Source: SANDAG

July 24, 2016 (San Diego) -- More than half (56 percent) of at-risk youth in the San Diego region reported marijuana was the first illicit substance they ever used, up from 34 percent in 2007, and they reported marijuana was even easier to obtain than tobacco, according to data compiled by the SANDAG Substance Abuse Monitoring (SAM) Program.

East County News Service

July 19, 2016 (La Mesa) – The lights are staying on for patients and medical staff at Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa thanks to a new Central Energy Plant (CEP), the Grossmont Healthcare District (GHD) reports. And, the hospital’s normal electric bill to San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) of about $180,000 per month is now zero.

Source:  FDA news release

July 16, 2016 (San Diego's East County) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration yesterday approved the first intraocular lens (IOL) that provides cataract patients with an extended depth-of-focus, which helps improve their sharpness of vision (visual acuity) at near, intermediate and far distances.

By Gig Conaughton, County of San Diego Communications Office

Source:  County News Service

July 12, 2016 (San Diego) - San Diego County’s vector control program has already collected more batches of West Nile virus-infected mosquitoes by the second week of July than it did in all of 2015.

Source: San Diego Blood Bank

July 7, 2016 (San Diego) - A San Carlos woman has not only saved hundreds of lives with her volunteer blood donations, but has found a way to make it fun in the process. 

July 1, 2016 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting-edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• 9 plants that bug bugs—including mosquitoes (USA Today)
• List of possible Zika birth defects grows longer  (Scientific American)
• Bright, Bluish-White LED Streetlamps Disrupt Sleep Cycles, AMA Says (NPR)
• Groundbreaking Skin Cancer Treatment Given Approval In Record Time [in the UK) (iflScience)
• Bad News For Kids Who Don't Like Flu Shots (NPR)
• Abortion demand 'soars' amid Zika fear (BBC)
• For Centuries, A Small Town Has Embraced Strangers With Mental Illness (NPR)

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• BMW's recycled electric car batteries to power homes (CS Monitor)
• Battle erupts over security of chip-enabled credit card readers (CS Monitor)
• Fake fingerprints: The latest tactic for protecting privacy (CS Monitor)
• India launches 20 satellites at one go; most to serve U.S. customers (Reuters)
• Did our planet once have more than two magnetic poles?  (CS Monitor)
• Facebook's political influence under a microscope (Reuters)
• ACLU files lawsuit over U.S. anti-hacking law (Reuters)

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

June 23, 2016 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting-edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH & SCIENCE

• Antibiotic-resistant bacteria give urgent warning (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Would it be wrong to eradicate mosquitoes? (BBC)
• Stent 'may help bowel cancer treatment'
• Jimmy Carter may soon get his 90th birthday wish: no more Guinea worm (NPR)
• News In Numbers: AIDS Remains A Stubborn Foe In San Diego County (KPBS)
• Scientists turn CO2 to stone in just two years: a solution for climate change? (+video) (CS Monitor)
• Bionic leaf converts energy from our sun better than nature does (CS Monitor)
• King Tut: a ruler swathed in mystery also wielded a cosmic dagger (CS Monitor)
• Researchers find 39 unreported sources of major pollution: NASA (Reuters)
•  Tortoise injured in a forest fire gets a 3D-printed shell (CS Monitor)
• VIDEO: Can baking soda save the world? (BBC)
• This Futuristic "Straddling Bus” Can Drive Itself Over Cars (IFL Science)
• Can asteroids be turned into self-driving spaceships? (CS Monitor)
• Feds: Drought Kills 66M Trees In Sierra Nevada (KPBS)
• Warmer winters play important role in EU emissions drop (BBC)
• Diesels more polluting below 18C, research suggests (BBC)
• New crop varieties 'can't keep up with global warming' (BBC)
• Dead Sea drying (BBC
  
   

For excerpts and full stories, click "read more" and scroll down.

Law enforcement urged to exercise extreme caution handling fentanyl. Sold as heroin, it’s 40-50 times stronger than heroin. A small amount can be lethal if absorbed through skin or ingested

East County News Service

June 12, 2016 (San Diego's East County) - The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has released a Roll Call video to all law enforcement nationwide about the dangers of improperly handling fentanyl and its deadly consequences.  Acting Deputy Administrator Jack Riley and two local police detectives from New Jersey appear on the video to urge any law enforcement personnel who come in contact with fentanyl or fentanyl compounds to take the drugs directly to a lab. 

By Leon Thompson

Photo: Fatty acids in the blood of a person with high cholesterol and high triglycerides.

June 11, 2016 (East County) – High cholesterol plagues millions of Americans.  Too much of the wrong cholesterol can predispose a narrowing and hardening of arteries leading to stroke or coronary artery disease (CAD).  CAD is the number one killer of men in America and the second most deadly disease among women, second only to breast cancer.

East County News Service

June 9, 2016 (East County) – The charitable foundation formed 11 years ago by the San Diego County Medical Society has changed and shortened its name. Formerly called the San Diego County Medical Society Foundation, the foundation’s new name is Champions for Health, announced Barbara Mandel, Champions for Health CEO.

June 4, 2016 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting-edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Stroke patients improve after getting stem cells (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• The superbug that doctors have been dreading just reached the U.S. (Washington Post)
• Autism Can Be An Asset In The Workplace, Employers And Workers Find (NPR)
• Cutaneous leishmaniasis: Disfiguring tropical disease sweeps across Middle East (Independent)
• In Search For Cures, Scientists Create Embryos That Are Both Animal And Human (NPR)
• CDC monitoring nearly 300 pregnant women with Zika in U.S. states, territories (Wash. Post)
• Plain cigarette packaging has arrived, but will it reduce smoking? (Guardian)
• Study links cell phone use to cancer in rats (The Hill)

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• Facebook's Facial Recognition Software Is Different From The FBI's. Here's Why (NPR)
• Netflix, Amazon face EU quota on European works (Reuters)
• Human flypaper? Google's answer to collisions between pedestrians and cars (CS Monitor)
• Could Europa's ocean be a hotspot for life? Here's why. (CS Monitor)

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

Videos were reportedly seen by a male security guard and an attorney

East County News Service

May 30, 2016 (La Mesa) — A class action lawsuit has been filed against Sharp Healthcare alleging that videos taken during surgeries at Sharp Grossmont Surgery violated women’s privacy, including women filmed during childbirth as part of the hospital’s effort to catch a doctor suspected of stealing anesthesia drugs,  Courthouse News reports.

East County News Service

May 26, 2016 (La Mesa) - The Grossmont Healthcare District’s Dr. William C. Herrick Community Health Care Library, 9001 Wakarusa St. in La Mesa, will host “Fire, Burn and Fall Prevention,” a free presentation from 10 to 11 a.m. on Wednesday, June 22. The program is part of the library’s Wellness Wednesday series, normally held on the fourth Wednesday of the month. Admission is free. Refreshments will be served. Advance RSVP is not necessary. Speaking will be Mary Vilgera, community outreach specialist, Burn Institute.

East County News Service

May 24, 2016 (Sacramento) -- Voting to remove a barrier to consistent, effective access to birth control, the state Senate today approved Senate Bill 999, which would require health plans to cover up to a 12-month supply of hormonal contraceptives when such a prescription is requested by a woman’s health care provider.

East County News Service

Photo:  The Grossmont Healthcare District board of directors recently presented 2016 GHD Healthcare Hero awards to recognize volunteers who help to advance the delivery of quality healthcare in the East County region. Back row (from left to right): GHD board members Betty Stieringer, Bob Ayres, Randy Lenac. Middle row (from left to right): GHD board member Gloria Chadwick, Dr. Kevin Ryan, GHD board member Michael Emerson. Front row (from left to right): Sam Mejia, James Byrnes, Dr. Scott Musicant, Michael Colombo and Shiloh.

May 23, 2016 (La Mesa) - A vascular surgeon, a chiropractor, an attorney, a beagle and her master, and a pirate who fights for those suffering from childhood cancer are among local volunteers who have been recognized with a 2016 Healthcare Hero award from the Grossmont Healthcare District (GHD). Now in its tenth year, the Healthcare Heroes is GHD’s annual awards program that honors volunteers who help advance the delivery of quality healthcare in the East County region.