IMPORTANT: NSAIDs and pregnancy

Women who are more than 20 weeks pregnant may face risks from NSAIDs, and the FDA will be requiring new warning labels on both OTC and prescription NSAIDs.

[T]he drugs can cause rare but serious kidney problems in the unborn baby, which can lead to low levels of amniotic fluid (the protective cushion surrounding the unborn baby) and the potential for pregnancy-related complications.

The warning does not apply to low-dose (81mg) aspirin.

Georgia to add 65K to Medicaid

Bullet points on the plan announced by Governor Kemp:

• It covers adults who earn less than $12,760 a year (for an individual). That’s about 65,000 people; a full expansion under Obamacare would cover about 600,000 Georgians.
• The plan includes ‘work requirements*,’ but those are likely to be challenged; a federal appeals court has already struck down at least one such state requirement
• Most people who earn more than $6,380 per year will be required to pay monthly premiums.
• It would begin in July 2021.
• The Trump administration denied the state’s request for federal support.
• Under the Affordable Care Act, Georgia’s expansion would have been covered 90% by the federal government and cost the state “about $150 million in the first year and $200 million annually in following years,” including savings in state spending.
• The Kemp administration estimates the cost of its plan, “Pathways to Coverage” at $218 million, plus any administrative costs.
• Georgia has the nation’s second- or third-highest uninsured rate (depending on which data you use). It’s one of only 12 states that have not expanded Medicaid.

Georgia Health News has a more detailed breakdown of the plan.

* Work, community service, job training, and some other activities are included

Minor surgery instead of insulin?

If you been waking up thinking, “I bet resurfacing the duodenum could eliminate the need for insulin,” Dutch researchers may have proven you right.

It seems that the minor surgery — when combined with a GLP-1 receptor agonist — may allow patients to stop taking insulin. It’s a small study, and it might be because of the weight loss, but “Six months after treatments began, three-quarters of participants taking insulin no longer needed it.”

“We think the effects result from a combination of changes that occur when the duodenal mucosa is ablated and rejuvenated. We think that changes in hormonal signaling, including the gut hormone GLP-1, bile acid compositions and the microbiome play an important role.”

Georgia State finds a coronavirus weakness

Georgia State researchers have found a common vulnerability among at least three coronaviruses (SARS-CoV-1, SARS-CoV-2, and MERS). That, they say, could be a pathway to “broad coronavirus inhibition” — aka, fighting all sorts of similar viruses if (when) they appear.

The masks you’ve been waiting for

They’re bacon scented, from Hormel.

Using the latest in bacon-smell technology and irresistibly breathable, 2-ply fabric, finally, bacony-bliss can be with you always — even while out in public.

Downside: It’s only two plies.

Blood test for brain tumors

The headline says it: A liquid biopsy test for blood can detect the genetic mutations that indicate the presence of gliomas — the most common type of brain tumor.

The test can accurately detect mutations of the TERT gene — mutations that “are present in more than 60 percent of all gliomas, and in 80 percent of all high-grade gliomas, the most aggressive and life-threatening type.”

Lyme detector

Computers can learn to detect Lyme disease from pictures of rashes. Yep, in theory this means you’ll be able to send a pic of the rash to … well, someone, who can then have it evaluated by an AI to help decide if you need treatment.

Evaluating the public domain images, the computer-enhanced image analysis system had an accuracy ranging from 72%, when choosing between [Lyme disease erythema migrans (EM)] and other rashes, to 94% when picking out EM from normal skin.

Amusement factor: The Johns Hopkins PR people call these “rash selfies,” but — last we checked — most rashes can’t take pictures of themselves.

Covid notes

The Mighty Os: Further proof that people with type O blood are less likely to get the coronavirus or develop severe complications comes from two separate studies.

Window of safety: Immunity lasts at least several months, but may not be permanent.

Remdesivir fails: It may shorten recovery time in mild cases, but it doesn’t lower the risk of death — nor delay ventilator use. That comes from a large, international study to be published in the NEJM.

Say what? “Covid-19 linked to sudden hearing loss” — well, one person had it happen, and now the Brits as asking others to keep a lookout.