Terri Hanson Mead

Bumper crop of stories for The Medical Republic and Health Services Daily this week, covering topics such as: 💊 Whether shows like Painkiller and Dopesick negatively how people think affect about opioids, and the healthcare professionals who prescribe them 🍔 The association between obesity and iron deficiency in children - where energy-dense but nutrient poor diets increase the risk of severe health conditions in the future 🤖 Whether we need to be more concerned about the use of generative AI in healthcare, or the humans who use it #opioids #pain #obesity #nutrition #diet #paediatrics #artificialintelligence #generalpractice #primarycare #familymedicine #chatgpt

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Could Fallout ghouls actually happen IRL? https://lnkd.in/eiMtQQun Lifespan.io (Lifespan Extension Advocacy Foundation) #scifi #longevity #radiation #biohacking #LifeExtension #Fallout #mutation #sciencefiction #genetherapy #aging

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The Scientific LinkedIn community has had a lot of discussions regarding data falsification. These are not a new phenomenon. One of the most striking in regard to human impact occurred with the Minnesota Coronary Study, led by Ansell Keys, (the "7 country study") to test the hypothesis that a replacement diet removing saturated fats in favor of polyunsaturated (and as an aside, net supplementation in the diet of carbohydrate rich foods) led to lower levels of cholesterol, lower low density lipoprotein, and improved cardiac outcomes. The study never released full data packets, but it resulted in the demonization of red meat and healthy protein sources and the popularization of the AMA good health stamp on carbohydrate and sugar rich breakfast cereals. It was not until after Keys' collaborators death that all of the data became available and could be reanalyzed. What came out of this was the observation that Keys cherrypicked the data to fit his model and discarded results from countries that did not have the outcome he hypothesized. The "7 country" study was actually a "20 country" study but 13 countries, including France, were contrary. Keys did great work in the area of human nutrition (his K rations were important toward supporting our troops and preventing starvation after WWII) but he let his bias impact his results, and we are only now restructuring the so called, high carbohydrate "food pyramid." Yes, there is a lot of value in unsaturates and polyunsaturates in diet, but this needs to be contextualized with saturates and their role in nutrient availability and lipoprotein and hormone regulation, glucose intolerance, protein uptake, and the balance of critical nutrients. He shoehorned a simplistic model by limited data analysis and outlier exclusion in a biased manner in what is actually an extremely complex and evolutionarily adapted survival mechanism.

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"Overall, ​use of AI​ decreased the time spent to write the review article, but required more extensive fact checking. With the AI-only approach, up to 70% of the references cited were found to be inaccurate. Interestingly, the AI-assisted approach resulted in the highest similarity indices suggesting a higher likelihood of plagiarism. Finally, although the technology is rapidly changing, at the time of study, ChatGPT 4.0 had a cutoff date of September 2021 rendering identification of recent articles impossible." #science #healthcare #artificialintelligence

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A new administration isn't going to just make the new FDA rule on laboratory developed tests go away. You might have noticed that there was a presidential election earlier this month. These can have a profound impact on public policy and how government institutions like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) operate. And basically from its inception the FDA has been working to navigate the political circuses of various administrations to execute their mission of protecting the public from dangerous foods and drugs. But its mandate of activities expands past just foods and drugs and also covers medical devices that when used inappropriately or that are of low quality can cause injury or death of a patient. These devices include everything from pacemakers that keep hearts beating all of the way down to things like tampons. Why are tampons a regulated medical device? Because low quality products, or products that are not sterile, can result in serious infections that can lead to death. The FDA has more recently set its sights on helping to ensure the quality of laboratory developed tests. The FDA already regulates many tests that are used in hospitals as in vitro diagnostics (IVDs), but there's this odd system of regulatory oversight in the United States that has fractured how the quality of laboratory testing is monitored. The purpose of the split regulatory system here was to ensure that patients had access to very cutting edge tests while the FDA focused on the quality of the more routine things. However, the FDA now believes it has the capacity to regulate all testing and pushed through a rule earlier this year to do exactly that. But, presidential elections have consequences. In this week's premium issue of Omic․ly ($5/month), I ruminate about those consequences and how I see FDA's LDT rule playing out over the next 4 years. But if my attempts to peer into a government prioritization crystal ball aren't your thing, the free issue has: 1) Metagenomics hits the clinic to diagnose CNS infections 2) Transcriptomics is better with long-reads 3) Molecular Biology is the offspring of biochemistry and genetics Catch it here: https://buff.ly/4g22WGR

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👉🏾👉🏾 Oregon alert — Get your children & Self Up to Date w ALL Vaccinations 🙏🏽🙏🏽Protect More kids coming back to school, teachers, senior, chronically ill & at risk-for-severe illness family members & Your community ! ✊🏿✊🏿 Measles is ALSO rising in other US areas ! 👉🏾👉🏾”As new school year looms, health officials urge measles vac in Oregon & around the county” 🙏🏽🙏🏽Please vaccinate all children & prevent this very virulent measles virus from spreading in communities & causing severe illnesses & deaths (yes deaths can occur) Aug 8, 2024 - OHA - @As new school year looms, health officials urge measles vaccination (vac) 👈🏾👈🏾 Highly effective MMR vaccine the BEST way to prevent highly infectious virus” PORTLAND, Ore. — With start of the new school year (close) around …a measles outbreak continues in three OR counties – health officials urging parents & guardians to GET their children vaccinated against the highly infectious virus before classes begin.✊🏿 SO Far, 25 confirmed cases of measles reported in 3 metro, ALL were unvaccinated ! 2 people were hospitalized, no deaths. Ten cases are 9 & younger; 10 cases ages 10-19; & 5 cases 20+ older. Marion Co w most cases 16, then Clackamas Co w 8 & Multnomah Co w one. 👉🏾👉🏾see Paul Cieslak, MD OHA Com Dx medical director & Clackamas Co Hlth Officer Sarah Present, MD media briefing on OHA’s YouTube. “Epidemiologists have seen several waves of measles cases since mid-June, 👉🏾👉🏾“so now ..about two months of sustained transmission of measles.” 😲 👉🏾👉🏾It’s the largest measles outbreak state has seen since 2019, when OR experienced 28 cases..linked to a much larger outbreak in Clark County, WA” Way back in “early 1990s case counts were much higher, this is ”The reason we maintain very high vac rates & very high population levels of immunity” 👉🏾👉🏾But, “we’ve seen an erosion in the percentage of people who are vaccinated vs. measles.”😲 👉🏾< 2000, ~1% kindergarteners had nonmedical exemptions 👎🏿👎🏿from school vac requirements BUT exempt rates have risen steadily..2023-24 schl yr exempt rates=8.8% 😲 👉🏾👉🏾👉🏾Someone w measles can spread the virus up to 4 days before the tell-tale rash appears, & their symptoms may be mild during that time….so “we (track) to let members of the public know they may have been exposed to measles,” Present said, “measles is so contagious, an estimated 95% of a population needs to have received two doses of measles vaccine to be able to protect the most vulnerable community members via community or “herd” immunity. By OR “state law, unvaccinated person exposed to the virus must be excluded from school or child care during the period when they could become sick.~21 days+ after exposure”.. 🏅🏅🏵️“It’s really important to make sure students & their families are up to date on vaccinations as we go into the new school year,” Dr Present said.🥇🥇🏵️🏵️ “https://lnkd.in/gQGnsizP

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Are cannabinoids becoming useful therapeutics everywhere?!? Cannabinoids—compounds derived from the cannabis plant, like well-known THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol) and a third, lesser-known cannabinoid called CBN (cannabinol) are very important therapeutics. CBN (cannabinol), the milder, less psychoactive of all has recently piqued the interest of researchers. They found that the therapeutic potential of CBN, has drug-like properties. One day a CBN analog can be given to football players the day before their big game, or to car accident survivors as they arrive in the hospital, to protect their brain from further damage. In the future, the researchers will continue to screen and characterize these CBN analogs and refine their chemical designs. They will also begin looking more closely at age-related neurodegeneration and changes in brain cells, particularly in mitochondria, to find how these drug-like compounds can be used to promote cellular health and prevent neuronal dysfunction with age. #Cannabinol #BrainProtectiveFromFurtherDamage

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Headline: BARDA awarded Vaxart up to $453M for development of an oral mRNA vaccine to avoid another devastating COVID pandemic.  Big money! Why it matters: 1) Popping a pill is always better than getting stuck in the arm. Distribution and administration is far far easier. No long lines, no anxious adults or crying kids.  Big idea! 2) But it’s technically challenging because the gut is too harsh an environment for many therapeutics. So challenging, in fact, that an injection is easier to develop, manufacture, AND keep cold until delivered! Big challenge! 3) Whether it’s acute national emergencies or massive global health challenges, Bakar Labs invites teams to join our community, as we build resources to help our startups position their technologies to address patient populations at scale. One of our startups is already in conversation with BARDA, so stay tuned. We like big impact! 4) Who’s leading the charge? Steve Lo, a Bakar Labs CEO alum.  Steve, we’ll be watching, and we’ll have you back to keep us posted. Keep up the amazing work. Big congratulations!

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This is a great read. "Cheating Death" was penned by Ken Valentine, an esteemed member of our Board of Advisors at Base Molecular Resonance™ Technologies. Ken is a true American hero. He has protected 3 US Presidents and was in charge of White House access controls and worldwide operational security. This is a great book in which Ken shares the importance of your faith walk and how it enables you to live a life of significance. Read it. https://lnkd.in/gRANhmy5

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I manage a healthcare side-gig, and am an advocate of being our first line of defense for our health (we are our best health avocate, after all). In my late 60s, I think a lot obout my mental, physical and social health, not because I am into anti-aging, but good aging. Our health care system in the USA is a mixed bag, and I do not like what I see. There is hope, however, for those who take the time to learn what is available to help ourselves on the way to good and sustainable health. Here's an article that is really interesting about this subject. What do you think? https://lnkd.in/e9R64C4s 😊

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KANGAS PART 1 Wow, a heavily amended version of the "Kangas" federal complaint was just filed with the Southern District of California Court. Hundreds of amendments, I'll just except some of the more interesting quotes. Here are a few themes: - Huge conflict of interest from Aravanis advising the Illumina board to buy GRAIL while he held over $10M worth of GRAIL shares (duh). - Huge conflict of interest from Klausner investing >$100M in GRAIL when he knew is was in the process of acquired by Illumina. - Illumina falsely claiming it did not control GRAIL so as to avoid declaring numerous executive/board conflicts of interest (this class of "VIE" issue lay at heart of the Enron collapse and criminality). - Numerous false statements by execs regarding pending FDA approval (this continues to this day IMO including the recent GRAIL "investor day"). - Numerous false statements by execs on the need to close the deal to "save lives" when there is/was no evidence for the claim. Here we go! "As former GRAIL Director of Key Accounts explained, GRAIL’s commercial plan—which involved seeking reimbursement from hospital systems and other healthcare networks—was “preposterous” and based on “dreams and magic”. Similarly a former Galleri Sales Consultant reported that Defendants were “overstating what [Galleri] can do when they didn’t have the data,” that “everything” concerning GRAIL’s prospects was based on “a hypothetical,” and there were no “real-world studies completed” that were needed in order for Galleri to be successful." "[X], who worked with both Defendants Aravanis and Ofman over his over-decade long career at Illumina and GRAIL, confirmed GRAIL’s senior management was aware of these facts, and that large health systems LAUGHED AT GRAIL because they were unwilling to pay for Galleri without reimbursement, Defendant Ofman participated in presentations to these healthcare systems, and these facts were discussed at weekly or bi-weekly meetings with GRAIL senior management." "In reality, as would be later uncovered by a then-current Illumina director, Illumina’s Board of Directors, including Defendant deSouza, closed the GRAIL transaction because of their “personal stake” in the deal—self-interested motivations that were never properly disclosed to investors. Moreover, rather than follow “good corporate governance practices” and “recuse” Defendant Aravanis from decisions concerning GRAIL, in truth, Aravanis served as a lead “cosponsor” of the acquisition, presented the deal to Illumina’s Board, “negotiated” the deal’s terms with his prior employer, and participated in the Board’s decision-making." Part 2 to follow...

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