HEALTH AND SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS

June 21, 2017 (San Diego’s East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting-edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Johns Hopkins researchers say they’ve unlocked the key to cancer metastasis – and how to slow it (Baltimore Sun)
• Trump ‘simply does not care’ about HIV/AIDS, say 6 experts who just quit his advisory council (Washington Post)
• Cholera Ravages Yemen (NPR)
• In Italy, parents can now be fined for skipping kids’ shots (Newsweek)
• A Good News Story About Diarrhea — With One Surprising Exception (NPR)
• Need to Fix a Heart Attack? Try Photosynthesis (Smithsonian)
• Cardiologist: Breast implants skew heart attack test (BBC)
• Survivors of Childhood Diseases Struggle to Find Care as Adults (NPR)
• Eating fried potatoes linked to higher risk of death, study says (Fox 5)
• Coconut oil 'as unhealthy as beef fat and butter' (BBC)

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• Coffee under threat: will it taste worse as the planet warms? (BBC)
• A Republican voter database firm likely exposed your personal information for days –and you don’t have much recourse (Los Angeles Times)
• Is the Concern Artificial Intelligence — Or Autonomy? (NPR)
• Silicon Valley giants outrank many nations, says first 'techplomat' (Reuters)
• China's quantum satellite makes breakthrough in secure communications (Reuters)
• Dams could 'permanently damage Amazon' (BBC)
• Trump’s divided desert: wildlife along the border wall (BBC)

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

HEALTH

Johns Hopkins researchers say they’ve unlocked the key to cancer metastasis – and how to slow it (Baltimore Sun)

… Jayatilaka and a team at Johns Hopkins discovered the biochemical mechanism that tells cancer cells to break off from the primary tumor and spread throughout the body, a process called metastasis. Some 90 percent of cancer deaths are caused when cancer metastasizes. The team also found that two existing, FDA-approved drugs can slow metastasis significantly.

Trump ‘simply does not care’ about HIV/AIDS, say 6 experts who just quit his advisory council (Washington Post)

The first hints of an uncertain future for the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS came last year, when Donald Trump's presidential campaign refused to meet with advocates for people living with HIV, said Scott Schoettes, a member of the council since 2014. That unease was magnified on Inauguration Day in January, when an official White House website for the Office of National AIDS Policy vanished, Schoettes said.

Cholera Ravages Yemen (NPR)

More than 124,000 suspected cases have been reported over the past six weeks. And the health care system is collapsing.

In Italy, parents can now be fined for skipping kids’ shots (Newsweek)

Amid a measles epidemic spreading throughout Europe, the Italian government approved a measure to fine parents who don’t seek medical help on vaccinating their children. The measure even puts parents at risk of losing custody if they don’t vaccinate their kids.  Romania has reported more than 3,400 cases and 17 deaths since January 2016, with the majority of cases concentrated in areas where immunization coverage is especially low. Italy has seen a sharp rise in cases, with at least 400 already this year. Experts predict the outbreak will only get worse.

A Good News Story About Diarrhea — With One Surprising Exception (NPR)

A new report points to great progress in reducing deaths from diarrheal diseases. But as the low-income world sees progress, rates are inching up in wealthy countries, including the U.S.

Need to Fix a Heart Attack? Try Photosynthesis (Smithsonian)

Injecting plant-like creatures into a rat's heart can jumpstart the recovery process, study finds

Cardiologist: Breast implants skew heart attack test (BBC)

Breast implants make it trickier to run tests that can help spot a possible heart attack, a cardiologist says.

Survivors of Childhood Diseases Struggle to Find Care as Adults (NPR)

A population of patients who present new challenges to a health care system unaccustomed to dealing with survivors of once-fatal conditions. 

Eating fried potatoes linked to higher risk of death, study says (Fox 5)

People who eat fried potatoes two or more times a week double their risk of an early death compared to those who avoid them, a recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found…. 

Coconut oil 'as unhealthy as beef fat and butter' (BBC)

It is packed with saturated fat which can raise "bad" cholesterol and pose a heart risk, say US experts.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Coffee under threat: will it taste worse as the planet warms? (BBC)

Coffee drinkers could face poorer-tasting, higher-priced brews, as a warming climate causes the amount of land suitable for coffee production to shrink, say scientists from London’s Kew Gardens.

A Republican voter database firm likely exposed your personal information for days –and you don’t have much recourse (Los Angeles Times)

To any nefarious hackers looking for data that could be used to sway elections or steal Americans’ identities, the file compiled by a GOP digital firm called Deep Root Analytics offered all manner of possibilities. There in one place was detailed personal information about almost every voter in America.

Is the Concern Artificial Intelligence — Or Autonomy? (NPR)

The risk is not that machines will become autonomous and come to rule over us — the risk is, rather, that we will come to depend too much on machines. 

Silicon Valley giants outrank many nations, says first 'techplomat' (Reuters)

The top firms in California's Silicon Valley carry more weight on the global stage than many countries, which makes building diplomatic relations with them increasingly important, the world's first national technology ambassador said.

China's quantum satellite makes breakthrough in secure communications (Reuters)

 A Chinese quantum satellite has dispatched transmissions over a distance of 1,200 km (746 miles), a dozen times further than the previous record, a breakthrough in a technology that could be used to deliver secure messages, state media said on Friday.

Dams could 'permanently damage Amazon' (BBC)

Scientists warn that hydroelectric dams in the Amazon could have a significant impact on the environment.

Trump’s divided desert: wildlife along the border wall (BBC)

President Trump's promise to build a "great wall" along the US-Mexico border remains one of the central and most controversial promises of his presidency. But scientists from the University of Arizona are starting to unravel the effect that such a wall could have on a desert ecosystem it will cut through.