TV News LIES

New research makes the case for educating women in their 40s — who've been caught in the crossfire of a decades-long debate about whether to be screened for breast cancer with mammograms — about the harms as well as the benefits of the exam.

After a nationally representative sample of U.S. women between the ages of 39 and 49 learned about the pros and cons of mammography, more than twice as many elected to wait until they turn 50 to get screened, a study released Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine found.

Most women have absorbed the widely broadcast message that screening mammography saves lives by the time they enter middle age. But many remain unaware of the costs of routine screening in their 40s — in false-positive results, unnecessary biopsies, anxiety and debilitating treatment for tumors that left alone would do no harm.

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Second gentleman Doug Emhoff tested positive for COVD-19, the vice president’s office announced Sunday.

His office said Emhoff had experienced mild symptoms before being tested Saturday, and is now asymptomatic. He is fully vaccinated, the office said.

Vice President Harris was also tested for COVD-19 and tested negative, her office said.

Emhoff will continue to work from home, isolated from others.

Emhoff previously tested positive for COVID in March of 2022, and Harris tested positive for the virus a month later.

Harris is scheduled to campaign for President Biden in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

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The KP.3 COVID-19 variant is continuing to lead as the dominant variant, the newest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data shows.

For a two-week period starting on June 23 and ending on July 6, the CDC’s Nowcast data tracker showed the projections of the COVID-19 variants. The KP.3 variant accounted for 36.9% of positive infections followed by KP.2 at 24.4%.

"Estimates predict that KP.3 is the dominant SARS-CoV-2 variant making up 31.2 to 43% of viruses nationally. KP.3 is projected to continue increasing as proportions of the variants that cause COVID-19," CDC Spokesperson, Rosa Norman, told USA TODAY in a statement. "KP.3 evolved from JN.1, which was the major viral lineage circulating since December 2023."

The data also shows that the new variant LB.1 has fallen back 3% by accounting for 14.5% of cases but was previously at 17.5% of infections. JN.1, the previous ring leader since 2023, only had 1.0% of positive cases which is a 0.6% decrease from the previous two-week period.

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Transgender people under 18 face laws that bar them from accessing gender-affirming health care in 25 states — just a few years ago, not a single state had such a law.

The Supreme Court has agreed to consider a case from Tennessee in its next term that challenges that state’s gender-affirming care ban for young people.

“Pressure had been mounting for the Supreme Court to weigh in here,” says Lindsey Dawson, director for LGBTQ Health Policy at the health research organization KFF.

Most of the state bans have been challenged in court, Dawson notes, with 20 state bans currently in effect. “We'd seen split decisions in the appeals courts, which is always an indication that an issue might be ripe for the Supreme Court.”

The details of the state bans vary, but the laws generally bar transgender minors from accessing puberty blockers, hormones and surgery (which is very rare for minors).

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For over a decade, taking a pill like Truvada every day has been the standard of care for HIV prevention efforts.

In clinical trials, this type of preventive drug, called pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), can be 99% effective in stopping new HIV infections from sex. In the real world, however, that is not always the case.

People don’t always take their pills. In a study in South Africa, women said they felt there was a stigma to the pill —- a sexual partner might assume they’re taking it because they already have HIV or because they have other partners.

Now a new trial —- called PURPOSE 1 —- points the way to a new preventive strategy —- a twice yearly injection of a drug called lenacapavir. The trial was sponsored by Gilead Sciences, the California-based maker of the drug.

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The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved the experimental Alzheimer's drug donanemab, which slowed the early stages of the fatal mind-robbing disease in studies.

The approval comes less than a month after an FDA advisory committee endorsed Eli Lilly's drug, despite questions from advisory committee members about the potential side effects of the drug. The drug is an antibody that removes beta-amyloid that accumulates in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Eli Lilly said donanemab will be marketed under the brand name Kisunla as a monthly injection, which will be administered via IV infusion. The Alzheimer's treatment will be available for adults with early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, which includes mild cognitive impairment and mild dementia. Patients will be tested for amyloid before starting the medication.

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