HEALTH AND SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS

November 26, 2019 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• ‘There’s something terribly wrong’: Americans are dying young at alarming rates (Washington Post)
• Study: Almost half of new cancer patients lose their entire life savings (Insider)
• Google to Store and Analyze Millions of Health Records (New York Times)
• Stents no better than drugs for many heart patients: U.S. study (Reuters) 
• Dozens of infant deaths have been tied to a popular baby product. But regulators are too paralyzed to act (Washington Post)
• Supreme Court rejects 'Pharma Bro' Martin Shkreli's final appeal (USA Today)
• Trump Has a Terrifying New Plan to Poison the Air, Water, Humans (Vanity Fair)
• Samoa Measles Outbreak: Government Closes Schools, Requires Vaccinations (NPR)

SCIENCE AND TECH

• More Monarch Butterflies Than Usual Appear to Be Migrating This Fall (Better Homes & Gardens)
• Police can keep Ring camera video forever, and share with whomever they'd like, company tells senator (Stars and Stripes)
• Jeff Bezos in San Diego: To Save Planet, ‘Move All Heavy Industry into Space’ (Times of San Diego)
• How climate change could kill the red apple (BBC)

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

HEALTH

‘There’s something terribly wrong’: Americans are dying young at alarming rates (Washington Post)

Death rates from suicide, drug overdoses, liver disease and dozens of other causes have been rising over the past decade for young and middle-aged adults, driving down overall life expectancy in the United States for three consecutive years, according to a strikingly bleak study published Tuesday that looked at the past six decades of mortality data. The report, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, was immediately hailed by outside researchers for its comprehensive treatment of a still-enigmatic trend: the reversal of historical patterns in longevity.

Study: Almost half of new cancer patients lose their entire life savings (Insider)

According to a new study published in the American Journal of Medicine, 42% of new cancer patients lose their entire life savings in two years because of treatment. The same study found that 62% of cancer patients are in debt because of their treatment. 

Google to Store and Analyze Millions of Health Records (New York Times)

The tech company’s deal with Ascension is part of a push to use artificial intelligence to aid health services… It is legal for health systems to share patients’ medical information with business partners like electronic medical record companies. Even so, many patients may not trust Google, which has paid multiple fines for violating privacy laws, with their personal medical details.

Stents no better than drugs for many heart patients: U.S. study (Reuters) 

 Many patients with severe but stable heart disease who routinely undergo invasive procedures to clear and prop open clogged arteries would do as well by just taking medications and making lifestyle changes, U.S. researchers reported on Saturday. 

Dozens of infant deaths have been tied to a popular baby product. But regulators are too paralyzed to act (Washington Post)

While industry officials contend crib bumpers are supposed to protect babies, they are linked to dozens of infant deaths, and the American Academy of Pediatrics warns parents not to use them.

Supreme Court rejects 'Pharma Bro' Martin Shkreli's final appeal (USA Today)

"Pharma Bro" Martin Shkreli has lost his legal bid to have the U.S. Supreme Court review his 2017 federal convictions on securities fraud charges… The decision ends the appeal process for the businessman notorious for driving a 5000% price hike on a drug used to treat an illness that attacks those with the HIV virus and others with weakened immune systems.  Shkreli, 36, is currently serving a seven-year sentence …

Trump Has a Terrifying New Plan to Poison the Air, Water, Humans (Vanity Fair)

The EPA has drafted a proposal that would all but make it impossible to enact public health regulations.

Samoa Measles Outbreak: Government Closes Schools, Requires Vaccinations (NPR)

The Samoan government closed schools indefinitely Monday as it attempts to quell a measles epidemic that has killed at least six people and hospitalized dozens more. Health officials said the Pacific island nation's low immunization rate is the cause of the outbreak. A state of emergency was declared Friday by acting Prime Minister and Minister of Health Faimalotoa Kika Stowers-Ah Kau. The proclamation legally mandates that all Samoan citizens receive an MMR vaccination and bans minors from public gatherings.

SCIENCE AND TECH

More Monarch Butterflies Than Usual Appear to Be Migrating This Fall (Better Homes & Gardens)

Populations of these iconic insects have been on the decline, but the size of this October's migration is raising hopes for their survival. 

View video on Monarch Butterflies returning to Mexico: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=14&v=s0t6mws2vgY&feature=emb_logo

Police can keep Ring camera video forever, and share with whomever they'd like, company tells senator (Stars and Stripes)

Police officers who download videos from homeowners' Ring doorbell cameras can keep them forever and share them with whomever they'd like without providing evidence of a crime, the Amazon-owned firm told a lawmaker earlier this month.

Jeff Bezos in San Diego: To Save Planet, ‘Move All Heavy Industry into Space’ (Times of San Diego)

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos told a Balboa Park audience Saturday that “it’s time to go back to the moon. It’s time to stay.” Cheers erupted among 600 smartly dressed diners. The world’s richest person was one of eight inductees into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame — honored for his space company Blue Origin, which this summer detailed plans for a lunar lander called Blue Moon.

How climate change could kill the red apple (BBC)

Humans have favoured red apples for generations, but rising temperatures could spell the end of a rosy red treat.