Biden signs a new executive order regarding abortion rights: “Women’s lives and health are at stake.”

Biden signs a new executive order regarding abortion rights: “Women’s lives and health are at stake.”

by | Aug 4, 2022 | Women's Health

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden signed an executive order to ensure abortion access in light of the Supreme Court decision earlier this summer to abolish the constitutional right.

According to the President, the order will allow women to travel outside of their state in order to have abortions. It also ensures that health care providers follow federal law so women don’t delay getting care. The order also advances research and data collection “to assess the effect this reproductive health crisis has on maternal health and other outcomes.”

Biden spoke out about the chaos and uncertainty that has followed the Supreme Court decision. She said, “Women’s health and lives are at risk.”

Before signing the order, Biden stated that emergency medical care was being denied to miscarriage victims, doctors uncertain as to what they can provide for patients, pharmacists unsure if they can fill prescriptions they have filled before, and that there were tragic cases of rape survivors including a 10-year old girl who had to travel to another country for treatment.

This order comes just days after Kansas voters gave abortion-rights advocates a huge victory, defeating a measure which would have allowed the GOP to impose additional restrictions. Biden was proud to celebrate the victory at the White House.

“In a decisive win, voters made clear that they did not want politicians to interfere with women’s fundamental rights. The voters of Kansas sent a strong signal that they will vote this fall to protect and preserve the right and refuse to be taken away by politicians,” Biden stated at the event. And my administration has their back.”

Biden signed the executive orders during the inaugural meeting for the newly established Task Force on Reproductive Healthcare Access. This Task Force is made up of representatives from many departments throughout the federal government. Cabinet members gave the President an update on the actions taken by their agencies to protect reproductive rights.

The order directs Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra “to consider all appropriate actions to ensure that health care providers comply federal non-discrimination law so that women get medically necessary care immediately,” and to take steps to provide technical and legal guidance to health care providers amid the array of state restrictions on abortion care after the Supreme Court’s decision.

CNN reported last month that doctors are having difficulty following byzantine guidance. This is despite the fact that states have been passing increasingly restrictive abortion restrictions across the country. Experts warned of an “immediate chilling effect” on doctors performing miscarriage surgery even though they “believe what they’re doing to be within the law.”

Wednesday’s order directs HHS also to take actions to ensure that women who travel across state lines to seek abortions have access health care services. This includes Medicaid. After Republicans blocked it, the Senate passed a bill that would have allowed women to travel across state lines to obtain abortions.

Senior administration officials claim that this would allow states to cover out-of-state abortions by waiving Medicaid 1115. This waiver allows states to waive certain state-based requirements and help with covering “certain costs.”

According to Tuesday’s official, the executive order directs HHS to increase research on maternal health data in order to “exactly measure the effect that decreasing access to reproductive health services has on women’s health.”

When asked Wednesday by reporters how the executive order of the president on reproductive care does not run afoul of Hyde Amendment which prohibits federal funds being used to perform abortions in the United States, Karine Jean Pierre, White House press secretary, said that the Department of Health and Human Services would “come up the details on how they’re going to work with states” to offer care through Medicaid waivers.

Jean-Pierre explained to CNN’s MJ Lee that Medicaid provides comprehensive healthcare to women with low incomes. This care includes family planning services like contraception, non emergency medical, transportation and support services, such as targeted case management. This allows health care providers to coordinate patients’ care. “And it also covers abortion care in certain situations, as approved by the Hyde Amendment which includes rape, incest, and the life of the mother.”

Jean-Pierre explained to Lee that the executive order “will cover care otherwise part of Medicaid”, including non-emergency travel and other services related to health care.

She said, “The Hyde Amendment, it’s law, and we’re going to, we’re following that law.”

Wednesday’s executive orders is Biden’s second in response to Roe v. Wade being overturned by the Supreme Court. Biden signed last month an executive order that he claimed would protect access to contraceptives and abortion care, patient privacy, and create an interagency taskforce to use “every federal instrument available to ensure access to reproductive health care”.

The President cannot take any action to restore the right to abortion nationwide, and Biden has acknowledged publicly that he does not have the power to expand access to abortion.

A new drug could help stop depression, anxiety, brain injury, and cognitive disorders

A new drug could help stop depression, anxiety, brain injury, and cognitive disorders

by | Aug 4, 2022 | Mind & Brain

Preclinical drugs work by blocking the kinase Cdk5, which is found in mature neuron cells. Cdk5 has been associated with neuropsychiatric disorders and neurodegenerative diseases for a long time. However, prior inhibitors have not been able to cross the blood-brain border and get into the brain.

James Bibb, Ph.D. and his colleagues have reported a new preclinical drug that could combat depression, brain injury, cognitive disorders, and other mental illnesses. This drug is brain-permeable and works by blocking the enzyme Cdk5.

Cdk5 plays an important role in signaling regulation of brain neurons. It has been implicated in neuropsychiatric disorders and degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s over three decades of research. The enzyme can be removed from mice to make them more resistant to stress, improve cognition, protect neurons against stroke and brain trauma and slow down neurodegeneration.

Cdk5 inhibitors could have therapeutic benefits and offer new ways to study basic brain function. However, first- and second-generation anti Cdk5 compounds get largely blocked at the blood–brain barrier. This prevents solute movement between the blood and the extracellular fluid of central nervous system. No Cdk5 inhibitors have been approved for neuropsychiatric and degenerative conditions.

Bibb and his colleagues have now reported details about their brain-permeable anti-Cdk5 compound, 25-106. They also found that 25-106 systemic administration alters neurobehavior in mice and reduces anxiety-like behavior.

“25-106, perhaps the strongest systemic inhibitor, is an exciting and expandable pharmacological tool to examine the function of Cdk5 activation in wild-type animal models,” stated Bibb, a University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), Department of Surgery professor. “Achieving systemic application may be considered a significant step towards the testing of Cdk5 inhibits for neuropsychiatric or neurodegenerative disorders. Future studies will be able to evaluate the brain-permeable Cdk5 inhibitions’ effects on stress, anxiety and depression.

Frontiers in Pharmacology published the study “Systemic administration a brain permeable Cdk5 inhibit alters neurobehavior.”

Researchers describe the synthesis and molecular modeling of an aminopyrazole-based inhibitor. They also show that 25-106 seems to share the same hydrophobic binding area as the well-known Cdk5 inhibitor, roscovitine.

They found that 25-106 inhibited Cdk5 activity ex vivo in brain striatal slices and that it penetrated the brain in systemic administration to mice to inhibit Cdk5 vivo. They also measured the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamic parameters for 25-106 in blood plasma, brains and kidneys.

Systemic 25-106 was given to mice, which showed modified neurobehavior in open field maze and tail suspension tests. This is similar to the anxiolytic effects previously linked with Cdk5 knockout mice.

The researchers found that 25-106 is an inhibitor non-selective of Cdk5 as well as Cdk2 (another cyclin-dependentkinase kinase), but that brain levels of Cdk2 remain very low. It is not known if 25-106 can cause toxic or off-target effects on Cdk2 in the system.

According to Bibb there were three research teams involved in this study: UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine Department of Surgery neurobiologists Bibb and Alan Umfress, Ayanabha Chakraborti and Florian Plattner of Neuro-Research Strategies. Houston, Texas. UAB Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology researchers Kevin J. Ryan and Edward P. Acosta were also involved. The University of Nebraska Medical Center medicinal chemical chemists Jayapal Reddy Mallareddy and Sarbjit Singh were part of the third group.

National Institutes of Health grants MH116896,MH126948 and CA127297 provided support.

Students can take part in Mental Health Days in 12 States

Students can take part in Mental Health Days in 12 States

by | Aug 4, 2022 | Mental Health

Twelve states allow students to have mental health days at school. Five other states have similar legislation.

Schools are taking steps to address youth mental health, as anxiety and depression have become an increasing problem among teens and children.

According to data from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about one fifth of American teenagers have experienced major depression, or a persistent feeling of sadness, hopelessness or despair at one point or another.

Many schools across the country now allow students to have “mental health days” throughout the year. The Child Mind Institute, an organization that specializes in children’s mental health, says that a mental day is a day when students can take a break from school to recharge and rest.

Students can be excused from school for a variety of reasons, which vary between states and their laws. These include mental or behavioral problems similar to sick days.

Students are allowed to legally take mental health days in 12 states: Washington, California. Illinois. Maine. Virginia. Colorado. Oregon. Connecticut. Arizona. Nevada. Utah. Five states have also proposed bills to allow students to take mental health days, including Florida and New York, Maryland and Massachusetts.

Lori Riddle is a 21-year old college student who supported the bill to allow excused absences in mental health care.

Riddle explained to TODAY Parents that she was experiencing mental health struggles herself and knew that being open about my mental health was exposing myself and my struggles for criticism. “I believe it is important to take care yourself.”

Dr. Christine Crawford, an associate medical director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, stated that mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression can also cause problems at work and school. “The purpose of mental health days was to acknowledge and recognize that mental health conditions can affect a young person’s ability to fully participate in school.

The Child Mind Institute points out that students should not avoid class or assignments on mental health days. Schools may be able to help struggling students by providing them with mental health care.

Chalkbeat was told by officials at Chicago Public Schools that if a student has consecutive mental health days, the school can refer them to the “appropriate support personnel”, such as a counselor, psychologist, or psychiatrist.

“I don’t know many people who claim their mental health has been fixed because they took an mental health day,” Meghan Cuddy (senior at Jones College Prep High School) told the outlet. While I believe they can be useful, I think it is necessary to provide serious intervention to support kids’ mental health. It’s an epidemic.

Study finds American Men are more sick than their counterparts abroad

Study finds American Men are more sick than their counterparts abroad

by | Aug 4, 2022 | Men's Health

According to The Commonwealth Fund, an organization that focuses on public health issues, American men are more sick and die sooner than those living in developed countries.

The study compared men from the U.S., Australia, New Zealand and Switzerland to determine if there were any avoidable deaths, chronic conditions, or mental health issues.

According to the study, 29% of American men said they had multiple chronic diseases. Australian men were close behind at 25%. The lowest percentage of men living in France or Norway was 17%.

The study’s authors stated that men visit the doctor less often than women, regardless of stubbornness, aversion to being vulnerable or weak, or any other reason.

The report also shows that the U.S. men die from preventable deaths (deaths before 75 years) at a higher rate then the men of the other 10 countries.

Study results showed that income disparities can also impact one’s health. Low income men are more likely to smoke and drink, which can lead to heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.

The study found that low-income earners are less likely to be able to afford proper care. They also tend to not visit the doctor as often, which can lead to more serious health problems. Low-income men were less likely than their counterparts to see a regular doctor.

Researchers noted that the U.S. is still an exception, being the only industrialized country without universal healthcare. This has resulted in men not getting the care they require because the costs are too high.

They wrote that roughly 16 million U.S. males are without insurance. “Affordability is the most common reason people cite to justify not enrolling in a health plan,”

American men don’t like the U.S. healthcare system. Only 37% give it a good rating. This is even worse for men with lower incomes, as only 32% approve of the healthcare system.

The U.S. had a silver lining for men. According to the study’s authors, they have the lowest incidence of prostate cancer-related death among all countries. This is largely due to the fact that the U.S. has advanced cancer treatment options and extensive cancer testing.

Expanding the definition of “health” could increase life quality and expectancy

Expanding the definition of “health” could increase life quality and expectancy

by | Aug 4, 2022 | Living Healthy

According to a new study, adopting a holistic approach to health could increase life expectancy and improve quality of life.

McKinsey Health Institute conducted an international survey of 1,000 people in 19 countries to find out how different communities define health and the factors that influence it.

The results showed that health can be measured in all dimensions and that it is not dependent on the presence or absence of any disease. According to the report’s authors, the results suggest that people around the globe may be more focused on living full and functional lives.

Perceptions of health

Overall, 85% of respondents rated their mental and physical health very or very important. 70% rated their social health the same. 62% ranked spiritual health very or extremely important.

In terms of age, younger and older respondents rated the same physical and mental health equally important. However, older respondents ranked social and spiritual well-being less important.

Not all people perceive their health as being in good or very good condition. Respondents who had a diagnosed disease rated their health as very good or excellent, while those without it rated their health as fair, poor, or very poor.

Health perceptions were not affected by age. 60% of people aged 75-84 reported very good or excellent overall health, while 70% of those between 18 and 24 reported the exact same. The results in the United States were similar.

On some dimensions of health, such as mental health, older age groups scored higher than those in younger groups. According to authors of the report, this finding is consistent with recent studies that show Generation Z members have lower mental health.

Higher household income is associated with better health perceptions in most countries, including the United States.

Support

Results showed that family and friends offer the best health support, regardless of gender, age, or country, as well as more than any public or private healthcare system. People with a chronic disease reported receiving less health support than those without it.

According to the survey, people who reported low levels of support for their health were more likely than others to become sick. Similar studies were done in Australia and the United States. They found that older adults who are lonely, isolated and lacking in social support significantly increase their risk of dying prematurely from all causes.

According to the authors, if people, businesses, and countries increase their knowledge of health, there may be improvements in quality and life expectancy.

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