Investigation Into Vaping-Related Deaths Continues: With No Known Cause, Relatives Struggle To Find Out What Killed Family Members

The Wall Street Journal: Vaping-Related Deaths Fall, But Families Still Look For Answers
Kimberly Boyd keeps a stack of her son’s medical files on her dining-room table, in neatly organized folders. In a Ziploc bag, there are some of the nicotine vaping cartridges he used at their Orlando, Fla., home before the 28-year-old died in November. Across the country, in Seattle, Robin Hurt is waiting for a response to a public-record request she filed with the state’s medical examiner in Oregon, asking for the autopsy report on her 23-year-old grandson, who unexpectedly died in October after having recently taken up vaping. (Ansari, 2/9)

Stat: Lottery Like No Other Offers A Cutting-Edge Medicine — With Lives On The Line
The treatment, a gene therapy called Zolgensma, is designed for children like Wynter who have a neuromuscular disease called spinal muscular atrophy, or SMA. Without it or other treatments, those with the most serious type are likely to die as babies. It was first approved by U.S. regulators only last year, and is not yet available in other countries. The lottery was devised by the drug’s manufacturer, Novartis, to give families in those places a chance to get it through a novel form of compassionate use — a way to get medications that have not been approved — while they wait. Fifty doses are slotted to be given away for free in the first half of the year, with up to 100 total. The first drawing occurred Monday. (Joseph and Silverman, 2/7)

The Washington Post: WHO’s Aggressive, Three-Part Strategy Aims To Make Cervical Cancer A Thing Of The Past
In just 35 years, the United States managed to reduce cervical cancer rates by 54 percent with the help of Pap smears. Now, human papillomavirus vaccination, double screening and more effective treatment might be able do away with the cancer. In two new studies in the Lancet, the World Health Organization lays out how. The studies model what might happen if the United Nations’ health agency commits to a three-part strategy to wipe out cervical cancer. (Blakemore, 2/8)

The New York Times: Half Of Us Face Obesity, Dire Projections Show
Climate change is not the only source of dire projections for the coming decade. Perhaps just as terrifying from both a health and an economic perspective is a predicted continued rise in obesity, including severe obesity, among American adults. A prestigious team of medical scientists has projected that by 2030, nearly one in two adults will be obese, and nearly one in four will be severely obese. (Brody, 2/10)

WBUR: Preparing For The End Of The World, On A Budget
A Harvard Ph.D. and former military intelligence officer with 30 years of experience, Miller would know a good defensible spot when he sees it. Miller is a self-described “prepper,” someone who makes active preparations to survive the fall of human civilization. The nationwide prepper community is often painted as composed of conspiracy-crazed eccentrics, he said, thanks in large part to television shows such as the National Geographic Channel’s Doomsday Preppers. (Boyce, 2/10)

The Washington Post: For Aging, Strength Training Is Vital In Avoiding Injuries And Staying Independent
When an intruder broke into the Rochester, N.Y., home of 82-year-old Willie Murphy a few months ago, he was met with a big surprise. Murphy, a diminutive but powerlifting woman, quickly jumped into action, using her strength to pummel the intruder with a broom and send him running for the door. Not surprisingly, the story went viral as people embraced the images of the elderly Murphy flexing her muscles for the cameras. (Loudin, 2/9)

Stat: The Vodka Trial: In Search Of A Treatment For Vocal Disorders, A Researcher Puts Patient Anecdotes To The Test
Pharmacists had prepared the therapy specifically for her, in little reddish bottles that reminded her of liquid penicillin. A research assistant gave her careful instructions. But Feeley already knew exactly what do to do. “What do you do with a shot of vodka? Basically, you pour it down your neck. So I drank it and then banged the bottle on the table,” Feeley said. Usually, she’s more of a wine or daiquiri sort of person, but she’d put aside her taste — and a few days of her time — to help answer a question that had been rattling around Simonyan’s mind. It had first appeared about 15 years ago, when Simonyan was doing neuroscience research in New York City, trying to understand exactly how the brain choreographs the intricate dance of muscle and air that gives rise to speech. (Boodman, 2/10)

CNN: Women Who Have General Anesthesia During C-Sections Are More Likely To Experience Postpartum Depression, Study Finds
Women who have general anesthesia during C-sections are significantly more likely to experience severe post-partum depression resulting in hospitalization, suicidal thoughts or self-harm, according to a study published last week. That might be because general anesthesia can delay breastfeeding and skin-to-skin interaction between the mother and infant, and often results in more acute and persistent pain after childbirth, researchers from Columbia University explained. “These situations are often coupled with a new mother’s dissatisfaction with anesthesia in general, and can lead to negative mental health outcomes,” said Jean Guglielminotti, lead author and an assistant professor of anesthesiology at Columbia, in a news release. (Kaur, 2/8)

Kaiser Health News: How Lifesaving Organs For Transplant Go Missing In Transit
When a human heart was left behind by mistake on a Southwest Airlines plane in 2018, transplant officials downplayed the incident. They emphasized that the organ was used for valves and tissues, not to save the life of a waiting patient, so the delay was inconsequential. “It got to us on time, so that was the most important thing,” said Doug Wilson, an executive vice president for LifeNet Health, which runs the Seattle-area operation that processed the tissue. (Aleccia, 2/10)

NPR: A Cough Cure For Kids? Try Honey
If you don’t have little kids, or it’s been a while, let me just break down for you why kids’ coughs can be a truly miserable problem that can drive you to madness. Imagine this: Your kid’s coughing — it’s almost always worse at night — then they start crying because they’re tired and can’t sleep with all the coughing. The coughing and crying means that not only do they not sleep, but you also don’t sleep — no one in the house sleeps — and this can go on for weeks. (Simmons-Duffin, 2/8)

Kaiser Health News: Finding Connections And Comfort At The Local Cafe
Doug and Connie Moore met at seminary. He was a student and pastor of an inner-city congregation, and she was a student and a public health nurse. “She’s the one who drew me to the needs of the poor,” Doug says. The pair wed in 1974, and Doug became a pastor at the First Evangelical Free Church of Los Angeles in 1983. They became deeply involved in their community and dedicated much of their free time to teaching English as a second language, creating tutoring programs and mentoring students in poor communities here and abroad. (De Marco, 2/10)

The Washington Post: How Anxiety And Midlife Crisis Are Playing Out Among Gen-X Women
Three years ago, Ada Calhoun couldn’t sleep. The 41-year-old writer stared at her ceiling wondering why her hard-won accomplishments had left her feeling exhausted, anxious and wanting. She had written two well-regarded books and a long list of magazine articles. She was married and her son had just been accepted to a great public middle school. From the outside, she knew, her life looked good. (Schaaff, 2/8)

USA Today: Mom Of HBO’s Bleed Out Filmmaker Steve Burrows Dies 11 Years After Hip Surgery, Brain Damage
The producer and director of an HBO documentary about his mother’s medical errors at a Milwaukee hospital went to Capitol Hill last week to show clips of the film. Three nights later, Steve Burrows’ mother, Judie, died at 79 after an 11-year struggle to survive. Friday, the Milwaukee medical examiner’s office said her death was due to complications of repeat hip surgeries. (O’Donnell, 2/8)