‘It’s getting hot in here’ — a look at how doctors are dealing with heat. Plus, Stanford president to resign, and more.

We made it to Thursday, everyone! Ryan Fitzgerald and Alexander Bois-Spinelli here with your dose of STAT stories in another wild edition of “Weekly Update.” We’ve had a flurry of stories this week, so let’s hop right to it….

‘It’s getting hot in here’?

No, we’re not talking about 2002’s iconic Nelly chart-topper, we’re talking about the globe. Day after day, heat records have been broken this summer, and with #extremeheat comes extreme health risks. Health professionals are trying to keep up with the demands of this new norm with stocked-up freezers with ice and plenty of body bags — which, when filled with ice, can cool a heat stroke victim twice as fast as other methods. Karen Pennar explores it all.?

An obesity clinic – for kids – in LA

At a Los Angeles clinic for kids with #obesity, doctors say their goal isn’t for children to lose weight; it’s overall wellness and health. But whether their program can work, or how, for kids already on the margins is more complicated.

Our colleague Isabella Cueto tells the story of a 9-year-old at the clinic for the latest piece in STAT’s #ObesityRevolution series.?

Stanford president to resign

If you follow our colleague Jonathan Wosen, PhD then you’ve surely seen his coverage this year of the investigation into #Stanford president and renowned neuroscientist Marc Tessier-Lavigne. Huge news dropped Wednesday when Tessier-Lavigne announced that he will resign as the university’s leader.?

His resignation came after he learned the results of the #investigation into his past research, which confirmed #data manipulation in scientific papers that he co-authored and found that he took insufficient steps to correct them. Take a look at Jonathan’s story from April for more background on the topic.?

The resignation marks more than just the startling downfall of the leader of one of the nation’s top research powerhouses. The case is likely to have broader repercussions and ultimately begs the question: Who takes the credit, or blame, in team science?

Patients and doctors worry over cancer drug shortages

Mairéad McInerney will never know if changes in her treatment plan have undercut her odds of surviving stage 3 triple-negative breast #cancer. Critical shortages in cancer drugs have forced her to change course twice which has taken an emotional toll.

Cancer physician groups have been more vocal in recent weeks about national shortages in key medications, including longtime generic drugs like carboplatin and cisplatin. For the patients and physicians involved, the shortages mean they must make difficult decisions amid the already omnipresent stress of a cancer diagnosis. Freelancer Charlotte Huff published a powerful piece this week.?

RSV Vaccine?

On Monday, the FDA approved a monoclonal antibody to protect infants and young children from severe illness caused by RSV, a potential game-changer for a disease that is the No. 1 cause of hospitalization of babies in this country. As always, Helen Branswell has the story.?

Telehealth startups and menopause treatment

Newer research shows more benefits than risks for many healthy women under 60 treating #menopause symptoms with hormone therapy. But many women who are good fits still aren’t getting treatment.?

“Women fall through the cracks,” said Lisa Larkin, president-elect of The Menopause Society and founder of concierge women’s health network Ms. Medicine. “That’s why the telemedicine business is booming.”?

Now there is a new generation of telehealth companies aiming to serve women in and approaching menopause, including with hormone therapy.?

Did Blue Cross Blue Shield evade $170 million in taxes?

Blue Cross Blue Shield of California evaded $111 million in taxes between 2016 and 2020, according to a complaint that was filed with the IRS on June 27. Elevance Health, the parent company of Anthem Blue Cross in California, evaded $60 million in taxes during the same time period, according to a separate complaint filed with the IRS.?

Our colleague Bob Herman writes that the claims renew concerns about whether health insurance companies have skirted the tax code and to what extent tax fraud could exist in the industry.

Blood test recall

QuidelOrtho recalled nearly 8,000 potentially faulty blood tests meant to help doctors quickly determine whether a patient is having a heart attack. The tests inaccurately showed low levels of troponin, a protein that indicates damage to the heart. A false negative could lead doctors to mistakenly conclude their patient is not having a heart attack.

Color Code talks the science of asthma?

The Wyandanch community on Long Island, like much of the northeastern U.S., has been impacted by heavy wildfire smoke blowing in from Canada. But Wyandanch has some of the highest rates of #asthma and the highest rate of pediatric asthma ER visits on Long Island.?

In the new episode of Color Code, host Nicholas St. Fleur speaks with a longtime Wyandanch resident and her 12-year-old daughter, who has asthma, as well as asthma expert Monica Kraft who explains the science of the disease and how air pollution makes it worse.?

“I think all of us know somebody with asthma but I think it’s sometimes relegated as a very mild disease, very simple, and it’s nothing of the sort,” Kraft said.

That’s all we have this week!

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Join us next Thursday for another edition of Weekly Update.?

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