Insights, Perspectives & Ideas
Doctors Can Now Save Very Premature Babies. Most Hospitals Don ’ t Try. The Wall Street Journal, August 2024 Hospitals can now save increasingly younger premature newborns, with doctors agreeing on treatment for babies born at 25 weeks, while those 20 weeks or less are too small to save. Medical advances aiding lung development and protecting skin and organs allow newborns to survive at 22 weeks and, rarely, 21 weeks. Forty- five percent of U.S. neonatal intensive care units provide care to some of the 8,000 infants born at 22-24 weeks annually, with experienced hospitals reporting up to 67% survival rates. Most hospitals aren ’ t equipped or choose not to offer care due to the likelihood of failure, high costs and risks of disability and offer comfort care instead. Parents often lack awareness of medical possibilities and nearby hospitals ’ capabilities, as no comprehensive list of hospitals treating 22- week babies exists.
A Blood Test Accurately Diagnosed Alzheimer ’ s 90% of the Time, Study Finds The New York Times, July 2024 A new study in JAMA shows promising results for a blood test that can accurately diagnose Alzheimer ’ s disease about 90% of the time in patients with memory problems. With over 32 million Alzheimer ’ s cases globally, the test can become an affordable diagnostic for people with cognitive impairments. The test measured a form of the protein tau ( ptau-217 ) and tracked amyloid, outperforming diagnostic methods used by memory specialists and primary care physicians, who were wrong 25% and 41% of the time. Experts cautioned that results of the Swedish study should be confirmed in more diverse populations and that the test should be administered after assessing memory and thinking abilities and be confirmed by gold- standard methods such as PET scans or spinal taps to measure amyloid.
Scientists May Have Finally Found a Cheap, Natural Cure for Baldness BBC Science Focus Magazine, August 2024 Scientists have discovered 2-deoxy-D-ribose ( 2dDR ) , a naturally occurring sugar in the human body, as a potential treatment for male pattern baldness. A study published in Frontiers in Pharmacology found that 2dDR gel was 80-90% as effective as minoxidil, a component of Rogaine ® and Theroxidil, in promoting hair regrowth in mice, with potentially fewer side effects than current FDA-approved solutions. 2dDR is inexpensive and stable, works by stimulating blood vessel growth and could potentially help with chemotherapy-induced hair loss. However, experts noted that the link between blood flow and hair growth has not been conclusively demonstrated. Research on human subjects is needed before 2dDR-based treatments become available.
The Summer Olympics Can ’ t Keep Up This Speed The Atlantic, August 2024 The 2021 Tokyo and 2024 Paris Olympics experienced extreme heat, with Los Angeles 2028 expected to face similar challenges. Heat can weigh down even the best-trained athletes, and it can negatively impact distance races in cycling and running if they are longer than 1.5-2 minutes, potentially limiting marathon times and record-breaking at the Summer Olympics. Climate change will also limit the roster of potential host cities for both Summer and Winter games and force the games to adapt. Summer games may have to be rescheduled to cooler seasons, and increased heat training would be necessary for athletes. Experts disagree on the long-term impact: While some believe records will continue to be broken due to adaptations and advancements, others suggest performance may decline if temperatures keep rising.
Childhood Vaccines Aren ’ t Just Saving Lives. They ’ re Saving Money. The New York Times, August 2024 A new CDC report highlights the impact of childhood vaccines, including measles, tetanus and diphtheria in the U.S. Over 30 years, vaccines prevented 508 million illness cases, 32 million hospitalizations and 1.129 million deaths, saving $540 billion in healthcare costs and $2.7 trillion in indirect costs. Despite benefits, vaccine attitudes have shifted since 2001. According to Gallup, almost 70% of parents thought immunizations were “ extremely important ” or “ very important, ” down from 94% in 2001. The shift is partly due to a lack of access to healthcare providers, rising misinformation on social media and COVID-19 vaccine skepticism that affected attitudes toward vaccines. Epidemiologist Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo is concerned that the decline in childhood vaccinations threatens not only to undo the health advances and economic benefits but also to cause larger societal instability.
Long COVID Is a $1 Trillion Problem With No Cure. Experts Plead for
Governments to Wake Up Fortune Well., August 2024
A Nature Medicine review by Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, Dr. Eric Topol and others highlighted that long COVID has affected around 400 million people worldwide. Its annual cost is $1 trillion of lost quality of life and economic output ( or 1% of global economy ) without factoring in the direct costs of health care. As COVID infection rates remain high and new variants continue to arise, more cases of long COVID are anticipated. More than 200 symptoms were identified, including memory problems, difficulty concentrating, fatigue, heart palpitations, chronic cough, shortness of breath and recurring headaches, with long COVID affecting multiple organ systems and potentially lasting years with low and inconsistent recovery rates. Awareness of the condition remains low, and researchers call for increased government action, including improved prevention measures, more research and large-scale drug trials.
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