‘There’s Nothing in Law. There is Only Tradition’: What We Heard This Week

“There’s nothing in law. There is only tradition, and there’s only what the voters want.” — John Sotos, MD, retired cardiologist and Air Force flight surgeon, on whether presidential nominees are required to disclose their medical histories.

“You’d walk out and see hundreds of birds dead on the ground.” — Ian Lipkin, MD, of Columbia University in New York City, discussing when West Nile virus first hit U.S. shores.

“Young people need ongoing support from a dietitian to achieve this.” — Natalie Lister, PhD, of the University of Sydney in Australia, discussing intermittent fasting and calorie restriction for teens with obesity.

“Confusion regarding inconsistently used terminology can lead to harmful delays in care.” — Christopher Zahn, MD, of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), on terms to describe early pregnancy ultrasound findings.

“At this rate, the patients I am seeing today will be more likely to have a heat-related mortality than their parents and grandparents.” — Bethany Carlos, MD, MPH, of Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., on the rise in heat-related deaths.

“We’re all kind of waiting to see what the complete response letter is.” — Paul Hutson, PharmD, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, on the FDA’s decision to reject an investigational MDMA treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

“There have been debates regarding the risk and benefit of hormone therapy in postmenopausal women.” — Chenglong Li, PhD, of Peking University in Beijing, discussing data suggesting hormone therapy may slow biological aging.

“Vaccine associated myocarditis is fundamentally different.” — James de Lemos, MD, of UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, on differences in myocarditis types.

“We were surprised that there was a great deal more being spent on dry-powder inhalers despite that fact that they were prescribed less.” — Jyothi Tirumalasetty, MD, of Stanford University School of Medicine in California, comparing asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease inhalers covered by CMS.