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Health

Can cancer blood tests live up to promise of saving lives?

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Joyce Ares had just turned 74 and was feeling fine when she agreed to give a blood sample for research. So she was surprised when the screening test came back positive for signs of cancer.

After a repeat blood test, a PET scan and a needle biopsy, she was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma.

“I cried,” the retired real estate broker said. “Just a couple of tears and thought, ‘OK, now what do we do?’”

The Canby, Oregon, resident had volunteered to take a blood test that is being billed as a new frontier in cancer screening for healthy people. It looks for cancer by checking for DNA fragments shed by tumor cells.

Such blood tests, called liquid biopsies, are already used in patients with cancer to tailor their treatment and check to see if tumors come back.

Now, one company is promoting its blood test to people with no signs of cancer as a way to detect tumors in the pancreas, ovaries and other sites that have no recommended screening method.

It’s an open question whether such cancer blood tests — if added to routine care — could improve Americans’ health or help meet the White House’s goal of cutting the cancer death rate in half over the next 25 years.

With advances in DNA sequencing and data science making the blood tests possible, California-based Grail and other companies are racing to commercialize them.

And U.S. government researchers are planning a large experiment — possibly lasting seven years and with 200,000 participants — to see if the blood tests can live up to the promise of catching more cancers earlier and saving lives.

“They sound wonderful, but we don’t have enough information,” said Dr. Lori Minasian of the National Cancer Institute, who is involved in planning the research. “We don’t have definitive data that shows that they will reduce the risk of dying from cancer.”

Grail is far ahead of other companies with 2,000 doctors willing to prescribe the $949 test. Most insurance plans don’t cover the cost. The tests are being marketed without endorsements from medical groups or a recommendation from U.S. health authorities. Review by the Food and Drug Administration isn’t required for this type of test.

“For a drug, the FDA demands that there is a substantial high likelihood that the benefits not only are proven, but they outweigh the harms. That’s not the case for devices like blood tests,” said Dr. Barry Kramer of the Lisa Schwartz Foundation for Truth in Medicine.

Grail plans to seek approval from the FDA, but is marketing its test as it submits data to the agency.

The history of cancer screening has taught caution. In 2004, Japan halted mass screening of infants for a childhood cancer after studies found it didn’t save lives. Last year, a 16-year study in 200,000 women in the United Kingdom found regular screening for ovarian cancer didn’t make any difference in deaths.

Cases like these have uncovered some surprises: Screening finds some cancers that don’t need to be cured. The flip side? Many dangerous cancers grow so fast they elude screening and prove deadly anyway.

And screening can do more harm than good. Anxiety from false positives. Unnecessary costs. And serious side effects from cancer care: PSA tests for men can lead to treatment complications such as incontinence or impotence, even when some slow-growing prostate cancers would never have caused trouble.

The evidence is strongest for screening tests for cancers of the breast, cervix and colon. For some smokers, lung cancer screening is recommended.

The recommended tests — mammography, PAP tests, colonoscopy — look for one cancer at a time. The new blood tests look for many cancers at once. That’s an advantage, according to Grail executive Dr. Joshua Ofman.

“We screen for four or five cancers in this country, but (many) cancer deaths are coming from cancers that we’re not looking for at all,” Ofman said.

Dr. Tomasz Beer of Oregon Health & Science University in Portland led the company-sponsored study that Joyce Ares joined in 2020. After a miserable winter of chemotherapy and radiation, doctors told her the treatment was a success.

Her case isn’t an outlier, “but it is the sort of hoped-for ideal outcome, and not everyone is going to have that,” Beer said.

While there were other early cancers detected among study participants, some had less clear-cut experiences. For some, blood tests led to scans that never located a cancer, which could mean the result was a false positive, or it could mean there’s a mystery cancer that will show up later. For others, blood tests detected cancer that turned out to be advanced and aggressive, Beer said. One older participant with a bad case declined treatment.

Grail continues to update its test as it learns from these studies, and is sponsoring a trial with Britain’s National Health Service in 140,000 people to see if the blood test can reduce the number of cancers caught in late stages.

Although Ares feels lucky, it’s impossible to know whether her test added healthy years to her life or made no real difference, said Kramer, former director of the National Cancer Institute’s Division of Cancer Prevention.

“I sincerely hope that Joyce benefited from having this test,” Kramer said when told of her experience. “But unfortunately, we can’t know, at the individual Joyce level, whether that’s the case.”

Cancer treatments can have long-term side effects, he said, “and we don’t know how fast the tumor would have grown.” Treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma is so effective that delaying therapy until she felt symptoms might have achieved the same happy outcome.

For now, health experts stress the Grail blood test is not a cancer diagnosis; a positive result triggers further scans and biopsies.

“This is a path in diagnostic testing that has never been tried before,” Kramer said. “Our ultimate destination is a test that has a clear net benefit. If we don’t do it carefully, we’ll go way off the path.”

___

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.

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Daylight saving change faces trouble in House

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Legislation to make daylight saving time permanent passed the Senate last week, but the House is not ready to be a rubber stamp, spelling potential trouble ahead for its passage in the lower chamber.

Leaders on both sides of the aisle have made clear they are not in a rush to act on the legislation, with some citing the focus on the crisis unfolding in Ukraine, as well as the need for further review from members before taking up the proposal.

And though the idea has enjoyed bipartisan support across Congress, its path in the lower chamber is uncertain, as a few members have begun to call for more research into the proposed measure before signing on to the push.

Rep. Pramila JayapalPramila JayapalProgressive Caucus presses Biden for executive action on student loans, immigration Jan. 6 witnesses to be NBC guests at media dinner Andrew Cockburn discusses the Pentagon’s recent budget allocations MORE (D-Wash.) told The Hill on Friday that, while she has supported doing away with the semiannual time change in the past, she’s gotten mixed reactions from her constituents over the idea.

“I’ve been hearing a lot about this from my constituents recently because we’re in Seattle and it is so dark,” she said, “and so if we make daylight saving permanent, it’s gonna be dark until like nine o’clock in the morning.”

Though Jayapal said she thinks “having one time zone is just easier,” she added that she wants “to pay attention to what people are saying,” while also noting concerns that some have shared about the potential impact the proposed change could have on learning.

Pressed about his stance on the proposal, Rep. Al GreenAlexander (Al) N. GreenSenate Republicans must end their block of well qualified Federal Reserve nominees House Ethics Committee takes no action against Bowman over voting rights protest arrest Lobbying world MORE (D-Texas) stressed the need for additional evidence before taking a position. 

“I’m going to ask my staff for some empirical studies about this,” he said.

In remarks to The Hill on Friday, Rep. Hakeem JeffriesHakeem Sekou JeffriesRussian invasion scrambles Democrats’ agenda Democrats look for cover on rising gas prices Hoyer says Russian gas ban is worth political cost MORE (N.Y.), head of the House Democratic Caucus, said he assumes the legislation will “be more broadly discussed both by the relevant committees and within the caucus sooner rather than later.”

“Different members have articulated a different perspective. We’ll have to come to some consensus. We were unexpectedly sent this bill by the Senate. Now, we’re trying to absorb it,” Jeffries said.

The legislation passed by unanimous consent in the Senate on Tuesday. Any senator can use the procedure to fast-track passage of a bill without a vote, but it only takes one senator to object and block it.

A staffer for Sen. Marco RubioMarco Antonio RubioPush to make daylight saving time permanent has longtime backers House leaders want to take up daylight saving time bill — later Biden’s moves on Venezuela become flashpoint in Florida MORE (R-Fla.), lead sponsor of the measure, said his office ran what’s known around Capitol Hill as a “hotline” on the legislation last week, informing all senators’ offices that the Florida Republican was seeking to ask for unanimous consent for the bill to pass.

The staffer said Sen. Roger WickerRoger Frederick WickerBipartisan group of senators visits Poland, Germany to meet with NATO partners over Ukraine Capito to make Senate GOP leadership bid To build for the future, we need updated rainfall records MORE (R-Miss.) had an objection to the measure, and they expected him to object to its passage. Rubio delayed trying to pass the bill until Tuesday, the staffer noted, to give Wicker, who had a flight delay, time to get back to Washington.

“But by Tuesday afternoon, when we had gotten everything scheduled, [Wicker] had sort of said he was not going through, so by the time that Sen. Rubio went down to the floor Tuesday afternoon, he felt pretty confident that it was going to pass,” the staffer said.

The Hill has reached out to Wicker’s office for comment.

Under the newly passed proposal, daylight saving time would be made permanent, starting November 2023, meaning most who changed their clocks at that time of year would no longer have to.

Rubio has pressed for the House to take swift action on the legislation — a call has also been echoed by Rep. Vern BuchananVernon Gale BuchananMORE (R-Fla.), who says he’s pushing for a companion bill in the House to pass soon.

Buchanan told The Hill on Friday that he’s confident the legislation could see passage this year, while also acknowledging recent comments from Speaker Nancy PelosiNancy PelosiRep. Don Young, longest-serving member of Congress, dies at 88 Photos of the Week: Ukraine, Holi and Carole King This week’s must-watch moments on Capitol Hill MORE (D-Calif.) expressing openness to the idea as a good sign.

“I’ve heard the Speaker. A lot of people are open-minded to it,” Buchanan said, before adding he thinks it’s likely the lower chamber would see “a strong vote” in favor of the measure if it’s brought to the floor. 

But Rep. John Yarmouth (D-Ky.) on Friday afternoon cast doubt on any chance the House would immediately pass the measure, telling The Hill he “can’t imagine” the bill being fast-tracked the same way in the lower chamber that it recently had in the Senate. 

“I don’t know that many members have really thought through it,” Yarmouth said, adding most members were kind of “blindsided” by how quickly the Senate approved the proposal. But he anticipates much more opinion on the matter in the near future as public interest around the push has grown.

“Now what will happen is you’ll get all of this outpouring of studies and people say, ‘Yeah, we agree you shouldn’t change twice a year, but what is it, standard time or daylight time?’ And then you get the farm bureaus and the parents associations,” he said, while predicting the “longer it goes, the chances of passage decline.”

“It’ll get more controversial the longer it goes,” Yarmouth said. He also recalled his past experience as a congressional staffer in the early 1970s, when he said the time change emerged as an “emotional issue.”

In 1973, President Nixon signed legislation to put the nation on daylight saving time for about two years, an effort he said was intended to help meet the needs of an energy crisis at the time. But the measure was met with immediate pushback not long after its enactment, prompting the nation to go back to the semiannual time change before the two years were up.

David Prerau, the author of “Seize the Daylight: The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time,” told The Hill that while the idea had been popular when it was proposed, much of the public grew to dislike it during winter.

“All of a sudden, everybody realized that they didn’t like it at all. It made the mornings very, very dark. All of the sunrises were an hour later than it would have been,” Prerau said. “Many, many people were getting up into pitch dark, going to work in the pitch dark, which they disliked. And they also disliked sending their kids to school in the dark, having to walk on dark country roads … so it became very unpopular very quickly.”

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, over a dozen states have passed or enacted legislation seeking to make daylight saving time permanent in recent years, including Idaho, Louisiana, South Carolina and Utah. 

Buchanan, who has been pushing for the change for years, said a driving force behind his campaign was the Florida Legislature’s passage of the legislation seeking the same move. But in order for that legislation to take effect, Rubio’s office has said “a change in the federal statute is required.” 

“I’m in the Sunshine State. We want more sunshine. … So we’re going to continue to work on it, and maybe get it out of here, the sooner the better. But we’re building the momentum for it right now,” he said.

Mike Lillis, Tobias Burns and Jordain Carney contributed to this report, which was updated at 8:31 a.m. 



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Senate plan for permanent daylight saving time faces doubts in the House

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Pallone, who held a hearing last week on daylight saving time, said he shares the Senate’s goal to end the “spring forward” and “fall back” clock changes linked to more strokes, heart attacks and car accidents. But he wants to collect more information, asking for a long-delayed federal analysis on how time changes might affect productivity, traffic and energy costs, among other issues.

“There isn’t a consensus, in my opinion in the House, or even generally at this point, about whether we should have standard versus daylight saving as the permanent time,” Pallone said. “Immediately after the Senate passed the bill, I had members come up to me on the floor and say, ‘Oh, don’t do that. I want the standard time,’ ” he added, declining to identify the lawmakers.

The White House also has not communicated its position on permanent daylight saving time, congressional aides said. While President Biden, as a freshman senator, voted for that in December 1973 — the last time that Congress attempted to institute the policy nationwide — he also witnessed the near-immediate collapse of support amid widespread reports that darker winter mornings were contributing to more car accidents and worsened moods. Members of Congress introduced nearly 100 pieces of legislation to change or do away with the law before it was finally repealed in October 1974.

The White House and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D) office declined to answer questions about daylight saving time policy on Friday, referring reporters back to prior statements that the Senate measure was being reviewed.

The Senate plan boasts bipartisan support, led by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the health panel chair and No. 3 Democrat, and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). The two steered the bill that passed the chamber on Tuesday through a procedure known as unanimous consent, which eliminates the need for debate or an actual vote count if no senator objects to a measure.

Backers of permanent daylight saving time argue that adding an hour of daylight later in the day would boost commerce and lead to mental health gains, as people go out to shop, eat and spend time outdoors. Murray and Rubio also point to states like Washington and Florida that have sought to adopt permanent daylight saving time but are waiting on federal approval to do so. Their aides said they are working to drum up support for the change among their House counterparts — pushing for a vote as soon as possible, while there is momentum around the idea.

“Springing forward and falling back year after year only creates unnecessary confusion while harming Americans’ health and our economy,” Murray wrote Pelosi in a letter sent Friday that her office shared with The Washington Post. “I hope, once again, for your immediate consideration of this common-sense legislation.”

Lawmakers seeking to change national time policies are working against the clock, said Thomas Gray, a University of Texas at Dallas political science professor who has studied more than a century of congressional legislation on daylight saving time.

The issue “has these unusual dynamics, where there’s really only two weeks of the year where people care about it” — the week in the spring when the clocks spring forward an hour, and the week in the fall when the clocks fall back, Gray said. “It usually takes more than a week to do something in Congress. And it’s hard to fit that time-period when people actually care into the process of passing a bill.”

Tuesday’s successful Senate vote came two days — and several uncomfortable nights of sleep — after Sunday morning’s clock change. But the next clock change is set for Nov. 6 — which would be in the middle of a House recess, and two days before lawmakers stand for election.

The schedule is “a concern for anyone who is in favor of going to permanent daylight saving time,” said Jeffery A. Jenkins, a University of Southern California public-policy professor who has studied the politics of daylight saving time with Gray. “The fact that the House is not ready to move, the Democratic leadership is not ready to move and there are some people out there who probably would not like to go to permanent daylight saving time is a problem. And they have now the opportunity to get together, coordinate and potentially act in a collective way downstream.”

That counter-lobby has already sprung into action, with advocates warning this week that shifting the clock later would lead to winter sunrises after 9 a.m. in cities like Indianapolis and Detroit, forcing schoolchildren and many workers to commute in the dark. Save Standard Time, a nonprofit that has called for permanently adopting standard time, has sent dozens of messages encouraging supporters to contact lawmakers to register their disapproval of the Senate bill.

The office of Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) was deluged with a high volume of calls and letters that reflected a “near-even split in support/opposition on the Senate bill,” spokesperson Aaron Fritschner wrote on Twitter.

Health experts have also renewed their concerns that shifting to permanent daylight saving time would disrupt circadian rhythms by forcing people onto an unnatural sleep schedule.

“Today’s quick action by the Senate allowed for neither a robust discussion, nor a debate,” the American Academy of Sleep Medicine said in a statement after Tuesday’s vote. “We believe that permanent standard time is the best option for health.”

Some senators have said they were surprised by Tuesday’s vote and wished they had realized it was happening. But the bill’s chief backers had repeatedly called for the policy, including in speeches on the Senate floor last year, and Murray and Rubio’s staffers said they spent weeks targeting the March 12 clock change as an ideal moment to put the motion forward, working with the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation to find time on the chamber’s calendar.

The U.S. Senate on March 15 passed a bill to make daylight saving time permanent all year. (The Washington Post)

Every Senate office last week was also informed of the pending motion after the legislation was “hotlined,” a process by which lawmakers notify their colleagues about unanimous consent requests, Rubio’s spokesperson Dan Holler said. Since the vote, neither Rubio nor Murray’s offices have received complaints from other senators, their aides said.

But House leaders also felt surprised by the outcome and are determined to take their time reviewing the bill, said a senior House aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss pending legislation.

“What’s the old George Washington line? Now the House, as the more deliberative body, will serve as a tea saucer to cool the intemperate passions of the Senate,” the aide wrote in a text message, inverting the oft-quoted saying attributed to the nation’s first president.

The White House is also reviewing the legislation, and two aides told The Post that the Domestic Policy Council and National Economic Council are studying the implications. So far, the administration has declined to push for the change.

“We are obviously coordinated and work closely with Congress on all legislation they consider, but I don’t have a specific position from the administration at this point of time,” spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters on Wednesday.

Congress first instituted daylight saving time in 1919 and has subsequently held multiple votes to lengthen or shorten it. Those efforts climaxed in 1973, when lawmakers voted for a two-year national trial of permanent daylight saving time, spurred on by President Richard M. Nixon, who argued that it would save energy in the midst of an energy crisis triggered by the oil boycott of the United States by the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC.

But amid reports that the dark mornings were leading to traffic accidents, and with little evidence the plan substantially cut energy costs, political figures began calling for the law’s repeal within days of its passage.

By March 1974, a Senate measure to repeal the change narrowly failed in a 48-43 vote; Biden sat out the vote. (The White House did not respond to a question about why Biden did not vote.)

Momentum for repeal built over the spring, as the energy crisis drew to a close, and continued through the summer.

“We have experimented with daylight saving time through one dark winter — and one winter is enough,” said former senator Dick Clark, an Iowa Democrat, calling for repeal on Aug. 15, 1974. “I hope the Senate will take this opportunity to settle the question, not only for this winter, but for those to come.”

The following week, the House voted 383-16 to repeal permanent daylight saving time, which the Senate agreed to in a voice vote in September 1974. President Gerald Ford swiftly signed the bill.

Pallone said that the quick collapse of the 1970s-era plan shows the hazards of rushing to adopt permanent daylight saving time.

″What that points out to you and to me is that you’re not going to make everybody happy, right?” he said in an interview. “That’s why I say, we need to spend some time trying to figure out, is there a consensus?”

As the debate rages, Pallone said some lawmakers have floated an idea in the spirit of Washington compromise.

“I’ve actually had some people tell me, ‘why don’t you just split the difference? … Make it half an hour,’” he said.

Alice Crites contributed to this report.



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US

Senate passes bill that would make Daylight Saving Time permanent

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The Sunshine Protection Act passed the chamber by unanimous consent. The bill would still need to pass the House and be signed by President Joe Biden to become law. If the measure clears Congress and is signed into law, it would mean no more falling back every year in the fall.

CNN has reached out to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office for comment on when or if the House will take up the bill and did not immediately receive a response.

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a sponsor of the legislation, said he doesn’t have any assurance the House will take it up, but “it’s an idea whose time has come.”

Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who was presiding at the time of the bill’s consideration and who represents Arizona, a state that doesn’t observe Daylight Saving Time, could be heard on the mic saying “Ooh, I love it.” Following its passage, she let out a “Yes!”

The bill has bipartisan backing including several Republican and Democratic cosponsors.

“You’ll see it’s an eclectic collection of members of the United States Senate in favor of what we’ve just done here in the Senate, and that’s to pass a bill to make Daylight Savings Time permanent,” said Rubio in remarks on the Senate floor. “Just this past weekend, we all went through that biannual ritual of changing the clock back and forth and the disruption that comes with it. And one has to ask themselves after a while why do we keep doing it?”

“If we can get this passed, we don’t have to keep doing this stupidity anymore,” added Rubio.

Sen. Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican, expressed support for the bill after being told it had passed.

“I just think the extra hour at the end of the day consistently is better than having it dark when kids go to school and dark when kids get home,” he said.

Rubio noted that the bill delays implementation to November 2023, because, he said, the transportation industry has already built out schedules on the existing time and asked for additional months to make the adjustment.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, the lead Democratic sponsor, said Tuesday ahead of passage of the bill that “this would give us a chance for Americans all across the country to be rid of fall back and make Daylights Savings Time permanent and to add a little sunlight into most people’s lives.”

This story has been updated with additional developments Tuesday.

CNN’s Lauren Fox, Clare Foran and Ted Barrett contributed to this report.

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US

U.S. Senate approves bill to make daylight saving time permanent

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WASHINGTON, March 15 (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent starting in 2023, ending the twice-annual changing of clocks in a move promoted by supporters advocating brighter afternoons and more economic activity.

The Senate approved the measure, called the Sunshine Protection Act, unanimously by voice vote. The House of Representatives, which has held a committee hearing on the matter, still must pass the bill before it can go to President Joe Biden to sign. The White House has not said whether Biden supports it.

On Sunday, most of the United States resumed daylight saving time, moving ahead one hour. The United States will resume standard time in November.

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Senator Marco Rubio, one of the bill’s sponsors, said after input from airlines and broadcasters that supporters agreed that the change would not take place until November 2023.

The change would help enable children to play outdoors later and reduce seasonal depression, according to supporters.

“I know this is not the most important issue confronting America but it is one of those issues that there is a lot of agreement. … If we can get this passed, we don’t have to do this stupidity anymore,” Rubio added. “Pardon the pun, but this is an idea whose time has come.”

About 30 states since 2015 have introduced legislation to end the twice-yearly changing of clocks, with some states proposing to do it only if neighboring states do the same.

The House Energy and Commerce committee held a hearing on the issue this month. Representative Frank Pallone, the committee’s chairman, said that “the loss of that one hour of sleep seems to impact us for days afterwards. It also can cause havoc on the sleeping patterns of our kids and our pets.”

Pallone backs ending the clock switching but has not decided whether to support daylight or standard time as the permanent choice.

Pallone cited a 2019 poll that found that 71% of Americans prefer to no longer switch their clocks twice a year.

Supporters say the change could prevent a slight uptick in car crashes that typically occurs around the time changes and point to studies showing a small increase in the rate of heart attacks and strokes soon after the time change.

“It has real repercussions on our economy and our daily lives,” said Senator Ed Markey, another leading sponsor.

Supporters argue it could help businesses such as golf courses that could draw more use with more evening daylight.

The use of daylight saving time has been in place in nearly all of the United States since the 1960s after being first tried in 1918. Year-round daylight savings time was adopted in 1973 in a bid to reduce energy use because of an oil embargo and repealed a year later.

The bill would allow Arizona and Hawaii, which do not observe daylight saving time, to remain on standard time.

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Reporting by David Shepardson
Editing by Will Dunham and Chizu Nomiyama

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Health

Viagra could become a ‘life saving and life changing’ drug for dogs

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Viagra could be given to dogs that suffer from a rare eating disorder that can cause pneumonia, becoming a ‘life saving and life changing’ drug.

Sildenafil, the generic version of Viagra has been tested by a team of veterinarians at Washington State University in Pullman to treat a disorder called megaesophagus. 

The condition involves an enlargement of the esophagus and a loss of the organ’s ability to move food to the stomach, which leaves food bottling up in the lower esophagus, and if left untreated can cause aspiration pneumonia.   

It is actually a number of conditions, resultiing iin the esophagus becoming enlarged, and has been shown to be hereditary in a number of breeds, including Wire Haired Fox Terriers and Miniature Schnauzers. 

Other breeds that may be predisposed are German Shepherd, Newfoundland, Great Dane, Irish Setter, Shar-pei, Greyhound and Labrador Retriever 

Given in liquid form, the drug relaxes the smooth muscle of the lower esophagus, so that it can open up and let the food pass to the stomach, providing relief for the dog.

Viagra could be given to dogs that suffer from a rare eating disorder that can cause pneumonia, becoming a ‘life saving and life changing’ drug

Ten dogs with the condition, megaesophagus, were enrolled in the study and given either a placebo or sildenafil for two weeks, then one week without either drug, before switching them around, and taking the one they didn’t get before.

Owners had to keep a log of any regurgitation episodes during the five week study, but weren’t told which drug their dog was taking.

‘The literature tells us that many dogs with the disease die from aspiration pneumonia or are humanely euthanized due to poor quality of life within eight months of diagnosis,’ said Dr. Jillian Haines, who co-lead of the study.

Besides some rare gastrointestinal irritation, the team found no side effects to dogs from the drug, at the dose used in the study. 

While sildenafil is most known to treat erectile dysfunction in humans, the drug is also used to treat elevated pulmonary blood pressure in dogs and humans.

‘There are no drugs we can use to manage megaesophagus,’ said Haines, adding that ‘Sildenafil is the first to target these mechanisms and reduce regurgitation, which is big because that’s what ultimately kills these dogs.’

Surgery can damage nerves supplying the penis, leaving up to eight in ten patients with erectile dysfunction (ED). Many will need lifelong medication, such as Viagra, but drugs fail to work in all cases (stock image)

‘It opens the lower esophageal sphincter for 20 minutes to an hour, which works really well for dogs because we only want that to open when they are eating.’

MEGAESOPHAGUS: A RARE EATING DISORDER IIN DOGS

Megaesophagus is a combination disorder in which the esophagus gets larger and loses its ability to move food into the stomach. 

This can lead to food and liquid building up in the esophagus. 

Regurgitation is the most common sign of megaesophagus, where food and water sloshes around in the  esophagus and with the help of gravity, is released back up.   

There are two types of megaesophagus. 

Congenital megaesophagus, where the animal is born with the condition, and acquired megaesophagus which occurs later in life, in young adults and middle-aged animals.

The team used videofluoroscopy, which provides an image of real-time swallowing, to monitor liquid and later, blended wet food as it traveled down the esophagus. 

There wasn’t a significant difference between the placebo and sildenafil during a 30-minute videofluoroscopy, however, nine out of the 10 owners reported reduced regurgitation during the two weeks when liquid sildenafil was administered.

‘In many cases, the owners were able to figure out which drug was sildenafil because it was working,’ Haines said, adding they also gained weight. 

‘Moderately affected dogs that were regurgitating frequently but not excessively seemed to see the most dramatic results,’ Haines said. ‘I actually prescribed sildenafil to several of those patients after the study, and they are still using it today.’

Unfortunately the results weren’t as positive for dogs with severe signs of the disease, as it was harder to get the drug into the stomach for absorption.

While the study is promising, Haines said much is still to be known about the drug and hopes future studies will investigate its use in veterinary medicine further. 

‘A lot of veterinarians are reaching out and asking about this drug,’ Haines said. ‘I think sildenafil will be life changing and life saving for a lot of dogs. This research helps support its use and hopefully will encourage more people to use it.’  

The research, conducted at WSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine, was published in the American Journal of Veterinary Research.

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Science

How NASA technology is protecting Earth, saving lives; check wizardry

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NASA technology is being shared with startups and companies to “boost the economy, protect the planet, and save lives”

NASA Spinoff 2022: On January 25, NASA announced the release of its annual publication Spinoff. Spinoff is released every year by NASA to highlight all the collaborative projects the space agency took part in. NASA states that these projects involve working with companies, startups and entrepreneurs and giving them the access to its technology in order to “boost the economy, protect the planet, and save lives”.

Highlighting the role NASA has played outside of space exploration, Bill Nelson, NASA administrator said, “As we combat the coronavirus pandemic and promote environmental justice and sustainability, NASA technology is essential to address humanity’s greatest challenges.”

NASA Spinoff 2022: Highlights

NASA Spinoff 2022 features more than 45 companies that are using NASA’s technology to improve manufacturing techniques in industries, improve soil health by eliminating pollution and purifying the air to slow the spread of viruses including Covid-19.

The 85-page book tells stories of how these technologies developed in NASA for the primary purpose of advancing space exploration are finding their place in commercial space to solve major challenges in the world. For instance, one story talks about NASA and General Motors joining hands to build robotic gloves which are now being used for industrial workspaces to increase productivity and create safer environments.

“NASA’s technology portfolio contains many innovations that not only enable exploration but also address challenges and improve life here at home. We’ve captured these examples of successful commercialization of NASA technology and research, not only to share the benefits of the space program with the public but to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs,” said Jim Reuter, associate administrator of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate.

Other highlights in Spinoff 2022 include NASA’s vertical farms that are helping companies grow fresh vegetables in a sustainable way. It also talks about the NASA developed system for growing plants in space that is now being used to improve indoor air quality and reduce the spread of airborne viruses including Covid-19.

NASA Spinoff 2022 also features a section called Spinoffs of Tomorrow. The section talks about 20 NASA technologies that are ready for commercialization and can have a big impact on the world. Some of them include a biometric identity verification system that unlocks devices using heartbeat, a nanomaterial device that can convert carbon dioxide into fuel and ‘self-healing aluminum’ that repairs cracks and reverses damage in airplanes, tanks, and more. NASA highlighted that all these technologies are available for licensing.



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Technology

Apple AirPods Pro Black Friday deal: This amazing saving is available now (updated)

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Angela Lang/CNET

This story is part of Holiday Gift Guide 2021, our list of ideas, by topic, by recipient and by price, to help you discover the perfect gift.

Update, 7:09 a.m. PT: It looks like the AirPods Pro for $159 are sold out at Walmart, but they remain available at Amazon for just $11 more. Meanwhile, the new AirPods 3 are down to $150 at Amazon, a new all-time low.

Hoping to pick up some Apple’s AirPods with a great discount? Thankfully Black Friday is here to answer your dreams. Right now thanks to an incredible Black Friday AirPods deal you can pick up the AirPods Pro for their lowest price ever. This discount saves you $80 compared with what Apple has them listed for, meaning the AirPods Pro can be yours for only $170 right now if you’re quick. They went as low as $159, but that offer has expired. Meanwhile, the Apple AirPods 2 are available for $100. This offer is unlikely to last long, so if you are in the market for a pair of AirPods, grab them now!

AirPods Black Friday deals have a tendency to sell out pretty quickly. Earlier this month, Walmart discounted the AirPods 2 to only $89, and it didn’t stick around for long. We’ve already seen stock go in and out on the AirPods Pro, though both Walmart and Amazon seem to have them in-stock for the time being. Other retailers, like Target, still have these priced at $190 and have not matched Walmart’s advertised Black Friday deal.

Odds are you’ve heard of the AirPods Pro before, but here’s a little breakdown of what to know about these popular earbuds. The AirPods Pro are truly wireless earbuds that offer active noise cancellation, a feature that the AirPods 2 don’t have. You’ll notice the design of them is a bit different, and that’s because Apple needed silicone tips to form a better fit in your ear and the stems of the headphones have a touch panel for controlling different settings. You can use them with noise canceling or without, and Apple added a transparency mode that lets some of the outside noise in so you can still hear what’s going on around you. Just recently, Apple upgraded the AirPods Pro charging case to include MagSafe, which is a great addition.

Odds are that this deal won’t be widely available for too much longer. We expect that retailers will sell out of these or that they will go in and out of stock throughout the weekend. This is the lowest price that the AirPods Pro have ever been at and none of the upcoming Black Friday deals will make them any cheaper, so your best bet is to buy them now so you don’t miss out.

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US

Daylight Saving Time 2021 has ended. Here’s how to cope with the time change

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Many people look forward to that extra hour of sleep, but it’s not enough to erase chronic sleep debt, said Dr. Kannan Ramar, professor of medicine at the Center for Sleep Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

However, the additional hour of rest could have you waking up feeling more refreshed, which may motivate you to get more shut-eye, he said.

This is a great time to implement healthy “sleep hygiene” practices, which will help you fall asleep faster and stay asleep, Ramar said.

He recommended going to sleep around the same time each night, making sure you’re going to sleep early enough to get seven to eight hours of rest.

In the 30 minutes before bedtime, begin shutting off electronics to limit your exposure to light, Ramar explained.

If after 20 minutes you can’t fall sleep, get out of bed and do a quiet activity like meditation, he said. This is not the time to jump back on your electronics, he warned.

Avoid eating a large meal before bedtime, and cut off your caffeine intake in the afternoon, Ramar advised. Make sure to reduce your fluid intake before bed and avoid alcohol around this time, he added.

If those tips do not work for you, Ramar recommended you speak to a medical professional.

A rise in seasonal affective disorder

As the nights grow longer and the weather becomes bleaker in parts of the country, people may develop seasonal affective disorder. It’s a specific type of depression that often begins in the fall and ends in the spring, said Michelle Drerup, director of behavioral sleep medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Sleep Disorders Center in Ohio.

Some common symptoms include irritability, extreme fatigue, inability to concentrate, carbohydrate cravings, anxiety and withdrawal from social activities, she said.

The time change from Daylight Saving Time ending can trigger SAD, Drerup said.

A study published in 2017 found there was an 11% increase in the number of seasonal depressive episodes at the end of daylight saving.

Light exposure boosts mood

People with seasonal affective disorder should try to expose themselves to bright, natural light when possible, said Dr. Bhanu Prakash Kolla, an addiction psychiatrist and sleep physician at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. The rays of light increase the release of the neurotransmitter serotonin, known as the “happy hormone.”

Those in gloomier parts of the country can use a light box to mimic sunlight, he said.

If you notice the symptoms of seasonal affective disorder are significantly impacting your ability to function for more than two weeks, Drerup recommended seeing a doctor. A medical professional can help diagnose you, evaluate for other possible mental health conditions, and provide a personalized treatment plan.

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US

Daylight Saving Time 2021: How to prepare and what to know

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Daylight Saving Time is ending this Sunday, November 7, at 2 a.m.

Most digital clocks and electronics automatically change the time, but some clocks may need to be manually rewound.

Not all states practice Daylight Saving Time, though. Residents of Hawaii and most of Arizona, along with the US territories of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Virgin Islands and Guam, don’t touch their clocks.

Most people welcome an extra hour of shut-eye, but the change can be problematic for young children, said Michelle Drerup, director of behavioral sleep medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Sleep Disorders Center in Ohio.

It can be tempting to stay up later because you have an extra hour, but Drerup advised against it.

“Since our society is generally sleep deprived as a whole, it is recommended for most people to keep their bedtime consistent and to sleep until (their) typical wake up time if possible and enjoy the additional hour of sleep,” she said via email.

If you begin to feel sleepy during the day, Drerup suggested a 15- to 20-minute nap in the early afternoon to limit the sleep disruption.

Creating a routine can also keep your brain on track throughout the day, such as making your bed or eating meals at the same time, she added.

When you wake up on Sunday, immediately change your clocks if they don’t change automatically so your brain can visualize the time change and adjust faster, said clinical psychologist Michael Breus, a diplomate of the American Board of Sleep Medicine and a fellow of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

It’s also important to expose yourself to sunlight when you wake up to help reset your body clock, he said.

Why we ‘fall back’

Benjamin Franklin first proposed the concept of daylight saving in 1784, but it wasn’t implemented until World War I as a temporary measure to save energy.

Daylight saving was used on and off in the United States from the 1920s until the Uniform Time Act was passed in 1966. This act established daylight saving from the last Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October.

In 1987, Daylight Saving Time began starting on the first weekend in April and ending on the last Sunday in October.

In 2007, the time was expanded once again to start the second Sunday in March and finish the first Sunday in November, which is the current schedule.

About 70 countries practice Daylight Saving Time.

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