Putting on my ‘health tech wet blanket' hat because contactless blood pressure isn't really a thing yet.
It's been brought to my attention that the Trump Mobile Telehealth Information site seemingly claims contactless blood pressure are things you can get through its third-party Doctegrity services. This is a health tech red flag. While the other metrics mentioned are generally possible through a camera, contactless blood pressure is an emerging technology that hasn't been widely adopted. Most blood pressure tech still requires calibration with a cuff. I'm more inclined to think this is a marketing copy snafu.
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Associated Press
23 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Nina Kuscsik, pioneer in long-distance running and first woman to win the Boston Marathon, has died
BOSTON (AP) — Nina Kuscsik, who campaigned for women's inclusion in long-distance running and then won the Boston Marathon the first year that they were officially allowed to enter into the race, has died. She was 86. An obituary for the A.L. Jacobsen Funeral Home in Huntington Station, New York, said Kuscsik died June 8 of respiratory failure after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease. 'Nina was more than a pioneer, determined women's running advocate, and celebrated icon within the sport. To us, she was a friend who will always be remembered for her kindness, joyful laugh and smile,' the Boston Athletic Association said on Instagram. 'Nina held the distinct honor of winning the 1972 Boston Marathon, and recognized the platform that came with that triumphant moment, inspiring thousands of women to reach their own goals and finish lines in the decades since. The BAA extends heartfelt condolences to Nina's family, friends, and all in the running community who were touched by her grace.' According to the obituary, Kuscsik graduated from high school at 16, studied nursing for two years and received her license at 18 after petitioning to change a New York law that required nurses to be 21. She won state championships in speed skating, roller skating and cycling – all in the same year -- before turning to running when her bicycle broke. She ran the Boston Marathon four times from 1968-71 — before women were officially welcomed, a period retroactively recognized as the Pioneer Era — and then won the first official women's race in 1972. She was also the first woman to enter the New York race, in 1970, and was one of the 'Six who Sat' – six women who refused to start the '72 New York City Marathon for 10 minutes to protest an Amateur Athletic Union rule that the women's race had to be separate from the men's. She won that year and the next year as well. She later served on AAU and USA Track and Field committees drafting rules for women's running. Kathrine Switzer, who entered the 1971 Boston Marathon using her initials and became the first woman to official compete, called Kuscsik 'one of our greatest leaders.' 'Nina was not only a champion runner, but was instrumental in the official acceptance of women and distance running because she did years of tough work of changing rules, regulations and submitting medical evidence to prove women's capability,' said Switzer, who started alongside Kuscsik and six other women who met the qualifying time for the the 1972 Boston race. 'Eight of us registered, eight of us showed up, and all eight of us finished,' she said. 'It was a stunning moment — and a blistering hot day — but appropriately enough, Nina won.' In addition to the more than 80 marathons she ran over her lifetime, Kuscsik set the American record for the 50-mile run in 1977 and won the Empire State Building Run-Up three straight years from 1979–81. She was inducted into the Long Distance Running Hall of Fame in 1999. ___ AP sports:
Los Angeles Times
an hour ago
- Los Angeles Times
Judge rules some NIH grant cuts illegal, saying he's never seen such discrimination in 40 years
WASHINGTON — A federal judge ruled Monday it was illegal for the Trump administration to cancel several hundred research grants, adding that the cuts raise serious questions about racial discrimination. U.S. District Judge William Young in Massachusetts said the administration's process was 'arbitrary and capricious' and that it did not follow long-held government rules and standards when it abruptly canceled grants deemed to focus on gender identity or diversity, equity and inclusion. In a hearing Monday on two cases calling for the grants to be restored, the judge pushed government lawyers to offer a formal definition of DEI, questioning how grants could be canceled for that reason when some were designed to study health disparities as Congress had directed. Young, an appointee of Republican President Ronald Reagan, went on to address what he called 'a darker aspect' to the cases, calling it 'palpably clear' that what was behind the government actions was 'racial discrimination and discrimination against America's LGBTQ community.' After 40 years on the bench, 'I've never seen government racial discrimination like this,' Young added. He ended Monday's hearing saying, 'Have we no shame.' During his remarks ending the hearing, the judge said he would issue his written order soon. Young's decision addresses only a fraction of the hundreds of NIH research projects the Trump administration has cut — those specifically addressed in two lawsuits filed separately this spring by 16 attorneys general from Democratic states, public health advocacy groups and some affected scientists. A full count wasn't immediately available. In the California lawsuit, filed in April with the other Democratic states, Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said the UC system had received more than $2 billion in NIH awards in 2024 and that CSU had spent more than $90 million on NIH-funded research the same year. At the time of filing, Bonta wrote that the UC system's five health centers were awaiting action on grant proposals totaling $563 million. While Young said the funding must be restored, Monday's action was an interim step as the ruling could be appealed. The Trump administration is 'exploring all legal options' including asking the judge to stay the ruling or appealing, said Andrew Nixon, a spokesman for NIH's parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services. 'HHS stands by its decision to end funding for research that prioritized ideological agendas over scientific rigor and meaningful outcomes for the American people,' he said in an email. While the original lawsuits didn't specifically claim racial discrimination, they said the new NIH policies prohibited 'research into certain politically disfavored subjects.' In a filing this month after the lawsuits were consolidated, lawyers said the NIH did not highlight genuine concerns with the hundreds of canceled research projects studies, but instead sent 'boilerplate termination letters' to universities. The topics of research ranged widely, including cardiovascular health, sexually transmitted infections, depression, Alzheimer's and alcohol abuse in minors, among other things. Attorneys cited projects such as one tracking how medicines may work differently in people of ancestrally diverse backgrounds, and said the cuts affected more than scientists — such as potential harm to patients in a closed study of suicide treatment. Lawyers for the federal government said in a court filing earlier this month that NIH grant terminations for DEI studies were 'sufficiently reasoned,' adding later that 'plaintiffs may disagree with NIH's basis, but that does not make the basis arbitrary and capricious.' The NIH, lawyers argued, has 'broad discretion' to decide on and provide grants 'in alignment with its priorities' — which includes ending grants. Monday, Justice Department lawyer Thomas Ports Jr. pointed to 13 examples of grants related to minority health that NIH either hadn't cut or had renewed in the same time period — and said some of the cancellations were justified by the agency's judgement that the research wasn't scientifically valuable. The NIH has long been the world's largest public funder of biomedical research. Neergaard writes for the Associated Press. Times staff writer Jaweed Kaleem contributed to this story.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Texas startup sells plastic-eating fungi diapers to tackle landfill waste
By Evan Garcia AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) -Could baby poop and fungi work together to tackle landfill waste? That's the idea behind a new product launched by an Austin, Texas-based startup that sells disposable diapers paired with fungi intended to break down the plastic. Each of Hiro Technologies' MycoDigestible Diapers comes with a packet of fungi to be added to the dirty diaper before it is thrown in the trash. After a week or two, the fungi are activated by moisture from feces, urine and the environment to begin the process of biodegradation. Disposable diapers contribute significantly to landfill waste. An estimated 4 million tons of diapers were disposed of in the United States in 2018, with no significant recycling or composting, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Diapers take hundreds of years to naturally break down. That means the very first disposable diaper ever used is still in a landfill somewhere. To tackle this, Hiro Technologies turned to fungi. These organisms - which include mushrooms, molds, yeasts and mildew - derive nutrients from decomposing organic matter. In 2011, Yale University researchers discovered a type of fungus in Ecuador that can feed on polyurethane, a common polymer in plastic products. They figured the fungus, Pestalotiopsis microspora, would be capable of surviving on plastic in environments lacking oxygen, like landfills. Hiro Technologies co-founder Tero Isokauppila, a Finnish entrepreneur who also founded medicinal mushroom company Four Sigmatic, said there are more than 100 species of fungi now known to break down plastics. "Many, many moons ago, fungi evolved to break down trees, especially this hard-to-break-down compound in trees called lignin. ... Its carbon backbone is very similar to the carbon backbone of plastics because essentially they're made out of the same thing," Isokauppila said. Three sealed jars at Hiro Technologies' lab show the stages of decomposition of a treated diaper over time. By nine months, the product appears as black soil - "just digested plastic and essentially earth," Isokauppila said. The company says it needs to do more research to find out how the product will decompose in real-world conditions in different climates and hopes to have the data to make a "consumer-facing claim" by next year. It also plans to experiment with plastic-eating fungi on adult diapers, feminine care products and other items. For now, it is selling "diaper bundles" for $35 a week online. Co-founder Miki Agrawal, who was also behind period underwear company Thinx, said the MycoDigestible Diapers had been generating excitement from consumers and investors since launching about a month ago, declining to give details. Agrawal said the company had chosen to focus on diapers as the top household plastic waste item. "There is a deleterious lasting effect that we haven't really thought about and considered," Agrawal said. "Because when you throw something away, no one's asking themselves, 'Where's away?'"
