Annual Covid shots, alleged sexual misconduct in M.D.-Ph.D. program, & how tech might curb maternal mortality

"I'm just disgusted by academia," a Washington University in St. Louis student said.‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ 

January 24, 2023 Check out STAT+

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By Elizabeth Cooney Reporter, Morning Rounds Writer

Good morning. Young life scientists are leaving academia in unprecedented numbers, often for lucrative private sector jobs, but a WashU student's story shows it isn't always about money, Jonathan Wosen reports.

Health FDA scientists suggest an annual updated Covid shot  It sounds like an annual flu shot: Each fall you'd get a shot against Covid-19 that would be updated to match current strains of the SARS-CV-2 virus, much as your annual flu jab is formulated to fit circulating flu strains. (Older or immunocompromised people would get two annual doses.) FDA scientists propose this approach in documents posted yesterday, ahead of an advisory panel's meeting Thursday.  That panel will vote only on whether the existing vaccines, based on the original strain of SARS-CoV-2, should be changed to match the current booster shots, which contain both the original strain and the newer Omicron strain. That's because the immunity provided by the original shots waned over time and newer strains of the virus are better at evading it. Giving boosters increased this immunity, both against the original strain and newer ones, increasing antibody levels for people vaccinated with the original vaccine. STAT's Matthew Herper has more. health tech Tech could improve pregnancy care for low-income patients, but who pays? Molly Ferguson for STAT For low-income patients, the challenges of pregnancy start with prenatal doctor's appointments and the need for time off work or child care plus the cost of parking and public transit. The maternal mortality rate in the U.S., disproportionately high for Black patients, makes the need for better care clear. Some startups are working with health systems to deliver virtual maternal health care specifically for low-income patients, including those on Medicaid, which account for half of all births in the U.S.  Patients go home with blood pressure cuffs and apps to keep tabs on their vital signs, weight, mental health, and other risk factors for worsening health. But there's a catch: Medicaid coverage policies vary by state and insurers are reluctant to pay for these technologies. That means the patients who need these services the most can't always get them, even though physicians say they work. STAT's Mohana Ravindranath has more. mental health A new study explores biomarkers to predict response to antidepressants more quickly Treating depression with medications known as SSRIs typically means a trial-and-error approach of dose and drugs, sometimes for weeks. Searching for a better way, a team led by Diego Pizzagalli of McLean Hospital is recruiting patients for a trial testing MRI scans and other technology to identify biomarkers in the brain's reward system.  Biomarkers are familiar from precision medicine, particularly oncology, but not so much in psychiatry. In this experiment, people will perform a task while MRIs show the strength of ​​connections between two specific nodes in the brain's reward system. A previous study showed a higher sensitivity to reward also indicated a better response to an atypical depressant rather than an SSRI. The hope is that MRI-recorded sensitivity might be a biomarker to predict which antidepressants work best for patients with depression highlighted by anhedonia, or the inability to experience pleasure. STAT's Theresa Gaffney has more.

Closer Look How alleged sexual misconduct stole one student's passion for academic science Chloe Ellingson for STAT  She was a new M.D.-Ph.D. student at Washington University in St. Louis, eager to study the complex crosstalk between the immune and nervous systems in one of the world's top neuro-immunology labs. But over the next several months, the student says, a postdoctoral mentor coerced her into an unwanted sexual relationship and pressured her to keep it quiet. When she finally told her professor, renowned neuroscientist Jonathan Kipnis, he didn't notify the university's Title IX office. He told her the postdoc would be dismissed immediately, but he was allowed to stay another four months. When the student filed a Title IX complaint in January 2022, it was quickly rejected because the postdoc had left. Now she's dropped the research portion of her dual degree program, joining unprecedented numbers of young life scientists leaving academia. "I'm just disgusted by academia," she told STAT's Jonathan Wosen. Read more.  artificial intelligence Chatbots in mental health care raise ethical questions The mental health field has long been strained by a lack of licensed therapists, so peer counseling sites have stepped up to fill the void, sharing empathetic messages with other internet users. When that help blends AI-driven tools like ChatGPT or other systems, ethical questions arise about how closely AI should be embraced in such sensitive territory, STAT's Mohana Ravindranath reports, and whether this is an experiment that needs oversight. In a study published yesterday in Nature Machine Intelligence, researchers examined how AI is giving peer counselors an assist. Instead of telling a help-seeker "don't worry," the chat tool might suggest the supporter type "it must be a real struggle," or ask about a potential solution. The co-written responses were not presented to the site's visitors, but almost 70% of supporters felt that the AI guidance boosted their ability to be empathetic. Read more. opioids Young people aren't getting the medications they need for opioid use disorder, study says Opioid overuse deaths are a continuing crisis in the U.S., and not just among adults. These deaths nearly quadrupled in children and adolescents from 2010 to 2021, driven mostly by illicitly made fentanyl. But even though overdose rates mirror adult numbers, the use of medications to treat opioid use disorder in younger people is low and getting lower in this age group, a study out today in Pediatrics tells us.  The analysis of dispensing rates for buprenorphine, approved for use in children 16 or older and often used off-label in younger adolescents, found that from 2015 through 2020, the number of youths who received buprenorphine declined by 45%, but the number of adults who got buprenorphine went up by 47%. "Training in managing [opioid use disorder]  for youth-serving clinicians could be prioritized," the authors write. by the numbers

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