News from the USA, United States of America

[Sly Saint]

'I don't know if CDC will survive, to be quite frank': Former CDC officials describe the disintegration of the agency under RFK​

MSN

 

[bicentennial]

Nursing Excluded as 'Professional' Degree By Department of Education

The Trump administration's "One Big Beautiful Bill" excludes nursing from graduate degree programs deemed as 'professional.' The move impacts loan funding, healthcare delivery, and patient care access.

nurse.org

What on earth did President Trump have and hold against the nurses?

 

[Hutan]

Nursing Excluded as 'Professional' Degree By Department of Education

detail from that article:

To clarify who can access that money as a professional student, the Department of Education categorized the following programs as professional:

• Medicine
• Pharmacy
• Dentistry
• Optometry
• Law
• Veterinary medicine
• Osteopathic medicine
• Podiatry
• Chiropractic
• Theology
• Clinical psychology

Notably excluded from that list?
Nurse practitioners, along with physician assistants and physical therapists.

I find it extraordinary that some of those fields e.g. chiropractic are on the list and yet graduate nursing is not. It really illustrates some of the mindsets we are up against.

 

[Chandelier]

International Long COVID conference spotlights biomarker and mechanism research - The Sick Times

The event, now in its third year, also revealed updates about clinical trials and healthcare for the disease.

thesicktimes.org

 

[Trish]

A post has been moved to:
(Medscape) “ How to Help With ME/CFS and Long COVID Disability Claims”

 

[Chandelier]

New center launches with focus on chronic infectious diseases - UT Health San Antonio

The University of Texas at San Antonio marked the launch of its new Center for Chronic Infectious Diseases on Nov. 14 with an inaugural symposium highlighting research on post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (long COVID), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), tuberculosis (TB) and endemic...

news.uthscsa.edu

The University of Texas at San Antonio marked the launch of its new Center for Chronic Infectious Diseases.

 

[Chandelier]

Innovations to help chronically ill people thrive

Stanford Medicine experts are developing innovative approaches to preventing, diagnosing and treating chronic diseases so people can live healthier lives.

stanmed.stanford.edu

Article about Ron Davis:

Renowned geneticist has spent the past 12 years focused on the disease that has taken so much from his son​

Ron Davis, a genetics pioneer at Stanford Medicine, has spent more than a decade studying ME/CFS, driven by his son Whitney Dafoe’s severe illness. Dafoe, who once relied entirely on a feeding tube and remains largely bedridden, has recently shown some improvement from an off-label medication, though he is far from cured.

ME/CFS affects at least 3.3 million people in the United States, yet treatments remain limited to symptom management, and federal research funding has been sparse. Many patients encounter disbelief from medical professionals. Since 2013, Davis has relied largely on private donations to launch extensive research, including a major “big data” project profiling severely ill patients and healthy volunteers. Completed in 2018, the dataset revealed numerous metabolic abnormalities.

Davis’ research points to disruptions in metabolism, possibly triggered by infections that permanently alter energy production via the metabolite itaconate. He also sees parallels between ME/CFS and long COVID. Another line of investigation focuses on nitric oxide production and related gene mutations.

Despite the need for further testing, Davis is encouraged that existing drugs target these pathways. A few patients have improved on a JAK-STAT inhibitor, giving him hope that ME/CFS might ultimately be treatable.

 

[Chandelier]

After a diagnosis of long COVID, cellist Joshua Roman builds community around Immunity - Chicago Reader

The concert is free to all with an RSVP, but it’s intended first and foremost for audience members living with long COVID and other chronic illnesses.

chicagoreader.com

Cello concerto in Chicago, free entry for pwME:
Joshua Roman Mon 12/8, 7 PM, the Arbory, 2219 W. Grand, reservations available, face masks encouraged, free, all ages

AI Summary:

The piece describes how cellist and composer Joshua Roman—known for joking that Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 Prelude is “a cellist’s way of saying hello”—had to rediscover his craft after long COVID left him too weak to play. Now recovered enough to perform and having released his debut album Immunity, he focuses on concerts for people with long COVID and other chronic illnesses, including a free Chicago performance featuring both his own works and pieces by other composers.

 

[SNT Gatchaman]

FDA appoints Tracy Hoeg as acting director of drug evaluation center (Reuters)

The appointment of Hoeg, a COVID vaccine skeptic and close aide to FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, comes as U.S. Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. makes stark changes at the agency.

Hoeg, who opposed key U.S. health policies during the COVID-19 pandemic and questioned the use of some childhood vaccines, was named a special assistant to Makary in April.

A physician and epidemiologist, Hoeg has also practiced physical and interventional spine and sports medicine before joining the FDA as senior adviser for clinical sciences in the office of the commissioner and the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

Both Hoeg and Makary expressed contrarian views on U.S. COVID policies, including opposition to mask requirements for children and universal vaccine mandates for the public, while supporting vaccination in general as a key public health measure.

Lead author of How methodological pitfalls have created widespread misunderstanding about long COVID (2023)