Senate GOP Pulls Plug On Latest ACA Repeal Effort
http://ift.tt/2hyJKEO Sept. 26, 2017 -- Senate Republicans on Tuesday announced that they would not hold a vote this week on their latest bill to replace the Affordable Care Act after it became clear that it was a vote they couldn't win. The announcement amounted to an obituary for the bill sponsored by Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy, MD, of Louisiana, the fourth Republican repeal-and-replace bill in the Senate to go nowhere. Republicans, who control 52 seats in the Senate, wanted a vote before week's end to take advantage of a parliamentary procedure that would have made the Graham-Cassidy bill impossible to filibuster, but only through September 30. So the bill would've needed only 50 votes for passage, with Vice President Mike Pence in the backup role as a tiebreaker. But after September 30, unified Democrats would be able to filibuster any repeal-and-replace bill because Republicans would not be able to muster the required 60 votes to end it. Sen. Susan Collins, R-ME, came out against the bill Monday, joining Sens. Rand Paul, R-KY, and John McCain, R-AZ, as "no" votes that would cause bill supporters to fall short of the 50-vote mark. Follow Robert Lowes on Twitter @LowesRobert Medscape Medical News © 2017 WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved.Health via WebMD Health http://www.webmd.com/ September 26, 2017 at 04:20PM
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CTE Marker Seen in Living Football Players
http://ift.tt/2hwFQjr By Robert Preidt HealthDay Reporter TUESDAY, Sept. 26, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- A potential marker, or warning sign, for a devastating brain disease caused by repeated concussions has been identified in living people for the first time by researchers. Until now, it has only been possible to diagnose chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) after death. Scientists in Boston studied the brains of 23 former college and professional football players, 50 non-athletes with Alzheimer's disease, and 18 non-athletes without brain disease. Levels of the biomarker CCL11 were normal in the brains of the non-athletes without brain disease and the non-athletes with Alzheimer's disease, but were significantly elevated in the brains of former football players with CTE. In the former players with CTE, there was also a link between the number of years playing football and CCL11 levels. "Not only did this research show the potential for CTE diagnosis during life, but it also offers a possible mechanism for distinguishing between CTE and other diseases," said study first author Jonathan Cherry, a postdoctoral fellow in neurology at Boston University Medical Center. "By making it possible to distinguish between normal individuals, individuals with Alzheimer's disease and CTE, therapies can become more targeted, and hopefully more effective," Chery added in a university news release. Further research is needed to determine if elevated levels of CCL11 occur early or late in the CTE disease process and whether CCL11 levels might be able to predict the severity of the brain diseasse, the researchers noted. The report follows last week's news that Aaron Hernandez, the former New England Patriots tight end who committed suicide in April while serving time in prison on a murder conviction, had a severe case of CTE. More than 100 National Football League players have been posthumously diagnosed with CTE. The new study was published Sept. 26 in the journal PLoS One. "The findings of this study are the early steps toward identifying CTE during life. Once we can successfully diagnose CTE in living individuals, we will be much closer to discovering treatments for those who suffer from it," said study senior author Dr. Ann McKee, director of the CTE Center at Boston University. WebMD News from HealthDay SourcesSOURCE: Boston University Medical Center, news release, Sept. 26, 2017 Copyright © 2013-2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved.Health via WebMD Health http://www.webmd.com/ September 26, 2017 at 04:20PM
Postpartum Depression Likely to Recur
http://ift.tt/2hwur3a By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter TUESDAY, Sept. 26, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Women who have suffered from postpartum depression are more likely to go through it again after subsequent pregnancies, a new Danish study shows. Postpartum depression occurs 27 to 46 times more frequently during subsequent pregnancies for mothers who experienced it after their first birth, researchers report. These results show that women who have had postpartum depression in the past should prepare themselves if they get pregnant again, said lead researcher Marie-Louise Rasmussen, an epidemiologist with Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen. Antidepressants or psychotherapy could help cushion the blow or even head off postpartum depression, Rasmussen said. "In theory, psychotherapy is preferred but not always sufficient and not always available. Often, the general practitioner has to add antidepressant medication," Rasmussen said. "Social support from the spouse and surroundings is also very important." In most cases, women can expect to shake off their postpartum depression within a year, the researchers found. "Based on this data, we would think for most women who receive treatment, their depression should be treated and resolved in six months or less," said Dr. James Murrough. He's director of the mood and anxiety disorders program at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. Postpartum depression generally takes hold of a new mother within days of delivery, although sometimes depression develops during pregnancy, according to the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health. Brain chemistry changes caused by post-delivery hormone fluctuations are a contributing cause of postpartum depression, along with the sleep deprivation experienced by most new parents, NIMH says. Signs of postpartum depression can include feelings of sadness and hopelessness, frequent crying, anxiety or moodiness, changes in sleeping or eating patterns, difficulty with concentration, anger or rage, and loss of interest in activities that are usually enjoyable, according to the mental health institute. A new mother with postpartum depression also might withdraw from friends or family and have difficulty forming an emotional attachment to her baby. Rasmussen and her colleagues undertook this study to provide women facing pregnancy with better estimates of their overall risk of postpartum depression. Continued"Postpartum depression is a disease depriving families of a time period that should be filled with affinity, love and bonding," Rasmussen said. "Especially for women with no prior experience with psychiatric disease, this must come as a bolt out of the blue." The researchers analyzed data from Danish national registries on more than 457,000 women who delivered their first child between 1996 and 2013 and had no prior medical history of depression. They reviewed medical records for signs of postpartum depression -- specifically whether these women filled an antidepressant prescription or sought treatment for depression within six months after giving birth. About 1 in every 200 women experienced postpartum depression, the researchers found. But within a year of seeking care, only 28 percent of these women were still being treated for depression, the results showed. And four years later, that number was 5 percent. The risk of postpartum depression in subsequent births was 15 percent for women who took antidepressants following their first birth and 21 percent for women who sought depression treatment at a hospital. That amounts to a 27 and 46 times higher risk than for women who didn't experience depression during their first pregnancy, the researchers said. "The episodes were characterized by a relatively short treatment duration, yet a notably higher rate of later depression and recurrent episodes of postpartum depression," Rasmussen said. The higher risk for women who've already experienced postpartum depression "suggests that there's some underlying vulnerability to develop depression in these particular individuals," Murrough said. "Basically, it's not random. If you had it before, you could have it again." Murrough and Rasmussen urged pregnant women to discuss the risk of postpartum depression with their doctor, particularly if they suffered it before. "It's not clear that's discussed often in standard practice, amazingly," Murrough said. The new study was published Sept. 26 in the journal PLOS Medicine. WebMD News from HealthDay SourcesSOURCES: Marie-Louise Rasmussen, epidemiologist, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark; James Murrough, M.D., director, Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City; Sept. 26, 2017,PLOS Medicine Copyright © 2013-2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved.Health via WebMD Health http://www.webmd.com/ September 26, 2017 at 04:20PM
McConnell Says Republicans Are Giving Up on Health Bill
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WASHINGTON — Senator Mitch McConnell on Tuesday officially pulled the plug on the latest plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act, telling senators they will not vote on the measure and effectively admitting defeat in the last-gasp drive to fulfill a core promise of President Trump and Republican lawmakers. Mr. McConnell’s announcement came less than 24 hours after a pivotal Republican senator, Susan Collins of Maine, declared firm opposition to the repeal proposal, all but ensuring that Republican leaders would be short of the votes they needed. Senate Republicans already tried once this year to approve repeal legislation, an exercise that ended in defeat when Senator John McCain of Arizona gave a thumbs-down in July to kill that repeal proposal. This time, Mr. McConnell, the majority leader, and his fellow Republicans were trying to make one more attempt at passing a bill, and a deadline was fast approaching: They have only until the end of this week to pass a repeal bill using special budget rules that shield it from a Democratic filibuster. Mr. McConnell could afford to lose only two of his members. But when he conceded defeat on Tuesday, three members of his conference had already publicly declared their opposition: Ms. Collins, Mr. McCain and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. Continue reading the main storyHealth via NYT > Health http://ift.tt/2koaaw3 September 26, 2017 at 01:33PM
Genetics a Cause of Autism in Most Cases: Study
http://ift.tt/2fPeSjA By Randy Dotinga HealthDay Reporter TUESDAY, Sept. 26, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Heredity contributes to about 83 percent of the risk of autism in children with the disorder, a new study suggests. The estimate, from a re-analysis of a previous study, adds a new wrinkle to the ongoing debate over how much autism is inherited from parents. Essentially, the findings suggest that rare genetic traits combine in parents and explain about eight in 10 cases of the neurodevelopmental disorder in children. However, study author Sven Sandin cautioned that "our results do not give any information about specific genes or other direct causes. It only informs us that genes are important." Sandin, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, noted that the findings also don't reflect anything about the reported increases in autism rates in recent years. The higher rates must have something to do with increased awareness or environmental factors, "and our study cannot shed any light on this," he said. Previous research had estimated the heritability of autism as anywhere from more than 50 percent to as much as 90 percent, said Dr. Dan Geschwind, a geneticist who's familiar with the findings. "We already know that autism has very substantial genetic contributions," said Geschwind, chair in human genetics at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine. "The question is how much is genetic and how much is environmental?" For the new study, researchers re-analyzed statistics from a previous study that tracked children born in Sweden between 1982 and 2006. The children were followed through 2009 to see if they developed autism spectrum disorders. The goal was to determine how common the disorders are in various types of siblings (such as twins), which would indicate the importance of genetics. In total, the study looked at 37,570 pairs of twins, 2.6 million pairs of siblings, and nearly 888,000 pairs of half-siblings. Of all these, just over 14,500 children were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders. The new study did not report the races of the children. ContinuedWhile the researchers estimated that inherited factors contribute to 83 percent of the risk, "even in couples who already have a child with autism, the likelihood that their next child will also develop autism is increased, but still not very high," Sandin said. Still, Sandin noted, the heritability of autism appears to be higher than some psychiatric conditions. For example, "the heritability of schizophrenia has been estimated to be 80 percent, and for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder it has been estimated at 76 percent," he said. "For cancer, it is very different for different types and for when they occur in life. For skin melanoma and prostate cancer, respectively, the heritability was recently estimated to 57 percent and 58 percent," Sandin said. Geschwind noted that the study is large, which supports the validity of the findings. "At some level, it is important to show that it's heritable," he said. "But this finding won't really change the kind of work that most geneticists do." In the United States, an estimated one in 68 school-aged children has an autism spectrum disorder, according to an estimate from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Symptoms include difficulty communicating and interacting with others, and a tendency toward repetitive behaviors and obsessions. The new study was published Sept. 26 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. WebMD News from HealthDay SourcesSOURCES: Sven Sandin, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City; Dan Geschwind, M.D., Ph.D., chair in human genetics and professor, neurology and psychiatry, University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine; Sept. 26, 2017,Journal of the American Medical Association Copyright © 2013-2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved.Health via WebMD Health http://www.webmd.com/ September 26, 2017 at 01:01PM
UCLA offers depression screenings for incoming students
http://ift.tt/2wR8NxB The 21-year-old senior at UCLA remembers it being worse in her freshman and sophomore years. When she got into this mode, she might not eat anything all day, except for some Twizzlers. Fears of failure crept in, and life became overwhelming. "As I got older, I realized I have to take care of myself," Szmyrgala said. "Even in those finals weeks, there needs to be some semblance of normal life, otherwise it feels unbearable." This week, about 10,000 new students begin the fall quarter at UCLA, and many will come to experience the same anxieties as Szmyrgala. Some will have an even harder time adjusting to college life, perhaps plunging into severe depression or self-destructive thoughts. Hoping to head off depression and reduce the stigma of seeking help, UCLA Chancellor Gene Block announced last week that the school will offer voluntary mental health screenings to all incoming students -- freshmen and transfer students. New student orientation on campus typically involves various activities meant to ease the transition to college -- dorm parties, talks with advisers as well as webinars on drinking and sexual conduct. In recognition of the stress that sometimes comes with such a transition, UCLA is adding screening for depression into the mix. "To our knowledge, no other university has ever attempted screening of this nature and scale," Block said during a speech at the One Mind Initiative in Napa Valley. "Students who choose to participate will be screened for depression and related traits -- anxiety, mania and suicidal tendencies. And we will offer help to those who need it." Block said that depression affects 350 million people worldwide. "In terms of dollar costs to society, depression is one of the most expensive diseases we face. The human toll is terrible. It affects all ages and all backgrounds. It is pervasive," Block said. The screening is free and voluntary. It consists of a brief online survey that takes only a few minutes. People who need and want help can take a free eight-week cognitive behavioral treatment online, a self-guided program that helps a person identify their problem areas and teaches them to think and, therefore, react differently. If the student has greater needs, he or she will be referred elsewhere or treated within the UCLA clinic network. Gavin Andrews, a professor of psychiatry at the University of New South Wales in Australia, developed the online treatment. Screening for depression in college is important, not just because university life can be filled with stress but because depression can seriously dampen students' futures, affecting their academic performance, career outlook and relationships, experts said. "College age is when there is a lot of attention to student potential. It is when the adult trajectory becomes set," said Nelson Freimer, a UCLA professor of psychiatry and bio-behavioral sciences who is leading the UCLA "Depression Grand Challenge," of which the screening is a part. "If you become derailed, it can be really hard to get back on track." Of course, depression at any age is troubling. "Developing depression at age 60 is a terrible thing, but you have already established your life trajectory," Freimer said. The screenings will eventually be available to the entire student body, but they will be directed to the incoming freshmen and transfer students first because it is easier to reach them through the many orientation activities, Freimer said. Mindful that serious mental health problems often emerge in college, other schools also have undertaken innovative depression research and interventions. Duke University's depression research has shown that by building stronger relationships with professors, college students are better able to cope with the stress of school. Researchers also have found that students who learn how to be compassionate with themselves are less likely to spiral downward when they don't get that perfect score on an exam, for example. Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs at Duke, said the North Carolina school has mindfulness mediation classes that help students learn this "self-compassion." Moneta said he admires UCLA for taking on such a large endeavor. He noted that a lot of students think about suicide -- some casually, some not. It is the second-leading cause of death for college-age adults, he said. "I think there is going be much higher numbers [of students] who need treatment than they expect," Moneta said. "We will be watching UCLA very carefully to see if it has utility. ... And to see if it reduces the tragic results associated with depression." Last year, Szmyrgala, the UCLA senior, joined the Resilience Peer Network, a program to support students with mental health issues. Part of the training was undergoing the school's cognitive behavioral therapy treatment online. She said she learned to challenge her dark thoughts. "I was always thinking about the future. If I got a bad grade in this class, how will this affect my future and what job will I get?" she said. Instead, she said, she learned to ask herself, "What evidence is there for these negative ideas?" Health via CNN.com - RSS Channel - Health http://ift.tt/1rsiniF September 26, 2017 at 04:58AM
Diagnosis: All Signs Pointed to a Stroke. Then the Tests Come Back Negative.
http://ift.tt/2k0FPVM Did she have double vision now, the young doctor asked? She glanced around the room. Not just then, but it would come back, she was sure of it. Other than the macular degeneration, the woman had only high blood pressure, for which she faithfully took a pill each day. She lived alone, and until all this happened, drove herself to all her appointments and volunteered at a local school for the disabled. ↓ Unrevealing TestsThe young doctor held up a finger, instructing the woman to follow it with her eyes as he traced a large box in front of her face. Her eyes moved normally. He asked her to stick her arms out “like chicken wings,” and he pushed down on them repeatedly, testing her strength. She seemed a little weaker on the second or third time. She felt weak all over, she told him. Not as strong as she used to be. Sanmartin thought that the patient probably had a stroke. Less likely, but possible, she could have a small mass or tumor. Myasthenia gravis (MG), an autoimmune disease that causes intermittent muscle weakness, was also possible but less likely at her age. She definitely needed an M.R.I. and also a scan called an M.R.A. to look at how the blood flowed through her brain. And she needed a swallowing study because she said she was choking on her food at home. Whatever made it hard to talk could make it hard to swallow too. PhotoThe M.R.A. was normal; so was the M.R.I. There was no stroke, no brain tumor. All the blood tests were completely normal. By Day 4 in the hospital, the plan was to send her home. She would need a follow-up appointment with her eye doctor because the lid was still droopy, and with an ear, nose and throat doctor because she complained of difficulty swallowing, even though she had passed a swallowing test just that morning. He wasn’t sure what she had but figured that they had ruled out the possibilities that might kill her. That night at the hospital, though, she proved them wrong; she choked while eating dinner. She wasn’t going anywhere. ↓ Circling BackWhen Sanmartin presented the patient to Dr. Richard Nowak, the neurologist who took over the team as the attending physician, it still wasn’t clear what was wrong with her. But even before seeing the elderly woman, Nowak told the resident, he already had a diagnosis in mind — he did think she had myasthenia gravis. In this rare autoimmune disorder, the body’s defense system mistakenly attacks the connections between the nerve fibers and the muscles they command, causing the muscles to tire out quickly. Sanmartin was surprised. He’d discussed this at length with the last attending neurologist, who was just as certain it wasn’t MG. That doctor argued that although myasthenia often causes weakness in the muscles of the eyes and mouth — not unlike what this woman had — that weakness usually comes and goes. But this woman’s symptoms were consistently present. Besides, the resident added, at 94, wasn’t she too old for that? Age was not a factor, Nowak said. As the director of Yale’s myasthenia clinic, he recently diagnosed the disease in a 98-year-old man. And although men tend to get the disorder later than women — men were more likely to get it in their 60s and women in their 20s and 30s — age alone can’t be used to rule it out. In the meantime, the team should send off the blood tests for MG because it usually took a week or more for the results to come back. ↓ A Tired VoiceSanmartin watched the more experienced doctor examine the woman. Nowak couldn’t find any evidence of double vision. And the patient passed all the tests he did to try to tire out the muscles of the eyes and shoulders. Then Nowak asked the patient to count to 50 out loud. At 29, her voice changed. It got quieter and a little raspy. By the time she got to 50, it was barely a whisper, as the muscles she used to speak gave out. She probably did have MG, Nowak told his resident. Still, it wasn’t proof enough for him to treat her. Each morning, when Nowak came to see her, her exam was the same — suggestive but not definitive. One day he wasn’t able to see the woman until late afternoon. She was alert and engaged as always, but her words were slurred and nearly inaudible. Muscle weakening late in the day is a classic symptom of MG. The test results hadn’t come back yet and probably wouldn’t for several more days, so Nowak decided to try a different test. He would start her on a low dose of Mestinon, the drug used to reduce the muscle weakening of MG. If she responded, the diagnosis would be confirmed. ↓ Successful TreatmentSanmartin had the day off when the patient started on the medicine. When he returned the next morning, he hurried to see her. She was awake and smiled as he walked in. She greeted him, and he immediately noticed the change in her voice. The nasal quality he heard before was gone. She spoke as if with a different voice. She could even drink water. Thin liquids like that are the most challenging to swallow. When the test results finally came back positive for MG, no one was surprised. They started her on a second medication. The hope was that the dual approach of Mestinon for relief of the symptoms and the second drug to help protect her from her wayward immune system would prevent future attacks. And it did — at least for a while. But a couple of months later, the woman had a life-threatening flare-up of her disease, an episode of weakness that left her incapable of breathing on her own. She was on a ventilator for nearly a week. And strangely, like her first episode of weakness, this terrible crisis came right after she got the injection to treat her macular degeneration. Was this some unusual reaction to a medicine she’d been taking for years? According to Nowak, no link between the medicine she took and MG has been reported. But she’s unwilling to take that risk — or the eye medication — again. And if her vision worsens, she told me with the cheerful determination of a survivor, she still has her other eye. Lisa Sanders, M.D., is a contributing writer for the magazine and the author of “Every Patient Tells a Story: Medical Mysteries and the Art of Diagnosis.” If you have a solved case to share with Dr. Sanders, write her at Lisa.Sandersmd@gmail.com. Illustrations by Andreas Samuelsson Sign up for our newsletter to get the best of The New York Times Magazine delivered to your inbox every week. A version of this article appears in print on October 1, 2017, on Page MM20 of the Sunday Magazine with the headline: She was 94, and all signs pointed to a stroke. But when tests came back negative, the doctors had to explore more unusual possibilities. Today's Paper|Subscribe Health via NYT > Health http://ift.tt/2koaaw3 September 26, 2017 at 04:39AM
Voices: Bringing My Own Kind of ‘Madness’ to the Office
http://ift.tt/2hvhLpG Far too often, I would regard an off-the-cuff remark by a work colleague, a roll of the eyes when I offered an idea at a meeting, or a sigh when I arrived late, as aggressive and threatening, an insult directed toward me. At another office where I was working as a commercial copywriter it still pains me to recall the time someone asked what I was listening to on my headphones. When I replied “Coldplay” and my colleagues all laughed, I wasn’t sure why. Maybe they found me as depressing as the artists I listened to? Once again it felt like I was being bullied. I quit that job shortly afterward. To this day I am unsure if I was a victim of bullying in the office or just overly sensitive to others. And a 9-to-5 office role is relentless. It doesn’t allow me the flexibility to see a therapist on a regular schedule. I also often forgot general medical checkups, and many times forgot to re-order my medication at the pharmacy, which would send me into a panic attack. Luckily, every office has its own underdog or “pecked hen.” They usually gravitated to me as a kindred spirit, taking me aside to calm me down or nip out for a cigarette. I remember on one occasion catching the girl who sat next to me glancing at my computer screen to see what I was working on. But she held the glance for about 10 seconds, which seemed like a really long time, more like an intrusive stare. I got very upset and sent a strongly worded email to the company manager, with a few line managers cc’d for good measure. The email was so strongly worded that my colleague had tears in her eyes when she was called in about it and was granted permission to leave work for the day. She even brought some chocolate to say sorry to me and mentioned more than once that she was Christian. Once I left that job she unfriended me on Facebook, on my birthday. Even though by that point she knew I had mental health problems. When I got my dream job as a fashion writer in London, at a very decent salary, the “flights of ideas” that are part of my illness, compounded by the restlessness brought on by my medications, sabotaged my success. I’d been there for two weeks when I asked if it was possible I could take a six-month leave to work as a trainee reporter at a local newspaper in Hawaii. That wasn’t allowed, but two weeks later I took three days of holiday and a weekend away to travel to Paris to write a deodorant review for a small, independent magazine. I took another week off soon after to host writing workshops for people with disabilities. My boss was very understanding, and I did last in that job for 18 months but ended up resigning to be closer to my mother, who was having health problems. My office goodbye card was memorable: Even though I hadn’t told many people about my condition, all the notes went along the lines of “I’ll miss the madness.” An important lesson I have learned by overcoming adversity in the workplace and learning to live with mental illness is that we can build castles with the stones that life throws at us. I now work from home as a freelance writer, at hours to suit, which allows me the flexibility to get the regular therapy sessions and medical checkups that I need. I mostly write about mental illness. I am also writing my first book, “A Beginner’s Guide to Sanity,” with a highly regarded professor of psychiatry. I made just $6,260 last year as a freelance writer. But I’ve seen very real and positive results. My psychiatric diagnosis has changed from paranoid schizophrenia to schizoaffective disorder. People with schizoaffective disorder are considered more social than those with a schizophrenia diagnosis but have occasional “mood swings.” My new work life, along with therapy, has also taught me that qualities such as confidence as well as work-based skills can be learned and built on. Perhaps most important, I’ve come to accept that I am a work in progress. Erica Crompton is a freelance writer and mental health campaigner from Staffordshire, England. A version of this article appears in print on September 26, 2017, on Page D4 of the New York edition with the headline: Under Pressure From 9 to 5. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe Health via NYT > Health http://ift.tt/2koaaw3 September 25, 2017 at 09:27PM
Health Bill Appears Dead as Pivotal G.O.P. Senator Declares Opposition
http://ift.tt/2fv7aye Mr. McCain, who killed the last repeal effort in July with a dramatic middle-of-the-night vote, faulted Republicans for trying to pass sweeping health care legislation without the participation of Democrats or fulsome public deliberations about the undertaking. Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, had previously said he would oppose the Graham-Cassidy bill on the grounds that it did not go far enough in repealing the health law. A spokesman for Mr. Paul said on Monday that the senator’s position had not changed. Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, said on Sunday that he had not yet been won over and was seeking changes to the repeal plan. An aide to Mr. Cruz said on Monday that his position remained the same. Adding urgency to the matter, Republicans have until Sept. 30 to make use of special budget rules under which they can pass a repeal bill with only a simple majority, rather than needing Democratic votes. Even with those expedited procedures, Republicans can afford to lose only two of their 52 members, with Vice President Mike Pence breaking the resulting tie. On Monday, President Trump expressed frustration that Republicans had talked for years about repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act but had failed to deliver now that a Republican was in the White House. Mr. Trump singled out Mr. McCain for his decisive vote in July, and he seemed resigned to defeat this week. “We’re going to lose two or three votes, and that’s the end of that,” the president said on the “Rick & Bubba Show,” a radio program. Continue reading the main storyHealth via NYT > Health http://ift.tt/2koaaw3 September 25, 2017 at 05:27PM
An Upbeat Mood May Boost Your Flu Shot’s Effectiveness
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Don’t worry, be happy — it might make your flu shot more effective. A new study suggests that older people who are in a good mood when they get the shot have a better immune response. British researchers followed 138 people ages 65 to 85 who got the 2014-15 vaccine. Using well-validated tests in the weeks before and after their shots, the scientists recorded mood, stress, negative thoughts, sleep patterns, diet and other measures of psychological and physical health. They assessed their antibody response to the vaccine with blood tests at four and 16 weeks after their injections. The study is in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. Greater levels of positive mood were associated with higher blood levels of antibodies to H1N1, a potentially dangerous flu strain, at both four and 16 weeks post-vaccination. No other factors measured were associated with improved immune response. The authors acknowledge they were not able to control for all possible variables, and that their observational study does not prove cause and effect. The senior author, Kavita Vedhara, professor of health psychology at the University of Nottingham, said that many things could affect vaccine effectiveness, but most are not under a person’s control — age, coexisting illness or vaccine history, for example. “It’s not there aren’t other influences,” she said, “but it looks like how you’re feeling on the day you’re vaccinated may be among the more important.” Continue reading the main storyHealth via NYT > Health http://ift.tt/2koaaw3 September 25, 2017 at 05:15PM |
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