Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Longer Looks: Interesting Reads You Might Have Missed
The Vietnam War ended on April 30, 1975, when the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon fell to Communist forces. But millions of people still face daily battles with its chemical legacy. Nguyen Thanh Hai, 34, is one of millions with disabilities linked to Agent Orange. Born with severe developmental challenges, it鈥檚 a struggle for him to complete tasks others take for granted: buttoning the blue shirt he wears to a special school in Da Nang, practicing the alphabet, drawing shapes or forming simple sentences. (Ghosal and Dinh, 4/28)
They are turning 50 now, the babies laid out on airplane seats, six to a row, held and fed by strangers who took turns caring for them as they took artillery fire and fled the bombs and booms of Saigon. They were part of Operation Babylift, an effort led by the American military to rescue babies from Vietnamese orphanages ahead of the fall of Saigon 50 years ago this month. 鈥淭his is the least we can do, and we will do much, much more,鈥 President Gerald Ford said on April 3, 1975. (Dvorak, 4/27)
The research on metformin and human longevity is scant, but that hasn鈥檛 stopped some people from experimenting with it. (Ravindranath, 5/1)
Imagine if your doctor could use artificial intelligence to assess your health and predict your risk of disease. It could mean the ability, potentially, to change the future if lifestyle changes or drugs could stave it off. It鈥檚 coming, cardiologist and scientist Eric Topol argues in his forthcoming book 鈥淪uper Agers.鈥 Topol, who leads the Scripps Research Translational Institute in California, lays out what he calls an evidence-based approach to living healthier for longer. (Paun, 4/29)
Samhita Mukhopadhyay wasn't expecting shame to come from a photo. The longtime feminist writer and former Teen Vogue editor had just moderated a panel at a media conference. She was dressed in a skirt and printed top she felt good in鈥攗ntil she saw a candid image someone had posted online. "It was devastating," she told Newsweek. Mukhopadhyay took Mounjaro, an antidiabetic medication also used for weight loss, and saw dramatic results鈥攍osing 15 percent of her body weight over 18 months. She was feeling physically better, sleeping more soundly and even considering a wardrobe overhaul. But the cost of the drug forced her to stop. (Mesa, 4/30)
Decades of wellness studies have identified a formula for happiness, but you won鈥檛 figure it out alone. (Dominus, 5/1)
A study published on Wednesday in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, scientists compared the healing rates of humans, chimpanzees, monkeys and mice. They found that human wounds took more than twice as long to heal as wounds of any of the other mammals. Our slow healing may be a result of an evolutionary trade-off we made long ago, when we shed fur in favor of naked, sweaty skin that keeps us cool. (Preston, 4/29)