Tarena Lofton, Author at �鶹Ů�� Health News

On Autism, Kennedy Turns Against Science and Reality

Tarena Lofton — Fri, 18 Apr 2025 22:00:00 +0000

During his first news conference as Health and Human Services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on April 16 ticked off things he thinks kids with autism will never do, including paying taxes, holding a job, and going on a date. Kennedy’s comments go against science and reality.

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Federal Judge Blocks Mandate on Nursing Home Staffing

Tarena Lofton — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 20:11:33 +0000

A federal judge in Texas blocked a Biden administration rule to boost staffing at nursing homes, even though many homes lack enough workers to maintain residents’ care. �鶹Ů�� Health News walked through the decision from the judge and what it could mean for nursing home staffing.

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What To Know About Trump’s Executive Orders on US Health Care

Tarena Lofton — Wed, 22 Jan 2025 19:00:00 +0000

From rolling back drug pricing policies to limiting gender-affirming care, President Donald Trump signed several health-related executive orders in the first hours of his second presidency. Here’s a roundup of the changes and what they mean.

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Covid Is Still With Us, but the Guidance Has Changed. Here’s What to Know if You’re Exposed.

Tarena Lofton — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 18:00:00 +0000

President Joe Biden tested positive for covid-19 last week, but his symptoms were reportedly mild. With covid still circulating and putting Americans at risk, �鶹Ů�� Health News reviews the latest safety guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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DIY Gel Manicures May Harm Your Health

Tarena Lofton — Thu, 02 May 2024 09:00:00 +0000

A fresh set from the comfort of your own home? DIY gel nails have been all the rage on social media, but the practice could cause you to develop a life-changing allergy. In a , creator @alina.gene describes developing an acrylate allergy from doing gel nails at home. Now, when exposed to acrylates, the creator feels severe pain.

The creator warns viewers not to self-apply nail polish that requires a UV light to cure. In later videos, @alina.gene explains that at-home use differs from in-salon use because salon professionals have access to higher-quality chemicals that are less likely to cause reactions and that they also have proper training on how to safely apply the products.

“I know I sound real dramatic because an allergy to gel nails or even an allergy to acrylates isn’t going to kill you, but the thing is, in the wrong situation it could prevent you from getting lifesaving medical care,” said @alina.gene . Common medical products contain acrylates, and developing this allergy can cause major issues in obtaining future medical care.

We asked an allergist to walk us through this viral video.

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Ask a Chatbot: ‘What’s for Dinner?’

Tarena Lofton — Wed, 03 May 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Olivia Scholes, 28, of Vancouver, British Columbia, has polycystic ovary syndrome, or PCOS. She is among the who are diagnosed with this hormonal condition, which can cause multiple ovarian cysts, infertility, weight gain, and other issues.

After being diagnosed with PCOS about 10 years ago, Scholes managed her condition in part by trying to consume — or abstain from — certain foods and drinks. But at times, transferring her knowledge from her brain to her plate proved complicated and time-consuming.

“Just because I know that information doesn’t mean that I’m planning my meals with that information all the time,” Scholes said.

Scholes was scrolling through TikTok when she saw a video explaining how was used to build a detailed nutrition and workout plan. That video inspired Scholes to see if the chatbot, an artificial intelligence program trained to give a detailed response to a prompt, could give her meal options tailored to PCOS.

Weight and insulin management can help reduce the impact of PCOS. Because many people with PCOS experience insulin resistance, controlling insulin levels through diet is one of the best steps people can take to help manage the condition.

She started by asking ChatGPT if it knew what foods were best for people with PCOS and insulin resistance, and the chatbot provided a list of foods that met the criteria. Scholes followed up by asking if the system could provide a two-week meal plan that catered to PCOS and insulin resistance, consisting of three meals a day, two snacks a day, and desserts without artificial sweeteners. Within seconds, Scholes had a list of foods, which she then asked ChatGPT to turn into a grocery list.

Although Scholes already knew a lot of information ChatGPT gave her about PCOS and her diet, she said the chatbot transforming that information into planned-out meals would make it easier for her to purchase ingredients for a variety of meals in the future.

“For me, the big help that ChatGPT was, was not only did it take the information that I already knew; it put that information in, like, a tangible space for me,” said Scholes.

Olivia Scholes has polycystic ovary syndrome, or PCOS, and has dietary restrictions because of it. After seeing TikTok videos of others using ChatGPT for meal planning, she used the chatbot to make a meal plan and grocery list tailored to her condition.

ChatGPT — developed by the company OpenAI — launched publicly in November and reached 100 million active users in January,

ChatGPT is trained on a large body of text from a variety of sources, such as Wikipedia, books, news articles, and scientific journals. The advanced AI chatbot allows users to enter a text prompt and receive an intelligently generated output that allows for back-and-forth conversations. Other chatbots, such as Google’s and , also from Microsoft, are similar to ChatGPT and can plan meals.

Some health and wellness professionals say ChatGPT’s ability to have conversations can be useful for generating meal plans and ideas for people who have specific health goals and dietary needs.

Scholes using ChatGPT in a TikTok video. That video now has more than 1.3 million views and a comment section flooded with questions about her experience.

In February, Jamie Askey of Lufkin, Texas, made a explaining how to use ChatGPT to generate free meal plans and grocery lists that meet goals for calories and macronutrients, which are the nutrients the body needs in large amounts, like fats, carbohydrates, and proteins. She’s made lots of videos since the beginning of 2021 giving health advice, from easy meal-prep recipes to tips for how to stop binge-eating. And as someone who helps people create meals that contain without cutting out foods people enjoy eating, she was excited about how ChatGPT could potentially ease the process of meal planning.

Her video now has more than 13,000 views on TikTok and people have thanked her in the comments for sharing the tip.

“A great thing about this website is that it’s very conversational,” Askey said of ChatGPT. “So, if you are asking it for a specific type of diet, it can give you that.”

Unlike with Google and other search engines, users do not have to search topics one at a time. The dialogue format makes it possible for ChatGPT to follow an instruction in a prompt, provide a detailed response, and answer follow-up questions.

Users interested in generating meal options might tell ChatGPT “I want you to act as a dietitian” or “I want you to make me a healthy nutrition plan.” The chatbot will then respond with clarifying questions to help it generate an appropriate meal plan. The user may need to provide additional information such as their height, weight, any dietary restrictions, and goals.

Askey, a registered nurse who now works as a , warns that people with chronic illness should be evaluated by a professional before using a chatbot for meal planning.

“The possibilities are endless when you ask this machine what you’re wanting to know from a knowledge standpoint,” Askey said. “But another thing you have to think about is this is not black and white always. There are gray areas and that’s where health history comes into play. That’s where dieting history comes into play.”

ChatGPT users have boasted about the program’s capabilities and are enthused by the idea it could simplify everyday tasks. But the chatbot is not without flaws. One hitch: ChatGPT’s training data cuts off in 2021, meaning some information it provides may be outdated. For meal planning and nutrition, the program not being able to pull the latest health and wellness guidelines can be particularly troublesome for people with certain health conditions.

The model can also generate incorrect information, providing wrong answers or misunderstanding what the user is asking. When Scholes asked the chatbot for two weeks’ worth of meals, the chatbot stopped at day eight.

Some users have also expressed concerns about glitches and bias within the technology that can negatively affect the types of responses it generates. In December 2022, Steven T. Piantadosi, an associate professor of psychology at the University of California-Berkeley, posted a highlighting biases.

OpenAI, the artificial intelligence research company behind ChatGPT, has acknowledged the potential for bias within AI. It said in a that many people are “rightly worried about biases in the design and impact of AI systems.” In that post, the company also outlined some of the steps it is taking to eliminate biases.

Scholes wonders if existing biases against certain types of people could affect her results.

“If ChatGPT is built on any sort of fatphobic stuff, me looking for stuff that is geared towards women who are fat and deal with issues of fatness and PCOS and stuff, what kind of biases are built into that system already?”

For anyone considering using ChatGPT to help generate a meal plan to reach fitness and health goals, Askey said to double-check the program’s work. “AI, it’s not a person,” she said. “So, you always want to double-check.”

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How One Patient’s Textured Hair Nearly Kept Her From a Needed EEG

Tarena Lofton — Thu, 27 Apr 2023 09:00:00 +0000

(Oona Tempest/�鶹Ů�� Health News Illustration)

Sadé Lewis of Queens, New York, has suffered migraines since she was a kid, and as she started college, they got worse. A recent change in her insurance left the 27-year-old looking for a new neurologist. That’s when she found in New York.

MedicalArts recommended that she get an electroencephalogram (EEG) and an MRI to make sure her brain was functioning properly.

An EEG is a test to measure the electrical activity of the brain. It can find changes in brain activity that can help in diagnosing conditions including epilepsy, sleep disorders, and brain tumors. During the procedure, electrodes consisting of small metal discs with attached wires are pasted onto the scalp using adhesive, or attached to an electrode cap that you wear on your head.

A little over a week before her EEG, Lewis was given instructions that she didn’t remember getting before a previous EEG appointment.

To Lewis’ surprise, patients were told to remove all hair extensions, braids, cornrows, wigs, etc. Also, she was to wash her hair with a mild shampoo the night before the appointment and not use any conditioners, hair creams, sprays, oils, or styling gels.

“The first thing I literally did was text it to my best friend, and I was, like, this is kind of anti-Black,” Lewis said. “I just feel like it creates a bunch of confusion, and it alienates patients who obviously need these procedures done.”

The restrictions could discourage people with thick, curly, and textured hair from going forward with their care. People with more permanent styles like locs — a hairstyle in which hair strands are coiled, braided, twisted, or palm-rolled to create a rope-like appearance — might be barred from getting the test done.

Kinky or curly hair textures are and susceptible to damage. As a result, people with curlier hair textures often wear protective hairstyles, such as weaves, braids, and twists, which help maintain hair length and health by keeping the ends of the hair tucked away and minimizing manipulation.

After receiving the instructions, Lewis scoured the internet and social media channels to see if she could find more information on best practices. But she noticed that for people with thick and textured hair, there were few tips on best hairstyles for an EEG.

Lewis has thick, curly hair and believed that explicitly following the instructions on the preparation worksheet would make it harder, not easier, for the technician to reach her scalp. Lewis decided that her mini-twists — a protective style in which the hair is parted into small sections and twisted — would be the best way for her to show up to the appointment with clean and product-free hair that still allowed for easy access to her scalp.

Lewis felt comfortable with her plan and did not think about it again until she received a reminder email the day before her EEG and MRI appointment that restated the restrictive instructions and added a warning: Failure to comply would result in the appointment being rescheduled and a $50 same-day cancellation fee.

To avoid the penalty, Lewis emailed the facility with her concerns and attached photos.

“I got kind of worried, and I sent them pictures of my hair thinking that it would go well, and they would be, like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s fine. We see what you see,’” said Lewis.

Soon after, she received a call from the facility and was told she would not be able to get the procedure done with her hair in the twists. After the call, Lewis posted a detailing the conversation. She expressed her frustration and felt that the person on the phone was “close-minded.”

“As a Black woman, that is so exclusionary for coarse and thick hair. To literally have no product in your hair and show up with it loose, you’re not even reaching my scalp with that,” Lewis said in her video.

The comments section on Lewis’ TikTok video is full of people sharing in her frustration and confusion or recounting similar experiences with EEG scheduling.

West 14 Street MedicalArts declined to comment for this article.

The New York medical center is not the only facility with similar EEG prep instructions. , which has several locations in the Washington, D.C., area, provides EEG for patients reading, “Please remove any hair extensions or additions. Do not use hair treatment products such as hair spray, conditioners, or hair dressing, nor should you fix your hair in tight braids or corn rows.”

Marc Hanna, the neurophysiology supervisor at the center’s White Oak location in Silver Spring, Maryland, has more than 30 years of experience performing EEGs. He oversees 10-12 EEG technicians at the facility.

Hanna said the hair rules are meant to help a technician get an accurate reading from the test. “The electrodes need to sit flat on the scalp, and they need to be in precise spots on the scalp that are equally apart from each other,” Hanna said.

For people with thick and curly hair, this can be a challenge.

A from Science News detailed a study that measured how much coarse, curly hair could interfere with measuring brain signals. A good EEG signal is considered to have less than 50 kilo-Ohms of impedance, but the researchers found unbraided, curly hair with standard electrodes yielded 615 kilo-Ohms.

Researchers are working to better capture brain waves of people with naturally thick and curly hair. , a biomedical engineering major at the University of Miami, developed a clip-like device that can help electrodes better adhere to the scalp.

Experimentation with different braiding patterns and flexible electrode clips shaped like dragonfly wings, designed to push under the braids, has had promising results. A study, published by bioRxiv, found this method resulted in a reading well measurement.

But more research has to be done before products like these are widely used by medical facilities.

Hanna said the facility where he works does not automatically ask patients to remove their protective styles because sometimes the technician can complete the test without them doing so.

“Each one of those cases are an individual case,” Hanna said. “So, at our facility, we don’t ask the patient to take all their braids out. We just ask them to come in. Sometimes, if one of the technicians are available when the patient is scheduling, they’ll just look at the hair and say, ‘OK, we can do it’ or ‘We don’t think we can do it.’ And we even might say, ‘We don’t think we can do it but come in and we’ll try.’”

In practice, Hanna said, it’s not common for hair to be an issue. But for patients whose hairstyle might make the test inaccurate, he said, it becomes a conversation between the doctor and the patient.

When Lewis arrived the following day for her MRI and EEG appointment, she was told her EEG had been canceled.

“It was just kind of baffling a little bit because, literally, as soon as I walk in, I saw about four different Black women who all had either twists, locs, braids, or something,” she said. “And on the call, the woman was saying if you come in and my hair is not loose, we’re going to charge you. And she did recommend to cancel my appointment. But I never approved that.”

After Lewis explained what happened during the phone call, she said, the receptionist was very apologetic and said the information Lewis was given was not true. Lewis said she spoke with one of the EEG technicians at the facility to confirm that her mini-twists would work for the test — and felt a sigh of relief when she saw the technician was also a Black woman.

“The technician, I think overall, they just made me feel safe,” Lewis said. “Because I felt like they could identify with me just from a cultural standpoint, a racial standpoint. So, it did make me feel a little bit more valid in my feelings.”

Lewis later returned to the facility to get the procedure done while still wearing mini-twists. This time, the process was seamless.

Her advice for other patients? “When you feel something, definitely speak out, ask questions.”

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‘Explained by KHN’: Consumer Concerns About the Covid Vaccines

Arthur Allen — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 10:00:00 +0000

The twists and turns of the American health system can sometimes leave people lost, confused and looking for answers. We’ve created a new video series — “Explained by KHN” — in which our correspondents and editors answer common health care and health policy questions.

As promising news about the development, efficacy and distribution of covid-19 vaccines spread across the United States, questions about the shots were even more viral. In this edition of “Explained by KHN” we will answer common consumer questions about the covid vaccines.

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A Teen’s Death From COVID

Tarena Lofton — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 09:00:18 +0000

INDIANAPOLIS — It started as a normal day. Dawn Guest, 54, got up and headed out to her job as a nurse around 5 a.m. She heard her 16-year-old son, Andre, stirring in his room, but he had always been an earlier riser, even when his school was shut for COVID-19. Later that day she would get a call from her husband, telling her there was something wrong with their son.

That call would be the beginning of a 12-day journey that would end in tragedy.

“I can’t tell you how a perfectly healthy 16-year-old boy can be making his own peanut butter sandwich late Wednesday night, getting his own tea out the fridge, and head up to bed like any other teenager in the state or in the country is doing. And then within 24 hours is fighting for his life,” Dawn said.

The Marion County Northeast Special Olympics retired Andre’s basketball jersey number ― No. 54― and sent it to his family. (Courtesy of the Guest family.)

Andre, an easygoing sophomore at Lawrence North High School, loved YouTube and knew everything about video games; for his birthday in April, he asked for a game that wasn’t set to be released until December, and his parents planned on getting it for him when it was released. He also loved photography and annoying his siblings and excelled at basketball and bowling.

Born prematurely at 25 weeks, he and twin sister Abby spent months in the hospital before they were brought home and later adopted by Dawn and her husband, Johnny. Though Andre was diagnosed with moderate autism, his parents were fierce advocates and he thrived with a positive attitude and a smile on his face. “He always just flew through,” said Dawn.

Because Dawn is a nurse in the nursing home at a continuing care community, the family took more than the usual precautions when the coronavirus started to spread around the United States. After each shift, she’d take off her shoes at the door — where Johnny would disinfect them — and she’d head upstairs to shower. The family cleaned surfaces with disinfectant wipes, wore masks when they had to leave the house and practiced social distancing as much as possible. In fact, Andre was the only family member who did not leave the house at all. But the virus has proven to be a wily foe, circulating in some communities before public health officials realized it was there. It found vulnerable people like Andre Guest despite all recommended precautions.

After Dawn left for work that morning, Andre — normally self-sufficient — asked his dad for help getting a drink. Odd. At 1:30 p.m., when Johnny went to check on Andre, the teen said he was tired, but, Johnny said, “his speech was really slurred. He could still understand me and answer me.” A short time later, when Andre fell down in the bathroom, Johnny called his wife.

By the time Dawn got home, Andre had lost the ability to grip objects, he had trouble standing, his head and eyes were rolling, he could not hold his body weight up, and he appeared confused. She called an ambulance, which rushed Andre to the nearest emergency room, which transferred the critically ill teen to Riley Hospital for Children.

Although Andre had no underlying medical conditions, the first thing doctors discovered was that he had developed Type 1 diabetes — his blood sugar was a dangerous 1,500 milligrams per deciliter, more than 10 times normal. Type 1 diabetes frequently comes to light for the first time in the setting of an infection.

Because he had a fever and cough and was breathing hard, he was tested for COVID-19. Negative. But the doctors were having trouble controlling the teen’s blood sugar — usually fairly straightforward with an insulin infusion in a first episode of diabetes. At the same time, his temperature kept rising and his breathing deteriorated even with increasing supplements of oxygen. A second COVID test came back positive and he was moved to a COVID unit.

Johnny and Andre’s two sisters were subsequently swabbed, and they, too, were positive, though they had only mild fevers and fatigue. Dawn, who was at the hospital with Andre, decided not to get tested because, according to Riley’s policy, if she tested positive she would not be allowed back into the hospital until she tested negative twice.

Andre’s doctors tried “proning” ― placing him flat on his stomach, face and chest down ― to improve his lung capacity. (Courtesy of the Guest family)

A few days later, Andre was on a ventilator, and doctors, trying to understand and treat his quickly changing illness, even tried “proning” — placing him on his stomach to improve lung capacity.

In his 12 days at the hospital, Andre experienced issues with his brain, heart, lungs, kidneys and more. “Everything that they would fight to try to correct, the coronavirus would find something else to attack,” said Johnny. Though the staff had gotten the experimental drug remdesivir for Andre, his kidney and liver function were too poor to safely administer it. Many of Andre’s symptoms resembled what has since been dubbed multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children — a rare but extremely serious COVID-associated immune reaction that was not described until mid-May. Andre was never diagnosed with the syndrome.

Still, his mother thought he’d survive. He was getting superb care, and his blood sugar was finally at normal levels — suggesting the worst of the infection had passed. He was young and had always been resilient.

On the morning of April 27, that hope quickly evaporated. His blood sugar spiked. His arterial line began to clot, suggesting coagulation problems that have been a hallmark of the disease. He went into cardiac arrest and, despite chest compressions, succumbed.

Andre is among the small number of children who have died of COVID-19 and Indiana’s first recorded victim under age 18.

”They were wonderful there,” Dawn said. “Every nurse and every doctor. I can’t complain. We just didn’t get the results that we wanted.”

Despite stay-at-home restrictions, Andre’s death resulted in an outpouring of support from the community. Letters and cards arrived from teachers recollecting their favorite encounters with the teen.

More than 70 cars drove by the Guests’ house to express their condolences in a memorial organized by Lawrence Township — where Andre attended school.

Marion County Northeast Special Olympics retired Andre’s team basketball jersey — No. 54 — and sent it to the family’s home.

With this virus, “you are taking care of your community, as much as you’re taking care of yourself. You have no idea if you’re a carrier or if you’ve touched something that has it on there,” said Dawn.

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In The COVID Age, Bring A Mask And Gloves To A Protest

Tarena Lofton — Mon, 18 May 2020 09:00:27 +0000

INDIANAPOLIS — When Lamari Edwards joined Dreasjon “Sean” Reed’s Facebook Live video, she could sense something bad was going to happen, but she never thought she was witnessing the last moments of her friend’s life. “I had a bad feeling, but I did not think it would end this way,” said Edwards.

Reed’s video showed him driving at a high speed and narrating as officers from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department chased him May 6. The officers said they observed Reed’s car driving recklessly, almost striking other vehicles.

In the video, Reed, 21, is seen stopping the car and getting out to run. Reed dropped to the ground after being tazed by an officer. The video does not show what happens next, but several gunshots can be heard.

The news of Reed’s death spread quickly. For many black Americans especially, his story seemed all too familiar: another black man killed by the police. When Edwards heard about a demonstration being held the next day in Reed’s honor in front of the Indianapolis City-County Building, she knew she had to go.

But like many of the 200 people who showed up, she wrestled with an additional concern: staying protected from the coronavirus. Marion County — which encompasses Indianapolis — has been under a stay-at-home order but lifted some restrictions on Friday. It accounts for the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths in the state with, as of Monday, . state that all residents should wear a face mask or covering in public and practice social distancing.

Practicing proper social distancing can be difficult during a mass protest. And, unlike during some protests, particularly demonstrations in several state capitals against lockdown orders, people here took precautions. Although protesters recognized the dangers of the coronavirus that come with assembling in close quarters, they said they felt the cause was more important.

That’s partly because Indianapolis is no stranger to violence. In 2020, police have opened . This number does not include accidental or self-defense shootings. Moreover, police were also involved in two other deaths, in unrelated incidents, within eight hours of Reed’s death: One was a police shooting, and the other was traffic fatality in which an officer’s car struck a pregnant woman.

An estimated 200 people showed up for a May 7 demonstration in Dreasjon “Sean” Reed’s honor outside the Indianapolis City-County Building. (Tarena Lofton/Kaiser Health News)

Anthoney Hampton, an organizer of the demonstration, is a forklift driver who has mentored inner-city youth in Indianapolis for 25 years. (Tarena Lofton/KHN)

Brandy Taylor, a 23-year-old cake decorator, said she decided to come to the demonstration partly because of her kids. She is concerned about their safety once the pandemic passes. She explained that it seems like the violence has slowed down since the start of the stay-at-home order, but she said, “You can’t keep people at home for forever.”

Anthoney Hampton, 50, an organizer of the demonstration, said he felt no hesitation. He felt it was his obligation. Hampton works as a forklift driver and has been a mentor to inner-city youth for 25 years. As a father and grandfather, he wanted his family to know it is important to stand up for a cause you believe in. And he sees the problem as much bigger than the ones in Indianapolis.

“I changed my [Facebook] profile picture to the young man who got killed in Georgia [recently], and a few hours later, someone got killed in our backyard,” said Hampton.

The young man he was referring to is Ahmaud Arbery. Arbery was shot to death Feb. 23 while jogging in a neighborhood outside Brunswick, Georgia. A video of the shooting was posted online May 5, causing a national outcry. State officials took over the case and arrested two men and charged them with murder.

As in Indiana, Georgia residents protested the death, gathering outside the state Capitol, in the streets of the neighborhood where Arbery was killed and in other places around the state.

At the gathering here, Hampton took precautions against the coronavirus. He wore gloves and a red face mask that read “Give me 6 feet.” Like Hampton, many others in the crowd showed up with masks.

Members of the Indianapolis chapter of Black Lives Matter passed out masks for protection. The organization also posted on their Facebook and pages urging participants to practice social distancing and wear protective gear such as gloves and masks but to stay home if they were sick.

Mat Davis was one of those distributing masks and telling people the fight against the coronavirus was also important.

“I was terrified,” said Davis. “I was like ‘Please take this. You’re upset; I’m upset. Please cover your face up.’”

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