Alzheimer’s road test

Could grandma have Alzheimer’s? Monitor her driving with GPS and you may be able to tell. A study by a group of Canadian and U.S. researchers found that “there were characteristic behaviours in the preclinical Alzheimer’s group, […] which meant they could be distinguished from the normal controls with 86% accuracy.”

And no, it wasn’t stuff like weaving or driving in circles. Pre-Alzheimer’s patients were more likely to take shorter trips or avoid driving at night, for example — although “Other signals for preclinical Alzheimer’s were driving too slowly [and] abrupt changes in braking or acceleration (jerking)” meaning the system may not be as effective in Florida.

Just live with the pain for nine months I guess

Should pregnant women take OTC pain relievers? According to Scottish researchers, nope. They looked at data on more than 150,000 pregnancies, and the effects of acetaminophen, aspirin, diclofenac, ibuprofen, and naproxen, and were not happy with what they found.

[E]xpectant mothers using the medications have about one and half times greater risks of a preterm delivery, stillbirth or neonatal death, physical defects and other problems, compared with those who did not take these drugs.

Unwelcome, but not unsurprising

Georgia’s Covid infection cases have more than doubled in the past two weeks — rising 143 percent, according to DPH numbers, compared to the nationwide average of 94 percent. Almost all are unvaccinated people who declined the shot(s).

Just plain unsurprising

At least half a dozen private health insurers have said ‘HAHAHAHAHA! No, we’re not covering Biogen’s $56,000-a-year, unproven Alzheimer’s treatment.’ (The derisive laugh is assumed.)

Six affiliates of Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Florida, New York, Michigan, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania say in newly adopted policies they will not cover the Cambridge biotech’s drug, Aduhelm, because they consider it “investigational” or “experimental” or because “a clinical benefit has not been established.”

Shut up a minute

How can you turn a preschooler’s vaccination into a traumatic event? Two ways, found Canadian psychology researchers.

First, you can mock them from being afraid. That’s obvious. But tactic number 2: Try to distract them with positive statements in the first minute after the shot.

“What we found is that in the first minute after the needle, the more parents said coping-promoting statements, such as ‘you can do this’ and ‘it will be over soon’ or tried to distract them with talking about something else*, the higher distressed the children were. This really surprised us.”

If for some reason you want to make the little whippersnappers feel better, just shut up for one minute and stick to cuddling or hand-holding.

“[D]uring the second minute after the vaccine, when the child was calmer, these same coping promoting statements resulted in them calming down faster.”

* No, we don’t understand why they would say these things after the shot, either.

Alcohol, good or bad (July 15 edition)?

Today’s answer (rolls 20-side die): Bad! Yep, WHO oncologists say that even light to moderate drinkers have a notably greater risk of several forms of cancer, including breast, colon, and oral.

“For example, each standard sized glass of wine per day is associated with a 6 per cent higher risk for developing female breast cancer.”

Roll an immunity check

No gateway here

States that legalized marijuana have not seen an increase in opioid overdoses (found researchers at Pitt), allaying fears it was a gateway drug. In fact, those states saw a short-term decline in opioid emergencies.

The four states with recreational cannabis laws experienced a 7.6% reduction in opioid-related emergency department visits for six months after the law went into effect, compared to the states that didn’t implement such laws.

If the feds OK it, you can’t sue in state court

A Florida judge has ruled that no, patients can’t sue generic drug makers in state court if manufacturers were following federal labeling requirements. (I mean, this is the law, so that’s the broad-stroke explanation. Talk to your attorney if you want legal advice.)

The case involves drugs containing ranitidine, which transforms into the carcinogen NDMA. First the feds set acceptable NDMA levels, then they pulled all drugs with ranitidine from the market. In between, though, patients had filed state lawsuits for “failure-to-warn” and negligence.

Nope, said the judge. Federal labeling decisions protect drugmakers from claims made in state court.

Today’s weird health fact

According to public-health researchers at Rutgers, lesbian, gay, and bisexual smokers — especially women — are more likely to smoke menthol cigarettes.

[A]mong smokers, 54 and 50 percent of bisexual and lesbian/gay females smokers preferred menthol cigarettes, respectively, compared with 39 percent of smokers overall.

(We learned last week that smokers of menthols have a harder time quitting.)