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good morning. A conference to review the U.S. measles elimination status has been postponed until after the midterm elections. For more news, including exclusive information from Katie Palmer and reports from across the pond, read below.
STAT Madness Begins
It’s that time of year again for our annual Bracket Style contest, where readers vote on the most important and impactful biomedical and health research published over the past year.
The tournament attracts 64 entries from 50 universities, research institutions, and independent labs across the United States. This year’s contestants include a number of teams focused on cancer, gene editing, and artificial intelligence. But other trends quickly disappeared. Only a handful of teams focused on infectious diseases, reflecting shifts in research and funding priorities under the Trump administration.
Vote now, vote later. After six rounds of competition, the winner will be announced on April 7th.
Generative AI chatbot for surgical patients receives breakthrough certification
In November, the FDA quietly granted one of its breakthrough designations to a chatbot for patients recovering from joint replacement surgery. As RecovryAI, the company behind the LLM-powered device, comes out of stealth today, STAT’s Katie Palmer has exclusive details.
If ultimately approved by the FDA, the device would be prescribed for use on patients for 30 days after surgery. This will encourage you to check in on your sleep, activity, diet, and other recovery factors twice a day. How the agency will regulate generated AI is one of the big questions facing technology developers, meaning the agency’s decision here could influence the next moves of other companies working on AI tools and shape safety and effectiveness standards in a rapidly evolving field. Read more from Katie.
MAHA goes to Europe
The formation of a group called MEHA (Make Europe Healthy Again) may seem counterintuitive at first. Here in the United States, MAHA leaders often cite European policies as a model, where communities tend to have longer life expectancies, fewer health disparities, and cheaper medicines.
But like its American counterpart, the new group says it aims to prevent chronic disease, protect the environment, promote scientific transparency and help Europeans “regain[their]health and sovereignty.” It has also brought together anti-vaccine activists, right-wing politicians and health freedom activists who warn that the continent’s regulators are obsessed with “corrupt science” and that the public health system resembles “tyranny”.
Read more from STAT contributor Gabriela Galvin about how MAHA established itself in Europe and its potential to accumulate political power.
Teenagers’ sleep habits are getting worse
The percentage of high school students reporting sleep deprivation rose from nearly 69% in 2007 to 77% in 2023, according to a study analyzing federal survey data published yesterday in JAMA. Insufficient sleep was defined as seven hours or less each night, but this change was specifically driven by an increase in “very short sleep”, i.e. five hours or less. In 2007, just under 16% of students took 5 hours or less of classes, which rose to 23% in 2023.
Sleep deprivation became more common across demographics, but the increase was greater among black students than among white students, and the increase was also greater among students who reported depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts. Students at behavioral health risk (meaning those with high electronic media use, substance use, or sedentary behavior) consistently had higher rates of sleep deprivation, but the overall group increase rates were similar. This suggested to the study authors that structural and environmental factors played a larger role in trends than specific behaviors.
Ethical dilemmas of human embryo models
For decades, research into using stem cells to create human embryo models has stalled, and the resulting models have been clunky. However, research is currently progressing rapidly. “I have to admit that I’m quite surprised by how much these models resemble real human fetuses,” biologist and STAT contributor Paul Knopfler wrote in a recent column.
The highly realistic model comes with new ethical considerations. How many days of growth is ethical? What should we call these models? And perhaps most importantly, what’s the difference between a model and the real thing? Read more about what Knopfler had to say about the key questions researchers, and perhaps society as a whole, need to consider as they continue their research.
what we are reading
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Ivermectin is making a comeback among cancer patients after pandemic, says NPR
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States move to restrict access to HIV treatment, New York Times
- CMS suspends enrollment in Elevance Medicare Advantage plans due to years of fraud, STAT
- Idaho considers ‘terminal’ options for people with disabilities and their families, 19th episode
- The Cost of Uninsured, The Atlantic
