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Morning Briefing

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Thursday, Sep 14 2017

Full Issue

One Ohio County Makes Anti-Overdose Drug Widely Available, While Another Rejects That Approach

Bloomberg profiles Hamilton County, Ohio, where officials think the best way to tackle the opioid epidemic is to get Narcan in as many hands as possible, and Butler County, where the sheriff refuses to allow officers to carry the medication. In today's other public health news: a $25,000 "life-extension test"; anti-smoking efforts; miscarriage risks from flu shot studied; and more.

In neighboring Hamilton County, which includes Cincinnati, officials are taking the opposite approach. They want to create the Narcan capital of America, putting more than 30,000 doses of聽the opioid-overdose reversal spray in the hands of Ohioans ready to use it. That鈥檚 about one for every 27 residents. In addition to police, firefighters, and medics聽who already carry the drug, Hamilton County plans to distribute Narcan to syringe exchanges,聽houses of worship鈥攁nd maybe even employers. People discharged from hospitals or jails after opioid incidents should leave with 鈥淣arcan on the belt,鈥 says Tim Ingram,聽Hamilton County鈥檚 health commissioner. (Tozzi and Hopkins, 9/14)

Craig Venter has got a deal for you. For $25,000, he鈥檒l sell you a complete genome sequence, a full-body MRI scan, a cardio CT scan, bone densitometry, cognitive testing and more, all in the hope of discovering a lurking tumor or brain abnormality -- and nipping it in the bud. ... The problem is Venter鈥檚 promises are ringing hollow for a growing chorus of critics. Conversations with more than a dozen current and former employees, customers and medical professionals depict a company that may prove unable to keep up with its founder鈥檚 ambitions. Some doctors contend that such comprehensive testing isn鈥檛 particularly useful, and even those who do think so say rivals may outpace Venter. Competing government-backed efforts in the U.S. and the U.K., for instance, threaten to overtake HLI in the race to collect massive amounts of the population鈥檚 genetic and clinical data, a key proposition for the company鈥檚 business success. (Chen, 9/13)

Philip Morris International Inc. said it will spend about $1 billion setting up a foundation to reduce the prevalence of smoking as the maker of Marlboro cigarettes aims to convert smokers into consumers of devices that don鈥檛 burn tobacco. Derek Yach, a former World Health Organization official who worked on a global tobacco treaty, will lead the group, according to a statement Wednesday. The cigarette maker said it plans to spend about $80 million annually over 12 years on the project, starting in 2018. (Pfanner and Mulier, 9/13)

The hundreds of thousands of people who rallied on the National Mall and in cities worldwide for the March for Science in April came to be noticed. It was a march meant to demonstrate enthusiasm and political clout, and by those measures, organizers believe they succeeded. But as two dozen of them met in New York the following month for a debrief, they faced an obvious reality: A grass-roots organization that was quickly formed to plan a singular event was not, at least immediately, equipped for far-reaching and long-term science advocacy. (Facher, 9/14)

Sometimes when scientists study things, they come up with results they didn鈥檛 expect, can鈥檛 explain, and may secretly wish they鈥檇 never sought. A new journal article looking at whether getting a flu shot during pregnancy increases a woman鈥檚 risk of miscarrying may be one such case. The article reports that at least in the 2010-11 and 2011-12 influenza seasons, pregnant women who were vaccinated against flu may have been at a higher risk of suffering a miscarriage 鈥 but only if they had also received a flu shot in the previous year as well. (Branswell, 9/13)

The American Psychological Association says that a controversial research paper that applied computer facial recognition to guess people鈥檚 sexual orientation is now under 鈥渆thical review.鈥 The paper was set to be published in the association鈥檚 peer-reviewed Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. (Venton, 9/13)

Mexico has one of the highest cesarean section rates in the world. But as well-trained midwives become more available, natural birth is coming into vogue. (Levinson, 9/13)

This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
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