
Amgen's gastric cancer drug meets late-stage trial goal
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Reuters
22 minutes ago
- Reuters
US health department staff urge Kennedy to protect workers after CDC attack
Aug 20 (Reuters) - More than 750 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services staff have urged Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to guarantee federal health workers' safety after a shooting this month at CDC buildings in Atlanta, according to a letter released on Wednesday. The signatories, including former leaders at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention such as Anne Schuchat, a former principal deputy director, urged HHS to tighten emergency procedures and alerts by September 2. They also asked the CDC to do something about the online targeting of federal workers that list agency staff and their personal information. "The deliberate destruction of trust in America's public health workforce puts lives at risk. We urge you to act in the best interest of the American people - your friends, your families, and yourselves," the letter said, noting that people had signed in a personal capacity. They included nearly 400 current employees, many of whom signed anonymously for fear of retaliation, CDC physician Anna Yousaf told Reuters, speaking in a personal capacity. A spokesperson for the HHS said CDC employees' safety and well-being are a top priority for Kennedy, who visited CDC headquarters in Atlanta shortly after the shooting. Investigators said last week a man fired nearly 200 rounds at six CDC buildings on August 8, killing police officer David Rose before taking his own life. Writings found in the gunman's home expressed discontent with the COVID-19 vaccine, they said. The CDC tightened security following the attack, having most employees work from home this week and removing vehicle decals showing where they work. Wednesday's letter, also signed by staff at the National Institutes of Health and other HHS agencies, urged Kennedy to publicly disavow false or misleading claims about vaccines and infectious disease and to affirm the CDC's nonpartisan, evidence-based scientific integrity. It accused Kennedy of undermining public health by attacking CDC staff's credibility, firing key personnel and misusing data to falsely link childhood vaccines to autism. Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, has moved swiftly to reshape vaccine, food, and medicine policy as HHS secretary, most notably by firing all 17 members of the CDC's vaccine advisory panel last June. The letter from department staff also was sent to Congress and the White House, an accompanying press release said.


The Independent
24 minutes ago
- The Independent
McDonald's settles with Colorado resident who claims they contracted E. coli after visiting restaurant
A Colorado man has reportedly settled a lawsuit claiming he got E. coli after eating at McDonald's during a multi-state outbreak of the bacteria linked to the chain. Eric Stelly sued the fast food chain in October, shortly after federal health officials disclosed an E. coli outbreak across multiple states linked to McDonald's Quarter Pounder burgers and other items that contained contaminated onions. The suit claimed Stelly suffered from symptoms of E. coli poisoning, including nausea, cramps, and bloody stool,s after eating at a McDonald's in Greeley. "Never did I expect to suffer like this from eating a burger," Stelly told USA Today when he filed his suit. "I hope my lawsuit can shed light on how this happened so that McDonald's can fix the problems and prevent them from happening again." The terms of the reported settlement over the claims could not be disclosed, Stelly's lawyer told The Denver Post. The Independent has contacted McDonald's for comment and confirmation on the outcome of the suit. Colorado was especially hard hit by the outbreak, which ended in late 2024. There were 30 Colorado residents, one of whom died from complications, among the 104 people across 14 states who got documented infections from the outbreak. Health officials concluded that fresh, slivered onions being served at McDonald's restaurants were the 'likely source' of the outbreak. Among 81 people interviewed as part of disease surveillance, 99 percent said they had eaten at McDonald's, with 84 percent recalling a dish with slivered onions, according to the CDC. Stelly wasn't the only Colorado resident who said they got sick from McDonald's as part of the outbreak. Kamberlyn Bowler, a 15-year-old high school freshman at the time, was flown to a hospital and given emergency dialysis after eating McDonald's Quarter Pounders three times in the weeks before the outbreak was detected. 'It's pretty scary to know that we put so much faith and trust that we're going to be eating something that's healthy and for it to be broken,' her mother, Brittany Randall, said at the time. Federal health officials cleared McDonald's in December. 'There were no new illnesses associated with consumers eating at McDonald's following our swift and decisive action on October 22, 2024,' McDonald's executives said in a statement at the time. 'This reinforces the importance of our values, particularly in moving quickly to do the right thing and to always put people first. Most forms of E. coli bacteria are harmless to humans, but certain strains can make people sick with diarrhea, urinary tract infections, pneumonia, sepsis, and other illnesses, according to the CDC. People get infected with the bacteria after swallowing them, often through coming into contact with contaminated food or water.


The Independent
24 minutes ago
- The Independent
A hearing aid before the age of 70 can dramatically reduce risk of dementia, new research finds
People who use a hearing aid before the age of 70 can dramatically reduce their risk of dementia, new research shows. Dementia, which is the loss of cognitive functioning, affects more than six million Americans and leads to more than 100,000 deaths each year, according to the National Institutes of Health. As the U.S. population ages, dementia cases are expected to double by 2060, NIH says. Age-related hearing loss is a risk factor for developing dementia, and a research letter published in JAMA Neurology on Monday found that using hearing aids could reduce this risk. After studying nearly 3,000 participants over up to two decades researchers found those with hearing loss who used hearing aids had a 61 percent lower risk for dementia among those younger than 70 years at the time of their hearing loss diagnosis. 'This finding highlights the importance of early intervention for HL [hearing loss] for possible prevention of dementia,' the authors of the study wrote. But the study noted only 17 percent of people with moderate to severe hearing loss use hearing aids. UCLA Health gave three possible theories for the link between hearing loss and dementia including that hearing loss causes the brain to deteriorate faster. Additionally, your brain works harder to understand conversation when you can't hear well. Straining your brain regularly like this can impact your cognitive function. Hearing loss can also limit your social engagement as conversing in noisy environments is less enjoyable. Your brain may struggle to be intellectually stimulated without socialization. Age-related hearing loss affects one in three people older than 60, according to the American Academy of Audiology. One in two people older than the age of 85 has hearing loss. Common signs of hearing loss include asking people to repeat things, difficulty hearing and understanding speech in noisy settings, and turning the TV or radio up louder than normal. The American Academy of Audiology warns untreated hearing loss can be connected to cognitive decline as well as depression, anxiety, paranoia and poor social relationships.