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600 | 33762 | The face of the CPR training mannequin was modeled after the deceased daughter of the doctor who invented it. | """Many CPR students have been taught to check if a patient is unconscious by gently shaking the doll and calling, """"Annie, are you OK?"""" But was there once a real """"Annie""""?""" | false |
601 | 26717 | “The coronavirus was invented and patented in the USA and then planted in China.” | There is no evidence the coronavirus was “invented.” The best available information is that it originated with an animal in China and then infected humans. | false |
602 | 33495 | Steve Burns of TV's 'Blue's Clues' died of a heroin overdose. | Celebrity death hoax held that the host of the children's show 'Blue's Clues' passed away after a heroin overdose. | false |
603 | 11284 | Silent heart attacks: What you don’t know could kill you | British drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc said on Friday its immunotherapy cancer treatment Imfinzi has been granted a speedy review by the U.S. medicines watchdog for the treatment of a particularly aggressive type of lung cancer. | false |
604 | 6048 | Man who threatened Trump family, media figures gets 5 years. | A Seattle-area man with a history of severe mental illness has been sentenced to five years in prison for making threats against President Donald Trump’s family, synagogues and media figures. | true |
605 | 27726 | Photograph shows a protester face-to-face with an NYPD officer. | It isn’t apparent from the photograph alone whether the young woman who is seemingly “standing fearlessly, pressed breasts-to-chest with a New York City police officer, passionately shouting in unchecked defiance as another officer looks on passively from a few paces away” is in fact screaming at the officer seen directly in front of her. The positioning and facial expressions of the persons in the image suggest that the woman might have been looking beyond the cop to shout at someone or something behind him (outside the right-hand frame of the camera), with the officer in the foreground positioned so as to prevent her from approaching any closer to the object of her ire. | true |
606 | 57 | France pledges debt relief for hospitals, unions call another strike. | France will absorb 10 billion euros ($11.1 billion) of public hospital debt, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said on Wednesday, in an emergency measure designed to end months of protests by disgruntled doctors and nurses. | true |
607 | 1973 | Michelle Obama urges Africa to advance women's rights. | First Lady Michelle Obama urged young Africans Wednesday to fight for women’s rights and battle the stigma of AIDS, using her husband’s “yes, we can” campaign slogan to motivate youth across the continent. | true |
608 | 36513 | """Video shows an """"abortion doctor"""" stating that he """"loves killing babies.""" | Climate change is harming human health as more people suffer from heat stress, extreme weather and mosquito-borne diseases including malaria, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday. | mixture |
609 | 9577 | Hospitals Try Giving Patients a Dose of VR | The story focuses on the potential use of virtual reality (VR) headsets as clinical tools for helping patients deal with pain by distracting them. The impetus for the story appears to be the fact that the field of VR technology is experiencing rapid growth, which is making VR equipment less expensive. While the story makes clear that a lot of research needs to be done on VR as a tool for addressing pain, it does mention multiple studies that have already been completed — but it doesn’t offer much information about what those studies found. It also could have shown more caution about the claims made. For example, the story cites unnamed “proponents of virtual reality” as saying that VR “can be an effective treatment” for Alzheimer’s disease, arachnophobia and depression, but that’s left unexplained. It also said “the price of a headset and software is tiny compared to the expense of keeping a patient in the hospital for an extra day.” However, there’s no indication that use of a VR headset will reduce extra hospital stays, so we’re not sure why those two things are being compared without at least some explanation that this is a purely hypothetical economic side-benefit. According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, more than 25 million U.S. adults experience chronic, or daily, pain. And “nearly 40 million adults (17.6 percent) experience severe levels of pain.” Those are big numbers, and pain is a big problem. While there are quite a few treatments available, given the scope of the problem, any new advance in pain management is certainly newsworthy. | true |
610 | 26283 | Facebook post Says wearing face masks is more harmful to your health than going without one. | There’s no evidence that wearing standard masks, such as surgical masks or ones made of fabric, is harmful to the general public. Some people with preexisting respiratory conditions may be at risk with prolonged use of tight-fitting masks, like N95 respirators. Those masks aren’t recommended for the general public. | false |
611 | 25672 | Donald Trump Says Joe Biden “abandoned Scranton.” | Biden’s family did move to Delaware when he was a kid. But Trump’s retelling is a distortion of Biden’s enduring relationship with his hometown. Throughout his time in Congress, Biden was often called the state’s “third senator.” Biden’s Scranton ties have even been satirized twice by Saturday Night Live. The North American Free Trade Agreement that Biden supported in 1993 had a direct impact on Scranton’s manufacturing sector. | false |
612 | 41765 | The FBI said [former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn] wasn’t lying, as I understand it, and if the Mueller group said he was lying, and you know what he has gone through. | In his first extended interview since the completion of the special counsel probe, President Donald Trump repeated several false and misleading claims regarding the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. | false |
613 | 11067 | Pill could erase painful memories, study shows | This story reviews research that one day (years in the future) might have direct applicability to PTSD. But at this point, any benefits for PTSD are pure speculation. PTSD is an important problem for research. But news stories about tiny, short-term studies need to evaluate the evidence as much as they project what researchers say about the potential for their own work. | false |
614 | 8736 | Fast-food companies in China step up ‘contactless’ pickup, delivery as coronavirus rages. | With the coronavirus outbreak in China continuing to spread, McDonald’s Corp, Starbucks Corp and other fast-food companies are ramping up “contactless” pickup and delivery services to keep their workers and customers safe, the companies said. | true |
615 | 36277 | Most people over the age of 40 cannot hear a 15000 Hz/15 kHz frequency. | Can Only People Under 40 Hear This Sound? | unproven |
616 | 29664 | """In the summer of 2019, based on advice from an advocate general, the European Court of Justice was set to require """"Jewish-made"""" products to be labeled as such. """ | The claim that the EU was about to require “Jewish-made” labels for food products was a gross misrepresentation of the facts, and we therefore issue a rating of “False.” | false |
617 | 5970 | Ivory Coast is latest to crack down on alcohol sachets. | Each morning at dawn, taxi driver Rene Kouame stops by his neighborhood bar in Abidjan for a potent pick-me-up: two plastic sachets of “Che Guevara,” a drink of spiced rum and a host of chemicals that costs 100 CFA francs, or about 15 U.S. cents. | true |
618 | 18316 | """A bag of Cheetos costs less to buy than an apple,"""" and in some Milwaukee neighborhoods """"good luck trying to find an apple or a banana or some sort of healthy option""" | """Tate, the Democratic Party official, decried the lack of healthy and affordable food options in some Milwaukee neighborhoods. """"A bag of Cheetos costs less to buy than an apple,"""" Tate said, and """"good luck trying to find an apple or a banana or some sort of healthy option"""" at stores there. He’s mostly right on the price comparison, and is partially accurate in suggesting it’s very difficult to locate fresh fruit. While fresh fruit can be found at big and some small stores, it’s more available in some low-income areas more than others, and getting there, finding it worth eating and paying for it are a challenge for some, according to experts and residents.""" | true |
619 | 5646 | Suspected norovirus outbreak closes 46 Colorado schools. | Thousands of students in Colorado were out of school Thursday because of a suspected outbreak of norovirus. | true |
620 | 33772 | Albert Einstein switched places with his chauffeur for a speaking engagement, then fielded a question directed to the man the audience thought was him. | Sightings: Comedian Jerry Clower tells this yarn as “The Chauffeur and the Professor” on his 1970 album From Yazoo City, Mississippi Talkin’. | false |
621 | 31844 | The American Dental Association said semen cuts plaque and tartar by 77%. | However, other studies suggest that the average human male’s ejaculation produces around 3-4 ml of semen, so at the low end of that range, 16 to 22 ejaculations would be needed per day to supply the recommended daily intake of zinc, and 1,111 ejaculations to obtain the recommended daily intake of calcium. | false |
622 | 3687 | New York issues stricter rules on vaccine medical exemptions. | New York health officials have issued emergency regulations restricting medical exemptions from vaccination for children attending school or child care. | true |
623 | 5707 | Lawsuits filed against closed psychiatric facility. | A former patient and former employees of a now-closed children’s psychiatric hospital in Montana have filed lawsuits against Tennessee-based Acadia Healthcare, which owned Acadia Montana in Butte. | true |
624 | 32988 | The pilot of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 reappeared in Taiwan two years after the plane disappeared. | As suggested by the misattributed and unrelated photographs, there was no truth to the claim that the pilot of missing MH370 was found alive and well in 2016. The report was purely a fabrication from World News Daily Report, a fake news sites that traffics in publishing sensational fiction. | false |
625 | 11242 | Panel nixes aspirin as cancer preventive | The story describes a new recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force advising that aspirin and other similar drugs not be taken for prevention of colon cancer in people at average risk. The story does appropriately describe the natural history or disease burden of colon cancer without obvious embellishments or overstatements, but many other criteria were not met. Areas that were lacking included: a discussion of the actual evidence on which the recommendation is based, quantification of the potential benefits, a description of how frequent or severe harms might be, a source that was clearly independent of the study or panel, and a description of alternate colon cancer prevention approaches, like screening and follow-up of any abnormal screening results, particularly given the fact that the story is about a potential prevention approach that is now not advised. So what else is there? Readers are not given much context here. | false |
626 | 6955 | Utah denies EnergySolutions from accepting depleted uranium. | State regulators denied a Salt Lake City-based nuclear waste processing company an exemption to bury thousands of tons of depleted uranium munitions at its site. | true |
627 | 9487 | Beyond The Nasty Needle: Trying To Make Vaccines More Comfy And Convenient | This story summarizes three different alternatives to the classic needle-and-syringe delivery method for vaccinations. The story does some things well; it discusses price and effectiveness for some of the options under research. But there were some holes in the story when it came to discussing the medical evidence–and its limitations. We also think the story would have been stronger with an independent viewpoint. Parents in particular are hopeful that one day vaccines will be delivered without needles, and many will likely read this story with high interest. They need to know how solid the evidence is for these new alternatives in a consistent way. | mixture |
628 | 21710 | We jumped 11 places since beginning this year in terms of being job-friendly. | Gov. John Kasich touts Ohio's improvement in a CNBC business survey | true |
629 | 443 | Wildfire in Chilean port city of Valparaiso leaves 700 homeless. | More than 245 homes have been destroyed and 700 people left destitute after a forest fire tore through a low-income area of the Chilean seaside city of Valparaiso on Christmas Eve. | true |
630 | 7328 | German restaurant takes novel approach to keep cider flowing. | How does a traditional German restaurant comply with the untraditional demands of the coronavirus era? | true |
631 | 21789 | This governor has cut funding repeatedly for people who have AIDS, who need drugs to save their life. | Assemblyman Herb Conaway Jr. claims Gov. Chris Christie has repeatedly cut funding for AIDS patients | true |
632 | 37768 | """Image shows a """"1979 horoscope.""" | ‘1979 Horoscope, I Am F***ing Begging You to Read This’ | mixture |
633 | 5040 | 3 companies pay California $70 million for delaying drugs. | Three pharmaceutical companies collectively are agreeing to pay California nearly $70 million to settle allegations that they delayed drugs to keep prices high, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said Monday. | true |
634 | 30103 | Pigs don't sweat and are therefore more likely to harbor parasites or other toxins, making them unhealthy to eat. | Pork, like any other food, is subject to the risk of infection by parasites or bacteria, and could in theory contain heavy metals introduced by the environment in which the animal was raised. Sanitary farming conditions, proper feeding, and prudent food preparation, not sweat glands, are the means of reducing those risks. | false |
635 | 32608 | A new penile implant notifies spouses via cell phone alerts when their husbands are cheating on them. | The photograph included in the TMZ World News article does not show a “Commit-Tech” device; it’s an image of a small light sensor that is readily available on stock photography web sites: | false |
636 | 8303 | German auto industry calls for incentives to boost green car demand. | Germany’s auto industry association VDA on Thursday joined a chorus of demands from auto industry executives and politicians calling for more incentives to revive demand for low emission vehicles in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. | true |
637 | 9288 | New study finds that proton therapy has fewer side effects in esophageal cancer patients | Treatment room at the Maryland Proton Treatment Center. Proton therapy has been shown to be a significant improvement over other forms of radiation therapy for a select group of conditions including: intracranial arteriovenous malformations (AVMs); ocular tumors, including intraocular/uveal melanoma; and skull-based tumors (e.g., chordomas or chondrosarcomas). Its value in other tumor types and conditions has not been demonstrated in a randomized clinical trial. The University of Maryland (UMD) release claims that proton therapy, also known as proton beam therapy, causes fewer toxic side effects when used to treat esophageal cancer patients. However, that’s about all we learn from this news release. The release doesn’t touch on many important questions, such as how many fewer side effects proton beam therapy causes, whether those side effects actually reduce health risk for patients, or whether proton therapy is more effective at treating the cancer. The release also doesn’t address cost or even describe the study that forms the basis for the claims. The National Cancer Institute reports that more than 35,000 people in the United States were living with esophageal cancer in 2012. Radiation therapy to treat cancer can cause a wide array of negative side effects, which can affect both quality of life and long-term health. Anything that can be done to limit those side effects is worth covering. But there’s another reason to pay close attention to emerging research on proton therapy: money. According to a Wall Street Journal article published May 26, 16 proton therapy centers are under construction in the United States — at a cost of up to $200 million each. That’s on top of more than a dozen such centers that have already been built. However, there are a lot of questions about whether proton therapy offers better health outcomes than other radiation therapy techniques. Or, as a 2014 article in Modern Healthcare put it, “Hospitals investing in proton-beam radiation therapy centers are gambling on clinical evidence that is still years away to justify their plunge into the expensive technology.” HealthNewsReview has written about proton therapy at length, and for good reason: an unproven treatment technique that involves human lives, human health, and billions of dollars in industry investment is a subject worth following. | false |
638 | 8532 | South Korea reports recovered coronavirus patients testing positive again. | South Korean officials on Friday reported 91 patients thought cleared of the new coronavirus had tested positive again. | true |
639 | 12572 | """In the federal government, """"there’s $16 billion in duplicate programs"""" that can be cut.""" | """Ossoff said that in the federal government, """"there’s $16 billion in duplicate programs"""" that can be cut. There are indeed $16 billion in cuts recommended by a credible study published by a nonpartisan arm of Congress, though not all are examples of duplication. The actual universe of cuts offered by GAO is even higher -- somewhere north of an additional $13 billion. The statement is accurate but needs clarification. """ | true |
640 | 10024 | Sleep Fights Colds, Study Finds | This story suggests that a good night’s sleep might be important for fending off the common cold. It features some useful information about the study that’s the basis for the story and includes valuable comments from an independent expert. But it could have done some things better — particularly with the language it uses to characterize the findings and its discussion of alternatives to getting more Zs for staying cold-free. The problems begin with the headline: “Sleep fights colds, study finds.” Well, maybe. “Because we didn’t actually manipulate someone’s sleep, we can’t know whether it was a causative effect,” lead author Aric Prather told HealthNewsReview.org in a telephone interview. “That’s Methodology 101.” It’s important to acknowledge that reporters often have no control over their headlines — nevertheless, we think the issue of misleading headlines is important and needs to be addressed. For more concerns about the presentation of the findings, see “Quality of Evidence” below. The question of how much sleep is optimal is important and largely unanswered. We know that humans get different amounts of sleep at different points in their lives, so age is clearly related to this issue. But it remains unclear how much sleep optimizes health. Though the study described in this piece does not address this larger issue, it attempts to get at this by focusing on the risk of infection. Here the common cold was induced artificially in a controlled setting among healthy individuals. The study found that those who, at baseline, slept more, were less likely to develop an objectively defined cold after being inoculated with the cold virus. This appears to be a well-done study, but doesn’t really answer the key question: If I sleep more, will I get fewer colds? That important question requires a different study to answer. Moreover, this study was done in artificial conditions. The more practical question is, If I sleep more during the cold season, will I be less likely to get a cold? Again, not something that this study, well-performed though it was, is capable of answering. | mixture |
641 | 6355 | Hepatitis A outbreak increases to 11 cases in Yakima County. | Health officials say a hepatitis A outbreak in Yakima County now involves 11 cases. | true |
642 | 24370 | Most of the people that work in finance make $70,000, $80,000 a year. | NYC Mayor Bloomberg claims most people in finance earn $70,000-80,000 a year | mixture |
643 | 9957 | Doctors rethink new cholesterol treatments | CBS had a wonderful opportunity to put this important study into perspective. The segment failed to clearly and adequately communicate the results of the study and how to interpret those results. This study, while important, is certainly not definitive and should not have been portrayed as such. The approach taken is especially unfortunate given the fact that two superb editorials accompanied the study in question in the New England Journal of Medicine. The editorials describe a comparison between the Vytorin study and previous studies. Importantly, they note a number of potential contributing factors that were ignored in the news story. Even beginning journalists are taught to read the editorials as an easy way to get a different or broader perspective. Did anyone working on this segment read them? One of the most important points that was not addressed in this piece was cost. There are statin medications that are available for a fraction of the cost of Vytorin. In an era where we are concerned about healthcare cost, is it not noteworthy that the more expensive treatment failed to provide added benefit? | false |
644 | 2851 | Organic food and farm groups ask Obama to require GMO food labels. | Four U.S. lawmakers joined with more than 200 food companies, organic farming groups, health and environment organizations and other groups on Thursday to urge President Barack Obama to require manufacturers to label food products that contain genetically engineered ingredients. | true |
645 | 35717 | Bubba Watson composed a widely shared message that criticized Black Lives Matter and included various conservative talking points. | An environmental group launched legal action on Thursday seeking to ban commercial use of “super-toxic” rat poisons in California, citing data showing the products pose a grave threat to a dozen endangered species and other wildlife. | unproven |
646 | 11361 | Insulin Study Could Lead to New Dosage Devices | """With its balanced coverage of an experimental system for managing blood glucose in type 1 diabetes, the Times demonstrates why it is often a cut above most other health media outlets. Of the three competing stories we looked at, the Times‘ was the only one to avoid the hyped-up term """"artificial pancreas"""" in its headline. It’s also the only story to accurately portray what actually happened in this experiment; the only one to identify conflicts of interest; and the only one to offer any kind of skeptical perspective from an independent observer. The study covered here represents a potentially important advance on the road to an automated system for managing blood sugar in patients with type 1 diabetes. By laying out the potential of such a system in sober terms and pointing out the many obstacles that still lay in its path to development and approval, the Times conveys the significance of the findings but doesn’t provide false hope.""" | true |
647 | 21365 | If we had been on 'Obamacare' and a bureaucrat was trying to tell me when I could get that CAT scan, that would have delayed my treatment. | Herman Cain said government bureaucrats will determine when you get a CAT scan once the new health care law begins | false |
648 | 11511 | Vitamin C May Reduce Harm to Infants’ Lungs Caused by Smoking During Pregnancy | The news release highlights a randomized, controlled study of 251 women who smoked during pregnancy with this research question: will vitamin C supplementation improve the pulmonary function tests of the infants? Unfortunately, the news release doesn’t make it clear that the study did not meet its primary endpoint. Related lung function tests did show improvement but the significance of these results is not made clear, and no supporting data is included. One thing that is included, and we were very happy to see, is that regardless of the results of this study, the lead author points out: “Helping mothers quit smoking should remain the primary goal for health professionals.” Despite well known health risks, some women continue to smoke during pregnancy. The release quotes the study’s lead author making a compelling argument that finding a “safe and inexpensive intervention” to protect the babies of mothers who continue to smoke during pregnancy would be a major public health advance. But this news release touts preliminary results that may not be ready for prime time, and certainly don’t justify an enticing headline suggesting this experimental approach may be ready for use to protect the babies of smoking mothers. It’s also a classic example of why results based on physiologic markers — in this case a very specific lung test in newborns — must be interpreted with caution, and not interpreted as synonymous with meaningful long term clinical outcomes. | false |
649 | 9621 | Blood test could identify people who will respond to antidepressants | This story describes a British study published in the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology that identified two biomarkers of blood inflammation that predict the probability of a patient responding to common antidepressants. The King’s College London researchers suggest the findings may lead to a blood test to identify patients who could benefit from more aggressive treatment including combinations of antidepressants as well as antidepressants in tandem with anti-inflammatory drugs. The story states that scientists “have developed a blood test that could identify which people with depression will respond to treatment so that patients can avoid spending months taking antidepressants that do not help them.” While the possibility of targeted therapy is exciting, and these results look promising, the story downplays the need for more research before such a blood test could be used for patient care. Nevertheless, it puts forth sensational terms such as “breakthrough” and “holy grail” to describe the findings. Antidepressants are among the most commonly prescribed drugs, but often they don’t work. Approximately half of all depressed patients do not respond to first-line antidepressants and a third of patients are resistant to all available pharmacological treatments, according to research cited in the King’s College London study. Clinicians often have difficulty determining whether a patient will respond to standard antidepressants or require a combination of drugs. In addition, antidepressants are often prescribed for patients who are not clinically depressed or do not stick with a medication long enough due to side effects. These factors have led to a spate of recent articles questioning the efficacy of antidepressants in general. Tests to predict a patient’s likely response would target antidepressants to patients who stand to benefit, potentially helping patients find effective treatment sooner and reducing medical costs. It also would allow those identified as likely “non-responders” to conventional treatment to be treated more aggressively, for example with other medicines, transcranial magnetic stimulation or electro-convulsive therapy. | false |
650 | 5893 | Dawkins says he gave up football because of mental health. | Former Indiana and Arizona quarterback Brandon Dawkins says he gave up football because he needed to deal with his “deteriorating” mental health. | true |
651 | 37794 | Testing of a vaccine against COVID-19 caused 61 out of 63 female subjects to become infertile. | Did ’61 out of 63 Females’ Become Infertile After Receiving a Vaccine Against COVID-19? | false |
652 | 26892 | “When using a medical mask you’re supposed to use… white side out (this is the filter part) for when you’re not sick.” | Global health agencies and medical mask producers agree that the colored side of the mask should always be worn on the outside. | false |
653 | 10180 | New Device Reduces Seizures, No Surgery Required | Electrical stimulation of the nerves for various therapeutic benefits is nothing new. There is a solid body of research showing that it can work for a range of disorders and there are many FDA-approved devices on the market. Here, though, NPR presented two sources — a patient and the doctor who invented a new device — as proof that a device with very limited evidence behind it can “reduce seizures (with) no surgery required.” We thought NPR’s listeners deserved more on: evaluation of the very limited evidence uncertainties – what isn’t yet known the scope of benefits – in the limited experience so far (not just in the positive experience of one patient profiled) independent perspectives. Epilepsy is a serious and debilitating disorder for millions worldwide and leads to 125,000 deaths every year. Patients need good alternatives to current surgical and pharmaceutical therapies. Whether the type of electrical stimulation discussed in this story will prove to be one of those options could be decades away, and patients should not be given false hope based on an entertaining but incomplete story. | false |
654 | 25540 | When I was mayor of New York City, I encouraged adoptions. Adoptions went up 65-70 percent. Abortions went down 16 percent. | That's one way to slice the numbers. There are others. | mixture |
655 | 29812 | """U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris said, """"If elected [president] and you don't surrender your guns, I will sign an executive order and the police will show up at your door.""" | In summary, Harris did say she would take executive action on gun control if Congress failed to act within 100 days of her taking office as president. Her proposed executive order would include gun-control measures such as implementing universal background checks and renewing the ban on assault weapons. But the viral quote about an executive order to confiscate guns appears to be an inaccurate paraphrase of the Democratic candidate’s statement on the matter. | false |
656 | 9076 | Creative Medical Technology Holdings Announces Commercialization of patented Stem Cell Procedure for Erectile Dysfunction | This news release describes a study that used stem cells in an attempt to treat men with erectile dysfunction (ED). The study followed 20 patients, but that is the only bit of numerical information that readers are given. The news release did not provide any actual results from the study, despite heralding it as a success. The release was short on other essential information as well: it did not provide the cost of the procedure, explain any harms, or detail how patients could get access to the treatment. Also worryingly, the news release was based on a study that it was calling a clinical trial, despite the fact that there was no regulation or FDA oversight. Although it may seem like welcome news to men suffering from ED, the news release did not provide any convincing evidence that the treatment actually works. ED is a common problem in men. It is typically associated with aging, but can be aggravated by risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes and cigarette smoking. It is also a common side effect of treatments for prostate cancer. Oral medicines, called phosphodiesterase inhibitors, are most commonly used to treat ED. When these medicines are not helpful, a variety of other treatments including medicines injected into the base of the penis, vacuum devices and surgical implants are sometimes used. None of these alternative treatments are ideal and thus efforts to find new therapies are reasonable. The broad use of stem cell therapies for many, very different conditions and the lack of high quality evidence of benefit suggests that these treatments currently reflect a fad in medicine. At present, there is no evidence to suggest that stem cell treatment for ED is either safe or effective compared to other available treatments. As we’ve written (and spoken about) before, many other stem cell treatments exist in the “Wild West” of scientific research, where treatments are unregulated and unproven yet sold to patients for thousands of dollars. | false |
657 | 14082 | """We're losing thousands of (veterans) waiting on line"""" because they can't get speedy health care from the Veterans Administration.""" | """Trump said, """"We're losing thousands of (veterans) waiting on line"""" because they can't get speedy health care from the Veterans Administration. Similar claims that 300,000 died because of delays by the VA clearly don't have hard evidence to back them up. Instances at individual VA hospitals seldom go into double digits, so there's no hard evidence there that the number of deaths is in the thousands either. Trump dialed back the rhetoric, but the claim still leaves out important context.""" | mixture |
658 | 16296 | This (Ebola) is not as bad as SARS was in 2003. | """Smiley said Ebola """"is not as bad as SARS was in 2003."""" Both diseases are serious and have harmed communities. SARS spread to more countries and is easier to transmit than Ebola. But Ebola has had more cases and higher death toll, and those numbers continue to rise. SARS may have had more of a presence in the United States, but Ebola is poised to be a larger humanitarian crisis globally.""" | false |
659 | 6247 | New Mexico AG ‘frustrated’ with response to contamination. | Top New Mexico officials want the U.S. Air Force to immediately begin defining the boundaries of plumes of contamination at two bases in the state and provide alternate water supplies to affected residents. | true |
660 | 11041 | Special candy fights cavities | This was a 3-minute ad – not a piece of journalism. So much good can be done with 3 minutes of network TV time. But this story failed to: discuss costs discuss evidence – of harms or benefits present any independent expert’s opinion It even featured the two co-anchors sucking lollipops at the very end. Wow. Dr. Shi and colleagues have done some interesting work in the area of preventive dentistry targeting the underlying pathophysiology (bacterial colonization and acid production). The work in the area of preventive dentistry – and not a focus on this lollipop product – would have been a more valuable use of the 3 minutes. | false |
661 | 7577 | Soap star Benard says quarantine hard on his mental health. | Longtime “General Hospital” star Maurice Benard says sheltering in place can take its toll on your mental health. The actor is open about suffering from bipolar disorder and also writes about it in his new best-selling book, “Nothing General About It: How Love (And Lithium) Saved Me On and Off General Hospital.” | true |
662 | 29434 | """Doctors are now warning parents to never use baby wipes because they contain a """"chemical"""" called methylisothiazolinone.""" | """What's true: A 2014 paper in Pediatrics noted that a small number of children (six) exhibited an allergic reaction to methylisothiazolinone, and patients with that allergy should avoid products containing the preservative. What's false: The paper did not say that """"no one"""" should use baby wipes under """"any circumstance.""""""" | false |
663 | 33584 | A meth-addicted teen penned an insightful poem in jail shortly before dying of an overdose. | """""""I am Meth"""" takes the form of an ode penned by or about an adolescent who paid the ultimate price for her choices.""" | false |
664 | 41770 | Claim President Trump's proposed 2020 budget would “ransack” or “slash” Medicare. | Democratic lawmakers claim the president’s proposed 2020 budget would “ransack” or “slash” Medicare and Medicaid, likening it to an “assault on Medicare” and “the health care of seniors and families across America.” Experts agree the proposed cuts to Medicaid are significant, but many of the Medicare proposals echo those of Barack Obama and wouldn’t directly affect beneficiaries. | mixture |
665 | 34604 | Alabama CPS agents took custody of a baby because his teen mother was raped. | News outlets are generally unable to verify a family’s claims in any given CPS dispute, which creates the risk of unwarranted public alarm being generated from incidents that have practical and reasonable explanations. It’s possible that the child removals in the case cited here were tied to a 14-year-old girl’s traumatic assault, but it’s equally possible CPS agents sought summary removal of all three children for entirely different reasons. | unproven |
666 | 2448 | British cosmologist Hawking backs right to assisted suicide. | British cosmologist Stephen Hawking has backed the right for people who are terminally ill to choose to end their lives and to receive help to do so as long as safeguards are in place. | true |
667 | 8985 | Cardiac hybrid imaging an effective tool for predicting heart attacks | This news release claims that a two-tiered “hybrid” approach to scanning people with suspected coronary artery disease is superior to assessing such patients with an imaging procedure called coronary angiography. With coronary angiograms, dye is injected into the arteries and then imaged with an x-ray machine to show areas of narrowing in coronary blood vessels. The hybrid approach described here, based on a published study, involves the combination of two other imaging techniques — coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) and single photon emission tomography (SPECT) — to produce what the release says is a more accurate picture of cardiac blood flow. That information can supposedly help identify which patients need coronary artery interventions like angioplasty and bypass surgery. While the release does a nice job explaining the science behind the hybrid approach and the rationale for its use, there is a mismatch between the overstated headline and the more accurate language featured in the release’s conclusion. The headline describes the hybrid approach as an “effective tool” for evaluating coronary artery disease; the last paragraph acknowledges that the approach hasn’t been tested in a clinical trial and that we don’t know if it actually has a positive impact on patient outcomes. The lack of any clear patient benefit shouldn’t be treated like an afterthought. The human body and its tissues can be scanned in all manner of ways involving lots of different devices. Such scans can provide information that wouldn’t otherwise have been known and which may appear to be useful for preventing or treating disease. But what seems like useful information may not always have value for patients — it might lead to aggressive and unnecessary treatment that doesn’t improve the outcomes that people care about. That’s why it’s important to test new technology in ways that can measure real patient benefits like longer life and better quality of life. And it’s why writers should refrain making claims of effectiveness until such benefits have been credibly demonstrated. | false |
668 | 5079 | Sixth medical marijuana store opens this week in ND. | North Dakota’s sixth medical marijuana dispensary is opening later this week. | true |
669 | 8116 | Three-pronged distancing most effective at controlling COVID-19: study. | A key modeling study from Singapore has found that putting multiple social lockdowns in place - including school closures - will have the biggest impact on curbing COVID-19, the pandemic disease caused by the new coronavirus. | true |
670 | 9670 | First-of-its-kind cataract surgery using stem cells shows promise | This story describes the findings of a study published in Nature that involved a new approach to correcting congenital cataracts in infants using the patient’s own stem cells to grow new lenses in the eye, versus the more standard approach of using artificial lenses.he story had a lot going for it compared with some less thorough competing stories (see here and here), especially when discussing important caveats about the study’s limitations. However, the piece would have been stronger if it had better quantified the results of the study: How did the researchers measure the success of this approach? We also wanted to see more information about the study design itself: How many patients were studied? And for how long? Finally, the story quickly turned to examining whether this approach might be used among older adults who have conventional cataracts–even though congenital cataracts are a very different disease process, and the current study applied to infants only. While not a common eye disease, congenital cataracts can be devastating to a child’s vision and normal development. The current treatment option–surgery and insertion of artificial lenses–usually restores vision, but it often requires multiple surgeries as the child grows. A newer, less disruptive measure is merited. And because it’s temping to ponder if this treatment could potentially be used one day in older adults with cataracts–which affects about 24 million Americans– it’s important that the media accurately describes the research, and avoids inappropriate speculation or conflating two different disease processes. | true |
671 | 3550 | Florida commission says mental health system needs overhaul. | Florida’s mental health system is underfunded and needs to be overhauled, with better coordination between providers, law enforcement and educators, the commission investigating last year’s high school massacre recommended to the legislature Wednesday. | true |
672 | 28516 | Chlorpyrifos, an insecticide with alleged origins in Nazi Germany, was set to be banned by the EPA over health and environmental safety concerns; but President Trump reversed this decision after Dow Chemicals, a manufacturer of the chemical, donated one million dollars to his inauguration fund. | While some aspects of the text included in the Chelsea Handler tweet and “Really American” petition, such as chlorpyrifos’s connection to Nazi Germany and the scientific degree to which irreversible brain damage has been alleged, include some uncertainty, the bulk of its claims are true. The EPA’s scientific community was certain enough, despite questions about methods or mechanisms, to agree with the petition that chlorpyrifos posed a risk to neurological health and should be banned. President Donald Trump, who did receive a significant amount of money from Dow Chemicals for his inauguration, unilaterally reversed this decision through his administrator Pruitt’s actions. | mixture |
673 | 10253 | FDA Approves First Drug To Prevent Preterm Births | Given that 50% of care is covered by Medicaid and 49% by private payors, the costs for this drug are invisible to the individual. It is administered in clinic or by home health nurses and does not typically have a co-pay structure although patients will sometimes tell providers they can’t afford it. News of new drug approvals can be washed over with giddy hype. But not in this story, which offered perspective, context and restraint. | true |
674 | 418 | Bushfires rage out of control across southeast Australia. | Bushfires burned dangerously out of control on Australia’s east coast on Saturday, fanned by high temperatures and strong winds that had firefighters battling to save lives and property, as a change in wind conditions merged several large fire fronts. | true |
675 | 4042 | Deer ticks turn up in east Nebraska; can carry Lyme disease. | Health officials say deer ticks that can carry Lyme disease have turned up for the first time in eastern Nebraska. | true |
676 | 27609 | """Pranksters briefly changed California's iconic """"Hollywood"""" sign to read """"Hollyweed.""" | Unlike most other cleverly edited images, the “Hollyweed” sign was one that was shared in numerous versions showing it from multiple angles and at many resolutions concurrently. Although digitally edited images sometimes come in sets, the number of variants appearing at the time of this vandalism incident was another indicator that the photographs indeed depicted a legitimate event and not merely someone’s having fun with image editing software. | true |
677 | 11417 | Cancer Study Finds Promise in CAT Scans for Smokers | """This story reports on the results of a study on lung cancer screening published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine. Lung cancer is a common and deadly disease that can be effectively treated if caught early. Unfortunately by the time symptoms appear it is often too late for treatment to be effective. It would seem, therefore, that lung cancer would be a prime target for screening, much in the way that we already screen for breast cancer. On the surface, this study appears to indicate that all people at """"high risk"""" (current or former smokers) could benefit from screening. But the reality is that the question of whether screening for lung cancer is effective remains to be answered. This story does a good job of representing what this new study tells us while providing the reader with the information needed to critically evaluate its usefulness. The story adequately quantifies the benefits of treatment. Because this study had no control group, there is no way to directly compare screening to no screening, and the story explains that. Furthermore, the story rightly points out that the study looked at survival at 10 years as the outcome (although the study only followed patients for an average of 3 years and 10-year survival was estimated), not mortality, leaving open the question about whether or not screening actually extends life or if it only pushes forward the time of diagnosis (a situation known as lead-time bias). The story mentions that abnormal scans can lead to biopsies and that the scans may pick up cancers that """"grow so slowly they will never pose a health problem."""" The story should have also mentioned radiation exposure as a potential harm and described the consequences of false positive test results. The story does not discuss if the lung cancer screenings are available, or how widely available the screening scanners may be. The story should have mentioned that the tests are being advertised by private screening centers and some hospitals, but are not generally covered by insurance. The story also does not mention the cost of the test. Since most costs will be covered by the patient and not by the insurance company, this is vital information for the consumer.""" | true |
678 | 30464 | A popular teen YouTuber planning a “live on-camera abortion” to raise Bitcoin donations for Planned Parenthood. | This originated with the now-defunct Daily World Update, a site that was part of a network of fake news sites dedicated to inflammatory clickbaiting and political trolling under the guise of producing “satire.” | false |
679 | 3011 | Connecticut now testing newborns for rare genetic disorder. | Connecticut’s public health laboratory has begun testing newborn babies for the genetic disorder Spinal Muscular Atrophy, complying with a new state law that took effect on Jan. 1. | true |
680 | 4313 | Doctors: Warmer world is unhealthier place for children. | Children are growing up in a warmer world that will hit them with more and different health problems than their parents experienced, an international report by doctors said. | true |
681 | 7967 | Potential COVID-19 vaccine shows promise in mouse study. | Initial tests in mice of a potential COVID-19 vaccine delivered via a fingertip-sized patch have shown it can induce an immune response against the new coronavirus at levels that might prevent infection, U.S. scientists said on Thursday. | true |
682 | 94 | Novartis' Zolgensma study halted by FDA amid safety questions. | U.S. regulators have halted a trial of Novartis’s Zolgensma treatment after an animal study raised safety concerns, the company said on Wednesday, in a setback for the drugmaker’s plan to expand its use to older patients. | true |
683 | 29466 | Researchers have found a simple cure for cancer, but major pharmaceutical companies are not interested because it isn't patentable. | """What's true: Preliminary research indicated dichloroacetate (DCA) might show promise for treating some forms of cancer. What's false: DCA is a not a proven """"cure"""" for cancer, nor is it being spurned by pharmaceutical companies because it is not patentable.""" | false |
684 | 10606 | The benefits of chocolate during pregnancy | Just in time for Valentine’s Day, this PR news release describes a study that evaluated the impact of high-flavanol chocolate in reducing preeclampsia risk. Having discovered that there are no significant differences between the low-flavanol and high-flavanol group in this respect (and, in fact, with respect to all the other secondary outcomes), the study could only conclude flavanol content cannot explain the observed improvement of the pulsatility index, a surrogate variable for blood velocity in the uterine, placental and fetal circulations. Nonetheless, the news release forges ahead and turns this result into a headline that touts the benefits of chocolate during pregnancy, a claim that is completely unsupported by the underlying study. In addition, the news release is almost a word-for-word regurgitation of the attached study abstract. It adds absolutely nothing besides a quote from one of the investigators of the study. If they read carefully enough, those who wade through the entire news release will eventually learn that chocolate doesn’t in fact help prevent pre-eclampsia. But many will be misled by the headline and vague lead sentence that appear to tout benefits. We can’t even tell what characterizes the women included in the study besides that they “had double-notching on uterine artery Doppler,” again regurgitated with no attempt at explaining its meaning. The release was issued by the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine in advance of that organization’s annual meeting, where an abstract of the study was presented. The study findings have not been published in a peer-reviewed journal. Preeclampsia is a pregnancy complication characterized by high blood pressure and abnormal amounts of protein in the urine. It occurs in about 3-7% of pregnancies, according to the National Institutes of Health. Severe cases may be accompanied by symptoms like chronic headache, respiratory problems, stomach pain, nausea and vomiting, and vision problems. In rare cases it may be a sign of damage to other organs, primarily the kidneys. The condition usually improves rapidly after delivery of the baby. There has been some back-and-forth discussion in medical literature regarding the role of chocolate consumption and its ability to reduce the risk of preeclampsia. Given this study’s inconclusiveness, it’s difficult to understand why this release is headlined, “The benefits of chocolate during pregnancy.” What benefits? The release offers no explanation of what preeclampsia is but instead adds to the noise surrounding the existing tangle of research on this topic. The news stories following the issuance of the release illustrates how easy it can be to get some reporters to disseminate and even add to an ill-conceived message. | false |
685 | 9226 | Use of Frailty Screening Initiative before Surgery Associated with Reduced Risk of Death | This news release looks at a program to introduce a quality improvement initiative aimed at reducing complications and deaths among frail older adults undergoing major elective surgery. The release contained a welcome summary of the findings–the quantified benefits are very clear. But we wanted to know more about the screening tool used to determine how frail patients were, as well as the implementation plans: Is this a brand-new concept, or are there similar efforts out there? How much did the program cost? The news release also could have been more clear about the limitations of the study, such as the lack of a control group. Given how successfully the intervention apparently worked to reduce deaths, this study is likely to be read with wide interest. | mixture |
686 | 9334 | Here’s how one woman used an implant to get some relief from chronic back pain | This story summarized one woman’s account of getting a spinal cord stimulator to relieve her chronic back pain, as published in more detail in Popular Science. This is a review of the Washington Post’s abridged version. To its credit, the story mentioned the high cost of the surgery to get the implant and does not portray the device as a total cure. But it did glorify the device as a “next generation” implant that could serve as an alternative to opioids. It missed an opportunity to describe who could benefit, spell out what evidence exists of a benefit, and discuss the potential harms of getting this device inserted in your spine. The story also did not mention that the woman, Janet Jay, acknowledged being a paid “advocate” for pain patients, which could present a conflict of interest. News stories should approach stories about medical devices with an extra shot of caution, given that scant evidence is required to show they provide a benefit or are even safe for patients. Journalists should scrutinize the available evidence, point out shortcomings, and remember that anecdotes are much lower on the totem pole than clinical trials despite their emotional tug. Low back pain is a common problem. Most individuals will experience low back pain at some point in their life. However, for most, symptoms are self-limited and improve over time. But for a small percent, probably between 7-12%, symptoms become persistent – either happening all the time, or recurring frequently. Though a small percentage, it represents millions of individuals with low back pain. How best to treat them is unclear. Recent emphasis has been focused on the harms of opioids for chronic pain. But the question of what is the alternative for these individuals remains. This anecdotal piece argues for spinal cord stimulators. Though this one patient is satisfied with the results of this treatment, it hasn’t been a cure. Additional surgery has been done, her pain isn’t resolved, and there is no mention of how long it is expected to help her for. We don’t know what other pain treatments she may be getting and the reader is provided no information on the risks of these devices that include high rates of device failures and the need to remove or replace them. There is also no mention of the alternative treatments to manage chronic pain including non-opioid medicines, exercise, physical therapy, yoga, acupuncture, Tai-chi, cognitive behavioral therapy, mind body relaxation, as well as other invasive procedures such as injections, ablations and surgical procedures. In summary, for a reader with chronic pain, this piece offers little in the way of information about who may want to consider this, what the alternatives are and what are the likely risks and benefits. | false |
687 | 10050 | New device uses light to screen for melanoma | It puts both the potential benefits and potential harms of this scanner used to detect cancerous skin lesions in the proper context. It explains that, while new to the market, the device is not a medical breakthrough. It provides cost information, for both the physicians and patients. And it carefully makes note of all potential conflicts of interest. Despite the well-known risks of excessive sun exposure, many Americans remain “sun worshipers.” Rates of skin cancer, specifically melanoma, have been on the rise. While most skin cancers represent local disease and do not risk distant spread, melanoma is the exception. It can metastasize and ultimately kill. At biopsy, the depth of penetration is the key feature that is associated with risk of spread. Thus, identifying which lesions are high risk leads to the potential to remove these lesions before they have metastasized. The question is whether this machine does it better than a skilled dermatologist. One can see the potential in this device, but there is no evidence presented that this has saved a life – or done so more efficiently than a dermatologist | true |
688 | 5580 | Ohio high school closes after probable case of meningitis. | An Ohio school district has announced that its high school will be closed Monday after a student died from what health officials say is a probable case of bacterial meningitis. | true |
689 | 731 | If marathons weren't hard enough already: strap a tree to your back. | This Sunday in South Africa, an accountant, an entrepreneur and a boxing executive are among 20 friends running the Cape Town marathon - with saplings strapped to their backs. | true |
690 | 21547 | """Outside of recall elections, """"there's never been a public official removed from office"""" in Wisconsin """"for anything but malfeasance in office.""" | Sheboygan Mayor Bob Ryan says no public official in Wisconsin has been removed from office for reasons other than malfeasance | true |
691 | 37977 | KPCC-FM reporter Josie Huang told Los Angeles County Sheriffs deputies she is a journalist as she was arrested in September 2020. | Did Josie Huang Identify Herself as Press While Being Arrested? | true |
692 | 8882 | Eli Lilly drops inhaled insulin program. | Eli Lilly & Co said on Friday it will terminate development of an inhaled insulin treatment for diabetes, which it was conducting in partnership with Alkermes Inc, after deciding that product’s commercial potential was not strong. | true |
693 | 26662 | Donald Trump is “announcing tomorrow that the US is going into quarantine for the next 14 days.” | There was no evidence by March 16 that the federal government was set to announce a nationwide lockdown. President Trump said he was not considering it. Trump said the government is thinking about additional measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in some hotspots around the country. | false |
694 | 2444 | Want fruit with your burger? McDonald's expands anti-obesity push. | Hold the fries, pass the salad. McDonald’s Corp on Thursday said it would offer healthy options as part of its popular value meals, letting customers choose a side salad, fruit or vegetables instead of french fries. | true |
695 | 5579 | Hawaii launches campaign to prevent spread of rat lungworm. | Almost 94 percent of rats in the Hilo region are infected with the parasite that causes rat lungworm disease, a recent study on the meningitis-like disease showed. | true |
696 | 26360 | """Dr. Anthony Fauci """"has known for 15 years that chloroquine and … hydroxychloroquine will not only treat a current case of coronavirus but prevent future cases.”""" | An article published by a website run by an anti-LGBTQ political organization claims Dr. Anthony Fauci knew in 2005 that hydroxychloroquine was effective against human coronaviruses. The article cites a 2005 study that found a related drug, chloroquine, could inhibit the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. There is no known treatment, cure or vaccine for the novel coronavirus or SARS. While some early research suggests hydroxychloroquine could treat COVID-19 symptoms, other studies have found no discernible effect | false |
697 | 9603 | Abbott wins U.S. approval for stent that absorbs into body | Doctors often treat coronary artery disease with a procedure called angioplasty to widen clogged or narrowed arteries using a metal stent. But those stents have been problematic for some patients, leading to blood clots and even heart attacks. The FDA has just approved medical use of a dissolvable stent manufactured by Abbott Labs, and this story heralds that decision. The Reuters story included some details the Associated Press version did not–namely, what the stent is made of, what kind of drug is coated onto it, and what the plans are for rolling it out to hospitals. But its almost giddy approach to the FDA announcement belies the fact that long-term safety and efficacy data are not yet in hand. Put another way, no one yet knows if these dissolvable stents will make a practical difference in heart disease patient outcomes. The AP story makes that crucial information a centerpiece of the text and, we think, does its readers a greater service. Coronary heart disease is responsible for about 370,000 deaths each year in the U.S., according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The use of stents to prop open occluded blood vessels is a popular treatment but one fraught with problems. If dissolvable stents can help solve these problems in ways superior to other treatment alternatives, they represent a real and important advance. Only time will tell–and this story didn’t make that clear enough. | mixture |
698 | 38080 | A British man named David Hibbitt was given 18 months to live before he cured cancer with cannabis oil. | Given 18 Months to Live, Man Cures Brain Cancer With Cannabis Oil | false |
699 | 28208 | President Obama ordered all schools to make all bathrooms transgender or face a loss of federal funding. | """What's true: The Departments of Justice and Education's respective civil rights divisions issued significant guidance to schools about transgender students and Title IX. According to that guidance, no students would be asked to """"prove"""" or otherwise document their gender identity, and adherence to Title IX is """" a condition of receiving Federal funds."""" What's false: President Obama did not personally issue the guidance.""" | true |