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Category Archives: Medicine

Public Trust in Scientists and Views on Their Role in Policymaking

“A majority of Americans say they have confidence in scientists to act in the public’s best interests. Confidence ratings have moved slightly higher in the last year, marking a shift away from the decline in trust seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. A new Pew Research Center survey of 9,593 U.S. adults conducted Oct. 21-27, 2024, takes a close look at the public image of scientists, who serve as one potential source of information for Americans navigating complex policy debates and everyday decisions around things like their personal health and wellness…In an era of low public trust in institutions, scientists continue to be held in higher regard than several other prominent groups we’ve asked about, including journalists, elected officials, business leaders and religious leaders. Confidence ratings for scientists are even slightly higher than those for public school principals and police officers – two groups that receive positive overall ratings. Go to the Appendix for more detailed views of these groups. The Appendix also includes views of medical scientists, whose ratings are very similar to those for scientists generally…”

Genetic Discrimination Is Coming for Us All

The Atlantic: [unpaywalled] “Insurers are refusing to cover Americans whose DNA reveals health risks. It’s perfectly legal…Studies have shown that people seek out additional insurance when they have increased genetic odds of becoming ill or dying. “Life insurers carefully evaluate each applicant’s health, determining premiums and coverage based on life expectancy,” Jan Graeber, a senior… Continue Reading

RFK Jr. Healthcare Claims Depository

NewsGuard’s Reality Check – RFK Jr. Healthcare Claims Depository – Explore the provably false health-related claims promoted by Kennedy and his anti-vaccine nonprofit Children’s Health Defense Overview – This depository documents the provably false health-related claims promoted by Kennedy and his Children’s Health Defense anti-vaccine nonprofit. Provably False Claims – NewsGuard has identified 90 false… Continue Reading

NIH Bioart and Free silhouette images of animals, plants, and other life forms

Official release is coming soon. The NIAID Visual and Medical Arts Unit in collaboration with NIAID Bioinformatics and Computational Biosciences Branch (BCBB) have developed a library of biomedical and scientific icons made available for use in figures, presentations, websites, and print materials. The icons have been created by medical illustrators and biomedical visualization specialists to… Continue Reading

Spreadsheet of the longer-term implications of #COVID19 infections

Augie Ray @[email protected] – My spreadsheet of the longer-term implications of COVID19 infections has now reached 1,100 studies. Recent additions show COVID and Long COVID causes fatigue, heart arrhythmias, reduced white blood cell count, T-cell exhaustion, lower quality of life, cognitive impairment, insomnia, erectile dysfunction, and persistent liver damage. Continue Reading

GPO Quadruples Number of Congressionally Mandated Reports Since Launch

U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) now has more than 500 Congressionally Mandated Reports (CMR) from more than 75 Federal agencies available for free public access on GovInfo, the one-stop site for authentic, published information for all three branches of the Federal Government. This number has quadrupled since GPO first put CMRs online in December 2023.… Continue Reading

What We Know About Covid’s Impact on Your Brain

Bloomberg [unpaywalled] – Scientists are worried that persisting cognitive issues may signal a coming surge of dementia and other mental conditions – “Many of Covid’s earliest and most alarming effects involve the brain, including a lost sense of smell, sluggish thinking, headaches, delirium and strokes. More than four years after the pandemic began, researchers are… Continue Reading

How to Delete Your 23andme Data Amid the Company’s Turmoil

Lifehacker: …What happens when you delete your 23andme data? – Deleting your 23andme data doesn’t necessarily withdraw it from studies, especially since the data was “de-identified,” that is, stripped from your name and personal information. It does mean that your data will not be used in future research projects. 23andme explains their deletion policies here… Continue Reading

NIH Discovery Portal for Women’s Health Research Now Available

Partnering with the National Library of Medicine (NLM), the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) launched the first phase of a novel discovery resource for women’s health research (WHR), called DiscoverWHR. This innovative resource simplifies the finding of women’s health information by patients, caregivers, medical professionals, researchers, and the public. Users can explore… Continue Reading

States where abortion is legal, banned or under threat

Washington Post [unpaywalled]: “Access to abortion remains a patchwork of state-by-state policies nearly two years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, with abortion restricted across most of the Southern United States. New restrictions are continuing to take effect, even in states that have long been havens for those seeking abortions. A six-week ban… Continue Reading