siegel, chairman and founder of Israel Tech Mission, helped structure the week-long program. He characterized the initiative as an opportunity to expose participants to both promising companies and the fundamental operating principles of Israel’s innovation ecosystem.

“We don’t bring people here just to see companies. We bring them here to understand how the system works,” Siegel explained to The Media Line. For him, this distinction is crucial, as the goal involves creating lasting relationships that continue developing well beyond the formal meetings.

David Nakar, the mission’s executive director, coordinated the week’s complex logistics and arranged meetings across research institutions, hospitals, and startup facilities. “Israel’s advantage isn’t just density of talent—it’s velocity,” Nakar told The Media Line. “But velocity needs channels. Delegations like this create structured pathways between founders, researchers, operators, and capital allocators. When those pathways are intentional, the distance between lab discovery and global patient impact shortens dramatically.”

Mission participant Al Kinel expressed his enthusiasm about the experience to The Media Line. “I feel so proud and happy about what is occurring here and what’s coming out,” Kinel said. “I’m excited to be able to help take those innovations and get them out to the world and help let people learn about them.”

Kinel operates a health technology consulting firm called Strategic Interests and leads the New York Israel Chamber of Commerce, which fosters commercial and research connections between Israel and the United States. His work focuses primarily on helping medical innovations move beyond early-stage promise into actual implementation within American healthcare systems. “There are people that are going to be supportive and helpful, and we will figure out how to work with them to help us be successful, and then there’s the undecided,” he said. “I want them to understand the value of the innovation of Israel and how it’s changing the world in tikkun olam [‘healing the world’].”

He acknowledged the challenging global environment surrounding these efforts. “Unfortunately, we’re in a spot in a world where there are people who are going to hate us and will never want to listen,” he said. “That’s not our audience.” His focus remains on those willing to consider evidence and engage in collaboration. From his perspective, exporting medical technology represents more than just economic activity—it becomes a form of engagement based on measurable results. “If we can align, we will probably be way more impactful than we each could in our own individual way,” he added.

While Kinel emphasized alignment, Sam Moed discussed organizational structure.

As a global board member of 8400 The Health Network, Israel’s national HealthTech ecosystem accelerator, Moed described the organization’s dual mission. “We are very focused on supporting and strengthening the health care system in Israel,” he told The Media Line, “but at the same time, we are building bridges globally.”

For Moed, these international connections serve practical purposes. Israel produces substantial early-stage medical innovation, but scaling these technologies requires access to global capital and markets. “The United States is the largest source of life sciences capital in the world,” he said. Without connecting to that ecosystem, promising technologies may fail to reach patients.

“I am very optimistic about the magnitude of disruptive innovation that is coming out of Israel,” Moed stated. The goal, he suggested, involves not just incremental improvements but establishing healthcare alongside cybersecurity and defense as one of Israel’s defining pillars. “We want health care to be one of those pillars.”

He noted that local challenges often generate globally applicable solutions. Referencing trauma care and mental health innovation, Moed observed that real-world experience has shaped technologies now attracting international attention. “Some of the innovation agenda is driven by the problems we face here,” he said. In this way, the country’s constraints have produced exportable expertise.

During the week, the delegation met with participants operating at every level of Israel’s health system, from capital formation to clinical application. The program included sessions with venture capital leaders and life sciences investors, hospital-based innovation teams integrating digital tools into patient care, early-stage founders developing diagnostics and therapeutic platforms, and professionals working in trauma and mental health in southern Israel following the October 7 events. Rather than focusing on individual companies, the schedule exposed participants to the structural elements of the ecosystem: academic research, clinical integration, capital formation, and resilience-driven innovation, and how these components interact.

At the Weizmann Institute of Science, conversations focused on translational pathways. Researchers explained their approach of designing studies backward from proof of concept and regulatory milestones, rather than forward from curiosity alone.

During one smaller breakout session, a group met with Professor Ravid Straussman, a physician-scientist in the Department of Molecular Cell Biology at the Weizmann Institute of Science. From his office, Straussman presented the progression of his research and how it has developed into three startups focused on cancer treatment. His work centers on identifying specific bacteria and fungi living within tumors, discoveries that are changing how certain cancers are understood and treated therapeutically. By analyzing the tumor microbiome, his team has opened new strategies for targeting cancer and potentially strengthening patients’ immune responses.

The discussion reflected a broader theme of the visit: the transition from discovery to practical application. Straussman described not only the scientific breakthrough, but the process of translating that breakthrough into structured ventures designed to carry the research beyond academic settings. For participants evaluating Israel’s health ecosystem, the session provided a concrete example of how basic science can develop into companies with international clinical significance.

Jonathan Sheffi, vice president of strategy and product excellence for the Life Sciences & Healthcare division at Clarivate, said the visit has already prompted him to pursue a structured initiative. Speaking with The Media Line, he stated, “I will create a business plan to develop a translational research platform based on Israel’s patient-level data.” The intention, he explained, involves not incremental collaboration but systematic leverage. “Through this platform, I hope to spur financial and human capital investment in Israel by large pharmaceutical companies,” he noted. By building on what he described as Israel’s strengths in “software, data science, and AI,” Sheffi added that he hopes to help “create a new generation of Israeli drug discovery companies.”

“It was announced that I will be joining the board of directors of Compugen,” Michele Holcomb told The Media Line, referring to the Israeli biotechnology company. Holcomb, a board director at PureTech Health and a veteran biotech and pharmaceutical executive, noted that the dialogue and interviews related to the appointment preceded the visit. Still, the timing highlighted the depth of integration between Israeli life sciences and global industry leadership. The flow of expertise, she suggested, moves in both directions.

Lee Shapiro’s relationship with Israeli health technology spans more than two decades. As co-founder of Chicago-based 7wire Ventures, he has observed the ecosystem evolve from early digital health experiments to mature global companies. “Israel had a very organized longitudinal record for every citizen in Israel, kind of cradle to grave health information that existed,” he said, recalling the early infrastructure that allowed companies to innovate around data long before it became common elsewhere.

Today, he sees few comparisons. “There really is very little comparison,” he said. “Israeli companies and their technology base are far advanced from where European companies have been and what we see coming out of Asia.” At the same time, he believes awareness lags behind reality. “We need more stories told about the life-saving technologies,” Shapiro said. “I don’t think people realize that some of the great medications that they’re using every day have come from Israel.”

Those medications, devices, and digital platforms are integrated into health systems across North America, Europe, and Asia. Their impact is measured in survival rates, early diagnoses, and more efficient care pathways. Shapiro framed that reach culturally. “The spirit of tikkun olam in terms of healing the world is something that is part of the ecosystem here and is something that’s used in a way that can not only create great markets but also do good for the rest of the world,” he said.

The conversation at Startup Nation Central expanded the perspective further. There, attention turned to infrastructure: mapping innovation, matching investors with startups, and supporting regulatory and market entry abroad.

Innovation, in Rob Cronin’s view, carries another dimension. As founder and CEO of 120/80 GROUP, a New York-based communications firm specializing in health technology, he sees economic impact and diplomacy intersect. “What I see as the opportunity and the ultimate form of diplomacy and the mechanism by which we can fight antisemitism is an economic, innovation-based form of tikkun olam,” he told The Media Line. “It’s about improving people’s lives.”

Michelle Garland, founder and CEO of Soul Search Partners, has spent more than two decades placing executive teams in venture-backed health technology companies. What impressed her most was not only product or capital, but people. “The talent here is exceptional, and the ideas are brilliant,” she told The Media Line. Sustained collaboration, she suggested, depends as much on relationships as financing. “We have to build more bridges,” she asserted.

By the end of the conversation, her reflection became personal. “I have a bigger tribe than I knew of,” she said, visibly moved. The remark pointed to something that ran beneath the week’s formal meetings: a sense that professional ambition, identity, and global health purpose were not entirely separate.

Participants repeatedly described an ecosystem that is compact yet internationally focused, technically rigorous yet commercially disciplined. Israeli medical innovation is developed with international application in mind. Therapies enter multinational trials. Digital platforms integrate into foreign health systems. Devices travel through supply chains that extend well beyond national borders.

For Moed, that orientation remains central. “We want Israel to be seen as a global health care innovation powerhouse,” he said. The measure is not visibility, but penetration into global health systems.

Israel’s growing role in global healthcare reflects more than scientific output. It reflects structure. As Kraft told The Media Line, “It’s often about connecting dots and getting people out of their old silos, their cognitive silos, their political silos, their belief silos, and better work together.” In a compact ecosystem where research, capital, and clinical infrastructure converge at close range, that ability to connect may be what places Israel at the center of how new medicine is built.

The final chapter of New York City’s historic nursing strike appears to be closing as the last group of striking healthcare workers has reached a preliminary contract agreement with their employer.

Officials from the New York State Nurses Association announced Friday that roughly 4,200 nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian hospital have secured a tentative deal that will go before union members for a vote over the weekend. The proposed contract includes wage increases exceeding 12% across a three-year period, maintains current health benefit protections, and establishes new guidelines governing artificial intelligence implementation in healthcare settings.

The labor dispute commenced on January 12 when 15,000 nursing professionals across three major hospital networks left their posts, demanding improved compensation and enhanced workplace safety measures. The widespread work stoppage created significant staffing challenges throughout the city’s healthcare system, prompting Governor Kathy Hochul to issue an emergency declaration that permitted medical workers from other states and countries to temporarily fill vacant positions.

Earlier this month on February 14, approximately two-thirds of the striking nurses resumed their duties following successful contract negotiations with Montefiore and Mount Sinai health systems.

Union President Nancy Hagans praised the NewYork-Presbyterian nurses’ determination in a statement announcing the breakthrough. “For a month-and-a-half, through some of the harshest weather this city has seen in years, nurses at NYP showed this city that they won’t make any compromises to patient care,” Hagans declared.

Hospital spokesperson Angela Karafazli expressed satisfaction with the resolution in her own statement. “We are pleased to have reached a tentative settlement with NYSNA, through the mediator, that reflects our tremendous respect for our nurses,” Karafazli commented.

Television star Eric Dane, beloved for his performances in “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Euphoria,” passed away this week at age 53 after battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as ALS.

The progressive neurological condition took Dane’s life less than 12 months following his public announcement of the diagnosis, highlighting the aggressive nature of this devastating illness.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows ALS affects a relatively small population. Researchers counted approximately 33,000 cases nationwide in 2022, with projections indicating the number could climb beyond 36,000 by the decade’s end.

The condition shows a slight preference for affecting males over females and typically emerges during middle age, most commonly striking individuals between 40 and 60 years old.

ALS targets nerve cells located in both the brain and spinal cord, resulting in progressive loss of muscle function that worsens as time passes.

The disease destroys nerve cells in both upper and lower regions of the body, causing them to malfunction and eventually die. When nerves can no longer activate specific muscles, patients gradually develop paralysis. Individuals diagnosed with ALS often experience difficulties with movement, speech, swallowing, and respiratory function.

Medical researchers have yet to identify the precise cause of this condition, though Mayo Clinic specialists note that a limited percentage of cases stem from genetic inheritance.

The alternate name “Lou Gehrig’s disease” honors the legendary New York Yankees baseball player who brought national attention to ALS. Gehrig received his diagnosis in 1939 on his 36th birthday, succumbed to the illness in 1941, and became the public face of ALS awareness for many years.

Medical professionals explain that initial symptoms often appear mild and easy to overlook. The condition frequently starts with muscle spasms and weakness affecting a single arm or leg.

As the disease advances, muscles lose their ability to function properly, according to specialists at University of California San Francisco Health. Patients may experience declining strength and coordination in their limbs, weakness in feet and ankles, and cramping or spasms in muscles of the arms, shoulders, and tongue. Difficulty swallowing and speaking often develop alongside persistent exhaustion.

UCSF medical experts emphasize that cognitive abilities and the five senses – sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch – typically remain unaffected by the disease.

In advanced stages, muscles responsible for breathing may become paralyzed. Patients often lose the ability to swallow properly, leading to aspiration of food or saliva. Respiratory failure represents the leading cause of death among ALS patients.

Diagnosing ALS presents significant challenges since no single test or procedure can definitively confirm the condition. Medical professionals typically conduct comprehensive physical examinations, laboratory testing, and brain and spinal cord imaging.

Physicians look for specific indicators that may suggest ALS, including abnormal toe reflexes, decreased fine motor skills, painful muscle cramping, involuntary muscle twitching, and spasticity characterized by stiff, jerky movements.

While no cure exists for ALS, the medication riluzole has received approval for treatment purposes. Mayo Clinic research indicates this drug may prolong survival during early disease stages or delay the need for mechanical breathing assistance.

Relyvrio, another treatment option that generated significant controversy, was withdrawn from American markets by Amylyx Pharmaceuticals in 2024. The ALS Association, which gained prominence through the viral 2014 “ice bucket challenge” fundraising campaign, had partially funded the drug’s development.

Additional medications are sometimes prescribed to help manage specific symptoms as they arise.

As ALS progresses, choking becomes increasingly frequent, often necessitating feeding tube placement. Patients may require mobility aids like braces and wheelchairs, as well as communication devices including speech synthesizers and computer-based systems.

Following symptom onset, medical experts indicate survival times range from two years to a full decade. The majority of patients live between two and five years after symptoms first appear, while approximately 20 percent survive beyond the five-year mark following diagnosis.

JACKSON, Miss. — For the second consecutive day Friday, the University of Mississippi Medical Center kept its outpatient clinics shuttered and non-emergency surgeries postponed due to a cyber attack that infiltrated their computer networks.

Medical center administrators cautioned that the disruption may persist for several additional days while they assess the full scope of the cyber breach and work to bring back online the network infrastructure they deliberately shut down to prevent further damage.

Despite the clinic closures, hospital facilities and emergency departments continued normal operations, with patients receiving appropriate medical attention, according to Vice Chancellor LouAnn Woodward, who addressed reporters during Thursday’s press briefing. She explained that the cyber assault impacted numerous computer systems throughout the facility, including their digital patient records database.

“Some of us in the room have been here long enough that we remember taking care of patients with pen and paper,” she said.

Officials are currently investigating whether the attackers gained access to confidential patient data, Woodward indicated.

While confirming that the cyber criminals had made contact with university leadership, she declined to reveal what ransom demands were made. The medical center is coordinating response efforts with federal investigators.

During Thursday’s media briefing, FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Eikhoff emphasized that the bureau’s primary focus centers on restoring the hospital’s technological capabilities to ensure uninterrupted patient treatment.

NEW YORK — A historic nursing walkout that has gripped New York City for more than a month appears ready to conclude after over 4,000 healthcare workers at NewYork-Presbyterian secured a preliminary contract agreement with hospital leadership in the early hours of Friday morning.

Union representatives and hospital administrators finalized the provisional accord, marking the end of negotiations at the final major medical center affected by the extended work stoppage, according to the New York State Nurses Association. Specific terms of the agreement were not made public.

The preliminary contract must now receive approval from union membership through a ratification vote. Should nurses approve the deal, they could resume their duties as soon as the coming week.

“We are pleased to have reached a tentative settlement with NYSNA, through the mediator, that reflects our tremendous respect for our nurses — the settlement is still subject to ratification,” stated Angela Karafazli, a spokesperson for NewYork-Presbyterian.

The approximately 4,200 healthcare workers at NewYork-Presbyterian represented the final group continuing their protest amid brutally cold winter conditions in what union officials characterized as the city’s most extensive and prolonged nursing work stoppage on record.

NYSNA president Nancy Hagans emphasized the significance of their persistence, saying, “For a month and a half, through some of the harshest weather this city has seen in years, nurses at NYP showed this city that they won’t make any compromises to patient care. The wins of our private sector nurses will improve care for patients, and their perseverance and endurance have shown people worldwide the power of NYSNA nurses.”

Earlier this month, approximately 10,500 healthcare workers at Mount Sinai and Montefiore medical facilities approved new three-year employment agreements on February 11th. Union officials reported that these contracts at Montefiore and Mount Sinai featured salary increases exceeding 12% across the three-year period.

The approved agreements also preserved existing healthcare benefits without additional employee expenses and established new workplace violence protections, with special focus on transgender and immigrant staff and patients. The contracts additionally created safeguards regarding artificial intelligence implementation in medical settings.

Healthcare workers at NewYork-Presbyterian declined to accept the terms offered in the February 11th agreements.

The work stoppage commenced on January 12th, affecting three of the city’s most prominent and respected private healthcare networks.

Medical facilities brought in numerous temporary nursing staff to address personnel shortages during an intense influenza season, creating anxiety among some of the hospital system’s most at-risk patients and their families.

Throughout the challenging and sometimes heated negotiations, hospital leadership argued that union demands were excessive and unrealistic. Healthcare workers responded that senior hospital executives earn millions annually while burdening nursing staff with overwhelming patient loads.

Earlier this month, an arbitrator granted nearly $400,000 in compensation to certain nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian’s Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital for working under understaffed conditions during 2023 and 2024, union representatives announced, citing the ruling as validation of the issues that sparked the strike. NewYork-Presbyterian maintained that “safe staffing is always a priority” and noted the hiring of hundreds of nurses over the past three years.

The work stoppage did not impact all facilities within the NewYork-Presbyterian, Mount Sinai and Montefiore networks, and nursing staff at city-operated hospitals remained on duty. Additional private medical centers also secured last-minute agreements with union representatives.

Stock prices for cancer testing company Grail tumbled almost 50% during pre-market hours Friday following disappointing results from a comprehensive three-year clinical study that did not achieve its primary endpoint.

This disappointing outcome arrives shortly after Grail submitted an application to federal regulators seeking approval for its Galleri blood test, using information from both a smaller domestic study and initial data from the extensive three-year research project.

The comprehensive study aimed to demonstrate whether the blood test could decrease diagnoses of advanced-stage cancers while improving early detection rates within England’s National Health Service, potentially informing decisions about implementing a nationwide screening initiative.

Following Thursday’s market close, Grail announced that while the study did not achieve statistically significant reduction in late-stage cancer detection, “a favorable trend was observed over time” throughout the research involving more than 142,000 participants between ages 50 and 77 within the NHS system.

The biotechnology firm had filed its premarket approval request with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in late January, utilizing results from approximately 25,000 American participants along with first-year findings from the NHS-Galleri study.

Currently, the Galleri multi-cancer detection test is already available for adults at higher cancer risk, particularly those 50 years and older.

Financial analyst Kyle Mikson from Canaccord Genuity noted that while FDA clearance for Galleri doesn’t seem to face significant risk, questions remain about whether the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will factor in the NHS results when establishing coverage guidelines.

President Donald Trump recently enacted legislation this month that will allow Medicare insurance plans to cover multi-cancer detection tests for senior citizens beginning in 2028, with eligibility based on age requirements.

“We believe it is relatively likely that CMS will emphasize U.S.-based studies… rather than the specific endpoints that NHS established,” Mikson stated.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has canceled a planned meeting of its vaccine advisory panel originally set for late February, according to a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, known as ACIP, was supposed to convene from February 25th through 27th. Officials have not announced when the meeting might be rescheduled.

This development occurs as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continues his push to transform the nation’s vaccination policies. His initiatives include eliminating broad recommendations for six childhood vaccines such as COVID and hepatitis B shots, expanding federal support for state vaccine exemptions, and reducing funding for mRNA vaccine research.

The advisory panel plays a crucial role in determining vaccination recommendations, which typically influence health insurance coverage decisions, state school vaccination requirements, and how doctors counsel patients and families about immunizations.

The committee underwent significant changes last year when Kennedy dismissed all 17 of its members in June, leading to multiple restructuring efforts.

These changes coincide with a leadership transition at the CDC. Jay Bhattacharya, who currently serves as National Institutes of Health Director, will take over as acting CDC director, according to a Trump administration official who spoke Wednesday. He will replace the current acting director, Jim O’Neill.

MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin legislators are moving forward Thursday with plans to approve extended Medicaid benefits for new mothers, a development that will isolate Arkansas as the nation’s lone holdout on postpartum healthcare coverage expansion.

For years, Wisconsin Democrats and many Republicans have advocated for lengthening Medicaid benefits for mothers after delivery, but faced consistent opposition from influential GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos. While Vos previously resisted what he viewed as welfare program growth, he changed course late Wednesday evening.

Thursday’s Assembly agenda includes voting on the maternal Medicaid extension alongside another bipartisan proposal mandating insurance coverage for enhanced breast cancer screenings for women with dense breast tissue.

The state Senate has already given overwhelming approval to both proposals, sending them to Democratic Governor Tony Evers, who is anticipated to sign the legislation next week.

Following Wisconsin’s expected action, Arkansas will stand alone without expanded postpartum Medicaid benefits.

Arkansas, which records among America’s highest rates of maternal deaths, did enact substantial maternal healthcare reforms last year. The state now provides temporary Medicaid access for pregnant women during eligibility review periods and covers doula care plus remote vital sign monitoring.

However, the Arkansas legislation stopped short of extending postpartum Medicaid duration, disappointing Democrats and some GOP members.

Republican Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders advocated for the maternal health package while rejecting the postpartum extension, maintaining that alternative coverage exists.

In Wisconsin, approval of the Medicaid expansion and breast screening measures resolves a legislative standoff occurring during intense final negotiations of the two-year session. Republicans and Evers continue discussing potential agreements on tax reductions, education funding, and additional priorities, utilizing the state’s projected $2.5 billion budget surplus.

Democratic Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer spearheaded efforts to advance both the Medicaid and breast screening legislation. Announcing her pregnancy Wednesday while revealing her mother’s breast cancer diagnosis, Neubauer declared Democrats would “stop at nothing to get a vote on these bills.” She described the anticipated passage as “an incredible win for women and the people of Wisconsin.”

Republican legislators, including Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, also shared personal accounts of breast cancer’s impact on family members while supporting the screening legislation.

The Medicaid expansion will enable low-income mothers earning above poverty thresholds to maintain state Medicaid enrollment for twelve months following delivery, replacing the current two-month limitation.

Despite consensus on these issues, numerous other prominent proposals appear destined to expire with the session’s end. Republicans haven’t reached agreement on funding to maintain WisconsinEye, the state’s nonprofit equivalent to C-SPAN.

Wisconsin’s nearly four-decade-old land conservation initiative also faces potential termination as lawmakers remain deadlocked on continued funding beyond June 30.

For years, Republicans have criticized the conservation program as overly costly and removing excessive acreage from property tax collections, damaging local governments. Proposals to preserve the program with significantly reduced funding have stalled.

Zimbabwe’s health officials launched distribution of a groundbreaking HIV prevention medication on Thursday, positioning the African nation among the first worldwide to implement this innovative treatment approach as it works to reduce new HIV cases.

The initiative, supported through funding from the United States and the Global Fund, will initially serve more than 46,000 individuals considered at elevated risk for HIV infection at 24 locations across the country, according to Health Minister Douglas Mombeshora.

“Today marks an important day in Zimbabwe’s national response to HIV. We gather here to launch lenacapavir — a long-acting injectable option for HIV prevention — and to show our commitment to protecting life and ending AIDS as a public health threat,” Mombeshora stated.

The minister revealed that Zimbabwe obtained its initial supply and provided injections to some early participants earlier in February, noting that distribution will proceed through multiple phases.

The medication lenacapavir, created by Gilead Sciences, requires administration through under-the-skin injections just twice annually. Health officials believe this approach may address compliance issues that occur with daily oral pre-exposure prophylaxis medication regimens.

The southern African country has achieved remarkable success in combating HIV, meeting the ambitious 95-95-95 treatment goals established by UNAIDS — indicating that 95% of HIV-positive individuals are aware of their condition, 95% of diagnosed patients receive treatment, and 95% of treated patients maintain undetectable virus levels.

Melody Dengu, a community advocate from Epworth, a Harare neighborhood, confirmed she received her injection earlier this month.

“I have also (so far) gotten 12 other people to come and get injected,” she shared with reporters during the announcement.

While Zimbabwe continues to face one of Africa’s most significant HIV challenges, new infection rates have dropped substantially during the last ten years through expanded testing, treatment access, and prevention efforts.

WASHINGTON — Federal health regulators are abandoning a decades-old practice that required pharmaceutical companies to conduct two comprehensive clinical trials before winning approval for new medications, marking another significant policy shift under the Trump administration’s push to accelerate medical product availability.

The Food and Drug Administration announced that moving forward, agency officials will typically demand just one clinical study for new medications and innovative health treatments, according to FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary and deputy Dr. Vinay Prasad, who detailed the policy change in Wednesday’s New England Journal of Medicine.

This represents the most recent example of Makary and his leadership team overhauling established FDA protocols and standards, with officials citing goals to eliminate regulatory red tape and fast-track new treatment options for patients.

Following his appointment to the agency in April, Makary has implemented multiple policy changes designed to reduce FDA review timelines, including requiring staff members to utilize artificial intelligence tools and establishing expedited one-month review processes for drugs deemed important to “national interests.”

The new approach stands in stark contrast to the FDA’s stricter policies regarding other medical products, particularly vaccines.

In their Wednesday publication, Makary and Prasad argued that eliminating the dual-trial mandate reflects contemporary scientific progress that has made pharmaceutical research “increasingly precise and scientific.”

“In this setting, overreliance on two trials no longer makes sense,” the officials wrote. “In 2026 there are powerful alternative ways to feel assured that our products help people live longer or better than requiring manufacturers to test them yet again.”

FDA leadership anticipates the policy modification will trigger “a surge in drug development.”

Dr. Janet Woodcock, who previously directed the FDA’s drug division, endorsed the change as logical and consistent with the agency’s gradual shift over recent decades toward accepting single trials supported by additional evidence, particularly for life-threatening conditions like cancer.

“The scientific point is well taken that as we move toward greater understanding of biology and disease we don’t need to do two trials all the time,” stated Woodcock, who oversaw the FDA’s drug center for more than two decades before her 2024 retirement.

The dual-study requirement originated in the early 1960s when Congress enacted legislation mandating FDA review of data from “adequate and well-controlled investigations” before approving new treatments. For many years, agency officials interpreted this mandate as necessitating at least two comprehensive studies, typically involving large patient populations and extended monitoring periods.

The purpose behind requiring a second trial was to verify that initial study outcomes weren’t anomalous and could be replicated in different circumstances.

However, starting in the 1990s, FDA officials increasingly began accepting single studies for treatments targeting rare or deadly diseases, where companies frequently face challenges conducting large-scale patient trials.

During the past five years, approximately 60% of groundbreaking drugs approved annually have received clearance based on single studies. This trend reflects congressional legislation directing regulators toward greater flexibility when evaluating treatments for severe or difficult-to-treat medical conditions.

According to Woodcock, Wednesday’s policy announcement will primarily affect medications for common diseases that previously didn’t qualify for reduced testing requirements.

“It’s not the cancers and the rare diseases that will be affected by this,” she explained. “The agency has been approving those on a single trial already.”

The current FDA leadership’s strategy contrasts sharply with recent agency decisions regarding vaccines, gene therapies, and other treatments.

Last week, the FDA’s vaccine division, under Prasad’s direction, initially rejected Moderna’s application for a new mRNA influenza vaccine, citing inadequate clinical trial data. However, on Wednesday, the agency reversed its position and agreed to review the vaccine after Moderna committed to conducting additional studies involving elderly patients.

Additionally, Prasad has declined approval for numerous experimental gene therapies and biotechnology drugs, demanding additional research or more conclusive evidence. This pattern has negatively impacted biotech company stock values and contradicted Makary’s public statements promoting expedited and flexible FDA reviews.

Woodcock noted that pharmaceutical companies must wait to determine whether the FDA’s approach to promising experimental treatments will actually change.

“Implementation will be everything,” she said. “Since the agency’s approach is unclear, and the industry is already baffled, I don’t think this adds any illumination.”

WASHINGTON – Jay Bhattacharya, currently serving as director of the National Institutes of Health, has been tapped to simultaneously lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on an interim basis, according to an administration source who spoke Wednesday.

The appointment was initially disclosed by The New York Times and later verified by the official, who requested anonymity since the decision had not yet been publicly announced.

This appointment makes Bhattacharya the third person to helm the troubled CDC, America’s premier public health organization, since President Donald Trump began his second presidency. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suddenly dismissed former CDC Director Susan Monarez during the summer, barely four weeks after senators had approved her nomination.

Monarez, who had spent years working as a government researcher, subsequently appeared before a Senate panel where she revealed that Kennedy terminated her employment after she declined to approve his proposed modifications to children’s immunization schedules without supporting scientific evidence.

Jim O’Neill, the Deputy Health Secretary and former investment professional, had been filling the acting CDC director position and supervising the vaccine policy revisions until his reported exit the previous week.

As a health economics expert and former Stanford University faculty member, Bhattacharya gained attention for his vocal opposition to the federal government’s coronavirus lockdown measures and vaccination mandates. In his NIH role, he manages the country’s most significant source of biomedical research funding.

During a recent congressional hearing, Bhattacharya stated that childhood measles vaccination represented “the best way to address the measles epidemic in this country,” and confirmed he had found no proof connecting individual vaccines to autism.

Trump administration representatives have indicated their intention to identify a long-term CDC director, a position that must receive Senate approval.

The head of the National Institutes of Health will now also oversee the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on an interim basis, according to a Wednesday report from The New York Times.

Jay Bhattacharya, who currently serves as NIH director, has been tapped to take on the acting director role at the CDC as well, two administration officials told the newspaper.

The dual appointment means Bhattacharya will simultaneously lead both major federal health agencies during this transitional period.

A West African nation has permanently terminated a controversial vaccine research project that received $1.6 million in funding during the Trump presidency, according to the country’s top diplomat.

Guinea-Bissau’s Foreign Minister Joao Bernardo Vieira announced Tuesday that his government has definitively ended the study, which was designed to examine potential side effects of hepatitis B vaccination, including exploring connections to autism.

“It’s not going to happen, period,” Vieira stated during an interview, explaining that the decision came after widespread criticism from both the scientific community and U.S. lawmakers.

The research proposal had generated significant controversy among medical experts and international health organizations. The World Health Organization’s Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus declared the study unethical, particularly because the trial design meant only half of participating newborns would receive the hepatitis B vaccine immediately after birth.

Guinea-Bissau, among the most economically disadvantaged nations in West Africa, experiences elevated rates of hepatitis B infection. The country had initially paused the research last month while conducting an ethical evaluation.

Opposition to the study intensified because critics argued it was being used to validate theories connecting vaccines to autism – claims frequently promoted by current U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., despite contradictory scientific evidence.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had authorized the $1.6 million grant following Kennedy’s decision to eliminate the agency’s guidance recommending hepatitis B vaccination for all American newborns.

Medical data from Johns Hopkins University indicates that approximately 90% of infants exposed to hepatitis B during birth or their first year develop chronic infections, with 15% to 25% eventually dying prematurely from liver complications or cancer.

The study was being conducted by researchers from the Bandim Health Project, operated by the University of Southern Denmark and based in Guinea-Bissau. The research team planned to enroll 14,000 newborns to investigate what they termed “non-specific effects,” including skin conditions and neurodevelopmental issues such as autism.

Currently, Guinea-Bissau administers the hepatitis B vaccine at six weeks of age, by which time many babies born to infected mothers have already contracted the virus. The nation plans to begin birth-dose vaccination in 2028.

The proposed trial would have given half the participating infants the vaccine at birth, while the remaining half would receive it at the current six-week timeline.

Frederik Schaltz-Buchholzer, who was leading the investigation, expressed disappointment that the discussion had become politically charged rather than focusing on scientific merit.

“Everyone will lose if this trial is halted but, especially, confidence in vaccines and health research will suffer greatly,” Schaltz-Buchholzer commented, adding that his team remains hopeful a revised study proposal might gain approval in the future.

The Bandim project has maintained operations in Guinea-Bissau for multiple decades, with researchers stating their mission involves comprehensively understanding vaccines’ complete effects, both beneficial and harmful.

Kennedy has referenced Bandim research findings to support his decision to reduce U.S. funding for Gavi, an organization that facilitates vaccine purchases for the world’s most impoverished nations.

CDC representatives did not provide comments when contacted about the study’s termination.

A new study published Wednesday in a medical journal shows that approximately 3 million Americans enrolled in Medicare Advantage programs were compelled to seek new healthcare coverage, representing roughly 10% of all participants in these privately-operated plans.

The research, published in JAMA, revealed that residents in rural communities faced plan cancellations at twice the frequency of their urban counterparts. This disruption creates significant concerns about maintaining access to healthcare providers, specialized medical care, and ongoing treatments, according to Hannah James, a policy researcher with the RAND Corporation think tank, who authored an editorial alongside the study.

Seven states saw more than 40% of their Medicare Advantage participants affected by plan exits, with Vermont experiencing the most severe impact at 92% of enrollees. The remaining states included Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Maryland, and New Hampshire.

Medicare serves approximately 60 million Americans who are either 65 or older or have qualifying disabilities. Roughly half choose Medicare Advantage plans operated by major insurance companies, while the remainder receive coverage through the traditional government-administered Medicare program.

During 2025, insurance companies reported financial losses after experiencing increased costs and reduced government payments, prompting announcements of market exits and shifts for 2026.

The study determined that enrollees with smaller insurance providers represented half of all those experiencing coverage disruptions.

UnitedHealthcare, owned by UnitedHealth Group, was responsible for nearly 14% of the disruptions. CVS Health’s Aetna division followed at 8.65%, while Elevance accounted for approximately 8% of the affected enrollees.

Research findings indicated that plans offering consumers broader provider networks were most commonly discontinued.

James explained in her editorial that the existing system, where the government compensates insurers through pre-arranged payments, creates incentives for companies to target more profitable patients.

“Policymakers should consider whether the current program design adequately aligns plan incentives with beneficiary needs,” James stated.

According to health policy organization KFF, UnitedHealthcare controlled nearly one-third of all Medicare Advantage plans in 2025. Humana held 17% of plans, followed by CVS Health at 12%, and Elevance at 7%.

Federal health officials have agreed to evaluate Moderna’s innovative influenza vaccine following an unprecedented public confrontation that initially prevented the company from submitting its application for the groundbreaking immunization.

The biotechnology company revealed this development on Wednesday, roughly one week after disclosing that federal vaccine regulators had declined to examine the new immunization, which utilizes Nobel Prize-recognized mRNA science.

The disagreement revolved around a large-scale clinical study involving 40,000 participants that demonstrated Moderna’s innovative vaccine outperformed existing standard flu immunizations in adults aged 50 and above. Federal vaccine oversight director Dr. Vinay Prasad issued an uncommon “refusal to file” notice, criticizing the research for excluding another vaccine brand specifically designed for individuals 65 and older.

Moderna challenged this decision publicly. The company argued that although federal regulators had suggested that particular testing approach, officials eventually approved the study’s framework. Additionally, Moderna provided supplementary comparison information from a different trial that utilized a high-dose immunization for senior citizens. Federal authorities identified no safety issues.

Nevertheless, Moderna announced Wednesday that as part of a settlement, the company will pursue complete authorization for vaccine use in adults between 50 and 64 years old, while seeking expedited approval for those 65 and above, contingent on conducting further research after market release. Company stock prices increased more than 5% following the morning announcement.

Federal regulators are aiming for a decision by August 5th, with Moderna expressing optimism about vaccine availability before year’s end. The company has also submitted approval requests in Europe, Canada, and Australia.

This remarkably public disagreement represents another indication of intensified federal vaccine oversight under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., especially regarding mRNA-based immunizations, which he has previously criticized both before and after assuming the nation’s highest health position.

Over the past year, federal health officials operating under Kennedy’s leadership have withdrawn COVID-19 vaccination recommendations, implemented additional warnings for the two primary COVID vaccines utilizing mRNA technology, and dismissed administration critics from federal advisory committees.

An Australian pharmaceutical company announced Wednesday it has secured exclusive rights to develop a potentially groundbreaking treatment for heart complications in patients with severe kidney disease.

CSL entered into a licensing deal with pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co, obtaining rights to develop and market clazakizumab, an antibody designed to reduce cardiovascular illness and death in patients with end-stage kidney disease.

Under the agreement, CSL will pay Eli Lilly $100 million upfront and could provide additional payments based on clinical trial results, regulatory approvals, and commercial success. The Australian company would also pay royalties on worldwide sales of the drug.

The treatment works by blocking a protein called IL-6 from connecting to its receptor, potentially reducing inflammation that contributes to disease progression in immune and inflammatory disorders, according to CSL.

“Clazakizumab is a promising therapeutic candidate with the potential to significantly impact the treatment landscape for various immuno-inflammatory and cardiovascular conditions,” said Bill Mezzanotte, head of research and development at CSL.

The Australian biotechnology company noted that finalizing the agreement depends on meeting standard closing requirements.

Aviv Shapira received a PTSD diagnosis in early 2023 following challenging military service that concluded before the October 7 attacks and subsequent conflict.

Watching their daughter struggle with inadequate support, her parents Avital and Moti Shapira recognized that numerous women dealing with military-related trauma weren’t receiving appropriate assistance.

This realization prompted them to take action and establish change.

The family created Arim Roshi (meaning “I shall rise”), a community support network for women with combat PTSD, originally scheduled to begin operations in 2024. However, following the October 7 massacre, the Shapiras moved up their timeline and launched the organization ahead of schedule, establishing a dedicated healing environment for women.

During Sunday’s ICAR (Israel’s Collective Action for Resilience) Summit presentation, Avital Shapira explained that her daughter rejected all available support programs. Initially puzzled by this response, she later understood that existing programs failed to address her daughter’s specific requirements.

“We realized women’s needs are very different from men’s,” Shapira said. “Just like physical health is different for men and women, so is mental health.”

Following decades of fighting for equal treatment in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), women now serve in combat and police positions alongside their male colleagues. However, while receiving identical field treatment, military approaches to PTSD prevention and care frequently overlook gender-based differences.

Recent Ynet statistics reveal that women comprised approximately 20% of IDF combat personnel during the latest conflict, totaling over 65,000 female service members. These women participated in border protection, counterintelligence, and additional frontline operations. Similar to their male colleagues, many now face post-traumatic challenges.

Latest data from the Ministry of Defense rehabilitation department indicates that among more than 82,000 wounded personnel under their supervision, 31,000 are managing psychological wounds and post-trauma conditions.

Arim Roshi operates on four foundational elements: community support, therapeutic workshops, individual guidance, and research initiatives.

“Many women think they’re the only ones dealing with this,” Shapira explained. Arim Roshi creates a safe space where members can connect, share their experiences, and support one another.

The group conducts workshops incorporating movement, artistic expression, aquatic therapy, and horse-assisted treatment to help women work through trauma using methods beyond conventional talk therapy.

Additionally, Arim Roshi offers individual assistance to help women handle bureaucratic processes, manage family relationships, and complete Ministry of Defense recognition procedures.

The organization also monitors results and collects information about effective methods, aiming to support broader research efforts and enhance care for women with military-related PTSD.

Shapira joined other speakers addressing women and warfare issues during a panel led by Israel’s special envoy for trade and innovation, Fleur Hassan-Nahoum. The discussion examined distinctive wartime challenges facing women and institutional improvements needed to better serve them.

“The health of women is not just related to gynecology,” said Dr. Michal Sela of NOGAFem, a center for health innovation and policy. “We are different in every way.”

Despite this awareness, Sela noted that research and information about female fighters’ wartime experiences remains insufficient.

“The information is lacking,” Sela said.

The consequences reach well beyond frontline female personnel.

Dr. Inbal Shlomi from the Merhavim Medical Center for Brain and Mind Care described nationwide trauma levels as “unbelievable.”

“Even though most of us were not in Gaza or on the frontline, we all experienced unbelievable levels of trauma,” Shlomi explained. Social media exposure and constant interaction with people directly affected by the attacks contributed to widespread secondary trauma.

Furthermore, hundreds of Israeli women suffered sexual assault and abuse by Hamas terrorists on October 7 and during captivity. Shlomi explained that women with previous sexual abuse experiences might have experienced intensified symptoms, renewed flashbacks, or worsening PTSD after learning about their peers’ experiences that day.

She shared details about one patient who explained that before October 7, she considered the world evil but thought she might be wrong and attempted to challenge that viewpoint. Following October 7, she stated that nobody could persuade her otherwise.

Mothers also experienced profound trauma.

Agamit Gelb, who founded Inner Forces, described becoming a mother, sister, and aunt to fighters on October 7. While sending family members into combat, she realized she was experiencing complex emotions that seemed unrecognized by others.

Initially, few anticipated the conflict would continue for nearly two years, keeping loved ones on frontlines for extended durations. However, prolonged conflicts aren’t unprecedented for Israel. Gelb observed that her 70-year-old mother has served as a fighter’s mother, grandmother, and aunt throughout her life, yet remained overlooked in national discussions.

Gelb understood that mothers and other female relatives required support and clear information. However, the State failed to recognize their need for these resources.

She responded by establishing Inner Forces, a program designed for female family members of fighters. Working with Ruppin Academic Center, she researched 400 mothers. Results demonstrated that many women dismissed as simply anxious or concerned were actually experiencing trauma. About 20% of survey participants lost employment due to wartime challenges of being a soldier’s mother.

“The family is what provides resilience,” Gelb said, noting that keeping these women strong was essential.

Gelb reported that when asking mothers about their coping strategies, many would start crying. However, they frequently felt guilty about expressing distress because their sons hadn’t been killed or kidnapped.

“I was just a mom of someone in the field,” Gelb said, describing how she felt lost because she viewed her own trauma as less significant than others’.

Through Inner Forces, she established a community providing resilience programming, psychoeducation, and crucially, a gathering place for mothers to connect and support each other throughout the war.

As increasing numbers of women assume combat responsibilities and serve in critical IDF positions, understanding mental health protection becomes increasingly vital, Shapira emphasized. She noted that many women work in frontline positions not officially designated as combat roles, yet potentially expose them to equivalent trauma levels.

Nevertheless, she expressed optimism.

Her own daughter, who had suffered significantly, recently delivered her second child. She observed that many women who experienced early war trauma are now contributing to what she called a “baby boom.”

“There is hope,” she told the room. “You can live with PTSD,” she added, “and it can even be transformed into post-traumatic growth. That is our hope.”

Health authorities in South Carolina documented 12 new measles infections between Friday and Tuesday, pushing the state’s total confirmed cases to 962, according to data released by state health officials.

The Tuesday announcement marks a continued climb in what has become a significant outbreak, with health department leaders cautioning that the spread of the highly contagious disease may continue for weeks or even months to come.

Officials point to insufficient vaccination rates as a key factor allowing the outbreak to persist and expand throughout the state. The measles virus spreads rapidly in communities where immunization coverage falls below protective levels.

A pharmaceutical company announced Tuesday it will move forward with standard federal approval procedures for its rare disease medication after the Food and Drug Administration turned down its application for expedited review.

Disc Medicine revealed that federal regulators declined to approve bitopertin through the agency’s accelerated review system. Last month, Reuters reported exclusively that FDA officials had delayed the drug’s evaluation by two weeks due to questions about clinical trial information and concerns regarding potential misuse.

The medication had been under consideration through the FDA’s national priority voucher system, which reduces review time to one or two months compared to the standard 10-12 month timeline.

Company CEO John Quisel noted that policy discussions surrounding accelerated drug approvals have continued through several presidential administrations, with recent regulatory actions indicating federal officials are taking a more cautious approach to such expedited approvals.

The pharmaceutical firm indicated it anticipates receiving final-stage trial results during the fourth quarter of this year.