Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Risha Gidwani @rgidwani.bsky.social · Jul 7

Sobering work out today. Compared to 18 OECD countries, kids are ~80% more likely to die in the U.S. -- mostly due to prematurity or SIDS (infants) and gun violence/car crashes (kids).

>31% of U.S. kids have a chronic illness.

All of this likely to get worse due to recent funding cuts.

Trends in US Children’s Mortality, Chronic Conditions, Obesity, Functional Status, and Symptoms

This study aims to determine how US children’s health has been changing from 2007 to 2023 using multiple data collection methods and a comprehensive set of health indicators.

jamanetwork.com

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Risha Gidwani @rgidwani.bsky.social · Jun 30

“The PSTF’s members, Kavanaugh wrote, must be appointed by the HHS secretary, who can also fire them whenever he pleases. And… Kavanaugh wrote that the HHS secretary can also directly supervise and overrule the PSTF’s decisions about which treatments must be fully covered by insurance.”

😳

The Supreme Court Just Handed RFK Jr. New and Extraordinarily Frightening Power

Congress did not give Kennedy, or any other HHS secretary, these powers. SCOTUS did.

slate.com

Risha Gidwani @rgidwani.bsky.social · Jun 13

Please read this and share widely, esp w/ your elected representatives.

“Targeted projects… were seeking cures for future pandemics, examining the causes of dementia and trying to prevent HIV transmission.

The mass cancellation of grants in response to political policy shifts has no precedent.”

Shattered Science: The Research Lost as Trump Targets NIH Funding

The Trump administration cut research funding that sought cures for future pandemics, examined the causes of dementia and tried to prevent HIV transmission. More than 150 researchers shared with ProPu...

projects.propublica.org

Risha Gidwani @rgidwani.bsky.social · Jun 13

Agreed. What are you, as a Senator, going to to about it? You can leave the posting on social media to us non-Senators.

Risha Gidwani @rgidwani.bsky.social · Jun 12

This cat needs a modeling contract.

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Risha Gidwani @rgidwani.bsky.social · Jun 12

Maude is beauty, Maude is grace

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Risha Gidwani @rgidwani.bsky.social · Jun 12

That is a lot easier to do if you are living in Canada vs in the U.S. Doom and despair are very linked to reality here.

Reposted by Risha Gidwani

Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · Jun 11

Every flashbang could instead be a meal for a poor kid. Every hotel room for a National Guardsman deployed to fire at our neighbors could house a homeless vet. Every "less-than-lethal" bullet pulled from a journalist's eye could be already needed healthcare for anyone else. All of this is a choice.

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Risha Gidwani @rgidwani.bsky.social · Jun 9

Well, well, well.

Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · Jun 9

Hm interesting bit from Sen. Cassidy's floor speech endorsing RFK Jr

www.cassidy.senate.gov/newsroom/pre...

If confirmed, he will maintain the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices without changes.

Risha Gidwani @rgidwani.bsky.social · Jun 9

Medicaid work requirements are a bad solution to a non-problem.

& as part of the not-beautiful bill, if ppl get kicked off Medicaid for work requirement issues, they aren’t eligible for ACA subsidies, making that insurance out of reach.

Cue chronic disease going unmanaged, hospitals w/ bad debt

Opinion | We Saw Medicaid Work Requirements Up Close. You Don’t Want This Chaos.

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Risha Gidwani

Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · May 29

22 years ago I pivoted from working on antibiotic resistance to pandemic viruses.

Since then, I've argued that if we care about saving US lives in expectation, advance capacity for producing bird flu vaccine offers by far the greatest expected return on investment.

...

We were so goddamn close.

Trump administration cancels plans to develop a bird flu vaccine

The Department of Health and Human Services is ending a $766 million contract with the vaccine company Moderna to develop an mRNA vaccine for flu strains with pandemic potential, including bird flu.

www.npr.org

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Risha Gidwani @rgidwani.bsky.social · May 25

Habeus Corpus.

Georgetown scholar recalls terror and 'mockery of due process' in immigration jail

A Georgetown University scholar who was targeted for deportation by the Trump administration said he was terrified in immigration jail.

apnews.com

Risha Gidwani @rgidwani.bsky.social · May 23

This public comment period on COVID vaccine availability ends tonight at 11:59pm ET. Please make your voice heard!

www.regulations.gov/commenton/FD...

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Risha Gidwani @rgidwani.bsky.social · May 20

Is it perhaps more of a comment than a question?

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Risha Gidwani @rgidwani.bsky.social · May 16

Remembering the days when we had a president who could speak so knowledgeably on health care policy that he published a sole author paper in JAMA, with 68 citations.

US Health Care Reform: Progress and Next Steps

In this Special Communication, President Barack Obama reviews the Affordable Care Act: why he pursued it, what it has effected, and how the health care system can still be improved.

jamanetwork.com

Risha Gidwani @rgidwani.bsky.social · May 15

WHAT?!? This is terrible news. I literally, in the past hour, just cited your work in a proposal I am putting in as an example of previously high-quality studies in the field. I'm so sorry you are dealing with this.

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Risha Gidwani @rgidwani.bsky.social · May 12

www.vanityfair.com/news/story/r...

RFK Jr. Took His Grandkids for a Dip in a Sewage-Contaminated Creek For Mother’s Day

The National Park Service bans swimming in Rock Creek due to “high levels of bacteria.”

www.vanityfair.com

Risha Gidwani @rgidwani.bsky.social · May 12

www.vanityfair.com/news/story/r...

RFK Jr. Took His Grandkids for a Dip in a Sewage-Contaminated Creek For Mother’s Day

The National Park Service bans swimming in Rock Creek due to “high levels of bacteria.”

www.vanityfair.com

Risha Gidwani @rgidwani.bsky.social · May 12

RFK Jr. Took His Grandkids for a Dip in a Sewage-Contaminated Creek For Mother’s Day

The National Park Service bans swimming in Rock Creek due to “high levels of bacteria.”

www.vanityfair.com

Risha Gidwani @rgidwani.bsky.social · May 1

Congratulations!! This is well deserved by you both.

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