About Covid-19
Study mapping how SARS-CoV-2 disrupts mitochondria suggests a cause for long Covid “The study published Wednesday in Science Translational Medicine builds on work showing SARS-CoV-2 can change the structure of mitochondria and hamper energy generation. It goes further to define the genetic mechanism that damages mitochondria in organs, leading to more severe disease and perhaps long Covid.”
‘Underwhelming’: NIH trials fail to test meaningful long Covid treatments — after 2.5 years and $1 billion “More than 2.5 years after the National Institutes of Health received a $1 billion mandate from Congress to study and treat long Covid, the agency has finally launched clinical trials for the often-debilitating condition. But both scientists who study long Covid and patients who have struggled with it say the trials are unlikely to deliver meaningful treatments, suggesting the federal government’s landmark Covid research effort may have been wasted.”
About hospitals and healthcare systems
Citing lax enforcement, senators ramp up scrutiny of nonprofit hospitals' tax exemptions “A bipartisan quartet of influential senators is tapping tax regulators within the U.S. Treasury for detailed information on nonprofit hospitals’ reported charity care and community investments, the latest in legislators’ increasing scrutiny of tax-exempt hospitals’ business practices.
In a pair of letters sent Monday, Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, Raphael Warnock, D-Georgia, Bill Cassidy, M.D., R-Louisiana, and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote they “are alarmed by reports that despite their tax-exempt status, certain nonprofit hospitals may be taking advantage of this overly broad definition of ‘community benefit’ and engaging in practices that are not in the best interest of the patient.”
About pharma
Studies Implicate GLP-1 Agonists in Progression of Diabetic Retinopathy “Two studies presented at the 2023 annual meeting of the American Society of Retina Specialists have found that use of injectable agonists of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP‑1) appears to hasten the progression of diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular edema (DME).”
Antimicrobial resistance [AMR] linked to 569,000 deaths in the Americas in 2019 “The study estimates more than two of every five deaths (569,000) that involved infection in the Americas in 2019 were associated with AMR; that's 11.5% of the global deaths associated with AMR. Associated deaths refer to drug-resistant infections that contributed to someone's death, but resistance may or may not have been a factor as the person might have had other underlying conditions that were also responsible for their death. 141,000 deaths were attributable to AMR, making up 11.1% of the total global deaths attributable to AMR. Attributable deaths are those in which people died precisely because their resistant infections were not treatable; in these cases, AMR is considered the cause of the death.”
About the public’s health
Epidemiologic trends and risk factors associated with the decline in mortality from coronary heart disease in the United States, 1990-2019 “A slowing of the decline in CHD mortality rates among younger cohorts was evident. Correction for unmeasured confounders through a quantitative bias analysis slightly attenuated the decline. Half of all CHD deaths could have been prevented with the elimination of smoking, alcohol, and obesity, including 1,726,022 female and 2,897,767 male CHD deaths between 1990 and 2019.”
The association between daily step count and all-cause and cardiovascular mortality: a meta-analysis “This meta-analysis demonstrates a significant inverse association between daily step count and all-cause mortality and CV mortality with more the better over the cut-off point of 3967 steps/day for all-cause mortality and only 2337 steps for CV mortality.”
About health technology
Baxter Recall of 23,000 Infusion Pumps for False Alarms now Deemed Class I “Baxter Healthcare’s recall of 23,000 infusion pumps due to repeat upstream occlusion false alarms has been deemed class I by the FDA, the most serious type of recall as use of the device may cause injury or death.
The recalled devices, SIGMA Spectrum Infusion Pumps with Master Drug Library (Version 8) and the Spectrum IQ Infusion System with Dose IQ Safety Software, are software controlled infusion pumps that deliver controlled amounts of fluids such as drugs, blood and blood products and other required therapies.”