Lisa Friedman, who covers climate change, discussed the fight to regulate toxic chemicals found in nearly half of America’s tap water.Times Insider explains who we are and what we do and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together.Cookware. Dental floss. Shampoo.Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, can be found in those items and hundreds of other household products. Nicknamed “forever chemicals” because they do not fully degrade, PFAS are resistant to heat, oil, grease and water. (One of the first uses of PFAS chemicals was as a nonstick agent in Teflon cookware in the 1940s.) But exposure to PFAS has been linked to cancer, liver damage and birth defects, among other health issues.Worse, the chemicals have made their way into our showers, sinks and drinking glasses — a 2023 study detected PFAS in nearly half of the nation’s tap water. But there’s some good news: For the first time, the Environmental Protection Agency is regulating PFAS. This month, the E.P.A. announced that it would require municipal water systems to remove six forever chemicals from tap water.Lisa Friedman, a reporter on the Climate desk at The New York Times, wrote about the new rules. In a recent conversation, Ms. Friedman discussed the whirlwind month in climate news, what could stall the implementation of the regulations and how her beat has evolved over 15 years. This interview has been edited and condensed.How significant is this moment?This is a really big deal. The E.P.A. has finalized rules that will require some PFAS chemicals to be reduced to near-zero levels in our drinking water. But PFAS chemicals are hard to eliminate, and doing so will involve an expensive process. It will be a pretty big headache for water utility companies.Last week, President Biden’s administration blocked a proposed industrial road in Alaska and announced plans to expand two national monuments in California. Is there a reason so much climate policy change is happening right now in the United States?The regulations on PFAS in tap water were first proposed last year, but there’s an obscure law called the Congressional Review Act, which gives Congress at least 60 legislative days to overturn new rules issued by federal agencies. If Republicans take control of the Senate and Donald Trump wins the presidency, the rules could be easily overturned.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Published3 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, HandoutA woman who receives a medicine that helps her fight a rare disorder said her treatment is “like a miracle”.Emma Stone, from Lower Earley, Berkshire, went from having pins and needles in her hands to often needing a wheelchair to leave her home. The 38-year-old’s medicine is made out of plasma taken from donations and she has been treated in Reading since receiving a diagnosis in January 2022.The town is home to one of England’s three plasma donation centres.The beautician was diagnosed with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) and received immunoglobulin, a medicine made from antibodies found in plasma. Every three weeks, she goes to the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading to have three infusions of it over three days. Image source, Handout”Immunoglobulin has just changed my life completely. It’s enabled me to work again, to be a mum again. It keeps me stable so I won’t dip again,” she added.Plasma is a yellow liquid that carries everything around the body, including antibodies. When people donate, a machine separates up to 700ml of it from blood. Donations take about 35 minutes and visits take about one hour and 15 minutes.NHS Blood and Transplant said there was a “growing need” for immunoglobulin, which is used to treat more than 50 diseases. It said it needs about 600 more people this year to donate plasma at Reading’s Plasma Centre, in King’s Road, to help save lives.Another woman whose life was saved by plasma donations after she was struck by a rare autoimmune disease has urged people to donate if they can. Image source, HandoutRebecca Kaye, from Oxford, contracted Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), in which her immune system attacked her nerves, in April 2015.She was admitted to the city’s John Radcliffe Hospital and was given immunoglobulin.After a week of being in intensive care, she showed signs of improvement and she left hospital in early May 2015.By mid-June, she was able to travel around Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Easter Islands for a month. “I asked many medical professionals how I went from being effectively paralysed to being able to travel the following month,” she said. “No one could give a definitive answer, but the consensus was it was because I got diagnosed and started on [immunoglobulin] so quickly. I am very grateful to everyone who donates plasma.”Follow BBC South on Facebook, X, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to south.newsonline@bbc.co.uk or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2240.More on this storyThousands more blood plasma donors neededPublished13 November 2023Thousands more plasma donors needed, centre saysPublished28 July 2023Boy kept alive by blood plasma donationsPublished21 July 2021Related Internet LinksReading Plasma Donor Centre – NHS Blood DonationThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Imagine being able to look inside a single cancer cell and see how it communicates with its neighbours.
Scientists are celebrating a new technique that lets them study the fatty contents of cancer cells, one by one.
A study led by the University of Surrey has sampled single live cancer cells and measured the fatty lipid compounds inside them. Working with partners at GSK and UCL, and developing new equipment with Yokogawa, the team saw how those cells transformed in response to changes in their environment.
Dr Johanna Von Gerichten, from Surrey’s School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, said:
“The trouble with cancer cells is that no two are alike. That makes it harder to design good treatment, because some cells will always resist treatment more than others.
“Yet it has always proven tricky to study live cells after they have been removed from their natural environment, in enough detail to truly understand their make-up.
“That is why it is so exciting to be able to sample live cells under a microscope and study their fatty contents one by one.”
Individual pancreatic cancer cells were lifted from a glass culture dish using Yokogawa’s Single Cellome System SS2000 ™. This extracts single live cells using tiny tubes 10 µm across — about half the diameter of the thinnest human hair.

By staining the cells with fluorescent dye, the researchers could monitor lipid droplets (stores of fatty molecules inside cells, thought to play an important role in cancer) throughout the experiment.
Then, working with partners at Sciex, researchers developed a new method using a mass spectrometer to fragment the lipids in the cells.This told them about their composition.
The researchers demonstrated that different cells had very different lipid profiles. They also saw how lipids in the cells changed in response to what was going on around them.
Professor Melanie Bailey said:
“We are really excited to work with scientists from all over the UK to apply this to other types of cells, to better understand infection, immunity and other phenomena as part of our new national facility for single and sub-cellular “omics,” SEISMIC, funded by BBSRC and EPSRC.
“We are also part of an International Atomic Energy Agency programme which is exploring the effects of irradiation on cells. We will be working with researchers from all over the world to understand why some cancer cells resist radiation treatment.”
Dr Carla Newman, Associate Director, Cellular Imaging and Dynamics at GSK said:

“Our new method paves the way for studying cancer cells in detail we’ve never seen before.
“One day, we might be able to see how individual cancer cells communicate with their neighbours. That could unlock new, more targeted treatments.
“It’s great to see universities and industry come together to produce such ground-breaking research.”
The study is published in the journal Analytical Chemistry.

Published6 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, The Dowling familyBy Aurelia FosterHealth reporter, BBC NewsUrgent government action is needed to stop preventable asthma deaths, a leading charity has said.More than 12,000 people in the UK have died from asthma attacks since 2014, according to Asthma and Lung UK.It said the figures meant “shockingly little” had changed since a major report a decade ago which found two thirds of asthma deaths could have been avoided with better care.Ministers in England and Wales said they were trying to improve services.About 5.4 million people in the UK have asthma, a common lung condition which can cause breathing difficulties.’Higher risk’People with asthma should get an annual condition review, a written action plan and inhaler technique checks. But the charity said people with asthma were being “failed”, with seven out of 10 not receiving basic care, partly because healthcare workers were over-stretched. Asthma and Lung UK said 31% of asthmatics were “disengaged” with managing their condition, putting them at higher risk, according to its research.It also said many asthmatics should be given more information to help them to manage their condition and recognise warning signs.Using a reliever inhaler, for example, three or more times a week could be a sign of untreated inflammation in the airways, the charity said.”Asthma care is in crisis,” said Sarah MacFadyen, head of policy for Asthma and Lung UK. “People are not getting the care they need and deserve.”We don’t want to be saying the same thing in another 10 years. This is a problem we know how to fix.”Scientists find new cause of asthma lung damage’For asthma to take her life was unbelievable’Lack of asthma testing abysmal, charity says ‘Life changed in minutes’Image source, The Dowling familyBelinda and Ian Dowling, from Portsmouth, lost their son, Warren, when he died from a sudden asthma attack last year aged 10.Warren, one of seven siblings, regularly used inhalers but his condition was well managed.Ms Dowling told the BBC the severity of the attack was unexpected.”From his pumps just not working and him panicking to him not breathing and turning blue – life changed in a matter of minutes,” she said.Ms Dowling believes increased awareness of asthma is needed.She said Warren had hidden his inhaler at school at times in case “people thought he was weird”.She added: “Cancer is talked about. Asthma needs to be talked about a lot more too.”I don’t think a lot of people would even know what to do if they came across someone who was having an asthma attack.” ‘Political will needed’Asthma and Lung UK said it wanted to see national targets introduced for reducing asthma deaths.It also said patients would benefit from new technology being introduced such as an app to help people manage their condition. The National Review of Asthma Deaths, the 2014 report by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), found key risk factors for asthma deaths included people poorly managing their condition by over-using reliever inhalers or underusing preventative inhalers.It also found that a failure to follow up emergency hospital visits was a factor in needless deaths.Dr John Dean, clinical vice president at the Royal College of Physicians, said it was “unacceptable” that asthma patients were not getting the help they needed and he called for moves towards more preventative care.”This needs political will and a workforce to deliver it,” he said.”Clinical leaders are ready to lead that change.”‘National pathways’The Department of Health and Social Care said the NHS had established a ground-breaking lung health check programme which would detect and treat more lung conditions. A spokesperson said: “We’re also looking into chronic respiratory diseases, including asthma, as part of our forthcoming Major Conditions Strategy which will allow us to ensure care is better centred around the patient.” The Welsh government said that, in the past decade, it had published two national delivery plans and a quality statement for Respiratory Diseases which supported health boards and trusts to plan and improve the quality and consistency of healthcare for people with respiratory conditions across Wales. It added that data showed the number of emergency admissions for asthma in Wales had been going down since 2014-15. A spokesperson for the Scottish government said: “In March 2021 we published the first Respiratory Care Action Plan for Scotland which sets out our priorities and commitments for driving the prevention, diagnosis, care, treatment and support for people living with respiratory conditions.”These include developing best practice guidelines for children with asthma transitioning to adult services.”We are also supporting more appropriate prescribing of medicines and the development of national pathways for severe asthma care.”More on this story’For asthma to take her life was unbelievable’Published21 March 2023GPs’ lack of asthma testing is abysmal, charity saysPublished26 September 2023New cause of asthma damage revealedPublished5 AprilAsthma: ‘My son collapsed like a flick of a switch’Published9 August 2019Related Internet LinksRCPThe Scottish Government – gov.scotHome – GOV.WALESDepartment of Health and Social Care – GOV.UKAsthma + Lung UKThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Published8 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, PA MediaBy Jennifer McKiernanPolitical reporterOne of the prime minister’s dementia champions has quit in protest over the treatment of disabled people.Johnny Timpson, who was the UK’s inaugural disability ambassador, said clawing back benefits overpayments was “devastating” for families. He was shocked by the case of a 92-year-old with dementia, who was reportedly told to repay £7,000 by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).The DWP said it was committed to fairness in the welfare system.Mr Timpson spoke to the BBC ahead of the work and pensions committee grilling disabilities minister Mims Davies and the DWP’s director of fraud, error and debt strategy Vikki Knight.The pair are expected to face questions over thousands of cases of clawbacks, particularly from those who are unpaid carers.Unpaid carers shocked at having to repay thousandsDWP take woman’s inheritance over supermarket job Man ‘put through hell’ after losing home to DWPMr Timpson said an overly complex benefits system that relied on people realising they had been overpaid was at the root of the problem.He said: “When you’re dealing with someone in your household who’s got dementia… that’s a big heavy caring ask, so that carer has a lot going on in their life. “The last thing that they’re probably able to get their head around is the complexity of their benefit entitlement.”Overpayments were being allowed to continue for years, he said, and with carers often having to give up work, “they no longer have the savings or the means to maybe repay these debts”.’Within the gift of the DWP to help’Mr Timpson said every organisation has a duty to identify its vulnerable customers and intervene to prevent harm but the government was “out of step with all other regulated sectors in the UK”.”It’s within the gift of the DWP to intervene and help them,” he said. “One of the key things about having a vulnerable customer policy is using your data to ensure you know your customer, identifying a potential harm and intervening quickly before a drama becomes a crisis.”He said the number of these cases “really hit home” to him and highlighted how allowing families to get into financial crisis also has a knock-on impact on the public purse.”I was quite gobsmacked at the amount of GP time that’s already taken up with financial health issues,” he said. “It’s about 20% of appointments.”He called on the government to appoint a disabilities commissioner and suggested separating welfare payments from the DWP’s current portfolio altogether.’Scandalous’Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey, who has been a carer for most of his life, said Mr Timpson’s resignation showed the current treatment of unpaid carers is “scandalous”.”Ministers should value and support our wonderful carers, not treat them like criminals,” he said.”They must fix the flawed and failing Carer’s Allowance system as an urgent priority.”A DWP spokesperson said Carer’s Allowance had increased since 2010 and additional funding has been made available to support the social care sector.”We are committed to fairness in the welfare system, with safeguards in place for managing repayments, while protecting the public purse,” they said.”Claimants have a responsibility to consistently inform DWP of any changes in their circumstances that could impact their award, and it is right that we recover taxpayers’ money when this has not occurred.”More on this storyThousands lose benefits after tax credits overpaidPublished7 September 2023DWP take woman’s inheritance over supermarket jobPublished4 AprilMan ‘put through hell’ after losing home to DWPPublished5 AprilUnpaid carers shocked at having to repay thousandsPublished12 AprilRelated Internet LinksWork and Pensions Committee – Events – Committees – UK ParliamentThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Survivors of childhood cancer are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease, for which a risk factor is their greater prevalence of type 2 diabetes, with a disproportionate impact on those of non-European heritage. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists have identified four previously unknown genetic variants associated with diabetes risk in all survivors. Published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, their work also found an association between a previously reported genetic risk score for type 2 diabetes developed in the general population with diabetes risk in survivors. The findings also provide novel insights into differences in risk between individuals of varying ancestries.
The work relied on the St. Jude Lifetime cohort study (St. Jude LIFE), a long-term follow-up study for individuals treated for cancer as children. This cohort enabled the researchers to identify the four previously unknown genetic variants. Those variants were more frequent in people of African descent than those of European ancestry. They also determined that compared to a polygenic risk score for type 2 diabetes derived in the general population of European ancestry, polygenic risk scores generated from diverse ancestry datasets were more informative in assessing diabetes risk in survivors of both European and African ancestries. All genetic risks appeared magnified by childhood exposure to alkylating agents, a common class of chemotherapeutics.
“We found DNA variants in survivors that increase the risk of type 2 diabetes,” said co-senior and corresponding author Yadav Sapkota, PhD, St. Jude Department of Epidemiology and Cancer Control. “Among survivors exposed to alkylating agents, these variants are conferring differential risk based on the ancestry, which may partially explain some of the disparity in type 2 diabetes burden in survivors.”
Childhood cancer survivors are at a three times increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes than their siblings. However, non-Hispanic Black survivors experience three times more risk than non-Hispanic white survivors. To understand those differences, the researchers performed whole genome sequencing on the patients from the St. Jude LIFE cohort involved in this study, comparing the DNA of survivors that had type 2 diabetes to those that did not, divided by ancestry. Through this work, the team created a rich and rare trove of combined clinical and genetic data.
Ancestry affects type 2 diabetes risk in childhood cancer survivors
“The genetic risk disproportionately affected survivors of African or African American ancestry previously treated with alkylating agents,” Sapkota said. “The same variant is implicated in both European and African-ancestry groups, but the amount of risk conferred by carrying the variant differs.”
To address that disparity in greater detail, the scientists compared previously reported polygenic risk scores for diabetes in the general population. Earlier research used many genetic variants, considered as a group, to assess disease risk. However, these risk scores were traditionally derived from those of European descent. The researchers compared three risk scores, a traditional score based only on those of European descent and two others developed by including people of different ancestries. The more inclusive scores both performed better in survivors of both European and African ancestries.

“The two risk scores derived from multiple ancestries were strongly associated with type 2 diabetes risk in survivors of diverse ancestries compared to the score developed in European-only ancestry,” Sapkota said.
Genetics amplify diabetes risk from alkylating agents in survivors
The research also suggested that another contributor to increased type 2 diabetes risk is exposure to alkylating agents, a class of chemotherapy commonly used in childhood cancer treatments.
“We saw very consistently, in three out of our four identified variants, and all of our polygenic risk scores, a significant increase in diabetes risk when survivors were exposed to alkylating agents during their initial treatment,” Sapkota said. “So genetic factors in the presence of alkylating agents can significantly enhance type 2 diabetes risk.”
The alkylating agent effect also had a greater impact on those of African ancestry. While the reasons for these differences in risk remain unclear, the study is a step in the right direction toward addressing them.
“We hope this information will help reduce disparities in the type 2 diabetes burden,” Sapkota said. “Now we know how to identify childhood cancer survivors most at risk of type 2 diabetes so we can provide more personalized opportunities for interventions and prevent cardiovascular complications down the road.”
Authors and funding
The study’s first author is Cindy Im, University of Minnesota. The study’s other co-senior author is Carmen Wilson, St. Jude. The study’s other authors are Eric Chow, Fred Hutchinson Research Center; Sogol Mostoufi-Moab, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; Tianzhong Yang, University of Minnesota; Melissa Richard, M. Monica Gramatges and Philip Lupo, Baylor College of Medicine; Noha Sharafeldin and Smita Bhatia, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Achal Neupane, Jessica Baedke, Brian Lenny, Angela Delaney, Stephanie Dixon, Gregory Armstrong, Melissa Hudson, Kirsten Ness, Leslie Robison and Yutaka Yasui, all of St. Jude.
The study was supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute (R21 CA261833, R01 CA261898, R01 CA216354, U01 CA195547, U24 CA55727, CA21765), Children’s Cancer Research Fund and University of Minnesota Foundation Pediatric Scholar Award and ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization of St. Jude.

The milk poses virtually no risk to consumers, experts said. But the finding suggests that the outbreak in dairy cows is wider than has been known.Federal regulators on Tuesday said that samples of pasteurized milk from around the country had tested positive for inactive remnants of the bird flu virus that has been infecting dairy cows.The viral fragments do not pose a threat to consumers, officials said. “To date, we have seen nothing that would change our assessment that the commercial milk supply is safe,” the Food and Drug Administration said in a statement.Over the last month, a bird flu virus known as H5N1 has been detected in more than 30 dairy herds in eight states. The virus is also known to have infected one farmworker, whose only symptom was pink eye.Scientists have been critical of the federal response, saying that the Agriculture Department has been too slow to share important data and has not adequately pursued the testing of cattle for the infection.Finding viral fragments in milk from the commercial supply chain is not ideal, but the genetic material poses little risk to consumers who drink milk, David O’Connor, a virologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said. “The risk of getting infected from milk that has viral fragments in it should be nil,” he said. “The genetic material can’t replicate on its own.”Officials did not say how many samples of pasteurized milk had tested positive for viral fragments or where those samples had come from. Those are key questions, experts said. If the fragments are present in many samples throughout the commercial milk supply, it would suggest that the outbreak is likely to be far more widespread than has been reported. Last week, The New York Times reported that the virus had also been detected in a herd of North Carolina dairy cows that had no symptoms of illness. “The problem in dairy cows might be much bigger than we know,” Dr. O’Connor said. “That would be the concern — not that the milk itself would be a risk.”Federal officials have repeatedly reassured consumers that the commercial milk supply is safe, noting that dairy producers are required to keep milk from sick animals out of the human food supply. And nearly all of the milk produced on U.S. farms is pasteurized, a process that is designed to kill pathogens with heat. Pasteurization should also inactivate flu viruses, which are known to be fragile and heat-sensitive, experts said. Only recently has the F.D.A. been testing pasteurization’s effectiveness on H5N1. The discovery of viral fragments in milk has prompted significant concern in the White House over how to avoid raising undue alarm about the dairy supply, according to people familiar with internal deliberations who were not authorized to speak publicly about them. Federal officials are expected to address the findings in a news briefing in the coming days.This developing story will be updated.

In a new study published in Nature Chemistry, UNC-Chapel Hill researcher Ronit Freeman and her colleagues describe the steps they took to manipulate DNA and proteins — essential building blocks of life — to create cells that look and act like cells from the body. This accomplishment, a first in the field, has implications for efforts in regenerative medicine, drug delivery systems, and diagnostic tools.
“With this discovery, we can think of engineering fabrics or tissues that can be sensitive to changes in their environment and behave in dynamic ways,” says Freeman, whose lab is in the Applied Physical Sciences Department of the UNC College of Arts and Sciences.
Cells and tissues are made of proteins that come together to perform tasks and make structures. Proteins are essential for forming the framework of a cell, called the cytoskeleton. Without it, cells wouldn’t be able to function. The cytoskeleton allows cells to be flexible, both in shape and in response to their environment.
Without using natural proteins, the Freeman Lab built cells with functional cytoskeletons that can change shape and react to their surroundings. To do this, they used a new programmable peptide-DNA technology that directs peptides, the building blocks of proteins, and repurposed genetic material to work together to form a cytoskeleton.
“DNA does not normally appear in a cytoskeleton,” Freeman says. “We reprogrammed sequences of DNA so that it acts as an architectural material, binding the peptides together. Once this programmed material was placed in a droplet of water, the structures took shape.”
The ability to program DNA in this way means scientists can create cells to serve specific functions and even fine-tune a cell’s response to external stressors. While living cells are more complex than the synthetic ones created by the Freeman Lab, they are also more unpredictable and more susceptible to hostile environments, like severe temperatures.
“The synthetic cells were stable even at 122 degrees Fahrenheit, opening up the possibility of manufacturing cells with extraordinary capabilities in environments normally unsuitable to human life,” Freeman says.
Instead of creating materials that are made to last, Freeman says their materials are made to task — perform a specific function and then modify themselves to serve a new function. Their application can be customized by adding different peptide or DNA designs to program cells in materials like fabrics or tissues. These new materials can integrate with other synthetic cell technologies, all with potential applications that could revolutionize fields like biotechnology and medicine.
“This research helps us understand what makes life,” Freeman says. “This synthetic cell technology will not just enable us to reproduce what nature does, but also make materials that surpass biology.”

A new study led by researchers at the American Cancer Society (ACS) highlights the lasting financial impact of a cancer diagnosis for many working-age adults and their families in the United States. It shows a cancer diagnosis and the time required for its treatment can result in employment disruptions, loss of household income and loss of employment-based health insurance coverage, leading to financial hardship. When combined with high out-of-pocket costs for cancer care, nearly 60% of working-age cancer survivors report at least one type of financial hardship, such as being unable to afford medical bills, distress and worry, or delaying or forgoing needed care because of cost. The findings are published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.
“While the rising costs of cancer care and subsequent medical financial hardship for cancer survivors and families are well-documented in the United States, little attention has been paid to how employment and household income can be affected by a cancer diagnosis and treatment,” said lead study author Dr. Robin Yabroff, scientific vice president, health services research at the American Cancer Society. “With nearly half of cancer survivors of working age and not yet age-eligible for Medicare coverage, understanding the potential effects of cancer diagnosis and treatment on employment, income, and access to employer-based health insurance coverage is essential.”
Study researchers used a composite patient case to illustrate the potential adverse consequences of cancer diagnosis and treatment, including employment disruptions while receiving cancer care, loss of income for unpaid time away from work, and loss of access to employment-based health insurance coverage, if unable to maintain employment. The authors also summarize existing research and provide nationally representative estimates of multiple aspects of financial hardship from 2019-2021, the most recently available years of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). The NHIS collects information about health conditions, including but not limited to cancer diagnoses, health status, employment, health insurance, socioeconomic status and experience with health care from nearly 90,000 individuals in 35,000 households each year.
“There are opportunities for a variety of stakeholders to mitigate financial hardship and assist patients with cancer and their families,” added Dr. Yabroff. “Federal, state and local policies can increase availability of comprehensive and affordable health insurance coverage and ensure job protections for working adults.”
“Today’s findings reiterate the critical role access to affordable, quality care and paid family medical leave plays in reducing the financial toll of cancer on those diagnosed — particularly while they are of working age,” said Lisa Lacasse, president of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN). “A majority of cancer patients and survivors (74%) report being forced to miss work due to their illness, most of whom report missing more than four weeks of work, according to an ACS CAN study. No one should be forced to choose between their treatment and their employment. To truly protect patients from the high costs of cancer, Congress must enact paid family and medical leave as well as provide tangible options for affordable health coverage outside of employer-sponsored plans by making permanent the enhanced Marketplace subsidies that allow millions who otherwise have no affordable coverage option to enroll in Marketplace plans.”
Study authors emphasize that employers, cancer care delivery organizations and non-profit organizations can also guide efforts to help patients with cancer avoid financial hardship. Employers can offer robust coverage and benefits options, paid and unpaid leave and other workplace accommodations to help reduce employment disruptions and loss of income during cancer treatment. Within cancer care delivery, providers can screen patients for financial hardship, connect patients with relevant services, and make referrals for occupational medicine, rehabilitation care and physical therapy to facilitate return to work and usual activities during and after cancer treatment.
Other ACS authors involved in this study include: Jingxuan Zhao, Dr. Xuesong Han and Dr. Zhiyuan Zheng.

Alzheimer’s disease causes significant problems with memory, thinking and behavior and is the most common form of dementia, affecting more than 50 million people around the world each year. This number is expected to triple by the year 2050.
Using their own state-of-the art imaging technologies, scientists at the University of California San Diego have now revealed how the metabolism of lipids, a class of molecule that includes fats, oils and many hormones, is changed in Alzheimer’s disease. They also revealed a new strategy to target this metabolic system with new and existing drugs. The findings are published in Cell Metabolism.
“Lipids have been associated with Alzheimer’s for as long as we’ve known about the disease,” said senior and co-corresponding author Xu Chen, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Neurosciences at UC San Diego School of Medicine, referring to the original 1907 report by Alois Alzheimer that described the unusual presence of fat deposits in the brain of the first person to be diagnosed with the disease. “So much of the emphasis since then has been placed on tau and other proteins that the research community has, until the last decade or so, largely overlooked this important aspect of the disease.”
“Driven by a keen interest in lipid droplet functions in aging and disease, we initiated this fruitful collaboration to harness cutting-edge SRS technology for studying lipid metabolism in tauopathy mouse brains.” Said Yajuan Li, M.D., Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher in the Shu Chien-Gene Lay Department of Bioengineering at UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. SRS imaging is an approach that analyzes the way molecules in a sample interact with laser light.
In the brain, lipids come in the form of tiny droplets that control a variety of processes, such as energy storage and cellular responses to stress. These processes are tightly regulated in typical brains, but in Alzheimer’s or similar diseases, lipid droplet metabolism can malfunction. While scientists understand that there is a relationship between Alzheimer’s and lipid metabolism, exactly how they influence one another has remained a mystery.
To answer this question, the team looked directly at lipid droplets in the brains of mice with excess tau protein. They used a state-of-the-art SRS imaging platform developed in Lingyan Shi’s lab at the Jacobs School of Engineering. The platform makes it possible to take microscopic images of lipid droplets within cells without the use chemical dyes, which can alter the delicate molecules and compromise the results.
“Intriguingly, the inert lipid droplets observed in tauopathy brains exhibit similar behavior to those found in aging brains,” said co-corresponding author Lingyan Shi, Ph.D., assistant professor of bioengineering at the Jacobs School. “We are now focusing on understanding the underlying mechanisms by combing SRS imaging with other utilizing multidisciplinary techniques. Our approach is biologically neutral, so we’re able to observe what’s happening in the brain at the molecular level with as little interference as possible.”
Shi and her team, including Li, pioneered the new approach, which uses a specially modified version of water, called heavy water, as a metabolic probe.

“Instead of using a typical chemical dye to stain lipids, we use heavy water that is naturally participating in the metabolic activities we’re interested in,” added Shi. “This gives us a much clearer picture of how lipids are formed spatiotemporally, which would not be possible with other approaches. Our current focus is on comprehending the underlying mechanisms of these dynamic changes of lipid metabolism in the context of aging and diseases.”
The researchers discovered that in brains with tauopathy, neurons accumulate excess lipids as a result of stress or damage. This influx forces neurons to offload the excess to immune cells in the brain, called microglia. These microglia then mount an inflammatory response that causes further stress to neurons, triggering a repeating and worsening cycle.
In addition to characterizing this process, they were also able to identify a critical enzyme, called adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) that orchestrates the cycle. According to the researchers, breaking this cycle could unlock new treatment options for Alzheimer’s disease. Chen is particularly optimistic about the possibility of repurposing existing drugs that modify lipid metabolism.
“We don’t think this is an incidental phenomenon,” said Chen. “The evidence suggests that lipid metabolism is a driving mechanism for Alzheimer’s disease. There are many drugs that target lipid metabolism in other body systems, such as in the liver, so we might be able to change this system quite dramatically using tools we already have.”