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"content": "\u003cp>Virginia Anderlini is 103 years old, and she is about to take her sixth trip into virtual reality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In real life, she is sitting on the sofa in the bay window of her San Francisco assisted-living facility. Next to her, Dr. Sonya Kim gently tugs the straps that anchor the headset over her eyes.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">'[VR] allows them to forget their chronic pain, anxiety, the fact that they are alone.'\u003ccite>Dr. Sonya Kim, One Caring Team\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>But in the virtual world, Anderlini is on a Hawaiian beach, and it’s sunset, and she is surrounded by a glistening sea and a molten purple-red sky. If she looks up, she sees the fronds of an enormous palm tree, and falling rainbow specks that dance in the air like the light from a disco ball.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hello, it’s so nice to see you again,“ comes Kim’s pre-recorded voice from inside the headset. “It’s such a beautiful day today, isn’t it?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oh my goodness!” says Anderlini, sounding delighted. She scans her head from side to side, taking in the details of the virtual landscape: little grass shacks, twists of driftwood, outcroppings of volcanic rock. “Hey, that’s really pretty!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the back, look at this,” she continues, wriggling around to see the imaginary world behind her. “Terry, you’ve got to see this, too!” she calls to her son, who is watching nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For a Bay Area virtual reality entrepreneur, Kim has an unusual target audience: the elderly. Anderlini is the first private client for Kim’s Aloha VR program, which Kim envisions as a way to help people relax, an alternative to endlessly watching TV, and a change of scenery for those who can’t get out much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_190155\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1280px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/landscape-VR.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-190155\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/landscape-VR.jpg\" alt=\"Aloha VR combines images of beaches with friendly reminders to take her medications to stay healthy.\" width=\"1280\" height=\"708\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/landscape-VR.jpg 1280w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/landscape-VR-400x221.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/landscape-VR-800x443.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/landscape-VR-768x425.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/landscape-VR-1180x653.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/landscape-VR-960x531.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/landscape-VR-672x372.jpg 672w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Aloha VR combines images of beaches with friendly reminders to take her medications to stay healthy. \u003ccite>(One Caring Team)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And for those unhappy in the present day, virtual reality might provide an escape into an immersive other world that “allows them to forget their chronic pain, anxiety, the fact that they are alone,” said Kim. In VR, she said, her company has found “a new care modality to bring to a senior care setting like this, to inspire them to live another day where they're happy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>'No One Cares About Me'\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kim, a former emergency room doctor, found her way to virtual reality through a series of tough requests. A few years ago, she was running a house-call practice when she received a call for help from a woman whose 88-year-old mother had stopped eating and drinking. As a result, she’d made three emergency room trips in a month, racking up more than $50,000 in medical bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kim knew that seniors often end up in the hospital for preventable conditions—like dehydration, malnutrition and electrolyte imbalances—exacerbated by loneliness and lack of self-care. And when she asked the older woman why she’d stopped eating, Kim recalled, her patient replied: “No one loves me. No one cares about me. I don’t matter any more. Why should I eat, why should I drink, why should I live? I just want to die today.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=\"1oKfaHfMWVf63Nld9zzrr2qGg58wHK5p\"]“When I was driving back home from that visit, I couldn’t stop sobbing,” Kim said. “As a single woman without any kids, I thought, ‘When I'm her age, who’s going to call me? Who’s going to take care of me?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That interaction led Kim to found \u003ca href=\"https://onecaringteam.com\" target=\"_blank\">One Caring Team\u003c/a>, a care call program, in 2014. Staffers phone seniors at home to check on their mood, medications and appointments, and prompt them to chat about positive subjects, like what makes them happy or what they could do bring joy to someone else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But then one day, as Kim was giving a talk about her service, a man in the audience asked: “What about \u003cem>my\u003c/em> mom?” His mother has dementia, he said, and couldn’t have a coherent phone conversation. Finding a solution for his mom, Kim said, became her “new homework assignment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By chance, Kim had been reading about virtual reality and decided to attend a VR mixer in San Francisco; someone let her use an Oculus headset to walk through a virtual garden, and she “totally fell in love” with the medium. Convinced her seniors would like it, she borrowed a friend’s headset and took it to a preventative care conference. By the time she was done, she already had assisted-living facility directors asking about pricing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That convinced her the concept could sell, but she wanted to make sure VR could actually make people feel better.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Easing Chronic Pain, Anxiety and Depression\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\n“There are over 100 clinical research papers that are already published that show proven positive clinical outcomes using VR in managing chronic pain, anxiety and depression,” she said. “And in dementia patients, all those three elements are very common.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">'Dementia patients often feel lost, because they feel that they don’t belong anywhere. I want them to feel found again.'\u003ccite>Dr. Sonya Kim, One Caring Team\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>For example, in the 1990s, pioneering researchers at the University of Washington developed \u003ca href=\"http://depts.washington.edu/hplab/research/virtual-reality/\" target=\"_blank\">\u003cem>SnowWorld\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, an icy virtual environment that \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/2015/05/28/how-virtual-reality-worlds-can-help-reduce-pain/\" target=\"_blank\">reduced pain\u003c/a> for burn victims during wound treatment. More recently, Dr. Albert Rizzo’s lab at the University of Southern California has helped military veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder by offering \u003ca href=\"http://medvr.ict.usc.edu/projects/bravemind/\" target=\"_blank\">exposure therapy in virtual environments\u003c/a>. The Veterans United Foundation has created \u003ca href=\"https://www.enhancelives.com/news/honor-everywhere-360-virtual-reality-veterans\" target=\"_blank\">virtual reality experiences\u003c/a> of veterans' memorials, for vets who can't travel to see them. And scientists at the Chronic Pain Research Institute have tested a \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/2015/05/28/how-virtual-reality-worlds-can-help-reduce-pain/\" target=\"_blank\">Virtual Meditative Walk\u003c/a> meant to help users manage pain and stress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>VR is typically formulated for younger users, and often asks them to play games, solve puzzles, master new information and move around energetically. But many of Kim’s clients are wheelchair-bound; those with advanced dementia cannot read or follow verbal commands. Nearly all of them are unfamiliar with the conventions of VR, which assume that the user knows to swivel their head to take in the 360-degree view, to move around to make the landscape scroll, or to tap objects to interact with them. Instead, many of Kim’s clients go through entire sessions seated, heads cast down, hands folded in their laps. Sometimes her staff has to gently pivot a client’s chin to help them look to the side.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But exploration and beating puzzles aren’t the point of this kind of VR: The environments have no storyline, just scenery. The name Aloha VR is a nod to Kim’s time working in a Hawaiian ER, where she came to admire the state’s ‘ohana spirit, a concept that encompasses love for extended family and respect for elders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the version Anderlini is watching, Kim’s voice offers a friendly welcome and reminds her to take her medication to stay healthy. As she speaks, the text pops up in little orange bubbles that burst pleasingly at the end of each sentence. Versions for the cognitively impaired have no words at all, just music and the sounds of waves. “If there’s too many words, if there are too many things we’re asking, they’re going to get frustrated,” said Kim.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_3528\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 401px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2015/05/fMRI.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-3528\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2015/05/fMRI.jpg\" alt=\"These images from an fMRI scan show areas of the brain affected by pain, and how they shrink when the patient is immersed in a virtual reality world. (Courtesy Dr. Sam Sharar/University of Washington)\" width=\"401\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2015/05/fMRI.jpg 401w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2015/05/fMRI-400x249.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 401px) 100vw, 401px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">These images from an fMRI scan show areas of the brain affected by pain, and how they shrink when the patient is immersed in a virtual reality world. \u003ccite>(Dr. Sam Sharar/University of Washington)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Instead, the point is to make users feel safe and welcome. “Dementia patients often feel lost, because they feel that they don’t belong anywhere,” said Kim—they may be confused about their surroundings or who they are, or estranged from family members overwhelmed by their care. By giving them a beautiful beach, Kim said, “I want them to feel found again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to having private clients, Kim conducts group therapy sessions at Bay Area assisted-living centers, where a dozen or so people take turns with the goggles. Although some of her clients struggle with verbal communication, they seem to have found other ways to express enjoyment. One client, Kim said, simply blew kisses. Another hummed happily. A third stole 40 minutes in the headset, repeatedly asking for “Just a little more, hon.” A few of them just go to sleep.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Challenge: Heavy and Expensive Headsets\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nThere are still challenges for the company to work out. The headsets can be heavy, it can take seniors a while to warm up to trying them, and while prices for mobile VR equipment have come down, it still costs about $850 for each Samsung Gear VR headset plus the Galaxy smartphone that slides into it—enough that they don’t have a rig for each client.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kim’s company has created a handful of demo environments, but it will take time and money to build more, so for now they also buy off-the-shelf programs to give the clients a little variety. (They recently teamed with the \u003ca href=\"http://virtualworldsociety.org/wordpress1/\" target=\"_blank\">Virtual World Society\u003c/a>, a group that intends to use VR to promote social good. The group’s founder, University of Washington virtual interface pioneer Dr. Tom Furness, is now One Caring Team’s acting CTO. )\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, Virginia Anderlini has been on virtual visits to Venice and Africa, and after her brief trip to the beach, spends some time in an autumn-themed meditation session watching leaves fall. But she’s seen it before, and soon asks for something different. What virtual world would she like to try next? “Just something I haven't seen before,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that could be tougher than it sounds. “You know, when you get to this age,” she says with a laugh, “I think you’ve seen everything.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Virginia Anderlini is 103 years old, and she is about to take her sixth trip into virtual reality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In real life, she is sitting on the sofa in the bay window of her San Francisco assisted-living facility. Next to her, Dr. Sonya Kim gently tugs the straps that anchor the headset over her eyes.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">'[VR] allows them to forget their chronic pain, anxiety, the fact that they are alone.'\u003ccite>Dr. Sonya Kim, One Caring Team\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>But in the virtual world, Anderlini is on a Hawaiian beach, and it’s sunset, and she is surrounded by a glistening sea and a molten purple-red sky. If she looks up, she sees the fronds of an enormous palm tree, and falling rainbow specks that dance in the air like the light from a disco ball.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hello, it’s so nice to see you again,“ comes Kim’s pre-recorded voice from inside the headset. “It’s such a beautiful day today, isn’t it?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oh my goodness!” says Anderlini, sounding delighted. She scans her head from side to side, taking in the details of the virtual landscape: little grass shacks, twists of driftwood, outcroppings of volcanic rock. “Hey, that’s really pretty!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the back, look at this,” she continues, wriggling around to see the imaginary world behind her. “Terry, you’ve got to see this, too!” she calls to her son, who is watching nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For a Bay Area virtual reality entrepreneur, Kim has an unusual target audience: the elderly. Anderlini is the first private client for Kim’s Aloha VR program, which Kim envisions as a way to help people relax, an alternative to endlessly watching TV, and a change of scenery for those who can’t get out much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_190155\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1280px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/landscape-VR.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-190155\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/landscape-VR.jpg\" alt=\"Aloha VR combines images of beaches with friendly reminders to take her medications to stay healthy.\" width=\"1280\" height=\"708\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/landscape-VR.jpg 1280w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/landscape-VR-400x221.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/landscape-VR-800x443.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/landscape-VR-768x425.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/landscape-VR-1180x653.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/landscape-VR-960x531.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/landscape-VR-672x372.jpg 672w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Aloha VR combines images of beaches with friendly reminders to take her medications to stay healthy. \u003ccite>(One Caring Team)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And for those unhappy in the present day, virtual reality might provide an escape into an immersive other world that “allows them to forget their chronic pain, anxiety, the fact that they are alone,” said Kim. In VR, she said, her company has found “a new care modality to bring to a senior care setting like this, to inspire them to live another day where they're happy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>'No One Cares About Me'\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kim, a former emergency room doctor, found her way to virtual reality through a series of tough requests. A few years ago, she was running a house-call practice when she received a call for help from a woman whose 88-year-old mother had stopped eating and drinking. As a result, she’d made three emergency room trips in a month, racking up more than $50,000 in medical bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kim knew that seniors often end up in the hospital for preventable conditions—like dehydration, malnutrition and electrolyte imbalances—exacerbated by loneliness and lack of self-care. And when she asked the older woman why she’d stopped eating, Kim recalled, her patient replied: “No one loves me. No one cares about me. I don’t matter any more. Why should I eat, why should I drink, why should I live? I just want to die today.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>“When I was driving back home from that visit, I couldn’t stop sobbing,” Kim said. “As a single woman without any kids, I thought, ‘When I'm her age, who’s going to call me? Who’s going to take care of me?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That interaction led Kim to found \u003ca href=\"https://onecaringteam.com\" target=\"_blank\">One Caring Team\u003c/a>, a care call program, in 2014. Staffers phone seniors at home to check on their mood, medications and appointments, and prompt them to chat about positive subjects, like what makes them happy or what they could do bring joy to someone else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But then one day, as Kim was giving a talk about her service, a man in the audience asked: “What about \u003cem>my\u003c/em> mom?” His mother has dementia, he said, and couldn’t have a coherent phone conversation. Finding a solution for his mom, Kim said, became her “new homework assignment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By chance, Kim had been reading about virtual reality and decided to attend a VR mixer in San Francisco; someone let her use an Oculus headset to walk through a virtual garden, and she “totally fell in love” with the medium. Convinced her seniors would like it, she borrowed a friend’s headset and took it to a preventative care conference. By the time she was done, she already had assisted-living facility directors asking about pricing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That convinced her the concept could sell, but she wanted to make sure VR could actually make people feel better.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Easing Chronic Pain, Anxiety and Depression\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\n“There are over 100 clinical research papers that are already published that show proven positive clinical outcomes using VR in managing chronic pain, anxiety and depression,” she said. “And in dementia patients, all those three elements are very common.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">'Dementia patients often feel lost, because they feel that they don’t belong anywhere. I want them to feel found again.'\u003ccite>Dr. Sonya Kim, One Caring Team\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>For example, in the 1990s, pioneering researchers at the University of Washington developed \u003ca href=\"http://depts.washington.edu/hplab/research/virtual-reality/\" target=\"_blank\">\u003cem>SnowWorld\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, an icy virtual environment that \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/2015/05/28/how-virtual-reality-worlds-can-help-reduce-pain/\" target=\"_blank\">reduced pain\u003c/a> for burn victims during wound treatment. More recently, Dr. Albert Rizzo’s lab at the University of Southern California has helped military veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder by offering \u003ca href=\"http://medvr.ict.usc.edu/projects/bravemind/\" target=\"_blank\">exposure therapy in virtual environments\u003c/a>. The Veterans United Foundation has created \u003ca href=\"https://www.enhancelives.com/news/honor-everywhere-360-virtual-reality-veterans\" target=\"_blank\">virtual reality experiences\u003c/a> of veterans' memorials, for vets who can't travel to see them. And scientists at the Chronic Pain Research Institute have tested a \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/2015/05/28/how-virtual-reality-worlds-can-help-reduce-pain/\" target=\"_blank\">Virtual Meditative Walk\u003c/a> meant to help users manage pain and stress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>VR is typically formulated for younger users, and often asks them to play games, solve puzzles, master new information and move around energetically. But many of Kim’s clients are wheelchair-bound; those with advanced dementia cannot read or follow verbal commands. Nearly all of them are unfamiliar with the conventions of VR, which assume that the user knows to swivel their head to take in the 360-degree view, to move around to make the landscape scroll, or to tap objects to interact with them. Instead, many of Kim’s clients go through entire sessions seated, heads cast down, hands folded in their laps. Sometimes her staff has to gently pivot a client’s chin to help them look to the side.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But exploration and beating puzzles aren’t the point of this kind of VR: The environments have no storyline, just scenery. The name Aloha VR is a nod to Kim’s time working in a Hawaiian ER, where she came to admire the state’s ‘ohana spirit, a concept that encompasses love for extended family and respect for elders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the version Anderlini is watching, Kim’s voice offers a friendly welcome and reminds her to take her medication to stay healthy. As she speaks, the text pops up in little orange bubbles that burst pleasingly at the end of each sentence. Versions for the cognitively impaired have no words at all, just music and the sounds of waves. “If there’s too many words, if there are too many things we’re asking, they’re going to get frustrated,” said Kim.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_3528\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 401px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2015/05/fMRI.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-3528\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2015/05/fMRI.jpg\" alt=\"These images from an fMRI scan show areas of the brain affected by pain, and how they shrink when the patient is immersed in a virtual reality world. (Courtesy Dr. Sam Sharar/University of Washington)\" width=\"401\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2015/05/fMRI.jpg 401w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2015/05/fMRI-400x249.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 401px) 100vw, 401px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">These images from an fMRI scan show areas of the brain affected by pain, and how they shrink when the patient is immersed in a virtual reality world. \u003ccite>(Dr. Sam Sharar/University of Washington)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Instead, the point is to make users feel safe and welcome. “Dementia patients often feel lost, because they feel that they don’t belong anywhere,” said Kim—they may be confused about their surroundings or who they are, or estranged from family members overwhelmed by their care. By giving them a beautiful beach, Kim said, “I want them to feel found again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to having private clients, Kim conducts group therapy sessions at Bay Area assisted-living centers, where a dozen or so people take turns with the goggles. Although some of her clients struggle with verbal communication, they seem to have found other ways to express enjoyment. One client, Kim said, simply blew kisses. Another hummed happily. A third stole 40 minutes in the headset, repeatedly asking for “Just a little more, hon.” A few of them just go to sleep.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Challenge: Heavy and Expensive Headsets\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nThere are still challenges for the company to work out. The headsets can be heavy, it can take seniors a while to warm up to trying them, and while prices for mobile VR equipment have come down, it still costs about $850 for each Samsung Gear VR headset plus the Galaxy smartphone that slides into it—enough that they don’t have a rig for each client.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kim’s company has created a handful of demo environments, but it will take time and money to build more, so for now they also buy off-the-shelf programs to give the clients a little variety. (They recently teamed with the \u003ca href=\"http://virtualworldsociety.org/wordpress1/\" target=\"_blank\">Virtual World Society\u003c/a>, a group that intends to use VR to promote social good. The group’s founder, University of Washington virtual interface pioneer Dr. Tom Furness, is now One Caring Team’s acting CTO. )\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, Virginia Anderlini has been on virtual visits to Venice and Africa, and after her brief trip to the beach, spends some time in an autumn-themed meditation session watching leaves fall. But she’s seen it before, and soon asks for something different. What virtual world would she like to try next? “Just something I haven't seen before,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that could be tougher than it sounds. “You know, when you get to this age,” she says with a laugh, “I think you’ve seen everything.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>San Francisco Chronicle tech columnist Thomas Lee says Theranos's top spokesperson, Brooke Buchanan, is \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Theranos-spokeswoman-Brooke-Buchanan-to-exit-8323546.php\" target=\"_blank\">leaving the company\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Buchanan did not return a call and text to her cellphone, but the Chronicle says she confirmed her departure, without offering further comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lee writes ...\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>(I)t was not clear whether [Theranos founder Elizabeth] Holmes was listening to [Buchanan's] advice. For example, Theranos \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Theranos-CEO-Elizabeth-Holmes-takes-big-gamble-at-8003887.php\">recently agreed to present the company’s blood-testing technology at a major medical conference Aug. 1\u003c/a>. Holmes also plans to hold a major press conference after the event with 200 members of the national media, a \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Theranos-CEO-Elizabeth-Holmes-takes-big-gamble-at-8003887.php\">decision that public-relations experts\u003c/a> I spoke to earlier this \u003ca href=\"https://ly.linkedin.com/in/brooke-buchanan-56218021?trk=pub-pbmap\">month\u003c/a> strongly questioned. Why would Holmes agree to speak to reporters when Theranos is facing a criminal investigation from federal prosecutors and inquiries from regulatory agencies?\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Buchanan, whose title is vice president of communications, joined Theranos last November, not long after The Wall Street Journal had published two devastating \u003ca href=\"http://www.wsj.com/articles/theranos-has-struggled-with-blood-tests-1444881901\" target=\"_blank\">investigative reports\u003c/a> about the company. It was all downhill from there. One of Buchananan's skills listed on \u003ca href=\"https://ly.linkedin.com/in/brooke-buchanan-56218021?trk=pub-pbmap\">Linkedin\u003c/a> is \"crisis communications,\" something that must have come in handy as she was forced to \u003ca href=\"https://www.theranos.com/news/press-releases\">respond\u003c/a> to a drumbeat of bad news about the company, including a failed government inspection, the resulting threat of crippling sanctions, and the severing of its partnership with Walgreens, which unceremoniously announced it would immediately stop offering Theranos services in its stores. We could go into more detail, but suffice it to say the whole saga is dramatic enough to inspire a \u003ca href=\"http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/06/jennifer-lawrence-theranos-elizabeth-holmes\" target=\"_blank\">coming movie\u003c/a> with Jennifer Lawrence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Buchanan came to Theranos after \u003ca href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/brooke-buchanan-56218021\" target=\"_blank\">stints\u003c/a> at Williams-Sonoma and Walmart. But she is best known as the press secretary for GOP presidential candidate John McCain during his 2008 election campaign against Barack Obama. (\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-z6Of25r8k\" target=\"_blank\">Here she i\u003c/a>s in 2007, saying she \"will quit smoking when we win the nomination.\")\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Buchananan's departure would be yet another blow for Theranos, and will open up another job at the company. Among the\u003ca href=\"https://www.theranos.com/careers/corporate\" target=\"_blank\"> positions\u003c/a> listed on the Theranos website: both an executive assistant and a personal assistant for founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>San Francisco Chronicle tech columnist Thomas Lee says Theranos's top spokesperson, Brooke Buchanan, is \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Theranos-spokeswoman-Brooke-Buchanan-to-exit-8323546.php\" target=\"_blank\">leaving the company\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Buchanan did not return a call and text to her cellphone, but the Chronicle says she confirmed her departure, without offering further comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lee writes ...\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>(I)t was not clear whether [Theranos founder Elizabeth] Holmes was listening to [Buchanan's] advice. For example, Theranos \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Theranos-CEO-Elizabeth-Holmes-takes-big-gamble-at-8003887.php\">recently agreed to present the company’s blood-testing technology at a major medical conference Aug. 1\u003c/a>. Holmes also plans to hold a major press conference after the event with 200 members of the national media, a \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Theranos-CEO-Elizabeth-Holmes-takes-big-gamble-at-8003887.php\">decision that public-relations experts\u003c/a> I spoke to earlier this \u003ca href=\"https://ly.linkedin.com/in/brooke-buchanan-56218021?trk=pub-pbmap\">month\u003c/a> strongly questioned. Why would Holmes agree to speak to reporters when Theranos is facing a criminal investigation from federal prosecutors and inquiries from regulatory agencies?\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Buchanan, whose title is vice president of communications, joined Theranos last November, not long after The Wall Street Journal had published two devastating \u003ca href=\"http://www.wsj.com/articles/theranos-has-struggled-with-blood-tests-1444881901\" target=\"_blank\">investigative reports\u003c/a> about the company. It was all downhill from there. One of Buchananan's skills listed on \u003ca href=\"https://ly.linkedin.com/in/brooke-buchanan-56218021?trk=pub-pbmap\">Linkedin\u003c/a> is \"crisis communications,\" something that must have come in handy as she was forced to \u003ca href=\"https://www.theranos.com/news/press-releases\">respond\u003c/a> to a drumbeat of bad news about the company, including a failed government inspection, the resulting threat of crippling sanctions, and the severing of its partnership with Walgreens, which unceremoniously announced it would immediately stop offering Theranos services in its stores. We could go into more detail, but suffice it to say the whole saga is dramatic enough to inspire a \u003ca href=\"http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/06/jennifer-lawrence-theranos-elizabeth-holmes\" target=\"_blank\">coming movie\u003c/a> with Jennifer Lawrence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Buchanan came to Theranos after \u003ca href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/brooke-buchanan-56218021\" target=\"_blank\">stints\u003c/a> at Williams-Sonoma and Walmart. But she is best known as the press secretary for GOP presidential candidate John McCain during his 2008 election campaign against Barack Obama. (\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-z6Of25r8k\" target=\"_blank\">Here she i\u003c/a>s in 2007, saying she \"will quit smoking when we win the nomination.\")\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Buchananan's departure would be yet another blow for Theranos, and will open up another job at the company. Among the\u003ca href=\"https://www.theranos.com/careers/corporate\" target=\"_blank\"> positions\u003c/a> listed on the Theranos website: both an executive assistant and a personal assistant for founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>On the day abdominal pain and nausea struck Jessica Christianson at the office, she discovered how far telemedicine has come.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">Kiosks are replacing in-person doctor visits for maladies like colds, sore throats and earaches.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Rushing to a large kiosk in th the Palm Beach County School District’s administrative building where she works, Christianson, 29, consulted a nurse practitioner in Miami via two-way video. The nurse examined her remotely, using a stethoscope and other instruments connected to the computer station. Then, she recommended Christianson seek an ultrasound elsewhere to check for a possible liver problem stemming from an intestinal infection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cost: $15. She might have paid $50 at an urgent care center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ultrasound Christianson got later that day confirmed the nurse practitioner’s diagnosis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Without the kiosk I probably would have waited to get care and that could have made things worse,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Endorsements like Christianson’s demonstrate how technology and positive consumer experiences are lending momentum to telemedicine’s adoption in the workplace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Less than a decade ago, telemedicine was mainly used by hospitals and clinics for secure doctor-to-doctor consultations. But today, telemedicine has become a more common method for patients to receive routine care at home or wherever they are — often on their cellphones or personal computers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the past several years, a growing number of employers have provided insurance coverage for telemedicine services enabling employees to connect with a doctor by phone using both voice and video. One limitation of such phone-based services is physicians cannot always obtain basic vital signs such as blood pressure and heart rate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s where telemedicine kiosks offer an advantage. Hundreds of employers — often supported by their health insurers — now have them installed in the workplaces, according to consultants and two telemedicine companies that make kiosks, American Well and Computerized Screening, Inc.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Employers and insurers see the kiosks as a pathway to delivering quality care, reducing lost productivity due to time spent traveling and waiting for care, and saving money by avoiding costlier visits to emergency rooms and urgent care facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jet Blue Airways is adding a kiosk later this year for its employees at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. Other big employers providing kiosks in the workplace include the city of Kansas City, Missouri.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Large health insurers such as Anthem and UnitedHealthcare are promoting telemedicine’s next wave by testing the kiosks at worksites where they have contracts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anthem has installed 34 kiosks at 20 employers in the past 18 months. John Jesser, an Anthem vice president, said kiosks are a good option for employers too small or disinclined to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in creating an on-site clinic with doctors and nurses on standby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This technology should make it more affordable for employers of many sizes,” Jesser said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kiosks are typically used for the same maladies that lead people to see a doctor or seek urgent care — colds, sore throats, upper respiratory problems, earaches and pink eye. Telemedicine doctors or nurse practitioners can email prescriptions to clients’ local pharmacies. Employees often pay either nothing or no more than $15 per session, far less than they would pay with insurance at a doctor’s office, an urgent care clinic or an emergency room.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite kiosks’ growing use in telemedicine, it’s unclear whether they will be supplanted as smartphones, personal computers and tablets enable people to access health care anywhere with a Wi-Fi connection or cell service. Some employers already offer kiosk and personal device options, including MBS Textbook Exchange in Columbia, Missouri, which has 1,000 workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Workplace kiosks’ appeal is they are quiet, private spaces to seek care. Consumers can get their ailments diagnosed remotely because the kiosks are equipped with familiar doctors’ office instruments such as blood pressure cuffs, thermometers, pulse oximeters and other tools that peer into eyes, ears and mouths. The instrument readings, pictures and sounds are seen and heard immediately by a doctor or nurse practitioner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The kiosk gives the doctor more tools to diagnose a wider range of conditions,” Anthem’s Jesser said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The downside is that the machines cost $15,000 to $60,000 apiece, which may still be too much for some employers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Telemedicine kiosks look promising and may still take off, but I don’t see explosive growth,” said Victor Camlek, principal analyst with Frost & Sullivan, a research firm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While kiosks are now found in more workplaces, usage is still relatively low because employees are not sure how they work, said Allan Khoury, a senior consultant with Willis Towers Watson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Employers’ experiences are mixed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials in Kansas City, Missouri, estimate the kiosk placed in city hall almost a year ago has saved the local government at least $28,000. That’s what Kansas City hasn’t spent because employees and dependents chose the telemedicine option instead of an in-person doctor visit. The city also estimates it has gained hundreds of productive work hours — that’s the time employees saved by not leaving work to see a doctor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In contrast, fewer than 175 of the 2,000 employees at the Palm Beach County School District headquarters have used the kiosk there in its first year, said Dianne Howard, director of risk management.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Howard remains hopeful: “This is the future of health care.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district’s kiosk was supplied at no cost by UnitedHealthcare, as part of a test also involving two other employers in Florida.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those kiosks connect employees to nurse practitioners at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami. The hospital employs an attendant at each kiosk location to help workers register and use some of the instruments, such as the stethoscope.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other telemedicine kiosks, such as those made by America Well, are designed to be totally self-service for employees. They also offer users immediate access to a health care provider. American Well has deployed about 200 kiosks and is in midst of rolling out 500 more, mostly to employers, the company said. It also places kiosks in retail outlets and hospitals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Telemedicine’s increasing sophistication is winning over some traditional-minded physicians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The WEA Trust in Madison, Wisconsin, a nonprofit that offers health coverage to public employers, installed a kiosk for the benefit of its 250 workers last fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dr. Tim Bartholow, a family doctor by training and chief medical officer for the trust, said he was cautious about physicians treating patients they haven’t seen in person. After observing employees using it, Bartholow is convinced it can help them get good care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think telemedicine is making a doctor being on site quite agnostic, but it is certainly reducing the premium on being in the same space as the patient,” Bartholow said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Insurers declare they are moving carefully, too, recognizing that telemedicine has its limits and they must depend on practitioners to tell patients when they have to see a doctor — in person.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have to rely on their experience and judgment,” Jesser said.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>On the day abdominal pain and nausea struck Jessica Christianson at the office, she discovered how far telemedicine has come.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">Kiosks are replacing in-person doctor visits for maladies like colds, sore throats and earaches.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Rushing to a large kiosk in th the Palm Beach County School District’s administrative building where she works, Christianson, 29, consulted a nurse practitioner in Miami via two-way video. The nurse examined her remotely, using a stethoscope and other instruments connected to the computer station. Then, she recommended Christianson seek an ultrasound elsewhere to check for a possible liver problem stemming from an intestinal infection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cost: $15. She might have paid $50 at an urgent care center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ultrasound Christianson got later that day confirmed the nurse practitioner’s diagnosis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Without the kiosk I probably would have waited to get care and that could have made things worse,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Endorsements like Christianson’s demonstrate how technology and positive consumer experiences are lending momentum to telemedicine’s adoption in the workplace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Less than a decade ago, telemedicine was mainly used by hospitals and clinics for secure doctor-to-doctor consultations. But today, telemedicine has become a more common method for patients to receive routine care at home or wherever they are — often on their cellphones or personal computers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the past several years, a growing number of employers have provided insurance coverage for telemedicine services enabling employees to connect with a doctor by phone using both voice and video. One limitation of such phone-based services is physicians cannot always obtain basic vital signs such as blood pressure and heart rate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s where telemedicine kiosks offer an advantage. Hundreds of employers — often supported by their health insurers — now have them installed in the workplaces, according to consultants and two telemedicine companies that make kiosks, American Well and Computerized Screening, Inc.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Employers and insurers see the kiosks as a pathway to delivering quality care, reducing lost productivity due to time spent traveling and waiting for care, and saving money by avoiding costlier visits to emergency rooms and urgent care facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jet Blue Airways is adding a kiosk later this year for its employees at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. Other big employers providing kiosks in the workplace include the city of Kansas City, Missouri.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Large health insurers such as Anthem and UnitedHealthcare are promoting telemedicine’s next wave by testing the kiosks at worksites where they have contracts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anthem has installed 34 kiosks at 20 employers in the past 18 months. John Jesser, an Anthem vice president, said kiosks are a good option for employers too small or disinclined to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in creating an on-site clinic with doctors and nurses on standby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This technology should make it more affordable for employers of many sizes,” Jesser said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kiosks are typically used for the same maladies that lead people to see a doctor or seek urgent care — colds, sore throats, upper respiratory problems, earaches and pink eye. Telemedicine doctors or nurse practitioners can email prescriptions to clients’ local pharmacies. Employees often pay either nothing or no more than $15 per session, far less than they would pay with insurance at a doctor’s office, an urgent care clinic or an emergency room.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite kiosks’ growing use in telemedicine, it’s unclear whether they will be supplanted as smartphones, personal computers and tablets enable people to access health care anywhere with a Wi-Fi connection or cell service. Some employers already offer kiosk and personal device options, including MBS Textbook Exchange in Columbia, Missouri, which has 1,000 workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Workplace kiosks’ appeal is they are quiet, private spaces to seek care. Consumers can get their ailments diagnosed remotely because the kiosks are equipped with familiar doctors’ office instruments such as blood pressure cuffs, thermometers, pulse oximeters and other tools that peer into eyes, ears and mouths. The instrument readings, pictures and sounds are seen and heard immediately by a doctor or nurse practitioner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The kiosk gives the doctor more tools to diagnose a wider range of conditions,” Anthem’s Jesser said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The downside is that the machines cost $15,000 to $60,000 apiece, which may still be too much for some employers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Telemedicine kiosks look promising and may still take off, but I don’t see explosive growth,” said Victor Camlek, principal analyst with Frost & Sullivan, a research firm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While kiosks are now found in more workplaces, usage is still relatively low because employees are not sure how they work, said Allan Khoury, a senior consultant with Willis Towers Watson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Employers’ experiences are mixed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials in Kansas City, Missouri, estimate the kiosk placed in city hall almost a year ago has saved the local government at least $28,000. That’s what Kansas City hasn’t spent because employees and dependents chose the telemedicine option instead of an in-person doctor visit. The city also estimates it has gained hundreds of productive work hours — that’s the time employees saved by not leaving work to see a doctor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In contrast, fewer than 175 of the 2,000 employees at the Palm Beach County School District headquarters have used the kiosk there in its first year, said Dianne Howard, director of risk management.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Howard remains hopeful: “This is the future of health care.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district’s kiosk was supplied at no cost by UnitedHealthcare, as part of a test also involving two other employers in Florida.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those kiosks connect employees to nurse practitioners at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami. The hospital employs an attendant at each kiosk location to help workers register and use some of the instruments, such as the stethoscope.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other telemedicine kiosks, such as those made by America Well, are designed to be totally self-service for employees. They also offer users immediate access to a health care provider. American Well has deployed about 200 kiosks and is in midst of rolling out 500 more, mostly to employers, the company said. 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"content": "\u003cp>Walgreens has had enough of Theranos, the beleaguered blood-testing company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"http://news.walgreens.com/press-releases/general-news/walgreens-terminates-relationship-with-theranos-will-be-closing-operations-at-all-40-theranos-wellness-centers-in-arizona.htm\" target=\"_blank\">press release\u003c/a> Sunday, the drugstore chain announced \"it will be terminating its relationship and closing operations at all 40 Theranos Wellness Centers at its stores in Arizona, effective immediately.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In light of the voiding of a number of test results,\" said Walgreens Senior Vice President Brad Fluegel, in the statement, \"and as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has rejected Theranos’ plan of correction and considers sanctions, we have carefully considered our relationship with Theranos and believe it is in our customers’ best interests to terminate our partnership.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcement ends a relationship that began in 2013, with the \u003ca href=\"http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20131113005513/en/Theranos-Walgreens-Expand-Diagnostic-Lab-Testing-Phoenix\">opening\u003c/a> of Theranos centers at Walgreens in Phoenix and Scottsdale, putting a previously furtive Theranos on the map.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brooke Buchanan, Theranos' vice president of communications (one can think of cushier jobs at this point), issued \u003ca href=\"https://www.theranos.com/news/posts/statement-from-theranos-7\">this statement\u003c/a> in response to Walgreens' announcement:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Quality and safety are our top priorities and we are working closely with government officials to ensure that we not only comply with all federal regulations but exceed them. We are disappointed that Walgreens has chosen to terminate our relationship and remain fully committed to our mission to provide patients access to affordable health information and look forward to continuing to serve customers in Arizona and California through our independent retail locations.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://www.wsj.com/articles/walgreen-terminates-partnership-with-blood-testing-firm-theranos-1465777062\">Wall Street Journal\u003c/a> is reporting that Walgreens executives decided to sever the relationship with Theranos in January, after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which regulates the nation's blood labs, found serious, even life-threatening, deficiencies at Theranos' facility in Newark, Calif. The federal agency later rejected Theranos' submission of proof that it had corrected those problems, threatening to pull the lab's license and ban founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes from operating a lab for two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Theranos has since submitted a further plan of correction and is awaiting a final decision from CMS. Theranos also voided or corrected tens of thousands of blood tests, sending notices to doctors and patients in May.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Journal, citing \"people familiar with the matter,\" said Walgreens waited until now to terminate the Theranos deal out of fear it would be sued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Theranos helped \u003ca href=\"http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2015/07/02/new-arizona-law-and-fda-approval-gives-theranos-something-to-celebrate/29634373/\">push through an Arizona law\u003c/a> in 2015 that gave consumers the right to order their own blood tests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Theranos still lists five locations where consumers can get their blood tested, four in Arizona and one in California. The Walgreens web page that used to list the locations of Theranos centers now redirects to the drugstore chain's home page.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So what effect will this have on Theranos' business? From \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/13/business/walgreens-cuts-ties-to-blood-testing-company-theranos.html\">The New York Times\u003c/a>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>While Theranos might struggle along with its own retail units, clearly most of its customers came from the testing centers in Walgreens. Having easily accessible locations in corner drugstores was part of Theranos’s grand plan to upend the laboratory testing business, and it had at one time said it eventually envisioned being in Walgreens drugstores nationwide.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>And from \u003ca href=\"http://www.wsj.com/articles/walgreen-terminates-partnership-with-blood-testing-firm-theranos-1465777062\">The Wall Street Journal\u003c/a>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Without Walgreens, Theranos would no longer be competing with major labs. To regain its access to consumers, it would have to forge a new retail partnership, offer its blood-testing services directly to more doctors’ offices or open its own blood-draw sites, among other options. It already has moved to open a blood-testing center in Arizona. Recently, the company has been exploring a tie-up with another pharmacy or supermarket, according to a person familiar with the matter.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And don't forget, \u003ca href=\"http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/legal-regulatory-issues/third-theranos-lawsuit-brings-walgreens-into-the-mix.html\" target=\"_blank\">several lawsuits\u003c/a> are pending, as well.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Walgreens has had enough of Theranos, the beleaguered blood-testing company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"http://news.walgreens.com/press-releases/general-news/walgreens-terminates-relationship-with-theranos-will-be-closing-operations-at-all-40-theranos-wellness-centers-in-arizona.htm\" target=\"_blank\">press release\u003c/a> Sunday, the drugstore chain announced \"it will be terminating its relationship and closing operations at all 40 Theranos Wellness Centers at its stores in Arizona, effective immediately.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In light of the voiding of a number of test results,\" said Walgreens Senior Vice President Brad Fluegel, in the statement, \"and as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has rejected Theranos’ plan of correction and considers sanctions, we have carefully considered our relationship with Theranos and believe it is in our customers’ best interests to terminate our partnership.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcement ends a relationship that began in 2013, with the \u003ca href=\"http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20131113005513/en/Theranos-Walgreens-Expand-Diagnostic-Lab-Testing-Phoenix\">opening\u003c/a> of Theranos centers at Walgreens in Phoenix and Scottsdale, putting a previously furtive Theranos on the map.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brooke Buchanan, Theranos' vice president of communications (one can think of cushier jobs at this point), issued \u003ca href=\"https://www.theranos.com/news/posts/statement-from-theranos-7\">this statement\u003c/a> in response to Walgreens' announcement:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Quality and safety are our top priorities and we are working closely with government officials to ensure that we not only comply with all federal regulations but exceed them. We are disappointed that Walgreens has chosen to terminate our relationship and remain fully committed to our mission to provide patients access to affordable health information and look forward to continuing to serve customers in Arizona and California through our independent retail locations.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://www.wsj.com/articles/walgreen-terminates-partnership-with-blood-testing-firm-theranos-1465777062\">Wall Street Journal\u003c/a> is reporting that Walgreens executives decided to sever the relationship with Theranos in January, after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which regulates the nation's blood labs, found serious, even life-threatening, deficiencies at Theranos' facility in Newark, Calif. The federal agency later rejected Theranos' submission of proof that it had corrected those problems, threatening to pull the lab's license and ban founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes from operating a lab for two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Theranos has since submitted a further plan of correction and is awaiting a final decision from CMS. Theranos also voided or corrected tens of thousands of blood tests, sending notices to doctors and patients in May.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Journal, citing \"people familiar with the matter,\" said Walgreens waited until now to terminate the Theranos deal out of fear it would be sued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Theranos helped \u003ca href=\"http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2015/07/02/new-arizona-law-and-fda-approval-gives-theranos-something-to-celebrate/29634373/\">push through an Arizona law\u003c/a> in 2015 that gave consumers the right to order their own blood tests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Theranos still lists five locations where consumers can get their blood tested, four in Arizona and one in California. The Walgreens web page that used to list the locations of Theranos centers now redirects to the drugstore chain's home page.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So what effect will this have on Theranos' business? From \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/13/business/walgreens-cuts-ties-to-blood-testing-company-theranos.html\">The New York Times\u003c/a>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>While Theranos might struggle along with its own retail units, clearly most of its customers came from the testing centers in Walgreens. Having easily accessible locations in corner drugstores was part of Theranos’s grand plan to upend the laboratory testing business, and it had at one time said it eventually envisioned being in Walgreens drugstores nationwide.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>And from \u003ca href=\"http://www.wsj.com/articles/walgreen-terminates-partnership-with-blood-testing-firm-theranos-1465777062\">The Wall Street Journal\u003c/a>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Without Walgreens, Theranos would no longer be competing with major labs. To regain its access to consumers, it would have to forge a new retail partnership, offer its blood-testing services directly to more doctors’ offices or open its own blood-draw sites, among other options. It already has moved to open a blood-testing center in Arizona. Recently, the company has been exploring a tie-up with another pharmacy or supermarket, according to a person familiar with the matter.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And don't forget, \u003ca href=\"http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/legal-regulatory-issues/third-theranos-lawsuit-brings-walgreens-into-the-mix.html\" target=\"_blank\">several lawsuits\u003c/a> are pending, as well.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\"Big data\" is a very 21st-century kind of buzzword, which ambiguously invokes the idea of using large sets of data to draw computer-assisted conclusions about trends, patterns and correlations, often about people and their behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But if you wanted to trace the origin of using big data for health research, you'd have to go back — way back, to 17th-century England.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There, you'll find a haberdasher by the name of \u003ca href=\"http://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Graunt\" target=\"_blank\">John Graunt\u003c/a>, who undertook a peculiar project. He began to study so-called bills of mortality, death records kept during the plague-riddled times, and compiled death details into tables, noting age, gender, cause, location and time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This vital statistics research later turned into a \u003ca href=\"http://www.neonatology.org/pdf/graunt.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">1662 tome\u003c/a>. It marked a seminal moment in demography, the statistical study of populations, but also in epidemiology, the study of what causes diseases and how they spread among different groups of people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It was totally groundbreaking for its time. It was a much larger scale of looking at trends in disease than anyone had looked at previously,\" says \u003ca href=\"http://blogs.cuit.columbia.edu/sjm2186/\" target=\"_blank\">Stephen Mooney\u003c/a>, an epidemiologist at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"At some point you have to think about what it means to put together a table and look at patterns in year-over-year,\" he says. \"For the time, that was big data.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, the groundbreaking \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/tags/161337202/big-data\" target=\"_blank\">big data\u003c/a> of today is a far cry from hand-crafted tables. It allows researchers to use super-fast computers to query billions of digital records we leave in our wake on social media, on our wearable devices, in our search history — our \"digital exhaust,\" as Boston Children's Hospital Chief Innovation Officer \u003ca href=\"http://scholar.harvard.edu/john/home\" target=\"_blank\">John Brownstein\u003c/a> puts it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And isn't that a \u003cem>good\u003c/em> thing?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The promise of big data for modern health is \u003ca href=\"http://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2015/04/21/how-big-data-is-changing-healthcare/#2852198032d9\" target=\"_blank\">much extolled\u003c/a>. This week came the latest feat. Scientists at Microsoft \u003ca href=\"http://jop.ascopubs.org/content/early/2016/06/02/JOP.2015.010504.full?version=meter+at+0&module=meter-Links&pgtype=article&contentId=&mediaId=&referrer=&priority=true&action=click&contentCollection=meter-links-click\" target=\"_blank\">published a study\u003c/a> showing that Web search queries (on Microsoft's Bing search engine) may hold clues to a future diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, one of the fastest and most fatal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In essence what Microsoft researchers did was this: They studied millions of anonymized searches on Microsoft's Bing to find queries suggestive of a user's recent diagnosis, such as \"Why did I get cancer in pancreas\" or \"Just diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.\" They then backtracked the digital footprints left by the same computer to locate searches for earlier symptoms of the disease, and to create a statistical model that they say could predict 5 percent to 15 percent of the ultimate diagnoses based on earlier search activity, with \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/08/technology/online-searches-can-identify-cancer-victims-study-finds.html\" target=\"_blank\">pretty low false positives\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"My take is that it's exciting but preliminary,\" says Mooney, who \u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4385465/\" target=\"_blank\">has studied\u003c/a> the use of big data in public health. \"The potential benefit is huge,\" he says, but \"it would be easy to naively assume we know more about this than we do.\" It's one thing to detect early digital clues to a diagnosis, but another to actually prevent or delay a death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Microsoft scientists themselves acknowledge this in the study. \"Clinical trials are necessary to understand whether our learned model has practical utility, including in combination with other screening methods,\" they write.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Therein lies the crux of this big data future: It's a logical progression for the modern hyper-connected world, but one that will continue to require the solid grounding of a traditional health professional, to steer data toward usefulness, to avoid unwarranted anxiety or even unnecessary testing, and to zero in on actual causes, not just correlations within particular health trends.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"That's why I think, if you talk to a lot of epidemiologists, they may be suspicious of some of these big data-type approaches,\" says Mooney, \"because they'd be concerned that there's a loss of attention to causation.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most high-profile lesson in failed causation was \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2009/05/google_flu_trends.html\" target=\"_blank\">Google Flu Trends\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2008, Google researchers decided to measure flu activity, in real time, based on users' Web searches. It was a headline-grabbing project and worked well — for a while. Academic researchers who later did a postmortem on the project, David Lazer and Ryan Kennedy, \u003ca href=\"http://www.wired.com/2015/10/can-learn-epic-failure-google-flu-trends/\" target=\"_blank\">wrote in\u003c/a> \u003cem>Wired\u003c/em> magazine:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>\"GFT failed — and failed spectacularly — missing at the peak of the 2013 flu season by 140 percent. ...\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"While Google's efforts in projecting the flu were well meaning, they were remarkably opaque in terms of method and data — making it dangerous to rely on Google Flu Trends for any decision-making.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"For example, Google's algorithm was quite vulnerable to overfitting to seasonal terms unrelated to the flu, like 'high school basketball.' ... There were bound to be searches that were strongly correlated by pure chance, and these terms were unlikely to be driven by actual flu cases or predictive of future trends.\"\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>The project's failure, however, does not negate the promise of big data in health. Beyond analyses of large-scale trends, capturing passively created data on people's sentiments, mental ups and downs, things you may not ever think to bring up with your physician can be \"very powerful,\" Brownstein says. (Of course, with proper privacy and security protections in mind.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It's not data that can be used in a sil, it's one gear in the system,\" he says, \"so it's not like this holy grail. It's just data that can be used, that can be harnessed, in conjunction with other types of information strains.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To Mooney, Google Flu Trends was a case of a \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2014/09/09/347135536/the-apple-watch-is-here-and-another-tech-hype-cycle-commences\" target=\"_blank\">hype cycle\u003c/a>, \"this concept that technologies get overhyped and then are disappointing, but sometime after the disappointment, can often return to a sort of plateau of usefulness.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in that is a lesson on big data in health: It deserves both enthusiasm and caution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Ideally, I'd like people to embrace both of them,\" says Mooney, \"to recognize that it's exciting and concerning at the same time. Because the world is messy and it's possible to be exciting and concerning at the same time.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Can+Web+Search+Predict+Cancer%3F+Promise+And+Worry+Of+Big+Data+And+Health&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\"Big data\" is a very 21st-century kind of buzzword, which ambiguously invokes the idea of using large sets of data to draw computer-assisted conclusions about trends, patterns and correlations, often about people and their behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But if you wanted to trace the origin of using big data for health research, you'd have to go back — way back, to 17th-century England.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There, you'll find a haberdasher by the name of \u003ca href=\"http://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Graunt\" target=\"_blank\">John Graunt\u003c/a>, who undertook a peculiar project. He began to study so-called bills of mortality, death records kept during the plague-riddled times, and compiled death details into tables, noting age, gender, cause, location and time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This vital statistics research later turned into a \u003ca href=\"http://www.neonatology.org/pdf/graunt.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">1662 tome\u003c/a>. It marked a seminal moment in demography, the statistical study of populations, but also in epidemiology, the study of what causes diseases and how they spread among different groups of people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It was totally groundbreaking for its time. It was a much larger scale of looking at trends in disease than anyone had looked at previously,\" says \u003ca href=\"http://blogs.cuit.columbia.edu/sjm2186/\" target=\"_blank\">Stephen Mooney\u003c/a>, an epidemiologist at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"At some point you have to think about what it means to put together a table and look at patterns in year-over-year,\" he says. \"For the time, that was big data.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, the groundbreaking \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/tags/161337202/big-data\" target=\"_blank\">big data\u003c/a> of today is a far cry from hand-crafted tables. It allows researchers to use super-fast computers to query billions of digital records we leave in our wake on social media, on our wearable devices, in our search history — our \"digital exhaust,\" as Boston Children's Hospital Chief Innovation Officer \u003ca href=\"http://scholar.harvard.edu/john/home\" target=\"_blank\">John Brownstein\u003c/a> puts it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And isn't that a \u003cem>good\u003c/em> thing?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The promise of big data for modern health is \u003ca href=\"http://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2015/04/21/how-big-data-is-changing-healthcare/#2852198032d9\" target=\"_blank\">much extolled\u003c/a>. This week came the latest feat. Scientists at Microsoft \u003ca href=\"http://jop.ascopubs.org/content/early/2016/06/02/JOP.2015.010504.full?version=meter+at+0&module=meter-Links&pgtype=article&contentId=&mediaId=&referrer=&priority=true&action=click&contentCollection=meter-links-click\" target=\"_blank\">published a study\u003c/a> showing that Web search queries (on Microsoft's Bing search engine) may hold clues to a future diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, one of the fastest and most fatal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In essence what Microsoft researchers did was this: They studied millions of anonymized searches on Microsoft's Bing to find queries suggestive of a user's recent diagnosis, such as \"Why did I get cancer in pancreas\" or \"Just diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.\" They then backtracked the digital footprints left by the same computer to locate searches for earlier symptoms of the disease, and to create a statistical model that they say could predict 5 percent to 15 percent of the ultimate diagnoses based on earlier search activity, with \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/08/technology/online-searches-can-identify-cancer-victims-study-finds.html\" target=\"_blank\">pretty low false positives\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"My take is that it's exciting but preliminary,\" says Mooney, who \u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4385465/\" target=\"_blank\">has studied\u003c/a> the use of big data in public health. \"The potential benefit is huge,\" he says, but \"it would be easy to naively assume we know more about this than we do.\" It's one thing to detect early digital clues to a diagnosis, but another to actually prevent or delay a death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Microsoft scientists themselves acknowledge this in the study. \"Clinical trials are necessary to understand whether our learned model has practical utility, including in combination with other screening methods,\" they write.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Therein lies the crux of this big data future: It's a logical progression for the modern hyper-connected world, but one that will continue to require the solid grounding of a traditional health professional, to steer data toward usefulness, to avoid unwarranted anxiety or even unnecessary testing, and to zero in on actual causes, not just correlations within particular health trends.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"That's why I think, if you talk to a lot of epidemiologists, they may be suspicious of some of these big data-type approaches,\" says Mooney, \"because they'd be concerned that there's a loss of attention to causation.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most high-profile lesson in failed causation was \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2009/05/google_flu_trends.html\" target=\"_blank\">Google Flu Trends\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2008, Google researchers decided to measure flu activity, in real time, based on users' Web searches. It was a headline-grabbing project and worked well — for a while. Academic researchers who later did a postmortem on the project, David Lazer and Ryan Kennedy, \u003ca href=\"http://www.wired.com/2015/10/can-learn-epic-failure-google-flu-trends/\" target=\"_blank\">wrote in\u003c/a> \u003cem>Wired\u003c/em> magazine:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>\"GFT failed — and failed spectacularly — missing at the peak of the 2013 flu season by 140 percent. ...\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"While Google's efforts in projecting the flu were well meaning, they were remarkably opaque in terms of method and data — making it dangerous to rely on Google Flu Trends for any decision-making.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"For example, Google's algorithm was quite vulnerable to overfitting to seasonal terms unrelated to the flu, like 'high school basketball.' ... There were bound to be searches that were strongly correlated by pure chance, and these terms were unlikely to be driven by actual flu cases or predictive of future trends.\"\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>The project's failure, however, does not negate the promise of big data in health. Beyond analyses of large-scale trends, capturing passively created data on people's sentiments, mental ups and downs, things you may not ever think to bring up with your physician can be \"very powerful,\" Brownstein says. (Of course, with proper privacy and security protections in mind.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It's not data that can be used in a sil, it's one gear in the system,\" he says, \"so it's not like this holy grail. It's just data that can be used, that can be harnessed, in conjunction with other types of information strains.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To Mooney, Google Flu Trends was a case of a \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2014/09/09/347135536/the-apple-watch-is-here-and-another-tech-hype-cycle-commences\" target=\"_blank\">hype cycle\u003c/a>, \"this concept that technologies get overhyped and then are disappointing, but sometime after the disappointment, can often return to a sort of plateau of usefulness.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in that is a lesson on big data in health: It deserves both enthusiasm and caution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Ideally, I'd like people to embrace both of them,\" says Mooney, \"to recognize that it's exciting and concerning at the same time. Because the world is messy and it's possible to be exciting and concerning at the same time.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Can+Web+Search+Predict+Cancer%3F+Promise+And+Worry+Of+Big+Data+And+Health&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Blacks Die From Asthma at Steep Rates, But Are Absent From Many Studies",
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"content": "\u003cp>Zunika Crenshaw cringes as a tire swing whips her children around in circles just a little too fast. It's a sunny afternoon in the park, in the East Bay town of Pleasanton. As her children play, she keeps a close watch on their breathing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She says asthma is in her genes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You have a family, a person who has four kids, and all of them have it, including me,\" she says. \"And then my mom has it, and my sister’s two kids.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A little girl -- 3-year-old Jhase -- runs over to her, wheezing. Crenshaw grabs an inhaler, and her daughter breathes deeply from it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Perfect!” says Jhase. She lays her head against her mother’s chest, then runs back to her brothers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_175958\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 4032px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-175958 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/IMG_0391.jpg\" alt=\"The Crenshaw family at a park in Pleasanton, CA. Everyone in the family struggles with allergies or asthma. \" width=\"4032\" height=\"3024\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/IMG_0391.jpg 4032w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/IMG_0391-400x300.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/IMG_0391-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/IMG_0391-768x576.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/IMG_0391-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/IMG_0391-1920x1440.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/IMG_0391-960x720.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 4032px) 100vw, 4032px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Zunika Crenshaw packs her purse full of asthma and allergy medications for all her kids when they come to the park near their house in Pleasanton. \u003ccite>(Lesley McClurg/ KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Crenshaw drops the inhaler in a pile of medications in her purse. She points to various pill bottles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Zyrtec, and this is ClariSpray. And there’s albuterol and Dulera.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are more drugs at home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asthma Hits Black Children Harder\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asthma is the \u003ca href=\"http://www.who.int/respiratory/asthma/en/\" target=\"_blank\">leading\u003c/a> chronic disease among children, but it hits \u003ca href=\"http://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/omh/browse.aspx?lvl=4&lvlID=15\" target=\"_blank\">some populations harder\u003c/a> than others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the federal \u003ca href=\"http://www.cdc.gov/asthma/most_recent_data.htm\" target=\"_blank\">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u003c/a>, black children are twice as likely to have asthma as white children. And black children are 10 times more likely than white kids to die of complications from asthma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A team of UCSF scientists is on a mission to understand why. The researchers are digging into genetic clues that may have been overlooked until now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe id=\"datawrapper-chart-17wUy\" src=\"//datawrapper.dwcdn.net/17wUy/4/\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"webkitallowfullscreen\" mozallowfullscreen=\"mozallowfullscreen\" oallowfullscreen=\"oallowfullscreen\" msallowfullscreen=\"msallowfullscreen\" width=\"100%\" height=\"400\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UCSF geneticist Marquitta White just published a \u003ca href=\"http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00251-016-0914-1\" target=\"_blank\">study\u003c/a> finding the majority of genetic information scientists have on asthma patients doesn’t apply to African-Americans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The majority of genetic studies, not just in asthma but in most diseases, are done in Caucasian- or European-descent populations,\" White explains. \"The longest studies do not really include very many minority populations, which means that most patients aren’t getting the best care, because we don’t really know what the disease etiology is in their particular population.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UCSF pulmonologist Esteban Buchard emphasizes that medications also work differently in different populations. As an example, he points to the small print on the instructions for a common asthma medication called Advair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It specifically says that if you’re African-American and you take this, you have an eightfold risk of dying,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">'I think that what we should be striving for is equal care for everyone. And in order to do that you have to know what the disease is doing in everyone. That’s step one.'\u003ccite>Marquitta White, UCSF\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The UCSF team is analyzing the genes of black, Mexican-American, and Puerto Rican children to better understand drug responses in each population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"One of our hypotheses is that what’s underlying this huge mortality in African-American children is the fact that the most commonly prescribed drug for asthma is albuterol,\" says White. \"The problem is that not everyone responds to albuterol the same way. And actually, Puerto Rican and African-American children have the worst drug response. So, you’re looking at two populations with the worst drug response with the highest mortality. We have a feeling those things might be related.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Right Drugs Matter\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Good treatment is key to preventing the kinds of serious asthma attacks that keep kids home sick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Crenshaw children are missing fewer school days since they started visiting the \u003ca href=\"http://prescottjoseph.org/programs/breathmobile/\" target=\"_blank\">Breathmobile\u003c/a> -- a long motorhome converted into an asthma clinic. The clinic is run by a non-profit called the \u003ca href=\"http://prescottjoseph.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Prescott-Joseph Center\u003c/a>. It travels throughout the East Bay offering free treatment to low-income families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inside, a medical assistant tests the lungs of a 5-year-old girl who's fiddling with her tight braids. The clinician pauses several times so the girl can blow her nose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_175961\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-175961\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/IMG_0352-1180x869.jpg\" alt=\"A lung test on the Breathmobile reveals five-year-old Brooklyn's pulmonary function is compromised by her asthma. \" width=\"640\" height=\"471\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/IMG_0352-1180x869.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/IMG_0352-400x295.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/IMG_0352-800x589.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/IMG_0352-768x566.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/IMG_0352-1920x1414.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/IMG_0352-960x707.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A lung test on the Breathmobile reveals 5-year-old Brooklyn Turner's pulmonary function is compromised by her asthma. \u003ccite>(Lesley McClurg/ KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Dr. Pat Granberg, a pediatrician, asks the girl's mother about their living conditions, their neighborhood and their financial situation, to determine likely triggers for asthma. The disease can be caused by a number of factors, including obesity, air pollution, access to healthcare, molds, mildews, pets, perfumes and smoking. But Granberg begins an assessment by asking whether asthma runs in the family, because there's usually a genetic link.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>One Size Doesn't Fit All\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"On average, \u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3151648/\" target=\"_blank\">60 percent\u003c/a> of what's going to determine whether or not you have asthma is going to be due to genetic factors,” says Marquitta White.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She says depending on the population, that number could range from 35 to 90 percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=\"qMdUf5hNB0R65Qr3W4tyx9d9sJI9YAHP\"]\u003cbr>\n\"I think that what we should be striving for is equal care for everyone,\" says White, \"and in order to do that you have to know what the disease is doing in everyone. That’s step one.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Buchard believes a lot of health disparities could be explained if more minorities were included in genetic research. To illustrate his point, he looks back to when researchers studied heart disease only in men.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Women present differently than men do for heart attacks,\" says Buchard. \"So a whole generation of physicians were misclassifying and misdiagnosing women simply because women were not involved in the original clinical trials.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The general focus on white patients in research pushed Congress to pass\u003ca href=\"https://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/women_min/guidelines_amended_10_2001.htm\"> legislation\u003c/a> in 1993 requiring that publicly funded medical studies include more minorities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But a recent\u003ca href=\"http://www.atsjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1164/rccm.201410-1944PP#.V0TCyuSLWYi\" target=\"_blank\"> review\u003c/a> of lung disease studies found only five percent of publicly funded research included patients of color.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Zunika Crenshaw cringes as a tire swing whips her children around in circles just a little too fast. It's a sunny afternoon in the park, in the East Bay town of Pleasanton. As her children play, she keeps a close watch on their breathing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She says asthma is in her genes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You have a family, a person who has four kids, and all of them have it, including me,\" she says. \"And then my mom has it, and my sister’s two kids.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A little girl -- 3-year-old Jhase -- runs over to her, wheezing. Crenshaw grabs an inhaler, and her daughter breathes deeply from it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Perfect!” says Jhase. She lays her head against her mother’s chest, then runs back to her brothers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_175958\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 4032px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-175958 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/IMG_0391.jpg\" alt=\"The Crenshaw family at a park in Pleasanton, CA. Everyone in the family struggles with allergies or asthma. \" width=\"4032\" height=\"3024\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/IMG_0391.jpg 4032w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/IMG_0391-400x300.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/IMG_0391-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/IMG_0391-768x576.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/IMG_0391-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/IMG_0391-1920x1440.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/IMG_0391-960x720.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 4032px) 100vw, 4032px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Zunika Crenshaw packs her purse full of asthma and allergy medications for all her kids when they come to the park near their house in Pleasanton. \u003ccite>(Lesley McClurg/ KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Crenshaw drops the inhaler in a pile of medications in her purse. She points to various pill bottles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Zyrtec, and this is ClariSpray. And there’s albuterol and Dulera.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are more drugs at home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asthma Hits Black Children Harder\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asthma is the \u003ca href=\"http://www.who.int/respiratory/asthma/en/\" target=\"_blank\">leading\u003c/a> chronic disease among children, but it hits \u003ca href=\"http://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/omh/browse.aspx?lvl=4&lvlID=15\" target=\"_blank\">some populations harder\u003c/a> than others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the federal \u003ca href=\"http://www.cdc.gov/asthma/most_recent_data.htm\" target=\"_blank\">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u003c/a>, black children are twice as likely to have asthma as white children. And black children are 10 times more likely than white kids to die of complications from asthma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A team of UCSF scientists is on a mission to understand why. The researchers are digging into genetic clues that may have been overlooked until now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe id=\"datawrapper-chart-17wUy\" src=\"//datawrapper.dwcdn.net/17wUy/4/\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"webkitallowfullscreen\" mozallowfullscreen=\"mozallowfullscreen\" oallowfullscreen=\"oallowfullscreen\" msallowfullscreen=\"msallowfullscreen\" width=\"100%\" height=\"400\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UCSF geneticist Marquitta White just published a \u003ca href=\"http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00251-016-0914-1\" target=\"_blank\">study\u003c/a> finding the majority of genetic information scientists have on asthma patients doesn’t apply to African-Americans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The majority of genetic studies, not just in asthma but in most diseases, are done in Caucasian- or European-descent populations,\" White explains. \"The longest studies do not really include very many minority populations, which means that most patients aren’t getting the best care, because we don’t really know what the disease etiology is in their particular population.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UCSF pulmonologist Esteban Buchard emphasizes that medications also work differently in different populations. As an example, he points to the small print on the instructions for a common asthma medication called Advair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It specifically says that if you’re African-American and you take this, you have an eightfold risk of dying,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">'I think that what we should be striving for is equal care for everyone. And in order to do that you have to know what the disease is doing in everyone. That’s step one.'\u003ccite>Marquitta White, UCSF\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The UCSF team is analyzing the genes of black, Mexican-American, and Puerto Rican children to better understand drug responses in each population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"One of our hypotheses is that what’s underlying this huge mortality in African-American children is the fact that the most commonly prescribed drug for asthma is albuterol,\" says White. \"The problem is that not everyone responds to albuterol the same way. And actually, Puerto Rican and African-American children have the worst drug response. So, you’re looking at two populations with the worst drug response with the highest mortality. We have a feeling those things might be related.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Right Drugs Matter\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Good treatment is key to preventing the kinds of serious asthma attacks that keep kids home sick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Crenshaw children are missing fewer school days since they started visiting the \u003ca href=\"http://prescottjoseph.org/programs/breathmobile/\" target=\"_blank\">Breathmobile\u003c/a> -- a long motorhome converted into an asthma clinic. The clinic is run by a non-profit called the \u003ca href=\"http://prescottjoseph.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Prescott-Joseph Center\u003c/a>. It travels throughout the East Bay offering free treatment to low-income families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inside, a medical assistant tests the lungs of a 5-year-old girl who's fiddling with her tight braids. The clinician pauses several times so the girl can blow her nose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_175961\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-175961\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/IMG_0352-1180x869.jpg\" alt=\"A lung test on the Breathmobile reveals five-year-old Brooklyn's pulmonary function is compromised by her asthma. \" width=\"640\" height=\"471\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/IMG_0352-1180x869.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/IMG_0352-400x295.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/IMG_0352-800x589.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/IMG_0352-768x566.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/IMG_0352-1920x1414.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/06/IMG_0352-960x707.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A lung test on the Breathmobile reveals 5-year-old Brooklyn Turner's pulmonary function is compromised by her asthma. \u003ccite>(Lesley McClurg/ KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Dr. Pat Granberg, a pediatrician, asks the girl's mother about their living conditions, their neighborhood and their financial situation, to determine likely triggers for asthma. The disease can be caused by a number of factors, including obesity, air pollution, access to healthcare, molds, mildews, pets, perfumes and smoking. But Granberg begins an assessment by asking whether asthma runs in the family, because there's usually a genetic link.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>One Size Doesn't Fit All\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"On average, \u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3151648/\" target=\"_blank\">60 percent\u003c/a> of what's going to determine whether or not you have asthma is going to be due to genetic factors,” says Marquitta White.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She says depending on the population, that number could range from 35 to 90 percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cbr>\n\"I think that what we should be striving for is equal care for everyone,\" says White, \"and in order to do that you have to know what the disease is doing in everyone. That’s step one.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Buchard believes a lot of health disparities could be explained if more minorities were included in genetic research. To illustrate his point, he looks back to when researchers studied heart disease only in men.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Women present differently than men do for heart attacks,\" says Buchard. \"So a whole generation of physicians were misclassifying and misdiagnosing women simply because women were not involved in the original clinical trials.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The general focus on white patients in research pushed Congress to pass\u003ca href=\"https://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/women_min/guidelines_amended_10_2001.htm\"> legislation\u003c/a> in 1993 requiring that publicly funded medical studies include more minorities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But a recent\u003ca href=\"http://www.atsjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1164/rccm.201410-1944PP#.V0TCyuSLWYi\" target=\"_blank\"> review\u003c/a> of lung disease studies found only five percent of publicly funded research included patients of color.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The more things change, the more they stay the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 70 years after the invention of disposable tampons and sanitary pads, some women — primarily millennials — are choosing environmentally friendly forms of feminine products.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">\"I definitely would never go back to tampons. It’s a game-changer.\"\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>There's Thinx, a reusable \"period-proof\" underwear line splashed across subway ads in New York after the company launched a year ago. In addition, some women are opting for cloth pads or bell-shaped menstrual cups worn inside the vagina.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Morgan Battista of Douglassville, Pennsylvania, made the switch to reusable cups in March after hearing about them online. The 29-year-old said she wanted a more natural product that created less waste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I definitely would never go back to tampons,\" she said. \"It's a game-changer.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While such products have yet to put a major dent in the more than $3 billion in U.S. sales for disposable pads and tampons last year, they have shifted the conversation about menstruation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"When I first started talking about these issues about a decade ago, my students had never heard of alternative products. They'd never even considered a cloth pad or a sponge, and the underwear wasn't even on the market,\" said Chris Bobel, an associate professor of women's studies at the University of Massachusetts, Boston.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since launching in May 2015, Thinx CEO and founder Miki Agrawal said the company has sold about 500,000 pairs of the period panties at a price of $24 to $38 each. They're constructed of four ultra-thin absorbent layers and are billed as completely antimicrobial, moisture-wicking and leak-resistant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"If you ask any woman in your life, 'Have you ever experienced a leak, a stain, an accident in your period?' every single woman will say, 'Obviously.' And so it's a no-brainer idea,\" Agrawal said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Diva International Inc., which makes silicone menstrual cups, sold about 350,000 reusable cups in the U.S. last year, with millions more across brands purchased around the globe, said Daniela Masaro, a Diva Cup spokeswoman. The company launched in 2002 and has experienced growth in the double digits over the last three years, Masaro said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other companies would not disclose actual numbers in dollars or units.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Driven by social media buzz, \"these products are becoming more available in online retail as well as third-party retailers,\" said Svetlana Uduslivaia of Euromonitor International, a London-based global research firm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She, too, points to a recent bump in U.S. sales among reusable products.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The mindset might be a little bit more open to experimenting with different products and not just what mom uses. So this is where the opportunities are really for alternative product manufacturers to really build that relationship,\" Uduslivaia said. \"Many of them are fairly small so the capital investment in TV ads or sort of traditional media advertising is not always an option.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some women are skeptical, however, because of the cleaning and maintenance involved. Gabi Chepurny, 25, of Los Angeles said she was initially hesitant to try the menstrual cup.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"People think that it's super, super weird,\" Chepurny said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Will the sellers of traditional disposable products get in the game? So far, no, including the makers of Tampax, Procter & Gamble, and the company that sells Kotex, Kimberly-Clarke. That could change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We are always listening to women to better understand what more they would like from their feminine care products,\" said P&G spokeswoman Laura Dressman.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The more things change, the more they stay the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 70 years after the invention of disposable tampons and sanitary pads, some women — primarily millennials — are choosing environmentally friendly forms of feminine products.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">\"I definitely would never go back to tampons. It’s a game-changer.\"\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>There's Thinx, a reusable \"period-proof\" underwear line splashed across subway ads in New York after the company launched a year ago. In addition, some women are opting for cloth pads or bell-shaped menstrual cups worn inside the vagina.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Morgan Battista of Douglassville, Pennsylvania, made the switch to reusable cups in March after hearing about them online. The 29-year-old said she wanted a more natural product that created less waste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I definitely would never go back to tampons,\" she said. \"It's a game-changer.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While such products have yet to put a major dent in the more than $3 billion in U.S. sales for disposable pads and tampons last year, they have shifted the conversation about menstruation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"When I first started talking about these issues about a decade ago, my students had never heard of alternative products. They'd never even considered a cloth pad or a sponge, and the underwear wasn't even on the market,\" said Chris Bobel, an associate professor of women's studies at the University of Massachusetts, Boston.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since launching in May 2015, Thinx CEO and founder Miki Agrawal said the company has sold about 500,000 pairs of the period panties at a price of $24 to $38 each. They're constructed of four ultra-thin absorbent layers and are billed as completely antimicrobial, moisture-wicking and leak-resistant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"If you ask any woman in your life, 'Have you ever experienced a leak, a stain, an accident in your period?' every single woman will say, 'Obviously.' And so it's a no-brainer idea,\" Agrawal said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Diva International Inc., which makes silicone menstrual cups, sold about 350,000 reusable cups in the U.S. last year, with millions more across brands purchased around the globe, said Daniela Masaro, a Diva Cup spokeswoman. The company launched in 2002 and has experienced growth in the double digits over the last three years, Masaro said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other companies would not disclose actual numbers in dollars or units.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Driven by social media buzz, \"these products are becoming more available in online retail as well as third-party retailers,\" said Svetlana Uduslivaia of Euromonitor International, a London-based global research firm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She, too, points to a recent bump in U.S. sales among reusable products.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The mindset might be a little bit more open to experimenting with different products and not just what mom uses. So this is where the opportunities are really for alternative product manufacturers to really build that relationship,\" Uduslivaia said. \"Many of them are fairly small so the capital investment in TV ads or sort of traditional media advertising is not always an option.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some women are skeptical, however, because of the cleaning and maintenance involved. Gabi Chepurny, 25, of Los Angeles said she was initially hesitant to try the menstrual cup.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"People think that it's super, super weird,\" Chepurny said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Will the sellers of traditional disposable products get in the game? So far, no, including the makers of Tampax, Procter & Gamble, and the company that sells Kotex, Kimberly-Clarke. That could change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We are always listening to women to better understand what more they would like from their feminine care products,\" said P&G spokeswoman Laura Dressman.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Risks From Planned Uterine Transplants Creates Controversy",
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"content": "\u003cp>Lindsey McFarland was born without a uterus. So she and her husband, Blake, created their family by adopting three boys. But they always dreamed that she could somehow become pregnant and give birth to a baby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We just wanted that experience,\" Lindsey says. \"We wanted that connection.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She longed to feel a baby kick and develop inside her. She wanted the thrill of discovering the sex of the fetus during a routine sonogram. She even wanted to go through morning sickness and labor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"All of that,\" says the 26-year-old from Lubbock, Texas. \"I wanted to experience \u003cem>all\u003c/em> of that.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, when the \u003ca href=\"http://my.clevelandclinic.org/\">Cleveland Clinic \u003c/a>announced plans to launch the first U.S. study to evaluate womb transplants for women who were born without a uterus or lost theirs to disease, the McFarlands decided Lindsey should volunteer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She underwent a 10-hour operation in February to become the first — and so far only — woman to get a uterine transplant in the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Everything went so well that McFarland and her doctors held a news conference about a week later to celebrate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We were very much thinking to the future,\" she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But hours after the news conference ended, Lindsey started bleeding. Doctors discovered she had developed a severe yeast infection that had destroyed the transplanted uterus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doctors rushed her into surgery to remove the uterus. Surgeons then had to perform a third major operation when the infection threatened one of her legs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We both just cried,\" McFarland says. \"Some days are harder than others.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite that experience, doctors at the clinic remain optimistic. They plan to try the procedure at least nine more times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Obviously this is incredibly disappointing,\" says \u003ca href=\"http://my.clevelandclinic.org/staff_directory/staff_display?doctorid=14569\">Dr. Rebecca Flyckt\u003c/a>, an obstetrician-gynecologist at the clinic. \"But we're very happy Lindsey came through safely. And I think our team can look at this as an example to learn from as we move forward.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flyckt says the clinic now plans to give medication to all women undergoing the procedure to minimize their risk of developing yeast infections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the procedure remains highly controversial. Critics worry about the risks it poses to women who are desperate to have children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I don't think you can find people more vulnerable than those who wish to become parents and can't,\" says \u003ca href=\"http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/goodwin/\">Michele Goodwin\u003c/a>, director of the Center for Biotechnology and Global Health Policy at the University of California, Irvine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to possible complications from undergoing major surgery, women and any babies they carry face risks from powerful drugs the women must take to prevent their bodies from rejecting the transplanted uterus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"There are many, many risks, and they concern me greatly,\" says \u003ca href=\"https://www.mailman.columbia.edu/people/our-faculty/wc9\">Dr. Wendy Chavkin\u003c/a>, an emeritus professor of public health and obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia University. She notes that, unlike the transplant of a liver or heart, a uterine transplant is not a life-saving procedure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Others worry that the procedure perpetuates social stereotypes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It further reinforces this idea that to be a 'real woman' you need to have a genetically related child that you gestate yourself,\" says \u003ca href=\"http://www.amc.edu/academic/bioethics/faculty.cfm\">Lisa Campo-Engelstein\u003c/a>, a bioethicist at Albany Medical College.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The critics note that women without a uterus have other options — such as adopting, or enlisting the help of a surrogate mother.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least three other U.S. hospitals are also considering attempting uterine transplants. They are the \u003ca href=\"http://www.brighamandwomens.org/\">Brigham and Women's Hospital\u003c/a> in Boston, the \u003ca href=\"http://www.nebraskamed.com/\">Nebraska Medical Center\u003c/a> in Omaha and the \u003ca href=\"http://www.baylorhealth.com/PhysiciansLocations/Dallas/Pages/Default.aspx\">Baylor University Medical Center\u003c/a> in Dallas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the Cleveland Clinic is using wombs from deceased donors, doctors in Sweden who pioneered the procedure relied on living donors. The transplant team at Baylor says it, too, will get the organs from living donors (as well as deceased); critics say that raises questions about the risks to the donors, as well as to the recipients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the doctors conducting these studies defend what they're doing. The Cleveland Clinic only started its program after the doctors in Sweden showed the transplants can work and produce healthy babies, Flyckt says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A successful transplant, of course, is only a first step; embryos that have been created beforehand through in vitro fertilization (\u003ca href=\"https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/007279.htm\">IVF\u003c/a>) must also be implanted in the uterus, and carried to term to produce a healthy baby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Physicians at the\u003ca href=\"http://sahlgrenska.gu.se/english/research/uterus\"> University of Gothenburg \u003c/a>in Sweden have performed at least nine uterine transplants, so far, resulting in at least five babies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I think there will be a small group of women who are interested in doing this procedure despite the fact that we know that there are some risks,\" Flyckt says. \"And I think, with enough counseling, we can ensure they are making a pretty informed choice about this.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To try to minimize risks to the recipient, the transplanted uterus would only remain in her body until she has tried to have a baby once or twice. It would then be removed so she can stop taking anti-rejection drugs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lindsey McFarland says she has no regrets about attempting the procedure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"For something that was so important to me, I went for it,\" she says. \"I can say I tried. And I think that's so important.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She hopes what doctors learned from her experience will help the next woman who tries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=A+Transplanted+Uterus+Offers+Hope%2C+But+Procedure+Stirs+Debate&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Lindsey McFarland was born without a uterus. So she and her husband, Blake, created their family by adopting three boys. But they always dreamed that she could somehow become pregnant and give birth to a baby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We just wanted that experience,\" Lindsey says. \"We wanted that connection.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She longed to feel a baby kick and develop inside her. She wanted the thrill of discovering the sex of the fetus during a routine sonogram. She even wanted to go through morning sickness and labor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"All of that,\" says the 26-year-old from Lubbock, Texas. \"I wanted to experience \u003cem>all\u003c/em> of that.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, when the \u003ca href=\"http://my.clevelandclinic.org/\">Cleveland Clinic \u003c/a>announced plans to launch the first U.S. study to evaluate womb transplants for women who were born without a uterus or lost theirs to disease, the McFarlands decided Lindsey should volunteer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She underwent a 10-hour operation in February to become the first — and so far only — woman to get a uterine transplant in the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Everything went so well that McFarland and her doctors held a news conference about a week later to celebrate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We were very much thinking to the future,\" she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But hours after the news conference ended, Lindsey started bleeding. Doctors discovered she had developed a severe yeast infection that had destroyed the transplanted uterus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doctors rushed her into surgery to remove the uterus. Surgeons then had to perform a third major operation when the infection threatened one of her legs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We both just cried,\" McFarland says. \"Some days are harder than others.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite that experience, doctors at the clinic remain optimistic. They plan to try the procedure at least nine more times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Obviously this is incredibly disappointing,\" says \u003ca href=\"http://my.clevelandclinic.org/staff_directory/staff_display?doctorid=14569\">Dr. Rebecca Flyckt\u003c/a>, an obstetrician-gynecologist at the clinic. \"But we're very happy Lindsey came through safely. And I think our team can look at this as an example to learn from as we move forward.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flyckt says the clinic now plans to give medication to all women undergoing the procedure to minimize their risk of developing yeast infections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the procedure remains highly controversial. Critics worry about the risks it poses to women who are desperate to have children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I don't think you can find people more vulnerable than those who wish to become parents and can't,\" says \u003ca href=\"http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/goodwin/\">Michele Goodwin\u003c/a>, director of the Center for Biotechnology and Global Health Policy at the University of California, Irvine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to possible complications from undergoing major surgery, women and any babies they carry face risks from powerful drugs the women must take to prevent their bodies from rejecting the transplanted uterus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"There are many, many risks, and they concern me greatly,\" says \u003ca href=\"https://www.mailman.columbia.edu/people/our-faculty/wc9\">Dr. Wendy Chavkin\u003c/a>, an emeritus professor of public health and obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia University. She notes that, unlike the transplant of a liver or heart, a uterine transplant is not a life-saving procedure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Others worry that the procedure perpetuates social stereotypes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It further reinforces this idea that to be a 'real woman' you need to have a genetically related child that you gestate yourself,\" says \u003ca href=\"http://www.amc.edu/academic/bioethics/faculty.cfm\">Lisa Campo-Engelstein\u003c/a>, a bioethicist at Albany Medical College.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The critics note that women without a uterus have other options — such as adopting, or enlisting the help of a surrogate mother.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least three other U.S. hospitals are also considering attempting uterine transplants. They are the \u003ca href=\"http://www.brighamandwomens.org/\">Brigham and Women's Hospital\u003c/a> in Boston, the \u003ca href=\"http://www.nebraskamed.com/\">Nebraska Medical Center\u003c/a> in Omaha and the \u003ca href=\"http://www.baylorhealth.com/PhysiciansLocations/Dallas/Pages/Default.aspx\">Baylor University Medical Center\u003c/a> in Dallas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the Cleveland Clinic is using wombs from deceased donors, doctors in Sweden who pioneered the procedure relied on living donors. The transplant team at Baylor says it, too, will get the organs from living donors (as well as deceased); critics say that raises questions about the risks to the donors, as well as to the recipients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the doctors conducting these studies defend what they're doing. The Cleveland Clinic only started its program after the doctors in Sweden showed the transplants can work and produce healthy babies, Flyckt says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A successful transplant, of course, is only a first step; embryos that have been created beforehand through in vitro fertilization (\u003ca href=\"https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/007279.htm\">IVF\u003c/a>) must also be implanted in the uterus, and carried to term to produce a healthy baby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Physicians at the\u003ca href=\"http://sahlgrenska.gu.se/english/research/uterus\"> University of Gothenburg \u003c/a>in Sweden have performed at least nine uterine transplants, so far, resulting in at least five babies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I think there will be a small group of women who are interested in doing this procedure despite the fact that we know that there are some risks,\" Flyckt says. \"And I think, with enough counseling, we can ensure they are making a pretty informed choice about this.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To try to minimize risks to the recipient, the transplanted uterus would only remain in her body until she has tried to have a baby once or twice. It would then be removed so she can stop taking anti-rejection drugs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lindsey McFarland says she has no regrets about attempting the procedure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"For something that was so important to me, I went for it,\" she says. \"I can say I tried. And I think that's so important.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She hopes what doctors learned from her experience will help the next woman who tries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=A+Transplanted+Uterus+Offers+Hope%2C+But+Procedure+Stirs+Debate&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Theranos CEO Holmes' Net Worth Is Now Zero, Says Forbes",
"title": "Theranos CEO Holmes' Net Worth Is Now Zero, Says Forbes",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update Wednesday, June 1:\u003c/strong> Forbes Slashes Estimates of Elizabeth Holmes' Net Worth\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forbes \u003ca href=\"http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2016/06/01/from-4-5-billion-to-nothing-forbes-revises-estimated-net-worth-of-theranos-founder-elizabeth-holmes/#610806f12f29\" target=\"_blank\">announced today\u003c/a> it has revised its estimate of the net worth of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, from last year's $4.5 billion to: absolutely nothing. Analysts cut the estimate of the company's net worth to $800 million, a fraction of its previous estimated value of $9 billion. The magazine reports Theranos had no comment. From the Forbes story:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Our estimate of Holmes’ wealth is based entirely on her 50% stake in Theranos, the blood-testing company she founded in 2003 with plans of revolutionizing the diagnostic test market. Theranos shares are not traded on any stock market; private investors purchased stakes in 2014 at a price that implied a $9 billion valuation for the company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, Theranos has been hit with allegations that its tests are inaccurate and is being investigated by an alphabet soup of federal agencies. That, plus new information indicating Theranos’ annual revenues are less than $100 million, has led FORBES to come up with a new, lower estimate of Theranos’ value.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>FORBES spoke to a dozen venture capitalists, analysts and industry experts and concluded that a more realistic value for Theranos is $800 million, rather than $9 billion.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update Thursday, May 26: \u003c/strong> And now, the lawsuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the heels of Theranos \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/2016/05/19/theranos-corrects-tens-of-thousands-of-blood-tests/\">voiding or correcting\u003c/a> tens of thousands of blood tests it performed at its California lab, two suits seeking class action status have been filed in Northern California. The \u003ca href=\"http://fortune.com/2016/05/26/theranos-class-action-lawsuit/\">first suit\u003c/a> was filed Wednesday on behalf of an unidentified Arizona man. The suit accuses the blood-testing company of fraud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, a \u003ca href=\"https://cdn2.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/6552851/jones-theranos.0.pdf\">second class-action suit\u003c/a> was filed on behalf of a man named Casey Jones. Jones visited a Theranos Wellness Center inside a Phoenix Walgreens in September 2015 to obtain a routine blood panel as well as a test marked \"reproductive health,\" as he was concerned about his ability to impregnate his wife, the suit says. His doctor had spoken highly of Theranos' finger-prick test as being minimally invasive, and Jones was also influenced by heavy media coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Upon arriving at Walgreens, Mr. Jones' experience differed greatly from what was promoted,\" the lawsuit claims. \"He had several large vials of blood drawn ... the same as what he would have had drawn at any other lab. There was no disclaimer made to Mr. Jones about this apparent change in the blood draw procedure.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The suit claims Theranos breached its contract with the plaintiff by not drawing blood in the advertised, minimally invasive way. It also recaps the history of Theranos' disastrous government inspection of its lab and claims Theranos failed to maintain its equipment to industry or government standards. The suit also accuses Theranos of deceptive advertising and fraudulent business practices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Because of the reported issues with Theranos, Mr. Jones has serious concerns about the lab results he received, including concerns regarding the reliability and accuracy of the tests,\" the suit says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/05/elizabeth-holmes-theranos-class-action-lawsuit\">The Verge\u003c/a> says Theranos spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan issued the same response to today's lawsuit as she did to yesterday's: “The lawsuit filed today against Theranos is without merit. The company will vigorously defend itself against these claims.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether any patients have been truly harmed by decisions they or their doctors made based on inaccurate Theranos results is not yet known. The Wall Street Journal has\u003ca href=\"http://www.wsj.com/articles/theranos-voids-two-years-of-edison-blood-test-results-1463616976\"> reported\u003c/a> that one physician who received a corrected report said she'd unnecessarily sent a patient to the ER based on abnormally high test results.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also of note for Theranos watchers: The Wall Street Journal Wednesday \u003ca href=\"http://www.wsj.com/articles/craving-growth-walgreens-dismissed-its-doubts-about-theranos-1464207285\">recounted the history\u003c/a> of the company's partnership with Walgreens, which allowed for the opening of dozens of Theranos centers inside the drugstore chain's Arizona stores. The story suggests Walgreens, in its eagerness to expand into next-wave health care, did less than due diligence in vetting Theranos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original post: Theranos, From All Angles\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Think fast:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Charlize Theron or Scarlett Johannson as Elizabeth Holmes in \"Theranos: The Movie\"?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There's a lot of drama here, as business stories go. Is the company going to be definitively exposed as the Enron of biotech startups? Or will it be vindicated as a misunderstood and unfairly persecuted innovator that, well, made a few mistakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the former, you get the sense only a talent on a par with \u003ca href=\"http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/01/the-angriest-man-in-television/306581/\">David Simon's\u003c/a> could coherently dramatize the shortcomings of the multiple institutions implicated in this mess. The story is compelling even without the appearance to date of the most important characters -- real-life patients who may have been harmed by Theranos' \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/2016/05/19/theranos-corrects-tens-of-thousands-of-blood-tests/\">faulty blood tests\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">\u003ca href=\"#articles\">\u003cstrong>See below for Theranos analysis from around the Web.\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>That may not be the case much longer. Last week, we saw the first report of an actual patient impacted by erroneous results issued by Theranos' California lab. The Wall Street Journal, in a \u003ca href=\"http://www.wsj.com/articles/theranos-voids-two-years-of-edison-blood-test-results-1463616976\">story\u003c/a> about thousands of blood tests Theranos now says were incorrect, reported that a physician in the Phoenix area recently received a revised report for a Theranos patient whom the doctor unnecessarily sent to the ER based on abnormally high results.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nick Stockton, who in \u003ca href=\"http://www.wired.com/2016/05/theranos-inching-towards-legal-bull-issh/\">Wired\u003c/a>, Friday, wrote that Theranos \"is really testing the old adage that all press is good press,\" reported the company has left itself vulnerable to all manner of lawsuits:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Many people probably made medical decisions based on those two years of voided tests. Or perhaps they wrongfully decided to forgo medical treatment for a misdiagnosed condition. “If Theranos negligently did blood tests, then someone has a right to sue,” says [UC Berkeley law professor Steven] Davidoff-Soloman. “And it looks like it might be a good case.” But so far, he says he has not seen any examples where a person has popped up and said they were adversely affected by the results from a Theranos test. So again, wait and see.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As an accredited lab, Theranos was available to patients through Medicare and Medicaid. “Here you have a situation where they were not just deceiving patients, but also the federal government, who is paying for those tests,” says [University of Michigan law professor Adam] Pritchard. “That is something the Department of Justice is going to be very interested in.” The DOJ itself could bring suit. And depending on what that suit entails, class action lawyers could come calling with cases of mass consumer fraud. Nightmare.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>'Whatever They're Up To, I Can't Figure It Out'\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dr. Norman Paradis, a professor of medicine at Dartmouth who has consulted for both diagnostic startups and biomed investors, told me recently that several years ago he looked into Theranos at the request of some potential investors. He found nothing that could be assessed.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">'Their patents — there’s nothing there. There’s nothing you look at and say, ‘Oh, I can build that.''\u003ccite>Dr. Norman Paradis, Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth College\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>\"I said whatever they're up to, I can't figure it out. I didn't see it in their patents or regulatory filings. Their patents -- there's nothing there. There's nothing you look at and say, 'Oh I can build that.'\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paradis says the molecular diagnostics space is not exactly fertile ground for startups to begin with, because of the royalties due companies that have developed the antibodies indicating a particular illness or condition. Because of this, he says, it is unlikely the low-cost tests Theranos offers are breaking even.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I have seen smart business types look at this model, and they’ve said I can’t see how you make money here.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Christina Farr, in \u003ca href=\"http://www.fastcompany.com/3059230/the-theranos-scandal-is-just-the-beginning\">Fast Company\u003c/a>, writes that whatever the company's business plan, it seemed to be a nonstarter with the most prestigious biotech investing firms. \"None of the top biotech investors invested in Theranos,\" Farr wrote. \"Five of the best-regarded biotech firms—Venrock, Third Rock Ventures, Polaris, Deerfield, Versant—either didn't meet with Theranos at all or passed on the pitch. The Silicon Valley firms with health care practices, like Google Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners, weren't swayed, either.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dartmouth's Paradis does give the company credit for submitting over 100 tests for FDA approval, even though a \u003ca href=\"http://www.theverge.com/2015/11/17/9750048/ldt-loophole-fda-hearing-theranos-lab-tests\">legal loophole\u003c/a> regarding \"\u003ca href=\"http://www.fda.gov/medicaldevices/productsandmedicalprocedures/invitrodiagnostics/ucm407296.htm\">Laboratory Developed Tests\u003c/a>\" allows it and \u003ca href=\"http://www.theverge.com/science/2015/11/11/9706356/fda-theranos-health-diagnostics-cancer-tests-regulation-loophole-ldt\">other diagnostic startups\u003c/a> to bring these tests to market without doing so. (The FDA plans on issuing its final version of a \u003ca href=\"http://www.fda.gov/downloads/medicaldevices/deviceregulationandguidance/guidancedocuments/ucm416685.pdf\">draft plan\u003c/a> to phase in \u003ca href=\"https://www.genomeweb.com/molecular-diagnostics/fda-finalize-ldt-guidance-amid-uncertainty-number-genetic-tests-impacted\">oversight of LDTS\u003c/a> sometime this year.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"For Theranos to decide to go the FDA route does show considerable rigor on Theranos’ part,\" Paradis says. \"When they made that decision, people were not doing it that way.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Soon, we may get another key development in the story, courtesy of the U.S. government. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is still mulling whether to revoke the license of Theranos' California lab, and whether to suspend Elizabeth Holmes from involvement in the blood-testing industry for two years. If things go that way, the company still has a couple of administrative appeals available to it. And beyond that, there's always the courts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Theranos is \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/2016/05/19/theranos-expansion-plans/\">still hiring\u003c/a>, and Holmes is scheduled to give a presentation at a plenary session of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry's annual meeting in Philadelphia on Aug. 1. \"For the first time, Holmes will present data at a scientific conference that describes Theranos’ technologies, including small sample volume testing and finger-stick collection,\" said the press release.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That one should be put on pay-per-view.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca id=\"articles\">\u003c/a>Below are some of the most interesting recent takes on the Theranos saga:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/05/theranos-silicon-valley-media\">The Secret Culprit in the Theranos Mess\u003c/a> (Nick Bilton, Vanity Fair)\u003cbr>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>(I)f you peel back all of the layers of this tale, at the center you will find one of the more insidious culprits: the Silicon Valley tech press. They embraced Holmes and her start-up with a surprising paucity of questions about the technology she had supposedly developed. They praised her as “the next Steve Jobs,” over and over (the black turtleneck didn’t hurt), until it was no longer a question, but seemingly a fact. At TechCrunch Disrupt, blogger Jon Shieber had his blood drawn onstage as he interviewed her. There were no tough questions about whether Theranos’s technology actually worked; just praise. When it seemed that the tech press had vetted Holmes, she subsequently went mainstream. She got her New Yorker profile, and her face appeared on the cover of T: The New York Times Style Magazine, among others.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.businessinsider.com/why-investor-tim-draper-still-loves-theranos-2016-5\">Blood-testing 'vampires' want to take down Theranos, says investor Tim Draper\u003c/a> (Julie Bort, Business Insider)\u003cbr>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Troubled blood-testing startup Theranos still has one big, vocal fan: the guy that invested the seed money to get the company started, famed investor Tim Draper. Draper tells Business Insider that of all the startups out there, Theranos is among those he's most excited about. ... Although Draper is not listed as a board member, his take is that all of the questions about Theranos is smoke and mirrors from the established blood-testing industry that doesn't want to see itself overthrown by a one-drop-of-blood-alternative. He says he's seen this struggle many times in his investing career, how telecom companies fought Skype, taxis fought Uber, car companies fought Tesla and so on.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.fastcompany.com/3059230/the-theranos-scandal-is-just-the-beginning\">The Theranos Scandal Is Just The Beginning\u003c/a> (Christina Farr, Fast Company)\u003cbr>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>(A)fter we find our scapegoats, the problem will not be solved. Until we address all the factors that led to Theranos' rise and its downfall, this will happen again. Launch, hype-cycle, demise. Launch, hype-cycle, demise. Again and again. One the biggest catalysts for this cycle? Dumb money. ...The biotech funding process might be flawed, but it works well enough to smell a very large rat.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://time.com/4299943/the-theranos-downfall-was-inevitable/\">The Theranos Downfall Was Inevitable\u003c/a> (Alice Park, Time)\u003cbr>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>At issue is the secrecy with which Theranos developed and brought to market the technology and its proprietary blood-testing process from day one. Theranos did not share with outside scientists which machines the company used to perform its tests, and they wouldn’t then reveal how its technology differed from the microfluidics that other companies were using to perform similar—though less extensive—assays as Theranos’. Nor did they publish in any peer-reviewed journal any research that proved the effectiveness of their product. To do so, Holmes said, would make them lose their competitive advantage of being the first to offer such tests. When Dr. Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute, had his blood drawn and tested using the system, he says, “I wasn’t allowed to see the equipment, wasn’t allowed to go near it.”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.wsj.com/articles/from-lending-club-to-theranos-the-limits-of-disruption-1463161745\">From LendingClub to Theranos, the Limits of Disruption\u003c/a> (Justin Lahart, The Wall Street Journal)\u003cbr>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>(E)arly critics of Theranos complained the company had published little data in peer-reviewed journals that would have helped provide insight into the quality of its tests. But innovators often see ignoring criticism as a feature, says University of Toronto economist Joshua Gans, author of a recent book on disruption. That is particularly true when the criticism comes from incumbents who, as ousted Zenefits chief Parker Conrad once complained, often cry foul and look to regulators for protection. The problem is that while critics may be protecting turf, there also may be some truth to what they say. Indeed, the norms incumbents adhere to, and the rules they play by, are often there for reasons that go beyond protecting their moats. That’s particularly true of many old-line industries, such as banking, insurance brokers and medicine, that seem ripe for new entrants.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/2016/04/25/analysis-why-medical-lab-experts-were-always-skeptical-of-theranos/\">Analysis: Why Medical Lab Experts Were Always Skeptical of Theranos\u003c/a> (Norman A. Paradis, The Conversation)\u003cbr>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>The vast majority of FDA-approved medically important laboratory tests are based on blood taken from a vein, not from the finger. ... To understand why that matters, let’s start with some simple physiology. The human body can be considered a series of compartments; the concentration of any given molecule in blood or tissue fluid may vary from one compartment to the next. A small molecule, such as glucose, can move easily between these compartments, and any bodily fluid can generally be used to test its concentration. This is why testing blood sugar with a finger prick works. But large, medically important molecules like proteins and lipids are not always found in uniform concentrations throughout the body. The composition of blood from finger pricks from the same person can vary, a problem that doesn’t happen in blood taken from a vein. When you lance a fingertip, you get both blood and tissue fluid, and this means that the concentration of molecules may be different than if the blood sample comes from a vein.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/theranos-is-wrong-we-dont-need-more-blood-tests/\">Theranos is Wrong: We Don't Need More Blood Tests\u003c/a> (Katherine Hobson, FiveThirtyEight)\u003cbr>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Much of the debate over the last few months has been about whether Theranos’s technology can actually do what the company has said it can. But there’s a dubious assumption at the heart of Theranos, arguably just as damning as the questions about its technology. Theranos wants us to believe that ostensibly healthy people can get healthier by having more tests. But the science suggests that is far from true.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.natlawreview.com/article/theranos-sec-s-pursuit-unicorns-and-taking-reins-internal-controls\">Theranos, the SEC’s Pursuit of Unicorns, and Taking the Reins of Internal Controls\u003c/a> (The National Law Review)\u003cbr>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Even beyond potential misrepresentation issues, we believe the SEC may also be focused on the adequacy of internal controls at privately-held companies, potentially viewing governance and control problems as contributing factors to other issues. ...(I)n a recent speech addressing issues relating to pre-IPO companies, SEC Chair Mary Jo White noted that the SEC was looking closely at privately-held “unicorns”, even where the investors appeared to be venture capital and private equity funds. She stated that control issues were a major risk factor that could lead to opportunities to misstate financial results: “The risk of distortion and inaccuracy is amplified because start-up companies, even quite mature ones, often have far less robust internal controls and governance procedures than most public companies.”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update Wednesday, June 1:\u003c/strong> Forbes Slashes Estimates of Elizabeth Holmes' Net Worth\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forbes \u003ca href=\"http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2016/06/01/from-4-5-billion-to-nothing-forbes-revises-estimated-net-worth-of-theranos-founder-elizabeth-holmes/#610806f12f29\" target=\"_blank\">announced today\u003c/a> it has revised its estimate of the net worth of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, from last year's $4.5 billion to: absolutely nothing. Analysts cut the estimate of the company's net worth to $800 million, a fraction of its previous estimated value of $9 billion. The magazine reports Theranos had no comment. From the Forbes story:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Our estimate of Holmes’ wealth is based entirely on her 50% stake in Theranos, the blood-testing company she founded in 2003 with plans of revolutionizing the diagnostic test market. Theranos shares are not traded on any stock market; private investors purchased stakes in 2014 at a price that implied a $9 billion valuation for the company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, Theranos has been hit with allegations that its tests are inaccurate and is being investigated by an alphabet soup of federal agencies. That, plus new information indicating Theranos’ annual revenues are less than $100 million, has led FORBES to come up with a new, lower estimate of Theranos’ value.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>FORBES spoke to a dozen venture capitalists, analysts and industry experts and concluded that a more realistic value for Theranos is $800 million, rather than $9 billion.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update Thursday, May 26: \u003c/strong> And now, the lawsuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the heels of Theranos \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/2016/05/19/theranos-corrects-tens-of-thousands-of-blood-tests/\">voiding or correcting\u003c/a> tens of thousands of blood tests it performed at its California lab, two suits seeking class action status have been filed in Northern California. The \u003ca href=\"http://fortune.com/2016/05/26/theranos-class-action-lawsuit/\">first suit\u003c/a> was filed Wednesday on behalf of an unidentified Arizona man. The suit accuses the blood-testing company of fraud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, a \u003ca href=\"https://cdn2.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/6552851/jones-theranos.0.pdf\">second class-action suit\u003c/a> was filed on behalf of a man named Casey Jones. Jones visited a Theranos Wellness Center inside a Phoenix Walgreens in September 2015 to obtain a routine blood panel as well as a test marked \"reproductive health,\" as he was concerned about his ability to impregnate his wife, the suit says. His doctor had spoken highly of Theranos' finger-prick test as being minimally invasive, and Jones was also influenced by heavy media coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Upon arriving at Walgreens, Mr. Jones' experience differed greatly from what was promoted,\" the lawsuit claims. \"He had several large vials of blood drawn ... the same as what he would have had drawn at any other lab. There was no disclaimer made to Mr. Jones about this apparent change in the blood draw procedure.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The suit claims Theranos breached its contract with the plaintiff by not drawing blood in the advertised, minimally invasive way. It also recaps the history of Theranos' disastrous government inspection of its lab and claims Theranos failed to maintain its equipment to industry or government standards. The suit also accuses Theranos of deceptive advertising and fraudulent business practices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Because of the reported issues with Theranos, Mr. Jones has serious concerns about the lab results he received, including concerns regarding the reliability and accuracy of the tests,\" the suit says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/05/elizabeth-holmes-theranos-class-action-lawsuit\">The Verge\u003c/a> says Theranos spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan issued the same response to today's lawsuit as she did to yesterday's: “The lawsuit filed today against Theranos is without merit. The company will vigorously defend itself against these claims.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether any patients have been truly harmed by decisions they or their doctors made based on inaccurate Theranos results is not yet known. The Wall Street Journal has\u003ca href=\"http://www.wsj.com/articles/theranos-voids-two-years-of-edison-blood-test-results-1463616976\"> reported\u003c/a> that one physician who received a corrected report said she'd unnecessarily sent a patient to the ER based on abnormally high test results.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also of note for Theranos watchers: The Wall Street Journal Wednesday \u003ca href=\"http://www.wsj.com/articles/craving-growth-walgreens-dismissed-its-doubts-about-theranos-1464207285\">recounted the history\u003c/a> of the company's partnership with Walgreens, which allowed for the opening of dozens of Theranos centers inside the drugstore chain's Arizona stores. The story suggests Walgreens, in its eagerness to expand into next-wave health care, did less than due diligence in vetting Theranos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original post: Theranos, From All Angles\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Think fast:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Charlize Theron or Scarlett Johannson as Elizabeth Holmes in \"Theranos: The Movie\"?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There's a lot of drama here, as business stories go. Is the company going to be definitively exposed as the Enron of biotech startups? Or will it be vindicated as a misunderstood and unfairly persecuted innovator that, well, made a few mistakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the former, you get the sense only a talent on a par with \u003ca href=\"http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/01/the-angriest-man-in-television/306581/\">David Simon's\u003c/a> could coherently dramatize the shortcomings of the multiple institutions implicated in this mess. The story is compelling even without the appearance to date of the most important characters -- real-life patients who may have been harmed by Theranos' \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/2016/05/19/theranos-corrects-tens-of-thousands-of-blood-tests/\">faulty blood tests\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">\u003ca href=\"#articles\">\u003cstrong>See below for Theranos analysis from around the Web.\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>That may not be the case much longer. Last week, we saw the first report of an actual patient impacted by erroneous results issued by Theranos' California lab. The Wall Street Journal, in a \u003ca href=\"http://www.wsj.com/articles/theranos-voids-two-years-of-edison-blood-test-results-1463616976\">story\u003c/a> about thousands of blood tests Theranos now says were incorrect, reported that a physician in the Phoenix area recently received a revised report for a Theranos patient whom the doctor unnecessarily sent to the ER based on abnormally high results.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nick Stockton, who in \u003ca href=\"http://www.wired.com/2016/05/theranos-inching-towards-legal-bull-issh/\">Wired\u003c/a>, Friday, wrote that Theranos \"is really testing the old adage that all press is good press,\" reported the company has left itself vulnerable to all manner of lawsuits:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Many people probably made medical decisions based on those two years of voided tests. Or perhaps they wrongfully decided to forgo medical treatment for a misdiagnosed condition. “If Theranos negligently did blood tests, then someone has a right to sue,” says [UC Berkeley law professor Steven] Davidoff-Soloman. “And it looks like it might be a good case.” But so far, he says he has not seen any examples where a person has popped up and said they were adversely affected by the results from a Theranos test. So again, wait and see.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As an accredited lab, Theranos was available to patients through Medicare and Medicaid. “Here you have a situation where they were not just deceiving patients, but also the federal government, who is paying for those tests,” says [University of Michigan law professor Adam] Pritchard. “That is something the Department of Justice is going to be very interested in.” The DOJ itself could bring suit. And depending on what that suit entails, class action lawyers could come calling with cases of mass consumer fraud. Nightmare.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>'Whatever They're Up To, I Can't Figure It Out'\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dr. Norman Paradis, a professor of medicine at Dartmouth who has consulted for both diagnostic startups and biomed investors, told me recently that several years ago he looked into Theranos at the request of some potential investors. He found nothing that could be assessed.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">'Their patents — there’s nothing there. There’s nothing you look at and say, ‘Oh, I can build that.''\u003ccite>Dr. Norman Paradis, Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth College\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>\"I said whatever they're up to, I can't figure it out. I didn't see it in their patents or regulatory filings. Their patents -- there's nothing there. There's nothing you look at and say, 'Oh I can build that.'\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paradis says the molecular diagnostics space is not exactly fertile ground for startups to begin with, because of the royalties due companies that have developed the antibodies indicating a particular illness or condition. Because of this, he says, it is unlikely the low-cost tests Theranos offers are breaking even.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I have seen smart business types look at this model, and they’ve said I can’t see how you make money here.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Christina Farr, in \u003ca href=\"http://www.fastcompany.com/3059230/the-theranos-scandal-is-just-the-beginning\">Fast Company\u003c/a>, writes that whatever the company's business plan, it seemed to be a nonstarter with the most prestigious biotech investing firms. \"None of the top biotech investors invested in Theranos,\" Farr wrote. \"Five of the best-regarded biotech firms—Venrock, Third Rock Ventures, Polaris, Deerfield, Versant—either didn't meet with Theranos at all or passed on the pitch. The Silicon Valley firms with health care practices, like Google Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners, weren't swayed, either.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dartmouth's Paradis does give the company credit for submitting over 100 tests for FDA approval, even though a \u003ca href=\"http://www.theverge.com/2015/11/17/9750048/ldt-loophole-fda-hearing-theranos-lab-tests\">legal loophole\u003c/a> regarding \"\u003ca href=\"http://www.fda.gov/medicaldevices/productsandmedicalprocedures/invitrodiagnostics/ucm407296.htm\">Laboratory Developed Tests\u003c/a>\" allows it and \u003ca href=\"http://www.theverge.com/science/2015/11/11/9706356/fda-theranos-health-diagnostics-cancer-tests-regulation-loophole-ldt\">other diagnostic startups\u003c/a> to bring these tests to market without doing so. (The FDA plans on issuing its final version of a \u003ca href=\"http://www.fda.gov/downloads/medicaldevices/deviceregulationandguidance/guidancedocuments/ucm416685.pdf\">draft plan\u003c/a> to phase in \u003ca href=\"https://www.genomeweb.com/molecular-diagnostics/fda-finalize-ldt-guidance-amid-uncertainty-number-genetic-tests-impacted\">oversight of LDTS\u003c/a> sometime this year.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"For Theranos to decide to go the FDA route does show considerable rigor on Theranos’ part,\" Paradis says. \"When they made that decision, people were not doing it that way.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Soon, we may get another key development in the story, courtesy of the U.S. government. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is still mulling whether to revoke the license of Theranos' California lab, and whether to suspend Elizabeth Holmes from involvement in the blood-testing industry for two years. If things go that way, the company still has a couple of administrative appeals available to it. And beyond that, there's always the courts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Theranos is \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/2016/05/19/theranos-expansion-plans/\">still hiring\u003c/a>, and Holmes is scheduled to give a presentation at a plenary session of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry's annual meeting in Philadelphia on Aug. 1. \"For the first time, Holmes will present data at a scientific conference that describes Theranos’ technologies, including small sample volume testing and finger-stick collection,\" said the press release.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That one should be put on pay-per-view.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca id=\"articles\">\u003c/a>Below are some of the most interesting recent takes on the Theranos saga:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/05/theranos-silicon-valley-media\">The Secret Culprit in the Theranos Mess\u003c/a> (Nick Bilton, Vanity Fair)\u003cbr>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>(I)f you peel back all of the layers of this tale, at the center you will find one of the more insidious culprits: the Silicon Valley tech press. They embraced Holmes and her start-up with a surprising paucity of questions about the technology she had supposedly developed. They praised her as “the next Steve Jobs,” over and over (the black turtleneck didn’t hurt), until it was no longer a question, but seemingly a fact. At TechCrunch Disrupt, blogger Jon Shieber had his blood drawn onstage as he interviewed her. There were no tough questions about whether Theranos’s technology actually worked; just praise. When it seemed that the tech press had vetted Holmes, she subsequently went mainstream. She got her New Yorker profile, and her face appeared on the cover of T: The New York Times Style Magazine, among others.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.businessinsider.com/why-investor-tim-draper-still-loves-theranos-2016-5\">Blood-testing 'vampires' want to take down Theranos, says investor Tim Draper\u003c/a> (Julie Bort, Business Insider)\u003cbr>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Troubled blood-testing startup Theranos still has one big, vocal fan: the guy that invested the seed money to get the company started, famed investor Tim Draper. Draper tells Business Insider that of all the startups out there, Theranos is among those he's most excited about. ... Although Draper is not listed as a board member, his take is that all of the questions about Theranos is smoke and mirrors from the established blood-testing industry that doesn't want to see itself overthrown by a one-drop-of-blood-alternative. He says he's seen this struggle many times in his investing career, how telecom companies fought Skype, taxis fought Uber, car companies fought Tesla and so on.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.fastcompany.com/3059230/the-theranos-scandal-is-just-the-beginning\">The Theranos Scandal Is Just The Beginning\u003c/a> (Christina Farr, Fast Company)\u003cbr>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>(A)fter we find our scapegoats, the problem will not be solved. Until we address all the factors that led to Theranos' rise and its downfall, this will happen again. Launch, hype-cycle, demise. Launch, hype-cycle, demise. Again and again. One the biggest catalysts for this cycle? Dumb money. ...The biotech funding process might be flawed, but it works well enough to smell a very large rat.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://time.com/4299943/the-theranos-downfall-was-inevitable/\">The Theranos Downfall Was Inevitable\u003c/a> (Alice Park, Time)\u003cbr>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>At issue is the secrecy with which Theranos developed and brought to market the technology and its proprietary blood-testing process from day one. Theranos did not share with outside scientists which machines the company used to perform its tests, and they wouldn’t then reveal how its technology differed from the microfluidics that other companies were using to perform similar—though less extensive—assays as Theranos’. Nor did they publish in any peer-reviewed journal any research that proved the effectiveness of their product. To do so, Holmes said, would make them lose their competitive advantage of being the first to offer such tests. When Dr. Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute, had his blood drawn and tested using the system, he says, “I wasn’t allowed to see the equipment, wasn’t allowed to go near it.”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.wsj.com/articles/from-lending-club-to-theranos-the-limits-of-disruption-1463161745\">From LendingClub to Theranos, the Limits of Disruption\u003c/a> (Justin Lahart, The Wall Street Journal)\u003cbr>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>(E)arly critics of Theranos complained the company had published little data in peer-reviewed journals that would have helped provide insight into the quality of its tests. But innovators often see ignoring criticism as a feature, says University of Toronto economist Joshua Gans, author of a recent book on disruption. That is particularly true when the criticism comes from incumbents who, as ousted Zenefits chief Parker Conrad once complained, often cry foul and look to regulators for protection. The problem is that while critics may be protecting turf, there also may be some truth to what they say. Indeed, the norms incumbents adhere to, and the rules they play by, are often there for reasons that go beyond protecting their moats. That’s particularly true of many old-line industries, such as banking, insurance brokers and medicine, that seem ripe for new entrants.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/2016/04/25/analysis-why-medical-lab-experts-were-always-skeptical-of-theranos/\">Analysis: Why Medical Lab Experts Were Always Skeptical of Theranos\u003c/a> (Norman A. Paradis, The Conversation)\u003cbr>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>The vast majority of FDA-approved medically important laboratory tests are based on blood taken from a vein, not from the finger. ... To understand why that matters, let’s start with some simple physiology. The human body can be considered a series of compartments; the concentration of any given molecule in blood or tissue fluid may vary from one compartment to the next. A small molecule, such as glucose, can move easily between these compartments, and any bodily fluid can generally be used to test its concentration. This is why testing blood sugar with a finger prick works. But large, medically important molecules like proteins and lipids are not always found in uniform concentrations throughout the body. The composition of blood from finger pricks from the same person can vary, a problem that doesn’t happen in blood taken from a vein. When you lance a fingertip, you get both blood and tissue fluid, and this means that the concentration of molecules may be different than if the blood sample comes from a vein.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/theranos-is-wrong-we-dont-need-more-blood-tests/\">Theranos is Wrong: We Don't Need More Blood Tests\u003c/a> (Katherine Hobson, FiveThirtyEight)\u003cbr>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Much of the debate over the last few months has been about whether Theranos’s technology can actually do what the company has said it can. But there’s a dubious assumption at the heart of Theranos, arguably just as damning as the questions about its technology. Theranos wants us to believe that ostensibly healthy people can get healthier by having more tests. But the science suggests that is far from true.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.natlawreview.com/article/theranos-sec-s-pursuit-unicorns-and-taking-reins-internal-controls\">Theranos, the SEC’s Pursuit of Unicorns, and Taking the Reins of Internal Controls\u003c/a> (The National Law Review)\u003cbr>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Even beyond potential misrepresentation issues, we believe the SEC may also be focused on the adequacy of internal controls at privately-held companies, potentially viewing governance and control problems as contributing factors to other issues. ...(I)n a recent speech addressing issues relating to pre-IPO companies, SEC Chair Mary Jo White noted that the SEC was looking closely at privately-held “unicorns”, even where the investors appeared to be venture capital and private equity funds. She stated that control issues were a major risk factor that could lead to opportunities to misstate financial results: “The risk of distortion and inaccuracy is amplified because start-up companies, even quite mature ones, often have far less robust internal controls and governance procedures than most public companies.”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Shortly after \u003ca href=\"http://milosjourney.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Milo Lorentzen\u003c/a> was born, nurses whisked him away to the neonatal intensive care unit for low blood sugar and jaundice. An exam then found a cluster of irregularities, including a cleft palate and a hole in his heart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The staff called in a geneticist, who issued a misdiagnosis—the first frustrating episode in what would become years of testing, as Karen Park and Peter Lorentzen searched for a way to help their son.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">‘You’re the ‘other-other,’ and not just the ‘other.'”\u003ccite>Karen Park, Milo’s mother\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Five years later, Park and Lorentzen know Milo’s significant developmental delays likely stem from a mutation in a gene called KDM1A. He didn’t inherit that mutation from his parents; it’s new in Milo. And because a mutation in that gene is so rare, little is known about it. There is no treatment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If KDM1A is indeed the culprit, Milo has what’s known as a \u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK132145/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mendelian disorder\u003c/a>—a rare condition caused by a genetic mutation, typically in a single gene. There are some 7,000-8,000 known Mendelian conditions, but researchers have found the genetic cause for only half. The rest are identified as Mendelian because they are transmitted from parents to children in ways suggesting they are caused by single genes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some cases—and researchers say Milo’s appears to be one of them—a new mutation reveals a new condition, previously unidentified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Families with an unidentified genetic illness are lost in an information desert, isolated by protocols that protect research until published, and by health privacy laws that prevent, for example, a genetics lab from connecting two families with the same mutation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The journey of Milo Lorentzen reveals what \u003ca href=\"https://www.bcm.edu/people/view/christian-schaaf-m-d-ph-d/b251d11c-ffed-11e2-be68-080027880ca6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dr. Christian Schaaf\u003c/a>, an assistant professor at \u003ca href=\"https://www.bcm.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Baylor College of Medicine\u003c/a>, says are two major inadequacies in genetic medicine—the absence of support for families with undiagnosed illnesses, and the lack of a clearinghouse where families and researchers can find one another.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”y6fCjzsdBLr9bsR5jKAH3kyZ56BhiTeO”]“We all worry about the correct diagnosis, and therapy, and management of the disease,” Schaaf says, “but we don’t think enough about the isolation these families feel, about the stress and anxiety that comes with these disorders.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recently, however, new and cheaper techniques in genetic testing and efforts to connect families to each other and to researchers offer promise of a future less desolate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are lots of researchers who might be interested in families with genetic conditions if they knew they existed,” says \u003ca href=\"http://depts.washington.edu/bamshad/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dr. Michael Bamshad\u003c/a>, principle investigator of the \u003ca href=\"http://uwcmg.org/#/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">University of Washington Center for Mendelian Genomics\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bamshad is cofounder of \u003ca href=\"https://www.mygene2.org/MyGene2/\">MyGene2\u003c/a>, a website where families, researchers, and clinicians can connect and share information at no cost. The site is a \u003ca href=\"https://www.openscienceprize.org/res/p/finalists/\">finalist\u003c/a> in a National Institutes of Health competition to make scientific information broadly available.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>‘You’re the Other-Other’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When your child has an undiagnosed genetic disorder, one of life’s hallmarks is a frustrating series of tests yielding no answers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The first several years of his life was test after test,” says Karen Park, Milo’s mother. “X-rays, MRIs, blood tests, skin biopsies.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_174418\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2048px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/milo-podd-school.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/milo-podd-school.jpg\" alt=\"Milo Lorentzen is learning to read and speak using an alternative language method that incorporates symbols and pictures. He now reads at or above grade level. “He was starting to have behavioral issues until we gave him this method,” says his mother, Karen Park. “Now Milo has a voice.” \" width=\"2048\" height=\"1536\" class=\"size-full wp-image-174418\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/milo-podd-school.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/milo-podd-school-400x300.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/milo-podd-school-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/milo-podd-school-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/milo-podd-school-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/milo-podd-school-1920x1440.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/milo-podd-school-960x720.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Milo Lorentzen is learning to read and speak using an alternative language method that incorporates symbols and pictures. “He was starting to have behavioral issues until we gave him this method,” says his mother, Karen Park. “Now Milo has a voice.” \u003ccite>(Marissa Miller)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Milo had a range of symptoms: low muscle tone and a body that lacked strength, making him slow to lift his head or push up off his stomach; and delays in mimicking people and expressing himself. To his doctors, these symptoms suggested many possibilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It takes forever; it’s very slow,” Park says. “And when things keep coming back negative, you feel like: My child is getting tortured; I’m not getting any insight out of this; I just feel like giving up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many rare disorders affect at least enough families to constitute what Park calls a tribe: parent groups, coping tips, research tools, and fundraising walks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Milo’s parents were on their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers know of only two other children in the world who have a genetic mutation similar to Milo’s. In fact, KDM1A is known to be resistant to evolutionary change; a mutation is so rare researchers hardly ever see it in any animal species.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’re the ‘other-other’ and not just the ‘other,’” Park says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_174447\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 720px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/Tess-happy-e1464726348263.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-174447\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/Tess-happy-e1464726348263.jpg\" alt=\"Tess Bigelow is six years old and funtions at an 18-month-old level. Recently she walked 100 meters in the Special Olympics.\" width=\"720\" height=\"753\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/Tess-happy-e1464726348263.jpg 720w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/Tess-happy-e1464726348263-400x418.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/Tess-happy-e1464726348263-574x600.jpg 574w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/Tess-happy-e1464726348263-32x32.jpg 32w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tess Bigelow is six years old and funtions at an 18-month-old level. Recently she walked 100 meters in the Special Olympics. \u003ccite>(Bo Bigelow)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Bo Bigelow, whose daughter Tess is one of only 10 people in the world known to have a mutation in a gene called USP7, went five years before he knew there was anyone else with a similar mutation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These days there are ribbons and awareness weeks for so many diseases,” Bigelow says, “but when yours is ultra-rare, you feel completely isolated. You feel like you’re never going to hear another person say, ‘Us too!’ And being connected to other families changes all that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Pinpointing the Problem\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2013, Milo’s parents had his genes sequenced with a relatively new technique called exome sequencing, which streamlines the process by looking only at genes that code for proteins, and not all an individual’s DNA. It was then they learned about Milo’s gene mutation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, mutations in KD1MA are so rare that just spotting it didn’t give Milo’s parents a diagnosis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Why not?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t know what most of our genes do,” says geneticist Barry Starr.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_174450\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 250px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/DNA-1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-174450\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/DNA-1.jpg\" alt=\"Genes issue instructions to make proteins, which run the functions of our cells. Genes make up 1-2 percent of our DNA.\" width=\"250\" height=\"371\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Genes issue instructions to make proteins, which run the functions of our cells. Genes make up 1-2 percent of our DNA. \u003ccite>(National Institutes of Health)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Genes issue instructions to make proteins that run the functions of a cell. But discovering what any single gene mutation does is complicated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You need to know how the mutation affects the proteins, and how the proteins related to the disease. You also want to know whether the mutation has appeared in other family members who have experienced symptoms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’re playing all these games like a detective story,” says Starr, “trying to solve a mystery.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One way to get a diagnosis is by looking at previous research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dr. Michael Bamshad once found a mutation in a gene called MYLPF in a boy who had no muscles in his foot. Bamshad found a mouse study in which researchers had made a deliberate mutation MYLPF, resulting in a complete lack of skeletal muscle in the rodent. That was enough evidence to conclude the MYLPF gene was involved in the boy’s condition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But sometimes there is no published research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bigelow says geneticists who told him of Tess’ mutation didn’t know what the USP7 gene did.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We know this is the gene, but we don’t know anything more than that,” says Bigelow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Easing the Isolation\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bigelow put out a beacon to other families who might have the same mutation: \u003ca href=\"http://www.portlandrootsmedia.com/tess-genetic-mystery\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a website\u003c/a> and social media posts. Remarkably, it took \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/2016/05/10/social-media-uncovers-rare-diagnosis-after-years-of-frustration/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">less than a day\u003c/a> for a response. Researchers are now examining his daughter’s case, and at their request Bigelow has used his website to find two more families with the same mutation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it’s a lot slower for families and researchers to search through hundreds of websites and Facebook pages for common ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/My-gene2.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-174459\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/My-gene2.png\" alt=\"My gene2\" width=\"627\" height=\"264\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/My-gene2.png 627w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/My-gene2-400x168.png 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 627px) 100vw, 627px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now Bigelow and Milo Lorentzen’s parents are registered on MyGene2, where roughly 130 families are seeking information on mutations in more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.mygene2.org/MyGene2/genes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">100 genes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bamshad envisions expanding that to tens of thousands of families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our major goal is gene discovery and facilitating clinical diagnosis,” he says. “Very quickly, we could identify hundreds of Mendelian conditions and help thousands of families get a diagnosis for rare diseases.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The main stumbling block is money to pay for outreach, Bamshad says. Tens of thousands of exome sequences are siloed at individual labs and clinics around the country. Because of federal privacy laws, the only people who can share those are the families who had them commissioned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We see lots of families on Facebook who are searching for a diagnosis,” says geneticist \u003ca href=\"https://depts.washington.edu/genediv/directory/jchong\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jessica Chong\u003c/a>, MyGene2 cofounder. “It would take time to go search for them and message each one of them to say, ‘We can help you.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_174559\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 718px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2016/05/Tess-track-e1464741655230.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-174559\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2016/05/Tess-track-e1464741655230.jpg\" alt=\"Tess Bigelow stomps it out on the track where she competed in the Special Olympics.\" width=\"718\" height=\"590\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2016/05/Tess-track-e1464741655230.jpg 718w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2016/05/Tess-track-e1464741655230-400x329.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 718px) 100vw, 718px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tess Bigelow stomps it out on the track where she\u003ca href=\"http://www.portlandrootsmedia.com/strongerpodcast/2016/5/4/68-special-is-an-understatement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> prepares to compete \u003c/a>in the Special Olympics. \u003ccite>(Bo Bigelow)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Dr. Christian Schaaf, who’s working with Tess Bigelow’s mutation, says it has typically taken 15-20 years from the time a disease gene has been discovered until the first patients enter clinical trials. He’s hoping new sequencing tools and social outreach can shrink that to seven or eight years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Milo’s parents hope that new research will give them more answers. They found a U.S. lab that’s agreed to grow cell lines from Milo’s and his father’s DNA, and another lab in Europe is looking to run studies using the gene-editing tool CRISPR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the labs can replicate Milo’s mutation and study its effects, perhaps Karen Park and Peter Lorentzen will learn more about how the mutation leads to his disorder. From there, will some lab be willing to look at developing a treatment? They don’t know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s all us flying blind and making it up as we go along,” says Park.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Shortly after \u003ca href=\"http://milosjourney.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Milo Lorentzen\u003c/a> was born, nurses whisked him away to the neonatal intensive care unit for low blood sugar and jaundice. An exam then found a cluster of irregularities, including a cleft palate and a hole in his heart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The staff called in a geneticist, who issued a misdiagnosis—the first frustrating episode in what would become years of testing, as Karen Park and Peter Lorentzen searched for a way to help their son.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">‘You’re the ‘other-other,’ and not just the ‘other.'”\u003ccite>Karen Park, Milo’s mother\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Five years later, Park and Lorentzen know Milo’s significant developmental delays likely stem from a mutation in a gene called KDM1A. He didn’t inherit that mutation from his parents; it’s new in Milo. And because a mutation in that gene is so rare, little is known about it. There is no treatment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If KDM1A is indeed the culprit, Milo has what’s known as a \u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK132145/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mendelian disorder\u003c/a>—a rare condition caused by a genetic mutation, typically in a single gene. There are some 7,000-8,000 known Mendelian conditions, but researchers have found the genetic cause for only half. The rest are identified as Mendelian because they are transmitted from parents to children in ways suggesting they are caused by single genes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some cases—and researchers say Milo’s appears to be one of them—a new mutation reveals a new condition, previously unidentified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Families with an unidentified genetic illness are lost in an information desert, isolated by protocols that protect research until published, and by health privacy laws that prevent, for example, a genetics lab from connecting two families with the same mutation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The journey of Milo Lorentzen reveals what \u003ca href=\"https://www.bcm.edu/people/view/christian-schaaf-m-d-ph-d/b251d11c-ffed-11e2-be68-080027880ca6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dr. Christian Schaaf\u003c/a>, an assistant professor at \u003ca href=\"https://www.bcm.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Baylor College of Medicine\u003c/a>, says are two major inadequacies in genetic medicine—the absence of support for families with undiagnosed illnesses, and the lack of a clearinghouse where families and researchers can find one another.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>“We all worry about the correct diagnosis, and therapy, and management of the disease,” Schaaf says, “but we don’t think enough about the isolation these families feel, about the stress and anxiety that comes with these disorders.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recently, however, new and cheaper techniques in genetic testing and efforts to connect families to each other and to researchers offer promise of a future less desolate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are lots of researchers who might be interested in families with genetic conditions if they knew they existed,” says \u003ca href=\"http://depts.washington.edu/bamshad/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dr. Michael Bamshad\u003c/a>, principle investigator of the \u003ca href=\"http://uwcmg.org/#/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">University of Washington Center for Mendelian Genomics\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bamshad is cofounder of \u003ca href=\"https://www.mygene2.org/MyGene2/\">MyGene2\u003c/a>, a website where families, researchers, and clinicians can connect and share information at no cost. The site is a \u003ca href=\"https://www.openscienceprize.org/res/p/finalists/\">finalist\u003c/a> in a National Institutes of Health competition to make scientific information broadly available.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>‘You’re the Other-Other’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When your child has an undiagnosed genetic disorder, one of life’s hallmarks is a frustrating series of tests yielding no answers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The first several years of his life was test after test,” says Karen Park, Milo’s mother. “X-rays, MRIs, blood tests, skin biopsies.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_174418\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2048px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/milo-podd-school.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/milo-podd-school.jpg\" alt=\"Milo Lorentzen is learning to read and speak using an alternative language method that incorporates symbols and pictures. He now reads at or above grade level. “He was starting to have behavioral issues until we gave him this method,” says his mother, Karen Park. “Now Milo has a voice.” \" width=\"2048\" height=\"1536\" class=\"size-full wp-image-174418\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/milo-podd-school.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/milo-podd-school-400x300.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/milo-podd-school-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/milo-podd-school-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/milo-podd-school-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/milo-podd-school-1920x1440.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/milo-podd-school-960x720.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Milo Lorentzen is learning to read and speak using an alternative language method that incorporates symbols and pictures. “He was starting to have behavioral issues until we gave him this method,” says his mother, Karen Park. “Now Milo has a voice.” \u003ccite>(Marissa Miller)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Milo had a range of symptoms: low muscle tone and a body that lacked strength, making him slow to lift his head or push up off his stomach; and delays in mimicking people and expressing himself. To his doctors, these symptoms suggested many possibilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It takes forever; it’s very slow,” Park says. “And when things keep coming back negative, you feel like: My child is getting tortured; I’m not getting any insight out of this; I just feel like giving up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many rare disorders affect at least enough families to constitute what Park calls a tribe: parent groups, coping tips, research tools, and fundraising walks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Milo’s parents were on their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers know of only two other children in the world who have a genetic mutation similar to Milo’s. In fact, KDM1A is known to be resistant to evolutionary change; a mutation is so rare researchers hardly ever see it in any animal species.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’re the ‘other-other’ and not just the ‘other,’” Park says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_174447\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 720px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/Tess-happy-e1464726348263.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-174447\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/Tess-happy-e1464726348263.jpg\" alt=\"Tess Bigelow is six years old and funtions at an 18-month-old level. Recently she walked 100 meters in the Special Olympics.\" width=\"720\" height=\"753\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/Tess-happy-e1464726348263.jpg 720w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/Tess-happy-e1464726348263-400x418.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/Tess-happy-e1464726348263-574x600.jpg 574w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/Tess-happy-e1464726348263-32x32.jpg 32w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tess Bigelow is six years old and funtions at an 18-month-old level. Recently she walked 100 meters in the Special Olympics. \u003ccite>(Bo Bigelow)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Bo Bigelow, whose daughter Tess is one of only 10 people in the world known to have a mutation in a gene called USP7, went five years before he knew there was anyone else with a similar mutation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These days there are ribbons and awareness weeks for so many diseases,” Bigelow says, “but when yours is ultra-rare, you feel completely isolated. You feel like you’re never going to hear another person say, ‘Us too!’ And being connected to other families changes all that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Pinpointing the Problem\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2013, Milo’s parents had his genes sequenced with a relatively new technique called exome sequencing, which streamlines the process by looking only at genes that code for proteins, and not all an individual’s DNA. It was then they learned about Milo’s gene mutation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, mutations in KD1MA are so rare that just spotting it didn’t give Milo’s parents a diagnosis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Why not?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t know what most of our genes do,” says geneticist Barry Starr.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_174450\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 250px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/DNA-1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-174450\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/DNA-1.jpg\" alt=\"Genes issue instructions to make proteins, which run the functions of our cells. Genes make up 1-2 percent of our DNA.\" width=\"250\" height=\"371\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Genes issue instructions to make proteins, which run the functions of our cells. Genes make up 1-2 percent of our DNA. \u003ccite>(National Institutes of Health)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Genes issue instructions to make proteins that run the functions of a cell. But discovering what any single gene mutation does is complicated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You need to know how the mutation affects the proteins, and how the proteins related to the disease. You also want to know whether the mutation has appeared in other family members who have experienced symptoms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’re playing all these games like a detective story,” says Starr, “trying to solve a mystery.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One way to get a diagnosis is by looking at previous research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dr. Michael Bamshad once found a mutation in a gene called MYLPF in a boy who had no muscles in his foot. Bamshad found a mouse study in which researchers had made a deliberate mutation MYLPF, resulting in a complete lack of skeletal muscle in the rodent. That was enough evidence to conclude the MYLPF gene was involved in the boy’s condition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But sometimes there is no published research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bigelow says geneticists who told him of Tess’ mutation didn’t know what the USP7 gene did.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We know this is the gene, but we don’t know anything more than that,” says Bigelow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Easing the Isolation\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bigelow put out a beacon to other families who might have the same mutation: \u003ca href=\"http://www.portlandrootsmedia.com/tess-genetic-mystery\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a website\u003c/a> and social media posts. Remarkably, it took \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/2016/05/10/social-media-uncovers-rare-diagnosis-after-years-of-frustration/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">less than a day\u003c/a> for a response. Researchers are now examining his daughter’s case, and at their request Bigelow has used his website to find two more families with the same mutation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it’s a lot slower for families and researchers to search through hundreds of websites and Facebook pages for common ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/My-gene2.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-174459\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/My-gene2.png\" alt=\"My gene2\" width=\"627\" height=\"264\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/My-gene2.png 627w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/My-gene2-400x168.png 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 627px) 100vw, 627px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now Bigelow and Milo Lorentzen’s parents are registered on MyGene2, where roughly 130 families are seeking information on mutations in more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.mygene2.org/MyGene2/genes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">100 genes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bamshad envisions expanding that to tens of thousands of families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our major goal is gene discovery and facilitating clinical diagnosis,” he says. “Very quickly, we could identify hundreds of Mendelian conditions and help thousands of families get a diagnosis for rare diseases.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The main stumbling block is money to pay for outreach, Bamshad says. Tens of thousands of exome sequences are siloed at individual labs and clinics around the country. Because of federal privacy laws, the only people who can share those are the families who had them commissioned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We see lots of families on Facebook who are searching for a diagnosis,” says geneticist \u003ca href=\"https://depts.washington.edu/genediv/directory/jchong\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jessica Chong\u003c/a>, MyGene2 cofounder. “It would take time to go search for them and message each one of them to say, ‘We can help you.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_174559\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 718px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2016/05/Tess-track-e1464741655230.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-174559\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2016/05/Tess-track-e1464741655230.jpg\" alt=\"Tess Bigelow stomps it out on the track where she competed in the Special Olympics.\" width=\"718\" height=\"590\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2016/05/Tess-track-e1464741655230.jpg 718w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2016/05/Tess-track-e1464741655230-400x329.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 718px) 100vw, 718px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tess Bigelow stomps it out on the track where she\u003ca href=\"http://www.portlandrootsmedia.com/strongerpodcast/2016/5/4/68-special-is-an-understatement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> prepares to compete \u003c/a>in the Special Olympics. \u003ccite>(Bo Bigelow)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Dr. Christian Schaaf, who’s working with Tess Bigelow’s mutation, says it has typically taken 15-20 years from the time a disease gene has been discovered until the first patients enter clinical trials. He’s hoping new sequencing tools and social outreach can shrink that to seven or eight years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Milo’s parents hope that new research will give them more answers. They found a U.S. lab that’s agreed to grow cell lines from Milo’s and his father’s DNA, and another lab in Europe is looking to run studies using the gene-editing tool CRISPR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the labs can replicate Milo’s mutation and study its effects, perhaps Karen Park and Peter Lorentzen will learn more about how the mutation leads to his disorder. From there, will some lab be willing to look at developing a treatment? They don’t know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s all us flying blind and making it up as we go along,” says Park.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Science writer Mary Roach is not easily repulsed. While researching her latest book, \u003cem>Grunt,\u003c/em> Roach learned all about the medicinal use of maggots in World War I. She also purposely sniffed a putrid scent known as \"Who me?\" that was developed as an experimental weapon during World War II.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Roach, it's all in the name of research. \"I'm kind of the bottom-feeder of science writing,\" Roach jokes to \u003cem>Fresh Air\u003c/em>'s Terry Gross. \"I'm just someone who is OK with being very out there with my curiosity.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Roach's curiosity compelled her in previous books to dive deep into the science of cadavers, sex and digestion. Now, in\u003cem> Grunt, \u003c/em>she examines the science of warfare — specifically some of the scientific developments that help prevent wounds from becoming infected, and improve the chances that soldiers will endure the heat of the desert and survive explosions.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Interview Highlights\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On combating the problem of diarrhea in the military \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's particularly serious among special operations service members — Army Rangers, Navy SEALs, people who are operating off the main bases in quite remote rural areas in villages where there isn't a safe water supply. They may be eating food that's been contaminated by flies, not refrigerated, so they're getting diarrhea at a rate that's twice what the average enlisted person is getting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the average enlisted person — there was a study done, I think it was 2003 to [2004] and they asked people, \"How often did you come down with diarrhea, and what kind?\" Seventy-some percent had diarrhea — 40 percent bad enough that they sought medical treatment, and 32 percent were in a situation where they couldn't get to a toilet in time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You could imagine if you were a special operations team, like three or four people going to do some highly classified critical mission where you can't really stop and say, \"Hold on, I got to go behind that rock.\" ...\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researcher that I accompanied at Camp Lemonnier [in Djibouti] is Capt. Mark Riddle, who is with the Navy, and he's looking at a better treatment regimen for traveler's diarrhea, which can really put you out of commission for a while. He's looking at a one-dose regimen, rather than three or four days; it was something that you could take, and within the day start to be feeling better and be over it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On maggots used to clean and heal wounds during WWI \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This was a battlefield in World War I, and there was a medical man, William Baer, with the French expeditionary forces, and he noticed that a couple of his patients had come in with these wounds on the legs and on the genitals. They had been out in the field for seven days. They'd been lying there, they were brought in, and the wounds were infested with maggots. ...\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Initially there was that revulsion of, \"Oh my God we've got to clean them out.\" And they did clean them out, and then what he saw was this beautiful pink, new, fresh tissue that had grown in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The maggots had been impressively effective at debriding the wound — that is, eating the dead tissue — which is important in wound healing. You want to let the fresh tissue have a chance to grow. The dead tissue doesn't get blood; it doesn't heal. It stands in the way of healing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The maggots also seemed to prevent infection ... so it was this kind of miraculous feat that the maggots had achieved. And William Baer some years later, back in civilian life, he kept thinking about this and he thought, \"I'm going to try this.\" There were some children with bone infections — it was TB infection of the bone — and he tried the maggots, and it worked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can imagine that was a fairly brave thing to do, to place maggots in these children's wounds. But they were wounds that had not responded to other treatment or surgery, and it actually worked. There's work going on still today with maggot therapy, as it's called. Actually, the FDA has approved maggots as a medical device. ... I can actually tell you the Medicare reimbursement number for maggots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On the problem of using maggots in modern hospitals\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not only is there a revulsion factor that you have to overcome with the staff — the nurses are going to have to go in — you're going to have to clean the maggots out after a couple of days. You don't want them to pupate, become flies, because you think, flies flying around a hospital is the last thing you would ever want, because a fly can spread disease from landing on material in the bathroom and then landing on a wound. It's the last thing you'd want in a hospital, so you have to be careful using maggots. ...\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They're not any old maggots. They're a particular kind of bottle fly. They're from a company called Medical Maggots. They come with a dosage card — it's something like five to eight maggots per such-and-such square centimeters. ... They come in a vial, kind of like drugs. You don't want to just sort of attract any kind of fly to come and lay eggs in a wound. That would be a little dicey. ... You need a prescription, though!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On the usage of stink bombs during WWII \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I use the term \"stink bomb\" sort of casually ... this was more specifically a ... squirtable spray, or a smearable paste. The idea was to get this very simple, cheap weapon into the hands of resistance organizations. People in occupied countries — France, China — give it to them, and they would surreptitiously approach officers, German or Japanese officers, and squirt this little 2-inch tube of this very heavily researched and tested, very foul-smelling odor, which was nicknamed \"Who Me?\" as in \"Who dealt it.\" So it was a kind of surreal and bizarre chapter in the history of World War II. ...\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The thought was to give motivated citizens things that they could easily and cheaply use to undermine morale, to isolate, humiliate these officers. It's a very small gesture; it wasn't going to turn the tide of war. And in fact, \"Who Me?\" — this smell paste — was never deployed. The project went on for two years. And a lot of testing went on, because of a tremendous amount of difficulty with the delivery system. The tubes tended to leak and dribble, and then the operator, himself or herself, would have this stench on their hand. ... It was a bit of a fiasco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On the ongoing research to find a universal bad smell for stink bombs \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There's still work that goes on. Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia has done work over the years on malodorants. They created one called \"Stench Soup.\" ...The Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate, back in the '90s, commissioned them to come up with a universally loathed scent, because there are some cultural differences. They actually looked into different cultural reactions to the scent of vomit, of burned hair, of dirty feet, all of these different odors to see, \"Can we find one that is universally loathed?\" And then we could use that in any military setting, in any country, in any culture. It's very hard to do. If you don't know what you are smelling — for example, butyric acid, depending on the context, may smell like smelly feet or it may smell like Parmesan cheese, just completely depends on the context, whether you think it smells good or bad. ...\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I actually have, in a box in my closet, a sample of \"stench soup.\" It's in a bottle that is double bagged and sealed with paraffin and packed in a box and I haven't had the courage to open up, because the last time I opened up something that came from the Monell Chemical Senses Center, which was an old archival sample of \"Who Me?\" and I opened it up out on the deck, it was quite some time before anybody could go out on the deck. I actually gagged. As you can imagine, I'm not easily repulsed or ... disgusted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2016 Fresh Air. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/\">Fresh Air\u003c/a>.\u003cimg src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=From+Medical+Maggots+To+Stench+Soup%2C+%27Grunt%27+Explores+The+Science+Of+Warfare&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Science writer Mary Roach is not easily repulsed. While researching her latest book, \u003cem>Grunt,\u003c/em> Roach learned all about the medicinal use of maggots in World War I. She also purposely sniffed a putrid scent known as \"Who me?\" that was developed as an experimental weapon during World War II.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Roach, it's all in the name of research. \"I'm kind of the bottom-feeder of science writing,\" Roach jokes to \u003cem>Fresh Air\u003c/em>'s Terry Gross. \"I'm just someone who is OK with being very out there with my curiosity.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Roach's curiosity compelled her in previous books to dive deep into the science of cadavers, sex and digestion. Now, in\u003cem> Grunt, \u003c/em>she examines the science of warfare — specifically some of the scientific developments that help prevent wounds from becoming infected, and improve the chances that soldiers will endure the heat of the desert and survive explosions.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Interview Highlights\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On combating the problem of diarrhea in the military \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's particularly serious among special operations service members — Army Rangers, Navy SEALs, people who are operating off the main bases in quite remote rural areas in villages where there isn't a safe water supply. They may be eating food that's been contaminated by flies, not refrigerated, so they're getting diarrhea at a rate that's twice what the average enlisted person is getting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the average enlisted person — there was a study done, I think it was 2003 to [2004] and they asked people, \"How often did you come down with diarrhea, and what kind?\" Seventy-some percent had diarrhea — 40 percent bad enough that they sought medical treatment, and 32 percent were in a situation where they couldn't get to a toilet in time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You could imagine if you were a special operations team, like three or four people going to do some highly classified critical mission where you can't really stop and say, \"Hold on, I got to go behind that rock.\" ...\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researcher that I accompanied at Camp Lemonnier [in Djibouti] is Capt. Mark Riddle, who is with the Navy, and he's looking at a better treatment regimen for traveler's diarrhea, which can really put you out of commission for a while. He's looking at a one-dose regimen, rather than three or four days; it was something that you could take, and within the day start to be feeling better and be over it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On maggots used to clean and heal wounds during WWI \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This was a battlefield in World War I, and there was a medical man, William Baer, with the French expeditionary forces, and he noticed that a couple of his patients had come in with these wounds on the legs and on the genitals. They had been out in the field for seven days. They'd been lying there, they were brought in, and the wounds were infested with maggots. ...\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Initially there was that revulsion of, \"Oh my God we've got to clean them out.\" And they did clean them out, and then what he saw was this beautiful pink, new, fresh tissue that had grown in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The maggots had been impressively effective at debriding the wound — that is, eating the dead tissue — which is important in wound healing. You want to let the fresh tissue have a chance to grow. The dead tissue doesn't get blood; it doesn't heal. It stands in the way of healing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The maggots also seemed to prevent infection ... so it was this kind of miraculous feat that the maggots had achieved. And William Baer some years later, back in civilian life, he kept thinking about this and he thought, \"I'm going to try this.\" There were some children with bone infections — it was TB infection of the bone — and he tried the maggots, and it worked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can imagine that was a fairly brave thing to do, to place maggots in these children's wounds. But they were wounds that had not responded to other treatment or surgery, and it actually worked. There's work going on still today with maggot therapy, as it's called. Actually, the FDA has approved maggots as a medical device. ... I can actually tell you the Medicare reimbursement number for maggots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On the problem of using maggots in modern hospitals\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not only is there a revulsion factor that you have to overcome with the staff — the nurses are going to have to go in — you're going to have to clean the maggots out after a couple of days. You don't want them to pupate, become flies, because you think, flies flying around a hospital is the last thing you would ever want, because a fly can spread disease from landing on material in the bathroom and then landing on a wound. It's the last thing you'd want in a hospital, so you have to be careful using maggots. ...\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They're not any old maggots. They're a particular kind of bottle fly. They're from a company called Medical Maggots. They come with a dosage card — it's something like five to eight maggots per such-and-such square centimeters. ... They come in a vial, kind of like drugs. You don't want to just sort of attract any kind of fly to come and lay eggs in a wound. That would be a little dicey. ... You need a prescription, though!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On the usage of stink bombs during WWII \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I use the term \"stink bomb\" sort of casually ... this was more specifically a ... squirtable spray, or a smearable paste. The idea was to get this very simple, cheap weapon into the hands of resistance organizations. People in occupied countries — France, China — give it to them, and they would surreptitiously approach officers, German or Japanese officers, and squirt this little 2-inch tube of this very heavily researched and tested, very foul-smelling odor, which was nicknamed \"Who Me?\" as in \"Who dealt it.\" So it was a kind of surreal and bizarre chapter in the history of World War II. ...\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The thought was to give motivated citizens things that they could easily and cheaply use to undermine morale, to isolate, humiliate these officers. It's a very small gesture; it wasn't going to turn the tide of war. And in fact, \"Who Me?\" — this smell paste — was never deployed. The project went on for two years. And a lot of testing went on, because of a tremendous amount of difficulty with the delivery system. The tubes tended to leak and dribble, and then the operator, himself or herself, would have this stench on their hand. ... It was a bit of a fiasco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On the ongoing research to find a universal bad smell for stink bombs \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There's still work that goes on. Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia has done work over the years on malodorants. They created one called \"Stench Soup.\" ...The Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate, back in the '90s, commissioned them to come up with a universally loathed scent, because there are some cultural differences. They actually looked into different cultural reactions to the scent of vomit, of burned hair, of dirty feet, all of these different odors to see, \"Can we find one that is universally loathed?\" And then we could use that in any military setting, in any country, in any culture. It's very hard to do. If you don't know what you are smelling — for example, butyric acid, depending on the context, may smell like smelly feet or it may smell like Parmesan cheese, just completely depends on the context, whether you think it smells good or bad. ...\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I actually have, in a box in my closet, a sample of \"stench soup.\" It's in a bottle that is double bagged and sealed with paraffin and packed in a box and I haven't had the courage to open up, because the last time I opened up something that came from the Monell Chemical Senses Center, which was an old archival sample of \"Who Me?\" and I opened it up out on the deck, it was quite some time before anybody could go out on the deck. I actually gagged. As you can imagine, I'm not easily repulsed or ... disgusted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2016 Fresh Air. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/\">Fresh Air\u003c/a>.\u003cimg src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=From+Medical+Maggots+To+Stench+Soup%2C+%27Grunt%27+Explores+The+Science+Of+Warfare&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Federal health officials on Thursday approved an innovative new option for Americans struggling with addiction to heroin and painkillers: a drug-oozing implant that curbs craving and withdrawal symptoms for six months at a time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>. Roughly 2.5 million Americans suffer from addiction disorders related to the drugs, according to federal estimates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The implant from Braeburn Pharmaceuticals is essentially a new, long-term delivery system for an established drug, buprenorphine, which has long been used to treat opioid addiction. But its implantable format could help patients avoid dangerous relapses that can occur if they miss a medication dose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The matchstick-size implant slowly releases a low dose of buprenorphine over six months. Previously the drug was only available as a pill or film that dissolves under the tongue. It is considered a safer, more palatable alternative to methadone, the decades-old standard for controlling opioid addiction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Probuphine is intended for patients who have already been stabilized on low-to-medium doses of buprenorphine for at least a half year. Braeburn estimates that one fourth, or 325,000, of the 1.3 million patients currently taking buprenorphine meet that criterion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The FDA previously rejected Probuphine in 2012, judging the drug's dose was too low to reliably help the broad range of opioid-addicted patients. Braeburn and partner Titan Pharmaceuticals resubmitted the product with additional data and it received a positive endorsement from federal advisers earlier this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The FDA said Thursday that Probuphine should be used as part of a multipronged addiction treatment program that includes counseling and other forms of support. Doctors who implant the device must also receive special training to safely insert and remove the device.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>FDA officials are spotlighting new treatment options for opioid abuse, after weathering heavy criticism for not acting faster to combat the epidemic of addiction and overdose tied to the drugs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We must do everything we can to make new, innovative treatment options available that can help patients regain control over their lives,\" said Dr. Robert Califf, who became FDA commissioner in February.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heroin and opioid painkillers caused 28,650 fatal overdoses in 2014, the highest number on record in the U.S. Despite those numbers, experts say buprenorphine remains underused due to federal limits on how many prescriptions each doctors can write, gaps in insurance and a lack of acceptance by doctors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along with increasing compliance, Probuphine has the potential to address other problems associated with the oral buprenorphine, including illegal diversion and accidental poisoning in children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The implant comes with significant safety risks, including nerve damage and punctured skin if it accidentally moves after implantation. Patients should be seen during the first week after the procedure and at least once a month afterward for counseling and follow-up care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Braeburn's CEO Behshad Sheldon says 2,200 doctors have already signed up to take the training course required to administer Probuphine. The company could train as many as 4,000 physicians by the end of the year, she says.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The FDA previously rejected Probuphine in 2012, judging the drug's dose was too low to reliably help the broad range of opioid-addicted patients. Braeburn and partner Titan Pharmaceuticals resubmitted the product with additional data and it received a positive endorsement from federal advisers earlier this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The FDA said Thursday that Probuphine should be used as part of a multipronged addiction treatment program that includes counseling and other forms of support. Doctors who implant the device must also receive special training to safely insert and remove the device.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>FDA officials are spotlighting new treatment options for opioid abuse, after weathering heavy criticism for not acting faster to combat the epidemic of addiction and overdose tied to the drugs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We must do everything we can to make new, innovative treatment options available that can help patients regain control over their lives,\" said Dr. Robert Califf, who became FDA commissioner in February.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heroin and opioid painkillers caused 28,650 fatal overdoses in 2014, the highest number on record in the U.S. Despite those numbers, experts say buprenorphine remains underused due to federal limits on how many prescriptions each doctors can write, gaps in insurance and a lack of acceptance by doctors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along with increasing compliance, Probuphine has the potential to address other problems associated with the oral buprenorphine, including illegal diversion and accidental poisoning in children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The implant comes with significant safety risks, including nerve damage and punctured skin if it accidentally moves after implantation. Patients should be seen during the first week after the procedure and at least once a month afterward for counseling and follow-up care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Braeburn's CEO Behshad Sheldon says 2,200 doctors have already signed up to take the training course required to administer Probuphine. The company could train as many as 4,000 physicians by the end of the year, she says.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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},
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"title": "The California Report Magazine",
"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareportmagazine",
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"order": 10
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},
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"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
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"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
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"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
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"order": 1
},
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"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "WNYC"
},
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"hidden-brain": {
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"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
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"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
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"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
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