HEALTH AND SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS

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East County News Service

January 25, 2017 (San Diego’s East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting-edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

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

HEALTH

U.S. judge finds that Aetna misled public about its reasons for quitting Obamcare (Los Angeles Times)

Aetna claimed this summer that it was pulling out of all but four of the 15 states where it was providing Obamacare individual insurance because of a business decision — it was simply losing too much money on the Obamacare exchanges. Now a federal judge has ruled that that was a rank falsehood. In fact, says Judge John D. Bates, Aetna made its decision at least partially in response to a federal antitrust lawsuit blocking its proposed $37-billion merger with Humana. Aetna threatened federal officials with the pullout before the lawsuit was filed, and followed through on its threat once it was filed

1 in 4 U.S. men have cancer-linked genital infection (CBS)

The first national estimate suggests that nearly half of U.S. men have genital infections caused by a sexually transmitted virus and that 1 in 4 has strains linked with several cancers….high-risk HPV can cause cancer in the mouth and upper throat, cervical cancer in women and other cancers. Less harmful strains can cause genital warts.

Why Is Extensively Drug-Resistant TB On the Rise? (NPR)

Airborne transmission is the driving force behind a spike in extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) in South Africa, according to a report just published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Study: US abortions now at lowest rate since Roe v. Wade (CS Monitor)

A survey released Tuesday by the Guttmacher Institute found that the annual number of abortions in the United States has dropped to the lowest rate since 1974. 

Food as Medicine: It's Not Just a Fringe Idea Anymore (NPR)

Several times a month, you can find a doctor in the aisles of Ralph's market in Huntington Beach, Calif., wearing a white coat and helping people learn about food.

Sedentary lifestyle in older women 'ages body cells' (BBC)

Older woman who do not exercise daily have cells biologically older than their actual age, research suggests.

Antibody-making B cell's metabolic switch found(San Diego Union-Tribune)

A key regulator of important infection-fighting cells has been discovered, a team of San Diego scientists reported Monday. The knowledge could be of use in understanding diseases such as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, says the team from the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute.

Brazil sees sharp rise in yellow fever cases (BBC)

They said there had been 63 confirmed cases of the mosquito-borne illness so far this year, up from seven in the whole of 2016… wo million doses of yellow fever vaccine are sent to Minas Gerais state after a rise in cases.

New Medical Worry: Deadly Fungal Infection That Resists Treatment (NPR)

Candida auris first was identified in Japan in 2009 and now has been found in five continents.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

US libraries hit by ransomware attack (BBC)

Libraries across the city of St Louis are gradually regaining control of their computer systems, following a malware attack several days ago.  Criminals broke into the systems of 17 libraries, disabled them and demanded a ransom.  It meant people were unable to borrow books or use the computers.  

Qualcomm faces FTC lawsuit over patent licensing (San Diego Union-Tribune)

A U.S. regulator has sued Qualcomm over the way it licenses cellular patents to smartphone makers — joining South Korea and potentially other governments in seeking to upend the San Diego’s company’s patent royalty practices.

Ambulances to jam car radios in Sweden (BBC)

Ambulances in Stockholm are to test a system that stops radio in cars to tell drivers that an emergency vehicle is approaching.

MIT develops 3-D printing 'undo’ option (CS Monitor)

A new technique brings the ability to edit, among other things, to 3-D printing. 

Massive networks of fake accounts found on Twitter (BBC)

Massive collections of fake accounts are lying dormant on Twitter, suggests research. // The largest network ties together more than 350,000 accounts and further work suggests others may be even bigger. / UK researchers accidentally uncovered the lurking networks while probing Twitter to see how people use it. / Some of the accounts have been used to fake follower numbers, send spam and boost interest in trending topics.

Surprise! Endangered shark hatches fatherless babies (+video) (CS Monitor)

In a switch that could help save her species, Leonie, a zebra shark at Australia's Reef HQ Aquarium, has become the first shark observed shifting from sexual to asexual reproduction, hatching three eggs containing offspring that carry only her DNA.


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