Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Research Identifies Immune System Issues As Cause Of Lupus
Researchers at Northwestern Medicine and Brigham and Women’s Hospital say they’ve discovered a root cause of lupus, a disease that affects hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. Scientists have long suspected that a person’s genetics or hormones may predispose them to lupus, and that the disease may be triggered by environmental factors like a previous viral infection or exposure to certain chemicals. Now, a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature outlines a clear pathway for how the disease likely develops, pointing to abnormalities in the immune systems of people with lupus. (Bendix, 7/10)
The French startup Bioptimus is releasing an artificial intelligence model trained off of hundreds of millions of images that, it said, will aid in the research and diagnoses of diseases. The model, called H-optimus-0, is capable of performing complex tasks including identifying cancerous cells and detecting genetic abnormalities in tumors, the Paris-based company said in a statement. Bioptimus described the system as the largest model for pathology that is open source and widely accessible. (Hennessey, 7/10)
Also —
Bengt I. Samuelsson, a medical researcher who shared the 1982 Nobel Prize for his role in explaining prostaglandins, hormonelike substances that regulate the intricate machinery of the human body, died July 5 at his summer home in Mölle, a coastal village in his native Sweden. He was 90. His death was announced by the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, the medical university where Dr. Samuelsson spent most of his career. He had cardiac disease, his family said. (Langer, 7/10)
Maxine Singer, a molecular biologist who helped map the inner workings of DNA and led seminal debates in the 1970s that contributed to the first guidelines on the potential risks and ethical implications of genetic engineering, died July 9 at her home in Washington. She was 93. The cause was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema, said a statement from Carnegie Science, a research group that Dr. Singer headed from 1988 to 2002. (Murphy, 7/10)
