HEALTH AND SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS

August 16, 2017 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Trump declares opioid pain drugs national emergency (BBC)
• End of U.S. payments to health insurers would cause premiums to rise: CBO (Reuters)
• Vitamin B-3 may prevent miscarriages and birth defects, study says (BBC)
• Marijuana use holds three-fold blood pressure death risk (Reuters)
• San Diego Scientists Tweak Gene Editing Tool to Target RNA (KPBS)
• UCSD: Desert plant could treat giardia and ‘brain-eating’ amoeba infections (Times of San Diego)
• Surgery waiting numbers highest in decade, says NHS England (BBC)
• 'Fat but fit' still risk heart disease (BBC)

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

•  Scripps Research Institute ranked first worldwide in science (SD Union-Tribune)
• U.S. court rejects Obama-era plan to eliminate some potent planet warming chemicals Science)
• Forget Tough Passwords: New Guidelines Make It Simple (NPR)
• First ‘winged’ mammals flew over dinosaurs (BBC)
• Antarctica home to considerably more volcanoes than previously thought (Verge)
• Who owns the seeds bought by farmers and gardeners? (Marketplace)
• U.S. firm reveals gun-toting drone that can aim and fire in mid-air (BBC)
• Chinese quantum satellite sends 'unbreakable' code (Reuters)

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

HEALTH

Trump declares opioid pain drugs national emergency (BBC)

The number of deaths from the drugs - prescribed to a third of Americans in 2015 - has quadrupled in 20 years. Declaring a national emergency means the issue can get prioritised funding and resources from Washington…. The declaration came in response to a reporter's question, and was not announced through an official White House press release or statement.

End of U.S. payments to health insurers would cause premiums to rise: CBO (Reuters)

Health insurance premiums for many customers on the Obamacare individual insurance markets would be 20 percent higher in 2018 if U.S. President Donald Trump follows through on a threat to stop billions of dollars of payments to health insurers, a nonpartisan congressional office said on Tuesday.

Vitamin B-3 may prevent miscarriages and birth defects, study says (BBC)

Taking Vitamin B3 could prevent miscarriages and birth defects, a study on mice suggests. Researchers from the Victor Chang Institute in Sydney called it "a double breakthrough", as they found both a cause and a preventative solution. With 7.9 million babies born each year with a birth defect worldwide, the team hopes the benefits are wide-reaching.

Marijuana use holds three-fold blood pressure death risk (Reuters)

People who smoke marijuana have a three times greater risk of dying from hypertension, or high blood pressure, than those who have never used the drug, scientists said on Wednesday. The risk grows with every year of use, they said.

San Diego Scientists Tweak Gene Editing Tool to Target RNA (KPBS)

…In a new study published Thursday in the journal Cell, the researchers report using their technique to prevent the kinds of RNA errors involved in diseases like Huntington's and certain forms of ALS.

UCSD: Desert plant could treat giardia and ‘brain-eating’ amoeba infections (Times of San Diego)

A plant commonly found in the southwestern U.S. desert produces compounds that could be effective in treating an often-deadly diarrheal illness and an amoeba that causes a usually fatal form of encephalitis, according to researchers at UC San Diego.  In a study published in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, the scientists in the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences said the compounds produced by the creosote bush exhibited potent anti- parasitic activity. Researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus assisted in the study.

Surgery waiting numbers highest in decade, says NHS England (BBC)

More than four million people are waiting for surgery in England.

'Fat but fit' still risk heart disease (BBC)

Even if medical tests don't show up any problems, being overweight is bad for the heart, experts say.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

The Scripps Research Institute ranked first worldwide in science (San Diego Union-Tribune)

The Scripps Research Institute ranks first worldwide in the quality and impact of its science, besting world-renowned research centers such as MIT, the National Institutes of Health and Stanford University, according to a report by the top-tier scientific journal Nature

U.S. court rejects Obama-era plan to eliminate some potent planet warming chemicals Science)

The regulation struck down by the court targeted heat trapping chemicals used in commercial refrigerators, aerosol cans and other products.

Forget Tough Passwords: New Guidelines Make It Simple (NPR)

We've been told to create passwords that are complicated, to change them regularly and to use different ones for each app or site. But the latest advice is to keep them simple, long and memorable.

First ‘winged’ mammals flew over dinosaurs (BBC)

Fossils of the first "winged" mammals, from 160 million years ago, have been discovered in China.

Antarctica is home to considerably more volcanoes than previously thought (Verge)

A new study found 91 previously undiscovered volcanoes hidden under the ice, some over 12,600 feet tall.

Who owns the seeds bought by farmers and gardeners? (Marketplace)

Now, most of the seeds available for farmers are owned by just a handful of companies — and a couple of proposed mergers might reduce that number even more. One group of plant breeders is trying to change that by giving open access to the seeds they breed.

U.S. firm reveals gun-toting drone that can aim and fire in mid-air (BBC)

The Tikad drone, developed by Duke Robotics, is armed with a machine-gun and a grenade launcher. The gun can be fired only by remote control, and is designed to reduce military casualties by cutting the number of ground troops required. But campaigners warn that in the wrong hands, it will make it easier to kill innocent people.

Chinese quantum satellite sends 'unbreakable' code (Reuters)

 China has sent an "unbreakable" code from a satellite to the Earth, marking the first time space-to-ground quantum key distribution technology has been realized, state media said on Thursday.