Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
After Fixing Diversity Problem, Researchers Found Normal Brain Looks Different Than They Thought
Brain imaging studies have a diversity problem. That's what researchers concluded after they re-analyzed data from a large study that used MRI to measure brain development in children from 3 to 18. Like most brain imaging studies of children, this one included a disproportionate number of kids who have highly educated parents with relatively high household incomes, the team reported Thursday in the journal Nature Communications. (Hamilton, 10/16)
The incidence of mouth and throat cancers caused by the human papilloma virus in men has now surpassed the incidence of HPV-related cervical cancers in women, researchers report. The study, in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found that 11 million men and 3.2 million women in the United States had oral HPV infections. Among them, 7 million men and 1.4 million women had strains that can cause cancers of the throat, tongue and other areas of the head and neck. (Bakalar, 10/16)
Michele K. Bourquin, an account executive from Atlanta, was 36 and divorced when she first looked into freezing her eggs. 鈥淚 knew I wasn鈥檛 getting any younger, and my eggs were aging,鈥 Ms. Bourquin said. So she visited a doctor who gave her a blood test that鈥檚 often used to check a woman鈥檚 egg supply. It works by looking for anti-M眉llerian hormone, or AMH, which is secreted by growing follicles, the sacs that house each egg. (Caron, 10/16)
The National Sleep Foundation recommends an average of eight hours of sleep per night for adults, but sleep scientist Matthew Walker says that too many people are falling short of the mark. "Human beings are the only species that deliberately deprive themselves of sleep for no apparent gain," Walker says. "Many people walk through their lives in an underslept state, not realizing it." (Gross, 10/16)