Today: October 06, 2024
Today: October 06, 2024

Latest From The Los Angeles Post

Health

Processing and grieving an ongoing loss – such as a child with a devastating injury or disability – does not fit neatly into traditional models of grief

Loss without a clear resolution can be particularly painful. laflor/iStock via Getty Images Plus Traditional loss is typically considered a five-stage process, linear and time-bound, where a person moves from denial to acceptance. Generally, traditional loss is linked to death – such as the death of a loved one, or a miscarriage. It is permanent, often abrupt, occurring when someone or something once present is suddenly absent. But loss is complex. Other kinds of loss do not follow the one-size-fits-all archetype, and many experts now criticize the five stages of grief model. As a nursing professor who researches the impact

Processing and grieving an ongoing loss – such as a child with a devastating injury or disability – does not fit neatly into traditional models of grief
Health

Migrants often can't access US health care until they are critically ill – here are some of the barriers they face

‘We heal alone,’ a migrant to the U.S. told a researcher. Jasmin Merdan/Moment via Getty Images “Can you tell me about cancer care for the undocumented?” I asked Henry during an interview. He was a doctor who volunteered his time at a community-based clinic designed exclusively for low-income undocumented migrants. I use pseudonyms throughout this story to protect migrants’ identities. “It’s bad,” Henry said. “Cancer care for the undocumented is not there. It’s just not there for the most part. They’re dying of cancer. Period.” “So where do they go?” I asked. “They don’t,” he responded solemnly. “They either go

Migrants often can't access US health care until they are critically ill – here are some of the barriers they face
Health

3M reaches $10.3 billion settlement over contamination of water systems with 'forever chemicals'

Chemical manufacturer 3M Co. will pay at least $10.3 billion to settle lawsuits over contamination of many U.S. public drinking water systems with potentially harmful compounds used in firefighting foam and a host of consumer products, the company said Thursday. The deal would compensate water providers for pollution with per- and polyfluorinated substances, known collectively as PFAS — a broad class of chemicals used in nonstick, water- and grease-resistant products such as clothing and cookware. Described as “forever chemicals” because they don’t degrade naturally in the environment, PFAS have been linked to a variety of

3M reaches $10.3 billion settlement over contamination of water systems with 'forever chemicals'
Health

In 'Every Body,' a galvanizing moment — and celebration — for the intersex community

Like some 260,000 Americans, Sean Saifa Wall was born with significant intersex traits. The sex on the birth certificate was checked “ambiguous” and then crossed out. Wall was instead labeled female on the document and, at the age of 13, after his mother was inaccurately warned of a cancerous threat, his testes were removed. Doctors told his parents to raise him as a girl, though Wall later developed masculine features and now identifies as a man. “They literally stopped my development — I was starting to develop as male. And they stopped it right there and

In 'Every Body,' a galvanizing moment — and celebration — for the intersex community
Health

First gene therapy for deadly form of muscular dystrophy gets FDA approval for young kids

The first gene therapy for a deadly form of muscular dystrophy received preliminary U.S. approval on Thursday despite concerns from some government scientists about the treatment’s ability to help boys with the inherited disease. The Food and Drug Administration approval provides a new option for some patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a rare muscle-wasting disease that causes weakness, loss of mobility and early death. It almost always affects males. The FDA granted approval for children ages 4 and 5, based on study results showing the therapy helped produce a protein needed for muscle growth, which is missing

First gene therapy for deadly form of muscular dystrophy gets FDA approval for young kids
Health

Transgender sports ban heads to North Carolina governor's desk

Transgender girls in North Carolina would no longer be allowed to play on the school sports teams that align with their gender identity under a proposal that received final legislative approval on Thursday. The GOP-controlled state House voted 62-43 to send the bill to the desk of Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who has little power to block it now that Republicans hold veto-proof majorities in both chambers of the General Assembly. House Republicans were joined by one Democrat — Rep. Michael Wray of Northampton County — in voting for the measure. Initial votes in the House

Transgender sports ban heads to North Carolina governor's desk
Health

Judge to weigh suspending Wyoming's first-in-the-nation ban on abortion pills

Wyoming’s first-in-the-nation ban on abortion pills will come before a state judge Thursday as the court considers whether the prohibition should take effect as planned July 1 or be put on hold pending the outcome of a lawsuit. While other states have instituted de facto bans on the medication by broadly prohibiting abortion, Wyoming in March became the first U.S. state to specifically ban abortion pills. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in April that access to one of the two pills, mifepristone, may continue while litigants seeking to overturn the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of

Judge to weigh suspending Wyoming's first-in-the-nation ban on abortion pills
Health

Federal judge strikes down Florida's ban on Medicaid funding for transgender treatment

A federal judge on Wednesday struck down Florida rules championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis restricting Medicaid coverage for gender dysphoria treatments for potentially thousands of transgender people. “Gender identity is real” and the state has admitted it, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle wrote in a 54-page ruling. He said a Florida health code rule and a new state law violated federal laws on Medicaid, equal protection and the Affordable Care Act’s prohibition of sex discrimination. They are “invalid to the extent they categorically ban Medicaid payment for puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for the treatment of

Federal judge strikes down Florida's ban on Medicaid funding for transgender treatment
Health

Navajo Nation declares widespread Medicaid scam in Arizona a public health state of emergency

A widespread Arizona Medicaid scam that has left an unknown number of Native Americans homeless on the streets of metro Phoenix is being declared a public health state of emergency by the Navajo Nation as fraudulent sober living homes lose their funding and turn former residents out onto the streets. The emergency declaration was issued late last week by the Navajo Nation Commission on Emergency Management and signed this week by Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren, according to documents posted on the Facebook page of the tribe’s Operation Rainbow Bridge, which was created to deal with the

Navajo Nation declares widespread Medicaid scam in Arizona a public health state of emergency
Health

Tennessee attorney general says seeking clinic's transgender patient records part of fraud probe

Tennessee’s top legal chief said Wednesday that Vanderbilt University Medical Center turning over medical records for transgender patients is part of a “run-of-the-mill fraud investigation” and argued that his office purposefully kept the probe private to avoid a “media circus.” “We understand patients are concerned that VUMC produced their records to this office, especially when those patients received abrupt notice without any context,” Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti’s office said in a statement. “To reiterate, this investigation is directed solely at VUMC and related providers and not at patients or their families.” News of the investigation broke

Tennessee attorney general says seeking clinic's transgender patient records part of fraud probe
Health

Meat grown from animal cells? Here's what it is and how it's made

The U.S. government is allowing the sale of chicken made from animal cells. California companies Upside Foods and Good Meat were granted permission on Wednesday to sell their products by the Agriculture Department. Livestock doesn’t need to be raised and killed to produce this new type of meat, which proponents say is better for the animals and for the environment because land does not need to be cleared for grazing or growing feed. Currently, the U.S. uses over 1 billion acres of land for agriculture, or just over half of total land — the majority of which is used for

Meat grown from animal cells? Here's what it is and how it's made
Health

One year after the fall of Roe v. Wade, abortion care has become a patchwork of confusing state laws that deepen existing inequalities

The range of reproductive health care available to women depends significantly on the state they live in. fizkes/iStock via Getty Images Plus In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson ruling struck down the constitutional right to abortion, society has been seeing the results of a post-Roe world. While there is no law in the U.S. that regulates what a man can do with his body, the reproductive health of women is now more regulated than it has been in 50 years. And the scope of reproductive health care that women can receive is highly dependent on

One year after the fall of Roe v. Wade, abortion care has become a patchwork of confusing state laws that deepen existing inequalities
Health

Aaron Rodgers is set to speak at a psychedelics conference

Months after Colorado’s voters decided to join Oregon in decriminalizing psychedelic mushrooms, Denver will host a conference this week put on by a psychedelic advocacy group bringing together an unlikely cohort of speakers — including an NFL star, a former Republican governor and a rapper. The conference and the thousands expected to attend it is an indication of the creep, or perhaps leap, of cultural acceptance for psychedelic substances that proponents say may offer benefits for things like post-traumatic stress disorder and alcoholism. Still, medical experts caution that more research is needed on the drugs’ efficacy and

Aaron Rodgers is set to speak at a psychedelics conference
Health

Hospital turns over transgender patient records to Tennessee attorney general in investigation

Vanderbilt University Medical Center has turned over medical records for transgender patients to the Tennessee attorney general’s team in what his office confirmed is an investigation into potential medical billing fraud. A Vanderbilt University Medical Center spokesperson confirmed to The Tennessean on Tuesday that the hospital provided the records to Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti’s office. In a state that has moved to ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth, the revelation that their records were handed over to the state spurred fear for some families — despite assurances from the attorney general’s office that the records would

Hospital turns over transgender patient records to Tennessee attorney general in investigation
Health

Outgoing CDC director says resignation spurred by sense of accomplishment and exhaustion

The outgoing head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday her reasons for stepping down were complicated, driven in part by a desire to take a break from the frenetic pace of the job during a pandemic. Dr. Rochelle Walensky surprised many in public health circles last month by announcing her departure after two years and five months — one of the shortest tenures for a CDC director in recent decades. She resigned as the pandemic’s national public health emergency was winding down. “I did what I came to do — which was

Outgoing CDC director says resignation spurred by sense of accomplishment and exhaustion
Health

North Carolina legislature pushes limits on transgender youth rights in final days of session

Transgender rights are taking center stage Tuesday in North Carolina as the GOP-controlled General Assembly considers legislation to restrict gender-affirming health care and trans participation in sports. The legislative push comes in the dwindling days of the North Carolina session and as many Republican-led state legislatures round out a record year of legislation targeting transgender residents. Hours after the House Health Committee advanced a bill banning state facilities from treating trans minors with hormones and gender-affirming surgeries, the Senate will vote later Tuesday on whether to ban trans girls from playing on school sports teams that

North Carolina legislature pushes limits on transgender youth rights in final days of session
Health

Kansas agrees to temporary pause in enforcing new law on medication abortions

Kansas officials have agreed not to enforce a new restriction on medication abortions for at least five weeks before a state court judge decides whether to put it on hold until he decides a lawsuit challenging it and other existing rules. Providers and their attorneys announced the agreement Tuesday. For now, providers won’t have to tell patients that they can stop a medication abortion using a regimen that providers and major medical groups consider unproven and potentially dangerous. The new rule was set to take effect July 1. The agreement, filed Friday in Johnson County District

Kansas agrees to temporary pause in enforcing new law on medication abortions
Health

Ex-PM Cameron says the UK focused too much on flu rather than other potential pandemics before COVID

Britain made a mistake in focusing too much on preparations for a flu pandemic rather than considering other types of pandemic in the years before the COVID-19 outbreak, former Prime Minister David Cameron told a public inquiry Monday. Cameron, who led Britain’s Conservative government from 2010 to 2016, was the first politician to be questioned by the wide-ranging inquiry into the U.K.’s preparedness for the coronavirus pandemic, how the government responded and what lessons can be learned for the future. The U.K. had one of the highest COVID-19 death tolls in Europe, with the virus recorded as

Ex-PM Cameron says the UK focused too much on flu rather than other potential pandemics before COVID
Health

Next round of COVID-19 shots in fall will target latest omicron strain

The next round of COVID-19 vaccines will target one of the latest versions of the coronavirus, the Food and Drug Administration said Friday. FDA’s decision came one day after an agency panel of outside advisers supported the recipe change. The agency told vaccine makers to provide protection against just one omicron strain, known as XBB.1.5. Today’s shots include the original coronavirus and an earlier version of omicron. They do still help prevent severe disease and death even as XBB variants have taken over. But protection gradually wanes over time and was short-lived against milder infection even

Next round of COVID-19 shots in fall will target latest omicron strain
Health

Abortion providers in North Carolina file federal lawsuit challenging state's new restrictions

Abortion providers in North Carolina filed a federal lawsuit Friday that challenges several provisions of a state law banning most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy in the dwindling days before the new restrictions take effect. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and Dr. Beverly Gray, an OB-GYN at Duke Health, are asking a federal judge to block numerous provisions they argue are unclear and unconstitutional, or to place an injunction on the law to prevent it from being enforced. Though the law may be commonly referred to as a 12-week abortion ban, the plaintiffs argue that it

Abortion providers in North Carolina file federal lawsuit challenging state's new restrictions
Health

Can we train our taste buds for health? A neuroscientist explains how genes and diet shape taste

Researchers are increasingly learning that early diet can shape taste preferences but that our taste buds can also be trained to prefer healthier foods. RichVintage/E+ via Getty Images Have you ever wondered why only hummingbirds sip nectar from feeders? Unlike sparrows, finches and most other birds, hummingbirds can taste sweetness because they carry the genetic instructions necessary to detect sugar molecules. Like hummingbirds, we humans can sense sugar because our DNA contains gene sequences coding for the molecular detectors that allow us to detect sweetness. But it is more complex than that. Our ability to sense sweetness, as well as

Can we train our taste buds for health? A neuroscientist explains how genes and diet shape taste
Health

Abortion restrictions put hospital ethics committees in the spotlight – but what do they do?

Ethics decisions are among the hardest hospital staff need to make. Thomas Barwick/Stone via Getty Images Many states have imposed sweeping restrictions that all but ban abortion since the June 2022 Supreme Court ruling that overturned the 50-year-old constitutional right to the procedure. These laws have created new obstacles for pregnant patients facing life-threatening complications like severe fetal anomalies, cancer diagnoses and ectopic pregnancies – when a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus. Some media reports about these challenging cases mention the involvement of hospital ethics committees. Stat, for example, a medical news website, reported that one OB-GYN had to

Abortion restrictions put hospital ethics committees in the spotlight – but what do they do?
Health

Court set to rule on Iowa governor's bid to reinstate strict abortion limits

An Iowa court ruling expected Friday could outlaw most abortions in the state or keep the procedure legal up to 20 weeks of pregnancy, at least for now. Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds aims to reinstate the blocked 2018 “fetal heartbeat” law that does not allow abortions once cardiac activity can be detected, usually around six weeks of pregnancy and before many women know they are pregnant. Currently, abortions are allowed up to 20 weeks of pregnancy. Most Republican-led states have severely curtailed access to abortion in the year since the U.S. Supreme Court stripped women’s

Court set to rule on Iowa governor's bid to reinstate strict abortion limits
Health

FDA advisers consider changing COVID vaccine to target latest omicron strain

The COVID-19 vaccines are on track for a big recipe change this fall. Today’s vaccines still contain the original coronavirus strain, the one that started the pandemic — even though that was long ago supplanted by mutated versions as the virus rapidly evolves. Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration’s scientific advisers reviewed whether the next round of shots in the U.S. should only include protection against the newest variants that are now dominant worldwide — a branch of the omicron family tree named XBB. While infections have declined, the virus could be a real concern next winter, FDA’s vaccine chief

FDA advisers consider changing COVID vaccine to target latest omicron strain
Health

American Indians forced to attend boarding schools as children are more likely to be in poor health as adults

Research reveals what generations of tribes know firsthand: that forced assimilation and unhealthy conditions at compulsory boarding schools takes a permanent toll. RichLegg/E+ via Getty Images Many American Indians attended compulsory boarding schools in the 1900s or have relatives who did. My family is no different. Three generations of Running Bears – my grandparents, parents and those from my own generation – attended these residential schools over a period stretching from approximately 1907 to the mid-1970s. American Indians are very resilient, given the harsh history we have endured. Drawing upon the strengths of our spirituality, cultural practices and family and

American Indians forced to attend boarding schools as children are more likely to be in poor health as adults

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