Gonorrhea Explained: Causes, Symptoms, And Treatments

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Limited Progress On QoL Goals Reported For Persons With HIV Aged 50 Years And Older

For persons diagnosed with HIV (PWH) aged 50 years and older, progress on quality of life (QoL) goals is limited, according to a study published online Sept. 12 in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Linda Beer, Ph.D., from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and colleagues examined progress toward goals for improving QoL, established as a priority of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy for PWH, among PWH aged 50 years and older. Progress was assessed using data collected during the 2017 to 2022 cycles of the Medical Monitoring Project. The recent estimated annual percentage change from baseline to 2022 was calculated for each of five indicators: self-rated health, unmet needs for mental health services, unemployment, hunger or food insecurity, and unstable housing or homelessness.

The researchers found that the 2025 goal of 95 percent PWH with good or better self-rated health is 46.2 percent higher than the 2022 estimate, while the 2025 goals of a 50 percent reduction in the other indicators varied from 26.3 to 56.3 percent lower than the 2022 estimates. The only goal met by 2022 was a 50 percent reduction in hunger or food insecurity among PWH aged 65 years and older. Other QoL 2025 goals are unlikely to be met if recent trends continue.

"CDC will continue to monitor QoL among PWH to identify areas for intervention. This information can be used to direct multisectoral implementation of programmatic efforts and guide future goals for improving health and well-being among older PWH," the authors write.

More information: Linda Beer et al, Progress Toward Achieving National HIV/AIDS Strategy Goals for Quality of Life Among Persons Aged ≥50 Years with Diagnosed HIV — Medical Monitoring Project, United States, 2017–2023, MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (2024). DOI: 10.15585/mmwr.Mm7336a1

Citation: Limited progress on QoL goals reported for persons with HIV aged 50 years and older (2024, September 14) retrieved 17 September 2024 from https://medicalxpress.Com/news/2024-09-limited-qol-goals-persons-hiv.Html

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From KFF Health News - Latest Stories:

Watch: New Documentary Film Explores a Lynching and a Police Killing 78 Years Apart

The "Silence in Sikeston" documentary film explores how the nation's first federally investigated lynching and a police killing 78 years apart haunt the same rural Missouri community. The film from KFF Health News and Retro Report explores the lasting impact of such trauma — and what it means to speak out about it. (Cara Anthony, 9/17 )

Silence in Sikeston: Hush, Fix Your Face

In Episode 2 of the "Silence in Sikeston" podcast, host Cara Anthony speaks with Sikeston, Missouri, resident Larry McClellon, who grew up being told not to talk about the 1942 lynching of Cleo Wright. He is determined to break the cycle of silence in his community. Anthony also unearths a secret in her own family and grapples with the possible effects of intergenerational trauma. (Cara Anthony, 9/17 )

Historic Numbers of Americans Live by Themselves as They Age

Longer life spans, rising rates of divorce, widowhood, and childlessness, and smaller, far-flung families are fueling a "gray revolution" in older adults' living arrangements. It can have profound health consequences. (Judith Graham, 9/17 )

Political Cartoon: 'See Food?'

KFF Health News provides a fresh take on health policy developments with "Political Cartoon: 'See Food?'" by Mark Lynch.

Here's today's health policy haiku:

MAKE YOUR VOICES HEARD

Today is the day!Voter Registration Day.November is close...

- Casey Macander

If you have a health policy haiku to share, please Contact Us and let us know if we can include your name. Haikus follow the format of 5-7-5 syllables. We give extra brownie points if you link back to an original story.

Opinions expressed in haikus and cartoons are solely the author's and do not reflect the opinions of KFF Health News or KFF.

Summaries Of The News:

Instagram Unveils Changes To Improve Child Safety, Mental Health

The Meta-owned app will make accounts private for its users who are younger than 18. The company also will halt notifications during typical nighttime rest hours and limit sensitive content.

The New York Times: Instagram, Facing Pressure Over Child Safety Online, Unveils Sweeping ChangesInstagram unveiled a sweeping overhaul on Tuesday to beef up privacy and limit social media's intrusive effects for users who are younger than 18, as the app faces intensifying pressure over children's safety online. Instagram said the accounts of users younger than 18 will be made private by default in the coming weeks, which means that only followers approved by an account-holder may see their posts. The app, owned by Meta, also plans to stop notifications to minors from 10 p.M. To 7 a.M. To promote sleep. In addition, Instagram will introduce more supervision tools for adults, including a feature that allows parents to see the accounts that their teenager recently messaged. (Isaac and Singer, 9/17)

The New York Times: Instagram Teen Accounts: What To Know About New Privacy Settings Besides making all new and existing accounts private by default, Instagram said it would now stop teenagers from receiving Instagram notifications between 10 p.M. And 7 a.M. The app will also limit sensitive content for minors, such as nudity or discussions about self-harm, and prevent direct messages from people they don't follow — existing restrictions that the company had previously announced. (Singer, 9/17)

Bill Aims To Remove Weapons From Service Members Deemed A Threat

The measure, sponsored by Republican Sen. Susan Collins, was introduced after a mass shooting in Maine and would require the Army to take action using state crisis intervention laws. Separately, AP says police have increased use of Maine's "yellow flag" law to seize weapons.

AP: After Mass Shooting, Bill Would Require Army To Use State Crisis Laws To Remove WeaponsA bill introduced after a mass shooting in Maine would require the Army to use state crisis intervention laws to remove the weapons of a service member who is deemed to be a serious threat to themselves or others, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, the bill's sponsor, said Monday. The Armed Forces Crisis Intervention Notification Act is aimed at addressing missed opportunities by the military and civilian law enforcement to intervene before an Army reservist who had spiraled into psychosis opened fire at two locations in Lewiston, Maine, killing 18 people and injuring 13 others on Oct. 25, 2023. (Sharp, 9/16)

AP: Police Have Upped Their Use Of Maine's 'Yellow Flag' Law Since The State's Deadliest Mass ShootingThere has been a huge jump in law enforcement requests for Maine courts to allow guns to be seized from people deemed a danger to themselves or others since the deadliest mass shooting in state history, the governor said Friday. Maine's extreme risk protection order law was strengthened after an Army reservist killed 18 people at two locations in the city of Lewiston last October. Since the attacks, the law has been used 15 times more often than it was during the three previous years, Gov. Janet Mills said at a news conference. (Whittle and Ramer, 9/6)

In other mental health news —

CBS News: Will 988 Call The Police? Data Suggests 1% Of Mental Health Crisis Calls Get "Involuntary" RescuesMany people in mental health crisis fear that if they dial 988, law enforcement might show up or they might be forced to go to the hospital. But getting sent that kind of "involuntary emergency rescue" happens to around 1% of callers, suggests new data from Vibrant Emotional Health, the administrator of the 988 Lifeline for suicide and mental health crises. (Tin, 9/16)

NPR: Climate Change, Extreme Weather And SuicideTony Calhoun was unique. Anyone who knew him would tell you that. ... Calhoun was raised in Jackson, Ky., a small community in the rural eastern part of the state. He was an only child, raised by his parents and grandfather in a house that went back three generations, and that was tucked in a quiet neighborhood that, like most places in that part of Appalachia, had a creek running through it. The effects of climate change on that creek – which sat largely out of sight and out of mind for decades – would become the catalyst that would lead Calhoun to take his own life. (Hersher, 9/17)

Stat: STAT's Who To Know: Top Players In Psychedelic Drug DevelopmentThe field of psychedelics, once relegated to the fringes of science and medicine, is in the midst of both transformation and flux. Several key figures stand out in their efforts to push forward the advancement of psychedelic medicine, in the face of ongoing controversy, regulatory hurdles, and stigma. (Keshavan, 9/17)

KFF Health News: Historic Numbers Of Americans Live By Themselves As They AgeGerri Norington, 78, never wanted to be on her own as she grew old. But her first marriage ended in divorce, and her second husband died more than 30 years ago. When a five-year relationship came to a close in 2006, she found herself alone — a situation that has lasted since. "I miss having a companion who I can talk to and ask 'How was your day?' or 'What do you think of what's going on in the world?'" said Norington, who lives in an apartment building for seniors on the South Side of Chicago. (Graham, 9/17)

If you need help —

Dial 988 for 24/7 support from the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. It's free and confidential.

Report: Top Republicans Want To Halt Medicare Drug-Price Negotiations

Axios reports that multiple high-ranking GOP lawmakers said that if Donald Trump wins the election, Republicans might attempt to dismantle the popular price reductions over concerns about pharmaceutical innovation.

Axios: Hill GOP Sets Sights On Scrapping Drug Price TalksThe Trump campaign's populist rhetoric on drug pricing is colliding with more traditional GOP concerns in Congress about heavy-handed government squelching pharmaceutical innovation. The tension surfaced this week when multiple high-ranking Republicans told Axios they want to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act's Medicare drug price negotiations next year if they prevail in the elections. (Sullivan, 9/17)

Other news about the high cost of health care —

Crain's Chicago Business: Walgreens To Pay $107M Fine For Prescription Billing Fraud ClaimsWalgreens Boots Alliance has agreed to pay a $106.8 million fine to the U.S. Department of Justice to settle allegations that it billed government healthcare programs for prescriptions never dispensed. In a statement today, the DOJ said Deerfield-based Walgreens had allegedly violated the False Claims Act and state statues between 2009 and 2020 when it submitted false claims for payment to federal healthcare programs like Medicare and Medicaid for prescriptions that it processed but were never picked up by patients. (Davis, 9/13)

Stat: What Pharma Companies And Insurers Think About Medicare's Plan To Cover Digital TreatmentsIn July, Medicare proposed to start paying for some mental health apps, in a move applauded by the developers of those treatments after years of struggling to find adoption among clinicians and patients. But it wasn't only the startups and their supporters that took notice — some of the largest pharma and health care companies in the country, like Pfizer and CVS Health, weighed in on the proposal during the comment period, arguing for modifications that suit their vision for how digital treatments ought to be valued. (Aguilar, 9/17)

Modern Healthcare: Medicare TEAM Bundled Payment Model Triggers PreparationsHospitals are in countdown mode for a new mandatory Medicare bundled payment model, and there's lots left to do. As part of the 2025 reimbursement rule for inpatient hospitals, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services finalized a payment experiment called the Transforming Episode Accountability Model, or TEAM, which establishes episode-based payments for lower-extremity joint replacements, femur fracture surgeries, spinal fusions, coronary artery bypass grafts and major bowel procedures at nearly 700 hospitals. (Early, 9/16)

North Carolina Health News: Copays Pose A Barrier For Incarcerated People Seeking Medical Care Prisons are constitutionally mandated to provide health care to incarcerated people, but that doesn't mean it has to be provided for free. And in North Carolina — along with almost 40 other states — the costs can add up when prison systems charge incarcerated people a copay for select health care services. (Crumpler, 9/17)

In related news —

Stat: Shawn Bishop To Leave Senate Finance CommitteeShawn Bishop, a Democratic staffer who has played a major role on some of the most impactful health care laws of the past 20 years, is leaving the Senate Finance Committee next month, according to five sources familiar with the departure. (Wilkerson and Zhang, 9/16)

Senate Expected To Vote Today On IVF Bill

The Democrat-led measure is in line with what GOP nominee Donald Trump has said he wanted: "Your government will pay for — or your insurance company will be mandated to pay for — all costs associated with IVF treatment." Also in women's health news: hormone therapy, STI rates, and more.

Fox News: Schumer Revives Dem-Backed IVF Bill After Trump ProposalSenate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is planning another vote on a Democrat-backed bill on in vitro fertilization (IVF) that has already failed in the upper chamber. He revealed in a letter to senators on Sunday that another vote on the measure would take place on Tuesday. ... "We are going to give our Republican colleagues another chance to show the American people where they stand." (Johnson, 9/16)

On abortion, menopause, and STIs —

The Guardian: Samuel Alito And German Rightwing Aristocrat Linked To US Anti-Abortion Activist The supreme court justice Samuel Alito and a German aristocrat and "networker of the far right" from whom Alito accepted expensive concert tickets, are both linked to an ultra-conservative Catholic US group whose board members include the dark money impresario Leonard Leo and the founder of a hardline anti-abortion Christian group, documentation reviewed by the Guardian shows. (Pengelly, 9/17)

WGCU: A Study Gives A Dismal Score To Florida On Women's Health CareA recent study shows that for health care coverage, access and affordability for women, Florida ranks 48 out of 50 states and Washington, D.C. For prenatal care, Florida comes in last, 51st. The 2024 State Scorecard on Women's Health and Reproductive Care was conducted by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonpartisan foundation that promotes a high-performing health care system. (Barbor, 9/16)

CBS News: Less Than 2% Of Women Take Hormone Therapy For Menopause Likely Due To Past Safety Concerns, Study ShowsFewer women are taking hormone therapy for menopause symptoms and it likely stems from an older study that raised safety concerns. Menopause is gaining more attention in the media and online, but a new analysis shows that hormone therapy among women over 40 has declined to a low of 1.8%. That's drastically lower than the 40% of menopausal women who used it before a study in 2002 suggested the medications could increase a woman's risk of breast cancer and heart disease. After that, use plummeted. (Marshall, 9/16)

USA Today: STI Rates Are Skyrocketing Among Baby Boomers. What To KnowIn 2010, Lisa Copeland found herself single, again. ... "Dating in your 20s was about getting married, having kids, cats, dogs – building your world," Copeland said, now 68. "Today, it's about fun and play." But the dangers single people over 50 face differ from those they encountered as singles decades earlier. Learning that lesson has become essential for Copeland and others as research shows that sexually transmitted infections, or STIs, are skyrocketing among older adults at a faster rate than among other age groups. (Rodriguez, 9/17)

Newest Covid XEC Variant Is Already Here, Likely Will Drive Winter Surge

As health officials urge Americans to vaccinate themselves against the highly transmissible virus, a survey finds that fewer than half of respondents plan to take the jab. Separately, after last year's supply problems, drugmakers got the green light to expand capacity for making RSV therapy.

USA Today: COVID XEC Variant Shows Up In 27 Countries Already, Expert SaysA newly discovered COVID strain known as XEC continues to spread rapidly across multiple countries, including the U.S. Scripps Research's Outbreak.Info page, last updated on Sept. 5, reported 95 XEC cases across 12 U.S. States and 15 different countries. However, Australia based data integration specialist Mike Honey wrote on X Saturday that the new strain, which emerged in Berlin last June, has shown up in hundreds more patients across 27 countries in Europe, North America and Asia. (Robledo, 9/16)

San Francisco Chronicle: COVID XEC Variant May Dominate US Winter Surge, Experts SayScientists remain on alert as XEC carries a mutation that is hypothesized to confer it "superpowers," said Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at UCSF. While it is unlikely to cause a spike in hospitalizations and deaths, it is expected to infect more people. "With these new transmissible variants, they will likely infect people who were otherwise not going to get infected," Chin-Hong said. (Vaziri, 9/16)

Fox News: 'Vaccine Fatigue' Blamed As Half Of People In US Will Skip COVID And Flu ShotsA growing number of U.S. Adults are hesitant to get recommended vaccines this fall, a new survey found. The poll, which included 1,006 people, found that only 43% of respondents have gotten or plan to get the COVID vaccine. Only a slight majority (56%) of adults said they have gotten or plan to get the flu shot this fall. (Rudy, 9/16)

On RSV —

Reuters: Sanofi, AstraZeneca Win US Approval For RSV Therapy Manufacturing Line Sanofi and partner AstraZeneca have received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a manufacturing line for their preventive respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) therapy, the French drugmaker said on Monday. The expanded capacity will help the drugmakers meet the demand for Beyfortus ahead of the RSV season. The therapy was in tight supply last year. (9/16)

On dengue, bird flu, and mpox —

WLRN Public Media: A Case Of Locally Acquired Dengue Fever Was Confirmed In Palm Beach CountyThe Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County has confirmed one case of locally acquired dengue fever. Dengue viruses are spread to humans through the bites of infected female Aedes aegypti or Aedes albopictus mosquitoes. The health department said it is treating the affected area, though it did not specify where in the county the case was reported. (Cabrera, 9/16)

The Boston Globe: A National Model?: Mass. Dairy Farms Are Free Of Bird Flu, Tests ShowOn Monday state officials announced they had completed testing on all 95 licensed farms in Massachusetts that have dairy herds, the first state in the nation to do so. The results were "100 percent negative." The testing program is likely to be repeated on a regular basis going forward, and could serve as a national model. (Piore, 9/16)

Bloomberg: Mpox: US Committed To Combat African Outbreak Under ControlThe US will continue to work with the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization to ensure the spread of a lethal outbreak of mpox in Africa doesn't develop into a pandemic. "We'll stay committed until we bring this outbreak under control," said John Nkengasong, US senior bureau official for global health security and diplomacy, who previously headed up Africa CDC. (Kew, 9/16)

Industrial Chemical BTMPS Found In Fentanyl Across US, Raising Alarm

The rapid infusion of the chemical, used in plastic products, into the fentanyl supply is raising significant concern among health researchers. Also: The Washington Post examines how Purdue's global counterparts are still profiting from the sale of opioids, and more.

Los Angeles Times: An Industrial Chemical Is Showing Up In Fentanyl In The U.S., Troubling ScientistsAn industrial chemical used in plastic products has been cropping up in illegal drugs from California to Maine, a sudden and puzzling shift in the drug supply that has alarmed health researchers. ... In an analysis released Monday, researchers from UCLA, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and other academic institutions and harm reduction groups collected and tested more than 170 samples of drugs that had been sold as fentanyl in Los Angeles and Philadelphia this summer. They found roughly a quarter of the drugs contained BTMPS. (Alpert Reyes, 9/16)

More on opioids and addiction —

The Washington Post: Opioid-Maker Purdue Is Bankrupt, But Its Global Counterparts Make MillionsAt home in the United States, Purdue Pharma, the drugmaker accused of fueling the opioid crisis through its aggressive marketing of highly addictive pain pills, is bankrupt and facing thousands of lawsuits. Abroad, its global counterparts are selling opioids — and still profiting. Among the beneficiaries: some members of the Sackler family, who own Purdue and also sit atop a group of international companies known as Mundipharma, records show. The family faces a wave of litigation over Purdue's alleged role in an opioid crisis that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and ruined countless more across the United States. (Davies, Boytchev and Ovalle, 9/17)

Reuters: Baltimore To Take Drug Distributors To Trial Over OpioidsThe city of Baltimore is scheduled to go to trial this week in its $11 billion lawsuit accusing drug distributors McKesson and Cencora of fueling an epidemic of opioid addiction and overdose deaths. The city, which has been especially hard hit by the opioid crisis, opted out of large national opioid settlements in recent years. It's now hoping it can win more money by taking companies to court on its own. Jury selection is expected to begin on Monday in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Maryland. (Pierson, 9/16)

San Francisco Chronicle: Overdose Deaths In SF Tick Up In August But Remain Below 2023 LevelsForty-five people in San Francisco died from accidental drug overdoses in August, according to preliminary figures released Monday by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner — a small uptick after a promising but brief decline earlier in the summer. The city had previously reported two consecutive months of declines in overdose deaths, in June and again in July, when they fell to their lowest point in nearly two years. Health officials at the time expressed cautious optimism about the trend. (Ho, 9/16)

The Guardian: Fentanyl Was Killing Their Friends – And No One Was Talking About It. So These Teens Stepped Up Eli Myers was only 15 when his close friend and classmate Chloe Kreutzer died from taking a counterfeit Percocet pill filled with fentanyl. Initially, he said, the response from officials at his Los Angeles high school was stony silence. Even years later, the information he and his classmates got about the risks of fentanyl poisoning amounted to little more than a droning lecture in health class, he said. The same thing happened at Kyle Santoro's northern California high school, when a student was found overdosing in a bathroom and was revived by the principal with Narcan. (McCormick, 9/16)

Iowa Public Radio: The Vision For A New Iowa Treatment Center Evolved From PrisonSioux City officially approved selling land to a nonprofit for an inpatient addiction treatment facility, which city officials say is greatly needed. The project is the dream of a woman who overcame her own addiction. (Brummer, 9/16)

Global Antibiotic Resistance Predicted To Get Worse By 2050

An estimated 39 million people might die because superbugs are able to evade medications designed to save them from disease, researchers say. Could phage therapy be the cure we need?

CNN: Nearly 40 Million People Could Die From Antibiotic-Resistant Superbug Infections By 2050, New Study EstimatesThe number of lives lost around the world due to infections that are resistant to the medications intended to treat them could increase nearly 70% by 2050, a new study projects, further showing the burden of the ongoing superbug crisis. (Howard, 9/16)

The Atlantic: A Fix For Antibiotic Resistance Could Be Hiding In The PastPeering through his microscope in 1910, the Franco-Canadian microbiologist Félix d'Hérelle noticed some "clear spots" in his bacterial cultures, an anomaly that turned out to be viruses preying on the bacteria. Years later, d'Hérelle would come to use these viruses, which he called bacteriophages, to treat patients plagued with dysentery after World War I. ... But now, with bacteria evolving resistance to more and more antibiotics, phage therapy is drawing a second look from researchers—sometimes with a novel twist. (Asanga, 9/15)

In other pharmaceutical and tech news —

Healthline: Type 2 Diabetes Drug Metformin May Also Help People With HIVMetformin, a common medication used to treat type 2 diabetes, may also help reduce the viral reservoir in people living with HIV who are undergoing antiretroviral therapy. The authors of the September 2024 study, which was published in the journal iScience, state that in previous studies, when people took the drug for three months, there were improvements in immunity and reductions in inflammation. (Schimelpfening, 9/16)

Stat: 'Shocking': Most Recalled Heart Devices Weren't Tested In PatientsWhen someone's heart doesn't beat quite right, an implantable defibrillator can save their life. The devices can jump-start a misbehaving heart, resetting its normal rhythm — unless they malfunction first. In 2022, Medtronic recalled more than 85,000 of the devices after dozens of complaints that a technical glitch could stop them from delivering the right, high-voltage shock. (Palmer, 9/16)

CBS News: FDA Approves Apple Watch Sleep Apnea Detection ToolA week after Apple held an event revealing its new iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPod models, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved an Apple Watch function that can detect sleep apnea in device-wearers. The sleep apnea detection tool comes four days before the launch date of Apple's new Series 10 watch, which will be released on September 20. Those with existing Apple Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2 models can use the sleep apnea feature starting today, however, with download of Apple's newly released watchOS 11 software. (Cerullo, 9/16)

On cancer —

Reuters: J&J Gets $260 Million Talc Verdict Overturned In Oregon, New Trial Ordered A state judge in Oregon has overturned a jury's $260 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson in a lawsuit brought by a woman who said she got mesothelioma, a deadly cancer linked to asbestos exposure, from inhaling the company's talc powder, the company said on Monday. (Pierson, 9/16)

Los Angeles Times: City Of Hope Receives Historic $150 Million Gift To Fuel Pancreatic Cancer ResearchFor entrepreneur and philanthropist Emmet Stephenson Jr., seeing his wife and friends die from pancreatic cancer served as a wake-up call. His wife, Toni, a patient at Duarte, Calif.-based cancer center City of Hope, died at 74 after a four-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Now Emmet and his daughter Tessa are donating a historic $150 million to the City of Hope to help advance research into finding a cure for what's known as the "silent killer." (Wong, 9/17)

Stat: A Cancer Meeting Celebrates 10 Years Of Game-Changing ImmunotherapiesTen years ago, a new type of cancer treatment reached the market. It worked by rousing the body's own immune cells to attack tumors. Within months, regulators had approved two of the treatments, at first for melanoma. (Joseph, 9/16)

Los Angeles Times: How AI Can Help Make Esophageal Cancer Less DeadlyApproximately 600 times a day, the esophagus ferries whatever is in your mouth down to your stomach. It's usually a one-way route, but sometimes acid escapes the stomach and travels back up. That can damage the cells lining the esophagus, prompting them to grow back with genetic mistakes. About 22,370 times a year in the United States, those mistakes culminate in cancer. Esophageal cancer can be cured if it's discovered and treated before it burrows in deep or spreads to other organs. But that's rarely the case. (Kaplan, 9/16)

Judge Reduces Sentence Of Paramedic Present At Elijah McClain's Death

A paramedic convicted in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain has had his sentence reduced to probation. McClain died after police put him in a chokehold and paramedics injected him with sedatives. Among other news: Samaritan Health Services lays off 1% of its workforce.

Reuters: US Judge Reduces Jail Sentence Of Paramedic In McClain Death A Colorado judge on Friday reduced to probation the prison sentence of a paramedic convicted in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a young Black man who died after police put him in a chokehold, a court official said. Judge Mark Warner, who oversaw three trials concerning the death of McClain, who died after paramedics injected him with a powerful sedative, reduced the sentence of emergency medical worker Peter Cichuniec during a hearing to four years probation, said Suzanne Karrer, a spokesperson for the Colorado judicial branch. (Brooks, 9/16)

More health industry developments —

Modern Healthcare: Samaritan Health Services Layoffs Hit 80 WorkersSamaritan Health Services cut about 1% of its workforce last week as part of a broader cost-reducing strategy. Corvallis, Oregon-based Samaritan laid off 80 employees in response to inflation, cyber incidents, inclement weather, volume reduction and declining reimbursement rates, a spokesperson said Monday. Most of the layoffs were not patient-facing positions, the spokesperson said. (Kacik, 9/16)

Reuters: US Judge Rejects Medical Center's Bid To 'Neuter' NLRB A federal judge in Chicago has ruled that a nonprofit medical center is unlikely to prevail in its challenge to the structure of the National Labor Relations Board, and declined to block the agency's case against the center from moving forward. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings in a written decision on Friday said he disagreed with Alivio Medical Center's claims that NLRB administrative judges and the board's five members are improperly shielded from being removed at will by the U.S. President. (Wiessner, 9/16)

Houston Chronicle: UTHealth Houston President Dr. Giuseppe Colasurdo Stepping DownDr. Giuseppe Colasurdo is stepping down as president of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston but will remain in the role until his successor is appointed, the university announced Monday. Colasurdo has been in the role for 12 years, the longest tenure of any UTHealth Houston president. He did not offer a reason for his departure in a message he shared with the UTHealth Houston community. (MacDonald, 9/16)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: St. Louis Children's Hospital Offers Free LockboxesSt. Louis Children's Hospital will provide 1,000 free lockboxes over the next year to patients at risk of suicide or poisonings, both of which are increasingly taking the lives of Missouri children. The lockboxes are big enough to store several medicine containers or a handgun. Only those with a key to its padlock can open it. (Munz, 9/16)

Tune In: Our 'Silence In Sikeston' Project Is Now Available

A multimedia reporting project from KFF Health News, Retro Report, and GBH's WORLD explores the impact of a 1942 lynching and a 2020 police shooting in the same rural Missouri community.

KFF Health News: Podcast Episode 2: Hush, Fix Your FaceIn Episode 2 of the "Silence in Sikeston" podcast, host Cara Anthony speaks with Sikeston, Missouri, resident Larry McClellon, who grew up being told not to talk about the 1942 lynching of Cleo Wright. He is determined to break the cycle of silence in his community. Anthony also unearths a secret in her own family and grapples with the possible effects of intergenerational trauma. (Anthony, 9/17)

→ Catch up on Episode 1 of the "Silence in Sikeston" podcast: "Racism Can Make You Sick"

KFF Health News: Watch: New Documentary Film Explores A Lynching And A Police Killing 78 Years ApartIn 1942, a young Black man named Cleo Wright was removed from a Sikeston, Missouri, jail and lynched by a white mob. Nearly 80 years later, another young Black man, Denzel Taylor, was shot at least 18 times by police in the same small community. In the hourlong "Silence in Sikeston" documentary film broadcast on WORLD's "Local, USA," KFF Health News and Retro Report explore how the impact of these men's killings tells a story about trauma and racism, but also resilience and healing. (Anthony, 9/17)

→ Read KFF Health News' Midwest Correspondent Cara Anthony's essay about what reporting on this project helped her learn about her own family's hidden past.

→ Click here for more details on the "Silence in Sikeston" project.

Mom Brain: Few Areas Of The Brain Are 'Untouched' By Pregnancy

CNN reports on a new study that maps brain changes during pregnancy. Also in research news: the chemical toll of food packaging on our bodies; microplastics at the base of the brain; and more.

CNN: Pregnancy Changes The Brain More Than Previously Known, Study FindsResearchers have created one of the first comprehensive maps of how the brain changes throughout pregnancy, substantially improving upon understanding of an understudied field. Certain brain regions may shrink in size during pregnancy yet improve in connectivity, "with only a few regions of the brain remaining untouched by the transition to motherhood," according to the study published Monday in the journal Nature Neuroscience. (Rogers, 9/16)

Other science and research —

The Washington Post: Scientists Just Figured Out How Many Chemicals Enter Our Bodies From Food Packaging Shrink-wrap sealed around a piece of raw meat. Takeout containers filled with restaurant leftovers. Plastic bottles filled with soft drinks. These are just a few types of food packaging that surround humans every day. And a new study released Monday shows the chemical toll of all that wrapping — and how it might affect the human body. (Osaka, 9/16)

CNN: Microplastics Found In Nose Tissue At Base Of Brain, Study SaysTiny plastic shards and fibers were found in the nose tissue of human cadavers, according to a small new study. The threads and microplastic pieces were discovered in the olfactory bulb, the part of the nose responsible for detecting odors that sits at the base of the brain. (LaMotte, 9/16)

Futurism: Organisms Created In Laboratory Are "Third State" Beyond Life And Death, Scientists SayOver the past several years, scientists have repeatedly demonstrated that the cells of various organisms can be repurposed into biological robots, representing stunning advancements in the field of synthetic biology. Some types, like anthrobots, used human cells that could self-assemble into small, hairy structures capable of moving by themselves. Others, like xenobots, are a bit freakier: scientists created these from the cells of already dead frogs, which seemingly cheated death by remaining capable of performing simple tasks and even self-replication. Now, in a new review published in the journal Physiology, researchers are contemplating the implications of taking cells — from organisms dead or alive — and essentially turning them into machines with totally new functions. Namely, that this points to a biological "third state" — one that doesn't neatly fit into the categories of life and death. (Landymore, 9/14)

Also —

Axios: HHS Updates Rules For Probing Research MisconductThe Biden administration has finished the first update in 20 years of rules for investigating fraud in federally funded research but backed away from some aggressive changes after getting blowback from universities. Research misconduct hit an all-time high last year, with the number of journal article retractions hitting more than 10,000, Nature reported. (Goldman, 9/16)

Viewpoints: Pregnancy Study Is A Step Toward Closing Egregious Scientific Gap; The Deadly Toll Of Abortion Bans

Editorial writers examine these public health issues.

Bloomberg: We're Finally Starting To Understand The Pregnant Brain"Pregnancy brain" is often treated as a punchline, but a new study shows it's a stunning metamorphosis that scientists are just beginning to grasp — potentially unlocking new knowledge about pregnancy complications and the amazing plasticity of our most complex organ. (Lisa Jarvis, 9/16)

The New York Times: It Was Only A Matter Of Time Before Abortion Bans Killed Someone It was inevitable, once Roe v. Wade was overturned and states started banning abortion, that women were going to die. Over the last two years, we've learned of countless close calls. (Michelle Goldberg, 9/16)

The Washington Post: Five Medical Innovations That Give Me Reason For HopeInfectious diseases have dominated this year's health headlines: bird flu, mpox, Eastern equine encephalitis — and of course, the coronavirus. But while dangers from new and emerging pathogens are very real, there has also been good news on the health front. (Leana S. Wen, 9/17)

Stat: Acquiring Vaccines Is Just The First Step Toward Containing MpoxThere is a pervasive myth that the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other countries in Africa affected by the current mpox outbreak lack capacity for the many elements that are needed for effective outbreak response. That is not true; they have significant experience and capacities in field epidemiology, testing, sequencing, case finding and contact tracing, clinical care, infection prevention control, risk communication, community engagement, vaccination delivery, scientific research, emergency operations and more. (Maria D. Van Kerkhove, 9/17)

Scientific American: How To Understand Your Child's Screenings For Autism And Other Conditions As we strive to keep our kids safe, healthy and happy, detecting and treating developmental and other conditions early is essential. For this reason, pediatric care emphasizes the importance of screening for everything from developmental delays to emotional problems to autism. Unfortunately, screening results are not always reassuring. (Chris Sheldrick, 9/16)

HIV And Syphilis Are On The Rise In Robeson County

By Rachel Baldauf

Border Belt Independent

When Brenda Hunt helped start the Borderbelt AIDS Resources Team in 1996, the small nonprofit was the only place in Robeson County for people living with HIV or AIDS to get support and connect to resources.

Hunt, who now serves as the BART director, would drive clients to Laurinburg or Chapel Hill to receive a cocktail of medications. She would deliver two or three eulogies a month for those who died.

"We started it all with just nothing," she said.

Much has changed over the past few decades. HIV treatment centers have opened throughout Robeson County, and health outcomes for those diagnosed with the virus have drastically improved.

But now cases of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV and syphilis, are on the rise in Robeson County.

In 2022, 524 people were living with HIV in Robeson County, a 24 percent increase from 2012, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. That's higher than the statewide increase, which rose nearly 18 percent during the same period.

Robeson County had a rate of more than 25 new HIV diagnoses per 100,000 people in 2022, one of the highest rates in North Carolina.

Across the country, HIV cases dropped 12 percent between 2018 and 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But southern states accounted for nearly half of the nation's new HIV infections in 2022.

Syphilis cases are also on the rise. Nationwide, syphilis numbers are the highest they've been since 1950. Since 2018, early syphilis cases in North Carolina have more than doubled.

Last year, Robeson County saw 70 newly diagnosed cases of early syphilis, a dangerous bacterial infection typically transmitted through sexual activity. If left untreated, syphilis can damage the body's organs and cause tumors. If treated during the early stages of disease, syphilis is easily curable with medication.

The county's number of newly diagnosed syphilis cases has risen 180 percent since 2017, an increase that's over 1.5 times higher than the statewide figure.

In nearby Bladen and Scotland counties, the number of new syphilis cases has more than doubled since 2017.

Chlamydia and gonorrhea are also on the rise in southeastern North Carolina. Cases of both diseases in Bladen and Scotland counties have risen more than 14 percent since 2017.

Hunt said she was not surprised to hear that HIV and syphilis are on the rise. "People have been so relaxed with it."

Many young people don't understand the dangers, she said, and educating the public is difficult in Robeson County, where poverty and social stigma are widespread. In 2022, over 32 percent of the county's 117,000 residents lived in poverty.

Brooke Blackmon, a UNC Pembroke student and summer intern at BART, moves a watermelon from a storage area. A food pantry is one of the services provided by BART. Photo by Les High

Drug misuse plays a role in the spread of both diseases. It can lead to behaviors that increase the risk of HIV and syphilis transmission, including inconsistent condom use and having multiple sex partners. Injection drug use accounted for 3.4 percent of HIV transmissions in North Carolina in 2022.

For decades, HIV has disproportionately affected vulnerable groups, including drug users, gay and bisexual men and minorities. In 2022, over half of all adults newly diagnosed with HIV in North Carolina were Black, and nearly 58 percent of reported transmissions were through men who had sex with men, according to DHHS. Men who have sex with men also experience higher rates of syphilis than other groups in North Carolina and nationwide.

"STDs and substance misuse, they go hand in hand," said April Oxendine, a health educator at the Robeson County Health Department.

Drop in funding

Rates of STDs, including HIV and syphilis, soared in the 1990s and early 2000s in Robeson County. In 2001, Robeson had the highest rate of syphilis in the country, according to a CDC report.

Funding for nonprofits like BART was easier to come by back then, Hunt said. As newer public health issues like opioid misuse have taken center stage, funding for HIV prevention has become less of a priority.

"Opioids is the new kid on the block," Hunt said.

Over the past few years, Hunt said BART's total funding has decreased more than 25%.

Tracy Jones, the communicable disease supervisor at the Robeson County Health Department, said an HIV diagnosis used to spell death for many patients in the 1980s and '90s. But now it's managed like a chronic health condition, often treated by a single pill per day.

"The state of HIV care has changed a lot over the last 20 years as far as regimens and how well they're tolerated and how simple they are compared to when I started working here," said Jones, who has been with the health department since 2002.

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A bulk of the funds that HIV treatment organizations receive is distributed through the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, a federal program that began in the 1990s. In North Carolina, counties are grouped together into networks of care, and funding is meted out to those networks on a yearly basis. Since 2021, funding for the network of care that includes Robeson, Bladen, Scotland and six other neighboring counties has dropped by more than $10,000, according to DHHS.

Today BART cares for about 20 clients living with HIV. Hunt would like to add more but can't afford to hire additional employees. Getting reimbursed for care provided to Medicaid patients enrolled through managed care can be a slow process, she said.

"I wish there was money to hire more people," she said. "It's just not easy. You've got to jump through so many hoops, it's unreal."

Funding for programs aimed at reducing syphilis has decreased as well. In 1999, Robeson was one of six North Carolina counties to receive a grant from the CDC. That year, Robeson reported 152 cases of early syphilis. The initiative brought more than $100,000 to the county's health department and was used to fund a team dedicated to syphilis treatment and education.

"We were pretty much boots on the ground," said Oxendine, who worked on the health department's syphilis elimination team. "We were knocking on people's doors at night or in the evening, saying, 'Hey, we're in this area, would you like to get tested for syphilis?'"

A poster and prayer in the BART office in Lumberton. Photo by Les High

Oxendine and her team built relationships with the community. Local drug dealers would ask if the team could test people who bought drugs from them. Some days the team tested more than a hundred people using a mobile unit provided by the CDC. For those who tested positive, the team would connect them with medical care and provide resources to help them leave high-risk lifestyles.

"It met people where they were at," Oxendine said. "We had formed those relationships of trust."

The effort was a massive success. In 2006, Robeson County didn't report a single new case of primary or secondary syphilis.

"We eliminated it. Cases were down completely," Oxendine said. Decades later, Oxendine is still in contact with people who say the program changed their lives.

But in the late 2000s, the grant ended, and the health department no longer had the money to fund many of its syphilis outreach programs. As the money went away, cases began to rise again.

"We knew whenever the monies would leave, cases would start going back up," Oxendine said.

Education and stigma

Educating residents on safe sex methods and the dangers of used needles is vital to prevent the spread of HIV, Hunt said. But stigma often stands in the way of education and prevents some people from seeking treatment.

Hunt decided to become an HIV case manager after a friend

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