Players in an ‘overweight football league’ warm up before a match in Germany. To join, members must have a BMI of at least 31. Credit: Ina Fassbender/AFP via Getty The main diagnostic test for obesity — the body mass index — accounts for only height and weight, leaving out a slew of factors that influence...
Category: <span>Editorial</span>
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Biden administration moves to boost health care to the homeless
by Cara Murez A new rule allows health care providers to be reimbursed for treating homeless people wherever they are, rather than just in hospitals or clinics. The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) began allowing this change for both public and private insurers on Oct. 1, KFF Health News reported. “The Biden-Harris...
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The human microbiome: there is much left to do
Ruth Ley This week marks the tenth anniversary of the first big survey of microbial diversity in the human body, published in Nature by the Human Microbiome Project (HMP) Consortium, of which I was a member. Before then, microbiologists knew that the body played host to a large mass of microorganisms — a heady mix of bacteria,...
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There’s no autism epidemic. But there is an autism diagnosis epidemic
By Rachel Burr Gerrard Feb. 10, 2022 ADOBE Is there an autism epidemic? No. The increase in the autism rate recently reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention represent an autism diagnosis epidemic. Writing in the weekly journal MMWR, CDC researchers reported that autism rates in the United States increased from 1 in 150 children in...
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Society is not ready to make human brains
KYOTO UNIVERSITY Stem cell research has allowed medicine to go places that were once science fiction. Using stem cells, scientists have manufactured heart cells, brain cells and other cell types that they are now transplanting into patients as a form of cell therapy. Eventually, the field anticipates the same will be possible with organs. A new paper...
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For breakthroughs in slowing aging, scientists must look beyond biology
Incorporating social and behavioral factors alongside biological mechanisms is critical for improving aging research, according to a trio of studies by leading social scientists A trio of recent studies highlight the need to incorporate behavioral and social science alongside the study of biological mechanisms in order to slow aging. Image credit: Pixabay (Free Pixabay license)...
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The COVID vaccine challenges that lie ahead
The University of Oxford and Astra Zeneca have pledged that their COVID vaccine (pictured) will always be available at cost to low and middle income countries. Other developers must make the same commitment. A year on from the first known case of COVID-19, the world has been hungry for good news. This month, vaccine makers...
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Make America healthy again by paying more attention to nutrition
By VANITA RAHMAN and MATTHEW REES Volunteers and staff for nonprofit organization Martha’s Table load bags of fresh produce to distribute to people in underserved communities during the Covid-19 pandemic in April in Washington, D.C. Health care and health care policy were centerpieces of the 2020 presidential and congressional campaigns. It’s a shame that neither party focused on...
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Robots and free speech
Do you have a right to know if you’re talking to a bot? How about the bot? Does it have the right to keep that information from you? Those questions have been stirring in the minds of many since well before Google demoed Duplex, a human-like AI that makes phone calls on a user’s behalf, earlier...
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Chemotherapy without Pills or Needles
A promising new class of lung-cancer therapies can simply be inhaled, minimizing the side effects to other, healthy organs Imagine you’ve just been diagnosed with lung cancer. Only instead of prescribing a physically challenging course of radiation or chemotherapy, your oncologist hands you an inhaler with at-home treatment instructions, followed by office check-ups to monitor...