Ice Bucket Challenge Leads to Discovery of New ALS Gene

August 5, 2016

In 2014, former college baseball player Pete Frates turned the “ice bucket challenge” into an internet phenomenon. To complete the challenge, participants agreed to have ice water dumped on their heads or donate to ALS research, and then challenged others to do the same publicly via social media. Although the challenge raised awareness for the rare disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease), some derided it as slacktivism, providing more Facebook fodder than funds. The ALS association, however, reported that research donations increased by millions of dollars, with over $100 million resulting from the ice bucket challenge campaign directly. Now, researchers can point to an even greater result: the discovery of a new gene linked to ALS.

Article: The “Ice Bucket Challenge” Helped Scientists Discover a New Gene Tied to A.L.S

Zika in the United States

July 27, 2016

A growing number of children have been born in the United States with Zika-related birth defects, including microcephaly, seizures, vision and hearing loss, and intellectual disability. Of the more than 1,500 children born with birth defects due to the virus to date, about a dozen of these children have been born in the US. In all of the US cases, mothers had been infected while traveling to one of the 50 or so countries with endemic Zika. Zika virus is spread through mosquitoes or sexual transmission. Last week, the first documented case of female to male sexual transmission occurred. Recently, there has also been a reported case of transmission through caregiving duties, demonstrating that we have a lot to learn about the virus. Given that pregnant women who become infected have between a 1 and 29% chance of giving birth to a child with microcephaly, expecting mothers should avoid travel to countries with Zika and direct contact with others who have recently traveled to these countries.

Article: A Grim First: New York City Reports Baby Born with a Zika-Related Defect    

Philadelphia Gunshot Treatment Study: Is Less More?

July 18, 2016

A bold new study of the treatment of gunshot victims will be conducted right here in Philadelphia and is expected to last five years, encompassing all Philadelphia inhabitants who do not opt out. The study will randomize gunshot victims to receive or not receive standard paramedic treatment of intubation and I.V. fluids, investigating whether such interventions actually have a positive or negative effect on patient outcomes. The ethics of such a study are obviously complex, as victims will not be given the opportunity for informed consent, but its structure has been approved by both the FDA and the city of Philadelphia. Currently, there is a gun shot victim admitted to Philadelphia emergency rooms every 7 hours, and 1 in 5 of these victims does not survive. Those conducting this study hope to shed light on how to improve these survival outcomes in the future.

 Article: Philadelphia Conducting Experiment to Save Gunshot Victims

Dr. Brian H. Williams of Dallas Pleads for Open Discussion and an End to Killing

July 12, 2016

Last Thursday night Dr. Brian H. Williams was the trauma surgeon on duty when wounded police officers from the Dallas shooting came into the ER. The shooting occurred after videos of two African-American men shot by police inLouisiana and Minnesota re-ignited debate and protest over police violence towards black men. 5 police officers were killed and 7 were wounded in the Dallas shooting, making it the deadliest single incident for U.S. law enforcement since September 11th, 2001. Williams, a surgeon and African American man, emerged as a leader after the tragedy, responding “This killing. It has to stop.” Drawing from the complexities of his experiences, Williams pleads for “open discussions about the impact of race relations in this country” that we “have to come together and end all this.” 

Article: Dallas Trauma Surgeon: 'This killing, it has to stop'

Psychiatric Bed Count in State Hospitals Falls to Historic Low

July 7, 2016

In the study “No Room at the Inn,” the U.S. non-profit organization Treatment Advocacy Center details the decline of the number of psychiatric beds available in state-run hospitals from 2005 to 2010, tracing this drop to a larger 50-year trend. Currently, about 11 such beds are available per 100,000 people, a statistic far below that of other developed countries and far below estimates of what is necessary for adequate psychiatric care.  In addition, the study describes how nearly half of these beds are filled by the criminal justice system, a proportion that continues to increase. Many doctors and national medical organizations have highlighted the dangers of such shortages for years, and this recent study proposes several potential solutions. Many hope that a bill to reform mental health care recently passed by the House of Representatives will address these shortages and generally improve mental health care in the U.S.

Article: National Psychiatric Bed Count Hits Record Low

Supreme Court Rules Against Texas Abortion Laws

July 1, 2016

On Monday in a 5-3 ruling, the Supreme Court struck down two provisions of a lawregulating abortion clinics in Texas. With this Supreme Court decision, doctors are now no longer required to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of an abortion clinic. Secondly, abortion centers are no longer required to meet the same safety standards as ambulatory surgical centers, which perform much more complex procedures. The court ruled both provisions unconstitutional, citing that the regulations placed undue burden on women. This ruling will keep abortion clinics open in Texas and calls into question similar laws in nearly two-dozen states.

Article: Fallout From Supreme Court Ruling Against Texas Law’s Abortion Restrictions

How Hard Can it be to get a Newborn Health Insurance?

June 21, 2016

In this week’s article, Atlantic writer Ester Bloom describes how difficult it can be to get health insurance coverage for a newborn baby, from personal experience. Bloom describes the bureaucratic red tape that would have left her newly arrived child without health insurance coverage for over a month, had she not been willing to pay (steeply) out of pocket. Despite obvious literacy with the health insurance system, the author was unable to obtain proper coverage from New York state health insurance exchanges, Child Health Plus, or the author’s own health insurance company.

Article: How Hard Can It Be To Get A Newborn Health Insurance?

Is PTSD Psychological or Physical?

June 14, 2016

Since the advent of modern warfare, subsets of returning soldiers have suffered from memory loss, cognitive problems, inability to sleep, and profound, often suicidal, depression. Historically, these symptoms were attributed to emotional turmoil evoked by the trauma of war. Recent studies, however, reveal compelling evidence that these symptoms may in fact be caused by physical brain damage resulting from explosive blasts. Over the past 15 years, 350,000 American service members have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury, a statistic that is likely an underestimate. 

A 2010 post-mortem study of blast-injured soldiers who died long after blast exposure revealed a common and distinctive pattern of tiny scars in areas of the brain corresponding to the centers for sleep and cognition. These physical findings differ from damage caused solely by concussions, which can lead to chronic traumatic encephalopathy. There are several hypotheses about the source of this scarring pattern, including theories that blasts cause damaging surges of blood to the brain, or compression waves that change speed when encountering different densities. Another study investigated the cumulative effects of small blasts on SWAT instructors and trainees, finding that instructors, who are exposed to more blasts, had a small but distinct decline on neuropsychological tests.

In light of recent findings, the military is starting to shift their outlook on the seriousness of blast exposure. Initial changes within the military include increased screening for brain injury, mandated removal of concussed soldiers from combat, and the requirement for soldiers to wear blast gauges that turn red when exposed to forces equal to the lower limit of possible concussion or brain injury.

Article: Is PTSD Psychological or Physical?