Talk of the Town
(ATLANTA) — Flu activity continues to remain elevated throughout the United States, according to newly released data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC on Friday estimated there have been at least 15 million illnesses, 180,000 hospitalizations and 7,400 deaths from flu so far this season.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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(NEW YORK) — E-bikes and e-scooters led to a growing number of trauma injuries at one New York City hospital, according to a new study published Wednesday.
About 7% of all trauma visits between 2018 and 2023 at Bellevue Hospital Center were due to micromobility injuries. Micromobility is the use of small, lightweight and low-speed modes of transportation such as bicycles, e-bikes and e-scooters.
The study showed a growing share of patients who sustained these injuries had accidents linked to e-bikes or e-scooters.
Hospital data showed that, by 2023, over half of all trauma cases related to bikes or scooters involved an e-bike or e-scooter, an increase from just 8% in 2018, according to the study, published in the journal Neurosurgery.
The most common type of mechanism involved a collision with a motor vehicle followed by falls from the bike or scooter.
Bellevue is a Level 1 Trauma center in a large metropolitan city, designed to treat the worst kinds of injuries. Over the study period, about 30% of patients suffered a traumatic brain injury, 26% had injury to the skull or face and 50% required surgery.
“Our study shows that micromobility injuries are producing serious brain and spinal trauma that demands neurosurgical care at a scale we haven’t seen before,” corresponding study author Dr. Hannah Weiss, a resident in the Department of Neurosurgery at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, said in a press release. “In a busy urban setting, we are seeing more and more of these injuries firsthand.”
Most patients seen for these injuries, nearly 69%, needed to be admitted to the hospital and nearly a third needed intensive care.
The majority of patients stayed at least three days in the hospital. Pedestrians who were struck had higher rates of traumatic brain injuries and were more likely to be admitted for intensive care.
“The data point to actionable solutions — helmet use, safer bike lane design and enforcement — that could prevent many of these injuries and better protect both riders and pedestrians, who in our study often sustained even more severe brain injuries than the riders themselves,” Weiss said.
About 20% of patients were intoxicated with alcohol, only 31% were using a helmet and injuries were more likely to occur in the evening hours, according to the study.
“Our findings make clear that urban infrastructure must continue to improve to keep pace with the rapid rise of electric bikes and scooters,” Dr. Paul P. Huang, an associate professor in the department of neurosurgery at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and chief of neurosurgery at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, said in a press release.
“Future studies should track these injuries across multiple cities and measure whether protected bike lanes, helmet programs, and speed enforcement actually reduce the number of brain and spine surgeries we perform,” Huang added,
Jade A. Cobern, MD, MPH, is a practicing physician, board-certified in pediatrics and general preventive medicine, and is a fellow of the ABC News Medical Unit.
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(NEW YORK) — Last week, the Trump administration announced it was banning the use of human fetal tissue from some abortions in federally funded medical research.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) said the policy would go into effect immediately and advance “science by investing in breakthrough technologies more capable of modeling human health and disease,” NIH director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said in a statement.
Scientists told ABC News that research using human fetal tissue has contributed to understanding diseases better, such as HIV and Ebola, and helped in the development of some vaccines and drugs.
Some scientists worry the ban could prevent groundbreaking discoveries about the behaviors of certain diseases and stop the development of life-saving therapies.
“It’s not a scientific decision,” Dr. Lawrence Goldstein, a professor emeritus of cellular and molecular medicine at the University of California, San Diego, told ABC News. “It’s a moral decision that places the rights of fetal tissue that would be discarded above the rights of sick people who will benefit from that research.”
How human fetal tissue has been used
Human fetal tissue has been used to study serious diseases and disorders, including AIDS, cancer, Parkinson’s disease, dengue, Ebola, hepatitis C, diabetes and spinal cord injuries.
Cell lines have been created from human fetal tissue that have led to the development of vaccines for rubella, rabies, chickenpox, shingles and hepatitis A. Research has also led to the development of drugs to treat HIV, hemophilia and sepsis.
President Donald Trump himself benefited from the research: the experimental antibody treatment he took to treat COVID-19 was developed using cells derived from human fetal tissue. At the time, Trump praised the treatment as a “cure.”
The tissue has been also used in reproductive medicine research to study fertility issues, pregnancy issues, and pregnancy conditions such as pre-eclampsia.
Goldstein said that human fetal tissue research also helps create humanized mouse models to study human immune systems.
“Using fetal tissue, you can make mice that have human blood-forming and immune systems,” Goldstein said. “And that’s valuable because a lot of the viruses that trouble human health don’t grow properly in mice. But if you can make mice with human blood and immune systems, those viruses will frequently grow, and you can learn how to make therapies to block them.”
There are very strict guidelines that researchers have to follow when using human fetal tissue, ensuring they are in compliance with federal and sometimes state requirements.
Additionally, the research must be reviewed and approved by the NIH’s Institutional Review Board (IRB), which specifically assesses federally funded research that uses human subjects.
The IRB assures that donation and reception of human fetal tissue were done with consent and not coercion and that there were no enticements provided to the participant, the clinic or the research team.
A researcher with knowledge of the matter, who asked that their name not be used due to fears of retribution, told ABC News that federal law states that donation cannot be even brought up to a pregnant individual deciding to terminate their pregnancy before the decision to terminate.
“These are extremely important guardrails that are in place to ensure that everything is handled properly,” the researcher with knowledge of the matter said.
Impacts of ending NIH funding
The Trump administration first instituted a ban ending all human fetal tissue research at NIH in 2019, but it was reversed by the Biden administration in 2021.
The current ban stops NIH funds from supporting all “grants, cooperative agreements, other transaction awards and research and development contracts,” the agency said in a statement.
Some groups praised the Trump administration’s new policy, including the Independent Medical Alliance, a group that promoted unproven treatments during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There is no ethical justification for performing experiments on tissue derived from aborted human beings,” Dr. Joseph Varon, president and chief medical officer of the Independent Medical Alliance, said in a statement. “The fact this practice continued for years within federally funded research institutions shows just how far removed parts of HHS had become from foundational medical ethics. This correction is long overdue.”
However, some scientists say the ban will affect ongoing and future work.
Dr. Anita Bhattacharyya, an associate professor of cell and regenerative biology in the school of medicine and public health at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said she was hoping to apply for a future NIH grant to study human fetal tissue research and will now not be able to do so.
Bhattacharyya explained she currently uses human-induced pluripotent stem cells, which are reprogrammed cells that are similar to embryonic stem cells, in her work. However, the loss of NIH funding for human fetal tissue research could affect future work.
“My reaction was, ‘How are we going to do some of our research if we can no longer use human fetal tissue?'” she recalled to ABC News. “In particular, my lab studies Down syndrome and so we know that in Down syndrome, the brain develops differently to lead to the intellectual disability that people with Down syndrome have.”
Bhattacharyya said human fetal tissue is valuable when studying Down syndrome or neuropsychiatric disorders because it can recapitulate what’s happening in brain development.
“And so that’s where the human fetal tissue really provides us with a benchmark or the ground truth so that we can validate our models,” she said.
Finding alternative methods of funding is another issue, scientists told ABC News. The NIH was the largest funder of research involving human fetal tissue, and no longer financially supporting such research may leave scientists scrambling to find other donors.
Goldstein said there are private disease foundations that will sometimes fund human fetal tissue research, such as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, which funds stem-cell-related research in California.
However, experts say the hole left behind by the lack of NIH funding cannot be made up through private donations.
“There’s really nothing adequate to substitute for the federal effort,” Goldstein said. “It is the largest funder of medical research in the United States. It has systems in place to regulate quality and ensure that ethics and scientific principles are being adhered to. We really can’t move ahead as efficiently as we would like with the absence of the NIH.”
Although the NIH said tissue from spontaneous abortions will still be available, the researcher with knowledge of the matter said this tissue is very often not suitable for research purposes.
“The reason is because, most often, spontaneous abortion happens as a result of some sort of genetic abnormality or some injury, infection, some kind of damage to the fetus itself, that renders that tissue completely unusable for scientific research,” they said.
“Additionally, because spontaneous abortions are just that, they’re spontaneous and therefore completely unpredictable,” the researcher continued. “We have to be very careful in the way that we handle that tissue. It makes those studies intractable. And so, for that reason, spontaneous abortions are not a suitable replacement for fetal tissue research that we would normally obtain.”
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(WASHINGTON) — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced new federal dietary guidelines on Wednesday, encouraging Americans to limit highly processed food and reduce refined carbohydrates.
The guidelines also encourage Americans to eat whole foods like fruits and vegetables, incorporate healthy fats, prioritize protein-rich meals including red meat, and consume full-fat dairy with no added sugars.
The new Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which are updated every five years, comes as Kennedy has made nutrition policy a cornerstone of his Make America Healthy Again agenda.
The administration also released an image of an updated food pyramid to match the guidelines.
“These new guidelines will revolutionize our nation’s food culture and make America healthier again,” Kennedy said during a press conference at the White House alongside Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and other health officials.
For the first time, the Dietary Guidelines explicitly warned Americans against certain highly processed foods and suggests avoiding “packaged, prepared, ready-to-eat, or other foods that are salty or sweet” and “sugar-sweetened beverages, such as soda, fruit drinks, and energy drinks.”
Kennedy has previously called for restrictions on ultra-processed foods as part of an initiative to address the high rates of chronic disease in the U.S.
The health secretary also said the updated guidelines will place an emphasis on incorporating saturated fats into diets.
“We are ending the war on saturated fats,” Kennedy said. “My message is clear. Eat real food, nothing matters more for health care outcomes, economic productivity, military readiness and physical stability.”
The guidelines states that when adding fats to meals, “prioritize oils with essential fatty acids, such as olive oil. Other options can include butter or beef tallow,” the latter which has been touted by Kennedy in the past.
Health experts have previously stated that there are benefits of good fats, such as those found in some nuts and vegetables, while warning that too much saturated fats are a health risk.
The American Heart Association warns that saturated fats can increase the risk of high cholesterol, which can increase the risk of heart disease.
Additionally, the guidelines state that “no amount of added sugars or non-nutritive sweeteners” is part of a healthy diet and calls on parents to completely avoid added sugar and artificial sweeteners for children aged four and under.
The guidelines also say Americans should “limit alcoholic beverages.” Previously, guidelines recommended adults aged 21 and older should stick to two drinks or fewer per day for men and one drink or less per day for women.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said during the press conference that there was “never good data” to support the previously recommended level of alcohol consumption.
In addition, guidelines call for “high-quality, nutrient-dense” proteins with every meal such as red meat, poultry, seafood and eggs. For those who prefer plant-based options, this includes beans, peas, lentils, legumes, nuts, seeds and soy.
A factsheet claimed that previous federal dietary guidelines have “demonized” protein in favor of carbohydrates.
“Protein was never demonized in U.S. dietary guidelines. As it is, Americans are consuming protein in amounts well above the amount that is necessary to sustain health and development,” Marie-Pierre St-Onge, a professor at Columbia University Nutrition, told ABC News.
The guidelines, issued by HHS and the Department of Agriculture, provide Americans with dietary advice to promote health and prevent disease.
Although the federal government has provided such advice to Americans for at least a century, the guidelines in their current form have existed since 1980.
Previous releases include the introduction of the food pyramid in 1992 and its replacement, MyPlate, in 2011.
The guidelines are also the foundation for all federal food programs, such as school lunches; the Women, Infants and Children program; and Head Start, as well as meals for active-duty service members and veterans who rely on Veterans Affairs hospitals.
The guidelines were lauded by medical groups such as the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Heart Association (AHA).
“The American Medical Association applauds the Administration’s new Dietary Guidelines for spotlighting the highly processed foods, sugar-sweetened beverages, and excess sodium that fuel heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and other chronic illnesses,” Dr. Bobby Mukkamala, AMA’s president, said in a statement. “The Guidelines affirm that food is medicine and offer clear direction patients and physicians can use to improve health.”
The AHA said in a statement that it welcomes the new dietary guidelines and its emphasis on fruits and vegetables while limiting highly processed foods and added sugars.
However, regarding protein, the AHA said it encourages prioritizing plant-based proteins, seafood and lean meats and to limit high-fat animal products including red meat, butter, lard and tallow, which are linked to increased cardiovascular risk.”
ABC News’ Nicholas Kerr and Liz Neporent contributed to this report.
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