Doc charged with involuntary manslaughter in Flint crisis wins top health award Ars Technica The chief medical executive at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services was honored with a top award described as the ‘highest individual award given by the local public health community’—despite ongoing involuntary manslaughter she’s facing in connection with the Flint water crisis. Flint officials were stunned, with the mayor calling it ‘disrespectful.’ [read more]

Fertility apps are increasingly being used as contraception and one has even gained FDA approval CNBC For the first time, the FDA will allow a mobile app to advertise itself as a pregnancy prevention tool. The FDA recently approved mobile fertility app Natural Cycles as a method of contraception, creating a new category called ‘software application for contraception.’ The app requires users to log information at the same time every morning for effectiveness, leaving some doctors concerned with the level of discipline involved. [read more]

New wellness programs help USC medical students find balance USC News Keck Checks: 15-minute mental health check-ins with a clinical psychologist offered to all USC medical school’s first-year students. Leaders at the Keck School of Medicine of USC hope to help counteract burnout among medical students through a new established wellness curriculum. The initiative launched in 2016 and covers areas ranging from physical and mental health to academic performance and financial knowledge. [read more]

Canada's giant public health 'experiment' with legalized cannabis begins CBC News Canada becomes the second country to legalize recreational marijuana on Wednesday, and public health officials say it will open the door for critical research into its effects on health. Public health experts will be closely watching use among adolescents and young adults, those at risk for mental illness, pregnant women, and seniors in addition to the general population. [read more]

Harvard investigation finds fraudulent data in papers by heart researcher The Washington Post [article limits] Cardiologist Piero Anversa and his team were credited with finding a population of cells that suggested the heart could potentially regenerate; but after conducting an internal investigation, Harvard Medical School says 31 scientific publications from Anversa’s laboratory based at Brigham and Women’s Hospital contain falsified or fraudulent data. [read more]

Amazon patents Alexa tech to tell if you’re sick, depressed and sell you meds Ars Technica Amazon filed a patent application in March 2017 that was just approved for technology that would allow Alexa to analyze users’ voices to determine their emotional state. The technology would analyze pitch, pulse, voicing, jittering, or harmonicity to detect if the user was feeling sick, happy, sad, and more to then suggest products for purchase. [read more]

Why MSF had to stop offering mental health care to refugees in Nauru KCBX The charity Doctors Without Borders, or MSF under their French name, has been providing care to over 900 individuals from countries like Syria, Iran, and Somalia who are stranded in South Pacific nation Nauru with no passports and few education or employment opportunities. Doctors began offering mental health services to the asylum seekers and refugees, but Nauru’s government told MSF their care was ‘no longer required’ on October 5. [read more]

Zika spreads rapidly in India, with 94 cases confirmed CNN The first case of Zika virus in India was confirmed on September 23, which has grown to 94 confirmed cases. The director of the Indian Institute of Health in Gujarat says the government needs to ‘develop better public health facilities, train more people and put in more money’ to fight the virus. [read more]

Figure 1 Quiz of the Week​A 69-year-old woman with a history of hypertension and irritable bowel syndrome presents with multiple ring-shaped lesions on both hands. The lesions are non-pruritic and developed over the past four days. When she visits for follow-up two weeks later, the lesions remain present. What is the most likely diagnosis?   (a) Erythema multiforme (b) Erythema toxicum (c) Tinea corporis (d) Granuloma annulare Click here to find the answer, discuss this case and more.