Focus

Psychedelic drugs and the law: What’s next?

Q&A — Legal scholar Robert Mikos The push to legalize magic mushrooms, MDMA, LSD and other hallucinogens is likely to heighten tensions between state and federal law, drug law expert Robert Mikos says When Oregon’s first psilocybin service center opened in June 2023, allowing those over 21 to take mind-altering mushrooms in a state-licensed facility, the psychedelic revival that had been...

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Measles is one of the deadliest and most contagious infectious diseases – and one of the most easily preventable

Young children, pregnant people and the immunocompromised are among the most vulnerable to measles. CHBD/E+ via Getty Images ~~~~~~~~~~ “You don’t count your children until the measles has passed.” Dr. Samuel Katz, one of the pioneers of the first measles vaccine in the late 1950s to early 1960s, regularly heard this tragic statement from parents in countries where the measles vaccine was not...

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The Promise & Perils of AI in Health Care & Professional Education

The 13th annual Business of Health Care conference, entitled AI, Elections and the Economy was held on February 16 at the Shalala Student Center on the University of Miami campus in Coral Gables. Produced by Miami Herbert Business School, the event boasted over 600 registrants, in-person and online. The first panel discussion of the all-day program was entitled The Promise & Perils of AI in...

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How Patients and Doctors Are Navigating the Fallout of the Massive Recall of Philips Breathing Machines

ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. Series: With Every Breath - Millions of Breathing Machines. One Dangerous Defect In 2021, Philips Respironics recalled its DreamStation breathing machines, along with other sleep apnea devices and ventilators, leaving millions of customers worldwide...

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Genes and heart disease: Finally making the link

Polygenic risk scores — a patient’s chance, based on tiny DNA variants, of developing cardiovascular disease, breast cancer and more — are coming to clinics. But there are kinks to iron out and accuracy remains an issue. What are your chances of having a heart attack in the next decade? Knowing that would likely inform your health and lifestyle choices. Your physician can feed factors including...

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How the VA Fails Veterans on Mental Health

ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. A veteran with a known history of suicidal thoughts showed up at a St. Louis hospital before dawn one morning and was left unmonitored in an exam room for hours. Another was deemed at risk of suicide by a hospital psychiatrist in Washington, D.C.,...

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