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Yahoo
20-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The Government Is Now Threatening Academic Journals
The Trump administration has slashed funding for universities and scientific research. Now, its lackeys appear to be escalating their tactics by menacing academic journals. In a letter sent to the editor of CHEST Journal Peter Mazzone, US attorney for the District of Columbia Edward R. Martin, Jr. — a devout Trump appointee — insinuates that the publication is "partisan," presses it for an explanation on how it handles "misinformation," and asks whether it's accepting of "competing viewpoints." In February, Martin sparked an outcry after he declared himself to be "Trump's lawyer," vowing "to fight to protect his leadership against entities "that refuse to put America first." With anti-vax crackpots like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. chosen to run this country's public health institutions, and a tide of "anti-woke" sentiment targeting scientists for acknowledging that climate change is real and that trans people exist, it's impossible not to read Martin's letter as a thinly veiled threat: stop being "woke," or face government scrutiny. "The public has certain expectations and you have certain responsibilities," Martin wrote. The letter was shared on social media this week by Eric Reinhart, a political anthropologist. MedPage Today reports that it's learned of at least two author journals receiving similar letters. "A publication's editorial decisions are none of the government's business, whether it's a newspaper or a medical journal," JT Morris, a senior supervising attorney at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, told MedPage Today. "When a United States Attorney wields the power of his office to target medical journals because of their content and editorial processes, he isn't doing his job, let alone upholding his constitutional oath," Morris added. "He's abusing his authority to try to chill protected speech." As part of its DOGE-effort to slash federal expenditures, the Trump administration has cut off billions of dollars in financial support for universities, terminated hundreds of research projects funded by the US National Institutes of Health, and cancelled nearly $3 billion in the agency's contracts. It has also frozen every single research grant at the US National Science Foundation, one of the largest funders of basic research in the world, in order to review the grants' language for terms related to DEI. Some of the "woke" or "partisan" stuff that's been kneecapped by the sweeping cuts include cancer and Alzheimer's research. If the draconian measures were intended to be an out-and-out assault on the scientific community, it's working: with the money drying up, some of the nation's top scientists are starting to consider leaving the country. But many are fighting back. In February, publications including the American Journal of Public Health said they would heavily scrutinize papers submitted by government scientists, after the Trump administration carried out a blackout of health administration data and forced CDC scientists to withdraw their work to remove language related to gender. In response to this latest escalation — siccing a US attorney on individual publications — some in the scientific community are calling for solidarity. "It is yet another example of the Trump administration's effort to control academic inquiry and stifle scientific discourse — an administration, it warrants mentioning, that has embraced medical misinformation and pseudoscience to reckless effect," Adam Gaffney, a pulmonary and critical care physician at Cambridge Health Alliance in Massachusetts, told MedPage Today. "Journal editors should join together and publicly renounce this as yet more thinly guised anti-science political blackmail." More on Trump: Real Life Is Now "Don't Look Up" as Trump Pulls Support for Any Research About the Climate
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Here's how much Ozempic and similar drugs have soared in popularity since 2018
The use of GLP-1 meds — made popular by Ozempic (NVO) — among U.S. adults without diabetes more than tripled between 2018 and 2022, with annual spending surging from $1.6 billion to $5.8 billion. The findings were reported by MedPageToday on Tuesday, citing a new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Researchers analyzed data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), using an unweighted sample of 90,000 adults. They found that the percentage of U.S. adults without diabetes filling at least one GLP-1 prescription increased from 0.1% in 2018 to 0.4% in 2022 — representing approximately 854,728 adults. By comparison, about 5.1 million adults with type 2 diabetes filled a prescription for the drugs that same year, according to a separate study. The total number of people taking GLP-1 treatments today could also be much higher. In aMay 2024 survey of 1,479 U.S. adults, about 12% said they'd taken a GLP-1 agonist, and almost one third said they'd heard 'a lot' about these treatments, according to the health policy non-profit KFF. GLP-1s are a class of drugs that have been used for decades to treat diabetes. They mimic a hormone that helps regulate blood sugar and can also suppress appetite. But a newer generation of these drugs — such as Novo Nordisk's Ozempic and Eli Lilly's (LLY) Mounjaro — has fueled a surge in demand. Unlike older versions, which required daily doses, these newer medications are injected just once a week. Demand skyrocketed even further after the drugs were approved for weight loss. Novo Nordisk's Wegovy received approval to treat obesity in 2021, followed by Eli Lilly's Zepbound in 2023. By 2022, 65% of GLP-1 users without diabetes were on semaglutide — the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy. Most GLP-1 users without diabetes were female (64%) and white (73%), with an average body mass index (BMI) of 35.7, classifying them as obese. The blockbuster success of these drugs has transformed Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly into two of the world's most valuable pharmaceutical companies. Novo Nordisk's total revenue rose 26% in 2024 to $40.5 billion, while Eli Lilly saw a 32% jump, reaching $45 billion. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Axios
02-04-2025
- Health
- Axios
Unmarried people had lower dementia risk, new study finds
Unmarried older adults in the U.S. were less likely to develop dementia than those who were married, according to a new study of 24,000 Americans. Why it matters: The finding seems to contradict the long-held belief that marriage is associated with better cognitive health and longevity. What they found:"Widowed, divorced, and never-married older adults had a lower dementia risk, compared to their married counterparts," the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center researchers say, based on a study of adults aged 50+, who were tracked for up to 18 years. Yes, but: The study relied on volunteers — mostly white and married — so the findings may not reflect the broader U.S. population. Context: Previous research has linked marriage to positive health outcomes, including: What they're saying:"This finding can change the way we understand the connection between marital status and risk of dementia," said study co-author Selin Karakose of Florida State University College of Medicine in Tallahassee, to MedPage Today. She noted that marriage — which has benefits — can also come with stress, smaller social circles and caregiving burdens that may affect brain health. Between the lines: The idea that unmarried individuals may be diagnosed later, simply because they don't have a spouse encouraging them to seek care, could potentially skew the findings.
