JUST FOR THE HEALTH OF IT: Public Health Radio Show on WAKT 106.1 FM Toledo

JUST FOR THE HEALTH OF IT: Public Health Radio Show on WAKT 106.1 FM Toledo

Just for the Health of It is my weekly one-hour public health show on WAKT, 106.1 FM Toledo. You can listen at 9:00 AM Tuesdays and Thursdays (after Democracy NOW) or 6:30 PM Tuesdays on-air or on-line ToledoRadio.org.  To listen anytime you want online, below are links to the latest shows (and all past shows).

You can follow the program and shows on facebook here.

Just for the Health of It brings you fresh perspectives on the science of health for all; plus local, state, national, and global health news, as well as local guests for home-grown perspectives and connections to local resources. Just for the Health brings you the best of both social justice and personal health.

Just for the Health focuses on putting the JUST in Just for the Health of It. 

My aim is to equip you to live healthily in a healthy community on a just planet.

For you of those folks who are perhaps too busy to catch a whole show, or just want to sample my sense of humor, here are a few of my parody PSAs:

Parody PSA: The Dihydrogen Monoxide Conspiracy

Parody PSA: Pla-ce-bo Pharmaceuticals' Elimin-all

Parody PSA: PR Medica and Merciless Health Systems

Parody PSA: Health Care for ALL

Parody PSA: Cory the Coronavirus

Parody PSA: TL20-squared VIRUS Pandemic

HERE ARE LINKS TO THE LATEST SHOWS:

Week of November 27, 2023: GREATEST HITS SHOW #4

GREATEST HITS SHOW #4, from December, 2019, thru September, 2020, featuring: hospital alarms prove a noisy misery for patients (1:54); long work hours linked to both regular and hidden high blood pressure (6:20); every American family basically pays a yearly $8,000 “poll tax” under U.S. health system (7:42); Ecopsychology — how immersion in nature benefits your health (11:12); Why drinking diet soda makes you crave sugar (15:50); slow carbs over low carbs – fiber matters (19:06); Hormone-altering chemicals threaten our health, finances and future (22:28); Why sequencing the human genome hasn't cured many diseases (36:57); In an age of mass protests, what “less lethal” weapons actually do (42:11); Awareness of our biases is essential to good science (51:34).

Week of November 20, 2023 [episode #237]:

Featuring: COVID era increased gender life expectancy gap in U.S. to 6 years (1:51); Walking has plummeted across America (4:56); Planned Parenthood to invest in Ohio following abortion amendment (6:48); CDC reports increase in kindergarten vaccine exemptions, Ohio is above the national average (7:57); “Staggering” rise in measles cases last year, says WHO and CDC (9:04); Americans Struggling With Addiction, Mental Health, Fed Survey Shows (10:37); U.S. fails again in report on preterm birth, a leading cause of infant mortality (15:08); FDA grants approval for first time to a home test for chlamydia and gonorrhea (17:32); Progress in childhood cancer has stalled for Blacks and Hispanics (19:37); The Cost of Not Getting Care: Income Disparities in the Affordability of Health Services Across High-Income Countries (21:39); Current uses of asbestos vastly exceed exposure limits (24:40); Type 2 diabetes prevention programs can work at large scale, study finds (26:40); One-quarter of Americans have little to no confidence in scientists to act in public's best interests (31:17); Can little actions bring big joy? Researchers find ‘micro-acts' can boost well-being (33:32).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Israel battles Hamas near another Gaza hospital sheltering thousands
2. U.S. Military Says National Security Depends on “Forever Chemicals”
3. Most States Ban Shackling Pregnant Women in Custody, Yet Many Report Being Restrained
4. Ohio has enshrined the right to an abortion. But major obstacles remain for patients and providers
5. Ohio commission approves fracking in state parks and wildlife areas despite fraud investigation
6. How the next Republican president could stop most abortions without Congress: ban mailing of abortion medication
7. “Do Your Job.” How the Railroad Industry Intimidates Employees Into Putting Speed Before Safety
8. The Unusual Way a Catholic Health System Is Wielding an Abortion Protest Law: charge patients refusing to be unsafely discharged with trespassing
9. Michigan health official is taking her county to court over $4 million resignation offer, after commissioners couldn't fire her without cause
10. We tried to quantify how harmful hospital ransomware attacks are for patients.
11. New study on hunter-gatherer moms suggests Western child care has a big problem with little human touch
12. It's Not All in Your Head—You Do Focus Differently on Zoom
13. Over-stressing Stress: American Psychological Association Report Omits Oppression
14. Social factors, rather than biological ones, drive higher numbers of adverse drug events in women
15. Colleges face gambling addiction among students as sports betting spreads
16. Super Meth and Other Drugs Push Crisis Beyond Opioids. Poly-addiction is making treatment far more difficult.
17. Revisiting the Black-White Mental Health Paradox During the Coronavirus Pandemic
18. Race Cannot Be Used to Predict Heart Disease, Heart Association Scientists Say
19. Why Some Seniors Are Choosing Pot Over Pills. Older people are using cannabis more than ever. A primer on pot's potential medicinal benefits and side effects as we age.
20. Facing Financial Ruin as Costs Soar for Elder Care, as the United States has no coherent system for providing long-term care.
21. Poor Cost-Effectiveness of Antiobesity Drugs for Adolescents With Severe Obesity
22. Bayer ordered to pay $1.56 billion in latest U.S. trial loss over Roundup weedkiller
23. The 2023 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: the imperative for a health-centered response in a world facing irreversible harms
24. It's not just extreme weather: “Climate-sensitive” diseases spreading through the U.S.

Week of November 13, 2023 [episode #236]:

Featuring: Majority of workers at America's nursing homes unvaccinated against flu, COVID (1:51); U.S. faces almost daily hazardous chemical accidents (4:01); Mercury is still an environmental threat (7:11); The FDA Is Still Not Tracking How Farms Use Antibiotics, affecting antimicrobial resistance efforts (14;32); The World's Broken Food System Costs $12.7 Trillion a Year, 10 percent of global GDP (20:20); Dietary guidelines may soon warn against ultraprocessed foods (24:30); Cutting 1 teaspoon of salt works as well as blood pressure meds (32:21); 42% of people who use drugs in rural areas were recently incarcerated, pointing to treatment opportunities (35:08); Underdiagnosed and Undertreated, Young Black Males With ADHD Get Left Behind (37:38).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. After Ohio vote, advocates in a dozen states are trying to put abortion on 2024 ballots
2. How Ohio's Election Results Will Both Protect Abortion and Affect Maternal Mortality in the State
3. Ohio GOP lawmakers call to block courts from implementing new abortion amendment
4. How is Ohio managing the Medicaid unwinding process and eligibility? [better than most states]
5. Supreme Court looks poised to uphold ban on guns for accused domestic abusers
6. Narcissism, immorality and lack of empathy: The dark psychology that can poison elites
7. Public health approaches to gambling: a global review of legislative trends
8. Tapped Out: New Orleans drinking water testing procedures don't follow gov't regulations
9. U.S. Regulators Order Minnesota to Clean Up Nitrate Contaminated Water that is due to manure pollution
10. FDA moves to pull common drug used by pork industry, citing human cancer risk
11. Reducing pesticides in food: Major food manufacturers earn an F grade
12. Polluting Industries Say the Cost of Cleaner Air Is Too High [for them, not public]
13. Pollution Is Driving Today's Reverse Great Migration. The first Great Black Migrations built the Midwest. In return, Black communities received pollution and toxic contamination.
14. How pharmacy deserts are putting the health of Black and Latino Americans at risk
15. Pulse oximeters' inaccuracies in darker-skinned people require urgent action, AGs tell FDA
16. Countless kids are colorblind — and don't know about it. Here's how to help.
17. 10 Ways MedPAC Commissioners Think Regulators Should Fix Medicare Advantage Plans
18. You Have a Right to Know Why a Health Insurer Denied Your Claim. Some Insurers Still Won't Tell You.
19. Feds Launch “Birthing-Friendly” Designation on Web-Based Care Compare Tool
20. Ambulance rides for just $100? Government advisers want major billing fixes
21. VA reports major uptick in veterans' care after passage of toxic exposure law
22. How to unlock healthier communities? Team up with librarians.
23. Syphilis cases in U.S. newborns skyrocketed in 2022, highlighting hole in basic public health infrastructure.
24. Why It's So Tough to Reduce Unnecessary Medical Care [profits and “more is better”]
25. Mind-altering ketamine becomes latest pain treatment, despite little research or regulation
26. After Antidepressants, a Loss of Sexuality. Some patients are speaking up about lasting sexual problems after stopping antidepressants, a poorly understood condition.
27. Common cat-borne parasite is positively associated with frailty in older adults.
28. Is the U.S. reporting system for vaccine safety broken?
29. HPV vaccines are so effective that new screening policies may be in order
30. History of 18th and 19th century disease outbreaks speaks powerfully to the present
31. U.S. CDC to expand surveillance of traveler samples for respiratory viruses
32. More Americans Say They're in a Cognitive Fog. Adults in their 20s, 30s and 40s are driving the trend. Researchers point to long Covid as a major cause.
33. The rise and fall of antibiotics. What would a post-antibiotic world look like?
34. The “Gas Masks for All” Approach to Air Pollution: What Could Possibly Go Worng?
35. WHO warns of “worrying trends” in disease spread in Gaza
36. The Great American Smokeout — Take the First Step Toward a Smokefree Life

Week of November 6, 2023 [episode #235]:

Featuring: Ohio Issue #1 to enshrine reproductive health rights (2:17); Public health crisis of genocide in Gaza worsens (2:17); Scapegoating mental illness is ineffective in preventing mass shootings — easy access to firearms is main driver (2:51); Lawn equipment spews “shocking” amount of air pollution, highlighting need to electrify (5:33); The U.S. infant mortality rate rose last year — the largest increase in two decades (10:55); Vaping by high school students dropped this year (12;10); Americans carry “collective trauma” from COVID pandemic era, mental health survey suggests (15:02); Latest data shows millions of eligible Americans have been disenrolled from Medicaid (21:48); Medical Debt Is Disappearing From Americans' Credit Reports, Lifting Scores (24:06); Only about half of those eligible for WIC in 2021 received benefits (29:15); Medicare Expands the Roster of Available Mental Health Professionals (31:40); 1 in 4 U.S. medical students consider quitting, most medical and nursing students don't plan to treat patients (37:24); Poll shows more Americans are familiar with the work of their local health department and most have favorable opinion (39:17); Practicing kindness is good for your health and others' (41:43).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. The Signs Were All There. Why Did No One Stop the Maine Shooter? Shortcomings in mental health treatment, weak laws and a reluctance to threaten personal liberties can derail even concerted attempts to thwart mass shootings.
2. A public health response helped reduce fatal car wrecks in Texas. Can it do the same for gun deaths?
3. The Supreme Court Will Decide if Domestic Abuse Orders Can Bar People From Having Guns. Lives Will Be at Stake.
4. Firearm Homicides of U.S. Children Precipitated by Intimate Partner Violence
5. Why many scientists are now saying climate change is an all-out “emergency”
6. Food justice advocates didn't set out to save the climate. Their solutions are doing it anyway. Urban gardening connects food justice and climate mitigation.
7. Flight attendants say their uniforms made them seriously ill. Four flight attendants were awarded over $1 million in a California lawsuit against uniform manufacturer.
8. American Cancer Society expands lung cancer screening guidelines for cigarette smokers
9. Antibiotics for common childhood infections no longer effective in many parts of the world
10. Check out the Hospital Safety Grade of your hospital
11. “Worse Than People Can Imagine”: Medicaid “Unwinding” Breeds Chaos in States
12. Pregnant farmworkers in California are eligible for paid time off — but many don't know it exists
13. Paid family leave found to boost postpartum well-being, breastfeeding rates
14. Despite post-COVID efforts, the U.S. is still undersupplied with domestic-made PPE
15. EPA testing shows the power of D-I-Y air filters to trap viruses
16. Science Says Teens Need More Sleep. So Why Is It So Hard to Start School Later?

Week of October 30, 2023 [episode #234]:

Featuring: Blacklisting in America –Journal Editor Fired for Hamas-Israeli Conflict Comments (1:57); Medical exceptions to abortion bans often exclude mental health conditions (4:31); Abortions in the U.S. rose slightly overall after post-Roe restrictions were put in place (6:17); Mini Research Roundup (9:48); Warning signs for the U.S. health system staffing shortages are piling up (14:15); Paying for It — How Health Care Costs and Medical Debt Are Making Americans Sicker and Poorer (19:33); Health Care Cost Worries Threaten Retirement Dreams for Many (22:10); Food insecurity rose sharply in 2022, new report from USDA shows (25:43); Easy diet changes can lower carbon footprint (30:31).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. “Partial-birth abortions” is banned in the U.S. — Why is it a hot topic in fight over Ohio's abortion amendment?
2. Ohio joins 40 states suing Meta alleging that Instagram and Facebook are harmful for kids
3. Twice as many parents report specific concerns about internet addiction than substance addiction.
4. Children today have less independence. Is that fueling a mental health crisis?
5. Young adults suffer from anxiety, depression twice as often as teens. Many of them are grappling with high housing prices, a lack of connection in the workplace, misinformation exacerbated by social media and a loneliness epidemic
6. How Climate Change Drives Conflict and War Crimes Around the Globe
7. Rising Temperatures, Extreme Weather Threatening to Propel Malaria
8. Why Ending Childhood Lead Poisoning is a Top-Tier Global Development Challenge, Killing More Than Either TB, HIV/AIDS, or Malaria
9. Worldwide vaccination coverage increased in 2022, but still below 2019 levels
10. Prescription for disaster: America's broken pharmacy system in revolt over burnout and errors
11. Some pharmacy staff from Walgreens, other chains are walking out again, in what organizers have dubbed “Pharmageddon”
12. What will it take to end health care worker burnout?
13. Want to end historic nursing strikes? Fix a broken, outdated reimbursement model
14. What Financial Engineering Does to Hospitals — Raising Debt, while Cutting Staff and Services, all to enrich investors
15. A New Era of More Costly Vaccines Raises Issues of Cost-Benefit.
16. Exercise found to be nearly as good as Viagra in overcoming erectile dysfunction
17. The Science Behind Food and The Dangers of Ultra-Processed, Artificial, Non-Food [PODCAST]

Week of October 23, 2023 [episode #233]:

Featuring: A view from the “nightmare” of Gaza's hospitals (1:56); “I'd rather not know”: Why we choose ignorance (6:08); Domestic violence calls about “reproductive coercion” doubled after the overturn of Roe (9:18); Health Care “Game-Changer”? Feds Boost Care for Homeless Americans through “Street Care” (12:04); Already second leading cause of death worldwide, stroke deaths may rise by 50 percent by 2050 (15:38); Eating for Stroke Prevention (17:07); CDC sees vastly inconsistent gains in HIV prevention prescriptions by race/ethnicity (21:14); The story behind soaring near-sightedness among kids — too much time indoors and with screens and too little time outdoors (23:02); Pediatricians' report spills the milk on toddler so-called “formulas,” questions marketing of drinks (25:50); 10 Medicaid holdout states scramble to improve health coverage, with little success (28:37); EU abandons promise to ban toxic chemicals in consumer products (36:40).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Study identifies the top 12 PFAS producers in the world and reveals shocking societal costs at 1,000 times the market price for PFAS chemicals
2. FDA faces pressure to act nationwide on red dye in food
3. Once hailed as a drought fix, California moves to restrict synthetic turf over health concerns
4. How gas utilities used tobacco industry tactics to avoid gas stove regulations
5. Abortion Coverage Is Limited or Unavailable at a Quarter of Large Workplaces
6. Information about abortion care largely omitted or buried on 80% of health systems' patient-facing websites
7. More Than a Third of Women Under 50 Are Iron-Deficient — The condition can cause fatigue and other symptoms but is rarely tested for
8. Pregnant and Addicted: Homeless Women See Hope in Street Medicine
9. The mental health crisis among doctors is a problem for patients
10. Is there a nursing shortage in the United States? Depends on whom you ask
11. Studies highlight risks of excluding people with obesity from drug trials
12. As the number of vaccines for pregnant women rises, so does vaccine hesitancy
13. Tiny, Rural Hospitals Feel the Pinch as Medicare Advantage Plans Grow
14. Using Opioid Settlement Cash for Police Gear Like Squad Cars and Scanners Sparks Debate
15. Why Failed Psychiatry Lives On: Its Industrial Complex, Politics, & Technology Worship
16. Ketamine's effect on depression may hinge on hope
17. I'm a Neurosurgeon. Social Media May Change Your Kid's Brain.
18. Fatty Liver Disease Rising in Kids as Ultraprocessed Diets Surge
19. Dementia's staggering financial cost revealed in new report: It's “bankrupting families”
20. Sleep problems can increase as you age. These tips can help.
21. U.S. income inequality grew through pandemic years, despite massive income support
22. Tobacco purchases rise following restrictions on e-cigarette sales
23. Lake Erie is full of algae again. Southwestern Ontario's exploding greenhouse sector won't help
24. The Key to Stopping Tooth Decay is Limiting Refined Sugar

Week of October 16, 2023 [episode #232]:

Featuring: In Ohio, Black women get abortions at a much higher rate (1:51); Pharmacies begin dispensing abortion pills (3:42); Surgeon General Murthy says rebuilding social connection has to be a “national priority” (7:42); How kangaroo mother care can help millions of pre-term babies each year (10:04); The depressing relationship between your job and your odds of drug overdose (13:34); Improving Prison Care and Re-entry: An Unexpected Answer to the Opioid Epidemic (21:25); The U.S. is waking up to the plastic pollution crisis, but is it too little too late? (23:56); How U.S. Hospitals Undercut Public Health — The U.S. health care industry is one of the world's worst polluters, causing many of the deaths it seeks to prevent (27:11);26 Potentially harmful chemicals used in many cosmetic products banned by California (34:40); Arthritis Is Massive Public Health Problem, affecting 0ne in five adults, nearly half of seniors (37:45); Largest ever study on light exposure proves its impact on mental health — too much light at night, too little during the day (40:20).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Why Gaza health care facilities and workers have suffered so much violence
2. Israeli health minister instructs public hospitals not to treat Hamas members
3. First large study of hair relaxers among black women finds increased risk of uterine cancer
4. FDA plans to propose ban on hair-straightening chemical products linked to health risks
5. Roundup herbicide ingredient connected to epidemic levels of chronic kidney disease
6. 800,000 tons of radioactive waste from Pennsylvania's oil and gas industry has gone “missing”
7. U.S. oil production hits all-time high, conflicting with efforts to cut heat-trapping pollution
8. Corporate interests and the UN treaty on plastic pollution: neglecting lessons from the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
9. Leadership of Patient Advocacy Organizations Tied to Pharma and Device Industry
10. How to free ourselves from the scholar-activist dilemma
11. Incidence of lung cancer higher in women versus men aged 35 to 54 years
12. Misogyny in medicine impacts us all
13. Medicare Enrollees Can Switch Coverage Now. Here's What's New and What to Consider.
14. Scammy Medicare ads and unsolicited calls bombard seniors shopping for health insurance. Will federal efforts help them?
15. Insurers often shortchange mental health care coverage, despite a federal law. The Biden administration is pushing insurers and state regulators to ensure that mental health care is treated like other care.
16. FDA warns of dangers in treating psychiatric disorders with ketamine
17. Illicit E-Cigarettes Flood Stores as F.D.A. Struggles to Combat Imports
18. The New Vaccines and You: Americans Better Armed Than Ever Against the Winter Blechs
19. RSV Vaccine Maintains Efficacy Across Two Seasons in Seniors
20. Yes, everyone should get an updated Covid-19 vaccine (8 reasons why)
21. COVID might raise odds for immune disorders like Crohn's, alopecia
22. Paxlovid cuts hospitalization, death only in at-risk COVID patients with weak immune systems
23. Review estimates 69% 3-dose vaccine efficacy against long COVID
24. Rare “Flesh-Eating” Bacterium Spreads North as Oceans Warm
25. Ohio Issue 1: Right to Make Reproductive Decisions Including Abortion Initiative
26. Ohio votes on abortion rights this fall. Misinformation about the proposal is spreading
27. Ohio Issue 2: An act to regulate adult use of cannabis, decriminalize and tax

Week of October 9, 2023 [episode #231]:

Featuring: Type 2 diabetes diagnosis at age 30 can reduce life expectancy by up to 14 years (1:51); AMERICA'S LIFE EXPECTANCY CRISIS — AN EPIDEMIC OF CHRONIC ILLNESS IS KILLING US TOO SOON (3:58); HOW RED-STATE POLITICS ARE SHAVING YEARS OFF AMERICAN LIVES — Ohio vs. Pennsylvania and New York (21:32); Child gun deaths and fatal drug poisonings skyrocketed over past decade (45:078); Violence dropped in California — but was alarmingly high for trans and nonbinary (47:22); Medicare Advantage Plans Overcharge 22-35% (48:39); EPA moving to ban more harmful chemicals after toxics law overhaul (50:18); Awe-inspiring science can have a positive effect on mental well-being (52:33).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Dengue will “take off” in southern Europe, US, Africa this decade, WHO scientist says
2. Why dengue in Europe could spell disaster for the rest of the world — Increased investment into previously neglected diseases could see poorer countries left behind.
3. How a Big Pharma Company Stalled a Potentially Lifesaving Vaccine in Pursuit of Bigger Profits
4. We know how to regulate new drugs and medical devices–but we're about to let health care AI run amok
5. Industry ties could muddy U.S. dietary guidelines, watchdog says
6. Nursing schools are turning away thousands of applicants during a major nursing shortage. Here's why.
7. Medicare's proposal on nursing home staff meets insane impasse between huge profits and poor staffing and wages
8. Language services a legal right in health care, but often not a reality
9. As conservative views collide with science, doctors find themselves navigating political landmines
10. Idaho Banned Abortion. Then It Turned Down Supports for Pregnancies and Births.
11. “They just tried to scare us”: How anti-abortion centers teach sex ed inside public schools
12. Severity of RSV Hospitalizations Rivals COVID in Older Adults
13. Walgreens walkout: Your pharmacy might be closed this week
14. How barring medical debt from credit scores could impact borrowers
15. Cleveland Accelerates Its Ambitions for Hitting Net Zero Energy

Week of October 2, 2023 [episode #230]:

Featuring: Narcan, naloxone boxes being installed at Ohio highway rest stops (1:48); Suicide rates of teenage boys are skyrocketing because of firearm access (3:21); CDC launches “wild to mild” flu vaccine campaign to emphasize prevention of flu severity not just infection (12:55); New report shows Food is Medicine interventions would save U.S. lives and billions of dollars (14:35); Rising prevalence of obesity in developing countries approaching levels found in high-income countries (17:50); Women spend 20% more per year on out-of-pocket health costs (20:27); Women face host of disadvantages in cancer prevention and care, commission finds (23:20); What it will take to eliminate disparities in fertility care for Black women (29:50); Biden administration looking to expand coverage of over-the-counter birth control, other products (34:02); Children of color and from low-income families disproportionately harmed by toxic chemicals (36:02); Millions more students eligible for free school meals (38:09); Report on Improving Mental Health Outcomes by focusing on People, Place and Purpose (39:46).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Clouds now contain plastic, risking contamination of “everything we eat and drink”
2. PFAS “forever chemicals” harming wildlife the world over
3. Decades Later, Closed Military Bases Remain a Toxic Menace
4. FDNY deaths from 9/11-related illnesses now equal the number killed on Sept. 11
5. “Monster Fracks” Are Getting Far Bigger. And Far Thirstier, threatening America's fragile aquifers.
6. Louisiana's struggle with influx of salt water prompts a request for Biden to declare an emergency
7. Lead contamination could rise as salt water enters New Orleans-area water systems and corrodes pipes
8. “We can't drink oil”: how a 70-year-old pipeline imperils the Great Lakes
9. Mosquitoes Are a Growing Public Health Threat, Reversing Years of Progress
10. Mainstay malaria drug may be beginning to fail in the Horn of Africa
11. Study suggests poor environmental controls and poor sanitation may aid spread of resistant pathogens to humans
12. FDA releases draft guidance on antibiotic duration limits in food animals
13. Nitazenes: Synthetic opioids more deadly than fentanyl are starting to turn up in overdose cases
14. Elevated temperatures and climate change may contribute to rising hospitalizations from drug and alcohol disorders
15. A Decades-Long Drop in Teen Births Is Slowing, and Advocates Worry a Reversal Is Coming
16. Abortion restrictions repel graduating OB-GYNs from conservative states
17. Prostate cancer—a notable killer of Black men—can be made less deadly by modifying key risks
18. Black people are more likely to be physically restrained in emergency rooms
19. “An understaffed and broken system”: 900,000 Texans have lost Medicaid as others struggle to access SNAP benefits
20. Medicaid rolls are being cut. Few are finding refuge in ACA plans.
21. As Covid Infections Rise, Nursing Homes Are Still Waiting for Vaccines
22. Vaccine rollout is a mess today, but wasn't during the pandemic.
23. Free Rapid COVID Tests Are Back. How Should We Use Them?
24. Peak COVID viral loads at 4th to 5th day of symptoms onset may influence best home-test timing
25. Did the government get a bad deal on the Covid-19 boosters?
26. Biden administration draws commitment from health insurers to cover COVID-19 shots
27. U.S. to rein in algorithms that limit Medicare Advantage care
28. Two Large Medical Groups Shun Medicare Advantage Plans
29. Disability groups win fight to be included in health equity research at NIH
30. Exodus of life scientists from academia reaches historic levels
31. Kids and teens are inundated with phone prompts day and night
32. To prevent gun violence, these peacemakers start with the basics
33. What's a food forest? Metro Denver already has 19 of them.
34. Forget About Living to 100. Let's Live Healthier Instead.
35. Study pinpoints the length of incidental activity linked to health benefits

Week of September 25, 2023 [episode #229]:

Featuring: These 7 habits can cut the risk of depression in half, a new study finds (1:49); More than 4 in 10 Americans are now obese, a new record high (12:01); High blood pressure affects 1 in 3 adults worldwide, and most are not properly treated (12:47); Work stress can double men's risk of heart disease (16:07); Study finds firearm injuries increase 62% in gentrified neighborhoods (20:06); Type 2 diabetes rates in U.S. youth rose 62% after COVID pandemic began (22:12); Biden administration relaunches free at-home COVID testing program by mail at COVIDtest.gov (24:07); Google could play a big role in protecting the health of American children by limiting unhealthy food marketing online (24:59); FDA must do more to penalize retailers that illegally sell tobacco to kids, government review finds (28:57); How new non-profit model boosts supply and lowers prices for generic drugs (35:46); Want Better Health Outcomes? Check Out What Other Countries Do — Countries who outperform the U.S. system have three things in common (39:06); Even a partial electrification of vehicles could saves lives and money, with outsized benefits for Black and Latino residents (44:10); The Reach of Wildfire Smoke Is Going Global and Undoing Progress on Clean Air (46:04).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. A healthy diet may lower dementia risk — even if you start late
2. Loneliness Needs to Be Treated Like Any Other Health Condition
3. The quickest way to improve your family's mental health: start talking, even about your mental health struggles
4. Redefining the non-communicable disease framework to incorporate oral diseases and sugars
5. When You Think About Your Health, Don't Forget Your Eyes
6. In North Carolina, a radical experiment targets social determinants of health with fresh produce and safe housing
7. Biden to announce first-ever federal office of gun violence prevention
8. Hep C's Number Comes Up: Can Biden's 5-Year Plan Eliminate the Longtime Scourge?
9. Medicare Advantage ads will look different this fall
10. White House aiming to scrub medical debt from people's credit scores, which could up ratings for millions
11. Brain drain, skills loss, and other unintended consequences of overturning Roe v. Wade
12. United States scores a C on global LGBTQ+ human rights scorecard, and may be flunking soon, as 62% of countries are now.
13. The Republican Betrayal of PEPFAR, threatening a signature George W. Bush program, and potentially killing millions with HIV/AIDS
14. How Will Rural Americans Fare During Medicaid Unwinding? Experts Fear They're on Their Own
15. A Black Community in West Virginia Sues the EPA to Spur Action on Toxic Air Pollution
16. As oceans warm, pathogenic bacteria are turning up more frequently in northern regions
17. The Biden Administration's Next Big Climate Decision: The liquefied-natural-gas buildout—and fossil-fuel exports—challenge progress on global warming.
18. What the *#@%?! How to respond when your child swears.
19. Nearly half of women with disabilities report experiencing sexual harassment or assault at work
20. Only 2 percent of U.S. doctors are Latina, despite diversity leading to better care for patients
21. Inside the gold rush to sell cheaper imitations of Ozempic weight loss drug
22. Melatonin warnings: Nearly half of parents give it to their kids to help them sleep, but experts urge caution. Melatonin is “not a regulated substance,” doctor warns
23. Does the risk of getting long Covid increase each time you get reinfected?

Week of September 18, 2023 [episode #228]:

Featuring: Malnutrition early in life sets stage for poor growth and death, affecting 150 million children worldwide (1:52); Child poverty in the U.S. jumped and income declined in 2022 as coronavirus pandemic benefits ended (3:57); The Lancet Commission on gaining peaceful societies through health equity and gender equality (6:37); Food from tobacco-owned brands more “hyperpalatable” than competitor's food (11:29); Prescription opioid shipments declined sharply even as fatal overdoses increased (16:52); U.S. school shootings hit another annual record high (18:58); High rate of mental health problems and political extremism found in those who bought firearms during COVID pandemic (20:33); Heat-Related Deaths Are Up, and Not Just Because It's Getting Hotter (25:14); Extreme heat is linked to higher risk of life-threatening delivery complications for pregnant people (27:48); Superbugs catch a ride on air pollution particles spreading anti-microbial resistance (32:22); RSV season may have already begun (36:50); Why the CDC Has Recommended Newly-updated Covid Vaccines for All (39:41); Half of Americans interested in updated COVID vaccine (42:48); Here's Another Racial-Ethnic Disparity in Back Pain Care (43:19); Sexual assault survivors can now track their rape kits in most states (44:32).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Food Can Be Literally Addictive, New Evidence Suggests. Highly processed foods resemble drugs of misuse in a number of disturbing ways.
2. How a supplement company became a haven for health misinformation
3. The food industry pays “influencer” dietitians to shape your eating habits
4. Anemia afflicts nearly 1 in 4 people worldwide, but there are practical strategies for reducing it
5. No deal in sight for global AIDS program as deadline looms
6. States considering later high school start times as teens' health and school performance improve with more sleep
7. Climate Change a “Major Threat” for Respiratory Patients, Experts Warn
8. Fentanyl plus stimulants drives “fourth wave” of overdose epidemic in the U.S.
9. FDA Reviewers Say Over-The-Counter Decongestant Doesn't Work
10. Why the F.D.A. Took Decades to Tackle a Disputed Cold Remedy
11. Patients might finally receive practical information with prescriptions — if the FDA doesn't blow it
12. Without “high-touch” strategies, cancer's breakthroughs will increase disparities — people, not drugs, are the key.
13. A Huge Threat by Medicare to the U.S. Budget Has Receded. And No One Is Sure Why.
14. Medicare encourages states to test global health budgets to cut costs and align incentives to patient outcomes
15. “The rule has sticks as well” — Biden's getting tough with health insurers over denials of mental health care and mental health parity.
16. Americans don't trust politicians on abortion and gender-affirming care, poll finds
17. They're immigrants, farmworkers, and new moms. And they're facing postpartum depression at high rates
18. Concerned About Your OB-GYN Visit? A Guide to What Should Happen — and What Shouldn't. How to Avoid Sexual Misconduct and Receive Good Care.
19. Survey shows American men are less healthy than they believe.
20. Marriage could mean losing life-saving benefits for people with disabilities. So they're protesting.
21. How Advance Care Planning Neglects Black Americans
22. U.S.-funded hunt for rare viruses halted amid risk concerns
23. Amid another rise in cases, Covid's new normal has set in
24. The latest on COVID-19 vaccine fall update
25. This Season's Flu Shot Appears Effective Against Serious Cases
26. Health Workers Warn Loosening Mask Advice in Hospital Infection Control Would Harm Patients and Providers
27. Why you may want to think twice before throwing out those old at-home COVID tests
28. Eating a vegan diet could reduce grocery bill by 16%, a savings of more than $500 a year.

Week of September 11, 2023: GREATEST HITS SHOW #6, stories from April thru May, 2021

GREATEST HITS SHOW #6, from April thru May, 2021, featuring: Devastatingly pervasive — 1 in 3 women globally experience violence (1:59); Stress from work and social interactions put women at higher coronary heart disease  risk (6:11); Physicians are more likely to doubt black patients than white patients (7:42); Women's pain not taken as seriously as men's pain (8:53); Study finds Americans eat food of mostly poor nutritional quality — except at school (11:12); Time to shift from “food security” to “nutrition security” to increase health and well-being (16:48); How to gain a sense of well-being, free and online –free course with full reference materials, “The Science of Well-being” (20:02); Children born to Chernobyl survivors don't carry more genetic mutations (22:03); Even “safe” ambient carbon monoxide levels may harm health (24:11); Music improves older adults' sleep quality (25:22);   Spanking may affect the brain development of a child similar to more severe violence (26:34); The clear message on promoting body positivity (28:11); How a shocking environmental disaster was uncovered off the California coast after 70 years (30:57); The Sense, and Dollars, of Food as Medicine (37:47);  New approach to understanding our wellbeing — the ability to connect and feel a sense of belonging (44:42);  Providing medications for free leads to greater adherence and cost-savings (46:14); Long term use of prescription meds for insomnia not linked to better quality sleep (48:19); Number of smokers has reached all-time high of 1.1 billion globally (49:51); Leading global cardiovascular organizations release joint opinion on achieving the “tobacco endgame” (53:00).

Week of September 4, 2023 [episode #227]:

Featuring: New research links wildfire smoke to increased risk of emergency room visits for people of all ages (2:01); Dirty air is biggest external threat to human health, worse than tobacco or alcohol (4:06); Students face new school year with jump in bullying (6:15); Suicides among U.S. veterans jumped 10-fold in decades after 9/11 (9:12); Shooting survivors have “distressingly high” risk of repeat firearm injury, especially young Black males (11:53); Brain Damage, Including CTE, Seen in Athletes Who Died Young (18:37); New flame retardants found in breast milk years after similar chemicals were banned (20:47); TB research shows a good diet can cut infections by nearly 50% (25:39); Medicaid-eligible people who aren't enrolled far more likely to delay care (27:48); Prevalence of disabilities for older Americans plummeted from 2008 to 2017 (33:03).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Removing Fukushima's melted nuclear fuel will be harder than the release of plant's wastewater
2. Gender Affirming Surgeries Nearly Tripled in the U.S. From 2016 to 2019 — Breast and chest procedures most common, followed by genital reconstruction
3. Evidence Undermines “Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria” Claims.  Fears of “social contagion,” used to support anti-transgender legislation, are not supported by science
4. Canada warns LGBTQ people of U.S. state laws in updated travel advisory
5. Fruit and vegetable “prescriptions” may lead to better heart health
6. How New York's Public Hospitals Cut Carbon Emissions: More Vegetables. Making plant-based meals the default has reduced food-related greenhouse gas emissions by 36 percent. Just don't say “vegan.”
7. The myths we tell ourselves about American farming. “Agricultural exceptionalism,” explained.
8. Kellogg's is going to war over Mexico's nutrition label rules. A similar fight is coming to the U.S.
9. How Menopause Affects Women of Color — Symptoms can be more severe than they are for white women and last longer. Doctors often don't realize this.
10. What People Misunderstand About Rape — Sexual assault often goes unpunished when victims fail to fight back. But freezing is an involuntary response to trauma.
11. American study estimates 1.87 million excess deaths occurred in China two months after its zero COVID policy ended
12. COVID-19 boosts risks of health problems 2 years later, giant study of veterans says
13. High levels of exposure to COVID-19 virus may reduce protection provided by vaccination and prior infection — dose matters.
14. Top review says COVID lockdowns and masks worked, period.
15. ProMED infectious disease surveillance website issues ultimatum to striking moderators, as questions about site's future persist
16. “Valley fever” fungus surging northward in California as climate changes
17. America Is Using Up Its Groundwater Like There's No Tomorrow
18. The true cost of climate pollution? 44% of corporate profits. Yet governments are still pouring $7 trillion into subsidies for fossil fuels.
19. How the twin crises of climate change and poor public housing are harming people's health
20. Workers exposed to extreme heat have no consistent protection in the U.S.
21. Study shows no change in U.S. dental antibiotic prescribing rates
22. EPA punts ozone standard review
23. Hospitals swallowing independent practices found to lead to higher costs, worse patient health outcomes
24. Will drug price negotiations work? Here's what you need to know.
25. Not Everything We Call Cancer Should Be Called Cancer
26. Optimizing tobacco cessation treatment with lung cancer screening
27. Why isn't there any enforcement of the ACA mandate to support breastfeeding?
28. Toddlers' Screen Time Linked to Delayed Development — More time on devices at 1 year was associated with specific delays at 2 and 4 years
29. 5,000 pilots suspected of hiding major health issues. Most are still flying.
30. Music can serve as therapy. Here's how it can help reduce anxiety.

Week of August 28, 2023: GREATEST HITS SHOW #10, stories from April to July, 2022 [episode #226]

GREATEST HITS SHOW #10, stories from April to July 2022, featuring: New article outlines the characteristics of a “longevity diet” (2:00); New expert consensus statement published on achieving remission of type 2 diabetes using diet as a primary intervention (3:26); Vegan diet eases rheumatoid arthritis pain (5:14); The U.S. is soon to become a net food importer (6:48); World's vulnerable are being polluted in their own homes as they cook (8:04); Men – especially from rich countries – still dominate the boards of global health groups (9:44); High cost of cancer care in the U.S. doesn't reduce mortality rates (12:09); Heart attack mortality rate higher in the U.S. compared to other high-income countries (14:22); Locking People Up Is No Way to Treat Mental Illness (16:48); PTSD costs in U.S. civilian, military populations combine for more than $230 billion, surpassing costs for conditions such as anxiety and depression (20:34); Study finds disparities in improper antibiotic prescribing, which is commonplace (24:44); What are the Radiation Risks from CT Scans? and CT Scans Cause About 40,000 Cancers Deaths Per Year, Similar to Breast and Prostate Cancers (26:54); Up to 540,000 lives could be saved worldwide by targeting speed and other proven traffic crash prevention interventions (34:08); United States had highest motor vehicle crash mortality rate among comparable countries (36:12); Cutting air pollution from fossil fuels would save 50,000 lives a year in U.S. (37:48); Toledo ranks as 10th most stressed city in U.S. (38:08); Reasons Why Most Young Adults Sweep Depression Under the Rug (40:52); A new study shows benefits to dispatching mental health specialists in nonviolent 911 emergencies (42:05); Global abortion facts and health care standards (44:23); “Set them up for failure” – Sex education not required in many states where abortion is or will be banned (49:28); One-Week Social Media Break Reduces Anxiety, Depression (54:11).

Week of August 21, 2023 [episode #225]:

Featuring: U.S. suicide deaths reached record high in 2022 (1:53); Cancer screenings have saved the U.S. at least 12 million years of life and $6.5 trillion over 25 years (2:28); Risk of cancer death after exposure to low-dose ionizing radiation underestimated, says study of nuclear industry (4:44); EPA's new definition of PFAS could omit thousands of “forever chemicals” (7:51); Middle-aged U.S. adults binge drinking and marijuana use at record levels (11:46); Younger adults increasingly view alcohol as unhealthy (14:11); Americans' biggest fears: Opioids surge past guns (15:23); Some Health Workers See Double the Risk for Fatal Drug Overdoses (17:06); Drinking, often heavy, is common among cancer survivors (18:03); Two-thirds of Americans say their lives have been affected by addiction (19:42); A marijuana legalization question will be on Ohio's fall ballot after lawmakers failed to act on it (21:01); Negotiations for lower drugs prices are at risk again — this time in the courts (22:02); The U.S. pays much more for newer weight loss drugs than its peer countries (26:02); Few Early Alzheimer's Patients Qualify for Newest Drug (26:47); Feds raise concerns about long call center wait times as millions dropped from Medicaid (29:24); In emergency rooms, marginalized patients more likely to be skipped in line (30:31); Nurse Home-Visit Program Shows No Benefit for Prenatal Care, Pointing to Larger Social Determinants (33;36); Older discharged COVID patients at twice the risk of death as older flu patients (35:47); NFL announces more steps to reduce head injuries, as injuries continue to increase (36;49).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Environmental groups sue SoCal air regulator over ozone pollution for failing to impose regulatory fees on major industries polluting
2. The EPA is rejecting calls for tougher regulation of big livestock farms. It's promising more study.
3. New Top Cop at the E.P.A. Aims to Get Enforcement Back on Track
4. Maui wildfire survivors face new threat from chemical contamination that could linger for months
5. Maui water is unsafe even with filters, one of the lessons learned from fires in California
6. Many users of skin-lightening products are unaware of risks
7. Teenage smokers have different brains than non-smoking teens
8. Eels, Cocaine and Climate Change — Forget “Cocaine Bear” and “Cocaine Shark.” To really understand the environmental threat of illicit drugs, look to eels.
9. What does the U.S. abortion pill ruling mean for patients?
10. Why so few get screened for lung cancer, the deadliest cancer in the U.S.
11. Removing Race-Corrected Pulmonary Function Tests May Alter Lung Cancer Care
12. A New Medicare Proposal Would Cover Training for Family Caregivers
13. The definition of clinical trial diversity must include disabled people
14. Why Doctors Spend Millions on Fees That Could Be Spent on Providing Care. The shift to electronic medical reimbursements gave rise to payment processing companies demanding a 1.5% to 5% fee every time a doctor gets paid by insurers. The government banned such fees — until a company lobbyist got involved.
15. Low Regret, High Satisfaction Long Term After Gender-Affirming Mastectomy
16. Turning the tide on obesity? Prevention efforts that address all of the factors that contribute to obesity must be bolstered, not abandoned, to ensure that the next generation will not require lifelong medication to maintain metabolic health.
17. AI Causes Real Harm. Let's Focus on That over the End-of-Humanity Hype
18. Thousands of scientists are cutting back on Twitter, seeding angst and uncertainty
19. 1 in 3 men worldwide have genital HPV infection
20. 81% of infants in ICU for RSV were previously healthy, born full-term
21. “Underwhelming” — NIH trials fail to test meaningful long Covid treatments — after 2.5 years and over $1 billion spent
22. Amid the New Normal of COVID, There's an Old Normal Too — Low-income working families and people of color continue to be hit hardest.
23. COVID-19 may trigger new-onset high blood pressure
24. Right Price, Wrong Politics — People want to live in states with access to abortion care and liberal policies. They just can't afford to.
25. Just 4,000 daily steps may lower your risk of death, study finds, with additional benefits the more you walk

Week of August 7, 2023: GREATEST HITS SHOW #9, stories from September thru December, 2021 [episode #224]

GREATEST HITS SHOW #9, stories from January to April 2022, featuring: A Healthy Diet Is Too Costly for Three Billion People (1:53); Financial incentives for smoking cessation proves highly cost effective for society but not for individual businesses (3:23); Resolved to quit smoking this year? Experts offer tips (6:42); In helping smokers quit, combining treatments is key (9:18); Health-Care Disparities: A Way of Life for Black Ohioans? (12:39); Incarceration increases long-term mortality rates among blacks but not whites (14:55); For the uninsured, crowdfunding provides little help in paying for health care and deepens inequities (17:02); Eat your legumes — How a healthier diet can add 10 or more years to your life (18:44); Why are alcohol- and drug-related deaths rising in the U.S. and not elsewhere? (21:02); Pressure to feel good associated with poorer individual wellbeing in happier countries (24:02); Why the pursuit of happiness can be bad for you, and what you should pursue instead (25:45); Overlooked and underfunded — experts call for united action to reduce the global burden of depression (30:00);  More spice could help seniors avoid salt (35:23); One in ten Americans say they don't eat meat, a growing share of the population (36:56); Some of the world's lowest rates of dementia found in Amazonian indigenous groups (37:41); High blood pressure, obesity, and physical inactivity have the biggest impact on dementia cases (41:09); Diet quality decreased for U.S. seniors from 2001 to 2018, dropping to 61% with poor quality (41:56); “Stand your ground” laws linked to 700 additional firearm homicides each year in U.S. (45:36); Amid war and disease, World Happiness Report shows bright spot of increased benevolence (47:56);  Cities are making us fat and unhealthy: A “healthy location index” can help us plan better (51:04); Subsidy would improve fruit and veg intake by as much as 15%, say economists (53:23); Sci-Hub Offers the Quickest, Easiest, and Greatest Access to Science — all for free, though illegally (55:16).

Week of August 7, 2023 [episode #223]:

Featuring: 7 out of 10 people worldwide protected by at least one best practice tobacco control measure (1:52); A majority of Americans support universal background checks, gun licensing and an assault weapons ban (5:02); Miami's top cop shot himself — Mental health remains an issue for first responders (7:33); Attacks at U.S. medical centers show why health care is one of the nation's most violent fields (9:29); Doctors in states that ban abortion can still refer patients elsewhere — Why are so few doing that? (14:55); Enough with the health care policy patchwork — It's time for universal insurance (23:12); 10% of cancer risk lurks in your genes, and testing is cheaper now — Why do so few people get it? (32:21); Without a plan to fight antibiotic-resistant superbugs, the Cancer Moonshot will never achieve liftoff (36:07); The Real Costs of the New Alzheimer's Drug, Most of Which Will Fall to Taxpayers — $82,500 per year (40:00).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Study shows 8 out of 10 child deaths in low-income countries could be prevented
2. Legislators rolling back child labor protections
3. The World Is Not Prepared for Another Cholera Wave
4. ProMED, an early warning system on disease outbreaks, appears near collapse
5. 17 percent of U.S. toddlers falling short on childhood vaccinations
6. Measles was once seen as a childhood disease. Increasingly, adults are susceptible, too
7. EPA Approved a Fuel Ingredient Even Though It Could Cause Cancer in Virtually Every Person Exposed Over a Lifetime
8. “Halliburton Loophole” Allows Fracking Companies to Avoid Chemical Regulation
9. Outdoor air pollution may increase non-lung cancer risk in older adults
10. Black Women Weigh Emerging Risks of Hair Straighteners
11. Doctors Sound Alarm About Child Nicotine Poisoning as Vapes Flood the U.S. Market
12. Lawsuit over Texas abortion ban could be a model in other states where doctors and hospitals are afraid to end dangerous pregnancies
13. Doctors Emerge as Political Force in Battle Over Abortion Laws in Ohio and Elsewhere. Ohio is among at least five states where physicians have mobilized to protect reproductive rights.
14. Drugmakers go under the skin with injectables, skirting early U.S. Medicare price negotiations
15. Doctors say insurers are ignoring orders to pay surprise billing disputes
16. Millions more Americans have medical debt than student debt. Where's their relief?
17. “I'm going to be homeless” — Ohio Medicaid collects $87.5M from families after loved ones' death
18. Options, resources available to help avoid Medicaid taking your assets
19. All U.S. racial and ethnic minority groups are underrepresented in Alzheimer's neuroimaging research
20. Marijuana addiction is real. Those struggling often face skepticism.
21. The Wild West of Online Testosterone Prescribing
22. How do doctors' personal political affiliations affect how they care for their patients?
23. Climate change is hitting close to home for nearly 2 out of 3 Americans, poll finds
24. The NIH Ices a Research Project on Science Communication. Is It Self-Censorship?
25. How the ADA paved the way for workplace protections for women and LGBTQ+ people
26. Mississippi Remains an Outlier in Jailing People With Serious Mental Illness Without Charges
27. Changes in heat-related illnesses
28. In a summer marked by extreme heat, some suggest it is time for a national cooling standard
29. Mom of two dies from drinking too much water after feeling dehydrated on family trip
30. Field sobriety tests cannot reliably identify drivers under the influence of cannabis
31. “Oppenheimer” is a must-watch for everyone who works in AI and health care
32. It's a busy, noisy, bright world. For millions, going out is hard, due to sensory processing disorder that makes sights, sounds and smells feel overwhelming
33. As black lung disease declines, silicosis in miners is taking its place
34. After decades of delays and broken promises, coal miners hail rule to slow rise of black lung driven by silicosis
35. Fatigue Can Shatter a Person — Everyday tiredness is nothing like the depleting symptom that people with long COVID and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome experience
36. Switching from the average American omnivore diet to a fully plant-based diet saves 1.15 acres of land.
37. The Life-Changing, Solar-Charged Power of Sustainable “Regenerative Travel” that reconnects us with nature
38. The COVID Virus is Learning New Tricks and We Humans Keep Falling Behind
39. U.S. News & World Report HOSPITAL RANKINGS for TOLEDO [None in top tier]

Week of July 31, 2023 ,GREATEST HITS SHOW #8  [episode #222]:

GREATEST HITS SHOW #8, stories from September to December 2021, featuring: High-quality diet tied to lower migraine frequency, severity (1:56); Higher sodium intake may be tied to worse migraine outcomes (2:32); Consuming fruit and vegetables and exercising can make you happier (3:06); Top tips if your child is a fussy eater (4:15)  A Little Radiation Is Not Good For You (6:12); Science Alone Can't Heal a Sick Society (7:25);  Corporate versus public control of science and technology: Forging a framework for the 21st Century (13:41); How placebos work is not fully understood, but alternative theory of consciousness holds some clues (20:57); Researchers trace the outlines of two cultures within science, one of which promotes greater equity and inclusivity (25:30); Investing $1 per person per year in hand hygiene could save hundreds of thousands of lives (30:42); Only about half of U.S. adolescents get sex education that meets minimum federal standards (34:03); New look at nutrition research identifies 10 features of a heart-healthy eating pattern (36:59); What Makes Some Countries Happier Than Others? (44:22); Seven questions to assess how wise you are (47:42); Protective effect of education against midlife mental health struggle waning for Americans (49:41); Junk food portion sizes need to be reigned in (51:18); Our meat habit is causing pollution issues — by way of our poops (54:20).

Week of July 24, 2023 [episode #221]:

Featuring: Toledo ranks 84th among top 100 U.S. cities on fitness index (1:51); What's in your sports supplement? Not what's on the label, study finds (3:37); The Supreme Court Should Back Firearms Restraints That Save Lives through domestic violence civil protection orders (7:44); Hepatitis C Infections in Pregnancy Skyrocketed Over the Past Two Decades (16:36); Misdiagnoses cost the U.S. 800,000 deaths and serious disabilities every year (17:37); Insurers Deny Medical Care for the Poor at High Rates (25:41); The Overlooked Reason Our Health Care System Crushes Patients — administrative burden on patients and providers (31:32); Cancer experts call for cancer care to be centered on patients rather than commercial interests (37:02); Just more than a third of hospitals are complying with price transparency rules (38:57); A Positive Covid Milestone — excess deaths each day is no longer historically abnormal (41:16); A clue to China's true covid-19 death toll — likely 1.6 million deaths in 3 month of wave (43:05).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Headers linked to memory issues, raising questions about soccer safety as the World Cup kicks off
2. Trump COVID Shot Ad Boosted Vaccination in Red Counties
3. WHO urges governments to set up surveillance for people at risk from heatwaves
4. Why ultra-processed foods matter: they worsen the state of world hunger
5. What Happened When Oregon Decriminalized Hard Drugs
6. The Painful Legacy of ‘Law and Order' Treatment of Addiction in Jail
7. Providers still hesitate to prescribe buprenorphine for addiction, despite ‘X-waiver' removal
8. Medical Debt Is Making Americans Angry. Doctors and Hospitals Ignore This at Their Peril.
9. Medicare Advantage could get up to $1.6 trillion more than it's entitled to over the next decade, due to coding oddities and healthier patients, and that could hurt the Medicare trust fund
10. A program to bring internet access to low-income people is running out of money. Health care will suffer.
11. Health care providers are raking in profits by exploiting programs meant for the poor
12. POLICY PRIMER: THE PROBLEMS WITH MEDICARE ADVANTAGE
13. In some states, gender dysphoria is a protected disability — and momentum could be growing
14. FTC and HHS Warn Hospital Systems and Telehealth Providers about Privacy and Security Risks from Online Tracking Technologies
15. Biden's HIPAA expansion for abortion draws criticism, lawsuit threats
16. Blue-state doctors launch abortion pill pipeline into states with bans
17. C-section Rates Are Way Too High. We Need to Hold Doctors and Hospitals Accountable
18. “Nudges” from electronic health records could improve the implementation of tobacco use treatment almost three-fold over standard care for cancer patients
19. America's food program for the poor should focus on nutrition
20. Undue influence? Anonymous donations to World Health Organization's new foundation raise concerns
21. Top DEA official resigns after report on high-priced consulting work for pharma
22. Light pollution is fixable. Can researchers and policymakers work together to dim the lights?
23. As Climate Clock Ticks, U.S. Government Has Been Using Credits for Burning Trash to Look Green
24. Climate Change Threatens U.S. Nuclear Strike Capability through flooding and heat waves
25. Trinity Nuclear Test's Fallout Reached 46 States, Canada and Mexico, New Study Finds
26. A Meatless Diet Is Better for You—And the Planet
27. Being Anxious or Sad Does Not Make You Mentally Ill — We easily pathologize bad feelings, but they're a normal, even healthy part of human experience.

 Week of July 17, 2023 [episode #220]:

Featuring: Hunger and famine are not accidents — they are created by the actions of people — the connection to violent conflict and profiteering (1:52); Where Was Climate Change at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health? (8:13); EPA makes major move to reduce childhood exposure to lead-based paint dust (11:12); Electric vehicle tires — a lesser-known pollution headache (14:58); FDA approves first over-the-counter birth control pill (20:12); Cost could limit demand for over-the-counter birth control pills (21:50); Why more Americans aren't using the 988 mental-health crisis hotline (24:36); Most patients using weight-loss drugs like Wegovy stop within a year (28:44); Investigating the XY (male-female) factor in disease (31:17); East Palestine, Ohio, Railroad Derailment — Lessons to Learn, Actions to Take (34:18); My Epidemiologist — Lessons I learned during the pandemic (39:02).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Houston just started enforcing a decade-old ban on feeding the homeless. Food Not Bombs volunteers are fighting back.
2. New York City hotline to advise police on involuntary hospitalizations has gotten zero calls
3. Understanding effects of heat on mental health
4. Saharan dust plume arrives in Houston, another health risk as temperatures approach 100
5. Takeaways from AP's examination of nuclear waste problems in the St. Louis region
6. The U.S. Will Send Depleted Uranium Munitions to Ukraine
7. Decades after the dangers of lead became clear, some cities are leaving lead pipe in the ground
8. Why tires — not tailpipes — are spewing more pollution from your cars (brakes too)
9. EU to drop ban of hazardous chemicals after industry pressure
10. Johnson & Johnson sues researchers who linked talc to cancer
11. As Nonprofit Hospitals Reap Big Tax Breaks, States Scrutinize Their Required Charity Spending
12. Who Employs Your Doctor? Increasingly, a Private Equity Firm.
13. Why nearly half of Americans with Parkinson's don't see a neurologist
14. Unlocking Ohio's economic potential: The impact of eliminating racial disparities on Ohio businesses, governments and communities
15. Melanoma an even more deadly disease in black men
16. The end of affirmative action will lead to more preventable deaths
17. Will Our Healthcare Workforce Ever Look Like America?
18. Why maternal mortality is so hard to measure — and why the problem may get worse
19. Drowning Is No. 1 Killer of Children age 1 to 5. U.S. Efforts to Fix It Are Lagging.
20. India demands higher manufacturing standards from small drugmakers
21. Presenting a sham treatment as personalized increases the placebo effect in a randomized controlled trial
22. Kidney stones are rising among children and teens, especially girls
23. Is aspartame a carcinogen?
24. Can ChatGPT Defend the Long-term Use of Antipsychotics?
25. How abortion bans will strain an already failing foster system
26. Right-wing politicians are stoking renewed moral panic about HIV
27. “Greenhushing” — Why some companies quietly hide their climate pledges
28. Judge holds Washington state in contempt for not providing services to mentally ill people in jails
29. Mental Health Respite Facilities Are Filling Care Gaps in Over a Dozen States
30. Chronic insufficient sleep leads to overeating and eating more junk food
31. Want to keep your memory sharp? Here's what science recommends [exercise and eating well]
32. Having a negative view of aging may be hurting your health and shortening your lifespan. 5 ways to change your mindset.

Week of July 10, 2023 [episode #219]:

Featuring: Places With Smoke-Free Laws Have the Best Health Outcomes, with less cardiovascular, respiratory system disease, and adverse birth outcomes (1:52); Here are the 12 states — including Ohio — where smoking rates are 50% higher than the rest of the country (4:18); Ohio has much room for improvement in state tobacco control ratings (6:49); CDC helping states address gun injuries after years of political roadblocks (9:00); CDC to Reduce Funding for States' Child Vaccination Programs due to debt ceiling bill (14:32); Idaho Drops Critical Panel Investigating Pregnancy-Related Deaths as U.S. Maternal Mortality Surges (16:05); Equity in decline — fair distribution in a worse-off world (21:19); More than one third of young women in U.S. suffer from iron deficiency (33:31); Fewer than half of new drugs add substantial therapeutic value over existing treatments (36:51); New Federal Decisions Make Alzheimer's Drug Widely Accessible, despite safety risks, marginal benefit, and high costs (38:51); Emergency lights and sirens on ambulances may do more harm than good (46:30).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. U.S. livestock, pet industries, and various animal markets pose disease threat to people
2. Report: Animal Markets and Zoonotic Disease in the United States (PDF)
3. In Arizona Water Ruling, the Hopi Tribe Sees Limits on Its Future
4. How private interests benefit from tribal water settlements
5. New Biden initiative targets controversial hospital “facility fees” that often surprise patients
6. Biden takes aim at “junk” insurance, vowing to save money for consumers being played as “suckers”
7. Billing the Hospital Billing Department [WARNING: This is satire]
8. The Problems With For-Profit Nursing Programs
9. The U.S. Banned Farmers From Using a Brain-Harming Pesticide on Food. Why Has It Slowed a Global Ban?
10. How to Lose a Century of Progress: Fret About Imperfect Public Health Delivering Huge Results
11. Pro-Vaccine Views Are Winning. Don't Fear the Skeptics.
12. What could cause a malaria comeback in the U.S. — and what could stop it
13. More States Legalize Sales of Unpasteurized Milk, Despite Public Health Warnings
14. Ohio governor asks Biden to declare disaster over train derailment
15. Texas Pipeline Operators Released or Flared Tons of Gas to Avert Explosions During Heatwave
16. To Save the Planet, Should We Really Be Moving Slower? Balancing Growth of Green Technologies While Leveraging Degrowth Movement
17. What to Do When You Can't Fall Asleep May Surprise You  — get up, relax, do something boring
18. How Focusing on Care Can Change Our Relationship to Food while building a better world

Week of July 3, 2023 [episode #218]:

Featuring: Air quality affects skin health — A dermatologist explains as more Canadian wildfire smoke hits the U.S. (2:07); Vaping a gateway to smoking for non-smokers (4:17); “Jarringly” Low Hepatitis C Cure Rates a Decade After New Treatments (6:07); Nearly half of tuberculosis cases in prisons worldwide go undetected (9:54); More Americans see gun violence as major problem, poll finds (12:03); More in new poll say pandemic is over, but fewer than half say lives are back to normal (14:42); As AIDS epidemic raged, a rogue Reagan official taught America the truth (17:55); Chemical industry used big tobacco's tactics to conceal evidence of PFAS “forever chemical” risks (25:26).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Threats to Democracy Are Threats to Health
2. Harassment against scientists is out of control
3. Misinformation Obscures Standards Guiding Gender-Affirming Care for Trans Youth
4. Millions face a relentless summer of smoke that won't end anytime soon
5. Extreme Heat Is Here to Stay. Why Are We Not More Afraid?
6. Texas heat isn't letting up at night
7. Pressure builds for FEMA to declare deadly heat events as disasters
8. Heat, humidity, and smoke… oh my. [epidemiological brief]
9. How Safe Is Your Office Air? There's One Way to Find Out. [measure it]
10. We're Building Infrastructure Based on a Climate We No Longer Live In
11. A Grid Collapse Would Make a Heat Wave Far Deadlier
12. The EPA was on the cusp of cleaning up “Cancer Alley.” Then it backed down.
13. The ugly side of beauty: Chemicals in cosmetics threaten college-age women's reproductive health
14. How Plastics Are Poisoning Us. They both release and attract toxic chemicals, and appear everywhere from human placentas to chasms 36,000 feet beneath the sea. Will we ever be rid of them?
15. The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act is a game changer for U.S. women. Here's why.
16. “I felt like I was dying”: How women with postpartum depression fall through the cracks of U.S. health care
17. Life in the Throes of Postpartum Depression
18. “Man Down!”: Surviving the Texas Heat in Prisons Without Air-Conditioning
19. Conditions at Guantánamo Are Cruel and Inhuman, U.N. Investigation Finds
20. Sickle cell disease is 11 times more deadly than previously recorded
21. Opioids are overrated for some common back pain
22. That essential morning coffee may be a placebo
23. WHO's cancer research agency to say aspartame sweetener a possible carcinogen
24. As Low-Nicotine Cigarettes Hit the Market, Anti-Smoking Groups Press for Wider Standard
25. Georgia launches Medicaid expansion in closely watched test of work requirements
26. Supreme Court strikes down use of affirmative action, a blow to efforts to diversify medical schools
27. George W. Bush's AIDS-fighting program's new critics: Republicans
28. Malaria has always been a risk, but U.S. outbreaks are rare thanks to surveillance
29. States and CDC to track cronobacter cases [which triggered baby formula crisis] like other infectious diseases
30. Melted, pounded, extruded: Why many ultra-processed foods are unhealthy. Industrial processing fundamentally changes the structure of food.

Week of June 26, 2023 [episode #217]:

Featuring: Air pollution, even at low levels, made COVID much worse for patients and hospitals (1:52); Air pollution from intensive agriculture and urban emissions linked to Kawasaki disease (5:03); A cheap fix to global warming, reducing methane emissions, is finally gaining support (6:53); E-Cigs Are Still Flooding the U.S., Addicting Teens With Higher Nicotine Doses (10:08); Report finds nationwide spike in preventable deaths, maternal mortality and medical bills (18:11); Diabetes cases worldwide to double to 1.3 billion by 2050 (23:25); Danger afoot — U.S. pedestrian deaths at highest level in 41 years (25:57); “Mosquito days” are getting more common nationwide due to climate change (29:23); Belize certified malaria-free by WHO (30:26); Traumatic brain injury should be recognized as chronic condition (32:08); Bloated patient records are filled with false information, thanks to copy-paste (33:23); Online harassment of doctors is a public health issue (38:35).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. The World Rallied to Find Missing Titan Sub but Ignored Shipwrecked Migrants
2. Heat Waves Are Unleashing a Deadly but Overlooked Pollutant — Ozone
3. Wildfire Smoke Reacts with City Pollution, Creating New Toxic Air Hazard — Ozone
4. How America solved its first air pollution crisis — and why solving the next one will be harder
5. The New War on Bad Air (for better ventilated buildings)
6. Meet the Texas commissioners who could stymie Biden's climate agenda by approving methane releases
7. How to build a zero-waste, circular economy. These businesses say: reuse, refill, return.
8. Navy weapons tests in Potomac spark environmental lawsuit
9. Supreme Court rules against Navajo Nation in Colorado River case, voiding water rights
10. Harsh New Fentanyl Laws Ignite Debate Over How to Combat Overdose Crisis: Law Enforcement Versus Public Health
11. Abortion bans are causing “chilling effect” for OB/GYNs says poll of OB/GYNS
12. Even in states where it is legal, abortion isn't as accessible as the laws make it seem
13. Malpractice Lawsuits Over Denied Abortion Care May Be on the Horizon
14. Abortion is ancient history: Long before Roe, women terminated pregnancies
15. States with abortion bans or severe limits far outpace those offering paid family leave. None of the 25 anti-abortion states  offer any paid family leave. This double whammy of mandated birth and state neglect has grave health consequences.
16. Medical Exiles: Families Flee States Amid Crackdown on Transgender Care
17. Everything you need to know about gender-affirming care
18. How does trauma spill from one generation to the next?
19. Americans are drinking as much alcohol now as in Civil War days
20. Head Hits, Not Concussions, Tied to CTE
21. New study links combined contraceptive pills and depression
22. In-Hospital Delivery-Related Maternal Mortality on the Decline — But the prevalence of severe maternal morbidity increased
23. BMI vs Body Fat Percentage When Classifying Obesity
24. “Night owls” more likely to die younger, study says. But the problem isn't sleep; it's drinking and smoking.
25. “It's beyond unethical”: Opaque conflicts of interest permeate prescription drug benefits
26. The Biotech Edge: How Executives and Well-Connected Investors Make Exquisitely Timed Trades in Health Care Stocks
27. “You're not God”: Doctors and patient families say HCA hospitals push hospice care
28. The Moral Crisis of America's Doctors practicing in America's corporate health care
29. L.A. voters could clamp down on pay for hospital executives
30. Why Do We Tolerate Our Health Insurance Problem?
31. How AI could spark the next pandemic by making it easier to make dangerous germs
32. They only want you to believe it's food — the ultra-processed food industry rules

Week of June 19, 2023, GREATEST HITS SHOW #7 [episode #216]:

GREATEST HITS SHOW #7, stories from May to August 2021, featuring: New position statement declares that sleep is essential to health (2:02); Better sleep — Less fast food and screen time, more physical activity (5:12); America's unhealthy lifestyles (10:34); Women now drink as much as men (13:45); Beyond remission — From alcohol dependence to optimal mental health (17:38); The link between structural racism, high blood pressure and Black people's health (22:17); Study suggests unmedicated, untreated brain illness is likely in mass shooters (26:28); The Food System's Carbon Footprint Has Been Vastly Underestimated (29:57); Pesticides Are Killing the World's Soils and Their Biodiversity (37:52); The total health and climate consequences of the American food system cost three times as much as the food itself (42:24); The food system is unfair to real farmers and creates overabundance of highly processed foods (48:11); Researchers Critique the Medical Model of Mental Health, Propose an Alternative (50:17); Think leisure is a waste? That may not bode well for your mental health (54:44).

Week of June 12, 2023 [episode #215]:

Featuring: Even Healthy People Should Minimize Exposure to Wildfire Smoke, Experts Say (1:50); Hazardous air quality from wildfire smoke takes a toll on outdoor workers (3:57); Wildfire smoke, COVID-19, and striking comparisons (7:25); Ohio Senate budget slashes help for poor and families while lowering taxes and granting private school tuition vouchers to wealthy (10:43); U.S. COVID deaths and hospitalizations reach record low (15:03); China's new COVID wave (16:04); What if There Was Never a [respiratory virus] Pandemic Again? Indoor air quality is next frontier for public health (18:08); More kids are anxious but fewer are getting the right help (25:21); More than 3 in 5 children do not receive timely mental health services after firearm injury (28:06); Study identifies “marked disparities” in federal cancer research funding (31:22); Even At Top Hospitals, Racial Health Disparities in Patient Safety Are Steep (32:42); America's health care paradox: We need smarter spending, not more — investing in social determinants of health (34:14); Your health insurance may not be as good your state requires — and it's perfectly legal (38:39); How the conversation about moral injury in health care is changing (43;15); LGBTQ health coverage improved after same-sex marriage ruling (46:17).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. What Wildfire Smoke, Gas Stoves and Covid Tell Us About Our Air
2. How the public health lessons of Covid can help Americans protect themselves from wildfire smoke
3. The Air Quality Index Explained: What It Means and How to Stay Safe
4. How to pick the right air purifier for your home as wildfire smoke descends
5. Climate Crisis Is on Track to Push One-Third of Humanity Out of Its Most Livable Environment
6. Fears about the future of the planet will impact all of us—it's how we act on them that matters, say researchers
7. Removing antimicrobial resistance from the WHO's “pandemic treaty” will leave humanity extremely vulnerable
8. UK no longer following EU guides on cutting safe levels of BPA plastic containers. As a result, the safe level of BPA in plastic containers in the UK is now 20,000 times higher than in Europe
9. States take matters into their own hands to ban “forever chemicals”
10. The Ways Pollution and Climate Change are Linked to Policing and Incarceration
11. Industrial disasters may cause higher rates of disability and cancer for future generations
12. HHS' first national STI plan could face obstacles, as STI rates reach record highs
13. U.S. government sets penalties on 43 drugs over price hikes
14. Exploring the Effect of Law Enforcement Drug Market Disruptions on Overdoses
15. Jump in child deaths reveals impact of industrialisation on Amazon's Indigenous peoples
16. Americans are divided on gender identity, pronouns and whether schools should discuss them, survey finds

Week of June 5, 2023 [episode #214]:

Featuring: Fukushima set to release hundreds of millions of gallons of radioactive water into world's ocean's (2:52); A $528 billion plan to clean up 54 million gallons of highly radioactive bomb-making waste defies a solution (4:23); Doctors think “advocate” is a dirty word, but it's our ethical responsibility (17:04); Why reducing air pollution is a “bargain investment” (23:11); New study shows quitting smoking can improve mental health (26:48); U.S. life expectancy growth falling behind dozens of countries, happening since 1950's (29:51); How to Lower Deaths Among Women? Give Away Cash (31:33); Sick workers tied to 40% of restaurant food poisoning outbreaks (34:52); Black men were likely underdiagnosed with lung problems because of racial bias built into software (37:21); FDA proposes easy-to-read drug package inserts (40:26); Chemical found in common sweetener (sucralose/Splenda) damages DNA and gut lining (42:02).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Former Gun Company Executive Explains Roots of America's Gun Violence Epidemic and warns of growing radicalization in the industry
2. U.S. lead pipe replacements stoke concerns about plastic and environmental injustice, and need to avoid regrettable substitutions like PVC piping
3. Move to limit tracking of U.S. pesticide use sparks protest
4. Court ruling on civil immunity casts long shadow over future opioid lawsuits
5. States greatly underestimate extreme heat hazards in their emergency plans
6. State lawmakers leading new charge for single-payer care
7. “A target on my back”: New survey shows racism is a huge problem in nursing
8. Trapped at work: Immigrant health care workers can face harsh working conditions and $100,000 lawsuits for quitting, constituting human trafficking
9. Rate of pregnant U.S. women who have diabetes keeps rising
10. Cardiovascular Disease Is Primed to Kill More Older Adults, Especially Blacks and Hispanics
11. Low sexual satisfaction linked to memory decline later in life [poor circulation]
12. Junk food may impair our deep sleep
13. The myth of the “protective” base tan

Week of May 29, 2023 [episode #213]:

Featuring: Most Americans say curbing gun violence is more important than gun rights in wide-ranging poll on gun violence (1:51); Most Americans don't know what 988 suicide crisis hotline is for (6:43); Uninsured Rate Hits Record Low of 8.3%. though expected to rise in coming years (8:43); HIV declines, driven by teens and young adults (9:55); White House launches national plan to end gender-based violence (13:40); The NIH must address disparities in women's health research funding (16:07); How Can Primary Care Be Improved in the U.S.? (20:57); “We're failing to make progress” — Studies show ongoing toll of premature Black deaths (27:02); Study finds that eight factors account for all of the 59% greater risk of early death of Black versus White Americans (31:23); How a little more silence in children's lives helps them learn and grow (35:28).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Causal association found between evening social media use and delayed sleep
2. Why Scientists Have a Hard Time Getting Money to Study the Root Causes of Outbreaks
3. U.S. Nutrition Monitoring System is at Grave Risk
4. In the “Wild West” of Outpatient Vascular Care, Doctors Can Reap Huge Payments as Patients Risk Life and Limb
5. DEA's failure to punish distributor blamed in opioid crisis raises revolving door questions
6. How doctors buy their way out of trouble
7. Why Are Female Doctors Sued Nearly Half as Often as Male Doctors?
8. Checklists to screen for patients' social needs aren't helping
9. A mental-health crisis is gripping science — toxic research culture is to blame
10. Denials of Health Insurance Claims Are Rising — And Getting Weirder
11. Hundreds of Thousands Have Lost Medicaid Coverage Since Pandemic Protections Expired, a lot for procedural reasons.
12. A Catch-22 for Clinics: State Bans Limit Abortion Counseling. Federal Title X Rules Require It.
13. Texas wants to wean trans youth off meds in a “safe and medically appropriate” way. Doctors say that's impossible.
14. Gender-affirming hormone therapy reduces psychological distress in transgender people, says systematic review
15. A lifetime of racism makes Alzheimer's more common in Black Americans
16. New study indicates treatment patterns, not genetics, drive prostate cancer disparities
17. Black children are more likely to have asthma. A lot comes down to where they live.
18. What is long Covid? For the first time, a new study defines it, with 12 defining conditions
19. “Worse than what we thought”: New data reveals deeper problems with the Bureau of Prisons' Covid response
20. How Supreme Court's EPA ruling will massively affect U.S. wetlands, clean water
21. Plastic waste puts more than 200 million of world's poorest at higher risk from floods, as plastic pollution blocks drainage systems
22. How the Arts Can Benefit Your Mental Health (No Talent Required). Drawing, music and writing can elevate your mood. Here are some easy ways to welcome them into your life.

Week of May 22, 2023 [episode #212]:

Featuring: The debt ceiling deal could make America's STD problem much worse (1:52); Hundreds of millions of life years lost to pandemic, at 22 years of life lost per COVID death (5:02); Trust in childhood vaccines holds steady, despite skepticism of Covid-19 vaccines (8:07); Americans walk less frequently and less safely compared to other countries (12:21); Rate of fatal falls among U.S. seniors doubled in 20 years (19:40); Investigation unveils increase in deaths from diabetes and cardiovascular disease, a reversal from previous trend (22:03); Depression rates hit new high (23:36); Investigation into suicides on U.S. Navy ship reveals failures in working and living conditions (25:47); Profiteering Off the Body Insecurity of Teens — Keep dangerous supplements out of kids' hands (27:20); Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee: conflict of interest disclosed, sort of (32:53); Prostate cancer “test by request” policies drive over-diagnosis and over-treatment with minimal benefit (34:40); CDC takes a step toward virus-free air in schools and offices (36:58); Gov. Lujan Grisham: “I will use every tool in my toolbox” to block nuclear waste storage in New Mexico (40:33); The Plastic Crisis Finally Gets Emergency Status and a Plan (42:33).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Baltimore children who moved from high-poverty to low-poverty areas saw their asthma improve
2. One in five seniors report cost-related medication nonadherence
3. Postpartum women face high burden of medical debt
4. American women need more maternity leave, access to pregnancy care, says poll
5. Hospitals in Two States Denied an Abortion to a Miscarrying Patient. Investigators Say They Broke Federal Law.
6. New draft recommendations for mammograms take a one-size-fits-all approach
7. After decades of neglecting women athletes, sport and exercise medicine is finally catching up
8. Researchers identify 10 pesticides toxic to neurons involved in Parkinson's
9. Chemical exposure may raise your risk for Parkinson's, says large veteran study
10. A “ticking time bomb”: Environmental group says Pentagon moving too slowly on toxic cleanup at military bases
11. Three families vowed to stop a killer chemical. Here's how they did it.
12. A simple way to prevent heaps of methane pollution: Composting
13. An AI Chatbot May Be Your Next Therapist. Will It Actually Help Your Mental Health?
14. State Lawmakers Eye Forced Treatment to Address Overlap in Homelessness and Mental Illness
15. Something Weird Is Going On With Melatonin, as pediatric overdoses have increased by 530 percent over the past decade.
16. WHO warns against using artificial sweeteners
17. Bitten by a Tick: What's My Risk of Getting Sick?
18. Those at high risk of mpox should get 2 doses of vaccine, CDC says
19. Appeals Court Pauses Ruling That Threatened Free Preventive Health Care
20. Why is a curable disease still allowed to kill millions? [TB]
21. The Pandemic Didn't Really Change Much About Americans' Sickness Behavior
22. People in the U.S. Think They Are Better Than They Actually Are. People in Asia Don't — a case study of why research bias in WEIRD (Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic) societies distorts our understandings of our world

Week of May 15, 2023 [episode #211]:

Featuring: U.S. families experience more chronic food insecurity now than 20 years ago (1:51); Autoimmune disorders found to affect around 1 in 10 people (3:52); Teens should be trained in media literacy and limit their screen time, psychologists say in new guidelines (6:24); U.S. backs study of safe injection sites, overdose prevention (10:03); FDA blocks marketing on 6,500 flavored e-cigarette products (12:05); U.S. support for nuclear power soars to highest level in a decade, representing a dangerous bet in dealing with climate change (14:02); Air pollution from oil and gas production [not consumption] is responsible for $77 billion in annual U.S. health damages (17:22); Breast cancer screening should begin at 40, not 50, and continue every other years until age 74, national health panel recommends (23:03); New research finds telemedicine consistently outperforms in-person visits for cancer care when both are available (30:02); Corporate Giants Buy Up Primary Care Practices at Rapid Pace, bolstering potential profits from huge Medicare Advantage population (32:03); 10 maternity wards have closed in Ohio in the last year, as Ohio leads nation in number losing access to care (38:21); Monkeypox, now known as mpox, showing signs of return (40:30).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. THE “ELECTRIFY EVERYTHING” MOVEMENT'S CONSUMPTION PROBLEM. Electrification offers an opportunity to rethink how we use energy. Will we squander it?
2. Ohio opioid settlement panel's records must be public, top state court says
3. Ohio Republicans approve August special election that could thwart abortion-rights push in state
4. Report documents “Sharp increase” in crimes against abortion clinics post-Roe
5. As More Hospitals Create Police Forces, Critics Warn of Pitfalls
6. Overdose prevention centers are tough sell in U.S. despite successes
7. The tragedy of the Golden Gate Bridge's $400 million anti-suicide net
8. New blood donation rules allow more gay men to give in U.S.
9. Federal rules don't require period product ingredients on packaging labels, so states are stepping in
10. A plastic sheet with a pouch could be a “game changer” for maternal mortality
11. Cervical cancer screening doubles when under-screened women are mailed at-home testing kits
12. Socioeconomic diversity of U.S medical school students has decreased
13. Amid Opioid Crisis, Doctors Turn to Antidepressants for Chronic Pain, despite unproven efficacy
14. Internal Pharma Documents Reveal Strategies Used to Corrupt the Medical Field
15. The Medical Care That Helps No One, an ICU nurse discusses futile care that is confusing and traumatic for family members, demoralizing for doctors and nurses, and dehumanizing for patients.
16. Sex? Sexual intercourse? Neither? Teens weigh in on evolving definitions — and habits, as sexual intercourse prevalence among teens continues decline
17. Polluting Cooking Methods is a stubborn problem in much of the world

Week of May 8, 2023 [episode #210]:

Featuring: COVID dropped to 4th leading cause of death in U.S. last year (1:51); CDC opens probe after 35 test positive for Covid following CDC conference (3:53); U.S. approves 1st vaccine for RSV after decades of attempts (5:34); Survey of Nurses Reveals Worsening Working Conditions and Career Satisfaction (8:03); “Too greedy” — mass walkout at global science journal over “unethical” fees (12:36); Millions Are Stuck in Dental Deserts, With No Access to Oral Health Care (17:18); Report on medical access finds one-third of Black Americans live in “cardiology deserts” (22:17); Larger welfare checks lead to healthier brains, study finds (26:41); Quitting smoking can lead to a lower risk of household food insecurity (28:49); Fentanyl Overdose Deaths Increased 279% Over Recent Years (31:41); Exposure to airplane noise may increase risk of sleeping fewer than 7 hours per night (32:49).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Why are Americans shooting strangers and neighbors? “It all goes back to fear.”
2. Loneliness poses risks as deadly as smoking, says surgeon general
3. Surgeon General: We Have Become a Lonely Nation. It's Time to Fix That.
4. Mobile phone calls linked with increased risk of high blood pressure
5. Our Covid Data Project Is Over, but the Need for Timely Data Is Not
6. Disease experts warn White House of potential for omicron-like wave of illness
7. Why Is One Dose Suddenly Enough for the mRNA COVID Vaccines?
8. Why Dead Birds Are Falling From the Sky [pandemic bird flu]
9. Democratic AGs are using the courts to win on abortion, gun control
10. How to Spot Anti-Abortion “Crisis Pregnancy” Centers
11. Birth control pills aren't available over the counter in U.S. That could change.
12. Black Alabamians endured poor sewage for decades. Now they may see justice.
13. Heading to a beach this summer? Here's how to keep harmful algae blooms from spoiling your trip
14. Biden Administration Issues New Warning About Medical Credit Cards
15. “Ghost” Provider Networks a Big Problem for Patients, Especially in Mental Health
16. National Academies Members Demand Answers About Sacklers' Donations
17. Wealth, not health: For this hospital, closing Chicago's alarming “death gap” didn't mean more clinics
18. Understanding the Emotional Labor of Public Health Equity Work
19. When states limit care, some trans people do it themselves
20. Examining why Indigenous “Spirit medicine” principles must be a priority in psychedelic research
21. An Illinois law required schools to test water for lead. They found it all over the state.
22. Elevated cancer rates found near Kansas chemical spill
23. UNICEF reports more than 1 million polio vaccines destroyed in Sudan looting
24. Study reveals how poor bedroom air quality affects sleep and next-day work performance

Week of May 1, 2023 [episode #209]:

Featuring: Ohio Ranks 44th in Health Value, a composite score of dozens of metrics on public health and healthcare spending (1:52); U.S. adult cigarette smoking rate hits new all-time low (8:19); More voters support assault weapons ban over arming citizens to reduce violence (10:14); Awareness of HPV Infection's Link to Cancer Lags as Cases Continue to Increase (12:26); Bell's Palsy Occurred More Frequently With COVID Vaccines — BUT Covid infection tripled the risk over vaccination (15:10); Melatonin levels in some gummies don't match label, and they contain CBD, often unlabeled (16:46); Older drivers drinking or using drugs up to four times likelier to be at fault during a car crash (19:06); 45% of people with concussion still show symptoms of brain injury six months later (22:26); Study shows NIH investment in new drug approvals is comparable to investment by pharmaceutical industry (24:31); Biden officials propose slate of Medicaid transparency changes [more here] (26:47); Medicaid enrollment among immigrant children higher in sanctuary states (29:41); ChatGPT Answers Beat Physicians' on Info Quality and Patient Empathy (33:28); A research team airs the messy truth about AI in medicine — and gives hospitals a guide to fix it (39:16).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. How journalists can cover RFK Jr.'s antivax presidential run responsibly
2. Challenging the FDA's authority isn't new — the agency's history shows what's at stake when drug regulation is in limbo
3. Roadside Drug Tests Used to Convict People Aren't Particularly Accurate. Courts Are Beginning to Prevent Their Use.
4. Finding the Origin of a Pandemic Is Difficult. Preventing One Shouldn't Be.
5. As Federal Emergency Declaration Expires, the Picture of the Pandemic Grows Fuzzier
6. Latest polling on Americans' support for abortion rights
7. “Immense And Needless Suffering”: Idaho's Abortion Ban Is Creating A Crisis Of Care
8. Lawyers suggest off-label use a a way around abortion pill restrictions but doctors may be afraid to try it
9. “Obstetric racism” prevalent in U.S., fueling rise in questionable labor inductions
10. Microplastics in Lake Erie highlight growing concern over potential health effects
11. Adults are getting allergies for the first time. Thanks, climate change.
12. Led by students, a nascent climate movement is taking hold in medical education
13. How a 2019 Florida Law Catalyzed a Hospital-Building Boom
14. Physician-Owned Hospitals May Not Be Good for Healthcare
15. Health groups sound the alarm over foreign nurse visa freeze
16. There's a surprisingly easy way to avoid a huge number of major amputations: multidisciplinary collaboration
17. When Patient Questions Are Answered With Higher Quality and Empathy by ChatGPT than Physicians
18. Study finds stool transplants more effective than antibiotics for treating recurring, life-threatening gut infections
19. First pill for fecal transplants wins FDA approval
20. We're using less energy when we rest than we did 30 years ago
21. We've Had a Cheaper, More Potent Ozempic Alternative for Decades: Bariatric Surgery
22. Industrialization Bad for Brain Aging, as shown by indigenous communities
23. Biden run fuels age debate: Experts weigh in on octogenarian health.
24. How to Grow Your Social Network as You Age
25. Self-test for Adult Symptom Deficiency Disorder (ASDD) — WARNING: Contains Satire

Week of April 24, 2023 [episode #208]:

Featuring: “Policy Murder” — Research Shows Poverty Is 4th Leading Cause of Death in U.S. (1:47); The Rising Chorus of Renewable Energy Skeptics points to ending culture of extraction and consumption and embracing true sustainability (6:59); The Hidden Injuries of Systemic Oppression confound mental health field, missing opportunities for social justice (9:28); Refined carbs and red meat driving global rise in type 2 diabetes (12:51); Europe seeks drastic cut to BPA exposure, U.S. far behind (15:45); Psychologists map the psyche of extreme altruists — not that much different in many ways, but truly value well-being of strangers and their communities (19:23);  Over-the-counter naloxone is a baby step toward making the life-saving medication accessible (22:16); Americans bought almost 60 million guns during the pandemic (28:02); Milder autism far outpacing “profound” diagnoses (38:17); Medicare Advantage is not an advantage for many seniors with cancer (38:23).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Losing Ballot Issues on Abortion, Ohio G.O.P. Now Tries to Keep It Off the Ballot
2. “A game changer”: this simple device could help fight the war on abortion rights in the U.S. [manual uterine aspiration]
3. Insurers Are Starting to Cover Telehealth Abortion
4. The Dobbs Decision — Exacerbating U.S. Health Inequity
5. State Abortion Bans May Affect Where Americans Attend College, Poll Finds—Even Republicans
6. Gun Violence Is Actually Worse in Red States. It's Not Even Close.
7. A silent crisis of men's health gets worse
8. From swimming pools to gardening, the rich's privileged lifestyles are driving urban water crises
9. As The Midwest Burns, Biden Ignores Plastic Waste Dangers
10. 18 years and counting: EPA still has no method for measuring Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations [CAFO] air pollution
11. PFAS has more effect than type of diet on weight gain, says study
12. Study links air pollution, heat, carbon dioxide, and noise to reduced sleep
13. Abundant, Ultra-Processed Food Waste
14. After Pandemic Delays, FDA Still Struggling to Inspect Foreign Drug Manufacturers
15. Opiod Drugmaker Sacklers Family Gave Millions to Institution That Advises on Opioid Policy
16. Why employers should wake up to the value of naps at work
17. Lancet Psychiatry: We Are Undervaluing the Placebo Effect
18. WHO elevates XBB.1.16 to variant of interest as levels rise in U.S. and other countries
19. Researchers detect 2 new SARS-CoV-2 strains on Polish mink farms, suggesting long-term circulation in animal reservoirs
20. The heightened risk of autoimmune diseases after Covid

Week of April 17, 2023 [episode #207]:

Featuring: White House launches $5 billion program to speed next generation coronavirus vaccines and treatments (1:51); The Biden administration will hang on to some Covid pandemic emergency powers, such as pharmacies delivering COVID-19 vaccines (3:08); Traditional values closely linked to following COVID-19 precautions, except in U.S. (4:46); 1 in 5 American adults say they have relative killed by a gun (6:47); Why do mass shooters kill? It's about more than having a grievance — including feelings of loss of significance, perceived pathway to stardom, and network that glorifies shootings (9:16); Rural residents are more depressed and anxious than those in urban areas (16:33); About 21 percent of U.S. adults experienced chronic pain in 2021 (18:17); Syphilis Cases Spike 74% in Four Years (18:57); Men Age 70+ Still Overscreened for Prostate Cancer (22:12); Millions expected to lose dental care coverage after Medicaid disenrollments (23:30); Proposed federal rule would regulate coal plant wastewater pollution for the first time (25:46); Juul to pay $462 million over “less addictive” claims and marketing to kids (33:17); All Opioid Pain Meds to Get New Safety Warnings, including on  side effect of increased sensitivity to pain (34:47); Biden to expand access to health care for undocumented immigrants, “Dreamers”, brought to U.S. as children (35:43); Nonprofit Hospitals Often Really Give Back Less Than They Get From Tax Exemption (38:17); Focus on communication, not misinformation (38:17).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. What Ohio Patients, Providers and Advocates Need to Know about the Mass Disenrollment of Medicaid
2. Report outlines how plastic production harms human health, environment, economy
3. Trucks are still taking tainted waste out of East Palestine. One spilled this week.
4. Why is the chemical industry pitting public health against economic growth?
5. Half of PFAS in drinking water not monitored by EPA
6. Legal Abortions Fell by 6 Percent in the Six Months After Dobbs, New Data Shows
7. Texas Mifepristone Case Could Lead to Other Drug Approval Lawsuits, Experts Say
8. Missouri to limit gender-affirming care for both minors and adults
9. Body dysmorphia in boys and men can fuel muscle obsession
10. Six Things To Know About Dietary Supplements Marketed for Bodybuilding or Performance Enhancement
11. Research with exotic viruses risks a deadly outbreak, scientists warn
12. Medicare tests a solution to soaring hospice costs: Let private insurers run it
13. I'm a biopharma supply chain specialist — and even I can't find the Adderall I'm prescribed. Transparency is missing in supply chains.
14. Possibilities of AI in the practice of medicine
15. Health insurance makes many kinds of hospital care more expensive
16. Here's a new data point for cancer patients to consider: “time toxicity”
17. We're Treating Low Back Pain All Wrong – We Need to Expand Non-Pharmacological Approaches
18. Functional Neurological Disorder Still Carries Stigma
19. Chronic health conditions in incarcerated people in the U.S. are likely severely undertreated
20. Emergency rooms need clear guidelines about how to handle law enforcement
21. Almost 90% of U.S. mpox-related deaths were in Black men, CDC reports
22. Black men face many more health hurdles. An expert discusses why.
23. Chronic Stress and “Mental Illness”
24. Polypharmacy Isn't the Answer for Adolescent Mental Health
25. We need a way to tell useful mental health tech from digital snake oil
26. People with Down Syndrome Are Living Longer, but the Health System Still Treats Many as Kids
27. What SuperAgers show us about longevity, cognitive health as we age — the value of healthy lifestyles and strong social connections
28. Education and peer support cut binge-drinking by National Guard members in half
29. Now is the time to build up public health departments, not shrink them further
30. Four Philly moms explain how cash for expecting parents could be transformative in America's poorest big city

Week of April 10, 2023 [episode #206]:

Featuring: Global health past and future — The W.H.O. at 75 (1:51); FDA to okay second omicron-targeting booster for age 65+ and the immunocompromised (7:58); Where is the White House's new mandated pandemic response office? (11:08); It's Not “Deaths of Despair” — It's Deaths of Children (13:58); Uptick in Gun Deaths “At the Scene” Point to Increased Injury Lethality (24:20); Another county adopts pilot for universal income (25:39); EPA tightens mercury emissions limits at coal power plants (28:46); For the First Time in Nearly Two Decades, the EPA Announces New Rules to Limit Toxic Air Pollutants From Chemical and Plastics Plants (32:33); “Nature prescriptions” can improve physical and mental health (37:41); Prescribers Often Fail to Support Patients Discontinuing Antidepressants (40:38); Up to 90% prescribed (21 million Americans) may take a hypothyroidism drug (Synthroid) they don't need (44:01); Air Force Will Allow More Body Fat for Recruits as Service Struggles to Meet Recruitment Goals (45:08); Black women with better access are still at higher risk of maternal mortality than white women with poorer access (46:03); Infertility affects 1 in 6 adults around the world (46:50).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Federal judge suspends FDA approval of abortion pill
2. Federal judges issue conflicting rulings in a pill used for medication abortion
3. What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
4. FDA's power tested by dueling abortion pill rulings
5. A maternal mortality review committee law meant to save lives of Idaho mothers is on the chopping block. Will lawmakers keep it?
6. “War on drugs” deja vu: Fentanyl overdoses spur states to seek tougher laws
7. World Athletics banned transgender women from competing. Does science support the rule? [Not really]
8. How a lobbying blitz led to weaker Medicare Advantage reforms
9. The big squeeze: ACA health insurance has lots of customers, small networks
10. Hospitals that pay trustees offer less charity care
11. I declined to share my medical data with advertisers at my doctor's office. One company claimed otherwise
12. Nearly All Hospital Websites Send Tracking Data to Third Parties
13. JAMA Psychiatry: We Must Look at the Harms of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy
14. For Uninsured People With Cancer, Securing Care Can Be Like Spinning a Roulette Wheel
15. Study reveals that pollution can cause lung cancer in non-smokers
16. Chemicals from grocery stickers may be leaching into foods. Here's what you need to know.
17. U.S. states consider ban on cosmetics with “forever chemicals”.
18. How reframing mass shootings as suicide could help prevent them
19. Why the new RSV vaccines are a BFD
20. Why do we forget after catastrophic events?
21. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome strikes home for thousands each year: POEM – Death Unexplained [Ode to Harry Gavin]
22. Experts address top food myths
23. More than 1 in 4 U.S. adults suffers from seasonal allergies

Week of April 3, 2023 [episode #205]:

Featuring: CDC teams studying East Palestine health risks got sick during investigation (2:06); The Farm Bill — transform its focus to food, not feed or fuel (4:11); U.N. food chief says billions needed to avert unrest, starvation (5:32); In much of the world, one of the most powerful public health measures is simply recording every birth and death (6:55); Court ruling on prevention coverage “disastrous for public health”, “deeply flawed” and confusing, affecting 100+ screenings and preventive services (11:07); Lung cancer screening rates extremely low, worst among the commercially insured (18:17); Achieving health for all requires action on the economic and commercial determinants of health (19:55); “We have arrived in the post-antibiotic era” — WHO warns of too few new drugs for deadly superbugs (26:57); Ohio sues prescription drug middlemen over business practices (35:51); American IQs rose 30 points in the last century — now, they may be falling, perhaps due to technology (26:59); Limit screen use in children under six (38:16); Kids' Mental Health Hospitalizations Surged Over Past Decade, cases more serious (39:32); Researchers call attention to unsupervised youth's easy gun access (41:06); Alcohol increases risk for gun-involved suicide among Americans (42:53); Ohio joins majority of states with failing grade on annual gun law scorecard (44:34); One COVID-19 bivalent booster is enough for now, CDC finally decides (45:33); New research finds 40% of people over 50 don't report their hearing loss 47:05).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Are you one of 200K Ohioans losing Medicaid in April? What to know and what to do
2. WHO Booster Update: Here's What They Got Right and Wrong
3. Study finds excess harm from overprescribed antibiotics for patients results in widespread side effects
4. Don't expect big changes to preventive services insurance, yet
5. Ten Questions and Answers About Narcan
6. Get Free Naloxone in Ohio
7. Fear of Family Separation a Barrier to Addiction Care During Pregnancy
8. Mothers Face Broken Addiction Treatment System
9. Black women continue to receive poorer care for endometriosis
10. Why experts worry the “magic” in new weight loss medications carries a dark side
11. Incidence of type 1, type 2 diabetes increasing in people younger than 20
12. Pharmacists are burning out. Patients are feeling the effects.
13. Social media is addictive for many girls, especially those with depression
14. Research suggests social isolation may be as bad for our health as hypertension, obesity
15. Can you die from a broken heart? How emotional distress can wreck your body.
16. As a Doctor, I Know Being Ready to Die Is an Illusion
17. Adam Peaty withdraws from British swimming championships to focus on mental health
18. The public health playbook: ideas for challenging the corporate playbook
19. Is Sex ed, birth control, Medicaid: Republicans' “new pro-life agenda”?
20. Women were already unequal in the world of global health. The pandemic made it worse
21. KFF/The Washington Post Trans Survey
22. To Understand Anti-vaxxers, Consider Aristotle — Science denialism reaches back centuries.
23. The lab leak conversation shows it's time to rethink our biosecurity infrastructure, not just policies
24. Pandemic Jump in ED Visits for Firearm Injuries Continued Into 2022 — — biggest increases among kids under 14
25. Active shooter drills: Do risks outweigh benefits?
26. The gun that divides a nation — The AR-15
27. How the Gun Became Integral to the Self-Identity of Millions of Americans
28. America's unique, enduring gun problem, explained
29. Scientists make “disturbing” find on remote island: plastic rocks
30. Probiotic supplements may do the opposite of boosting your gut health

Week of March 27, 2023 [episode #204]:

Featuring: Global water crisis could “spiral out of control” due to overconsumption and climate change, UN report warns (1:57); Obesity Tied to Density of Food Stores Carrying Less Healthy Options (4:35); Steps have dropped since Covid-19 and the trend is worrisome (6:23); FDA seeks to allow salt substitutes in everyday food formulations (9:52); Road noise can make your blood pressure rise, literally (11:30); Teen overdose deaths have doubled in three years — blame fentanyl (12:47); Study suggests last-resort antibiotic still being widely used in animal feed, worsening antibiotic resistance (17:40); Rapidly spreading fungus already in 28 states presents “urgent” threat, CDC warns (18:47); Bacteria from meat likely to cause more than a half-million urinary tract infections in the U.S. every year (20:17); Health experts call for bold action to prioritize health over profit (23:01); Patients want their medical test results immediately, even when its bad news, survey finds (27:52); More than 20 percent of trans youth lost access to gender-affirming care under new state laws, and more expected (34:06); Autism now more common among Black, Hispanic kids in U.S. (37:40); Troubled U.S. organ transplant system targeted for major overhaul (39:38).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Tuberculosis, not COVID-19, is the plague of the century
2. Lead keeps poisoning children. It doesn't have to. The only way to stop long-lasting harms is to end exposure.
3. EPA Asks for More Public Input on Asbestos After ProPublica and Others Reveal New Information
4. Prescription for Housing? California Wants Medicaid to Cover 6 Months of Rent
5. How to ensure social determinants of health actually improve health care
6. World is on brink of catastrophic warming, U.N. climate change report says
7. Biden Plan to Cut Billions in Medicare Fraud Ignites Lobbying Frenzy
8. Health Providers Scramble to Keep Remaining Staff Amid Medicaid Rate Debate
9. Health Inequity Should Be Labeled as a “Never Event”, with a goal of zero
10. Intersex surgery is condemned by the United Nations. Anti-trans bills are allowing it.
11. How Ivermectin Became a Belief System
12. Culture wars are costing lives by distracting us from more important issues
13. Federal Study Calls U.S. Stillbirth Rate “Unacceptably High” and Recommends Action
14. 80% of receipts at major store chains contain “toxic” chemicals (e.g., BPA)
15. Every stage of plastic production and use is harming human health
16. Inside the fight over abortion rights in Ohio
17. Vaccination halves risk of long COVID, largest study to date shows
18. New childhood obesity guidelines face a long road to consensus
19. JAMA Psychiatry: No Evidence that Psychiatric Treatments Produce “Successful Outcomes”
20. The much-maligned ‘quality-adjusted life year' is a vital tool for health care policy
21. How just walking around, even when accompanied by an adult, is empowering for children
22. Why Americans should eat lentils every day
23. Americans should be able to register to vote when they apply for health insurance on HealthCare.gov

Week of March 20, 2023 [episode #203]:

Featuring: Increase in mortality rate among kids, teens largest in decades (2:25); Biden Signs Executive Order on Reducing Gun Violence (5:59); Almost 2 in 3 Americans say threat of deadly pandemics is growing (10:24); Vaccine makers prep bird flu shot for humans “just in case”, as rich nations lock in supplies (12:33); Antidepressant withdrawal should be taken seriously — researchers investigating ways to help (14:01); The second age of psychedelic therapies for mental health (22:15); 600 rural hospitals in danger of closing, threatening access to basic health care (27:10); Idaho hospital blames anti-abortion politics for closing of labor and delivery department (29:59); A Third of Docs Blame Prior Authorizations for Serious Harm to Patients, and 4 in 5 say they waste resources, forcing use of ineffective treatments, extra visits (33:18); Aggressive Medical Care Remains Common at Life's End (37:35).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Exodus of healthcare workers from poor countries worsening, WHO says
2. West Nile, Lyme, and other diseases are on the rise with climate change. Experts warn the U.S. is not prepared
3. New study cites Wuhan raccoon dogs as possible origin of COVID-19
4. There's a Psychological “Vaccine” against Misinformation
5. Florida bill would ban young girls from discussing periods in school
6. Social Drivers of Infant Mortality: Recommendations for Action and Accountability in Ohio
7. Common dry cleaning chemical (trichloroethylene) linked to Parkinson's
8. Public Health vs. Industry: Toxic Chemical Rules Pose Test for Biden
9. Higher cancer rates found in military pilots, ground crews
10. Take Risk Into Account Before Repeat Surveillance Colonoscopy — 58% of seniors with limited life expectancy, no significant findings were invited for another round
11. Researchers Warn of Major Threats to the Validity of Psychedelic Research
12. World Happiness Report 2023 [slightly higher than pre-pandemic]

Week of March 13, 2023 [episode #202]:

Featuring: “Infectious host — COVID is in the house!” (1:51); Covid backlash hobbles public health today and future pandemic response (3:03); Massive efforts needed to reduce salt intake and protect lives (5:37); Statin study finds inflammation better predictor of cardiovascular events, death than LDL-cholesterol (9:36); Low-dose radiation linked to increased lifetime risk of heart disease (10:57); Screen All Adults for Hepatitis B, CDC Says (13:00); Opioids Most Common Substance in Young Children's Fatal Poisonings (15:20); FDA panel to reevaluate the most common over-the-counter decongestant, phenylephrine, criticized as useless (16:57); “All work, no independent play” cause of children's declining mental health, says study (19:13); Greater gender equality could help both women and men live longer (23:33); It's legal in 15 states for teachers to hit your child, and 7 more states take no stand (25:43); Body dysmorphic disorder is more common than eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia (29:47); Poll finds more Americans worried about health care understaffing (34:32); Black people in rural areas have greater mental health resiliency than white people (38:34).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. A history of smoking, and how we're making the same mistakes with vaping
2. Study finds “alarming” rates of nicotine in sports
3. Mental health: How living in the city and country compare
4. Does It Matter Where COVID-19 Came From?
5. Covid-19 lab leak fight obscures the global rise of high-security biolabs
6. Multiple COVID variants found in New York rats
7. Indoor air is full of flu and COVID viruses. Will countries clean it up?
8. Organization publishing now infamous “mask” review addresses widespread inaccurate and misleading interpretations
9. How Publication Bias Threatens Research Integrity and Public Health
10. Leading American medical journal omits Black research, reinforcing legacy of racism in medical knowledge
11. How one medical school became remarkably diverse — without considering race in admissions
12. Medicaid expansion reduced Black-white disparities in preventable hospital visits
13. Structural Racism and Pedestrian Safety: Historical Redlining Increases Contemporary Pedestrian Fatalities
14. Black Patients Dress Up and Modify Speech to Reduce Bias
15. Feds Move to Rein In Prior Authorization, a System That Harms and Frustrates Patients (and Providers)
16. Denied by AI: How Medicare Advantage plans use algorithms to cut off care for seniors in need
17. AMA, Surgeon General Propose Ways to Prevent Doctor Burnout/Moral Injury
18. Prostate cancer treatment can wait for most men
19. Females of all ages, ethnicities have more salt- sensitive hypertension than males
20. Why are women more affected by plastic pollution (and how can they be protected)?
21. How fake sugars sneak into foods and may be disrupting metabolic health
22. Six former Phillies died from the same brain cancer. We tested the turf they played on and found dangerous chemicals
23. Toxic Chemicals We Consume Without Knowing It
24. Good news: Some toxic insecticides are vanishing from the atmosphere
25. Jimmy Carter Took on the Awful Guinea Worm When No One Else Would — And Triumphed

Week of March 6, 2023 [episode #201]:

Featuring: CDC says 20,000 people may have been exposed to measles at Asbury University religious revival (1:52); CDC issues warning about rise in highly drug-resistant stomach bug (3:49); Toxic “forever chemicals” about to get their first U.S. limits (5:42); Many firearm owners in the U.S. store at least one gun unlocked, fearing an emergency (7:34); Black People Visit ER for Mental Health at Highest Rates, Receive Less Care (10:23); At the intersection of politics and mental health, women are standing out (11:11); Majority in new poll would be uncomfortable with health care provider relying on AI (16:12); The FDA plans to regulate far more AI tools as devices — the industry won't go down without a fight (17:57); Infants outperform AI in “commonsense psychology” (18:44); “Alarming” Rise in Colon Cancer Rates Among Younger People (19:33); Diabetes and obesity are on the rise in young adults (20:46); More than half the global population will be living with overweight and obesity within 12 years if prevention, treatment and support do not improve (22:33); U.S.-born Hispanic people may be more vulnerable to chronic diseases than foreign-born counterparts (24:12); Another Republican state (NC) reaches Medicaid expansion deal (27:23): New states have extended Medicaid coverage for new mothers (30:12); Rural Hospitals Are Shuttering Their Maternity Units (32:08); Weight loss drug coming to the U.K. market, and it will cost a fraction of what Americans pay (26:07); Research puts a new face on who is at risk for eating disorders (36:53); Keto vs. vegan: Study of popular diets finds over fourfold difference in carbon footprints (42:33).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Activist Judy Heumann led a reimagining of what it means to be disabled
2. The next deadly pandemic is just a forest clearing away. But we're not even trying to prevent it.
3. Is climate change good for insurgent groups?
4. HHS's Environmental Justice Index institutionalizes climate apartheid
5. Guns Are the Biggest Public Health Threat Kids Face. Why Aren't They Getting the Message?
6. Documents detail EMTs' failure to aid Tyre Nichols, beaten to death by police
7. After People on Medicaid Die, Some States Aggressively Seek Repayment From Their Estates
8. For-profit hospices deliver lower quality care than nonprofit hospices
9. Walgreens won't distribute abortion pills in states where GOP AGs object
10. Eli Lilly Slashed Insulin Prices. This Starts a Race to the Bottom.
11. “Bailed out by taxpayers” — Data shows Big Insurance profiting massively from Medicare privatization
12. Brokers Get Lush Trips and Cash Perks to Sell Costly Medigap Plans
13. A Maryland experiment in global budgeting shows a better way to reduce health care spending
14. FTC fines BetterHelp $7.8M, alleges it shared consumers' mental health info with advertisers
15. How physician wellness programs blame doctors and overlooks system's illness
16. Despite Pharma Claims, Illicit Drug Shipments to US Aren't Full of Opioids. It's Generic Viagra.
17. Organ donation cartel is a failure.
18. Population-wide gene testing has limited ability to predict disease
19. Erythritol, an artificial sweetener may increase heart attack risk
20. How common is transgender treatment regret, detransitioning? Likely rare.
21. Why human touch matters in health care: the limitations of AI
22. The little-known physical and mental health benefits of urban trees
23. Are You Considering a Complementary Health Approach?

Week of February 27, 2023 [episode #200]:

Featuring: Flu vaccine worked well in season that faded fast (1:52); Predeparture COVID-19 Testing Among International Travelers Cuts Infections in Half (3:06); “Forever chemicals” disrupt key metabolic processes in children and teens, says landmark study (3:42); Newly-approved “Climate-Friendly” Fuel Comes With an Astronomical Cancer Risk (6:05); Looming Cuts to Emergency SNAP Benefits Threaten Food Security, Especially in Rural America (11:03); Majority not aware of looming Medicaid eligibility redeterminations (14:30); U.S. plans to allow Medicaid for drug treatment in prisons (15:16); Medicaid during incarceration: a step toward health equity (17:20); Progress on reducing global maternal mortality has stalled since 2015 (18:36); More Investment in Primary Care Needed (21:42); Tighter hospital price transparency enforcement and standardized requirements are on the horizon (25:23); Nonprofit hospitals are failing Americans — Their boards may be a reason why (27:23); Fixing U.S. public health will require a health-systems revolution — and for physicians to take a backseat (33:06); 52% of veterans and 86% of non-veterans with likely PTSD do not receive treatment (40:11); Palliative care doesn't improve psychological distress, says study (41:01); Disordered eating impacts one in five youth worldwide (42:16); U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends folic acid to prevent neural tube defects (44:05); Foodborne illness outbreaks linked to unpasteurized milk and relationship to changes in state laws (45:33); Exercise more effective than medicines to manage mental health, says study (46:32).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. East Palestine Residents Could Get Medicare for Life After Ohio Disaster
2. Ohio abortion-rights campaign unveils ballot proposal in first official step for possible statewide November vote
3. U.S. abortion rights groups and law firms launch legal defense network
4. As the Pandemic Swept America, Deaths in Prisons Rose Nearly 50 Percent
5. Cereal, pasta, and other food companies blast the FDA for a too-strict definition of “healthy”
6. Tobacco companies pledge “harm reduction” but are doing the opposite
7. Passive vaping—it's time we see it like secondhand smoke and stand up for the right to clean air
8. Gun industry could be held liable for shootings under proposed state laws that “empower victims of gun violence to have their day in court”
9. It would take less than 3% of Big Oil's profits to clean up rising methane emissions
10. In 1996, the EPA was ordered to test pesticides for impacts on people's hormones. They still don't. They are being sued, again.
11. Needed: a new framework to make sure health companies play fair with patient data
12. There is a worrying amount of fraud in medical research
13. The new scientific review on masks and Covid isn't what you think — science isn't easy
14. How might the metaverse impact public health?
15. Small-aircraft fuel is still poisoning children
16. “Stomach flu” on the rise – what to know
17. Most young men are single. Most young women are not.
18. Health, not age, driving a rise in pregnancy complications
19. 10 ways to reduce your risk of dementia

Week of February 20, 2023 [episode #199]:

Featuring: Teen girls “engulfed” in violence and trauma, CDC finds (1:52); Almost half of children who go to ER with mental health crisis don't get the follow-up care they need (7:30); Unless most people get an annual COVID vaccine, COVID will continue to be much worse than a really bad flu season (12:24); COVID-19 infection may cause a higher risk of developing diabetes (16:26); DNA damage levels similar in vapers and smokers (16:58); As little as one day of wildfire smoke exposure in pregnancy may raise risk of preterm birth (19:02); Americans' dissatisfaction with gun laws at new high (22:18); Decades of conflict in Iraq have fueled “catastrophic” rise in antibiotic resistance (23:45); High sugar intake, including from fruit juices, linked to elevated risk of heart disease and stroke (25:36); Survey finds cost of heathy food biggest barrier to heart-healthy diet (26:42); Study hints healthier school lunch can reduce obesity (27:59); Unveiling the predatory tactics of the formula milk industry (30:36); Cheese and the Comparison Challenge reveals diary industry's misleading research (30:36).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Bird flu spreads to new countries, threatens non-stop “war” on poultry
2. A virus crippled U.S. cities 150 years ago. It didn't infect humans, rather horses
3. Surveillance report shows rise in multidrug-resistant Salmonella from food animals
4. Animal viruses jump to humans much more often than thought — how this changes preparing for the next pandemic
5. Scientists in global south most likely to save us from next pandemic
6. The Ohio train derailment underscores the dangers of the plastics boom.  As the petrochemical industry grows, the disaster is a reminder of the health and safety risks that accompany reliance on fossil fuels.
7. Dissatisfaction with abortion policy highest since 2000
8. Post-Roe, Native Americans face even more abortion hurdles
9. High drug prices are not justified by industry's research and development spending, argue experts
10. Doctors Are Disappearing From Emergency Rooms as Hospitals Look to Cut Costs
11. Patients still have no protection against surprise ambulance bills. And there's no solution in sight
12. Nearly 80% Of Women With Breast Cancer Face Financial Toxicity
13. Cost of getting sick for older people of color is 25% higher than for white Americans
14. Scientific institutions must embrace antiracist policies, National Academies report urges
15. Now for sale: Data on your mental health, from telehealth and therapy apps
16. The Best Way to Boost Workers' Mental Health Is to Give Them Good Managers
17. How “empathetic engagement” can increase access to mental health care
18. Indoor Pollutant Concentrations Are Significantly Lower in Homes Without a Gas Stove
19. Beyond Medicare and Social Security: Cutting Medicaid after the pandemic would be political madness
20. Long COVID Now Looks like a Neurological Disease, Helping Doctors to Focus Treatments
21. The haunting brain science of long COVID
22. The Future of Long COVID — This emergency is not about to end.
23. Have More Sex, Please! [It can be good for your health]
24. Can food be medicine? Will insurers cover it? And other big questions about a new health movement
25. Want to live a longer life? Try eating and living like a centenarian.

Week of February 13, 2023 [episode #198]:

Featuring: Ohio officials declare measles outbreak over (1:58); How a public health program can usher police and prisons into obsolescence (3:35); Reduce pollution to combat “superbugs” and other anti-microbial resistance (7:48); Even with legal protections, extreme heat and wildfire take a toll on farmworkers (11:46); I treat people with gambling disorder – and I'm starting to see more and more young men who are betting on sports (16:43); Researchers estimate cost of “injury deaths of despair,” including suicide, exceeds $1 trillion annually in the U.S. (21:52); For former football players, concussion and hypertension go hand in hand (24:49); Pregnancy complications heighten heart risks in later life– it's time to pay attention (26:47); Win to stave off intrusive but profitable middlemen in Traditional Medicare (34:03); Researchers call for prescription charge to be cut to save health and money (39:10); Study highlights nationwide reliance on emergency departments for mental health care — with Ohio most reliant (40:35); Study Finds Wide Variation in Organ Procurement Performance — with only a fourth of organs recovered from potential donors (42:37); Too often, we waste that gift of organ donation (44:22).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Asking incarcerated people for their organs is exploitative
2. Toxic gases connected to Ohio train derailment cause concern
3. Ohioans may vote on abortion in 2023
4. What ending the COVID emergency status actually means
5. Tracking the bird flu, experts see a familiar threat — and a virus whose course is hard to predict
6. Young people are more likely to die of heart attacks post-COVID
7. New mouse study shows genes aren't only way to pass obesity to next generation
8. A Technicality Could Keep RSV Shots From Kids in Need
9. Doctors Aren't Burned Out From Overwork. We're Demoralized by Our Health System.
10. Hospitals at a Breaking Point: Lack of Staff and Resources Leave Emergency Departments in Chaos
11. “Hail, Profit”: The Existential Threat of Greed in U.S. Health Care
12. Here's How to End the U.S. Health Disadvantage — Let's focus on prevention and social policy, not sick care.
13. Congress Told HHS to Set Up a Health Data Network in 2006. The Agency Still Hasn't.
14. The Community of Mothers Who Lost Sons to Police Killings
15. “The Country Is Watching”: California Homeless Crisis Looms as Gov. Newsom Eyes Political Future

Week of February 6, 2023 [episode #197]:

Featuring: U.S. spends most on health care but has worst health outcomes among high-income countries (2:02); Improvement in the prevalence of disabilities among older Americans from 2008 to 2017 (6:22); All countries “dangerously unprepared” for future pandemics, says International Red Cross (10:12); New gun deaths data in U.S. show continued rise in suicides, as majority of gun deaths (11:43); “Stand Your Ground” Laws Are a Greater Health Threat Than Mass Shootings (19:12); Federal appeals court strikes down domestic violence gun law (23:33); A majority of Americans support banning all tobacco products (24:47); Cigarette Smoking During Pregnancy Declines in U.S. from 2016 to 2021 (29:06); In polluted cities, reducing air pollution could lower cancer rates as much as eliminating smoking would (29:32); Venture capital is investing little in new treatment for addiction (32:03); Your child's academic success may start with their screen time as infants, study says (35:01); New rules would limit sugar in school meals for first time (37:41); States that expanded access to food benefits saw decreases in child neglect and abuse cases (40:19); Nearly two-thirds of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck (41:39); Relationship between food and disease stronger than you may think (42:20).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. We Now Face an Army of COVID Viruses. The pandemic has not ended. It is evolving, with big implications. Here are six.
2. Covid emergency's end will mean new costs, hassles
3. Getting vaccinated at pharmacies works: It could soon disappear
4. The funding cliff for student mental health
5. Public health emergency for mpox officially ends
6. Vaccine Makers Kept $1.4 Billion in Prepayments for Canceled Covid Shots for the World's Poor
7. Nursing Home Owners Drained Cash During Pandemic While Residents Deteriorated
8. Some Addiction Treatment Centers Turn Big Profits by Scaling Back Care
9. Rising Physical Pain Is Linked to More “Deaths of Despair”
10. How Patent Thickets Keep Cheaper Drugs Off the Market
11. UnitedHealthcare Tried to Deny Coverage to a Chronically Ill Patient. He Fought Back, Exposing the Insurer's Inner Workings.
12. Tainted-drug deaths, weak regulation corrode confidence in Indian drugs
13. The FTC wants science to back up supplement health claims. What a concept!
14. The FTC is finally ready to take on health data leaks by companies and web-sites
15. Promises — and pitfalls — of ChatGPT (AI)-assisted medicine
16. Unlocking the promise of learning from everyone with cancer through electronic health record standards
17. Can Community Programs Help Slow the Rise in Violence?
18. MRI scans reveal disparate impact of poverty and other “toxic stress” on brains of Black children
19. Drop race adjustment for common genetic prenatal screening test, study urges
20. As Long-Term Care Staffing Crisis Worsens, Immigrants Can Bridge the Gaps
21. Lawmakers Attempting Takeover of Funds for Jackson's Water System, Federal Manager Warns
22. How to take in traumatic news events and preserve your mental health
23. Artificial light harms our bodies and souls. It doesn't have to be this way
24. The Weight-Loss-Drug Revolution Is a Miracle—And a Menace How the new obesity pills could upend American society
25. One in 8 Americans over 50 show signs of “food addiction”
26. The link between our food, gut microbiome and depression
27. What If… DIET were a Vital Sign? A Thought Experiment

Week of January 30, 2023 [episode #196]:

Featuring: Brief COVID-19 update (1:52); Six healthy lifestyle practices linked to slower memory decline in older adults (2:23); PET imaging shows greater lung inflammation in e-cigarette users than cigarette smokers (4:12); 18% of U.S. adults use sleep medications in previous month (5:18); Head injury is associated with doubled mortality rate long-term (6:22); Mental health tops parental concerns about children (8:02); Adding Stigma to Obesity and Heart Disease Expands Harm (9:22); The dangers of “bureaucra-think” — Research demonstrates structural bias and racism in mental health organizations (11:25); Medicalizing childbirth shortens average pregnancy length in the U.S. (13:41); New recommendations say patients don't need to be “checked for everything” (17:43); The Tests Are Vital, But Congress Decided That Regulation Is Not (22:55); Death by missing data — Uncollected racial and ethnic pandemic data will drive inequities for decades to come (27:17); Congressional District Health Dashboard includes 36 metrics for all 435 U.S. Congressional Districts — OH-9 [Toledo] fares poorly (37:48); Ohio Early Childhood Dashboard shows Ohio ranks 50th in family resiliency (39:01); A Rare Public Health Challenge — Rare Diseases, 10,000 of them (41:20); Eliminating neglected diseases in Africa — There are good reasons for hope (43:45).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Annual COVID-19 booster? FDA cliff notes
2. Why are there no eggs? Avian flu and keeping human risk low
3. Mass shootings can be contagious, research shows
4. Many Americans don't know basic abortion facts. Test your knowledge
5. Abortion Out of Reach: The Exacerbation of Wealth Disparities After Dobbs
6. A global rush is on to reduce cow burps — and help save the world from climate change
7. The Industry Playbook — PART 1: How Food Companies Distort Nutrition Science;  PART 2: Amplifiers of Bad Science; PART 3: Getting Nutrition Science Right
8. In the Fight Over Gas Stoves, Meet the Industry's Go-To Scientist
9. Medicare Part D (Drug) Plan Prices May Change Unexpectedly
10. How a Drug Company Raked In $114 Billion by Gaming the U.S. Patent System
11. A dangerous loophole for drug ads needs to be closed
12. After nearly 4 years of deliberation, FDA punts on how to regulate CBD
13. CDC Makes Biggest Agency Changes Yet
14. Wave of Rural Nursing Home Closures Grows Amid Staffing Crunch
15. What will it take to give babies a phthalate-free start in the world?
16. Midlife obesity linked to heightened frailty risk in older age
17. Intensive blood pressure control may lower risk for cognitive problems in more people
18. Antidepressants Blunt Emotions and Cause Sexual Dysfunction
19. Critical Psychiatry Textbook, Chapter 1: Why a Critical Textbook of Psychiatry? [All chapters to follow]

Week of January 23, 2023 [episode #195]:

Featuring: China's Covid Deaths Expected to Surge to 36,000 a Day Over Lunar New Year (2:29); In China, doctors say they are discouraged from citing COVID on death certificates (3:16); Record High in U.S. Put Off Medical Care Due to Cost in 2022 (5:07); Record Low — Less than half in new survey rate US health care as excellent or good (7:14); Healthcare ranked lowest for employee satisfaction among 28 industries (9:12); Study finds hospitals are still not posting prices as required (11:03); Patient portals' digital divide (11:15); Less than a third of heavily advertised drugs have “high therapeutic value” (12:13); FTC asks court to hold “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli in contempt (15:21); 80% of Mississippians favor Medicaid expansion (17:31); Buprenorphine deaths did not increase despite wider access during pandemic (20:05); Nearly 9 in 10 trans youth say recent wave of anti-LGBTQ policies negatively affected their mental health (23:25); Congress barely dents scourge of hunger in military (25:59); Few Studies Assess Social Determinants of Health Intervention by Race (28:02); Mothers in states with abortion bans nearly 3 times more likely to die (30:57); Leaders at Davos need to pay attention to the crossroads of climate change, health, and security (31:49); The struggle to contain the global threat of superbugs (34:16); Study suggests U.S. freshwater fish highly contaminated with “forever chemicals” (36:00); Mexico imposes one of world's strictest anti-smoking laws (38:51); Political news takes mental toll, but is disengaging the answer? (41:06); Beans in toast could revolutionize British diet (43:05); WHO calls for soda taxes (46:39).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. The December Omnibus Bill's Little Secret: It Was Also a Giant Health Bill dealing with mental health, drugs, pandemic preparedness, new Medicare benefits and Medicaid expansion
2. White House Aims to Reflect the Environment and Value of Ecosystems in Economic Data
3. An Old TB Vaccine Might Help Stave Off Diabetes, Cancer, Alzheimer's, and More
4. Why Kids' Medication Shortages Aren't Going Away
5. Drug shortages are an urgent national danger. Here's how we fix them.
6. “Just Say No” to the Medication Switches Dictated by Insurers
7. “Hot mess”: Abortion pills at pharmacies could face legal quagmires, especially in restrictive states
8. Mental health benefits of gender-affirming hormones for teens persist for two years in new study
9. Racist beauty standards leave communities of color more exposed to harmful chemicals
10. The costly lesson from COVID: Why elimination should be the default global strategy for future pandemics
11. The science (and business) behind COVID-19 disinformation. And what to do about it.
12. COVID-19 vaccines and sudden deaths: Separating fact from fiction
13. HHS policy for monitoring gain-of-function virus research unclear, GAO says
14. The Health Risks of Gas Stoves Explained
15. Reducing total calories may be more effective for weight loss than intermittent fasting
16. Family dynamics and doctors' emotions drive useless end-of-life care, says study
17. Military probing whether cancers linked to nuclear silo work
18. Therapy Beats Drugs for Depression for Long-Term Outcomes — Adding drugs to therapy didn't help
19. Researchers have followed over 700 people since 1938 to find the keys to happiness. Here's what they discovered.

Week of January 16, 2023 [episode #194]:

Featuring: COVID-19 update (1:52); The doctor won't see you now — Covid winters are making long hospital waits the new normal (3:37); Law enforcement officers' deaths due to COVID fell by 83% in 2022, but COVID still kills more officers in line of duty than shootings (9:31); U.S. childhood vaccinations dip again in 2021-22 school year (13:09); U.S. traffic deaths fell slightly in first nine months of 2022, but still at high level (16:12); Sanders tells Moderna planned COVID vaccine price hike is “unacceptable corporate greed” (17:53); Even as NY nurses return to work, more strikes likely to follow (21:03); Medicare Advantage Plans Take Top Spot in Shkreli Awards for greedy and unethical behavior (22:48); Providers say Medicare Advantage hinders new methadone benefit (30:31); Medicaid expansion linked with fewer postpartum hospitalizations (40:53); A closer look at outdoor air pollution and health as Ohio ranks 46th (42:05); Drought, extreme rains linked to infectious diseases in kids (43:58); Insect Loss Stunting Fruit and Vegetable Production, Leading to More Than 400,000 Early Deaths a Year Globally (45:39); The ozone layer is on track to recover within decades as harmful chemicals are phased out (46:57); Use this “4-part prescription” to wake up alert and refreshed every morning (48:47).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. The U.S. Could Help Solve Its Poverty Problem with a Universal Basic Income
2. Citizen scientists are seeing an influx of microplastics in the Ohio River
3. “Forever chemicals” expose the need for systemic changes
4. Why EPA's long-awaited proposal on two “forever chemicals” is bound to be controversial
5. Scientists are finding increasing evidence for a link between air pollution and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's
6. Too many smelly candles? Here's how scents impact the air quality in your home
7. Consumer product safety agency chair, White House say there are no plans to ban gas stoves
8. FTC's proposed ban on noncompete agreements could be a game changer for some physicians
9. For addiction treatment, longer is better. But insurance companies usually cut it short
10. Sen. Bernie Sanders to target high healthcare costs as leader of influential committee
11. Maryland AG Seeks to Preserve Massive Set of Sexual Assault Evidence
12. Antipsychotic withdrawal—an unrecognized and misdiagnosed problem

Week of January 9, 2023 [episode #193]:

Featuring: COVID-19 update (1:52); Long COVID stemmed from mild cases of COVID-19 in most people (5:14); Amid low demand, global coronavirus vaccination set to slow in 2023, even as low-income countries have low vaccination rates (7:18); Gov. Mike DeWine vetoes flavored tobacco ban bill, signals support for statewide ban (8:47); Priorities for 20203 pile up for HHS, FDA, CMS, NIH, and other health agencies (12:22); FTC Asks for Randomized Controlled Trials, Not Vague Health Claims (19:55); Paying research participants — a lot — may be a key to increasing diversity in studies (21:38); The bad business of developing new antibiotics (23:02); U.S. new drug price exceeds $200,000 median in 2022 (26:37); Drugstores make slow headway on staffing problems (29:04); Air pollutants in low-income urban areas linked with youth asthma attacks (31:05); As respiratory diseases rise, EPA tightens air quality standards (33:07); Increasingly under fire as potential health hazards, gas stoves could be banned in 2023 (35:59); Firearms assaults too often classified as “accidental” (38:06); Study suggests one solution to America's opioid epidemic: Tell doctors their patients fatally overdosed (39:53); Good hydration linked with lower risk of chronic disease, increased longevity (44:00).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. “Not business as usual”: Health lobbyists brace for Bernie Sanders — lobbyists concerned they'll be unable to blunt criticism of their clients' profits or corporate executive salaries.
2. 500,000 people die of strep A every year. Why isn't there a vaccine?
3. More Orthopedic Physicians Sell Out to Private Equity Firms, Raising Alarms About Costs and Quality
4. Health care for transgender adults becomes target in 2023 state legislative sessions
5. What does the FDA's new rule allowing retail pharmacies to dispense abortion pills mean for the fight over abortion pills?
6. Postal Service is clear to deliver abortion drugs, DOJ says
7. New York's supervised injection sites have halted nearly 700 overdoses in just over a year
8. Weighing Risks of a Major Surgery: 7 Questions Older Americans Should Ask Their Surgeon
9. Your Response to Stress Improves as You Grow Older
10. Social Media Use Is Linked to Brain Changes in Teens, with an increasing sensitivity to peer feedback
11. New Pediatrics Guidelines: “Watchful Waiting”‘ No Longer the Right Call for Child Obesity
12. Unsettling Arrival: Pediatric Obesity Guidelines
13. Hospitals More to Blame Than the Pandemic for Nurse Staffing Woes
14. A ragtag coalition of public-health activists believe that America's pandemic restrictions are too lax—and they say they have the science to prove it.
15. In county jails, guards use pepper spray, stun guns to subdue people in mental crisis
16. Four ways to make mental health a priority in the new year
17. Great Salt Lake on track to disappear in five years, threatening toxic dust clouds
18. New Human Metabolism Research Upends Conventional Wisdom about How We Burn Calories — no adolescent boost or midlife decline.
19. Want a Clue on Health Care Costs in Advance? New Tools Take a Crack at It [Promedica Tool, Mercy Health Tool]

Week of January 2, 2023 [episode #192]:

Featuring: Brief COVID-19 update (1:52); COVID in China, the U.S., and everything in-between (2:25); Measles outbreak in Ohio now up to 82 kids infected, most of them unvaccinated (6:13); Experts challenge the narrative for this season's flu activity (7:16); Many reproductive-age women receive their preventive health care from OB-GYNs (9:43); Abortion Access Tied to Suicide Rates Among Young Women (12:05); Senate passes milestone protections for pregnant workers and new mothers (13:24); Medicaid expansion linked with improved cancer survival in young adults (14:32); Racism leads to troubled sleep — and it's putting Black Americans' heart health at risk (15:22); Most hospitals include “extraordinary collection actions” in their attempts to collect medical debt (29:50); Medical Debt Is Being Erased in Toledo, Ohio and Elsewhere (35:54); U.S. starts grappling with ‘travesty' of untreated hepatitis C (44:23); Diabetes control stagnant in US from 1988 to 2020 (48:55); U.S. Pays to Clean Up Agent Orange on Vietnam War 50th Anniversary (50:06).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. How Central Ohio Got People to Reduce Their Food Waste
2. Three things to watch in chronic disease in 2023: obesity drugs, long Covid and health care costs
3. “No Surprises Act” Implementation Is Full of Surprises
4. Classifying aging as a disease could speed FDA drug approvals
5. High number of mosquitoes found with mutation that resists insecticides
6. Study finds lack of racial, ethnic inclusivity in OB-GYN research
7. She Says Doctors Ignored Her Concerns About Her Pregnancy. For Many Black Women, It's a Familiar Story.
8. Racist Doctors and Organ Thieves: Why So Many Black People Distrust the Health Care System
9. UCSF apologizes for experiments done on prisoners in the '60s and '70s
10. It's Been a Tough Year for Transgender Medicine
11. Can politics kill you? Research says the answer increasingly is yes.
12. In Child Welfare Cases, Most of Your Constitutional Rights Don't Apply
13. The Bittersweet Defeat of Mpox — The epidemic has largely subsided, but largely because queer men seem to have learned more from AIDS and Covid-19 than the authorities did.
14. Under new rules, methadone clinics can offer more take-home doses. Will they?
15. Psychotherapy: Less Expensive and Better Than Pills, It's What the Patients Want but Don't Get
16. Major effort needed by FDA to remove illegal vaping products, review finds
17. Tobacco: Vaping and smoking drive environmental harm from farm to fingertip
18. Resolve to be Smokefree in ‘23 — Resources and Tips to Help

Week of July 26, 2021:

Week of December 19, 2022 [episode #191]:

Featuring: COVID vaccines saved 3.2 million U.S. lives (2:42); Updated COVID booster prevents majority of hospitalizations (3:38); White House resumes program sending free COVID tests by mail through COVIDtests.gov (6:16); Survey finds growing opposition to school vaccine mandates for measles (7:27); Medical staff in China's hospitals say COVID-19 ripping through their ranks (13:27); Beijing crematoriums strain under China COVID wave (16:39); Ohio Measles Outbreak Jumps to 74 Cases (19:57); U.S. deaths fell this year, but not to pre-COVID levels, still 13% higher than 2019 (21:07); Only 14% of diagnosed cancers in the U.S. are detected by screening (22:30); Out-of-pocket health spending rises at highest rate since 1985 (26:23); Higher prices don't imply better care for patients undergoing joint replacement (29:47); Climate change fueling cholera surge (31:48); Warm days are contributing to gun violence surge across the U.S., says study of 100 cities (35:22).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. How to Actually Enjoy the Holidays, by managing stress and anxiety
2. How a viral siege is making some people sick for weeks, even months
3. No One Wants Your Cold — How to know if you're too sick to hang
4. Flu, RSV and COVID are wreaking havoc — but teachers don't feel like they can stay home when they're sick. Even with paid sick leave, teachers — especially in elementary schools — say staying home creates “more work.”
5. Kids keep getting sick, overwhelming parents once again. Will the U.S. offer any help?
6. Paid sick leave is good for workers — and U.S. public health
7. How Medicare Advantage Plans Dodged Auditors and Overcharged Taxpayers by Millions
8. Biden administration proposes crackdown on scam Medicare ads
9. Biden admin extends pandemic-era flexibilities on opioid use treatments
10. Is Legislation to Safeguard Americans Against Superbugs a Boondoggle or Breakthrough?
11. U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends PrEP for HIV prevention
12. Hundreds of incarcerated people are dying of hep C — even though we have a simple cure
13. People in Rural Areas Die at Higher Rates Than Those in Urban Areas, from every one of the top 10 leading causes of death
14. States with more abortion restrictions have higher maternal and infant mortality, report finds (maternal death rates 62% higher)
15. Focusing on Exceptions Misses the True Harm of Abortion Bans
16. From heart disease to IUDs: How doctors dismiss women's pain
17. Drug companies must address “chronic neglect” of women globally says new report
18. How to Get More Men to Try Therapy (one solution is to convince them that asking for help is a strength, not a weakness)
19. Suicidal thoughts are often hidden. Here's how to talk about it.
20. Parkinson's Incidence 50% Higher Than Previously Thought
21. Six reasons the U.S. Is Losing the Fight to Ban Toxic Chemicals
22. As Workers Battle Cancer, The Government Admits Its Limit for a Deadly Chemical Is Too High
23. Lessons for the Next Resistance. Veterans of the EPA faced unprecedented attacks under Donald Trump. We banded together and did something about it.
24. How food became a weapon in America's culture war. First came the politics of right-wing grievance. Then came the new foodie culture. Together, they combined to create one toxic food fight.
25. Exercise is medicine for cancer and every dose counts, even in late stages of the disease
26. Kindness Can Have Unexpectedly Positive Consequences

Week of December 12, 2022 [episode #190]:

Featuring: Hospitals in the U.S. are the fullest they've been throughout the pandemic – but it's not just Covid (1:52); CDC expands use of updated COVID-19 vaccines for kids as young as 6 months (5:48); At least 63 children are sick with measles in Ohio (9:45); Walensky says CDC needs more authority from Congress to collect public health data (12:21); The White House unveils a new system to track and better prevent opioid overdoses (14:12); False holiday suicide myth is driven by media, analysis says (17:00); The Covid Pandemic's Hidden Casualties — Pregnant Women (18:17); Drug Overdose Deaths in Pregnancy Rose 81% in Recent Years (19:22); Big tobacco brands must display signs in stores explaining risks of smoking, per Justice Department (20:27); Hospital Financial Decisions Play a Role in the Critical Shortage of Pediatric Beds for RSV Patients (24:32); Higher Brain Cancer Risk After CT Exam in Childhood (29:57); U.S. gun death rates hit highest levels in decades (33:27); Repairing abandoned houses found to reduce nearby gun violence (36:38).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Poll shows few COVID worries for the holidays
2. For the Uninsured, Covid Care Has Entered a New Stage of Crisis
3. CDC report shows how infectious MPOX is and how important vaccination was in stemming outbreak
4. Should Doctors Warn Patients About the Downsides of Medicare Advantage Plans? Beneficiaries may not be aware of plans' limited networks or prior authorization rules
5. Congress: Close the gap between funding for nutrition research and the toll diet-related disease takes on Americans
6. Congress has its sights set too low on addiction, advocates charge
7. Why does the US keep running out of medicine?
8. Public Health Leaders Question Whether Asbestos Facilities Should Be Exempt From Surprise Inspections
9. Before making unbiased pulse oximeters, researchers need a better way to measure skin tone
10. A boil-water notice in Houston made national news. In rural Texas, it's a way of life.
11. For Black Families in Phoenix, Child Welfare Investigations Are a Constant Threat
12. And Now They Are Coming for the Unhoused: The Long Push to Expand Involuntary Treatment in America
13. Here's how states plan to limit abortion — even where it is already banned
14. Household air purifiers improve heart health among individuals with COPD

Week of December 5, 2022 [episode #189]:

Featuring: Very high levels of flu activity across the nation (1:52); Covid hospitalizations rising post-Thanksgiving after an autumn lull (4:03); Just 1 in 20 people in the U.S. have dodged COVID infection so far (5:13); Young people accounted for greater proportion of COVID-19 deaths and years of life lost in 2021 than 2020 (7:49); COVID-19 in China and global concern (9:47); Measles outbreak in Columbus increases to 50 cases (15:39); CDC expands wastewater testing for polio to Michigan and Pennsylvania (16:58); Biden administration not expecting to renew monkeypox public health emergency (20:43); African continent finally to receive first MPOX vaccines (21:48); WHO to rename monkeypox as “MPOX” (22:42);  A record 40 million kids globally miss measles vaccine dose (23:32); Winter holidays bring more heart attack deaths than any other time of year — here's what to do (25:02); Poor sleep can make you prickly — here's what to do (27:11); Americans are eating more whole grains but are still confused by the food labels (32:50); Few Americans aware of cancer risks posed by alcohol (32:50); Laws allowing insurers to deny alcohol-related claims do not deter drinking (37:33); DEA says 6 out of 10 fake prescription pills analyzed contain potentially deadly dose of fentanyl (39:23); Firearm injuries in kids leave lasting mental scars, more so than motor vehicle crash injuries (40:24); Having a high health insurance deductible leads women to skip testing after abnormal mammograms (41:57); How Cleveland will expand air monitoring in poor neighborhoods disproportionately burdened by pollution (45:02).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Uranium mills' legacy of pollution is still a toxic threat across dozens of sites
2. Endgame: How the Visionary Hospice Movement Became a For-Profit Hustle
3. Stop hospital consolidations to lower health care prices for all Americans
4. Common Treatments for Knee Osteoarthritis May Be Harmful — Steroids and NSAIDs reduced pain but not disease course
5. Abortion advocates aim to outflank lawmakers using 2024 ballot measures
6. Antiabortion forces push local bans in states with legal access
7. Without Abortion, Doctors in Texas Are Forced to Witness Horrible Outcomes
8. She Wanted an Abortion. A Judge Said She Wasn't Mature Enough to Decide.
9. The Roe Reversal Should Activate Doctor and Nurse Activism
10. Due to masculine dominance, gynecological science focuses on reproduction rather than women's health
11. Paid sick days are necessary for parents and children to withstand the “tripledemic”
12. There's no such thing as a good cold — “immunity debt” helps explain this year's eye-popping cold and flu season — but it is often dangerously misinterpreted.
13. Twitter stops enforcing Covid-19 misinformation policy
14. The Future of Monkeypox — as case numbers fall, the outbreak could become entrenched.
15. “Tranq” is leaving drug users with horrific wounds, and spreading use leaves other communities bracing for the same
16. Schools, Sheriffs, and Syringes: State Plans Vary for Spending $26B in Opioid Settlement Funds
17. Why falling asleep with the lights on is bad for your health
18. A Dangerous Chilling Effect in Gender-Affirming Care — Gender-affirming facilities must continue offering information and resources, despite threats
19. The Mental Health Industry Speaks Volumes About Our Capitalistic Society's Priorities

Week of November 28, 2022 [episode #173]:

GREATEST HITS SHOW #5, from October, 2020 thru April, 2021, featuring: global rates of unplanned pregnancies still too high (2:03): how drugs damage the environment (5:19); science supports new dietary guidelines limiting alcohol consumption, especially for reducing cancer in men (12:37); can local food feed big cities? yes, if we cut down on meat (16:17); concentration in the food business — to high, too risky (20:33); hospitals profit on junk food (22:12); how hope can make you happier with your lot in life (26:12); suicide rates did not decrease when antidepressant drugs were introduced (28:10); giving poor people money is more effective for mental health than brief therapy (29:50); people in societies where money plays a minimal role can have very high levels of happiness, comparable to the happiest industrialized nations (33:51); Atlanta creates the nation's largest free food forest with hopes of addressing food insecurity (35:10); what to do when your friends and family are unsupportive of your depression (38:16); food systems responsible for one-third of human-caused emissions (43:58); greenhouse gas emissions associated with dietary guidelines vary between countries — following U.S. guidelines would increase emissions (44:38); book review — Bittman on food history — Animal, Vegetable, Junk: A History of Food, from Sustainable to Suicidal (46:18); the surprise catch of seafood trawling — massive greenhouse gas emissions as much as the aviation industry (47:47); feeding cattle seaweed reduces their greenhouse gas emissions 82 percent (48:45); land could be worth more left to nature than when farmed (49:58); study finds evidence of 55 new chemicals in people (52:03); starting smoking cessation in hospitalized patients would reduce many premature deaths (53:43); A new way to measure human wellbeing towards sustainability — Years of Good Life (56:17).

Week of November 21, 2022 [episode #188]:

Featuring: Flu variant that hits kids and seniors harder than other strains is dominant in U.S. right now (1:47); Columbus measles outbreak swells to 24 cases as 9 kids are hospitalized (4:28); Arizona's Maricopa County reports local dengue case, a marker for global warming (5:50); USDA upgrades WIC program, including keeping extra COVID-era money for fruits, veggies (7:23); More adolescent e-cigarette users report vaping within five minutes of waking up, signaling nicotine addiction (10:16); U.S. overdose deaths may be peaking, but experts are wary (13:55); Fentanyl isn't just causing overdoses; it's making it harder to start addiction treatment (17:50); Top U.S. addiction researcher calls for broad deregulation of methadone (22:02); Unsecured handguns account for the majority of firearm suicide deaths in the United States (26:51); Premature births at highest point since 2007 (29:21); Skin-to-skin contact key for premature baby survival, WHO says in shift (30:56); Off-label anti-psychotic and epilepsy drugs widely used as “chemical restraint” in nursing homes (33:51); Most cancer patients want access to complementary therapies before treatment (37:53); Lung cancer screening saves lives. So why do so few of those at risk get one? (41:40); The World Needs New Antibiotics. A Proposed US Program to Develop Them Would Pay Off 28:1 (45:35); Water insecurity is stressing mental health (49:22); Nearly half of world population suffers from oral diseases (50:11); Over a billion young people are potentially at risk of hearing loss from headphones, earbuds, loud music venues (51:34).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Transgender Americans facing “epidemic of violence”: Human Rights Campaign
2. Clear spike in anti-trans rhetoric sets stage for violence like Colorado Springs shooting
3. Health Harms of Mass Shootings Ripple Across Communities
4. Mental crises excluded from some state abortion exemptions
5. Antiabortion pregnancy centers are deceiving women. They need to know that.
6. We argue over the right to end pregnancy, but who's fighting for the right to begin pregnancy?
7. The quality of human sperm has dropped by half in the last 50 years
8. Patient Mistrust and Poor Access Hamper Federal Efforts to Overhaul Family Planning
9. Redressing the racial health gap through reparations
10. Why doesn't the U.S. have more Black doctors?
11. Brains of Black Americans age faster, study finds, with racial stressors a likely factor
12. In a Republican-led House, probing science agencies tops the agenda
13. How Banks and Private Equity Cash In When Patients Can't Pay Their Medical Bills
14. Audits — Hidden Until Now — Reveal Millions in Medicare Advantage Overcharges
15. Replace the failure of Medicare Advantage with “Medicare Part F”
16. Older and disabled Americans are languishing for years on waiting lists for home care. Why don't we fix this?
17. The End of Vaccines at “Warp Speed” — Financial and bureaucratic barriers in the United States mean that the next generation of Covid vaccines may well be designed here, but used elsewhere.
18. How to think like an aerosol scientist this holiday season to stay healthy
19. Imaging study shows marijuana smokers having higher rates of emphysema, airway diseases than tobacco smokers
20. Large concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are known polluters. Here's why EPA permits only cover one-third.
21. Potatoes can be part of a healthy diet
22. Why All Athletes Should Eat Plant-Based Diets, for performance and health
23. No more mad cow worries, banned blood donors can give again
24. An unexpected winner in the midterms: public health

Week of November 14, 2022 [episode #187]:

Featuring: RSV leads a tsunami of respiratory illnesses (1:50); COVID variants BQ.1/BQ.1.1 become dominant in U.S. (6:56); Repeat COVID infections can still be dangerous, study suggests (8:17); Pandemic greed killed more than 1 million people globally, study says (14;31); Measles outbreak reported at Columbus-area child care facility (15:23); Healthcare-acquired infections continued to climb in 2021 (17:05); After wins at the ballot, abortion rights groups want to “put this to the people” in Ohio and other states (18:16); South Dakota Voters Approved Medicaid Expansion, but Implementation May Not Be Easy (19:44); Stopping the Churn — Why Some States Want to Guarantee Medicaid Coverage From Birth to Age 6 (25:23); Animal Agriculture Is Dangerous Work And The People Who Do It Have Few Protections (31:27); Healthy plant-based diets better for the environment than less healthy plant-based diets (36:37); Mindfulness-based stress reduction is as effective as leading antidepressant drug for treating anxiety disorders (38:25); How This Seemingly Brutal Instagram Account Is Promoting Mental Health, by keeping it real (41:30); Repairing relationships through forgiveness may help people recover from moral injury (45:22); Dementia prevalence is declining among older Americans (48:46); Lucid dying — One in five patients recall death experiences during CPR and brain scans (51:51).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. U.S. set to face third Covid winter, this time without key tools and treatments
2. Annual COVID Shots Mean We Can Stop Counting. For most Americans, “how many” doesn't matter anymore. “How recently” does.
3. Lessons from polio about the need to vaccinate kids against Covid-19
4. People With Long Covid Face Barriers to Government Disability Benefits
5. Pfizer's Covid Cash Powers a “Marketing Machine” on the Hunt for New Supernovas
6. Sick Profit: Investigating Private Equity's Stealthy Takeover of Health Care Across Cities and Specialties
7. Thousands of Experts Hired to Aid Public Health Departments Are Losing Their Jobs
8. Why Texas Republicans still oppose Medicaid expansion while 2/3 Texans support
9. Homelessness Among Older People Is on the Rise, Driven by Inflation and the Housing Crunch
10. How the FCC Shields Cellphone Companies From Safety Concerns
11. How Stochastic Terrorism Uses Disgust to Incite Violence – Dehumanizing and vilifying people supercharged by leveraging disgust response
12. Every Story Is a Science Story — Science applies to every important social issue. Saying so doesn't make us “unscientific”
13. How climate change can help heal conflicts—not just fuel them. Increasingly, environmental cooperation is solving local conflicts around the world that are caused in part by global warming.

Week of November 7, 2022 [episode #186]:

Featuring: COVID tide is rising (1:46); Keeping omicron infection risk low requires 50 times more room ventilation (3:09); Probable Aerosol Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 through Floors and Walls of Quarantine Hotel, Taiwan, 2021 (4:12); Pfizer says new booster shot increases omicron-fighting antibodies (6:38); Expert Panel Releases Global Roadmap for Ending the Pandemic (7:53); “Considerable” monkeypox transmission happens before symptoms (13:07); Abortions dropped 65% in Ohio following overturn of Roe v. Wade (14:27); Travel time for abortions tripled and requests for pills soared in months after Roe v. Wade fell (15:57); Alcohol Deaths Strike Hard at Working-Age Americans (18:24); Alcohol death toll grew at record rate in pandemic (20:55); Millions of Americans have health insurance that isn't “good enough,” a growing problem (24:53); Pulse Oximeters Need to Work Better for Dark-Skinned Patients, FDA Panel Says (29:15); U.S. Preventive Services Task Force says No Hormone Therapy to Prevent Chronic Conditions After Menopause (30:33); The “Optimal Diet” of Plant-Based Whole-Foods  Passes the Test (32:26); The “Optimal Diet” Tested Even Better the Longer You Did It (37:32).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Transitioning to net-zero emissions could be the greatest health opportunity of this century
2. Twitter has spent years trying to combat health misinformation. Will Musk's takeover make that harder?
3. Thinking through the holidays this year (regarding COVID)
4. NutritionFacts.org — the latest and best scientific information on nutrition, presented through short videos and topical blogs 

Week of October 31, 2022 [episode #185]:

Featuring: The main COVID symptoms have changed, research shows (1:53); Humans transmit SARS-CoV-2 to their pets (3:36); The Problem With Our Boost-Boost-Boost COVID Strategy — our leaders lack moral imagination (4:46) Flu season hits early with record high hospitalizations (10:37); Global tuberculosis cases rise for the first time in years (12:38); COVID disrupted measles vaccinations in Africa and now cases are surging (15:56); Americans die younger in states with conservative policies (19:30); The case for redefining “never events” for hospitals [that happen all too often] (25:00); U.S. cancer death rates across all age groups continue on downward trend (28:21); Study finds people who need wearable health devices the most use them the least (31:24); Babies born to Black mothers who use fertility treatments die at far higher rates than those born to white mothers (31:58); OB-GYN Residency Programs Face Tough Choice on Abortion Training, caught between state abortion bans and accreditation requirements (36:22); 1 in 10 older Americans has dementia, as well as 22% with mild cognitive impairment (39:01); Best evidence yet that lowering blood pressure can prevent dementia (39:53); Allocate opioid settlement dollars to real addiction-ending solutions (40:27); Diseases Explode after Extreme Flooding and Other Climate Disasters (45:30); Unburned gas from gas stoves is a substantial source of hazardous indoor air pollution (52:02).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. For experts on stroke, Fetterman-Oz debate is a teachable moment
2. Group shaping nutrition policy earned millions from junk food makers — the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics invested in food stocks and accepted donations from junk food, sugar and soda makers, even as it trained the dietitians who teach us how to eat
3. States Opting Out of a Federal Program That Tracks Teen Behavior as Youth Mental Health Worsens
4. Concussions are a bigger problem for kids' football than the NFL
5. What science tells us about structural racism's health impact
6. Why More and More Girls Are Hitting Puberty Early
7. 2022 Inflation Reduction Act: Climate Investments Are Public Health Investments
8. Pressures grow on the health care industry to reduce its climate pollution
9. U.S. Preventive Services Task Force says evidence still lacking for routine skin cancer screening
10. Despite Katie Couric's Advice, Doctors Say Ultrasound Breast Exams May Not Be Needed. And May Even Cause Unnecessary Harm
11. When it comes to addiction, Americans' word choices are part of the problem
12. “They can't ignore us any more”: five women on long Covid and medical misogyny
13. Covid-19 is an inverse equity story, not a racial equity success story
14. COVID-19 Origins: Investigating a “Complex and Grave Situation” Inside a Wuhan Lab
15. A Plea for Making Virus Research Safer
16. Despite More Treatments for Depression, Prevalence Doesn't Decrease—Why?
17. Without Liberation Psychology, Therapy Reinforces the Status Quo
18. You may have hearing loss and not know it. Here's what it sounds like. Hearing loss can be gradual and difficult to notice, but experts say hearing checks should be a routine part of health care.

Week of October 24, 2022 [episode #184]:

Featuring: Quick COVID situational analysis (1:52); Older Monovalent Vax Has “Limited” Protection Against BA.4/5 Hospitalization (5:09); Biden officials search for backup for key Covid therapy for immunocompromised people (7:33); Uninsured kids will still receive Covid vaccines for free after shots move to commercial market (10:47); CDC Advisors Endorse Adding COVID Shots to Routine Vax Schedule (12:24); COVID-19 contributed to a quarter of maternal deaths from 2020 to 2021 (13:24); Early state lockdowns not tied to worse mental health (14:10); Divide between Republicans and Democrats over flu shots deepens in covid's wake, worsening flu outlook (15:57); U.S. Flu Hospitalization Rates Nearly 80% Higher for Black Adults (21:59); COVID-19 vaccination rates have dropped 50% in Africa, while only 24% vaccinated (23:57); Biden's biodefense strategy aims to combat future pandemics (25:40); U.S. Chickenpox Vaccine Program Led to Near Elimination of the Virus (26:41); WHO forced to ration vaccine as cholera cases surge worldwide (29:04); As hepatitis C proliferates, states lift barriers to treatment (31:29); Mortality disparities by education widened in the U.S. in 2020 (36:00); Robust Texas health care system does not produce better patient outcomes (36:57); More than 1.3 million Americans ration life-saving insulin due to cost (38:36); Feds put the Kibosh on Misleading Medicare Advantage Sales Pitches (39:11); EPA launches federal civil rights investigation over Jackson water crisis (42:23); Ongoing global crises have led to a big backslide in women's, children's and adolescents' health (43:30); Sexual-assault-related ER visits increase more than ten-fold in the last decade (46:36); Homicide is a leading cause of death in pregnant women in the U.S. (47:56); Hair-straightening products linked with uterine cancer risk (50:16); Study shows plant-based diet rich in soy reduces hot flashes associated with menopause by 88%, comparable with hormone replacement therapy (51:06).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. The COVID Data That Are Actually Useful Now
2. Milder COVID cases, lower viral loads in vaccinated frontline workers
3. Among Seniors, a Declining Interest in Boosters
4. The Very Real Lessons America Has Learned From COVID — And the very real lessons it has not learned
5. How racism and inequality created COVID-19's “Viral Underclass” — how science has won the battle against disease, while racism and capitalism have won the war.
6. To learn lessons from pandemics, don't listen to big pharma
7. Trump officials interfered with CDC guidance for political purposes, panel finds
8. Covert network provides pills for thousands of abortions in U.S. post Roe
9. After Dobbs, U.S. medical students head abroad for abortion training no longer provided by their schools
10. The U.S. Never Banned Asbestos. These Workers Are Paying the Price.
11. Alleging continual pollution, advocates ask U.S. EPA to take over Ohio injection well permitting
12. New guidelines greatly expand eligibility for weight loss surgery.
13. Trying to hold food corporations accountable has not worked well.
14. Pixels are not people: mental health apps are increasingly popular but human connection is still key

Week of October 17, 2022 [episode #183]:

Featuring: (Relative) calm before the coming COVID storm — booster up (1:52); FDA Says Young Kids Can Now Get Omicron Boosters Too (3:17); Flu off to an early start as CDC warns about potentially severe season (4:02); There's a spike in respiratory illness among children — and it's not just COVID or flu (4:52); 4 in 10 misrepresented their COVID status, adherence to public health measures (6:22); Vast majority of red-state seniors have been vaccinated, despite GOP vaccine resistance (9:17); “We are in trouble” — new study raises alarm about impacts of long COVID (11:10); As suicides continue rise, U.S. military seeks to address mental health (12:26); Sexual Violence Takes a Toll on Teens' Mental Health (14:06); Victims of sexual violence often left with overwhelming medical bills after emergency care (15:26); Maternity care “deserts” continue rise across the U.S. (17:11); Private Medicare Advantage Plans rise on greed and deceit (23:31); Insurance Brokers Earn More to Steer New Beneficiaries to Medicare Advantage (28:57); Universal Basic Income strategy could help tackle mental health crisis among young people (33:21); U.S. grocery chains take little action to limit antibiotic overuse in meat supply chain (34:26); Less than half of people over age 50 worldwide have received glasses or contact lenses needed to correct refractive error (35:59); 200 Million pounds of toxic chemicals dumped into U.S. waterways in 2020, with Ohio among leaders (37:57); Group finds PFAS “Forever” Chemicals Used in Ohio Oil and Gas Wells (41:56); Voters want more protection from harmful chemicals, and they are willing to pay for it (44:05); EPA proposes to declare aviation lead emissions public health danger (46:17); Feds want all new vehicles to check drivers for alcohol use (47:32).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. The next U.S. COVID wave is coming. Why it will be “much weirder than before.”
2. Messaging — the unrecognized coefficient in pandemic control — matters. Keep talking about COVID
3. “It still prevented cancers”: Experts discuss furor over colonoscopy screening study and dissect the nuances
4. How health systems can truly value Black lives: help close the racial wealth gap
5. EPA Cites Racial Discrimination in Disparities in Louisiana's “Cancer Alley”
6. South Dakota signals the end of an era on Medicaid expansion by voters
7. Baby, That Bill Is High: Private Equity “Gambit” Squeezes Excessive ER Charges From Routine Births by setting up billable maternity ERs at point of delivery
8. Maternity care in the U.S. is in crisis. It's time to call the midwife
9. Adult hospital beds are more lucrative than children's beds, so hospitals are closing children's units, creating shortages
10. New Generation of Weight Loss Medications Offer Promise — But at a Huge Price
11. Spread of Catholic hospitals limits reproductive care across the U.S.
12. The lucrative troubled teen industry often uses ineffective, punishing treatments
13. “A New Frontier” for Hearing Aids — Over-the-counter hearing aids are coming at long last. But lower prices and greater accessibility may take time to materialize.
14. The first malaria vaccine is here. Let's meet the moment.
15. It's a bleak world “Day of the Girl” due to the pandemic. But no one's giving up hope.
16. Economic and social pain is the commonality across drug crises, and this must be healed to end the vicious cycles of addiction.
17. Do You “Matter” to Others? The Answer Could Predict Your Mental Health
18. How Gaslighting Manipulates Reality. Gaslighting isn't just between people in a relationship—it involves social power, too
19. Why the Pentagon Is the World's Biggest Single Greenhouse Gas Emitter
20. A Supersmeller Can Detect the Scent of Parkinson's, Leading to an Experimental Test for the Illness
21. Keep it or toss it? “Best Before” labels cause confusion
22. How to know if it's depression or just “normal” sadness

Week of October 10, 2022 [episode #182]:

Featuring: Healthcare Workers Unhappy With New CDC Mask Guidance (2:03); CDC drops COVID travel advisories as countries stop tracking cases (4:28); Local COVID-19 Update (5:21); As feds stop free COVID-19 vaccines, commercial insurers must pay bulk of costs (8:08); U.S. Health Officials Urge Vaccination To Help Protect Against a Potentially Severe Flu Season (10:53); Monkeypox vaccine protects 14-fold versus unvaccinated (12:14); Monkeypox case rates 5 times higher in Black Americans (12:31); Gun-Related Suicides and Killings Rose Dramatically in 2021 (13:18); Smoking costs U.S. economy almost $900 billion a year (18:47); Opioid crisis cost U.S. nearly $1.5 trillion in 2020 (20:06); The business case for reducing gun violence costs of over $500 billion (21:09); The U.S. is terrible at keeping businesses from worsening public health (22:20); The Huge Role Of Administrative Waste In Driving Excess U.S. Health Spending (26:23); Over 300,000 “excess” deaths in Great Britain attributed to UK government austerity policies (28:23); Medical Care Alone Won't Halt the Spread of Diabetes, due to social determinants such as walkable communities, adequate housing, access to health care, and better food, particularly in minority communities (31:02); FDA's plan to define “healthy” for food packaging — Better than the existing labeling anarchy, but do we really need it? (36:12); Protein restriction can be effective in combating obesity and diabetes (42:51); Call it data liberation day: Patients can now access all their health records digitally (44:58).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. “4-alarm blaze”: New York's public health crises converge (Monkeypox, Omicron, Polio)
2. New Infectious Threats Are Coming. The U.S. Probably Won't Contain Them.
3. Will there be a Supreme assault on public health?
4. Suicide is complicated. So is prevention.
5. A Grim New Reality — Intimate-Partner Violence after Dobbs and Bruen
6. Abortion Bans Skirt a Medical Reality: For Many Teens, Childbirth Is a Dangerous Undertaking (occurring in states with highest teen pregnancy rates)
7. Who obtained abortions in Ohio last year? [57 were younger than 15]
8. Privacy, Stigma May Keep Workers From Using Abortion Travel Benefits
9. State medical boards may be roadblock to wider telemedicine abortion
10. Risking Everything to Offer Abortions Across State Lines
11. From BQ.1.1 to XBB and beyond: How the splintering of Omicron variants could shape Covid's next phase
12. Warning Signs About the First Post-pandemic Winter — It may not be as bad as last year's … but it certainly won't be good.
13. Biden's Operation Warp Speed revival stumbles out of the gate
14. Long COVID Has Forced a Reckoning for One of Medicine's Most Neglected Diseases: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
15. The monkeypox virus is mutating. How worried are scientists?
16. The Black CDC Scientist Who Couldn't Get Monkeypox Treatment
17. Addiction Experts Fear the Fallout if California Legalizes Sports Betting
18. Sign of the times? U.S. stocks up on radiation sickness drug
19. Methane emissions may be five times higher than previously thought
20. Hurricane Ian Shows That Coastal Hospitals Aren't Ready for Climate Change
21. “The Cash Monster Was Insatiable”: How Insurers Exploited Medicare for Billions
22. Nursing Home Surprise: Advantage Plans May Shorten Stays to Less Time Than Medicare Covers
23. Poll documents how Americans think the U.S. health care system is failing them
24. Advocates cheer Biden marijuana decision, call for legalization
25. Voices from the White House Conference on Hunger and Nutrition
26. Five things to do in your 20s and 30s to reduce your risk of preventable cancer: 1) don't smoke, 2) practice safe sex to avoid HPV, 3), maintain a healthy weight, 4) drink less, and 5) wear sunscreen.

Week of October 3, 2022:

Featuring: GREATEST HITS SHOW #1, stories from April-June, 2019 [first aired week of July 12, 2020], featuring: a far-reaching riff on epidemiology, the science of the distribution of health, disease and their determinants in populations; in laypersons' terms, what are the most important things to consider in our community's health (2:08); Can you be a serious environmentalist without cutting down drastically on animal-foods, that is, cutting way down on meat, eggs, and dairy? (11:01); don't be confused by industry misinformation – salt consumption is a major risk factor for poor health, and one of the three most dangerous food additives (18:27); tips on cutting back on salt and sugar, and getting more whole grains into your diet (26:53); basic mental health facts and considerations (33:28); the importance of happiness and purpose in driving health and well-being, and the epidemic of meaninglessness in work life (39:26); Is public health in America so bad among the young, supposedly healthier people, that the U.S. may eventually not be able to defend itself militarily? (51:53).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Humans are dosing Earth's waterways with medicines. It isn't healthy.
2. A New Approach to Domestic Violence: Moving From a Law Enforcement Approach to a Health Care Approach
3. Advocates seek more say in how opioid settlements are spent
4. “This program's really saved us”: As Canada offers safer opioids to curb overdoses, will U.S. follow?
5. One of Long COVID's Worst Symptoms Is Also Its Most Misunderstood: Brain fog isn't like a hangover or depression; it's a disorder of executive function that makes basic cognitive tasks absurdly hard.
6. Extreme “Religious Liberty” Is Undermining Public Health
7. Embedded Bias: How Medical Records Sow Discrimination

Week of September 26, 2022 [episode #181]:

Featuring: Scientists were worried about a particular COVID variant this fall – they didn't expect its offspring (1:53); Just in time for fall, there's another brand-new COVID variant making headway in the U.S. (5:11); Those concerned about COVID exposure at work steady since last fall, while those “not concerned at all” sets new high (9:18); Local COVID-19 Update (10:03); Senate Investigation Finds Justice Department Undercounted Prison and Jail Deaths Last Year by Nearly 1,000 (12:21); Veterans suicide rate may be double federal estimates (15:26); U.S. Preventative Services Task Force to Recommend Anxiety, Depression Screening (17:13); Most pregnancy-related deaths in U.S. are avoidable (20:57); America is the most dangerous place to give birth in the developed world — it's only getting worse (22:23); “Gaming” of U.S. patent system is keeping drug prices sky high (26:49); Structural racism – Hospital financing in black and white (29:45); Medicaid enrollment soared by 25% during the COVID-19 pandemic, but a big decline could happen soon (34:18); Physician Burnout Continues at Record Levels, One-Third Feel “Hopeless” (38:42); Death Is Anything but a Dying Business as Private Equity Cashes In (41:28); Globally, diets are not much healthier today than they were thirty years ago (45:20); Hunger was once a bipartisan issue — will it ever be again? (46:21); Senate approves first climate treaty in decades (50:54).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Why Omicron Might Stick Around
2. “Very Harmful” Lack of Data Blunts U.S. Response to Outbreaks
3. Polio Is Exploiting a Very Human Weakness. The world has been so close to eradicating polio for so long—which is exactly why the virus is staging a comeback now.
4. The White House has a major chance to improve coordination of federal nutrition efforts, now spanning 200 programs across 21 federal agencies
5. Nutritional education is health care — let's make it official
6. The clock is ticking for U.N. goals to end poverty — and it doesn't look promising
7. Extreme hunger on the rise in the world's worst climate hot spots
8. Judge Lifts U.S. Ban on Mexicans Entering Country to Sell Blood Plasma – Mexicans with short-term visas have comprised up to 10% of all plasma collected in the U.S.
9. Private Equity Sees the Billions in Eye Care as Firms Target High-Profit Procedures
10. How to Avoid Being Overcharged for a Funeral
11. Surgery needs a new pay model, free from incentives to do more procedures
12. Is DOJ Underusing Authority to Hold Pharma, Device Execs Accountable? Billions in fines, but only 13 corporate officials prosecuted for illegal behavior since 2000
13. FDA and USDA need to get on board with the CDC about reducing antibiotic use in raising animals for food
14. Mental Health Is Political, as social determinants more critical than medical care
15. Moral Injury Is an Invisible Epidemic That Affects Millions
16. Eliminating Copayments Doubles Psychologist Visits, Decreases Suicide in Young Adults
17. With a promising new plan to pay for pricey cures, two states set out to eliminate hepatitis C. But cost hasn't been the biggest problem
18. Daily “breath training” can work as well as medicine to reduce high blood pressure

Week of September 19, 2022 [episode #160]:

GREATEST HITS SHOW #4, from December, 2019, thru September, 2020, featuring: hospital alarms prove a noisy misery for patients (1:54); long work hours linked to both regular and hidden high blood pressure (6:20); every American family basically pays a yearly $8,000 “poll tax” under U.S. health system (7:42); Ecopsychology — how immersion in nature benefits your health (11:12); Why drinking diet soda makes you crave sugar (15:50); slow carbs over low carbs – fiber matters (19:06); Hormone-altering chemicals threaten our health, finances and future (22:28); Why sequencing the human genome hasn't cured many diseases (36:57); In an age of mass protests, what “less lethal” weapons actually do (42:11); Awareness of our biases is essential to good science (51:34).

Week of September 12, 2022 [episode #180]:

Featuring: Research shows that ALL COVID-19 infections include a wide mix of SARS-CoV-2 virus variants (2:09); One CIVID-19 shot per year? We really need to step up our game then (4:57); Local COVID-19 Update (10:48); Ohio is the 6th most polluted state in U.S. (12:43); A 1931 law criminalizing abortion in Michigan is ruled unconstitutional, and MI amendment to protect abortion rights will appear on ballot (14:18); Gov. Hochul declares polio emergency in New York after virus found more widespread in wastewater (16:12); Australia's bad flu season could foreshadow trouble in the U.S. this fall (20:46); Americans give health care system failing mark (23:32); Biden Administration Reverses Trump-Era “Public Charge” Rule (28:47); “Inflation Reduction Act” has a hidden benefit for coal miners – Permanent funding for black lung (31:18); FDA panel backs much-debated, pricey ALS drug in rare, 2nd review (38:53); Researchers say it's time for updated warning labels on alcoholic beverages (37:12); Marijuana use is outpacing cigarette use for first time ever in U.S. (39:48); Juul to pay nearly $440M to settle states' teen vaping probe (40:45); Food Insecurity for Families With Children Reached Two-Decade Low in 2021, yet many gains are expected to be lost (42:27); Chain restaurants have gone on diets due to calorie labelling laws (44:44); Western diet, sedentary lifestyle likely factors in global rise in cancer for adults 50 and under (48:18); Frequency of premenstrual anxiety, mood swings a “key public health issue globally” (51:10).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Ohio docs say new abortion law has them working against oaths to do no harm
2. With homicide the leading cause of maternal mortality, new research shows a link to firearms and intimate partner violence
3. Push to double up on Covid booster and flu shot may have a downside, experts caution
4. As masks are shed, a routine visit to a medical office can pose Covid risks for some patients
5. Biden administration is preparing for the end of free COVID-19 vaccines as funds run dry
6. Pfizer isn't sharing Covid vaccines with researchers for next-gen studies
7. California becomes first state to test drinking water for microplastics
8. Why Aren't Federal Agencies Enforcing Pesticide Rules That Protect Farmworkers? Without protection from OSHA, farmworkers rely on EPA's Worker Protection Standard, which is not adequately enforced.
9. Rise in Deaths Spurs Effort to Raise Alcohol Taxes
10. Fentanyl test strips could help save lives. They're still illegal in 19 states.
11. Forehead Temperature Checks May Miss Fevers in Black Patients — Inaccurate readings could miss cutoffs for triggering notification pathways such as sepsis alerts
12. Sickle cell patients face a double whammy: Systemic racism and a crippling disease
13. Black Covid long-haulers felt invisible to the health care system, so they formed their own support groups
14. Patient Satisfaction Surveys Earn a Zero on Tracking Whether Hospitals Deliver Culturally Competent Care
15. Breaking the “corporate medical playbook” that silences physicians' reports of inequity
16. Monkeypox Is Leaving Working-Class People In Financial Ruin, due to little to no laws guaranteeing workplace sick leave in the U.S.
17. Agrihoods Promise Fresh Food and Community. Can They Add Equity to the List? Agrihoods promise to save farmland by turning it into a residential amenity. Can this effort to bridge housing and farmland support environmental justice?

Week of September 5, 2022 [episode #179]:

Featuring: Our brains trick us into misperceiving importance of health risks (1:53); Local COVID-19 Update (6:29);  Chengdu locks down 21.2 million people as Chinese cities battle Covid-19 (8:35); Jackson, Mississippi, to go without reliable drinking water indefinitely (10:46); Half of world's health facilities lack basic hygiene (11:43); Study raises concerns about the effectiveness of the monkeypox vaccine (12:58); U.S. Life Expectancy Falls Again in “Historic” Setback (17:32); Life Expectancy Is Falling — Here's How to Change That (24:10); The U.S. diet is deadly — Here are 7 ideas to get Americans eating healthier (31:36); “Welfare states” can boost population health through decommodification, reducing dependence on free markets (42:23); Letting Medicare negotiate drug prices won't be the game-changer Democrats hope it will be — here are the real savings (46:21); Resources on How to Negotiate for Lower Medical Bills (48:26); When abortion at a clinic is not available, 1 in 3 pregnant people say they will consider doing something on their own to end the pregnancy (50:15); Gender dysphoria covered by disability law, court rules (54:04).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. How the Pandemic Shortened Life Expectancy in Indigenous Communities
2. “Food is medicine” interventions should be the main course at White House nutrition conference
3. The Tragedy of North Birmingham, where industrial pollution of air and land in its historic Black communities for over a century, officials continue to fail to right the wrongs
4. Texas-Mexico Border Town Approves Air Pollution Monitoring Following ProPublica and Texas Tribune Investigation
5. Rahul Gupta, first physician to serve as drug czar, says stigma among doctors is key culprit in addiction crisis
6. The U.S. lacks adequate education around puberty and menstruation for young people
7. The Heat Wave Crushing the West Is a Preview of Farmworkers' Hot Future. What will this mean for agriculture and farmworker communities?
8. When migrant children in custody attempt to take their lives
9. Major Depression: The “Chemical Imbalance” Pillar Is Crumbling — Is the Genetics Pillar Next?

Week of August 29, 2022 [episode #178]:

Featuring: Local COVID-19 Update (1:50);  FDA plans to authorize bivalent boosters by Labor Day (3:32); Long COVID relatively rare in children and teens (5:07); Study finds steep rise in type 2 diabetes among children during COVID-19 pandemic (7:01); Are We Approaching “Herd Safety” With COVID-19in highly vaccinated areas? (8:55); Ohio infant mortality rate lowest it has been in past decade (12:27); Ohio Department of Health launches new monkeypox data dashboard and interactive map showing locations of all 147 OH cases (14:39); Studies estimate powerful health, cost-savings benefit of childhood vaccines (15:38); How Long Has Polio Been Circulating in the U.S.? (16:58); Why San Francisco is “cautiously optimistic” the monkeypox outbreak is slowing (18:57); RSV prevention finally in reach after 20 years of research (22:09); Despite flexibility, gig work and insecure income prove harmful to U.S. workers (23:03); Sleepless and selfish — Lack of sleep makes us less generous (24:30); Task force on Hunger, Nutrition, Health report: a missed opportunity? (28:33); Use of Marijuana and Psychedelics Is Soaring Among Young Adults (33:34); The FDA is at a crossroads for reducing tobacco-related disease and death (38:56); White House directs health, science agencies to make federally funded studies free to access (43:31); Congressman's Wife Died After Taking Herbal Remedy Marketed for Diabetes and Weight Loss (46:32).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Supplement Regulation and Side Effects: Efforts to Suppress the Truth
2. Some Sugar Substitutes Affect Blood Glucose and Gut Bacteria
3. Fall COVID-19 boosters: An update
4. Wastewater Surveillance Has Become a Critical Covid Tracking Tool, but Funding Is Inconsistent
5. A pandemic push for data sharing could pay off for pregnancy research
6. Can the C.D.C. Save Itself?
7. The FDA stands by as the vaping industry flouts its orders
8. Tattoo ink is under-regulated, scientists say
9. Why Outlawing Ghost Guns Didn't Stop America's Largest Maker of Ghost Gun Parts
10. A Needle Exchange Project Modeled on Urban Efforts Aims to Save Lives in Rural Nevada
11. Americans are highly vaccinated against polio. Here's why it could still spread.
12. New hope for easing stigma and isolation of hearing loss
13. In Schools, Honest Talk about Racism Can Reduce Discrimination
14. Evening dosing of blood pressure medication not better than morning dosing
15. Medical error: An epidemic compounded by gag laws
16. Timely Mental Health Care Is a Key Factor in Strike by Kaiser Permanente Workers
17. New restrictions from major abortion funder could further limit access unnecessarily
18. Maternal Instinct Is a Myth That Men Created
19. “Is an abortion medically necessary?” is not a question for ethicists to answer [it's clinicians]
20. After Roe, teens are teaching themselves sex ed, because the adults won't

Week of August 22, 2022 [episode #177]:

GREATEST HITS SHOW #6, from April thru May, 2021, featuring: Devastatingly pervasive — 1 in 3 women globally experience violence (1:59); Stress from work and social interactions put women at higher coronary heart disease  risk (6:11); Physicians are more likely to doubt black patients than white patients (7:42); Women's pain not taken as seriously as men's pain (8:53); Study finds Americans eat food of mostly poor nutritional quality — except at school (11:12); Time to shift from “food security” to “nutrition security” to increase health and well-being (16:48); How to gain a sense of well-being, free and online –free course with full reference materials, “The Science of Well-being” (20:02); Children born to Chernobyl survivors don't carry more genetic mutations (22:03); Even “safe” ambient carbon monoxide levels may harm health (24:11); Music improves older adults' sleep quality (25:22);   Spanking may affect the brain development of a child similar to more severe violence (26:34); The clear message on promoting body positivity (28:11); How a shocking environmental disaster was uncovered off the California coast after 70 years (30:57); The Sense, and Dollars, of Food as Medicine (37:47);  New approach to understanding our wellbeing — the ability to connect and feel a sense of belonging (44:42);  Providing medications for free leads to greater adherence and cost-savings (46:14); Long term use of prescription meds for insomnia not linked to better quality sleep (48:19); Number of smokers has reached all-time high of 1.1 billion globally (49:51); Leading global cardiovascular organizations release joint opinion on achieving the “tobacco endgame” (53:00).

Week of August 15, 2022 [episode #176]:

Featuring: Local COVID-19 Update (1:52); CDC eases Covid-19 quarantine and testing guidelines as it marks a new phase in pandemic (4:17); A critique of the new CDC Covid-19 guidance (8:10); Only half of eligible Americans have gotten their first COVID booster (14:36); “Silent” spread of polio in New York drives CDC to consider additional vaccinations for some people (18:29); New data from several states show racial disparities in monkeypox infections (23:44); CDC finds huge treatment gaps in hepatitis C patients when cure exists (32:44); Access to trauma care is improving across the country, but progress remains uneven (35:09); Climate change is going to make infectious diseases far, far worse (41:23); New Langya virus that may have spilled over from animals infects dozens (46:57); Federal Health Agencies Unveil National Tool to Measure Health Impacts of Environmental Burdens — the Environmental Justice Index (50:02).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. What scientists know — and don't know — about how monkeypox spreads
2. Fears of losing battle to control monkeypox in California, U.S. as cases surge
3. With support on monkeypox hard to come by, queer communities turn to one another
4. Decriminalizing HIV: Scientifically proven and morally correct — 134 countries criminalize or prosecute people based on general criminal laws of HIV transmission, non-disclosure, or exposure.
5. America has a maternal mortality crisis. Biden has a plan — at least an attempt to jumpstart “whole of government” approach.
6. Why tween girls especially are struggling so much
7. How to ease the transition to college when mental health is a concern
8. Why Hollywood keeps getting abortion wrong
9. How to talk about disability sensitively and avoid ableist tropes
10. Social Media Posts Criticize the 988 Suicide Hotline for Calling Police. Here's What You Need to Know.
11. How Safe Are Nuclear Power Plants? A new history reveals that federal regulators consistently assured Americans that the risks of a massive accident were “vanishingly small”— even when they knew they had insufficient evidence to prove it.

Week of August 8, 2022 [episode #175]:

Featuring: What is BA.4.6? The CDC is tracking a new COVID “variant of concern” that's overtaking earlier Omicron strains (1:58); Most reliable estimates to date suggest one in eight COVID-19 patients develop long COVID symptoms (5:34); Local COVID-19 Update (9:05); New York Health Department says hundreds of people may be infected with polio virus (11:06); Inching closer to an essential global pandemic treaty (14:02); Percent of Americans without health coverage hits new low at 8% (19:53); As Staffing Problems Increase, RN Job Satisfaction Plummets, and two-thirds said they intend to leave in the next 3 years (20:45); Primary care doctors would need more than 24 hours per day to provide recommended care without team-based care (24:41); Missouri's maternal mortality rates are getting even worse, especially for women on Medicaid (27:58);Ohio ranks 32nd healthiest state in the U.S. (32:52); Investing in Health: Seven Strategies for States Looking to Buy Health, Not Just Health Care (36:12); Regular Exercise Program May Stall Cognitive Decline (40:22); Africa sees 10-year growth in healthy life expectancy (43:09).

BONUS stories to read online!

1.  A challenge for antiabortion states: Doctors reluctant to work there
2. Federal Court Judge Mulls Challenge to ACA Preventive Care Mandates which could affect provision of free contraceptive care, vaccines, and cancer screenings
3. Transplant System Urgently Needs Overhaul, Experts Say
4. What Could Actually Work to Curb Gun Violence
5. Covid has settled into a persistent pattern — and remains damaging. It may not change anytime soon
6. “God, No, Not Another Case.” COVID-Related Stillbirths Didn't Have to Happen.
7. CDC expected to ease Covid-19 recommendations, including for schools
8. Experts Warn of Physical, Mental Health Effects of Extreme Heat
9. History of DDT ocean dumping off L.A. coast even worse than expected, EPA finds
10. Outside the Safe Operating Space of a New Planetary Boundary for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)
11. The UN just declared a universal human right to a healthy and sustainable environment. But it's more than just moral posturing. Here's why.
12. Saltwater Intrusion, a “Slow Poison” to East Coast Drinking Water
13. U.S. declares monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency
14. We need a national action plan to contain monkeypox now
15. How Well Does the Monkeypox Vax Work? No One Knows for Sure
16. What Should Worry Most Americans About Our Monkeypox Response
17. Every New Disease Triggers a Search for Someone to Blame — Focusing on a virus's origins encourages individualized shame while ignoring the broader societal factors that contribute to a disease's transmission.
18. A health equity expert on making monkeypox messaging more inclusive
19. The campaign to rename monkeypox gets complicated
20. CDC study highlights community spread of superbugs moving beyond hospital settings

Week of August 1, 2022 [episode #174]:

Featuring: Risk of serious pregnancy complications has doubled since Texas abortion bans (1:46); Abortions in young girls are not uncommon (3:17); A Fall COVID-19 Booster Campaign Could Save Over 100,000 lives in U.S. (4:57); More than 40% of parents of young kids say they will not get their child a Covid-19 vaccine (6:57); Parents still have widespread worries that childhood COVID-19 vaccination might be a bigger risk than getting COVID-19 (11:22); At least 27 million COVID patients may have long-term smell and taste problems (14:12); Local COVID-19 Update (17:28);  1 in 5 Americans OK with threatening health officials (20:43); Bacteria Causing Deadly Disease Found in U.S. Soil for First Time (22:43); Testing is crucial to getting monkeypox under control, but there's a “shocking” lack of demand (25:34); Africa's alone in monkeypox deaths but has no vaccine doses (30:27); Botswana hits “historic” U.N. goal against HIV (32:46); Even Well-Intended Laws Can't Protect Us From Inaccurate Provider Directories (35:24); Coming wave of opioid overdoses “will be worse than it's ever been before” (42:15); How Many High Schoolers Are Packing Heat? (43:53); Study casts more doubt on use of high-dose vitamin D pills (45:29); First trial to prove a  dietary supplement can prevent hereditary cancer [with resistant starch] (48:28).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Summer boosters for people under 50 shelved in favor of updated boosters in the fall
2. Their medications cause pregnancy issues. Post-Roe, that could be dangerous.  People with disabilities are considering the risks of pregnancy with their essential medications.
3. Leave My Disability Out of Your Anti-Abortion Propaganda
4. Why Exceptions for the Life of the Mother Have Disappeared. The absence of these exemptions is a sign of the anti-abortion-rights movement's distrust of women and the medical establishment.
5. A Nearly Century-Old Maternity Home for Teens in the South Makes Plans for Expansion.
6. The War on Drugs Has a Warning for Post-Roe America: criminalizing abortion will increase harm while failing to stop the behavior it is intended to reduce.
7. Biden's Drug Czar Is Leading the Charge for a “Harm Reduction” Approach.
8. How Polio Crept Back Into the U.S.
9. What to know about polio, a disease once again vying for attention.
10. What Happened to the Monkeypox Name Change?
11. Encouraged by right-wing doctor groups, desperate patients turn to disproven ivermectin for long COVID.
12. Studies Throw Cold Water on COVID “Lab Leak” Theory — Researchers say new analyses point to Wuhan market as early epicenter.
13. Hospices Have Become Big Business for Private Equity Firms, Raising Concerns About End-of-Life Care.
14. Value-based payment has produced little value. It needs a time-out.
15. Black life expectancy in the southern U.S. is affected by the legacy of slavery.
16. Public Health Workers Still Face PTSD, Other Mental Health Problems.

Week of July 25, 2022 [episode #173]:

GREATEST HITS SHOW #5, from October, 2020 thru April, 2021, featuring: global rates of unplanned pregnancies still too high (2:03): how drugs damage the environment (5:19); science supports new dietary guidelines limiting alcohol consumption, especially for reducing cancer in men (12:37); can local food feed big cities? yes, if we cut down on meat (16:17); concentration in the food business — to high, too risky (20:33); hospitals profit on junk food (22:12); how hope can make you happier with your lot in life (26:12); suicide rates did not decrease when antidepressant drugs were introduced (28:10); giving poor people money is more effective for mental health than brief therapy (29:50); people in societies where money plays a minimal role can have very high levels of happiness, comparable to the happiest industrialized nations (33:51); Atlanta creates the nation's largest free food forest with hopes of addressing food insecurity (35:10); what to do when your friends and family are unsupportive of your depression (38:16); food systems responsible for one-third of human-caused emissions (43:58); greenhouse gas emissions associated with dietary guidelines vary between countries — following U.S. guidelines would increase emissions (44:38); book review — Bittman on food history — Animal, Vegetable, Junk: A History of Food, from Sustainable to Suicidal (46:18); the surprise catch of seafood trawling — massive greenhouse gas emissions as much as the aviation industry (47:47); feeding cattle seaweed reduces their greenhouse gas emissions 82 percent (48:45); land could be worth more left to nature than when farmed (49:58); study finds evidence of 55 new chemicals in people (52:03); starting smoking cessation in hospitalized patients would reduce many premature deaths (53:43); A new way to measure human wellbeing towards sustainability — Years of Good Life (56:17).

Week of July 18, 2022 [episode #172]:

Featuring: Wastewater surveys suggest COVID surge could be biggest yet for infections (1:52); Local COVID-19 Update (5:02); Among 100 largest cities, Toledo ranks 83rd in American Fitness Index (8:02); Toledo ranks as 10th most stressed city in U.S. (10:12); Post-Roe, Health Inequities Will Be Exacerbated, which may create “a permanent subclass” of people with very poor outcomes (12:05); Poll: Abortion bans reshape where young Americans choose to live (13:15); Feds say doctors must offer abortion if mom's life at risk (14:33); Why this key chance to getting permanent birth control (“tubes tied”) is often missed (15:40);  Gun Safety “Wrapped in a Mental Health Bill” – A Look at Health Provisions in the New Law (18:59); Psychology's “Winning Streak” Is a Failure of Science, Not Success (24:43); Risk factors in adults with cardiovascular disease are worsening over time despite advances in secondary prevention (26:13); Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia Is Killing Patients – Yet There Is a Simple Way to Stop It (28:33); U.S. hospital adverse events drop significantly (31:20); Inaccurate pulse oximeter readings tied to less supplemental oxygen for darker-skinned ICU patients (33:22); Pharma Companies Sue for the Right to Buy Blood From Mexicans Along Border (36:14); DOJ fails to report on making federal websites accessible to disabled people (38:42); Relaxed methadone rules appear safe (41:17); Death rate from Parkinson's rising in U.S. (42:26); In most ways, women age better than men and live longer. Scientists are trying to figure out why (44:56).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Post-Roe, many autoimmune patients lose access to “gold standard” drug
2. U.S. Tells Pharmacists Not to Withhold Pills That Can Cause Abortion, warning that failing to dispense such drugs “may be discriminating” on the basis of sex or disability, citing other conditions that they can treat.
3. Abortion laws spark profound changes in other medical care
4. Dr. Caitlin Bernard Was Meant to Write This With Me Before She Was Attacked for Doing Her Job
5. What Will Happen if Doctors Defy the Law to Provide Abortions? Laws favors conscientious refusers of care rather than conscientious providers of care
6. What it costs to have a baby in the U.S. — on average, $18,865
7. Conservative Blocs Unleash Litigation to Curb Public Health Powers
8. “Cooking Them to Death”: The Lethal Toll of Hot Prisons
9. American Nurses Association Apologizes for Racism, Past and Present
10. The four bases of anti-science beliefs — and what to do about them, as political divisions have potent effects on attitudes
11. The new 988 mental health hotline is live. Here's what to know
12. Spirituality linked with better health outcomes, and patient care
13. Many Cancer Centers Push Too Many Tests
14. “You get goosebumps from the data” — hopes rise for new malaria vaccine. The disease is a leading killer of under fives across Africa. But trials for a new vaccine suggest an end to the death toll could be in sight

Week of July 11, 2022 [episode #171]:

Featuring: “Set them up for failure” – Sex education not required in many states where abortion is or will be banned (1:52); Montana clinics preemptively restrict out-of-state patients' access to abortion pills, for fear of prosecution (6:38); 1,100-plus Ohio doctors band together to defend reproductive rights (10:31); Newest Omicron subvariants can evade boosters increasingly effectively, doubling each recent wave (14:31); Studies show that 8% of athletes have persistent symptoms after contracting COVID-19 (15:52); Lower Long COVID Risk Tied to More Vaccine Doses (16:57); About 12%  of COVID Hospitalizations Involve Immunocompromised People (17:44); Poll Describes Americans' Readiness to Emerge from the Pandemic and Changes to Daily Life (18:27); Local COVID-19 Update (20:47); Let's call monkeypox what it is: A pandemic (26:47); Ghana reports first-ever suspected cases of highly-infectious hemorrhagic viral disease (32:56); Global plan calls for more funding to bring TB under control (35:03); UN Report: Global hunger numbers rose to as many as 828 million in 2021 (38:07); Insulin is an extreme financial burden for over 14% of Americans whose life depends on it (40:21); Gov. Newsom announces California will produce its own “low cost” insulin (42:12); How Much Health Insurers Pay for Almost Everything Is Going Public (45:08); FDA appears to hold off on crackdown on synthetic nicotine products, despite Congressional mandate (52:28).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Women in prison and under court surveillance will suffer under new abortion bans
2. “It's Scary”: Students Fear Going to College in Red States After Roe
3. This Is the Republican Roadmap for Eradicating Reproductive Rights
4. How do we regain abortion rights? Take a page out of Mothers Against Drunk Driving's playbook
5. Federal Patient Privacy Law Does Not Cover Most Period-Tracking Apps. A patient privacy law known as HIPAA, passed in 1996, hasn't kept pace with new technologies and at-home tests.
6. FDA to Weigh Over-the-Counter Sale of Contraceptive Pills
7. A floating abortion clinic? Medical team plans to launch ship in Gulf of Mexico, in federal waters
8. MAKE BIRTH FREE —  It's time the pro-life movement chose life.
9. Evidence Shouldn't Be Optional — This Supreme Court often ignores science when handing down decisions, and it affects far too many lives.
10. Health care in jails and prisons is terrible. The pandemic made it even worse.
11. What to Know About the New BA.2.75 Omicron Subvariant
12. In Debate Over Chicago's Speed Cameras, Concerns Over Safety, Racial Disparities Collide — Cities nationwide look to Chicago as officials wrestle with whether speed cameras improve traffic safety enough to justify their financial burden on Black and Latino motorists.
13. Are tax-exempt hospitals giving back their fair share to communities?  Dubious accounting puts into question.
14. Truth is good for health.
15. Exercise Associated with 25% Lower Risk for Depression.

Week of July 4, 2022 [episode #170]:

Featuring: Abortion facts and health care standards worldwide and in U.S. (2:18); Doctors and Other Health Care Workers Face Unprecedented Legal Risks After Roe Overturn (7:13); Standardize Abortion Education Across U.S. Medical Schools (16:43); Next post-Roe battlefield — Online abortion information (19:06); Supreme Court severely limits EPA in curbing power plant emissions and climate change (23:51); New Guidelines Encourage Breastfeeding Longer, but Call for More Parental Support (25:32); Race not dealt with in most pediatric clinical care guidelines (28:51);  Overdose Deaths Behind Bars Rise as Drug Crisis Swells (31:21); Drastically reducing nicotine levels will save a lot of lives (34:13); Up to 540,000 lives could be saved worldwide by targeting speed and other proven traffic crash prevention interventions (37:05); United States had highest motor vehicle crash mortality rate  among comparable countries in 2019 (38:52); COVID-19 cases rising nearly everywhere in the world (40:28); FDA recommends vaccine makers update Covid-19 shots to target Omicron variants (40:55); Maternal mortality jumped during COVID-19 pandemic, especially among Black and Hispanic mothers (41:57); Local COVID-19 Update (44:20); Privatizing England's National Health Services' care led to declines in quality of healthcare, increasing deaths from treatable causes (46:30); Ohio expanded breast cancer screening coverage — Will the nation follow? (49:25); California first to cover health care for all immigrants (51:53).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. How to Have a Medication Abortion. Where to find the pill and what to expect.
2. The Abortion Pill Can Be Used Later Than the FDA Says
3. Big Employers Are Offering Abortion Benefits. Will the Information Stay Safe?
4. After Roe, HHS Guidance Aims to Keep Health Information Secure
5. Antiabortion lawmakers want to block patients from crossing state lines
6. There's another War Between the States coming over abortion. Before the Civil War, Northern and Southern states did battle over fugitive slaves. Once again, something legal in one state is illegal in a state next door.
7. Abortion pill maker plans multistate legal action to preserve drug access
8. Abortion rights should be law, not a corporate perk
9. Indigenous tribes push back on calls to open abortion clinics on federal lands
10. Catholic hospitals do not provide the same reproductive health options as other hospitals, including birth control
11. Men rush to get vasectomies after Roe ruling
12. The Kids Were Already in Crisis Before Roe Ended — With new abortion limits and bans, the pediatric mental health emergency will only worsen
13. Placebo response reveals unconscious bias among white patients toward female, Black physicians
14. Rural parents are less likely to say their pediatrician recommended COVID shots. Here's why that matters.
15. Survey: Nearly half of physicians changed jobs during the pandemic
16. Why LGBTQ Adults Are More Vulnerable to Heart Disease
17. Would carbon food labels change the way you shop? [with tool to compare foods]
18. How to Get Rid of Medical Debt — Or Avoid It in the First Place
19. Struggling with positive thinking? Research shows negative moods can actually be useful
20. The Joy of Saving the World — Research suggests a surprising motive for environmentalism: feeling good.

Week of June 27, 2022 [episode #169]:

Featuring: Ohio's six-week abortion ban becomes law hours after Supreme Court's Dobbs decision (1:57); Statement on U.S. Supreme Court Overturning Roe v. Wade (4:07); Brief overview of what Roe reversal will mean for Ohio and U.S. public health (5:40); Texas has a law that allows parents to give up newborns at fire stations or hospitals — it's very rarely used (8:08); Ohio Department of Health staffer fired after abortion pill mention in newsletter (9:36); American Medical Association condemns overturning of NY gun law, to result in more firearms in public (13:51); Here's what is in the Senate's gun bill — and what was left out (15:47); Juul vaping order by FDA triggers broader tobacco fight (21:15); Biden administration says it plans to cut nicotine in cigarettes to nonaddictive levels (23;47); California ranks worst in nation for air pollution because of wildfire smoke(26:57); Colorado bets on a public option to grow health coverage (28:02); U.S. Health Disparities  Cost At least $320 Billion Each Year (31:05); CDC confirms evidence of local monkeypox transmission (33:10); Second COVID Booster Protected Seniors in Long-Term Care (34:07); 1 in 13 of U.S. adults currently report long COVID (35:22); Covid-19 vaccines prevented nearly 20 million deaths globally in first year (36:12); Covid causes global life expectancy to fall for first time since stat recorded in 1950s (37:00); Local COVID-19 Update (38:12);  CDC Advisory Committee Backs “Enhanced” Flu Vaccine for Seniors, estimated to save 2,000+ lives (43:05); Gender bias plummets acceptance of female pharmacists' recommendations on proper antibiotic use (44:05); New safe-sleep guidelines aim to reduce infant deaths (46:39).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. 18 Ways the Supreme Court Just Changed America
2. Five Things to Know Now That the Supreme Court Has Overturned Roe v. Wade
3. Global access to abortion still highly unequal
4. Abortion Pills Will Change a Post-Roe World
5. Red states crack down on abortion pills
6. Abortion pills over the counter? Experts see big hurdles in widening U.S. access
7. The “abortion pill” may treat dozens of diseases, but Roe reversal might upend research — Mifepristone, the FDA-approved abortion drug, might also treat conditions like cancer and PTSD. Proving it works in a post-Roe landscape could be a challenge.
8. Black people in the U.S. twice as likely to face coercion, unconsented procedures during birth
9. HIPAA medical privacy law won't protect you if prosecutors want your reproductive health records
10. A major problem for minors: post-Roe access to abortion
11. Primary Care Providers Can Help Safeguard Abortion
12. Women less likely than men to get authorship on scientific publications, analysis finds
13. Black doctors are forced out of training programs at far higher rates than white residents
14. What will it take to level the playing field for Black medical residents?
15. Digital back doors can lead down the path to health inequity
16. Hold science to higher standards on racism
17. Racism Is Major Driver of Environmental Inequality — But Most Americans Incorrectly Think It's Poverty
18. Research on Gun Violence Has Been Thwarted: It's Now More Urgent Than Ever
19. Five COVID Numbers That Don't Make Sense Anymore
20. World mental health report: Transforming mental health for all
21. Covid, Conflict And Climate Are Fueling A Global Food Crisis – Leaders Must Act Fast
22. Monkeypox is not a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, but perhaps it should be
23. America May Soon Have Another Sexually Transmitted Infection (Monkeypox)
24. Some parents skip steps to minimize firework risks to kids

Week of June 20, 2022 [episode #168]:

Featuring: I Just Recovered From BA.2. Can I Get BA.4/5? –Probably (1:57); WHO reports COVID-19 deaths rise, reversing a 5-week decline (6:18); Omicron Less Likely to Cause Long COVID, even as more likely to infect (6:53); U.S. Covid test makers anticipate layoffs after government reallocates funds, threatening testing capabilities (10:26); Local COVID-19 Update (12:21); Universal Health Care Could Have Saved More Than 330,000 U.S. Lives during COVID (15:22); A Proposal to Import Drugs from Other Countries Creates an Unusual Alliance in the Senate (20:17); Doctors push to make birth control available without prescription (22:54); 100 Million People in America Are Saddled With Health Care Debt (23:52); Gains in patient safety have stalled over the past decade (34:18); We don't know whether most medical treatments work, and we know even less about whether they cause harm (36:44); Senate passes major benefits expansion for veterans sickened by war toxins (42:49); Life expectancy for Native Americans has stagnated — even long before Covid (46:02); Death rate increased 51% over 15 years among Working-age Ohioans (46:57); Ohio seniors' health ranked 37th among states (47:37); Ohioans overall health ranked 37th among states (48:53); Ohio Governor signs bill that reduces training time needed to arm teachers from 700 to 24 hours (52:08); Drownings in home pools, hot tubs kill hundreds of kids each year (53:12); Pioneering Maine looks at tightening PFAS standards after feds say almost no level is safe (54:52); EPA ordered to reassess glyphosate's impact on health, environment (55:52).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Under age COVID vaccine Q&A
2. The irony — and ignominy — of medical conferences as superspreader events
3. Female leadership attributed to fewer COVID-19 deaths
4. Clues to Long COVID — Scientists strive to unravel what is driving disabling symptoms
5. How Covid Did Away With the Sick Day — Some workers have no choice but to clock in. Others find the flexibility of remote work leads them to log in from their sick beds.
6. Why are my patients still isolating in their homes? Gun violence.
7. Preventive Care May Be Free, but Follow-Up Diagnostic Tests Can Bring Big Bills
8. Buy and Bust: When Private Equity Comes for Rural Hospitals
9. Pesticides Are Spreading Toxic “Forever Chemicals” — Common chemicals sprayed on many crops each year are cloaked in technical misclassifications
10. U.S. abortions rise, after years of declines, to 1 in 5 pregnancies in 2020
11. The Right to Become a Parent Is Now at Risk Too — The courts used to understand that Roe stood not so much for the choice to end a pregnancy as for the choice of whether to end one — current state could lead to further forced “choices” like sterilization.
12. AMA Acknowledges Voting Is a Social Determinant of Health
13. Global Public Health Workers and Academics Must Step Up Response to War
14. It's Hot Outside — And That's Bad News for Children's Health

Week of June 13, 2022 [episode #167]:

Featuring: COVID-19 accounted for 62% of duty-related law enforcement deaths in 2020 (2:03); Two newest versions of Omicron are gaining ground in the U.S. (3:11); Local COVID-19 Update (4:52); Support for gun rights has eroded after nearly a decade of mass shootings, poll shows (8:32); Six Predictions About the End of Roe, Based on Research (10:26); A Deep Dive Into the Widening Mortality Gap Across the Political Aisle (15:52); Four in 10 U.S. adults who need mental health care can't get it (20:03); Reasons Why Most Young Adults Sweep Depression Under the Rug (23:00); LGBTQ students consider quitting college at an alarming rate — why mental health help is hard to find (24:10); A new study shows benefits to dispatching mental health specialists in nonviolent 911 emergencies (26:46); Workplace mental health benefits can reduce sick days, increase productivity, all while providing savings for employers (28:52); Hospitals are required to post prices for common procedures — Few do (32:01); Feds Slap First Hospitals With Fines for Lack of Price Transparency (35:02); Medicaid Weighs Attaching Strings to Nursing Home Payments to Improve Patient Care (36:58); The FDA is not involved in approving 98.7 % of food chemicals (40:57); FDA agrees to reconsider safety of BPA in food packaging (42:11); Good News for Your Credit Report Regarding Medical Debt (42:47); Many baby formula plants weren't inspected during COVID (43:52); Pursuit of profits is driving drug companies to break the 340B law aiding most vulnerable (46:08); Half of the world's population suffers from headaches (52:07); Stigma Common Among Migraine Patients, leading to poorer outcomes, quality of life (53:30); Advancing Access to Hearing Health Care (54:26).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Covid shots for young kids are almost available. Here's what you need to know.
2. Abortion Pills Will Be Crucial in a Post-Roe World. But They're Not the Magic Fix Many Think They Are. It's About Equity, Equity, Equity.
3. Abortion Poised to Be a Bigger Voting Issue Than in Past
4. The New Abortion Bans: Almost No Exceptions for Rape, Incest or Health
5. If Roe is overturned, the ripples could affect in vitro fertilization and genetic testing of embryos, experts warn
6. Doula services could soon be covered by Medicaid after racial equity bill passes Ohio House
7. U.S. fight against opioid overdoses becomes one of racial justice
8. Long Wait for Justice: People in Jail Face Delays for Mental Health Care Before They Can Stand Trial
9. The flip side of toxic positivity: Emotional perfectionism
10. There Is a Right Way and a Wrong Way to Respond to Monkeypox
11. Monkeypox vaccination begins — can the global outbreaks be contained?
12. Concern grows that human monkeypox outbreak will establish virus in animals outside Africa
13. How the hard lessons of the AIDS crisis are shaping the response to the monkeypox outbreak
14. Blaming Gay Men for Monkeypox Will Harm Everyone
15. “Discriminatory and stigmatizing”: Scientists push to rename monkeypox viruses
16. Covid Funding Pries Open a Door to Improving Air Quality in Schools
17. Children's Vision Problems Often Go Undetected, Despite Calls for Regular Screening
18. Blood Tests That Detect Cancers could lead to unnecessary treatments without saving patients' lives.
19. Doubt is their product: How Big Tobacco, Big Oil, and the Gun Lobby market ignorance to convince people that the truth can't be known, delaying policy action.
20. Study Discovers Extensive Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest in Medical Research
21. St. Jude Stashed Away $886 Million in Unspent Revenue Last Year, as other children's cancer nonprofits struggled to raise cash.
22. “Soil Your Undies” campaign asks Pennsylvanians to bury their underwear to test soil health

Week of June 6, 2022 [episode #166]:

Featuring: Why new COVID variants are driving a surprise surge (1:57); Asymptomatic COVID-19 not spread as easily as symptomatic and pre-symptomatic (4:19); During the Omicron Wave, Death Rates Soared for Older People, Highlighting Their Continuing Vulnerability (7:09); Paxlovid antiviral reduces COVID risk in seniors regardless of vaccine status, but doesn't help those under 65 (10:45); How many Covid deaths are acceptable? Some Biden officials tried to guess 12:09); Fever, body aches, loss of smell: New COVID study charts evolution of symptoms over waves (13:28); Local COVID-19 Update (14:51); Pediatric Gun Deaths Are a Massive Problem in the U.S. (18:23); Workplace Violence in Healthcare (25:57); Locking People Up Is No Way to Treat Mental Illness (27:11); Climate Crisis Poses Serious Risks for Mental Health (30:54); Big tobacco is having a “devastating” impact on the environment (32:20); Tobacco companies say they don't advertise to children, but this damning report shows otherwise (36:07); Africa will be the world's ashtray if big tobacco is able to get its way (38:02); Americans overpay for generic drugs due to middlemen (45:52); Weight loss with bariatric surgery cuts the risk of developing cancer and death from cancer (45:59); Only 6 out of 10 adults feel comfortable taking charge and giving CPR (47:41); Gratitude expressions between co-workers improve cardiovascular responses to stress (49:09); VP Harris calls water security a foreign policy priority (49:09).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. 5 types of long COVID
2. “Too little too late”: Unpacking Biden's moves to improve federal prisons' response to Covid-19
3. The Missing Part of America's Pandemic Response — The NIH has become sclerotic and overly cautious.
4. The Challenges of Calculating a Lab Leak Risk — The odds of a dangerous pathogen escaping a lab are uncertain, and have implications for Covid-19 and more.
5. Preparing for the next pandemic: Time to follow a social business model for patent-free global medicine production
6. The good and bad about home medical tests
7. The Loss of a “Good” Death — Our dying and grieving processes explained
8. Science Shows How to Protect Kids' Mental Health, but It's Being Ignored. Yes, the COVID pandemic has made the problem worse. But our teens were in trouble long before that.
9. It's hard to explain (and fix) evil — Mass shootings and mental illness
10. Surgeons Call for Action to Reduce Gun Violence, with 13 Recommendations
11. On gun violence, the United States is an outlier
12. Skirmishes Over Medication Abortion Renews Debate on State vs. Federal Powers
13. Blue cities in red states say they won't help enforce abortion bans
14. In Florida, There's a Growing Gap Between What People Say About Abortion and What They Do — Inside the coming clash between politics and practice.
15. How adoption agencies are responding to potential overturning of Roe v. Wade
16. Faulty oxygen readings delayed Covid treatments for darker-skinned patients
17. Mistreatment in medical school leads students to leave, with students of color faring the worst
18. Factoring in patients' experiences is essential for moving the needle on health disparities
19. For Many Low-Income Families, Getting Formula Has Always Been a Strain
20. Beyond baby formula: advancing best practices in FDA's efforts to prevent shortages
21. Failure to Launch: The Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program at the EPA
22. AARP's Billion-Dollar Endorsement Business Begs Conflicts of Interest
23. Taco Bowls and Chicken Curry: Medi-Cal Delivers Ready Meals in Grand Health Care Experiment

Week of May 30, 2022 [episode #165]:

Featuring: Local COVID-19 Update (1:57); Vaccines may not prevent many symptoms of long covid (7:50); Vast majority of Americans don't want Supreme Court decisions on abortion, marriage, contraception overturned (10:43); FBI counts 61 “active shooter” incidents last year, up 52% from 2020 (12:48); Gun-Related Homicides Soar to a Level Unseen in 21st Century (13:55); Traffic Fatalities Reached a 16-Year High in 2021 (15:31); Researchers found alcohol use disorder mortality rates were 25% higher than projected in 2020, 22% higher in 2021 (17:06); Block-by-block data shows pollution's stark toll on people of color and the poor (17:35); High air pollution from fracking in Ohio county detected by community activists' sensors pinpoint emissions missed by expensive EPA instruments (19:44); Taxpayers Paid Twice for Healthcare, as private insurers profiteer more than ever during the pandemic (23:42); High cost of cancer care in the U.S. doesn't reduce mortality rates (30:21); Obamacare found to have helped extend lives of people with cancer (32:22); Younger People More Likely to Undergo Colonoscopy After Guideline Change (33:38); Heart attack mortality rate higher in the U.S. compared to other high-income countries (34:37); One in five male adolescents suffers from high blood pressure (35:58); Black, Hispanic adults less likely to receive CPR, especially in public (37:31); Hispanic people with chest pain wait in ER on average 28 minutes longer than other people (40:03); Diabetes Screening Thresholds Should Be Lowered for Racial Minorities (41:17); Most doctors still believe in prescribing unnecessary antibiotics to treat asymptomatic infections (44:21); The U.S. is soon to become a net food importer (47:00); More Americans Changing Diet for Environmental Reasons (48:00); The FDA considers a “healthy” food label (48:43).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Hard hit by COVID-19, Black Americans are recovering slowly
2. New study finds public health messaging could benefit from using “autonomy-supportive” language versus shame and pressure language
3. The Anti-Vaccine Movement's New Frontier of Radicalized Parents
4. What Vaccine Apartheid Portends for the Climate Future
5. The Science Is Clear: Gun Control Saves Lives
6. The Long-Term Psychological Impact of School Shootings
7. The school shooting generation grows up — in a world wholly unprepared to deal with the aftermath of mass school shootings
8. What we know about mass school shootings in the US – and the gunmen who carry them out
9. Mass shooters aren't mentally ill people who suddenly “snap.” They decide to kill.
10. Why 18-Year-Olds in Texas Can Buy AR-15s but Not Handguns — disparities in how federal and state laws regulate rifles and handguns
11. The next U.S. abortion battle is over pills, and it's already begun
12. A Streamlined Health Care Model for Medication Abortion Access
13. Men Have a Lot to Lose When Roe Falls
14. Researchers suggest doctors should start prescribing vibrators to women
15. “Almost like malpractice”: To shed bias, doctors get schooled to look beyond obesity
16. Antifatness in the Surgical Setting
17. A Different Psychiatry Is Needed for Discontinuing Antidepressants
18. How to stay up-to-date on terrible news without burning out

Week of May 23, 2022 [episode #164]:

Featuring: A third of US should be considering masks (3:17); Covid antiviral pill preventing hospitalizations and deaths, says White House — Fact-check shows misleading (5:41); Does Paxlovid help people who have been vaccinated against Covid-19? Show us the data! (9:00); On-campus COVID-19 measures couldn't contain Omicron (11:19); COVIDtests.gov is offering another round of free COVID tests (13:05); Pro-Trump counties continue to suffer far higher COVID death tolls (13:45); What happens when the government stops buying Covid-19 vaccines? (17:46); The Costs of Long COVID (23:01); 76% of Long COVID Patients Were Not Hospitalized for Their Infection (27:37); Some COVID Survivors “Sicker Than They Feel” (28:38); “That's Just Part of Aging” — Long Covid Symptoms Are Often Overlooked in Seniors (29:28); Omitting long Covid from pandemic messaging is harmful for public health (31:43); Local COVID-19 Update (34:37);  New free service aims to connect Ohio's health care workers with mental health resources – WellBeingCARE.org (38:08); New nonprofit will decide how to spend hundreds of millions of Ohio's opioid settlement money (40:05); Pollution Responsible for 9 Million Deaths Each Year (42:04); Cutting air pollution from fossil fuels would save 50,000 lives a year in U.S. (43:43); Asthma, COPD Admissions Dropped 40% After a Big Polluter Shut Down (44:27); FDA sparks anger with decision on “phthalates” — a chemical in fast-food packaging (46:25); Rates of unnecessary procedures persisted through pandemic (50:07); New expert consensus statement published on achieving remission of type 2 diabetes using diet as a primary intervention (51:31); WHO Results Report shows global health achievements despite COVID-19 pandemic (53:22).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. What COVID Hospitalization Numbers Are Missing Amid a Health Care Capacity Crisis
2. Are we in a public health emergency?
3. How Often Can You Be Infected With the Coronavirus?
4. The Answer to Covid Fatigue Is Creativity, Not Surrender
5. Hate your face mask? There's hope — A U.S. government contest has 10 companies competing to make better face coverings
6. The Antiscience Supreme Court Is Hurting the Health of Americans
7. How the End of Roe Would Change Prenatal Care
8. Abortion and inherited disease: Genetic disorders complicate the view that abortion is a choice
9. Vague “medical emergency” exceptions in abortion laws leave pregnant people in danger
10. Better Birth Control Hasn't Made Abortion Obsolete
11. Make abortion pills available over the counter
12. The best way to protect abortion rights? Finalize the Equal Rights Amendment
13. To improve safety, hospitals should make “radical transparency” real — and accessible
14. The frequently long waits for insurance prior approvals frustrate doctors and patients needing treatment
15. The Weight of Stigma: Heavier Patients Confront the Burden of Bias
16. NEJM, other journals: provide more transparency about conflicts of interest or don't publish conflicted articles
17. National Academies report cites “urgent” need to recruit more diverse participants for clinical trials
18. Monkeypox 101, unanswered questions, and the bigger picture
19. A CDC expert answers questions on monkeypox
20. Russian aggression underscores the U.S.'s need for greater investment in medical countermeasures to chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear attacks
21. Hopelessness around youth mental health is creating a “nihilistic contagion”
22. Sports and Transgender People  – Endocrinologists weigh in on the rights of transgender athletes and on basing decisions on science
23. As Red Cross Moves to Pricey Blood Treatment Method, Hospitals Call for More Choice
24. Climate change likely to reduce the amount of sleep that people get per year
25. 6 Things You Need To Know About Music and Health

Week of May 16, 2022 [episode #163]:

Featuring: Pandemic gets tougher to track as COVID testing plunges (2:08); Health experts caution against ‘new normal' strategies for COVID-19 — must deal with chronic diseases and racial/ethnic disparities (3:13); Covid-19 narrows long-standing Latino mortality advantage (5:33); U.S. and world leaders pledge a pathetic $3B to fight pandemic globally (7:37); More people now incorrectly blame Asian Americans for Covid than at height of pandemic (8:16); Local COVID-19 Update (11:02); Overturning Roe highlights need for family planning, especially in trigger ban states (14:49); Cost-Related Barriers Prevent Low-Income U.S. Women from Using Their Preferred Contraceptive Method, Or Any method at All (18:06); Leading medical journal warns “women will die” if Supreme Court overturns Roe (19:12); Medical education of abortion could be erased in red states (21:11); Treasury Secretary Yellen says the Roe ruling helped allow women to finish school and increase their earning potential, leading to higher workforce participation, plus better lives for children (24:13); Covid shutdowns in China are delaying medical scans in the U.S. (26:00); What are the Radiation Risks from CT Scans? (27:31); CT Scans Cause About 40,000 Cancers Deaths Per Year, Similar to Breast and Prostate Cancers (31:44); Genetic study confirms sarin nerve gas as cause of Gulf War illness (33:43); U.S. overdose deaths hit record 107,000 in 2021 (37:10); WHO highlights glaring gaps in regulation of alcohol marketing across borders (38:32); No health benefits among adults who used both e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes (44:07); Pharmacist Suicides Outpace General Public (45:10); Government watchdog: 1 in 4 older Americans on Medicare harmed during hospital stays (46:35); Staffing shortages slam hospitals, increasing lengths of stay (49:11); One in three people who drowned in Canada had a chronic health condition (49:37); “New and improved” supermarkets trim childhood obesity in NYC (52:11).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. “It's a tsunami”: Legal challenges threatening public health policy
2. U.S. to ask world for more on global Covid fight as its own cash dwindles
3. Five risks if Congress does not pass new COVID-19 funding: Not enough vaccines for everyone in the fall; Running out of treatments; Unable to buy new treatments; Shortages of tests; Cutting back global aid
4. Strengthening Gavi is a way forward for global vaccine equity
5. Building scientific talent in the Global South can help prevent future public health crises
6. The Lab-Leak Theory Is Looking Stronger by the Day. Here's What We Know [podcast]
7. The Plot to Keep Meatpacking Plants Open During COVID-19
8. Yes, Phones Can Reveal if Someone Gets an Abortion
9. The Sex Ed Wars Will Never End
10. If Roe Goes, Could Birth Control Be Next?
11. A Comprehensive Guide to Birth Control
12. How do people with disabilities feel about abortion? New poll sheds light for first time
13. To Better Understand Women's Health, We Need to Destigmatize Menstrual Blood
14. Why Heart Disease in Women Is So Often Missed or Dismissed
15. Alzheimer's blood tests more likely to misdiagnose Black patients
16. Researchers Try to Understand High Suicide Rate Among Veterinarians
17. States Move to Regulate Toxic Chemicals; Federal Government Still Far Behind
18. Formula Shortage: What Providers Are Telling Worried Parents

Week of May 9, 2022 [episode #162]:

Featuring: 4 in 10 American adults know someone who died of COVID-19 (3:02); White House Correspondents Dinner spreads COVID (4:04); Less than 4 in 10 Americans wore a mask regularly when indoors at work (5:47); Omicron as “intrinsically” severe as other COVID variants (7:23); COVID Boosters Blunted Omicron's Effect on Nursing Homes (9:47); White House documents detail a looming squeeze on Covid-19 boosters (10:39); COVID-19 tied to adverse maternal outcomes, preterm birth (11:44); COVID worsens asthma in children (12:44); Local COVID-19 Update (14:13);   Flu vaccination associated with 34% lower risk of major cardiac events (18:37); Abortion epidemiology – Banning abortions will not stop abortions (19:59); U.S. would lag behind global abortion access if Roe v. Wade is undone (23:46); Next battle over access to abortion will focus on pills (26:46); With abortion in jeopardy, minority women have most to lose (33:08); U.S. international family planning restriction may kill 27,000 people per year (36:51); Feds Launch New Maternal Mental Health Hotline – 1-833-9-HELP4MOMS (41:03); The Sunshine State goes dark on adolescent health. It's a dangerous misstep (42:40); Record number of people without enough to eat in 2021, crisis growing (47:23); Alzheimer's Drug Company Admits Defeat (50:46);  Affirmative action bans had “devastating impact” on diversity in medical schools (52:08); Almost half of LGBTQ youths “seriously considered” suicide in past year (52:46); One-Week Social Media Break Reduces Anxiety, Depression (55:42).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Sweeping, Limited, or No Powers at All? What's at Stake in the Mask Mandate Appeal
2. Can Covid Lead to Impotence?
3. As Overdoses Soar, More States Decriminalize Fentanyl Testing Strips
4. A pediatrician's point of view: Antiabortion is anti-child
5. What the Supreme Court Should Know about Abortion Care
6. Abortion pill provider sees spike in U.S. interest after SCOTUS leak
7. Abortion pills by mail pose challenge for officials in red states
8. Corporate America Doesn't Want to Talk Abortion, but It May Have To
9. How to Win the Abortion Argument: Activists overseas have lessons for post-Roe America.
10. WHO reveals shocking extent of exploitative formula milk marketing
11. Two-thirds of working parents are burned out. Here's how to spot the signs — and get help.
12. Medicare Surprise: Drug Plan Prices Touted During Open Enrollment Can Rise Within a Month
13. Medicare Beneficiaries Need More Help Navigating the Program

Week of May 2, 2022 [episode #161]:

Featuring: Local COVID-19 Update (3:39); COVID deaths no longer overwhelmingly among the unvaccinated as toll on elderly grows, showing importance of boosters,  and the risks the most vulnerable still face (7:12); Northeast had half the COVID death rate as South (9:39); South Africa's latest COVID surge blamed on new omicron mutants (10:32); Birx says U.S. must prepare for summer COVID surge as immunity wanes (11:12); Awareness and use of COVID treatments is low (11:48);  Racial split on COVID-19 endures as restrictions ease in U.S. (12:26); Contracting COVID-19 might increase your risk of type 1 diabetes (14:11); Older people who get COVID are at increased risk of getting shingles (16:40); Majority of family members of COVID patients treated in the ICU report PTSD symptoms (17:12); South Africa's COVID-19 vaccine plant risks closure after no orders (18:59); How climate change could drive animal movements — and threaten more viral spillovers (20:42); Global coalition seeks $4.8 billion for polio eradication initiative (23:37); Africa sees rise in measles as pandemic disrupts vaccines (24:10); New article outlines the characteristics of a “longevity diet” (25:27); Vitamin plus mineral supplementation shows benefit for children with ADHD and emotional dysregulation (26:51); Women Who Live with Gun Owners More Likely to Take Their Own Life (29:25); Crossing Lines — Firearm Deaths Overtake Motor Vehicle Deaths as the Leading Cause of Death among U.S. Youth (31:38); Rates of handgun carriage rise among US adolescents, particularly White, rural, and higher income teens (33:05);  Almost 90% of autistic women report experiencing sexual violence, often on multiple occasions (33:53); PTSD costs in U.S. civilian, military populations combine for more than $230 billion, surpassing costs for conditions such as anxiety and depression (35:11); Thinking about suicide and self-harming alleviates stress (37:27); “Unprecedented” Decline in RN Workforce Driven by RNs Leaving Hospitals (38:58); Private Medicare plans denied nearly 1 in 5 claims that should have been paid (39:43); Medicare  and Medicaid need to include measures for social drivers of health (42:45); Study finds disparities in improper antibiotic prescribing, which is commonplace (45:32); 40% of Americans live with unhealthy levels of air pollution, a growing proportion (47:26); FDA unveils plan to ban menthol in cigarettes, cigars (48:02); New Report Links PFAS “Forever Chemical” Exposure to Liver Damage (49:34); EU unveils plan for “largest ever ban” on dangerous chemicals (50:52).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. The debate over the COVID-19 public health emergency is failing America
2. GAO Long-Term COVID Overview
3. The Race to Unravel COVID's Hidden Link to Alzheimer's
4. No Matter How You Feel About Masks, You Should Be Alarmed by This Judge's Decision
5. Understanding Black grief as a health disparity
6. “Belittling, Doubting, or Blaming”: Outdated Medical Language May Harm Patients
7. Republicans Have Stopped Trying to Kill Obamacare. Here's What They're Planning Instead.
8. Unprecedented increase in number of border wall falls and trauma
9. Why do teens self-harm? Clinical psychologists explain how to help teens reduce their emotional distress
10. Psychologists are starting to talk publicly about their own mental illnesses, and patients can benefit
11. The Problem with Preaching Gratitude – When Toxic Positivity Meets Mental Illness
12. Emergency Contraception Marks a New Battle Line in Texas
13. These Laws Are Making Miscarriage More Traumatic in America
14. America lost its way on menopause research. It's time to get back on track.
15. Mental health of college students is getting worse, even before pandemic
16. Study finds “burnout epidemic” for working women two years into pandemic
17. Residents enjoy better health after a switch to electric buses
18. Europe's Noise Capital Tries to Turn Down the Volume
19. The Unseen Scars of Those Who Kill Via Remote Control
20. Climate Change Is Making Jobs Deadlier—and OSHA Can't Take the Heat
21. Roles of Cities in Creating Healthful Food Systems
22. Dietary supplements could be tainted with prescription medications and dangerous hidden ingredients
23. “A worldwide public health threat”: Rob Bilott on his 20-year fight against forever chemicals
24. A Black Woman Fought for Her Community, and Her Life, Amidst Polluting Landfills
25. All My Environmental Heroes Are Black Women
26. How stress can damage your brain and body
27. A New Dimension to a Meaningful Life – Appreciating beauty in the everyday may be just as powerful as a sense of overarching purpose

Week of April 25, 2022 [episode #160]:

GREATEST HITS SHOW #4, from December, 2019, thru September, 2020, featuring: hospital alarms prove a noisy misery for patients (1:54); long work hours linked to both regular and hidden high blood pressure (6:20); every American family basically pays a yearly $8,000 “poll tax” under U.S. health system (7:42); Ecopsychology — how immersion in nature benefits your health (11:12); Why drinking diet soda makes you crave sugar (15:50); slow carbs over low carbs – fiber matters (19:06); Hormone-altering chemicals threaten our health, finances and future (22:28); Why sequencing the human genome hasn't cured many diseases (36:57); In an age of mass protests, what “less lethal” weapons actually do (42:11); Awareness of our biases is essential to good science (51:34).

Week of April 18, 2022 [episode #159]:

Featuring: Many Virus Cases Go Uncounted – “We are flying blind” (1:57); Local COVID-19 Update (6:07); U.S. renews COVID-19 public health emergency (8:40); Poll reveals that Most Americans say COVID is no longer a crisis (9:12); COVID-19 vaccines prevented more than 2.2 million U.S. deaths (10:13); FDA authorizes breath test that can detect COVID-19 in three minutes (11:03); 4 Michiganders with COVID-19 strain unique to mink highlight U.S. spillover cases (12:08); U.S. global vaccination program employees look to leave over lack of funding (13:46); Efforts to make protective medical gear in U.S. falling flat (14:52); State officials in the U.S. say they still have far too few epidemiologists, a CDC survey finds (17:48); Survey indicates primary care physicians are planning exit (19:52); COVID chaos fueled another public health crisis: STDs (20:33); U.S. adult smoking rate fell during first year of pandemic (24:24); Human Rights Watch says unaffordable U.S. insulin is a human rights abuse (27:08); Whistleblower explains how Medicare Advantage plan bilked millions (30:07); Disbelief in human evolution linked to greater prejudice and racism (32:48); National Urban League finds State of Black America is grim (36:05); Americans report mental health effects of climate change, worry about future (38:22); One in three children with disabilities globally have experienced violence in their lifetimes (40:21); Preventive Task Force Recommends Screening Kids 8 and Up for Anxiety (41:22); Rising parental expectations linked to perfectionism in college students (43:41); Driven by widespread fentanyl, rates of fatal teen overdoses doubled in 2020 (46:30); Microbiome experts warn of an ‘invisible extinction' that's harming human health (48:08); Home Gardening is Booming (52:52).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Is Covid More Dangerous Than Driving? How Scientists Are Parsing Covid Risks.
2. A tale of many pandemics: In year three, a matter of status and access
3. The Unbelievable Stupidity of Ending Global Covid Aid
4. After accusations of structural racism at JAMA, a Black health-equity advocate is named the journal's editor
5. More than half of clinical trials do not report race/ethnicity data
6. Experts warn that “patient influencers” are being paid by big pharma companies to hawk drugs to US consumers without telling them
7. Where do US opioid trials, settlements stand?
8. Decreasing sex crimes with therapy, friendship
9. How do I improve my motivation to exercise when I really hate it? Ten science-backed tips

Week of April 11, 2022 [episode #158]:

Featuring: Airlines that dropped mask requirements are now suffering staff shortages due to COVID-19 (1:57); Incomplete data likely masks a rise in U.S. Covid cases as focus on infection counts fades (4:43);  Local COVID-19 Update (7:34); In Washington's Covid-19 outbreak, new variants flout old “close contact” rule, just begging for an update  (10:13); Using A Donald Trump COVID-19 Vaccine Endorsement Ad Gave Public Health a Shot in the Arm – a missed opportunity of harnessing Republican opinion leaders (15:01); A Shortfall of ECMO Treatment Cost Lives During the Delta Surge (16:35); COVID-19 Tied to High Risk of Thrombotic Events, such as 33-fold increased incidence of pulmonary embolism in month after diagnosis ((18:12); COVID-19 health workers suffer combat-type moral trauma — more than combat veterans (19:16); U.S. life expectancy continues historic decline with another drop in 2021, widening gap with peer countries to over 5 years (21:21); WHO says 99% of world's population breathes poor-quality air (24:25); World's vulnerable are being polluted in their own homes as they cook (25:46); Half of older adults now die with a dementia diagnosis (27:12); Nursing home care, funding system need overhaul, report says (28:30); Vegan diet eases rheumatoid arthritis pain (32:02); Over a quarter of 12-to-19-year-olds have prediabetes (33:21); Examining the link between blood pressure and anger in men (34:37); Study finds higher homicide risk in homes with handguns (35:52); Survivors of gun violence and their families face increased risk of mental health disorders, higher health care spending (38:18); “Leaving victims with the bill” — Sexual assault survivors are often charged hundreds of dollars for rape kits, illegally (39:46); Social programs weak in many states with tough abortion law, leaving families faring worse (45:59); Men – especially from rich countries – still dominate the boards of global health groups (48:56); Study finds persistent and worsening racial and ethnic disparities in sleep duration (50:12); Fewer patients of color have health-care providers who look like them (52:38); Recently Updated Lung Cancer Screening Recommendations Tied to Thousands Fewer Deaths (53:53).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. America Is Staring Down Its First “So What?” Wave — The United States could be in for a double whammy: a surge it cares to neither measure nor respond to.
2. FDA Chief Lists Six Steps to Improve Health Outcomes — Evidence development and the public health data system are on Califf's fix-it list
3. Vaccine resistance has its roots in negative childhood experiences, a major study finds
4. Why Black and Hispanic Seniors Are Often Left With a Less Powerful Flu Vaccine
5. CDC Can Do Better: Five Former Directors on Room for Improvement
6. The U.S. Still Doesn't Know How To Track A Pandemic
7. The “successful failures” of Apollo 13 and Covid-19 vaccination
8. EPA moves to ban asbestos after decades of failures — It is the first time EPA has flexed its regulatory muscles under the revamped Toxic Substances Control Act.
9. Orphaned by gun violence: Two kids, two shootings, two parents gone — Every day in America, more than 40 children lose a parent to shootings
10. The Grief Pill is Coming!  If you yearn or pine too long for your dead child, partner, spouse, or friend, you may be addicted to grief, according to the new revision of diagnostic manual.

Week of April 4, 2022 [episode #157]:

Featuring: National COVID-19 status report (1:55); Local COVID-19 Update (4:20); What One Million COVID Dead Mean for the U.S.'s Future (7:57); Narrowing the vaccine gap as boosters begin for people over 50 (16:18); Covid-19 pandemic isn't over for Black Americans, report warns (22;02); In about half of U.S. counties, less than 10% of children ages 5 to 11 are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 (24;42); Ohio's mild flu season is punctured by its initial pediatric flu death, an 8-month-old boy (26:58); Risk, burden of diabetes surges after acute SARS-CoV-2 infection (28:19); Pregnancy nearly doubles risk of breakthrough COVID (29:48); U.K.'s COVID infections hit record high as free tests end (31:37); Cuts in Britain Could Cause a Covid Data Drought, leaving the world less prepared to spot future variants (33:25); Biden administration launches COVID website for 1-stop info [covid.gov] (34:17); Shortages stretch across health care supply chain, about 10-fold from pre-pandemic (34:53); Cities are making us fat and unhealthy: A “healthy location index” can help us plan better (36:16); Subsidy would improve fruit and veg intake by as much as 15%, say economists (38:26); Almost 800,000 Americans are living with end-stage kidney disease — half of Americans will develop chronic kidney disease eventually (40:18); Fewer than 6% of criminal justice cases get opioid use disorder treatment (42:17); U.N. report: Nearly half of all pregnancies globally are unintended (45:03); “They just gave up” — More than two-thirds of the military community report challenges to building a family (47:22); Ohio kids being sent out of state for mental health treatment (48:43); One in Five High Schoolers Isn't Heterosexual, CDC Survey Finds (50:21); Sci-Hub Offers the Quickest, Easiest, and Greatest Access to Science — all for free, though illegally (52:15).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. We Need to Clarify the Goal of Our COVID Booster Strategy — The focus should be on stopping severe disease and expanding our vaccine arsenal
2. America's choose-your-own-adventure vaccine approach
3. 44 countries have COVID vaccination rates under 20% despite supply increase
4. While we line up for a fourth shot, the world's poor haven't gotten their first
5. There's no return to normal for millions of children orphaned during Covid
6. How can we put Covid behind us without guaranteed paid sick leave?
7. Covid's racial disparities made some white people less vigilant about the virus
8. What Skydivers Can Teach Us About Pandemic Risk-Taking — with greater protection comes greater risk-taking
9. What's next with face masks? Keep wearing them in public, wear the best mask available and pay attention to fit
10. Women Are Calling Out “Medical Gaslighting” — Studies show female patients and people of color are more likely to have their symptoms dismissed by medical providers. Experts say: Keep asking questions.
11. Black Students Experiencing Racism on Campus Lack Mental Health Support
12. Anti-Trans Laws Will Have a Chilling Effect on Medicine
13. The power of massive databases and trials to unlock precision medicine
14. Digital health is overlooking its biggest opportunity for disruption — empowering providers instead of profit-making
15. As research grows on primary care and serious mental illness, a glaring gap remains — between individual versus system-wide interventions
16. How to compost—and why it's good for the environment
17. Traditional knowledge guides protection of planetary health in Finland
18. E.P.A. Decides Against Limiting Perchlorate in Drinking Water
19. She's Supposed to Protect Americans From Toxic Chemicals. First, She Just Has to Fix Trump's Mess and Decades of Neglect. Biden promised to prioritize people over polluters. His person to deliver that is facing a bare-bones budget, demoralized staff and increasingly angry advocates.
20. How a California industrial community embodies the deadly link between pollution and gun violence, highlighting powerful social determinants of health
21. Three reasons why you feel stressed when trying to relax, and what you can do about it

Week of March 28, 2021 [GREATEST HITS SHOW #3]:

GREATEST HITS SHOW #3, from August-November, 2019, featuring: moral injury and burnout in medicine requires collective action (2:00); sexual trauma as a global public health issue (6:09); defense Department as single biggest polluter on planet (11:31); Man vs. mosquito – at the front lines of a public health war (18:43); role of racial stereotypes in assumptions that African-Americans are more violent (21:35); special series of articles in the American Journal of Public Health documenting role of slavery and racism in health inequalities that persist today (23:37); environmental and health harms are downshifting America's obsession with the lawn (27:52); cultivating joy through mindfulness — an antidote to opioid misuse, the disease of despair (31:49); taking the cops out of mental health-related 911 rescues (38:33); children's risk of dying before age 5 varies more than 40-fold (41:21); largest study finds greater reduction in cardiovascular disease and death from taking high blood pressure medication at bedtime rather than in morning (41:25); pharma money paid to doctors is the cancer growing in cancer medicine (46:58); to treat chronic ailments, fix diet first (51:00); study finds focusing on patient value and goals instead of problems yields better outcomes (54:07).

Week of March 21, 2022 [episode #156]:

Featuring: Local COVID-19 Update (2:13); At least nine House Democrats test positive for the coronavirus after a party retreat and late-night voting (5:11); The next COVID variant may not be mild like omicron, study says (5:58); Israel records new COVID variant (8:17); German lawmakers vote to abolish most pandemic restrictions amid surge in cases (9:21); China reports first COVID-19 deaths in more than a year (9:56); Pelosi says White House should double funding request in new COVID aid to get through summer (10:40); Looming vaccine deadline adds urgency to COVID funding impasse (11:51); It Was Already Hard to Find Evusheld, a Covid Prevention Therapy for the Most Vulnerable — Now It's Even Harder (13:31); Preventing Pandemics Requires Funding (15:25); COVID-19 work cut deeply into essential public health services (17:00); Ohio nursing homes comply with vaccine mandate deadline despite lowest vax rates, through huge exemption loophole (20:30); Biden administration – finally – elevates healthy buildings as part of national Covid strategy (22:27); Metro Detroit hospitals most racially segregated in U.S. (27:26); Ohio “Constitutional Carry” Gun Bill Worries Domestic-Violence Survivor Advocates (29:36); Ohio is seeing more homicides and suicides, and guns are more often involved (32:43); Sleep doctors critique permanent daylight saving time bill (33:47); Permanent daylight saving time? America tried it before, and it didn't go well (35:18); A third of U.S. adults are struggling to get a good night's rest (36:47); Even moderate light exposure during sleep harms heart health and increases insulin resistance (38:00); Half of cancer patients report medical debt (40:03); Consumer Agency Weighs Ban on Medical Debts in Credit Reports (41:02); Latino drug overdose death rate jumped 40% in 2020 (42:24); With overdoses at record highs, a veterinary tranquilizer spreading through the U.S. drug supply poses new threats (44:24); Ignoring abortion access is getting harder for companies (47:39); Amid war and disease, World Happiness Report shows bright spot of increased benevolence (49:53); Regular exercise, healthy diet could improve odds of surviving cancer and reduce risk of recurrence (52:45).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Mental health experts turn to video conferencing to provide psychological support for Ukrainians
2. COVID's “Silver Lining” – Research Breakthroughs for Chronic Disease, Cancer, and the Common Flu
3. Shrugs Over Flu Signal Future Attitudes About Covid
4. America's Flu-Shot Problem Is Also Its Next COVID-Shot Problem
5. The Covid-19 vaccine market is getting crowded — as demand begins to wane
6. What Humanity Should Eat to Stay Healthy and Save the Planet. Researchers are trying to figure out what that looks like around the world
7. Commissioner Califf needs to put the F back in FDA
8. Yes, You Can Still Be Fired for Being Fat
9. Pronouns Are a Public Health Issue
10. Study highlights relationship between racism, activism and stress
11. Gun Violence Is an Epidemic; Health Systems Must Step Up
12. What happened when smoking was banned in American Indian casinos
13. The Tobacco Industry's Renewed Assault on Science: A Call for a United Public Health Response
14. The Breen bill to protect health providers is well-intentioned. But it won't stop burnout
15. An excess of empathy can be bad for your mental health – Compassionate practices are the antidote
16. How to Avoid Surprise Bills — And the Pitfalls in the New Law
17. How to eat less salt
18. This Year, Try Spring Cleaning Your Brain – Five ways to soothe a mind overstimulated by anxiety, stress and streams of information.

Week of March 14, 2022 [episode #155]:

Featuring: COVID's Death Toll 3 Times Worse Than Official Counts (1:57); Mandatory masking in schools reduced COVID-19 cases during Delta surge, with 72% reduction of in-school transmission (4:03); Mask mandates worked in schools last fall, reducing student and staff infections from all sources (community and in-school) by 23% (7:12); Continuing face mask use continues to be highly cost effective, potentially saving tens of billions (7:41); Media sources defined the COVID culture war (12:02); Increasing COVID cases in Europe may presage increases in U.S. (16:23); Local COVID-19 Update (20:31); “Haven't we learned anything?” — Experts warn of disastrous consequences if pandemic funding dries up (23:57); Is Covid Over? No, But Global Health Funders Are Moving On (26:56); CDC wants to monitor poop, but states aren't all on board (30:58); The Humble Cough Drop Could Be Used to Map COVID Spread (32:58); Providing legal advocacy reduces children's hospital admissions by 38% (33:40); Communities with higher levels of racial prejudice have worse health outcomes and drive health inequity (36:05); Americans are besieged by unprecedented levels of stress (36:36); Some of the world's lowest rates of dementia found in Amazonian indigenous groups (38:25); High blood pressure, obesity, and physical inactivity have the biggest impact on dementia cases (41:53); Concussions Linked to Mental Health Issues in Kids (42:41); The air quality in your home may be worse than in your office building (43:19); Almost all kids have tobacco on their hands, even in non-smoking homes (45:06); Half of U.S .adults exposed to harmful lead levels as kids, creating persistent problems (46:03); Respiratory illness increased as far as 60 miles away from flaring of methane from oil well (48:08); For-profit hospitals skip less profitable services (49:50); Rural Hospitals in U.S. Face Wipeout With 800 at Risk of Shutdown (50:20); Trauma From LGBTQ Conversion Therapy Costs U.S. $9 Billion Annually (52:50); Diet quality decreased for U.S. seniors from 2001 to 2018, dropping to 61% with poor quality (53:38); WHO Guidelines Encourage Telehealth Abortion Care for First Time (55:00).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Congress weighs permanent daylight saving time in a debate as regular as clockwork. Nearly two-thirds of Americans want to stop shifting their clocks twice a year.
2. HOW DID THIS MANY DEATHS BECOME NORMAL?
3. Ignoring behavioral and social sciences undermines the U.S. response to Covid-19
4. Vaccinating Kids Has Never Been Easy
5. There may be a new COVID variant, Deltacron. Here's what we know about it.
6. Prisons skimp on Covid treatments like Paxlovid, even as Biden plans to flood pharmacies with it
7. Pandemic Medical Innovations Leave Behind People With Disabilities
8. Nurses are waiting months for licenses as hospital staffing shortages spread
9. Study finds bias in how doctors talk to Black, female patients
10. Gaslighting of Black medical trainees makes residency something to “survive”
11. Giving gender-affirming care: “gender dysphoria” diagnosis should not be required
12. Seeking to Shift Costs to Medicare, More Employers Move Retirees to Advantage Plans
13. Maternity wards are shuttering across the US during the pandemic, making giving birth more dangerous in the United States.
14. A look inside the 1st official “safe injection sites” in U.S.
15. What is harm reduction?
16. Demand for meat is destroying the Amazon. Smarter choices at the dinner table can go a long way to help.
17. Hospitals need to get ahead of regulations on climate change
18. More Latino Men Are Dying By Suicide Even as National Rate Declines
19. Congress moves to give FDA new powers over synthetic nicotine products including a youth favorite — Puff Bar e-cigarettes
20. Ukrainians Face Lasting Psychological Wounds from Russian Invasion
21. Is my memory going or is it just normal aging? Don't try to assess yourself. Rather, enlist a close friend or family member to detect whether you are having a problem.

Week of March 7, 2022 [episode #154]:

Featuring: Return to “normal” State of the Union address — 6 legislators tested positive (1:56); CDC estimates U.S. COVID infections now close to 140 million, 43% of Americans (3:16); Americans can order another round of 4 free at-home Covid-19 tests at CovidTests.gov (4:48); People who test positive for Covid can receive antiviral pills at some pharmacies for free, Biden says (5:17); Public Health Experts Pitch Their Own Path to the “Next” Normal (8:00); Hong Kong's Death Rate Is Now World's Highest (11:43); China Reports Most Daily Covid Cases Since Wuhan Outbreak (12:07); Local COVID-19 Update (14:31);  Surgeon general launches effort to get to the bottom of Covid-19 misinformation (18:09); There's an uptick in pricing by anesthesiologists due to physician management companies and private equity investment (22:06); Workers have to pay more upfront for care (24:28); The expensive problem with getting health coverage through our jobs (25:44); Employers are flying blind when buying health coverage (27:13); Health care wage growth has lagged behind other industries, despite pandemic burden (28:56); Veterans transported to VA hospitals had better survival rates than veterans taken to non-VA hospitals (31:43); Justice Department sues UnitedHealth over nearly $8 billion anti-competitive deal to acquire tech company (34:08); Non-profit drug maker will provide insulin for no more than $30 a vial (34:58); Medication insecurity is the next public health crisis (36:37); Patients, pharma execs express low trust in drug supply chains (38:02); Salt in Fizzy Tablets Linked to Heart, Death Risk (40:29); More spice could help seniors avoid salt (43:19); One in ten Americans say they don't eat meat, a growing share of the population (44:53); Calorie restriction trial reveals key factors in extending human health (45:38); Biological clock shock? “Springing forward” loss of sleep may harm heart health (48:24); Cannabis use produces persistent cognitive impairments (49:19); Black Americans are now dying from drug overdoses at a higher rate than whites (51:11); 4.6 million children living in home with loaded, unlocked firearms in U.S. (53:53); Analysis of 20-year study finds malaria control in young children saves lives into adulthood (55:08).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. What to Tell Kids about Ukraine: Recommendations from a Psychologist
2. Ukraine conflict could spark surges of covid, polio, other diseases
3. Russian war in world's “breadbasket” threatens food supply
4. “Alarming” disparities leave parts of L.A. County hit hard by COVID-19
5. Covid Hospitalizations in NYC Saw Biggest Racial Gap During Omicron
6. The Pandemic Is Following a Very Predictable and Depressing Pattern — As with diseases such as malaria and HIV, rich countries are “moving on” from COVID while poor ones continue to get ravaged.
7. High Demand for Drug to Prevent Covid in the Vulnerable, Yet Doses Go Unused
8. Turning to social media to get affordable insulin: a clear sign of a broken health care system
9. The Biden Administration Killed America's Collective Pandemic Approach — Protections meant to shield everyone can't be a matter of personal preference.
10. Here's what experts say Biden gets right in his new mental health plan
11. More Black Americans are buying guns. Is it driving up Black suicide rates?
12. Debunking the “Excited Delirium” Diagnosis for Deaths in Police Custody — Report breaks down how the term was created and misused for years
13. Synthetic opioids stronger than fentanyl have cropped up in the U.S.
14. Wood-burning Stoves Raise New Health Concerns — Officials increasingly treat wood-smoke pollution as a public health and environmental justice issue
15. Particulate-matter pollution: Destabilizing Earth's climate and a threat to health
16. The limits of “following the science” as societal values are subjective
17. Yale's Happiness Professor Says Anxiety Is Destroying Her Students

Week of February 28, 2022 [episode #153]:

Featuring: New CDC (mask) guidance analysis (2:43); AMA statement on CDC COVID-19 updates (7:28); Denmark as cautionary tale in dropping COVID mitigation efforts quickly (9:05); Vaccination Curbed, but Didn't Halt, Omicron in Households (11:37); Nearly half of Biden's 500 million free COVID tests still unclaimed (13:08); U.S. vaccination drive is bottoming out as omicron subsides (13:43); COVID vaccine supply for global program outstrips demand for first time (14:30); Advocates criticize “tepid” Biden request for global COVID-19 funding (16:01); Local COVID-19 Update (17:44);  Ukraine reports higher Chernobyl radiation after Russians capture plant (22:47); Another casualty of Russia's invasion — Ukraine's ability to contain the coronavirus (24:23); Medical oxygen running out in Ukraine as war rages, WHO warns (26:10); Firearm deaths become leading cause of trauma-related death (27:06); “Stand your ground” laws linked to 700 additional firearm homicides each year in U.S. (28:35); Provider Groups Miffed Over FTC's Failure to Authorize Study of Pharmacy Benefit Manger Middlemen (29:40); FTC's top economist resigned amid dispute over pharmacy middlemen study (30:25); Over half of U.S. abortions now done with pills, not surgery (20:54); Abortion pill use spikes in Texas as thousands of patients circumvent state's ban (32:19); The Abortion Pill Is Safer Than Tylenol and Almost Impossible to Get (34:17); More than a quarter of women worldwide have experienced intimate partner violence in their lifetimes (41:10); Sexual assault reports increase at U.S. military academies (42:17); Overlooked and underfunded — experts call for united action to reduce the global burden of depression (43:50); Depression linked to heart disease and type 2 diabetes (48:50); Gender-Affirming Meds Have Drastic Impact on Suicide Risk in Trans Youth (49:22); Why the pursuit of happiness can be bad for you, and what you should pursue instead (51:50).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. To restore public trust, the CDC must stop legitimizing the expulsion of asylum seekers
2. 20 years ago, a landmark report spotlighted systemic racism in medicine. Why has so little changed?
3. Minority women most affected if abortion is banned, limited
4. We Need More Illustrations of People of Color in Medical Textbooks — The lack of diversity perpetuates health inequality and stereotypes
5. Health Care Firms Were Pushed to Confront Racism. Now Some Are Investing in Black Startups.
6. The nation hasn't made much progress on health equity. These leaders forged ahead anyway
7. Researchers Say Science Skewed by Racism is Increasing the Threat of Global Warming to People of Color
8. The Stumbling Block to One of the Most Promising Police Reforms — The best mental-health responders in the world can help only if emergency dispatchers know when to deploy them.
9. U.S. Plans New Safety Rules to Crack Down on Carbon Monoxide Poisoning from Portable Generators
10. Groups urge McDonald's to honor antibiotics commitment
11. How Psychologists Can Engage in Civil Disobedience to Defend Ethical Principles
12. What I learned from Paul Farmer: Treat the systems around the patient, not just the disease

Week of February 21, 2022 [episode #152]:

Featuring: As BA.2 subvariant of Omicron rises, lab studies point to signs of severity (4:35); Had COVID? You're 5 times more prone to get it again if unvaccinated (9:08); COVID-19 vaccination protective against developing long COVID (9:56); When moms get vaccinated during pregnancy, babies get protection too (10:40); Nearly half of Americans still unsure about popular vaccine misinformation, and most confident are most misinformed (11:46); Study strengthens case that vitamins cannot treat COVID-19 (16:57); Many COVID-19 patients left with bills after cost-sharing waivers expired (18:10); Biden wants billions more in Covid funding. Lawmakers aren't eager to spend big — again (19:57); Covid Patients May Have Increased Risk of Developing Mental Health Problems (22:30); Controlled studies ease worries of widespread long Covid in kids (26:12); Researchers estimate the true prevalence of COVID-19 taste loss at 37% (27:36); Local COVID-19 Update (28:09); Hong Kong hospitals hit 90% capacity as COVID-19 cases overwhelm “Zero COVID” strategy (31:34); COVID Won't End Up Like the Flu. It Will Be Like Smoking — Hundreds of thousands of deaths, from either tobacco or the pandemic, could be prevented with a single behavioral change, quitting or inoculation (32:38); Why are alcohol- and drug-related deaths rising in the U.S. and not elsewhere? (41:53); Ohio's life expectancy among the worst in U.S. (44:33); Nonprofit hospitals' community benefits should square with their tax exemptions. They often don't (46;45); Pressure to feel good associated with poorer individual wellbeing in happier countries (52:36); Science of Happiness students beat lockdown blues (54:11);

BONUS stories to read online!

1. What Would It Mean to End the Covid State of Emergency?
2. Too soon to lift mask mandates for most elementary schools in US, study finds
3. Nowhere is safe: Record number of patients contracted Covid in the hospital in January
4. Whatever Happened to Biden's Pandemic Testing Board?
5. The C.D.C. Isn't Publishing Large Portions of the Covid Data It Collects
6. The COVID Strategy America Hasn't Really Tried — The clearest way to reduce deaths is to push to vaccinate more of the elderly — yes, still!
7. How the intellectual property monopoly has impeded an effective response to COVID
8. “I trust my drug dealer more than I trust this vaccine”
9. The Seven Habits of COVID-Resilient Nations
10. Why France is among the high-income countries where the most people died of COVID-19
11. Coronaviruses are “clever” — 4 Evolutionary scenarios for the future of SARS-CoV-2
12. As Politics Infects Public Health, Private Companies Profit
13. Califf confirmed: The 6 challenges that await the new FDA commissioner
14. Was a 19th Century Global Pandemic a Case of COVID 1.0? Medical historians suspect Russian flu was caused by a coronavirus and holds lessons for today
15. How COVID Changed the World — 21 Lessons from two years of emergency science, upheaval and loss [Scientific American special issue]
16. Pandemics disable people — the history lesson that policymakers ignore
17. “Red Covid”, an Update — The partisan gap in Covid deaths is still growing
18. Why America Has So Few Doctors

Week of February 14, 2022 [episode #151]:

Featuring: Half the world is now fully vaccinated. But the global divide is stark (2:25); Poll reveals how America struggles to live with COVID (3:40); Most Americans Still Support Mask Mandates as States Relax Rules (5:12); Commonplace notion of having enough hospital/ICU capacity as a measure of public health success and return to “normal” completely unhelpful (5:57); The Last Pandemic Aid Anybody Wants to Need — Help With Funeral Expenses (10:32); Authorization of new Covid-19 monoclonal antibody treatment  expands arsenal of options against Omicron and its sister variant (11:31); Immuno-compromised people need greater access to monoclonal antibodies (13:30); Biden officials trying to recalculate U.S. Covid-19 hospitalizations (14:27); HHS running out of money to pay providers for treating uninsured COVID-19 patients (16:34); Millions on Medicaid Are at Risk of Losing Coverage When Pandemic Emergency Declaration Eventually Ends (18:05); J&J Pauses Production of Its Covid Vaccine Despite Persistent Need in Developing World (22:07); Local COVID-19 Update (24:34); Medicare can help fix the nurse shortage in hospitals (29:05); Cancer moonshot 2.0 — A missed opportunity for prevention (34:25); Eat your legumes — How a healthier diet can add 10 or more years to your life (42:12); In helping smokers quit, combining treatments is key (44:11); Poor sleep can triple risk for heart disease (47:34); Overdose deaths cost U.S. $1 trillion annually (48:15); Study finds 1 in 16 women take harmful medications during pregnancy (49:09); Most women giving birth in the U.S. have poor heart health prior to pregnancy (50:49); Lifestyle more likely to affect a child's BMI than the weight of their mother (51:12); The Prescription for More Obesity (51:48); Even light drinking can be harmful to cardiovascular health (53:12); USDA announces stricter standards for school nutrition (55:06).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Omicron's Surprising Anatomy Explains Why It Is Wildly Contagious
2. There Is Nothing Normal about One Million People Dead from COVID
3. Polio, Chickenpox, Measles, Now Covid. It's Time to Consult History on School Vaccine Mandates
4. What Are Taxpayers Spending for Those “Free” Covid Tests? The Government Won't Say.
5. Public health in America at a breaking point. The question is now “Can it recover?”
6. Why Covid-19 vaccines are a freaking miracle
7. Many faith leaders wary of religious exemptions for vaccine
8. “Good, not great”: Some long Covid patients see their symptoms improve, but full recovery is elusive
9. For burned-out health workers, exhaustion from Covid-19 surges mixes with a sense of betrayal
10. Lander's resignation over workplace bullying: The tip of the iceberg of a public health problem
11. The White House's response to Lander's exit could determine whether science remains a factory for bullies
12. What American Mental Health Care Is Missing — Scientific research alone cannot address the challenges that Americans with mental illness face.
13. There's no autism epidemic. But there is an autism diagnosis epidemic
14. Climate Change Enters the Therapy Room
15. I'm Addicted to My Phone. How Can I Cut Back?
16. Development of clinical practice guidelines “is a mess”
17. Why do Black women get more hysterectomies in the South?
18. Covid Precautions Are Part of Hispanic Community's Efforts to Tend to Community Good

Week of February 7, 2022 [episode #150]:

Featuring: Mask are effective at preventing COVID-19 infection, with cloth masks at 56%, surgical masks at 66%, and K/N95 masks at 83%, in real-world study (2:38);  First ever COVID-19 human challenge study yields infection clues (3:27); It's easy to misinterpret at-home COVID test results, data show (5:10); Those COVID tests the government sent you might not work — Cold weather could be to blame (7:36); Medicare beneficiaries to get no-cost at-home Covid-19 tests (10:36); Those at highest risk for severe COVID-19 often least likely to get monoclonal antibodies (11:27); Thousands of COVID-19 at-home antiviral pills hailed as “game-changer” are sitting on pharmacy shelves (12:24); Experts question unusual authorization plan for Covid vaccine for kids under 5 (16:07); New York Sewage “Cryptic” Variant May Be Key to Identifying Next Variant of Concern (19:26); If the United States ignores COVID-19 in Nigeria, we forgo global genomic surveillance at our own peril, reports a new study (19:26); Research shows actions to prevent pandemics cost 5% of typical annual direct costs from emerging infectious disease, highlighting cost effectiveness of prevention (23:05); CDC to ramp up wastewater monitoring program to track COVID-19 (29:08); China's zero-Covid strategy “won't work” against omicron, says U.S. epidemiologist (30:01); Local COVID-19 Update (31:45); Researchers discover HIV variant that's more contagious and more severe (36:15); Millions of Americans have quit their jobs. Is Obamacare helping them? (38:37); For the uninsured, crowdfunding provides little help in paying for health care and deepens inequities (40:57); California Inks Sweetheart Deal With Kaiser Permanente, Jeopardizing Medicaid Reforms, as Universal Health Care Bill Fails (42:46); Biden's relaunched cancer moonshot needs funding for liftoff (45:29); As internet access limits telehealth's reach, insurers are starting to cover the bill (48:36); One in three stroke survivors in the U.S. faces food insecurity, twice the likelihood (55:38); New Coalition Launches to Prevent Pandemic of Antimicrobial Resistance (56:30).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. U.S. Has Far Higher Covid Death Rate Than Other Wealthy Countries
2. Despite Biden's big promises and a far better understanding of the virus, Covid-19 is still raging through the nation's prisons
3. The Supreme Court is partly to blame for the Covid-19 test kit shortage
4. COVID will always be an epidemic virus — not an endemic one, scientist warns
5. Medical boards get pushback as they try to punish doctors for Covid misinformation
6. The Covid Policy That Really Mattered Wasn't a Policy [Spoiler Alert: It's Trust in Each Other and Government]
7. The End of the Pandemic May Tear Us Apart
8. Ready for Another Pandemic Malady? It's Called “Decision Fatigue”
9. How a decades-old IBM database became a hugely profitable dossier on the health of 270 million Americans
10. How the Sugar Industry Makes Political Friends and Influences Elections
11. “The numbers are pretty appalling” — Asian scientists rarely awarded top scientific prizes
12. Recovery community organizations need more than bake sales to help people survive addiction
13. Millions in state tax dollars flow to anti-abortion centers in U.S.

Week of January 31, 2022 [episode #149]:

Featuring: State of Omicron wave (1:57); Long-term Covid-Infected HIV Patient Developed Mutations (10:01); L.A. County seeing quicker fatalities from Omicron as COVID-19 deaths climb (12:05); 62 percent who tried to find at-home COVID-19 test had difficulty (17:37); Pharmacies, governors say Biden test program is depleting supply (19:05); Government watchdog says U.S. Dept. of health and Humans Services is at “high risk” of bungling public health crises (21:02); Is Long Covid worsening the labor shortage? 23:59); Poll shows where Americans are currently at with pandemic (24:53); Local COVID-19 Update (28:13); Most physicians paid by volume, despite push for quality and value (35:15); Female doctors spend more time with patients, so they make less (36:30); Patients who are Black, unmarried or on government insurance described more negatively in their electronic health record (37:54); Racial inequity in follow-up appointment attendance after hospitalization disappears as telemedicine adopted (38:59); 1.2 million people died in 2019 from antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections, more deaths than HIV/AIDS or malaria (42:31); Scientists find link between antibiotics and colon cancer (47:05); Rural air pollution may be as hazardous as urban (48:22); Blood lead levels in Haiti “a warning for other countries” (50:20); Eliminating the FDA's blood donation ban on men who have sex with men would help ease the U.S. blood shortage (52:27).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Patchwork system for rationing a Covid drug sends immunocompromised patients on a “Hunger Games hunt”
2. PCR COVID tests are not very useful. Focus on rapid antigen tests instead.
3. Here's how to get free N95 masks from pharmacies or community health centers
4. Some Americans are hesitant about Covid vaccines. But they're all-in on unproven treatments
5. What We Can Learn From How the 1918 Pandemic Ended — Pandemic Fatigue and Desperation to Return to “Normal” Kills More in End
6. Why the Chemical Industry Is an Overlooked Climate Foe — and What to Do About It
7. Biden's focus on environmental justice led to a year of progress — and burnout, as top environmental justice official resigns
8. Giving low-income families cash can help babies' brain activity. No-strings-attached subsidies for low-income families improved brain activity in infants, a novel clinical trial finds.
9. Major Review Finds Limited Effectiveness for Medication and Therapy: Most mental health treatments are only marginally better than placebo
10. Rising Social and Existential Uncertainty Linked to Mental Distress
11. How to build resilience and boost your mental health
12. Can Medieval Sleeping Habits Fix America's Insomnia? The history of “first sleep” and “second sleep” holds surprising lessons about preindustrial life, 21st-century anxiety, and the problem with digging for utopia in the past.

Week of January 24, 2022 [episode #148]:

Featuring: “Stealth Omicron” – Everything we know about new ‘under investigation' Covid-19 strain BA.2 (2:32); Patient, Beware: Some States Still Pushing Ineffective Covid Antibody Treatments (6:47); Pharmacies shouldn't be the only place to get Paxlovid, the new Covid antiviral pill (7:32); More than 2 dozen drug-makers allowed to make Merck's inferior COVID-19 antiviral pill for poorer nations (9:49); Why Medicare Doesn't Pay for Rapid At-Home COVID Tests (11:48); COVID rapid test makers struggling to meet demand (13:57); It's staff, not stuff: Applying crisis standards of care to allocating health care workers (16:19); COVID boosters keep older Americans out of hospitals (24:16); Placebo effect accounts for more than two-thirds of COVID-19 vaccine side effects (25:24); Hundreds of Millions of Covid Vaccine Doses Risk Going to Waste (27:48); COVID in prisons update (28:56); Newer variants of SARS-CoV-2 can infect mice, unlike the original version of the virus (31:10); To get to a “new normal,” public health must focus on all respiratory viruses (33:22); Local COVID-19 Update (40:09); Suicidality is linked to risky driving behaviors in U.S. high school students (44:23); Survey of Americans Who Attempted Suicide Finds Many Aren't Getting Care (45:48); What types of mental health apps actually work? A sweeping new analysis finds the data is sparse and weak (49:50); Few countries offer a good place to die (50:39); Progress on Lung Cancer Drives Overall Decline in U.S. Cancer Deaths (54:22).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. The C.D.C.'s New Challenge? Grappling With Imperfect Science
2. The Real Reason Americans Aren't Isolating: Many workers with COVID-19 still — still! — can't afford to isolate, because they don't have paid sick leave.
3. How Are Private Insurers Covering At-Home Rapid COVID Tests? A Hot Mess.
4. Plan for free N95 masks could save domestic mask makers — or kill them.
5. Could a universal Covid-19 vaccine defeat every variant?
6. How a Powerful Company Convinced Georgia to Let It Bury Toxic Waste in Groundwater
7. To Skirt Air Pollution Oversight, States Can Play Hide and Seek With Poorly Placed Monitors
8. Differences in how men and women perceive internal body signals could have implications for mental health
9. Latest COVID Surge Pushes Parents to Next-Level Stress
10. We all need help working through grief and hardship
11. Four ways nature can protect your well-being during a pandemic

Week of January 17, 2022 [episode #147]:

Featuring: Hospital capacity overwhelmed by misleadingly characterized “mild” omicron (1:57); Deep dive into reportedly reduced hospitalization risk, shorter stays for Omicron patients [full scientific article] (9:02); 28% of COVID patients in German ICUs are fully vaccinated or boosted (14:45); Emergency rooms nearing “crisis levels” in parts of California as Omicron surges (16:33); For people over 50, even “mild” COVID‑19 can double risk for mobility problems (20:32); Supreme Court halts Covid-19 vaccine rule for U.S. businesses (23:06); Trust in science at root of vaccine acceptance, more so than trust in government or health care (24:10); Americans should avoid travel to Canada, even though they have lower COVID rates than U.S. (28:23); Health officials let COVID-infected staff stay on the job (29:37); One in ten people may still be infectious for COVID after ten days, new research indicates (30:43); Viral load of omicron can be at its highest at day five so cutting isolation period doesn't make sense (32:03); Federal website for free virus tests is coming. How will it work? (35:18); Ohio changes priorities for distribution of COVID tests from libraries to schools (37:28); Local COVID-19 Update (40:09); Health-Care Disparities: A Way of Life for Black Ohioans? (45:36); Strong new evidence suggests a virus triggers multiple sclerosis (47:46); Medicare proposes to only cover Alzheimer's drug Aduhelm for use in clinical trials (49:58); Medicare told to reassess premium hike for Alzheimer's drug (50:31); Long-term use of blood pressure drugs may cause kidney damage (52:18); Why Are We Failing on Diabetes Health Risks? (53:57); Swapping just one food item per day can make diets substantially more planet-friendly (56:35).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. A cascade of Omicron-driven shortages puts U.S. hospitals in a bind
2. You'd expect health care workers on the Covid frontlines to be tested regularly. You'd be wrong
3. Open-Source Vaccines Got More Funding From Tito's Vodka Than the Government
4. Is It Flu, COVID-19, Allergies, or a Cold?
5. Why we need to wear better masks
6. How long can I keep using the same N95 respirator mask?
7. Feeling powerless in the pandemic? Four self-determination principles can help you take back some control
8. Politics still make people sick
9. The Movie Don't Look Up Illustrates 5 Myths That Fuel Rejection of Science
10. Public health is missing crucial data on LGBTQIA+ people. It's not hard to collect
11. AMA's new language guide is a step toward health equity
12. Partial removal of lead water service lines can actually increase lead risks
13. The Soldiers Came Home Sick. The Government Denied It Was Responsible. The military's garbage-disposal fires in war zones made them ill.
14. New Report Reveals Kroger Grocery Workers Struggle to Afford Healthy Food

Week of January 10, 2022 [episode #146]:

Featuring: Record COVID-19 hospitalizations foreshadow record COVID-19 deaths (1:57); U.S. social fabric is more like confetti (6:26);  Supreme Court skeptical of Biden's workplace vaccine rule (7:25); More trusting societies have been more successful at reducing coronavirus cases and deaths (11:15); “Protect our hospitals” might convince Britons to get Covid-19 vaccines, but it won't work in the U.S. (15:03); Confessions of a “human guinea pig”: Why I'm resigning from Moderna vaccine trials — corporate profiteering (20:13); Study raises doubts about rapid Covid tests' reliability in early days after infection (22:38); Containing Covid-19 requires rapid tests that are highly sensitive to infections. Why is the FDA asking for something different? (24:43); Local COVID-19 Update (29:32);  Mental health workforce taxed during COVID-19 pandemic: Worker shortage hinders access (32:50); Loosening of gambling laws raises concerns for addiction: 7% of youth develop gambling disorders (37:18); Teens with disabilities are 5 times more likely to suffer from mental, emotional and behavioral health disorders (40:54); Talk therapy by U.S. psychiatrists declined by half since 1990's (45:13); Recent global trends highlight global disparities in cancer burden (48:45); Considerable racial, ethnic and sociodemographic disparities present in U.S. cancer rates (50:50); Incarceration increases long-term mortality rates among blacks but not whites (51:27); Financial incentives for smoking cessation proves highly cost effective for society but not for individual businesses (53:33); Resolved to quit smoking this year? Experts offer tips (56:53).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Doctors have an arsenal of Covid-19 treatments, but setbacks and shortages are undercutting options
2. Omicron magnifies the distress in the health care labor system
3. How to hold unvaccinated Americans accountable
4. “A black box”: Emergency medics remain locked out of electronic health records
5. I Saw Firsthand What It Takes to Keep COVID Out of Hong Kong. It Felt Like a Different Planet.
6. The Biden Administration Rejected an October Proposal for “Free Rapid Tests for the Holidays”
7. The stakes in the Supreme Court's vaccine cases are even bigger than they seem. The Court doesn't just threaten the public health, it threatens democracy itself.
8. The Science of Forming Healthy Habits

Week of January 3, 2022 [episode #145]:

Featuring: Things to look out for in current viral blizzard (1:58); N95 masks: A must-have with Omicron, but fakes abound (14:03); STAT/Harris Poll: Vaccinated Americans far more likely to take Pfizer Covid-19 pill than unvaccinated people (19:23); Nursing home workers are urged to get boosters as cases soar (21:13); Three days of remdesivir cuts risk for severe COVID-19 in outpatients (23:36); COVID-19 can trigger self-attacking antibodies, even in mild or asymptomatic cases (24:40); Local COVID-19 Update (27:50); Trust in science improves globally, but U.S. distrusts government use of science (32:17); GMO food labelling began January 1st, and criticism abounds (37:18); A Healthy Diet Is Too Costly for Three Billion People (40:44); The White House says meat companies have too much power (41:58); Dangerous Antibiotic Use in U.S. Farm Animals Was Falling — Now It's Not (43:43); Antibiotic use on farms threatens pandemic “much bigger than COVID”, campaigners warn (49:26); Humans could live two years longer if world adhered to WHO pollution standards (52:30); Policy analyses severely underestimate impact of air pollution on racial minorities (55:40); Reaffirming the Foundations of Public Health in a Time of Pandemic — a focus on the conditions of the world around us, on eliminating health inequity, and focusing on those who are marginalized and vulnerable (57:23).

BONUS stories to read online!

1. Civil Eats: Our Best Food Justice Stories of 2021
2. 10 lessons I've learned from the Covid-19 pandemic
3. Why do we feel so ‘blah' after Christmas?
4. How to purge risky chemicals from your beauty products — Eliminating endocrine disruptors is harder than you might think.
5. The USDA's new labeling for genetically modified foods went into effect Jan. 1. Here's what you need to know.
6. Big Cars Are Killing Americans — The government can no longer allow the auto industry to treat walkers and bikers like collateral damage.
7. How Black Communities Become “Sacrifice Zones” for Industrial Air Pollution
8. Deaths of despair: the unrecognized tragedy of working class immiseration
9. Leaked SoCal hospital records reveal huge, automated markups for healthcare
10. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's foot-dragging on patient irradiation suggests regulatory capture
11. We Need to Talk About Climate Change and Suicide

View SHOW ARCHIVES from 2021 and earlier