- Study: there are no economic rewards for expedited discovery of new Part B cancer drugs.
- In its 4.5-billion-year history, the Earth has experienced five mass extinction waves when more than 75 percent of the species on the planet were snuffed out. A nuclear winter could be the 6th.
- Tyler Cowen: the greatest danger to civilization is war, rather than intelligent robots.
- Walensky on the CDC on Covid: “our performance did not reliably meet expectations.” That’s it?
- Yglesias on leftist values. Recommended.
- Can this be true? “Big pharma is betting on psychedelics for mental health.”
Category: Health Reform
One Day a Pill May Provide the Benefits of Intense Exercise
Researchers have identified a substance in blood that is produced when people exercise. Researchers analyzed blood plasma compounds in mice who had just finished intense treadmill running. They found a modified amino acid called Lac-Phe, derived from lactate. Lactate is the chemical that is responsible for the burning sensation in muscles after a strenuous workout. The substance also reduces food intake and decreases obesity in mice.
In mice with diet-induced obesity (fed a high-fat diet), a high dose of Lac-Phe suppressed food intake by about 50% compared to control mice over a period of 12 hours without affecting their movement or energy expenditure. When administered to the mice for 10 days, Lac-Phe reduced cumulative food intake and body weight (owing to loss of body fat) and improved glucose tolerance.
Thursday Links
- Study finds socioeconomic gaps in deaths by alcohol and wonders how we can achieve equality. That’s easy: have successful people drink more.
- Spain bans air-conditioning below 80 degrees during record-setting summer heat.
- Pfizer CEO tests positive for Covid.
- Democrats could have used the IRA bill to add on all kinds of abortion protections; yet not a single amendment was offered.
- Five ways the government has made things worse, not better, for diabetics.
- Why you can’t trust the Covid death statistics.
- More on the debate over SSRIs.
Wednesday Links
- Socialized medicine by stealth: Medicaid rolls during the pandemic have swelled by 24 million—a 34% increase—while two million more adults have enrolled in ObamaCare exchange plans.
- Were Democrats being “racist” when they left 2.2 million (disproportionately Black) poor people without health insurance while giving subsidies to high-income (disproportionately white) people. This is consistent with the history of social insurance.
- Covid Vaccine backlash: “10 percent of those vaccinated said they wish they hadn’t done so, while 15 percent of adults said they have been diagnosed with a new condition by a medical practitioner weeks or months after the first dose.”
- Study: Mandatory paid sick leave reduces ER visits. If so, employers and employees should be able to voluntarily adopt it until the marginal benefit equals the marginal cost. Duh!