Health and Science
Here’s Why This Year’s Measles Outbreaks Are So Bad: “Ninety out of one hundred non-vaccinated people exposed to an infected person will develop the disease”
“We’re facing a perfect storm of a highly contagious infection introduced into pockets of unvaccinated children,” says Melissa Stockwell, an associate professor of population and family health at Columbia Mailman and of pediatrics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. While most cases of the measles are mild, one in twenty infected children in the US is hospitalized with pneumonia, and some infections can cause deafness. In 2017, the illness killed 110,000 people worldwide, nearly all young children in low-income countries. more »
Congressional Weekly Legislation: Hearings, Paid Family and Medical Leave: Helping Workers and Employers Succeed; Women and Girls in the Criminal Justice System Hearings
On Thursday, the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee will hold a hearing, “Achieving the Promise of a Diverse STEM Workforce;” Bills introduced: A bill to ensure that certain incidents involving a covered employee that are reported to the Title IX coordinator at an eligible institution of higher education have been reviewed by the president of the institution and not less than one additional member of the institution's board of trustees, and for other purposes; A bill to prohibit group health plans and health insurance issuers offering group or individual health insurance coverage from imposing cost-sharing requirements or treatment limitations with respect to diagnostic examinations for breast cancer that are less favorable than such requirements with respect to screening examinations for breast cancer. more »
A High Risk Device: FDA Orders Manufacturers of Surgical Mesh Intended for Transvaginal Repair to Stop Selling All Devices
The US Food and Drug Administration ordered the manufacturers of all remaining surgical mesh products indicated for the transvaginal repair of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) to stop selling and distributing their products in the US immediately. The order is the latest in a series of escalating safety actions related to protecting the health of the thousands of women each year who undergo surgery transvaginally to repair POP.
The FDA has determined that the manufacturers, Boston Scientific and Coloplast, have not demonstrated a reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness for these devices, which is the premarket review standard that now applies to them since the agency reclassified them in class III (high risk) in 2016. more »
Individual Placement and Support (IPS) “holds promise ... for people with opioid use disorders” & The Changing Perceptions Through Art and Storytelling ’Opioid Project
Researchers suggest programs that help people find and keep jobs might help boost employment among people with substance use disorder. One such model is Individual Placement and Support (IPS), which was designed for people with serious mental illnesses. A 2017 pilot study of IPS among 45 people enrolled in an opioid treatment program found that 50 percent of those who were assisted in finding work through IPS attained competitive employment within six months, compared with 5 percent of the participants who were waitlisted for IPS. “The Opioid Project” exhibition demonstrates: “Behind every person who has lived with the complicated and fraught life of drug addiction and its many cofactors, there is a human being with lots of hopes and dreams.”
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