Author: healthadmin
You’re reading the web version of DC Diagnosis, STAT’s twice-weekly newsletter about health and medical politics and policy. Sign up here to get it in your inbox on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Sarah Todd’s MAHA Snackdown article includes merchandising gems such as ‘FiberMax’ chips, ‘Protein Fortified’ yogurt and ‘Longevity’ drinks. My generation’s biggest contribution to food marketing was light beer. Send news tips and brand management schemes to: (email protected) Or Signal’s John_Wilkerson.07. lose balance The Trump administration failed to get insurance companies to provide affordable obesity drugs to seniors through Medicare’s BALANCE pilot program. So Medicare plans to make drugs…
Almost two-thirds of Americans use artificial intelligence-based tools to seek medical information, but about one-third don’t trust them. That’s according to a new online survey of 2,057 American adults conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of Merck Manual. It found that more than three in five Americans (62%) have used AI tools for medical information, such as medical chatbots such as ChatGPT, Google Assistant, Siri, and Google Gemini. However, according to the survey, 90% of respondents said they are taking steps to verify the validity of information provided by AI. Meanwhile, 32% said they do not trust medical information from…
Recent research published in journals alcohol provides evidence that even low levels of alcohol consumption can negatively impact a person’s lifelong brain health. The findings suggest that the total amount of alcohol consumed over a lifetime, especially as we age, tends to be associated with reduced blood flow and thinning of tissue in certain areas of the brain. These structural and functional brain differences indicate that the concept of low-risk drinking guidelines may need to be reevaluated. For many years, public health guidelines have suggested that the health risks of consuming small amounts of alcohol are minimal. Now, more recent…
Researchers from McGill University and the Douglas Institute have discovered that two different types of brain cells have different functions in patients with depression. The survey results are natural geneticsprovides important clues that could lead to new treatments designed to target these specific cells. You will also gain a clearer understanding of depression, which affects more than 264 million people worldwide and is a leading cause of disability. “This is the first time that by mapping the mechanisms that regulate gene activity and the DNA code, we have been able to identify which specific brain cell types are affected by…
Explore 2026 pharma trends in drug discovery, biopharma manufacturing, clinical pipelines, and FDA approvals to overcome bottlenecks and drive success for pharmacologists, executives, and regulatory professionals.
For more than 25 years, researchers at Northwestern Medicine have been studying people over 80, known as “superagers,” to understand how some people maintain extraordinary mental sharpness late in life. These people consistently perform on memory tests at levels similar to those at least 30 years younger, challenging the long-held belief that age-related cognitive decline is inevitable. Through decades of research, scientists have noticed several lifestyle and personality traits that distinguish superagers from other people, including being highly outgoing and sociable. Still, the most surprising discoveries came from examining their brains. “What we found in their brains was very shocking…
Get the health information and medications you need every weekday with STAT’s free newsletter Morning Rounds. Sign up here. Good morning, it’s Thursday. Thank you for reading. Who can benefit from discounts on telehealth visits? Pharmaceutical companies have long used coupons to lower the out-of-pocket costs patients pay for expensive drugs. And now, as the connections between pharmaceutical companies and telemedicine providers expand, coupons are also reducing the cost of consultations with clinicians who can prescribe products. But experts warn that discounts on telemedicine appointments, whether obtained directly from drug companies or from your favorite chatty podcast, can set patients…
In a replication of a famous psychology experiment, researchers found that people were just as likely to follow harmful orders from a female authority figure as they were from a male authority figure. This study suggests that the power of professional status can subvert common stereotypes about leadership. The results of this study were recently published in the journal Social Psychology. The first obedience experiments were conducted in the early 1960s. Participants believed they were administering increasingly powerful electric shocks to an invisible person who had failed a memory test. Even when the subject screamed in pain, the scientist in…
Republican lawmakers are trying to keep big oil companies from paying for contributing to the climate crisis, alarming environmentalists.New bills in the House and Senate, led by Wyoming Representative Harriet Hageman and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, respectively, would give oil and gas companies broad legal immunity from policies and lawsuits aimed at holding the industry accountable for emissions losses.The proposal, called the Stop Climate Change Act of 2026, would protect the sector from legal liability. The law is similar to a 2005 law that largely blocked lawsuits against the firearms industry over gun violence.The Republican proposal aims to halt the…
OpenAI on Wednesday announced ChatGPT for Clinicians, a version of ChatGPT designed to support clinical tasks such as documentation and medical research. The AI company has announced it will make the AI tool available for free to any certified physician, nurse, physician assistant, or pharmacist, starting in the U.S., and OpenAI says it plans to expand access to more countries and groups over time. According to the company, ChatGPT usage by clinicians has more than doubled in the past year. The American Medical Association reports that the use of artificial intelligence by physicians has more than doubled since 2023, with…