TASK DEFINITION: Generate an explanation for the given claim using the provided supporting material from the paragraph. Please consider the following points while generating an output. 1) The claim will always have supporting proof in the paragraph, and the paragraph will have a clear point of view supporting the claim. 2) There can be instances where direct correlation to the claim is not available. Make use of the sentences in the paragraph to provide a corresponding output supporting the claim. 3) The explanation should be at least one and at most twelve sentences long.
PROBLEM: Paragraph: About 400 patients, many of them with cancer, were given the oil for free at a flagship clinic at the Public Health Ministry in a suburb of Bangkok. The initial four formulations handed out are used for treating conditions such as migraines, insomnia, nausea, numbness and pain. The medicines are touted as being based on traditional remedies. Thailand was previously known for harsh anti-drug laws, but is now eyeing the economic potential of cannabis. A report last year by Prohibition Partners, which claims to be the leading authority on the subject, said Asia’s medical cannabis market would be worth around $5.8 billion by 2024. Around 25 similar clinics have been operating part-time since the legislature agreed in 2018 to amend the country’s drug laws to allow the use and production of medical cannabis. The Health Ministry clinic and another in Bangkok are forerunners of a planned nationwide network, if they show positive results. “Marijuana could be an answer. At least the patients’ quality of life is improved,” said Dr. Prasert Mongkolsiri, the director of a public hospital, who helped advise patients on Monday. “At least it can lessen the side effects of the modern chemical-based medicines that they’ve been taking for 10 or 20 years,” he said, referring to chemotherapy for cancer patients. Chamroen Nakurai, 57, was diagnosed with lymph node cancer two years ago. She said cannabis oil helps lessen the side effects of her chemotherapy, but until now she had been able to get it only through illegal underground suppliers. “The treatment isn’t widely available and the cost is quite high if you visit underground clinics, but this service is free and anyone can access it,” she said. Nuthjutha Ulpathorn, 29, was born with cerebral palsy that makes her unable to walk and garbles her speech. She began to use cannabis oil two months ago after her mother brought her to a government hospital that started to give out cannabis oil. “I sleep better, and (am) less cranky,” Nuthjutha said with a smile. Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, the chief architect of the new policy drive, toured the suburban clinic on Monday. He expressed hope that the remedies might be soon added into the National List of Essential Medicine, which allows them to be covered by Thailand’s 30-baht ($1) universal health care scheme. Officials say the policy of free cannabis is likely to be changed. Anutin is the leader of the Bhumjai Thai Party, a partner in the country’s coalition government. The party won 50 seats in March’s general election after Anutin campaigned for legalization of the production of marijuana to aid farmers. Moves to allow small-scale private production are moving ahead. The Public Health Ministry, meanwhile, supervises cannabis production at six locations around the country. Claim: Thailand launches full-time clinics dispensing cannabis oil.

SOLUTION: Thailand on Monday opened its first two full-time clinics dispensing cannabis oil for medical treatment, a step forward in the government’s policy of promoting the licensed use of marijuana products to relieve the symptoms of a range of ailments.

PROBLEM: Paragraph: "During this election season, Republicans have been hammering Democrats over cuts they say were made to Medicare as part of the health care bill. Now, in a television ad in the Kentucky Senate race, Democrat Jack Conway is turning the tables, attacking Republican Rand Paul over Medicare deductibles. Here's the transcript of the ad, released Sept. 28, 2010:  Narrator: ""More from Rand Paul."" Footage of Rand Paul: ""The real answer to Medicare would be a $2,000 deductible."" Man: ""A $2,000 deductible?"" Man: ""Rand Paul wants us to pay $2,000 just to get Medicare?"" Woman: ""That's crazy."" Woman: ""I can't afford that."" Footage of Rand Paul: ""The real answer to Medicare would be a $2,000 deductible."" Man: ""I don't know what planet he's from."" Woman: ""Rand Paul is off the wall with the $2,000 deductible."" Man: ""He knows we can't afford that."" Woman: ""The more we hear about Rand Paul, the worse it gets."" Conway: ""I'm Jack Conway, and I approved this message."" The grainy footage of Paul is real. It comes from a talk that Paul, an ophthalmologist and longtime libertarian, gave to the Center-Right Coalition, a conservative group, in Lexington, Ky., on June 19, 2009. A longer excerpt from Paul's talk has been posted on YouTube. To see whether Conway's ad takes Paul's remarks out of context, we transcribed the portion of his speech in which he talks about Medicare. ""What's the problem in medicine?"" Paul began. ""No price fluctuation. If you're over 65 and go to a doctor in this country, you pay the exact same price with every doctor in the whole country. So when they want to blame ... that on capitalism, we have to be smart enough and say, 'We don't have capitalism. We already have socialism.'"" He continued, ""Medicare is socialized medicine. People are afraid of that because, 'Oh, you'll say you're against Medicare.' No, I say we have to do something different. We can't just eliminate Medicare. But we have to figure out how to get more to a market-based system. It's counter-intuitive to a lot of people, but you have to pay for things if you want prices to come down. So you really need higher deductibles. And the real answer to Medicare would be a $2,000 deductible, but try selling that one in an election. But that's the real answer is, you have to pay for things. And when you do, but you also get rid of price controls. So you raise the deductible, you get rid of price controls, and you allow more competition. And you may have to allow more competition from other parties. Nurse practitioners, we already have some. Pharmacists. There have to be ways to allow medicine to come down."" His comment was no one-time slip of the tongue. The Conway campaign released another ad with footage of at least five other occasions in which Paul spoke publicly about his preference for high deductibles for Medicare, sometimes even invoking the same $2,000 figure. Indeed, Paul has been caught on camera being open about the political hazards of making such a proposal. In the Lexington talk featured in the first ad, Paul immediately followed his mention of the $2,000 figure with the addendum, ""but try selling that one in an election."" And in the follow-up ad, a clip shows him acknowledging the political risk with striking frankness. ""The hard part,"" he said, ""is how do you present this on national TV? I mean, what's going to happen to me in a statewide race if I tell people I think the Medicare deductible is going to be higher? Am I going to be booted out of the room? I don't know. I'm willing to take a risk because I think it's the right thing to do, and because the other answer is to become just like Canada."" We did not receive a response from the Paul campaign for this article, but the campaign has responded through TV ads. On Oct. 7, the liberal website Talking Points Memo published a side-by-side comparison of the Paul campaign's two response ads and found subtle but noteworthy differences. In the first, the Paul campaign says that Paul ""never supported higher Medicare deductibles."" In the second, the ad was changed to say that Paul ""doesn't support higher Medicare deductibles."" Had they stuck with the first ad, it would have been undermined by a half-dozen film clips. Paul refined his policy toward Medicare during an appearance on Fox News on Oct. 6. Paul said that he did not want to impose deductibles on current Medicare beneficiaries but rather on future beneficiaries, possibly starting with those who are currently 55 or younger. So even Paul now acknowledges that he thinks Medicare deductibles are worth considering. But does Conway's ad fairly portray the views Paul had espoused at the time? They come close, but we do offer one caveat. We think that the general impression Conway's ad gives -- and in particular the line where the man says, ""Rand Paul wants us to pay $2,000 just to get Medicare?"" -- is that what Paul wants to do is slap seniors with a $2,000 deductible, even though his plan is much more comprehensive. Paul's ideas for Medicare may be good or bad, but the ad is somewhat misleading when it reduces them to a simple $2,000 deductible. That said, we see it as a relatively minor exaggeration. Paul has advocated for a $2,000 deductible in multiple settings." Claim: "Rand Paul ""wants us to pay $2,000 just to get Medicare."

SOLUTION: Jack Conway says Rand Paul backs a $2,000 deductible for Medicare

PROBLEM: Paragraph: While the story notes that the U.S. price of the Obalon intragastric balloon has yet to be announced, the story could have reported that the device and related care typically cost $2,500 to $4,000 in Europe, where it has been available for almost three years. Costs are also likely markedly higher than working with a behavioral team. The story quantified benefits by stating: Obese patients who swallowed balloon capsules that helped them eat less lost an average of 15 pounds, roughly two times more weight than patients who just dieted and exercised, researchers report. and: People treated with the balloons lost an average of 7 percent of their weight, compared to less than 4 percent for those who received the sham device, the researchers found. Six months after the balloons were removed, nearly 90 percent maintained the weight loss they achieved during treatment, Pryor said. In addition to reporting the weight loss results announced by researchers and that, unlike other balloons, this device doesn’t require patients to be sedated during placement, the story adds important context by including comments from independent sources who are skeptical that many patients will maintain their lower weight long after the device is removed. The story mentions these harms: As for side effects, one patient had a bleeding stomach ulcer while taking high doses of pain pills after a knee replacement. Most patients (91 percent) suffered from stomach cramps and nausea, which nearly 100 percent said were mild or moderate. The story would have been stronger if it had warned readers that a study that puts a device in only a couple of hundred people may miss problems that could appear after the device is placed in hundreds of thousands or even millions of patients. The documentation that the manufacturer will give patients lists several serious, even life-threatening, potential side effects, including intestinal and airway blockages. These potential risks should have been noted. The story reports the key features of the trial. It also notes that, “Research presented at meetings is considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.” The story would have been stronger if it clearly reported that the trial does not provide any evidence about whether the Obalon device is any better or worse than other options, because it did not compare it to similar balloons or to other weight loss interventions, other than the lifestyle counseling offered to all study participants. The researcher quoted in the story notes that this device could be an option for people who are leery of surgery. Independent sources quoted in the story predict a small role for such devices. One of the strongest aspects of this story is the ample use of independent sources to provide context and point out limitations of the device. However, this criterion demands that sponsors of research be identified, and this story does not tell readers that the trial was sponsored by Obalon Therapeutics. The story includes discussion of weight loss surgery and lifestyle interventions. It includes a quote noting that the Obalon device does not require patients to be sedated during insertion, which implies there are other similar balloon devices, though the story would have been better if it specifically noted that there are already two very similar devices available in the U.S. as well as other balloon devices that are for sale in other countries. It also could have pointed out that these results don’t appear more effective than an intensive behavioral program. The story reports that the Obalon balloon was approved by the FDA in September and will be available in January 2017. As noted above, the story reports that the Obalon device does not require patients to be sedated during insertion, which appears to be the main difference between this device and other similar balloons. It would have been better if it had more clearly informed readers that there are other intragastric balloon devices already on the market. The story notes that these study results also were presented back in May. The story includes several quotes from independent sources, as well as important details that were not included in a news release from the organizers of the the medical meeting where these results were presented. (We also reviewed the news release.) Claim: Balloon-in-a-pill helped obese patients lose weight

SOLUTION:
Credit: FDA safety materials on Obalon This story about a balloon swallowed by people with obesity to help them diet and lose weight is more informative than the associated conference news release we also reviewed. The overall tone of the story balances the positive spin from a researcher with skeptical comments from independent sources. It alerts readers that this sort of medical conference presentation does not go through the peer review process that major journals use. However, the story should have noted that the research was sponsored by the company that makes the device. It could have done a better job pointing out that the main difference between this device and other intragastric balloons already on the market is that this one doesn’t require patients to be sedated during placement. The story also didn’t point out that this type of device could cause life-threatening complications, and that the fact none were reported in this trial could be because fewer than 200 participants received the balloons. Patients want help comparing treatment options. Rather than highlighting results of a trial that merely compared this new weight loss balloon to a placebo, this story could have made more clear that there is no evidence yet that this device is any better or worse than similar products already on the market. It also could have helped readers by explaining that these results need to be weighed against intensive behavioral weight loss programs (like the LookAHEAD trial, where one-year outcomes were better than balloon).