Nobody Cares about Your Health

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

You've probably heared a lot recently about weight loss drugs like Ozempic, which at the moment are all the rage.

It turns out that Ozempic has a very unexpected, by many welcomed side effect though: it restores fertility in otherwise unfertile women. On the one hand many women are happy now to be pregnant, on the other hand since the effects Ozempic might have on unborn infants are unknown they now do worry about possible health problems.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/08/health/ozempic-babies-pregnancy/index.html

 

[Cindy Claveau]

You've probably heared a lot recently about weight loss drugs like Ozempic, which at the moment are all the rage.

It turns out that Ozempic has a very unexpected, by many welcomed side effect though: it restores fertility in otherwise unfertile women. On the one hand many women are happy now to be pregnant, on the other hand since the effects Ozempic might have on unborn infants are unknown they now do worry about possible health problems.

As Type II diabetic, I rely on Ozempic to keep my a1C down. I was taking Trulicity for several years, but all of a sudden it's no longer available. I'm being treated with Ozempic, whose injector mechanism SUCKS THE BIG ONE.

(Trulicity had a spring loaded needle that required no more from me than to stand very still. Ozempic's needle isn't spring loaded - you just stick your lower belly with the tiny exposed wire and hope you didn't hit a nerve.)

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Ozempic update: according to a study it also reduces the risk of a heart attack by 20%, even if the patient is not overweight.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/may/14/weight-loss-drug-semaglutide-reduce-heart-attack-risk-study

 

[Free]

Umm... DIY poop transplants.

A woman gave herself poop transplants using her brother's feces to treat debilitating IBS. Then she started getting acne just like him.

Daniell Koepke turned to DIY poop transplants to find relief from debilitating gut symptoms. It helped with digestion, but she got more than she bargained for.

www.businessinsider.com

As a college student, Daniell Koepke started experiencing irritable bowel syndrome symptoms including indigestion, stabbing pains from trapped gas, and severe constipation.

When nothing seemed to help after five years of doctors visits, Koepke decided to try an experimental treatment called a fecal microbiota (or DIY poop) transplant, where a healthy donor's feces is introduced into a patient's gut to repopulate it with "good" microbes. She used her brother and her boyfriend as donors, she told the Netflix documentary "Hack Your Health: The Secrets of Your Gut."

While some of Koepke's symptoms got better, she said she also started experiencing acne like her brother, and later depression like her boyfriend.

 

[Free]

Cheers:

 

[Isabeau]

Imagine if the government offered dental care. New federal rule could make that a reality.

Millions of Americans can't afford or get routine dental care. A Biden rule will let states cover adult dental care under the Affordable Care Act.

www.usatoday.com

 

[Free]

Non-invasive zaps to the spinal cord can treat paralysis—but no one knows why

The benefits may seem small, but they can make a world of difference, patients say.

arstechnica.com

With a zap of electricity from well-placed electrodes on the back of the neck, patients with tetraplegia can regain some modest yet potentially "life-changing" functioning of their hands and arms, according to data from a small clinical trial published Monday in Nature Medicine.

The relatively simple stimulation method—which requires no surgery—offers an accessible and more affordable non-invasive means for those living with paralysis to regain some meaningful function, the researchers behind the trial say. However, the therapy's further potential remains limited given that scientists have yet to fully understand exactly why it works.

 

[Free]

Hopefully this leads to further telling Cancer to fuck off.

Southampton: 'Ground-breaking' cancer vaccine trial announced

The Southampton Clinical Trials Unit has been chosen to run the project.

www.bbc.com

Thousands of patients will be able to access "ground-breaking" cancer vaccines, as part of an NHS trial.

A “match-making" service called the Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad (CVLP), which can match patients with suitable trials, is set to be launched.

The Southampton Clinical Trials Unit (SCTU), based at the University of Southampton, has been chosen to run the project.

The new NHS England programme aims to accelerate research into personalised cancer vaccines.

It is a type of immunotherapy treatment that boosts the body’s own immune system to help it find and destroy cancer.

 

[Free]

Butt seriously: why you might be pooping wrong – and what to do about it

The science of pooping.

 

[Free]

Genetic cloaking of healthy cells opens door to universal blood cancer therapy

Blood stem cells are being engineered to protect them from lethal therapies.

arstechnica.com

Know your enemy, know yourself. It's a centuries-old strategy. But even in the present-day war against cancer, achieving it remains elusive. In many cases, cancer cells blend in with healthy ones. They bear no unique molecular markers or targets that we can aim clinical defenses at. That means any deadly strike on enemy cancer cells could result in casualties among healthy ones as well. The untenable toxicity of this artless warfare has led some researchers to rethink the ancient script—and flip it: know yourself, know your enemy.

In a set of clever and highly technical tricks, researchers are working on ways to precisely mark and shield healthy cells from chemical weapons, abandoning the effort to pick out enemy cancer cells specifically. By exploiting molecular markers common among many types of cells, researchers can safeguard healthy cells, leaving only the cancer cells in harm's way.

 

[Isabeau]

Oregon’s measles outbreak, biggest in five years, expands to six people

Oregon has required children entering kindergarten since 1998 to have two doses of the measles-containing vaccine, though parents can opt-out by obtaining a medical or nonmedical exemption. Measles vaccination is also required for children attending child care facilities and for students in post-secondary colleges or universities.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

I'm doing an art anatomy study atm, and I just found about this little muscle in your hand called the palmaris brevis. It doesn't attach to any bone.

If you hold your hand palm-up and look at the edge of it near your wrist on the pinky side, and then try to curl your palm into a U-shape, like you're clutching an object, you'll see the skin on the side of your hand there pucker inwards a little bit. That's what the palmaris brevis does, it attaches to the actual skin there directly and pulls it inwards. this makes the skin on the palm surface above it kind of puff up and wrinkle, which enhances your grip on that side of your hand.

So, there, have some useless but fun trivia.

 

[Isabeau]

Man dies after contracting Ebola-like tick-borne disease in Spain

CCHF causes severe viral hemorrhagic fever outbreaks, similar to Ebola. Initial symptoms commonly include sudden fever, chills, vomiting and diarrhea, followed by mood swings and confusion.

It is also associated with bleeding, including nose bleeds, broken capillaries in the eyes, a rash caused by bleeding into the skin and signs of internal bleeding such as blood in urine or stools.

It is difficult to prevent and treat, there is no vaccine available and the mortality rate is up to 40%, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

 

[Noodles]

You've probably heared a lot recently about weight loss drugs like Ozempic, which at the moment are all the rage.

It turns out that Ozempic has a very unexpected, by many welcomed side effect though: it restores fertility in otherwise unfertile women. On the one hand many women are happy now to be pregnant, on the other hand since the effects Ozempic might have on unborn infants are unknown they now do worry about possible health problems.

There is some sort of crazy irony to losing weight only to balloon up from getting pregnant.

 

[Free]

Too much sleep results in cognitive decline, researchers find

We know the dangers of too little sleep. Now for the other side of the story.

bigthink.com

Too much sleep is a problem, too little sleep is a problem. Sleep is such a problem.

 

[Noodles]

I would still be totally fine with just spending every day sleeping until tomorrow.

 

[Noodles]

Went for my annual physical/check up and the doctor has suggested I need to "get more sun".

But this interfered with my plan to, in the event of a robbery, rip off my shirt and blind them with my whiteness while I flew.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

Too much sleep results in cognitive decline, researchers find

We know the dangers of too little sleep. Now for the other side of the story.

bigthink.com

Too much sleep is a problem, too little sleep is a problem. Sleep is such a problem.

I think this is probably a reversal of cause and effect. Healthy people don't want or need to sleep so much every day. Wanting to sleep a lot is a sign of some other issue that might also be causing the cognitive decline I think. I'm worried this research will result in telling sick people they can't sleep as much as they actually need, which I bet will make it worse.

 

[Free]

Wasn't sure where to drop this, but it deals with hospitals, so...

CEO of failing hospital chain got $250M amid patient deaths, layoffs, bankruptcy

Steward Health Care System, run by CEO Ralph de la Torre, filed for bankruptcy in May.

arstechnica.com

As the more than 30 hospitals in the Steward Health Care System scrounged for cash to cover supplies, shuttered pediatric and neonatal units, closed maternity wards, laid off hundreds of health care workers, and put patients in danger, the system paid out at least $250 million to its CEO and his companies, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.

The newly revealed financial details bring yet more scrutiny to Steward CEO Ralph de la Torre, a Harvard University-trained cardiac surgeon who, in 2020, took over majority ownership of Steward from the private equity firm Cerberus. De la Torre and his companies were reportedly paid at least $250 million since that takeover. In May, Steward, which has hospitals in eight states, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Critics—including members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP)—allege that de la Torre stripped the system's hospitals of assets, siphoned payments from them, and loaded them with debt, all while reaping huge payouts that made him obscenely wealthy.

Sounds like he was a great surgeon. </sarcasm>

 

[Govi]

Wasn't sure where to drop this, but it deals with hospitals, so...

CEO of failing hospital chain got $250M amid patient deaths, layoffs, bankruptcy

Steward Health Care System, run by CEO Ralph de la Torre, filed for bankruptcy in May.

arstechnica.com

Sounds like he was a great surgeon. </sarcasm>

It should be a literal felony for corporate officers to do this kind of thing. Vulture capitalism is bad for our country in so many ways and benefits only a tiny few.