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I’ve been spending my time currently watching footage of the 7.9 earthquake that occurred in Myanmar and Thailand in March. There’s one video particularly wherein the earth undulates like an ocean wave that’s notably unforgettable. This YouTube channel has innumerable movies from across the nation depicting that very same second — from motels to properties to hotpot eating places.
The fallacy of a scientific evaluation
At any time when I see a literature evaluation for a subject I’m writing about, I usually suppose, “Oh, nice! I can belief this paper.” Based mostly on reporting from STAT’s Anil Oza, I would possibly must reevaluate this impulse. A brand new JAMA Community Open paper provides to a physique of proof that not all systematic opinions are created equal and a few researchers try out alternate options to those analyses.
Systematic opinions, which contain pooling knowledge from a number of research and analyzing them collectively, are more and more common as a strategy to produce extra authoritative conclusions than might be derived from the person smaller papers. A small variety of systematic opinions included retracted research from paper mills, journals that produce low high quality analysis to assist researchers recreation the educational job market.
The issues aren’t restricted to academia, both. In latest weeks, systematic opinions have been used to justify coverage round gender affirming care in addition to within the MAHA report. Media stories shortly adopted of their wake displaying that these stories had been riddled with errors. Learn extra from Anil.
Greater than 70 diet scientists name for freedom from censorship at NIH
One other day, one other involved public letter from scientists to Nationwide Institutes of Well being director Jay Bhattacharya in regards to the course of the company underneath his management. Greater than 70 high U.S. diet scientists signed a letter yesterday demanding that Bhattacharya tackle censorship on the company, writing that their colleagues “want the liberty to current their findings in scientific conferences with out political oversight, and to creator and co-author freely within the scientific literature.”
The letter is partially a response to censorship allegations from former NIH diet scientist Kevin Corridor, whose groundbreaking analysis on ultra-processed meals was reduce quick when he stop in April, citing meddling from his superiors. Well being secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. additionally not too long ago threatened to bar NIH scientists from publishing in main journals like JAMA and the Lancet “as a result of they’re all corrupt.” The letter additionally asks for extra funding in diet analysis on the company, together with doubling the present finances to $4 billion.
This follows Monday’s letter from a whole lot of NIH workers to Bhattacharya, which rebuked all the things from the company’s cancellation of LGBTQ+ analysis grants to the proposed cuts to help for oblique analysis prices at universities. Within the phrases of my colleague Anil Oza: “Jay’s inbox is FULL this week.” Learn the letter right here. – Sarah Todd
Trump to pharma: decrease drug costs *now*
The Trump administration is pushing pharmaceutical firms to voluntarily decrease drug costs and permit firms to promote their medication to Individuals straight, however executives and trade lobbyists are antsy about taking the subsequent step.
Decrease priced medication had been a key a part of Trump’s presidential agenda, that Individuals would pay not more than the bottom worth for medication paid by peer nations, however the administration’s calls for have been quick on particulars since saying the coverage in Might. The administration has not but detailed how it could set up a direct-to-consumer mechanism, although it says that it has given firms worth targets for his or her medication: the bottom worth provided in peer nations.
It’s the most recent replace in a weekslong saga that doesn’t present any signal of ending quickly. Will pharma firms voluntarily bend underneath the administration’s scrutiny? Learn extra from STAT’s Daniel Payne to search out out.
Work necessities would curtail Medicaid growth protection, report says
If the Senate passes the finances reconciliation invoice, one in three adults who work or attend college whereas enrolled in Medicaid growth protection shall be susceptible to shedding protection underneath work necessities, in line with new evaluation from the City Institute and the Robert Wooden Johnson Basis.
Researchers say that among the many 31% of enrollees in expanded Medicaid packages who don’t work or attend college, solely 2% of growth enrollees don’t work or attend college and cite lack of curiosity as a cause for not working. Instituting these work necessities would solely truly have an effect on a tiny fraction of the 4.8 to six million adults projected to lose protection underneath the coverage. This evaluation is the most recent report back to exhibit that Medicaid cuts may have an effect on extra Individuals than Republicans recommend.
Work necessities are essential for Republicans who want to scale back federal spending. The present provision would scale back federal spending by $280 billion over ten years, which quantities to just about half of all estimated Medicaid financial savings within the invoice, in line with a Congressional Finances Workplace report. My colleague John Wilkerson’s protection has been wonderful on this subject — keep tuned for extra.
Why RFK Jr.’s method to the vaccine advisory committee may backfire
If Kennedy desires to “clear up the corruption and conflicts” at HHS, he’s going about it the improper approach, writes Genevieve P. Kanter, an economist on the College of Southern California.
Kanter research conflicts of curiosity at federal companies. She says that the aim of advisory committees is to have exterior consultants supply unbiased recommendation to the federal government on technical and scientific points. Purging vaccine consultants could take away members with trade ties, however not with out a value. Research present that committee members with trade relationships are inclined to publish extra and higher-impact articles, suggesting they’ll carry extra experience to the desk. For extra perception into why these current relationships matter and why Kennedy’s purge may backfire, learn extra from Kanter.
What we’re studying
- Shattered science: the analysis misplaced as Trump targets NIH funding, ProPublica
- He’s dying. She’s pregnant., Washington Submit
- Tulane Scientist Resigns Citing College Censorship of Air pollution and Racial Disparity Analysis, Related Press
- Medicare Benefit’s supplemental advantages will value taxpayers $86 billion this yr, with little transparency, STAT
- Colorado physician fired by RFK Jr. from federal vaccine committee: “This resolution is de facto going to undermine public belief,” Colorado Solar
