Given a paragraph, generate a claim that is supported by the given paragraph. 1) The claim must contain information from within the paragraph. 2) A sentence within the paragraph can be used as a claim. 3) The claim should not have contradictions within the paragraph. 4) The claim should be at most one sentence long.
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Question: Irish-born William Campbell and Japan’s Satoshi Omura won half of the prize for discovering avermectin, a derivative of which has been used to treat hundreds of millions of people with river blindness and lymphatic filariasis, or elephantiasis. China’s Tu Youyou was awarded the other half of the prize for discovering artemisinin, a drug that has slashed malaria deaths and has become the mainstay of fighting the mosquito-borne disease. She is China’s first Nobel laureate in medicine. Some 3.4 billion people, most of them living in poor countries, are at risk of contracting the three parasitic diseases. “These two discoveries have provided humankind with powerful new means to combat these debilitating diseases that affect hundreds of millions of people annually,” the Nobel Assembly at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute said. “The consequences in terms of improved human health and reduced suffering are immeasurable.”  Today, the medicine ivermectin, a derivative of avermectin made by Merck & Co, is used worldwide to fight roundworm parasites, while artemisinin-based drugs from firms including Novartis and Sanofi are the main weapons against malaria. Omura and Campbell made their breakthrough in fighting parasitic worms, or helminths, after studying compounds from soil bacteria. That led to the discovery of avermectin, which was then further modified into ivermectin. The treatment is so successful that river blindness and lymphatic filariasis are now on the verge of being eradicated. Omura, 80, said the real credit for the achievement should go to the ingenuity of the Streptomyces bacteria, whose naturally occurring chemicals were so effective at killing off parasites. “I really wonder if I deserve this,” he said after learning he had won the prize. “I have done all my work depending on microbes and learning from them, so I think the microbes might almost deserve it more than I do.”  Omura is professor emeritus at Kitasato University in Japan, while Campbell is research fellow emeritus at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. “This was the work of a team of researchers so it is by no means my work, it’s our work,” said Campbell, 85, who learned of his prize in a pre-dawn phone call from Reuters that woke him at his home in North Andover, Massachusetts. “In the first decade, there were 70 authors that I co-authored papers with. That gives you some idea of the number of people involved,” he said. Tu, meanwhile, turned to a traditional Chinese herbal medicine in her hunt for a better malaria treatment, following the declining success of the older drugs chloroquine and quinine. She found that an extract from the plant Artemisia annua was sometimes effective but the results were inconsistent, so she went back to ancient literature, including a recipe from AD 350, in the search for clues. This eventually led to the isolation of artemisinin, a new class of anti-malaria drug, which was available in China before it reached the West. Tu, 84, has worked at the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine since 1965. World Health Organization spokesman Gregory Hartl said the award of a Nobel prize for the discovery was a great tribute to the contribution of Chinese science in fighting malaria. “We now have drugs that kill these parasites very early in their life-cycle,” said Juleen Zierath, chair of the Nobel Committee. “They not only kill these parasites but they stop these infections from spreading.”     Death rates from malaria have plunged 60 percent in the past 15 years, although the disease still kills around half a million people a year, the vast majority of them babies and young children in the poorest parts of Africa. The 8 million Swedish crowns ($960,000) medicine prize is the first of the Nobel prizes awarded each year. Prizes for achievements in science, literature and peace were first awarded in 1901 in accordance with the will of dynamite inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel. Last year, the medicine prize went to three scientists who discovered the brain’s inner navigation system.

Answer: Beating parasites wins three scientists Nobel prize for medicine.


Question: The Seattle Times reports the child was elementary-school age and died in a Pierce County hospital Dec. 15, according to a statement from Public Health — Seattle & King County. Three King County adults also have died since the start of this flu season, which began unusually early and is especially affecting children, health officials said. Health Officer Dr. Jeff Duchin said the predominant strain circulating right now is the influenza B virus. Officials are urging people to get vaccinated. There are also anti-viral treatments available after flu-like symptoms appear, which can prevent people from getting sicker or developing complications, Duchin said. Duchin declined to say whether the child who died had been vaccinated but said each year, 80% to 90% of children who die from the flu were not vaccinated. Public Health estimates there are 70 to 500 flu-related deaths in King County each year. People who get the flu can be contagious a day before symptoms develop and up to a week after becoming sick, according to Public Health. Symptoms include fever, cough, weakness and body aches.

Answer: King County child dies of flu.


Question: Hahn, a cancer specialist and hospital executive, won confirmation to the role of FDA commissioner with a vote of 72-18. The move comes as key decisions about regulating electronic cigarettes, including how to keep them away from teenagers, remain unresolved. More than three months ago President Donald Trump and his top health officials said they would soon sweep virtually all flavored e-cigarettes from the market because of their appeal to children and teens. But that effort has stalled after vaping lobbyists pushed back and White House advisers told Trump the ban could cost him votes with adults who vape. In his confirmation hearing last month, Hahn repeatedly sidestepped questions about the fate of the flavor ban. When lawmakers tried to pin down his preferred approach to regulating vaping, Hahn said only that he would follow the “science and evidence.”  Still, he won the backing of several key vaping critics in the Senate, including Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin, who said he hoped Hahn would use his influence to push the Trump administration to crack down on the industry. “Dr. Hahn said to me he doesn’t want to be known in history as the head of the FDA who saw this epidemic grow dramatically,” said Durbin, speaking on the Senate floor Wednesday. Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, supports legislation that would place new taxes on e-cigarettes and restrict flavors with the aim of discouraging underage use. Anti-vaping groups and health experts argue that flavors like fruit, mint, menthol and others attract underage teens. But vaping proponents say flavors can help adult smokers switch to vaping from cigarettes, which cause cancer, lung disease, stroke and other deadly diseases. Underage vaping has reached what health officials call epidemic levels. In the latest government survey, 1 in 4 high school students reported using e-cigarettes in the previous month, despite federal law banning sales to those under 18. More than a third of U.S. states have already raised their sales age for e-cigarettes and other tobacco products to 21. E-cigarettes typically heat a solution that contains nicotine, which makes cigarettes and e-cigarettes addictive. They are generally considered less harmful than paper-and-tobacco cigarettes, though there is little research on their long-term health effects. Hahn, 59, will succeed Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who left the federal agency in April. Gottlieb bucked expectations early in his tenure by announcing an unprecedented effort to curb smoking. Under the plan outlined in July 2017, the FDA would use its authority to cut nicotine in cigarettes to non-addictive levels, encouraging smokers to quit or switch to less harmful products, such as e-cigarettes. The proposal for cutting nicotine was targeted for release in October this year, according to the agency’s regulatory agenda. But it didn’t appear and was dropped last month from the FDA’s updated list of regulatory priorities. An FDA spokeswoman said the agency is continuing to review the policy. But anti-tobacco advocates worry the Trump administration is backing away from its earlier commitment to making cigarettes less addictive. The FDA regulates a broad array of consumer goods and medicine — everything from new drugs and medical devices to packaged food, nutrition labeling, tobacco and cosmetics. As FDA commissioner, Hahn will face a raft of other pressing health issues, including dealing with the prescription opioid epidemic, safety problems with imported drugs and the regulation of CBD, a marijuana derivative that has become a trendy food additive. Hahn, who specializes in treating lung cancer, most recently worked as the top medical executive at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. ___ Follow Matthew Perrone on Twitter: @AP_FDAwriter ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Answer:
Senate OKs Trump’s FDA nominee despite unclear vaping agenda.