More reminders of mortality.
Tuesday, December 31, 2024
Monday, December 30, 2024
Should big Tobacco fund (and program) continuing medical education?
Should physicians learn about tobacco from the source?
The Tobacco Industry Has No Business Funding Continuing Medical Education, by Robert K. Jackler, MD1,2; Pamela M. Ling, MD, MPH3,4, JAMA. 2024; doi:10.1001/jama.2024.9241
"Recently, the for-profit medical media company Medscape promoted a series of continuing medical education (CME) courses (see the Supplement) funded by a grant from tobacco company Philip Morris International (PMI).1 These activities were certified (see the Supplement) by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) along with other health care professional education organizations (American Nurses Credentialing Center, Interprofessional Continuing Education, Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education, American Board of Internal Medicine). As cigarette sales decline, PMI is promoting “harm reduction” nicotine products. This superficially appealing slogan thinly disguises PMI’s campaign to promote company brands designed to sustain nicotine addiction among people who smoke and entice youth who do not smoke to adopt new nicotine products.
...
"The tobacco industry has a long history of undermining science to promote its products, the leading cause of preventable disease and premature death in the US, indicating inherently unresolvable conflicts incompatible with education of clinicians or sponsorship of certified CME. PMI’s hypocrisy in promoting a harm reduction agenda is highlighted by its aggressive marketing of Marlboro, the world’s leading cigarette brand, including campaigns manifestly targeting youth."
...
Sunday, December 29, 2024
"Rhino horns are a renewable resource." Would a legal market help save endangered rhinoceroses?
Right now it is illegal to buy or cell rhino horn, to protect endangered rhinoceroses from poachers who kill them. But could a legal, tightly regulated market work better? It's controversial...
From Science:
Protect white rhinos by legalizing horn trade by Martin Wikelsk Science
10 Oct 2024, Vol 386, Issue 6718, p. 157, DOI: 10.1126/science.adq5925
"Rhino horn is a renewable resource that grows like fingernails. To protect white rhino populations effectively, the international trade of rhino horn should be legalized and carefully monitored, including the tracking of each sample sold. Legal trade—the preferred option of horn consumers (3)—will derail international trafficking syndicates and enable essential private rhino guardianship. Legalized trade provides the best chance for the future of white rhino populations ."
And here's a companion story from the Guardian:
"International trade in rhino horns should be legalised, a leading wildlife expert has urged.
...
“A few years ago, I was very much against this idea but now looking at the grim situation we are in I believe we have to change our attitude to the issue of trade in rhino horn,” said Wikelski, of the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour in Germany.
“International crime syndicates have overcome every countermeasure that conservationists have mounted to defend rhinos from poachers. The result has been a drastic drop in numbers of animals. By legalising trade in rhino horn we can take back control of the market and halt the loss.”
"Wikelski’s idea would be to remove the horn and allow a new one to grow while selling the horn to make money. This could be used to fund protection for the rhino. At present, removed horn is stored in secure vaults.
"However, the proposal to use stocks to create a legitimate trade in rhino horn has triggered worried responses from many conservationists, who reject the idea that such a scheme would save the rhino from the attention of poachers.
...
“In addition, a legal rhino horn market could increase demand, provide opportunities for money laundering, and complicate law enforcement’s ability to distinguish legal sources from illegal sources,” Rascha Nuijten, director of Future For Nature Foundation, wrote in a response to Wikelski’s arguments that was also published in Science."
Saturday, December 28, 2024
Pardon me: JAMA Network Statement on Potentially Offensive Content
JAMA asks your pardon. (I don't know when they started including this statement, but I just noticed it...)
JAMA Network Statement on Potentially Offensive Content
This journal's previously published content may include language, information, or terms that are offensive, insensitive, or unethical and may reflect attitudes, biases, or conventions that were deemed acceptable at the original time of publication. The JAMA Network regrets any offense or harm caused by any previous publication with potentially offensive content or language, which do not reflect the current core values of the JAMA Network journals. The JAMA Network stands against all forms of racism and discrimination. In support of this commitment, the journals are actively addressing these and related concerns of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Friday, December 27, 2024
Sports gambling presents problems for gamblers, athletes, and sports
Sports betting has some potentially dire implications both for betters and for athletes and sports. Gamblers can find in-app gambling while the game is going on addictive."Prop" bets on the performance of particular athletes during the game, can also subject athletes to pressures that may be at odds with their incentives arising simply from the rules of the game. And this may open up sports to gambling and point-shaving scandals that have been vigorously suppressed in the past.
Here's a variety of headlines (in sufficient number that I won't summarize the accompanying stories, but you can click through to see them).
The Guardian:
NPR:
The president of the NCAA calls for a ban on 'prop bets' in college sports, by Becky Sullivan
Becky Sullivan
The Atlantic:
Legalizing Sports Gambling Was a Huge Mistake. The evidence is convincing: The betting industry is ruining lives. By Charles Fain Lehman
Paul Krugman's substack:
America the Addicted. Gambling — on sports, stocks and crypto — is the new opioids. by Paul Krugman
Thursday, December 26, 2024
Regulating emerging technologies
Here's a recent RAND report, on the current diverse attempts to regulate emerging biotechnologies, focusing on organoids,* embryos, genes, and neurotechnology:
State-of-play and future trends on the development of oversight frameworks for emerging technologies
Part 2: Technology oversight report, by Sana Zakaria, Ioli Howard, Eva Coringrato, Anna Louise Todsen, Imogen Wade, Devika Kapoor, Alec Ross, Katarina Pisani, Chryssa Politi, Martin Szomszor, Salil Gunashekar, Dec 16, 2024
"This RAND Europe study commissioned by Wellcome explores the current and future oversight frameworks for emerging technologies, focusing on organoids, human embryology, engineering biology and neurotechnology.
...
"Key Findings:
Lack of specific frameworks for organoids
- There is an absence of specific regulatory frameworks for organoids, with current oversight relying on broader stem cell and biomedical regulations. Emerging mechanisms, such as Japan's consent-to-govern approach, are gaining traction to address ethical challenges, particularly around donor consent and privacy concerns.
Challenges in human embryology oversight
- Existing frameworks, like the UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, are outdated and not designed for new technologies such as AI in embryo selection. Disparate national regulations complicate international collaboration, and there is a need for frameworks to adapt to scientific advancements and public interest.
Fragmented oversight in engineering biology
- The global landscape features disparate oversight mechanisms, creating obstacles for international collaboration. There is a need for alignment across diverse applications and jurisdictions, with potential solutions including cross-sector collaboration and international biosecurity measures.
Neurotechnology oversight gaps
- Current regulations do not address the unique challenges posed by neurotechnologies, such as data privacy and dual-use concerns. Ethical guidelines, like Chile's neurorights, offer proactive models, but there is a need for stronger post-market surveillance and international guidelines to prevent misuse.
Priority considerations for future oversight
- The report outlines eight priority considerations, including developing interconnected oversight networks, ensuring equity, harmonizing international governance, fostering public involvement, and integrating adaptive and anticipatory strategies into oversight frameworks."
#########
* "Organoids are three-dimensional structures that are derived from stem cells and are capable of self-organising into structures that mimic the key functional, structural and biological complexity of an organ."
Wednesday, December 25, 2024
Kidney exchange chain at Ohio State--a gift transforms 20 lives
Here's a recent big kidney exchange chain, begun by a nondirected donor, involving patient-donor pairs all at OSU's medical center
The Columbus Dispatch has the story. (If I had written the headline, it would have said "transforming 20 lives," since many of the donors I've met have also been transformed.)
Ohio State Wexner sets record-breaking kidney 'donation chain,' transforming 10 lives by Samantha Hendrickson
"On Dec. 13, Samantha Fledderjohann donated one of her kidneys to a stranger in need, and in the process, transformed 10 lives.
The 46-year-old was the first of a record-breaking "chain" of 20 surgeries over a two-day period at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Comprehensive Transplant Center, both to remove and transplant kidneys from 10 living donors to 10 recipients. That means 10 people now have another chance to live more of their lives better and longer with a healthy kidney.
...
"The transplant swap begins with an "altruistic non-directed" donor like Fledderjohann, who saw a need for more kidney donors, and felt an internal pull to donate even without someone in mind
...
"The "chain reaction" continued, thanks to individuals like Carnahan staying on OSU's donor list despite not being a match for a loved one, instead extending that offer to a stranger in need.
...
"According to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, there are 104,840 people on the transplant waitlist and 90,506 need a kidney in the United States, and 2,079 of them live in Ohio. Ohio State’s transplant center has performed more than 8,500 kidney transplants since 1967."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
