Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
New Maps Improve Deep Brain Stimulation For OCD Therapy
Five years ago, in a wheelchair, Julia Hum was admitted to a state mental hospital in Massachusetts. After treatment with targeted deep brain stimulation, she hopes to walk out soon and, for the first time in her adult life, live independently, in her own apartment. Hum, 24, has severe obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD, which once caused her to hurt herself and even affected her ability to eat and drink. (Goodman, 5/9)
Marc Gauthier can now step into an elevator without his body stiffening and freezing in place. He can take a 3-mile lakeside stroll without stopping. He can stand up out of a chair with ease. For Gauthier, 63, who has been living with Parkinson鈥檚 disease for almost three decades, these everyday activities were a challenge 鈥 until now. (Howard, 5/9)
A baby girl born with profound genetic deafness can now hear unaided after receiving a 鈥済roundbreaking鈥 gene therapy trial, Britain鈥檚 National Health Service said Thursday. Opal Sandy, an 18-month-old from Oxfordshire, England, is the first patient treated in a global gene therapy trial that is showing 鈥渕ind-blowing鈥 results, Addenbrooke鈥檚 Hospital in Cambridge said in a statement. Opal is 鈥渢he first British patient in the world and the youngest child to receive this type of treatment,鈥 the hospital said. (Bisset and Suliman, 5/9)
Blaise Pfeifer, 15 and a ninth grader at Standley Lake High School, lives for hockey. He started skating at 3, travels the country for tournaments, and describes gliding across the ice with a puck 鈥渓ike second nature.鈥澛燞e also knows he has multiple sclerosis, though he has never felt a symptom. (Brown, 5/9)
Also 鈥
Taking zinc could shorten the duration of the common cold by 2 days, according to a Cochrane review today. The evidence is not conclusive, however, and potential benefits must be balanced against side effects including bowel problems, nausea and unpleasant taste, the reviewers note. (Soucheray, 5/9)
A 30-year study found that eating ultraprocessed foods is linked to a higher risk of early death. The study, published Wednesday in the BMJ journal, examined the eating habits of 115,000 people and found that a higher intake of ultraprocessed foods was associated with a slightly higher mortality risk. (Irwin, 5/9)
Over-salting your food might be putting you at risk of certain cancers, researchers have found. People who add salt to their food are 40 percent more likely to develop stomach cancer than those who don't, according to a new study in the journal Gastric Cancer. (5/9)
