The BG Health Care Thread: Decreasing the Surplus Population

**Cail** · 2021-06-09 04:34

https://www.washingtonpost.com/healt...ug-aducanumab/

The Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved the first Alzheimer’s treatment intended to slow cognitive decline, a move hailed by patients and advocates but sharply criticized by others who argued there was not sufficient evidence that the drug works. 

The medication, called aducanumab, is the first drug cleared for Alzheimer’s that is designed to alter the course of the disease by slowing the deterioration of brain function — not just to ease symptoms. No Alzheimer’s treatment has been approved since 2003, reflecting the extraordinarily high failure rate of drugs developed for the illness. 

But in an explicit acknowledgment of the uncertainties about the effectiveness of the drug, the FDA did not grant the medication full approval. Instead, the agency cleared the drug — its brand name will be Aduhelm — based on its ability to reduce clumps of amyloid beta in the brain, a hallmark of the disease. It ordered the drug’s maker, the biotech giant Biogen, to conduct a post-approval study confirming the medicine actually slows cognitive deterioration. If the medication does not provide such a clinical benefit, the FDA’s approval could be withdrawn.

**Byrthnoth** · 2021-06-09 04:55

To say what the article won't say, there are prominent people in the Alzheimer's research community that think that forming amyloid plaques is a way for your brain to protect itself from the beta-amyloid protein that would otherwise be free-floating. While there could be ways to stop plaque formation that are helpful, there could also be ways that are destructive.

In this case it looks like the company had a no-effect drug, then massaged the data until it was a minor-effect drug and the FDA approved it. We'll see in their stage 4 trial what it actually does.

**Cail** · 2021-07-02 03:22

https://www.washingtonpost.com/healt...-youth-vaping/

E-cigarette company Juul agreed to pay North Carolina $40 million to settle allegations that the company aggressively marketed its products to young people, leading to addiction to high-nicotine vapes, Attorney General Josh Stein announced Monday. 

North Carolina is the first state to reach a settlement with Juul for allegedly targeting youth through social media advertisements and other outlets, and fueling a sharp rise in youth vaping. Another 13 states and D.C. also have sued the e-cigarette company.

**archibaldcrane** · 2021-07-05 10:55

https://twitter.com/archibaldcrane/s...705246721?s=19

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**6souls** · 2021-07-13 14:53

https://twitter.com/BrettKelman/stat...23788777934850

**Zealot** · 2021-07-13 16:19

They'll just blame the dead kids on Democrats and get re-elected.

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**Salodin** · 2021-07-13 19:17

Haven't you heard? Violent crimes are way up. Of course they're all dead, democrats are soft on crime.

**6souls** · 2021-07-15 08:09

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2021/0...cinogen-traces
https://www.jnj.com/johnson-johnson-...nce-of-benzene

J&J is recalling five brands of sunscreen for containing the cancer-causing ingredient benzene.

Neutrogena Beach Defense aerosol sunscreen
Neutrogena Cool Dry Sport aerosol sunscreen
Neutrogena Invisible Daily defense aerosol sunscreen
Neutrogena Ultra Sheer aerosol sunscreen
Aveeno Protect + Refresh aerosol sunscreen

**Salodin** · 2021-07-15 19:23

All aerosols? Sweet, I stay away from those.

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**Cail** · 2021-09-08 01:32

https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...dc4_story.html

The Justice Department is exploring “all options” to challenge Texas’s restrictive abortion law, Attorney General Merrick Garland said Monday, as he vowed to provide support to abortion clinics that are “under attack” in the state and to protect those seeking and providing reproductive health services.

 The move by the nation’s top law enforcement official comes just days after the Supreme Court refused to block a Texas abortion statute that bans the procedure as early as six weeks into pregnancy with no exceptions for rape or incest. The court’s action stands as the most serious threat to Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling establishing a right to abortion, in nearly 50 years.

President Biden, who has sharply criticized the high court’s decision, had asked the Justice Department to explore ways to contest the Texas law. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has pledged to call a vote later this month on legislation that would enshrine the right to an abortion into federal law.

**Cail** · 2021-09-10 06:03

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...supreme-court/

Mexico’s supreme court voted Tuesday to decriminalize abortion, a striking step in a country with one of the world’s largest Catholic populations and a decision that contrasts with tighter restrictions introduced across the border in Texas. 

Ten supreme court judges ruled unconstitutional a law in northern Coahuila state that imposed up to three years of prison for women who underwent illegal abortions, or people who aided them. The 11th judge was absent during the vote. The ruling is binding on other states.

**Cail** · 2021-09-12 02:33

https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...799_story.html

The Biden administration sued Texas on Thursday to try to block the nation’s most restrictive abortion law, which bans the procedure as early as six weeks into pregnancy and allows private citizens to take legal action against anyone who helps a woman terminate her pregnancy.

The law took effect Sept. 1, effectively ending most abortions in the nation’s second-most-populous state. 

The suit filed by the Justice Department in federal court in Austin asks a judge to “protect the rights that Texas has violated” by declaring the abortion law unconstitutional and issuing an injunction blocking its enforcement. At a news conference, Attorney General Merrick Garland said the ban “is clearly unconstitutional under long-standing Supreme Court precedent.”

“This kind of scheme to nullify the Constitution of the United States is one that all Americans, whatever their politics or party, should fear,” said Garland, warning that what he called the “bounty hunter” element of the law may become “a model for action in other areas by other states and with respect to other constitutional rights or judicial precedents.” The U.S. government, Garland added, has a responsibility “to ensure that no state can deprive individuals of their constitutional rights.” 

A spokeswoman for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) defended the law and accused the Biden administration of acting for political reasons — to distract Americans from the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the influx of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.

**6souls** · 2021-10-06 13:39

Another vaccine otw

https://twitter.com/BeauTFC/status/1445801760187166720

**archibaldcrane** · 2021-10-06 14:07

Only 30-40% effective but malaria kills hundreds of thousands of African children every year.

**Day** · 2021-10-06 14:58

fuck a malaria vaccine how about we just eradicate the mosquitos of the world

**Jaybar** · 2021-10-06 15:41

Dragonflies be fuming right now.

**Cail** · 2021-10-09 08:45

https://www.washingtonpost.com/healt...c59_story.html

The Biden administration has revoked a Trump-era rule that had become a flash point in the abortion wars, saying Monday it would no longer bar clinics that receive federal family planning aid from advising people about ending their pregnancies. 

The new rule for the half-century-old family planning program known as Title X will allow health centers to receive the federal funds even if they refer patients for abortions. It takes effect Nov. 8. 

The rule reverses a move initiated in 2018 by President Donald Trump to appeal to the social conservatives crucial to his political base, siding with them in a long-running battle with the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and other family planning groups.

**Cail** · 2021-10-17 10:33

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifes...attack-stroke/

After years of recommending that middle-aged and older Americans consider taking low-dose aspirin to prevent a first heart attack or stroke, an influential medical task force is planning to overhaul its guidelines, based on new studies that show that the risks may greatly reduce or cancel out the benefits.

According to the task force’s draft recommendation, a review of the latest scientific evidence found that regularly taking low-dose aspirin — 81 milligrams to 100 milligrams — to prevent a first heart attack or stroke may have only a “small net benefit” for people ages 40 to 59 who are at risk for cardiovascular disease. The task force emphasized that patients should make decisions about taking aspirin only in consultation with their health-care provider.