Burned-out nurses are flocking to remote jobs

(Alex Hogan/STAT)

The Covid-19 pandemic has made remote work an attractive option for all kinds of people — and nurses are no exception, STAT’s Katie Palmer reports. After running on fumes for the past few years, nurses are leaving hospital jobs in droves, and many of them are seeking remote roles made possible by the rise of telehealth. “The burnout problem is causing an oversaturation of nurses wanting these jobs,” Sadie Glisson, a registered nurse who runs a remote nursing job board, told Katie.

These roles typically involve coordinating care for patients with chronic diseases and other conditions, and the appeal is largely the same as that of any other remote gig — flexibility, no commuting, and a respite from office politics. Telehealth companies are getting so many applications they’re often closing postings within a few days, a stark contrast to the exodus of nurses from in-person positions.

Unraveling how the brain assigns emotion to our experiences

Your first kiss. The blissful cool of ice cream. Oh, and that time you smashed your finger while shutting the car door. Life is filled with experiences that we instantly label good or bad. But how do our brains do that? A new study published yesterday in Nature offers clues. Researchers working in mice report that a signaling molecule called neurotensin operates a bit like a railroad switch operator, activating brain circuits associated with positive or negative emotions.

When scientists disrupted the gene that codes for neurotensin, mice had an easier time learning to associate a sound with an electric zap but struggled to learn that a different tone preceded a sugar-water reward. Increasing levels of the molecule had the opposite effect. As I write in my latest piece for STAT, the findings could have implications for how we understand — and even treat — conditions such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

A new study measuring health tech’s clinical impact has startups in a tizzy

Digital health startups have quietly collected hundreds of millions of dollars, but how efficiently have they used that money to impact health care? A recent report examined the question by measuring how many clinical trials these companies have completed and tallying their regulatory filings with the FDA. The average “clinical robustness score” from more than 220 companies was 2.5, though almost 100 firms had a score of 0. That has startups clamoring to know where they stand — though the study doesn’t name names, writes STAT’s Mohana Ravindranath.

The analysis, based on data from venture fund Rock Health, was sparked by a question from gastroenterologist Simon Mathews about digital health upstarts: “If we’re putting in all this money, shouldn’t it be linked to making a difference?” But critics say the report’s focus on clinical trials and regulatory filings excludes other types of research.

Closer look: A medical crash course for the next generation of Native American doctors

(Kayana Szymczak for STAT)

Native Americans and Alaska Natives have long been woefully underrepresented among the ranks of U.S. doctors. But a new program run out of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital is hoping to help change that. The pipeline program brings in young Indigenous people and, during three jam-packed weeks, had them perform a variety of simulations including in labor and delivery (pictured above); scrub in for actual procedures; and meet with residents, deans, and medical school admissions officials.

It’s all part of an effort to provide these students medical training in a supportive environment, writes STAT’s Usha Lee McFarling, who spent time in Boston with the trainees, many of whom said they felt a deep responsibility to give back to their communities and eliminate disparities that they themselves have endured. “The conversations about health disparities on the reservation aren’t being crafted by our own people,” said trainee Anpotowin Jensen, a member of the Oglala Lakota tribe in Pine Ridge, S.D.

Eggs go into ‘low-power mode’ to avoid DNA damage for decades

Reproduction is a minor miracle for all sorts of reasons. But you probably haven’t thought much about one of them: Immature eggs can survive for decades damage-free, despite the fact that a cell’s metabolism typically generates damaging free radicals, a paradox that has long puzzled scientists. But researchers just uncovered a major reason why: These cells, known as oocytes, restructure their metabolism so that they essentially operate in low-power mode for 30 years.

To do so, oocytes turn off a gene that encodes a protein involved in one of the key steps cells use to generate energy. Doing so both reduces energy output and the formation of free radicals. The findings, published yesterday in Nature, underscore how studying reproductive biology can teach us about cellular aging writ large, writes STAT’s Megan Molteni. Read more.

World’s first hepatitis E vaccine campaign underway

Doctors Without Borders and South Sudan’s health ministry are teaming up for the world’s first hepatitis E vaccine campaign in response to an outbreak of the virus in the East African nation. They’re focusing on doling out doses to those living in Bentiu, the country’s largest displaced persons camps, where many of the 112,000 residents live without adequate access to clean water and basic sanitation. Those are ripe conditions for the spread of hepatitis E, a virus that can cause liver inflammation and which is responsible for 20 million infections and 44,000 deaths a year.

There are no specific treatments for the pathogen, making prevention via vaccination especially important. Health workers have already immunized 25,000 people and are planning another round of shots in October.

What to read around the web today

Powerful Senate Democrat outlines ‘plenty’ more drug pricing reforms to follow Medicare negotiation, STAT
Officials reorganize HHS to boost pandemic response, Washington Post
Biogen agrees to pay $900 million to settle whistleblower case alleging kickbacks and sham speaking events, STAT
The feud between a weed influencer and scientist over puking stoners, MIT Technology Review
A slew of abortion clinics are opening in New Mexico. Crisis pregnancy centers are, too, The 19th