Heart Studies Under Scrutiny; E. Coli in HelloFresh? COVID ‘Super-Dodgers’

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A trio of medical journals have launched independent investigations into possible data manipulation in heart studies led by Temple University researchers. (Reuters)

As uptake of the monkeypox vaccine in the U.S. has slowed, federal officials are shifting their outreach campaign to a hyper-local approach. (Politico)

Reminiscent of the world’s COVID-19 response, high-income countries are scooping up monkeypox vaccines, tests, and treatments, leaving few supplies for countries that have battled the virus for years. (New York Times)

In Minnesota, thousands of nurses began a multi-day strike over insufficient wages and unsafe staffing levels they say were exacerbated by the pandemic. (CBS News)

Abortion clinics are rushing to relocate to border towns in friendlier states as bans start. (Newsweek)

Certain meal kits from home-delivery service HelloFresh shipped in July may contain ground beef contaminated with E. coli, according to an alert issued by the Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) followed FDA’s lead and is now recommending bivalent COVID-19 boosters designed to combat the currently circulating Omicron BA.4/5 subvariants — EMA had previously only endorsed boosters targeting an older Omicron strain.

Speaking of the FDA, the agency’s independent advisors will review Perrigo’s application for an over-the-counter birth control pill later this fall, the company announced; if approved, it would become the first in the U.S. available without a prescription.

You haven’t gotten COVID yet. Luck of the draw, or are you a so-called super-dodger? (NPR)

Dietary changes may help prevent the recurrence of kidney stones, according to researchers from the Mayo Clinic. (Washington Post)

Medical coding is creating barriers to care for transgender patients. (KHN)

Some states are reexamining storing heel blood tests from newborns amid privacy concerns. (CBS News)

Five doctors pleaded guilty in a pain pill prescription scheme that involved clinics in West Virginia and Virginia, according to federal prosecutors. (AP)

Abroad, the United Nations said that an outbreak of cholera represents a serious threat to Syria and the region. (Reuters)