Staying #Up2Date 🚨

1: PP in the Pee Pee 🫣

For the first time ever, research published in Nature demonstrated that human penile tissue specimens contained microplastics. Six individuals undergoing inflatable penile prosthesis (IPP) placement for the treatment of erectile dysfunction took part in the study. Polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) — found in everyday goods and packaging — were identified predominantly via microspectroscopy. 

2: Guideline watch 👀

The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has released statement recommendations for interventions in children (6 y.o.) and adolescents with a high BMI. A systematic review with over 60 studies revealed that:

• Comprehensive, intensive behavioral interventions (i.e. supervised physical activity, education on healthy diet, and strategizing on behavior change) totalling 26 contact hours or more for up to 1 year resulted in weight loss.

• Involving parents and family achieved better outcomes.

• At this time, there is insufficient evidence to make concluding statements about using medications as an intervention for high BMI in children and adolescents. 

Updated Canadian practice guidelines on pediatric obesity are in progress. 

3: S/O to percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) 🫀

An observational study investigated whether patients surviving the early phase of a STEMI had long-term excess mortality. Over 18K patients treated with PCI were matched against an age- and- sex-matched general population of 90K. In primary PCI-treated STEMI patients on guideline-recommended therapy, those surviving the first 90 days had a 10-year mortality that was only 2% higher than that of the general population - a testament to modern cardiology!

One Big Thing: Tweet Others with Kindness

As social media pops up more in schools, some officials worry about the impact it’s having on young kids.

What happened: Surgeon general Dr. Vivek Murthy called on Congress to put warning labels on social media platforms similar to the ones on cigarette cartons.

Why it’s interesting: About 95% of youths aged 13 to 17 use social media. A third of them admit to using the apps “constantly.” Researchers at The Conversation say too much screen time can cause negative physical, behavioural, and cognitive outcomes, which include:

• Cyberbullying: Some adolescents may get harassed online, resulting in anxiety or depressive symptoms.

• Pressure for social validation: Youths may feel pressured to post/write certain things to gain more likes and followers.

• Body image issues: Social media can sometimes portray unrealistic body types and beauty standards, leading people to feel dissatisfied with themselves.

• Distraction: Research found that it can take up to 20 minutes for students to regain focus after being distracted by their smartphones. 

But: it’s important to remember that these factors are correlational and not every person who uses social media experiences them. One of the benefits of social media use is its ability to create communities. Youths who are a part of the LGBTQIA+ community can use the apps to support others, receive information, and develop their identity. 

Dr. Murthy believes Congress should implement legislation that would protect young people from online harassment, abuse, and exploitation. This includes preventing apps from collecting sensitive data from users and disabling push notifications and autoplay, which can prey on developing brains and cause excessive use. 

That’s not the only public health crisis he’s tackling. Yesterday, he also declared the Surgeon General’s Advisory on Firearm Violence, following a spate of mass shootings in the first weekend of summer. "For too long, this issue has been mired in polarization and politics, but our goal, my goal, is to take this issue out of the realm of politics and put it into the realm of public health, which is where it belongs," says Murthy.

Bottom line: While warning users that social media could be harmful won’t stop youths from using them, it can be a helpful reminder that social media isn’t always a representation of real life. Potentially, it could remind parents to set limits on how long their children spend on the apps. 

Hot off the Press

1: 🥵 2024 is coming in hot. The CDC says there have been extremely high rates of heat-related emergencies — though not necessarily in proportion to the highest temperatures. Why? The hottest regions have more infrastructure to deal with it, and people are more used to it. Check out the CDC’s heat risk tool to see the heat forecast for your ZIP code.

2: 🥛As the H5N1 outbreak in the US nears the three-month mark, the USDA secretary is urging farmers to take protective measures with the use of personal protective equipment, limiting traffic, and increasing disinfection practices. “The more we learn about H5N1, the more we understand that good biosecurity is a critically important path to containing the virus,” he wrote in an op-ed last Friday.

3: 🇺🇸 Former President Donald Trump has an idea: eliminate income tax. How? Simple: applying tariffs to imports. Which theoretically could work… if the average tariff rate was 85%.

4: 🔭 In case you were worried, NASA’s Voyager 1 is back up and running. After a technical glitch with its flight data system seven months ago, NASA completed the repair last month and has since returned to normal operating modes. Voyager 1 and 2 are the first human-made objects to reach interstellar space.

5: 🫘 Here’s to the surgeons and patient who tackled a kidney transplant… while the patient was awake. A first for the Chicago-based healthcare system, the 28-year-old was discharged the next day. Instead of general anesthesia, anesthesiologists administered a single-spinal anesthesia shot. We commend the doctors and the patient for having some real backbone!

6:🗣️Travel back to 2020 tonight as Former President Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden square off in a debate ahead of the presidential election this fall. The debate starts at 9 p.m ET and will be 90 minutes long. The candidates are expected to discuss immigration, public safety, reproductive rights, and foreign policy.

Notable Numbers 🔢

1%: the increase in US healthcare prices that lowers an employer’s headcount by about 0.4%, according to a new study. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, rising health care prices may be costing Americans jobs.

50 weeks: the curriculum length of Advanced Course in Communication and Physician Examination, a class at Saint Peter’s University Hospital in New Brunswick, NJ that teaches communication skills to physicians.

$6.7 billion: the price Jazz Pharmaceuticals announced that it’ll spend to buy cannabis-focused drugmaker GW Pharmaceuticals. UK’s GW Pharma is best known for making a cannabis-derived drug for patients with rare and severe forms of epilepsy, which is the first cannabis-derived drug approved by the FDA.

Postcall Picks

😂 Laugh: Medicine vs. Surgery: A Tale as Old as Time.

🛡️ Insure: As many of you transition to the end of residency and into full time work, now’s a great time to look into disability insurance. Good thing we wrote a quick primer a couple months for you!

💳️ Buy: Need a new computer or iPad? Until 9/30, get a gift card for up to $150 when you buy Mac or iPad from the Apple Education Store.

🧠 Learn: how an ENT crushed $300,000 in student loans while balancing saving, investing, and building wealth in the latest episode of the WCI. He and his wife prioritized expensive fertility treatments first, and now they've grown their family, paid off debt, and built a solid financial future.

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