February 27, 2018 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Deaths Linked to Anti-Anxiety Drugs Rise, But Fly Under the Radar (KPBS)
• WHO warns of soaring rates of measles in Europe (BBC)
• Twenty U.S. states sue federal government seeking end to Obamacare (Reuters)
• Serious eye diseases accurately diagnosed through artificial intelligence (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Cancer therapy poised for rapid advances, noted researcher says (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Can alcohol really help you live longer? Here’s what the research says (Time)

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• What happens if earth gets 2 degrees Celsius warmer? (Popular Science)
• White nationalist Jared Taylor sues Twitter over ban (BBC)
• 'Big data' predictions spur detentions in China's Xinjiang: Human Rights Watch (Reuters)
• Facebook told to stop tracking in Belgium (BBC)
• .Primatologist and Author: Morality Wasn’t Invented By Religion (KPBS)
• Trunk show: Elephant genome study offers surprises (Reuters)

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East County News Service

February 14, 2018 (La Mesa) – Dr. Michael T. Long, a prominent neurologist and past president of the Grossmont Healthcare District’s Board of Directors, passed away on January 31^st I Grossmont Hospital.

Dr. Long, who started his practice in La Mesa in 1967, was the founder and first president of the San Diego Neurological Society.  He served for 12 years as a medical staff executive at Grossmont Hospital and was elected to the Grossmont Healthcare Board of directors for four years, serving as president for one year. He also served as Chief of Staff in 1987, and as Medical Staff Executive in support of the Chiefs of Staff from 1988 until his retirement in 2006.

February 13, 2018 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Germs in airplane cabins are bad, but it's even worse at the airport terminal (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Middle age is not too late to increase cardiac fitness, studies show (Jewish World Review)
• U.S. flu outbreak worsens; hospitalizations highest in nearly a decade: CDC (Reuters)
• Where do you go when you die?  The increasing signs that human consciousness remains after death   (Newsweek)
• Blue Dye Kills Malaria Parasites — But There Is One Catch (NPR)

SCIENCE AND TECH

• Count marks sharp drop in Monarch butterflies wintering in California (Reuters)
• Robots take to the slopes on sidelines of Winter Games (Reuters)
• Second asteroid in a week to pass close to Earth on Friday (Reuters)  
• Cheddar Man: DNA shows early Briton had dark skin (BBC)
• Artificial intelligence plays budding role in courtroom bail decisions (CS Monitor)
• Be My Eyes - new app for the blind (Reason)
• 50 Top Women in STEM (TheBestSchools.org)
• Seattle finds Facebook in violation of city campaign finance law (Reuters)
• Dry, warm start to winter saps Rocky Mountain snowpack (KPBS)

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February 7, 2018 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• A renewed push for single payer at California healthcare hearing (KPCC)
• Congress has quietly created a new health care crisis for 26 million Americans (VOX)
• Digital health tracking: preventive care or privacy invasion? (Harvard Health Publishing)

SCIENCE & TEHCNOLOGY

• Sprawling Maya network discovered under Guatemalan jungle (BBC)
• An aquarium accident may have given this crayfish DNA to take over the world (Science Magazine)
• Disturbing losses of protective ozone near Earth’s equator may be tied to short-lived chemicals (Science Magazine)
• U.S. shuts down cybercrime ring launched by Ukrainian (Reuters)

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East County News Service

February 2, 2018 (La Mesa) – The Grossmont Healthcare District’s Dr. William C. Herrick Community Health Care Library in La Mesa will host “Fitness and Fun for Life!,” a free program on the County of San Diego’s Feeling Fit Club program and the Sharp Grossmont Mall Walker program, from 10 to 11 a.m., Wednesday, Feb. 28. The program is part of the library’s “Wellness Wednesday” series, normally held on the fourth Wednesday of the month. Admission is free and RSVP is not necessary. Light refreshments will be served. Handouts will be available. The library is located at 9001 Wakarusa St.

East County News Service

January 31, 2018 (San Diego) -- The flu is taking a deadly toll locally. Last week, 32 people died of the flu in San Diego County, including a 10-year-old boy. 

So far this season, 206 flu deaths have been reported, according to County Health and Human Services Agency announced today.

East County News Service

January 29, 2018 (La Mesa) – The volunteer citizens group monitoring the spending of millions of dollars in public funds for new and improved patient care facilities at Sharp Grossmont Hospital has a new member. Jimmy Parker, a certified public accountant (CPA), has joined the Independent Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee (ICBOC). The Grossmont Healthcare District (GHD), the public agency managing the bond-financed construction at the hospital, recently approved the appointment of Parker to the ICBOC.

January 24, 2018 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Cancer blood test ‘enormously exciting’ (BBC)
• Opioid commission member: out work is a sham (CNN)
• Trump administration plans to gut drug prevention office  (CBS)
• U.S. health agency revokes Obama-era Planned Parenthood protection (Reuters)
• Delaware sues opioid manufacturers, distributors over epidemic (Reuters)
• E-Cigarettes Likely Encourage Kids to Try Tobacco But May Help Adults Quit (NPR)
• My two-decade journey with cancer immunotherapy (Healthline)

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

• Job creator or job killer? Trump angers solar installers with tariff on solar panels (Reuters)
• Why did two-thirds of these weird antelope suddenly drop dead? (The Atlantic)
• How Dangerous Is Misinformation on Facebook? (NPR)
• Rupert Murdoch: Facebook should pay for news (BBC)
• Facebook to use surveys to boost ‘trustworthy’ news (BBC)

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

By Elizabeth Aguilera, CALmatters

Photo:  A hospital emergency room entrance. Photo by M.O. Stevens via Wikimedia Commons

January 20, 2018 (Sacramento) - With Congress ending the requirement that all Americans have health insurance, California leaders are preparing to counter that move by securing health care for as many residents as possible in a fortified state insurance exchange.

January 17, 2018 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Pharma giant Pfizer pulls out of Alzheimer’s research (BBC)
• Administration to shield health workers who don’t want to perform abortions or treat transgender patients (Politico)
• French salmonella baby milk scandal 'affects 83 countries' (BBC)
• BRCA gene mutation 'doesn't affect breast cancer survival' (BBC)
• Florida monkeys excreting rare diseases that can kill humans, scientists warn (Guardian)
• Salmonella May Have Caused Massive Aztec Epidemic, Study Finds (NPR)

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• Martian ice deposits could sustain human outposts in future (Reuters)
• These birds of prey are deliberately setting forests on fire (Science Alert)
• Space-X defends rocket performance after loss of U.S. spy satellite (Reuters)
• Senate advances bill to renew NSA's internet surveillance program (Reuters)
• 21 states sue to keep net neutrality as Senate Democrats reach 50 votes (Reuters)
• Scientists Say Fluctuating Jet Stream May Be Causing Extreme Weather Events (NPR)
• Researchers Spot Massive Black Hole in Double 'Burp' (NPR)
• Australia's Heat Wave Fries Bats' Brains, Hundreds Found Dead (NPR)

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East County News Service

Photo:  from left to right: GHD board members Randy Lenac, Gloria Chadwick; Kaye Kelley, Mark Klaus, Edward Hershey, Home of Guiding Hands; GHD board members Michael Emerson, Virginia Hall, Robert “Bob” Ayres.

January 10, 2018 (La Mesa) – The Grossmont Healthcare District (GHD) is continuing its support of Home of Guiding Hands (HGH), an El Cajon-based non-profit organization that provides services, training and advocacy to infants, adolescents and adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities.

By José A. Álvarez, County of San Diego Communications Office

January 9, 2018 (San Diego) - Another 46 local flu deaths were reported last week, bringing this season’s total to 91, the County Health and Human Services Agency announced today.

The new deaths were announced during a presentation by County health officials to the Board of Supervisors, who had asked during last week’s meeting if a flu emergency needed to be declared.

By Suzanne Potter, Public News Service

Photo:  Medicaid serves more than 74 million children, low-income adults, and people in nursing homes across the United States. (NACHC)

January 8, 2018 (Sacramento) - Some health experts are predicting the mother of all Medicaid and Medicare battles this year, as Republicans take a run at cutting social-service programs in order to reduce the deficit.

By Miriam Raftery

January 5, 2018 (Washington D.C.) – U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions yesterday announced he is rescinding the Cole memorandum, an Obama administration policy that prevented the federal government from interfering with states that voted to legalize marijuana sales and use, though prosecutors could still target drug smugglers or criminals targeting minors. 

 Under Sessions’ new policy, federal prosecutors in states where pot is legal can now choose how aggressively they wish to enforce federal marijuana law. The action causes confusion in California, where sales of recreational marijuana began January 1^st in accordance with a voter-approved ballot initiative, and could have a chilling effect nationally.  Around 40 states have legalized medical marijuana and eight states plus the District of Columbia also allow recreational marijuana use.

By Miriam Raftery

January 4, 2017 (San Diego) – An e-coli outbreak that has sickened 58 people in the U.S., including California, and Canada is likely tied to consumption of romaine lettuce. At least one patient has died, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports.