What We’re Reading: 8/19/19

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A few highlights from around the web that made it into our feeds this week.

Surgeons Labored to Save the Wounded in El Paso Mass Shooting

Surgeons recount the trauma and horror of treating victims at the only hospital in a 270-mile radius prepared to handle complex trauma patients after the mass shooting in El Paso. The injuries are grisly, brutal, and they had to work rapidly, closing up then opening again and again. Their stories are powerful, anguish heartbreaking, and their pleas demand action. What will we do? 

"The story of their lifesaving labors at the El Paso hospital is one of heroics in the face of violence, and of the doctors and nurses, who, once the adrenaline rush died down, struggled to live with the horror of what they had experienced." Read via the New York Times.

Cancer Treatment at the End of Life

How one determines "quality of life" is personal. To some, it may mean spending those last days at home with loved ones. To others, it may include treatments to prolong life. Oncologist, Azra Raza, MD, shares insight into the burden of pursuing new cancer drugs at the end of life and weighs the meaningfulness of more time. Ultimately, these decisions are as personal as cancer cells are unique. Read via the New York Times.

The Promise and Price of Cellular Therapies

In his latest piece, Siddhartha Mukherjee, MD, asks important questions about life-saving cellular therapies, or "living drugs" made from one's own cells. What are these therapies, really? Are they drugs? Further, can we afford them? He explains how the lines between procedure and drug have blurred, and explores our new ethical dilemma around life-saving therapies with precise care. Read via the New Yorker.

The A.I. Diet

What would a personalized diet mean for you? Cardiologist, Eric Topol, MD, unleashes a fascinating exploration of nutrition—what we know and what we don’t. With artificial intelligence and large data sets, scientists are learning how simplistic the assumption of a universal diet is. And Dr. Topol’s test results from the personalized nutrition machine learning algorithm are striking. About time we reboot our perceptions about what we eat. Read via the New York Times.


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