‘Do a Real Study, Then We Can Talk’: What We Heard This Week

“Do a real study, then we can talk about the data.” — Theo Heller, MD, of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases in Bethesda, Maryland, on the lack of adequate data to support obeticholic acid (Ocaliva) for primary biliary cholangitis.

“In the ocean, they get into the food chain, and they get into us.” — Luís Fernando Amato-Lourenco, PhD, of Freie Universität Berlin, talking about microplastics and a new study that detected them in the olfactory bulbs of human brains.

“We would love for third-party payers to see it as a disease so we can get coverage.” — Katherine Weise, OD, MBA, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, on a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report that myopia should be classified as a disease.

“It doesn’t really change anything, just like the last variant didn’t change anything, or the one before that, one before that, or the one before that.” — Amesh Adalja, MD, of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore, discussing what to know about the emerging COVID variant XEC.

“The bottom line is we still have a huge problem with physician burnout in our healthcare workforce.” — Gary Price, MD, president of the Physicians Foundation, discussing his organization’s annual Survey of America’s Current and Future Physicians.

“There’s a nonrandom chance that sleep is associated with future suicidal thoughts or behaviors.” — Joel Stoddard, MD, MAS, of the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, on research showing a link between sleep disturbance and suicidal behavior among preteens.

“Nodal radiotherapy for breast cancer no longer needs 5 weeks.” — Sofia Rivera, MD, PhD, of Institut Gustave Roussy in France, reporting results of a randomized trial showing that a shorter course didn’t increase lymphedema risk or negatively affect survival.

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