HEALTH AND SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS

September 5, 2019 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH 

• Vitamin E chemical is 'key focus' in vaping illness investigation, health officials say (CNN)
• Vegetarians, Vegans Have Higher Stroke Risk: Study  (Time)
• Surgeon General: Marijuana Use During Adolescence And Pregnancy Is Risky (NPR) 
• Cigna rolls out new plan to fully cover multi-million dollar gene therapies  (Reuters)

SCIENCE AND TECH

• Idaho artifacts show humans came to North America via a water route, not land (CNN) 
• Facebook, Microsoft launch contest to detect deepfake videos (Reuters)

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

HEALTH 

Vitamin E chemical is 'key focus' in vaping illness investigation, health officials say (CNN)

An investigation into the link between vaping and severe lung illnesses has yielded the discovery of extremely high levels of the chemical vitamin E acetate in nearly all cannabis-containing vaping products that were analyzed, New York health officials said Thursday.

Vegetarians, Vegans Have Higher Stroke Risk: Study  (Time)

Vegetarians and vegans are likely to be concerned by the results of a new study with a surprising finding: those following meat-free diets, which are typically associated with better cardiovascular health, may actually have a higher risk of stroke than those who eat meat. But it’s too soon to run out and order a steak. The paper, published in the BMJ, found only a small increase in the risk of stroke, while confirming findings in other studies that vegetarians and vegans may have a lower risk of heart disease than meat-eaters.

Surgeon General: Marijuana Use During Adolescence And Pregnancy Is Risky (NPR)

At a time when more than 30 states and the District of Columbia have legalized the use of marijuana for either medical or recreational use, the U.S. surgeon general says no amount of the drug is safe for teens, young adults and pregnant women….Surveys show that an increasing number of adolescents and pregnant women use the drug, which can be eaten, smoked or vaped. … The THC concentration in marijuana plants has increased threefold between 1995 and 2014, according to the report, and concentrated products can contain up to 75% THC. 

Cigna rolls out new plan to fully cover multi-million dollar gene therapies  (Reuters)

Health insurer Cigna Corp said on Thursday it had introduced a plan to fully cover costs for expensive gene therapies, eliminating any out-of-pocket payments for customers.

SCIENCE AND TECH

Idaho artifacts show humans came to North America via a water route, not land (CNN)

Finding an ancient spearhead is already kind of amazing. But what if that arrowhead is more than 16,000 years old and the oldest record of human presence in North America? That's what happened to a team of archaeological researchers at the Cooper's Ferry archeological site in Idaho. 

Facebook, Microsoft launch contest to detect deepfake videos (Reuters)

Facebook Inc is teaming up with Microsoft Corp, the Partnership on AI coalition and academics from several universities to launch a contest to better detect deepfakes, the company said in a blog post https://ai.facebook.com/blog/deepfake-detection-challenge on Thursday.