| | | |   By Elizabeth Cooney | Good morning. No one asked, but we’re still writing our own stories here at STAT. Researchers at Northwestern did ask if journal reviewers could spot fake scientific abstracts generated by ChatGPT. See what they found. | | | A public health reckoning may be a long time coming Amid a pandemic that has killed more than 1 million Americans, another large threat to public health may be apathy. Even though Republicans, Democrats, and public health people agree that public health needs to be transformed, there’s little agreement on how to do it — and a desire to move on. Tellingly, Congress couldn’t agree on creating a commission to look at pandemic response so far.
As Congress stares down a deadline next year to reauthorize the Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness Act, something akin to paralysis extends beyond Washington. Agencies like the CDC, some states, and a variety of philanthropic organizations are examining their own opportunities for reform, but a piecemeal approach may not be equal to the challenge. “We need a thorough after-action review of the pandemic,” Julie Gerberding, a former CDC director now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, told STAT’s Rachel Cohrs. Read more on next steps. | Wastewater monitoring could become a ‘health weather alert.’ Why is it stalling? If you really want to know where Covid case counts are going, the truth is in the toilet, STAT’s Brittany Trang writes. “When we think about where this could be in three to five years, we would love to see wastewater be part of kind of a health weather alert,” Amy Kirby, leader of the CDC’s National Wastewater Surveillance System program, told her. So why aren’t we investing in more-reliable, lower-effort, lower-cost wastewater testing to keep tabs on population-level cases?
Turns out it’s not just pandemic fatigue or our all-too-human tendency to react to health crises rather than prevent them. Barriers to increased adoption of wastewater monitoring include caution from people in public health, differences in the data from traditional health measures, the fact not everyone is served by a sewer system, and, of course, cost. Read more about meeting those challenges. | Spurred by Covid, U.K. plans to decode the genomes of other respiratory bugs Viral sequencing had its first spotlight moment in early January 2020, when scientists publicly released the genome of SARS-CoV-2, speeding a straight shot toward designing diagnostic tests and developing vaccines. Sequencing also spotted the Delta and Omicron variants, but in a later trend lamented by public health specialists, sequencing of Covid infections has stalled. Now a new venture aims to regain that lost momentum and expand to sequencing other respiratory bugs.
The Respiratory Virus & Microbiome Initiative, launched and funded by the Wellcome Sanger Institute, will track the evolution not just of SARS-CoV-2 but also other coronaviruses, different flu families, RSV, and other pathogens that may be mild but collectively lead to waves of illness every year. The idea is to “supercharge” research that could ultimately lead to the development of vaccines and therapeutics, Ewan Harrison, the head of the initiative announced yesterday, told STAT’s Andrew Joseph. Read more. | Precision medicine for major depressive disorder has the potential to address critical, unmet needs Nearly 70% of people with major depressive disorder (MDD) treated with antidepressant drugs from the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor class experience residual symptoms like anxiety, impaired cognition, insomnia, fatigue, and anhedonia. Fortunately, neuroscience is entering a new era of precision medicine based on scientific and digital advances. Scientists are evaluating how to recognize illness subtypes and predict which people with MDD will respond to a particular treatment. Read the article here. | Closer look: Air pollution's link to neurodegenerative diseases grows stronger  (MARIA FABRIZIO FOR STAT) Thirty years ago in Mexico City, the air was so toxic, dead birds fell out of the sky. The U.N. declared it the world’s most polluted city, a victim of unregulated diesel engines, factory production, fossil-fuel-powered energy plants, and internal-combustion engines, all trapped in a high-altitude, mountain-lined valley. Over the last 20 years, toxicologist and neuropathologist Lilian Calderón-Garcidueñas has studied first dog and then human brains, finding signs of neurodegeneration among those exposed to pollution there.
Later studies concluded air pollution can cause or worsen neurodegenerative disease, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, but unraveling the connection is a challenge, neurologist Ray Dorsey of the University of Rochester Medical Center told STAT contributor Lauren Gravitz. “You don’t inhale pesticides or air pollution and get Parkinson’s the next day, just like you don’t smoke tobacco and get cancer the next day. We know the disease takes decades to unfold.” Read more. | 'Piling errors upon errors': Studies fault process for approving some medical devices In the FDA’s eyes, not all medical devices are the same. For some of them, including implantable heart defibrillators and stents, the agency requires studies in people. But for other devices, such as artificial joints and infusion pumps, it asks manufacturers to show the new devices are “substantially equivalent” to existing products. That approach might increase the risk of recalls over safety concerns, two new JAMA papers say. In a statement, the FDA pushed back against the findings.
One study found that devices approved based on comparison to a previously recalled device were about six times more likely to themselves be recalled than similar devices. The second study also said devices were far more likely to be recalled if they were approved based on similar data from a recalled device. “What happens is you’re piling errors upon errors,” cardiologist Steven Nissen of the Cleveland Clinic told STAT’s Matthew Herper. Read more. | And the Shkreli Award goes to ... So here’s a rogues gallery assembled in honor of Martin Shkreli, the famed pharma bro who smirked over gargantuan drug price hikes. The 6th annual Shkreli Awards, released yesterday, list the Lown Institute’s 10 worst examples of profiteering and dysfunction in health care. We’re partial to #6, from STAT’s Olivia Goldhill, on how tobacco giant Philip Morris looks to profit from treating lung and heart diseases by buying companies that develop inhaled therapeutics. The list is topped by large Medicare Advantage insurers accused by the U.S. government of fraud or overbilling, as reported by the New York Times and Bloomberg.
In fourth place, NBC Dallas and D Magazine tell the horrifying story of a hospice CEO allegedly instructing workers to hasten patient death in order to avoid caps on government reimbursements. A text message allegedly sent by the boss spelled it out: “You need to make this patient go bye-bye.” | | | | | What to read around the web today - Hospitals say peak labor costs are behind them, STAT
- WHO urges travellers to wear masks as new Covid variant spreads, Reuters
- Still hoping for looser FDA rules, Regeneron says it will test durable antibody for Covid, STAT
- Callers keep flooding 988 mental health, suicide line, Associated Press
- Opinion: FTC’s proposed ban on noncompete agreements could be a game changer for some physicians, STAT
| Thanks for reading! More tomorrow,  | | | | Have a news tip or comment? Email Me | | | | | | | | Kendall Square February 9 | | | | | | | |
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