Home Health STAT Morning rounds: Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Medicare, mental health

STAT Morning rounds: Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Medicare, mental health

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STAT Morning rounds: Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Medicare, mental health

GGood morning, it’s Wednesday! A few of us at STAT thought yesterday might have been Wednesday, but no, it’s today. And in case you’re as confused as we are, tomorrow is Thursday. (You’d think that editing a weekly podcast would keep me informed of what day it is, but you’d be wrong.) There are only 11 weeks left in 2024…! Anyway, the news:

Chemistry Nobel goes to three scientists for protein discoveries

Scientists who have opened new doors in our understanding of the structure of proteins — the fundamental building blocks of biology — and even devised ways to make new proteins won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry on Wednesday morning.

The prize went to David Baker of the University of Washington, and to Demis Hassabis and John Jumper, who work at Google DeepMind in London. Baker will receive half of the prize of 11 million Swedish kronor (just over $1 million), while Hassabis and Jumper will share the other half.

Hassabis and Jumper showed that the structure of a protein – which defines its biological function – could be predicted just by knowing the sequence of the protein’s components. Baker developed tools that allowed researchers to design new proteins.

More here from Drew Joseph.

Kamala Harris Proposes New Health Benefits for Older Americans on ‘The View’

In her campaign for the White House, Vice President Kamala Harris has followed in President Biden’s footsteps by calling for expanded negotiations on Medicare’s new drug prices. Now she says she wants to use the cuts in pharmaceutical industry profits in Medicare to fund new home health, vision and hearing benefits for people over 65.

In an election cycle largely devoid of policy details, Harris went on ABC’s “The View” to talk about the proposal. “This is how we pay for it,” she said. “Part of what I also plan to do is allow Medicare to continue to negotiate drug prices with these big pharmaceutical companies.” The idea could resonate with older voters — and alarm the drug industry. Read more about the plan from STAT’s Rachel Cohrs Zhang and John Wilkerson.

Discouraging new CDC data on youth mental health as states sue TikTok

More than a dozen states filed lawsuits against TikTok yesterday, claiming the app’s algorithm is addictive and harmful to the mental health of young people. The signups were dropped the day the CDC released data from the latter Research into behavioral risks among young peoplewhich is awarded every two years to a nationally representative group of secondary school students.

The results in the field of mental health and social media are remarkable: more than three-quarters of students surveyed indicated that they use it social media several times a day or more. Students who used social media more often reported being bullied more at school and electronically. Frequent social media use was also associated with seriously considering suicide and making a suicide plan.

Other notable statistics from the CDC report:

  • Overall, approximately 40% of adolescents reported persistent feelings sad or hopeless. Twenty percent had seriously considered attempting suicide.
  • The study provides the first set of nationally representative data on the mental health of trans youth. More than a quarter of trans and questioning respondents report having attempted suicide in the past year. That’s compared to 5% of cisgender male and 11% of cisgender female students.
  • About 32% of students indicated that they had ever experienced this racism at school. These students reported higher rates of considering and attempting suicide than those who had never experienced racism.

Meet the viruses that live on your toothbrush and in the shower

Next time you brush your teeth or take a shower, say hello: There are hundreds of viruses crawling across those surfaces, most of which scientists have never seen before. This is evident from a study published today in Boundaries in microbiomes. Researchers sought to characterize bacteria in the home by analyzing 34 toothbrushes and 92 shower heads. Because where there is water, there are also microbes.

“The number of viruses we found is absolutely wild,” Erica Hartmann, the researcher who led the study, said in a press release. There were more than 600 different viruses in the samples, with essentially no overlap between the toothbrush and the shower head.

The researchers emphasized that the viruses they found are not our enemies. They are phages that target bacteria. Still, the results highlight what they call “the lack of available information on bacteriophages in indoor environments.”

(Tangentially related – have you guys seen it this study from February showing that closing the toilet lid does not reduce the risk of contamination of bathroom surfaces? It haunts me.)

Lead pipes must be replaced within ten years, according to the new EPA rule

Drinking water systems in the US must identify and replace lead pipes within 10 years, according to a new EPA rule the Biden administration finalized yesterday. The rule also requires more stringent testing of drinking water and a lower exposure threshold to require communities to take action. The action comes ten years after the drinking water crisis in Flint, Michigan.

The EPA estimates the work will cost an estimated $20 to $30 billion to replace “aging” (read: old) pipes that support up to 9 million homes. In addition to previous funding, the agency is providing $2.6 billion to support the work, half of which should be provided to underserved communities. (Note, however, that the rule does not require utilities to pay for lines located on private property). An additional $35 million will be made available in the form of competitive grants.

Read more about the rule, which STAT’s Nalis Merelli wrote about last year when it was proposed.

Why Scientific American Endorsed a Presidential Candidate

Scientific American’s editorial staff has courted controversy twice in recent years for supporting presidential candidates: President Biden in 2020 and now Vice President Kamala Harris in this year’s election. Editor-in-chief Laura Helmuth and opinion editor Megha Satyanarayana explain why they are going against the magazine’s 179-year history in this week’s episode of The First Opinion podcast.

“We have a lot of knowledge, and we have, I think, the opportunity and the responsibility to explain how the science is at stake in the election,” Helmuth said. “And not just science, of course – healthcare, the environment, education, technology.” Listen to the episode.

What we read

  • A boy’s bicycle death haunts a black neighborhood. 35 years later there is still no sidewalk, KFF Health News

  • Q&A: How the FDA is approaching AI in clinical trials and drug development, STAT
  • Her face was unrecognizable after an explosion. A placenta restored it, New York Times
  • While US efforts are stalling, China is pushing ahead with CRISPR treatments for muscular dystrophy, STAT

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