NIH Scandal Grows; Ancient Skull Shows Brain Surgery; Drugs in New York's Rivers

— Health news and commentary gathered by staff

MedicalToday
Morning Break over illustration of a syringe, Covid virus, and DNA helix over a photo of green vegetation.

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After a top aide to former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci, MD, was grilled by Congress, questions emerged about whether other agency employees about the COVID-19 pandemic. (The Nation)

Nurses at three hospitals in New Jersey, demanding that mandatory staffing ratios be placed in their contracts. (northjersey.com)

The USDA said H5N1 bird flu was for the first time.

Letting addiction doctors to patients is "not a good idea," a longtime methadone clinic industry leader said. (STAT)

Compared with white people in Pennsylvania, Black individuals who died of drug overdoses were 2019-2021 data showed. (Addiction)

A had cut marks surrounding several lesions that appeared to be metastasized brain cancer, suggestive of a surgical attempt at treatment or postmortem exploration. (Frontiers in Medicine)

Baptist Memorial Hospital-DeSoto in Mississippi, which does not have a psychiatric unit, sometimes while they await mental health care services at other facilities. (ProPublica)

Two blood pressure drugs (metoprolol and atenolol), methamphetamine, methadone, or a cocaine metabolite were found in more than across New York City's Hudson and East Rivers in 2021 and 2022. (Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry)

Novo Nordisk defended (Ozempic) to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), saying the development of GLP-1 drugs required billions in upfront investment. (Becker's Hospital Review)

Virginia-based Riverside Regional Medical Center is reviewing its safety protocols after a husband and wife died in an at the hospital. (WTKR)

The FDA approved Amgen's eculizumab-aeeb (Bkemv) -- the first interchangeable (Soliris) -- to treat paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria and atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome.

Post-acute were more common in COVID-19 patients in South Korea and Japan than in the general population, though vaccination attenuated the risk. (Nature Communications)

Dengue fever as the mosquitoes that carry the disease move north. (NBC News)

Penn State Health is programs at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. The hospital's liver transplant was paused last month. (Fox 43)

Stanley Goldstein, who helped in the 1960s, died of cancer at age 89. (New York Times)

The changing -- a cannabis derivative often mixed with fentanyl, tramadol, and formaldehyde -- makes it difficult for public health officials to help people in Sierra Leone who are addicted. (AP)

Virtual reality may improve by helping them experience situations from a patient's perspective. (Times of Israel)

Roughly 15% of the 160,000 participants in the experience tinnitus daily, University of Michigan researchers said.

Is the armadillo in Florida? (KFF Health News)