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My favorite tradition: STAT's summer reading and listening list
Alex Hogan/STAT
Summer is officially here, which means it's time for our annual list of book and podcast recommendations! Contributions come from STAT staff, notable figures like FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, former CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, and, of course, readers like you. This year, I recommended the podcast "POOG" hosted by comedians Kate Berlant and Jacqueline Novak.
Perhaps the most iconic part of this annual list is the illustration that STAT's Alex Hogan makes each year. "A ridiculous idea got thrown out in a meeting, and I said I'd mock it up," Alex told me about the inception of the anthropomorphic book list character, who was born eight years ago. "My life has never been the same."
STAT's Sarah Mupo, who puts the list together each year, came up with this year's scene of the book playing pickleball. So Alex went to his local courts — which were closed — and told a security guard that he needed a picture for Boston Globe Media Partners. "I was technically not lying, but I can't imagine the illustration is what he was picturing in his head," Alex said.
Read this year's list, and check out our previous lists for some excellent recommendations, and some out-of-this-world scenes of our STAT Book living the good life.
mental health
A different form of ketamine for depression?
Five years ago, the FDA approved a chemical relative of the anesthesia drug ketamine to treat treatment-resistant depression. Some people turn to infusions of the generic drug, though — and a new study adds to the conversation by testing an oral version. Ketamine tablets were safe and effective for patients with treatment-resistant depression, according to results from a randomized controlled trial published yesterday in Nature Medicine.
The study was published just weeks after an independent FDA advisory committee voted against the use of MDMA for PTSD. The panel's decision revealed a high bar for data on safety and the potential for drug abuse, researcher Matthew Johnson told STAT's Mohana Ravindranath. Read more on the study and its implications in Mohana's STAT+ story.
And speaking of the FDA committee on MDMA — a First Opinion published today details how three experts believe the "no" vote can be turned into progress for the treatment.
reproductive health
Infant deaths increased after Texas banned abortion in early pregnancy
Infant deaths in Texas have increased by 13% since the state's ban on abortion went into effect in September 2021, according to new analysis published yesterday in JAMA Pediatrics. The ban, one of the most restrictive in the country, prohibits abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy.
When researchers began the study, they weren't sure how strong the connection would be — it wasn't necessarily obvious, given how rare these deaths are, and how limited abortion already was in the state. But the data showed a statistically significant difference between the number of infant deaths in 2021 and 2022. Read more from Nalis again on the study's findings, and why one expert believes the results are strong enough to prove that the ban caused the increase.
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