Medicine otter • Now • 100%

Did a top NIH official manipulate Alzheimer's and Parkinson’s studies for decades? | science.org

Summary > Eliezer Masliah, who since 2016 has been the head of the Division of Neuroscience in the National Institute on Aging (NIA), and whose scientific publication record over at least the past 25 years shows multiple, widespread, blatant instances of fraud. More details > Masliah appeared an ideal selection. The physician and neuropathologist conducted research at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) for decades, and his drive, curiosity, and productivity propelled him into the top ranks of scholars on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. His roughly **800 research papers**, many on how those conditions damage synapses, the junctions between neurons, have made him one of the most cited scientists in his field. **His work on topics including alpha-synuclein—a protein linked to both diseases—continues to influence basic and clinical science**. > But over the past 2 years questions have arisen about some of Masliah’s research. A Science investigation has now found that scores of his lab studies at UCSD and NIA are riddled with apparently **falsified Western blots—images used to show the presence of proteins—and micrographs of brain tissue. Numerous images seem to have been inappropriately reused within and across papers, sometimes published years apart in different journals**, describing divergent experimental conditions. > > After Science brought initial concerns about Masliah’s work to their attention, a neuroscientist and forensic analysts specializing in scientific work who had previously worked with Science produced a **300-page dossier revealing a steady stream of suspect images between 1997 and 2023 in 132 of his published research papers**. (Science did not pay them for their work.) “In our opinion, this pattern of anomalous data raises a credible concern for research misconduct and calls into question a remarkably large body of scientific work,” they concluded. Related blog post on some drugs/therapeutic targets that rely on this work: https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/fraud-so-much-fraud

Medicine otter • Now • 100%

PSA for physicians in the US: "Your data is being sold by the AMA through their 'AMA Physician Professional Data' program"

Saw this post on another site, and thought it would be helpful to link here > Go to the link to request that they add a Do Not Contact (DOC) or Do Not Release (DOC) restriction to their AMA Physician Professional Data record > [AMA Link](https://www.ama-assn.org/about/physician-professional-data/ensuring-physician-database-privacy). > I have worked on the Carrier side of malpractice insurance for nearly 10 years. Working in their marketing departments I can tell you this type of data was routinely purchased for mailers. If we wanted to we could buy full rights to the data, which allowed us to upload it into our SalesForce and CRM systems. They even offered to sell us data on physician computer activity by specialty so we could line up our email pushes with their most receptive times. > > I have even heard of carriers purchasing patient billing data to help determine a physician's professional liability risk profile. So if you have what they would deem a "riskier" patient population, they could charge you more. The old way was based on a broad risk profile by specialty and procedure codes.

Medicine otter • Now • 100%

How a trove of cancer genomes could improve kids’ leukaemia treatment

www.nature.com

cross-posted from: https://rss.ponder.cat/post/11189

Medicine otter • Now • 100%

All for one, not one for all: The promise and challenges of personalized medicine

theconversation.com

> For most of the medicines currently in use, a single drug is prescribed to many people. But sometimes, an individual patient needs a customized drug. Personalized medicine tailors treatments for a specific patient or a handful of patients. It holds great promise for treating certain life-threatening conditions. However, such treatments can be expensive, difficult to develop and labour-intensive. > > Today in The Conversation Canada, Lori Burrows and Elizabeth Li of McMaster University write about the promise and challenges of personalized medicine. Treatments like CAR T-cell therapy for relapsed cancers and phage therapy for antibiotic resistant superbugs can save lives, but the high costs that come with such individualized therapies are a major barrier. There are other hurdles, too, including drug approvals and regulations.

Medicine otter • Now • 100%

Vancouver doctor first in Canada to use new suturing device

globalnews.ca

cross-posted from: https://rss.ponder.cat/post/1945

Medicine otter • Now • 91%

Two people dead in listeria outbreak linked to recalled plant-based milk · Globe and Mail | Kelly Grant

www.theglobeandmail.com

article archive link: https://web.archive.org/web/20240719142236/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-two-people-dead-in-listeria-outbreak-linked-to-recalled-plant-based/

Medicine Apytele • Now • 91%

Discussion: what are your favorite patient recovery moments that aren't too uncommon?

A big one for me is coming back and seeing my catatonia patient I was giving IV meals to and changing the sheets out from under a week ago now up in the dayroom participating in a few rounds of spades while munching on cookies and soda. I have to shove down that exact excited squeal from the video sometimes. What've y'all got?

Medicine otter • Now • 100%

Sources of specialist physician fee variation: Evidence from Australian health insurance claims data

#### Highlights > - This study investigates why specialist physician fees vary. > - We consider variation between patients, physicians, specialties, and other factors. > - We find variation between physicians dominates other sources. > - Contrary to common beliefs, patient factors account for little of the variation. > - Our results inform policy to improve price transparency in specialist care market. #### More context: > Although Australia has a publicly funded health system that provides universal health coverage, about 44 % of the population holds private health insurance. Specialist physician fees in the private sector are unregulated; physicians can charge any price they want, subject to market forces. > We find that **patient risk factors** account for a small portion of the variance in fees and out-of-pocket payments > **Physician-specific variation**, responsible for much of the variation in total fees and OOP payments, could include physician characteristics that patients value, such as bedside manner, experience or reputation, or factors related to physicians’ circumstances or preferences. A key physician-level factor that may drive the variation is the perception of quality or skill differences between physicians. This perception can come from either consumers or physicians themselves about their quality or skill levels in comparison to other physicians in the physician's local market. [...] which can lead to large price variation and non-transparency of fees. #### Recommendations > The government, private health insurers and physicians themselves could all play a more active role than they currently do. The government, for example, could mandate the disclosure of price and quality information for all procedures that receive government subsidies, insurers could provide incentives for the disclosure of such information, and physicians could change their referral practice to give preferences to other physicians who are willing to be transparent about their prices and quality.

Medicine otter • Now • 100%

Policy that forced patients to switch to cheaper medications saved B.C. $730-million, report says

www.theglobeandmail.com

> A British Columbia provincial policy that forced people with chronic illnesses such as Crohn’s disease and rheumatoid arthritis to switch to cheaper medications saved the province more than $730-million over five years, according to a new government report. > > The B.C. government said Friday that the money freed up through its biosimilar switching plan allowed the province to expand public coverage of other drugs and devices, including Trikafta, a life-changing treatment for cystic fibrosis and continuous glucose monitors for people with diabetes.

Medicine otter • Now • 98%

Pentagon ran secret anti-vax campaign to undermine China during pandemic | Reuters Investigation

> At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. military launched a secret campaign to counter what it perceived as China’s growing influence in the Philippines, a nation hit especially hard by the deadly virus. > Reuters identified at least 300 accounts on X, formerly Twitter, that matched descriptions shared by former U.S. military officials familiar with the Philippines operation. Almost all were created in the summer of 2020 and centered on the slogan #Chinaangvirus – Tagalog for China is the virus. > The military program started under former President Donald Trump and continued months into Joe Biden’s presidency, Reuters found – even after alarmed social media executives warned the new administration that the Pentagon had been trafficking in COVID misinformation. The Biden White House issued an edict in spring 2021 banning the anti-vax effort, which also disparaged vaccines produced by other rivals, and the Pentagon initiated an internal review, Reuters found.

Medicine uis • Now • 93%

Self-surgery on South Pole

30 April 1961 Leonid Rogozov does appendectomy on himself during his Antarctica expidition with help of driver and meteorologist.

Medicine mecfs • Now • 71%

‘I could bench-press 100kg. Now, I can’t walk’: Lucy’s life with long Covid

www.theguardian.com

> I was incredibly strong and fit,” says Lucy Keighley. And she looks it, in the photo she is showing me, taken a few years ago. She is with her best friend, Lorna; they have just completed a 15-mile race on the North York Moors. “It was a brutal race,” she says. “But it was great. I was happy.” Today, although it’s quite dark in the room (she doesn’t get on well with bright light), I can see a tear rolling down her cheek. “I don’t know if I’m ever going to get back there.” > In the [most recent findings](https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/articles/selfreportedcoronaviruscovid19infectionsandassociatedsymptomsenglandandscotland/november2023tomarch2024) by the Office for National Statistics, released in April, an estimated 2 million people in England and Scotland (3.3% of the population) self-reported experiencing long Covid, meaning symptoms that continued for more than four weeks after infection, although many reported their symptoms had lasted two years or longer. Of those, about 1.5 million felt their day-to-day activities were affected, while 381,000 said their day-to‑day activities were “limited a lot”. Worldwide, at least [65 million people](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41579-022-00846-2) are estimated to have long Covid.

Medicine otter • Now • 100%

More than 200 people with diabetes injured after software issue drained insulin pump batteries | CNN

edition.cnn.com

cross-posted from: https://kbin.run/m/world@lemmy.world/t/410267 > More than 200 people with diabetes have been injured when their insulin pumps shut down unexpectedly due to a problem with a connected mobile app, the US Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday.

Medicine otter • Now • 97%

Covid lessons remain unlearned as avian flu infects cattle, hospitals say

> Hospital leaders say the health system won’t be ready if the avian flu that’s infected American dairy cattle becomes widespread among humans. > > In discussing a hypothetical scenario, the hospitals have struck a different tone than the Biden administration. It says the risk is currently low to most people and that agencies are closely monitoring for any sign of danger to Americans. > > Still, hospital officials told POLITICO they’re dismayed that they don’t feel better prepared, just four years after Covid-19 caught them unawares. They’re not confident that the health care system — including the government agencies that have wound down Covid responses — can avoid the missteps around tests, bed space and communication that plagued the last public health emergency, should this strain of flu, H5N1, become more of a threat.

Medicine otter • Now • 100%

Overworked B.C. doctors say sick notes are wasting their time

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/20510991 > > Sick notes place an unnecessary burden on doctors and patients, physicians' organizations say > > > Family doctors frustrated with writing sick notes have created a template letter for patients to give to their employers, explaining that the notes place an unnecessary burden on physicians during an ongoing primary-care crisis. > > > > They are also calling on the province to restrict when and how employers can ask for sick notes. > > > Many family doctors spend between 20 and 30 per cent of their day doing paperwork, Ali says, and filling out sick notes only adds to that. > > > > Also, having to leave the house to get a note does not allow the sick person to rest, Ali said, and the task is made even more difficult for those who don't have a family doctor and have to wait in walk-in clinics. "A person who feels under the weather — the last thing they want to do is possibly get on a bus, or into their vehicle, or ask someone for a ride to go to their doctors office," said Ali. > > > As of 2023, employers in Nova Scotia are only allowed to request a sick note if the absence is more than five consecutive work days. > > > > New legislation in Ontario, meanwhile, will force employers to scrap sick notes for the three days of provincially mandated annual sick leave. The Ontario government is moving to ban sick notes for short-term illness, in an effort to cut down on paperwork for family doctors. > > > In a statement sent to CBC News, B.C.'s Ministry of Labour said employers are able to request "reasonably sufficient proof" of illness, but are encouraged to be thoughtful about when they request sick notes. > > > > It did not respond to questions about whether it is considering legislation to ban or restrict asking for sick notes.

Medicine otter • Now • 97%

Nurses Say Hospital Adoption Of Half-Cooked ‘AI’ Is Reckless

www.techdirt.com

Sorry that's being referenced in this one: https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/health/nurses-kaiser-sf-protest-ai/3516888

Medicine otter • Now • 97%

Walmart will close all of its health care clinics | CNN Business

www.cnn.com

> Walmart had made a big push into health care in recent years, opening clinics next to its superstores that offered primary and urgent care, labs, X-rays, behavioral health and dental work — Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Missouri and Texas. Walmart believed it could use its massive financial scale and store base to offer convenient, low-cost services to patients in rural and underserved areas that lacked primary care options. > > But the announcement is an abrupt reversal in Walmart’s strategy and may leave a gap in health care access, particularly for lower-income patients without insurance who relied on the centers. Walmart also said it will end virtual health care services. 99 Cents Only Stores, founded in 1982, announced Thursday that they will close all 371 of its stores. Nearby stores include Visalia (pictured), Tulare, Hanford, and Porterville. > > Related article Dollar stores are shutting down across America. They did this to themselves > > “One of unique things was they were focused on stores located in underserved communities. It’s disappointing that Walmart wasn’t able to make it work because these patients need care and don’t have as many options,” said Ateev Mehrotra, a professor of health care policy and medicine at Harvard Medical School who researches retail health clinics. > > Walmart said it was a “difficult decision,” but its health care push was not profitable for the company because of the “challenging reimbursement environment and escalating operating costs.” > > “We determined there is not a sustainable business model for us to continue,” the company said.

Medicine leanleft • Now • 100%

Bacterial enzyme strips away blood types to create universal donor blood

newatlas.com

"Researchers at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and Lund University, Sweden, have used enzymes produced by a common gut bacteria to remove the A and B antigens from red blood cells, bringing them one step closer to creating universal donor blood."