KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri has its first confirmed case of measles, health officials announced Friday.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) said someone visiting Taney County has a confirmed case of measles. This person has been associated with recent international travel, according to the DHSS.

“The case is in a child whose vaccination status has not yet been verified,” the DHSS said. “There is no indication of widespread exposure as this person was diagnosed soon after arrival to Taney County.”

The DHSS said exposure is believed to be limited, and known contacts have been identified and contacted.

This is the first confirmed measles case detected in Missouri this year.

“For those unvaccinated or those unsure of their vaccination status, now is the time to review records and get caught up if needed,” said Dr. George Turabelidze, state epidemiologist with DHSS.

The DHSS is supporting the Taney County Health Department with the disease investigation and advising individuals who may have been exposed.

What to know about measles

Measles is a highly contagious viral illness that typically begins with fever, cough, runny nose and red and watery eyes. Symptoms appear within 7 to 14 days after contact with the virus. Tiny white spots may appear inside the mouth 2 to 3 days after symptoms begin.

Measles rash appears 3 to 5 days after the first symptoms. It usually begins as flat red spots that appear on the face at the hairline. They then spread downward to the neck, trunk, arms, legs and feet.

Measles can cause severe health complications, including pneumonia, encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) and death.

Measles can be transmitted by direct contact with infectious droplets or by airborne spread when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezes. The virus can remain infectious in the air and on surfaces for up to 2 hours after an infected person leaves an area.

People who are infected will begin to have symptoms on average 1 to 2 weeks after being exposed to a person with measles.

People who think they have measles or may have been exposed to measles should isolate themselves and call their health care provider before arriving to be tested. It is important to let the provider know that the patient may have measles and to get instructions on how to come to the office for diagnosis without exposing other people to the virus.

Grabbing a coffee cup seems easy. But you need to be able to move your hand, stretch it out, and keep it steady.

These movements are difficult for people with Parkinson’s disease. The disorder eats away at brain cells—called dopamine neurons—that control movement and emotion. Symptoms begin with tremors. Then muscles lock up. Eventually, the disease makes walking and sleeping difficult. Thinking gets harder, and as neurons die, people lose their concentration and memory.

Medications can keep some symptoms at bay, but eventually, their effects wear off. For nearly half a century, scientists have been exploring an alternative solution: Replacing dying dopamine neurons with new ones.

This month, two studies of nearly two dozen people with Parkinson’s showed the strategy is safe. A single transplant boosted dopamine levels for 18 months without notable side effects. Patients had fewer motor symptoms even when they stopped taking their regular medications.

The work stands out because instead of being tailored to each patient, the cells were ready-made. The teams grew new dopamine neurons from donors in the lab. These cells can multiply easily in petri dishes, forming a large supply of replacement cells for patients.

Malin Parmar at Lund University, who was not involved in the study, told Nature the results are “a big leap in the field.”

A Deteriorating Brain

Parkinson’s is the world’s second most common neurodegenerative disease, with up to 90,000 new cases a year in the US. Michael J. Fox, who played Marty McFly in Back to the Future and launched a foundation to find a Parkinson’s cure, is perhaps the most famous person living with the disease.

In Parkinson’s, neurons in the middle of the brain gradually die. Called the substantia nigra, the region is intricately connected with surrounding areas and is critical for movement and emotions. Although the entire area eventually deteriorates, neurons that pump out dopamine—a chemical that fine-tunes neural networks and functions—are first to go. This means the brain gradually loses dopamine as the disease progresses.

There are treatments but no cures.

One common medication, Levodopa, tackles symptoms. Neurons slurp up the drug and transform it into dopamine. But as brain cells gradually die, the medication becomes less effective. Levodopa also has side effects. Because midbrain wiring influences both addictive behaviors and motor control, flooding it with dopamine can change how people act, like increasing the risk of gambling addiction and other obsessive behaviors. Long-term use can also trigger random movements of the face, arms, and legs—a symptom called dyskinesia.

Brain implants that bridge broken connections in the midbrain are another treatment. Deep brain stimulation, for example, mimics natural brain signals to ease motor symptoms. Some implants are already approved for use, but they require surgery and monitoring and aren’t widely accessible.

Rather than patching a broken circuit with a temporary fix, what if we could replace broken dopamine neurons with fresh ones?

Stem-Cell Marathon

Stem cells offer a solution. These special cells can grow into any other type of cell under the right conditions, making them the perfect replacement for dying neurons.

Back in the 1980s, one team transplanted brain tissue rich in dopamine neurons into people with Parkinson’s. These patients experienced a boost of dopamine and improved motor control for years after the surgery. But the source was highly controversial: fetal brain tissue.

Although a “first proof-of-concept for cell transplantation therapy,” the trial raised “ethical concerns,” according to Hideyuki Okano at the Keio University Regenerative Medicine Research Center in Japan, who was not involved in the new studies.

As an alternative, scientists have learned to create stem cells in the lab. One method produces stem cell lines that can grow almost forever under the right conditions. In another, scientists chemically transform adult cells, often taken from the skin, into a stem-cell-like state. These are called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Five years ago, a team converted iPSCs into dopamine neurons and transplanted them into a patient, improving symptoms for up to two years.

Getting enough of the cells is difficult. Fetal brains are hard to come by and ethically problematic. And making iPSCs for each patient is time-consuming, potentially limiting widespread adoption.

Off-the-Shelf Treatment

The new studies took a different approach: They gathered two types of widely available stem cells, turned them into young dopamine neurons, and implanted them into the brain.

In one trial, researchers injected cells from a human embryonic-stem-cell line into the midbrains of 12 middle-aged people with Parkinson’s. Once a line is established, these lab-grown cells can reproduce indefinitely, essentially making them an unlimited resource.

Participants received nearly three million cells spread across 18 areas in the midbrain. Some 300,000 of these—roughly the number of dopamine cells that naturally inhabit the region—survived transplantation. The patients took immunosuppressant drugs for a year to prevent rejection.

Follow-up brain scans found higher levels of dopamine, even after patients stopped medication 18 months later. No one showed signs of cancer—a serious risk associated with stem-cell therapy—wrote Okano. Symptoms improved 50 percent. Pain went down. And patients reported improved sleep, appetite, and daily movement.

In a second study, scientists created an iPSC cell line from a donor’s skin cells and coaxed them into fresh dopamine neurons. Transplanted into seven Parkinson’s patients, the cells were shown to be safe and in working order. They pumped out dopamine and eased motor symptoms for over two years.

These studies stand out because they used donor cells, as opposed to cells tailored to each patient. “The results are encouraging because they show that the use of allogeneic (non-self) transplants for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease is likely to be safe,” wrote Okano.

Long Road Ahead

Though promising, both studies have limitations, especially the large number of cells involved. It’s possible to grow the cells in a normal lab setting, but quality control and other special measures are crucial. Scientists are still debating if off-the-shelf cell therapies—which require immunosuppressants—are better than personalized therapies.

The new approach also needs to undergo larger trials. Both studies were open label, meaning participants knew they were being treated, potentially triggering placebo effects. Still, the therapies are moving forward. Both teams are working with biotechnology firms to test them in larger groups.

“Transplanting dopamine-releasing neurons into the brain is a promising regenerative therapy for Parkinson’s disease,” wrote Okano. But “more evidence is needed to prove its effectiveness.”

Patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease may soon benefit from a powerful treatment option: stem-cell transplants.

In a pair of small studies designed primarily to test safety, two teams of researchers found that stem cells transplanted into the brains of Parkinson’s patients began producing the chemical messenger dopamine and appeared to ease symptoms like tremor, researchers reported in the journal Nature.

The results indicate that “now we have the potential to really, really halt this disease in its tracks,” says Dr. Mya Schiess, a neurology professor at UTHealth Houston who was not involved in either study.

The Food and Drug Administration has cleared one of the stem-cell treatments for a Phase 3 study, the last hurdle before approval.

About 1 million people in the United States are living with Parkinson’s, a brain disease that attacks neurons that make dopamine. As those neurons die, patients can develop a range of disabling symptoms, including tremor, rigidity, fatigue, difficulty walking and cognitive problems.

Stem cells are immature cells that can develop into many different cell types — including neurons that make dopamine.

Positive results

One of the new studies involved 12 people in the U.S. and Canada living with Parkinson’s.

Surgeons administered either a low or high dose of a stem-cell product from BlueRock Therapeutics, a subsidiary of biotech and pharmaceutical giant Bayer. The treatment was derived from human embryonic stem cells, which researchers had coaxed into becoming immature brain cells called neuron progenitors.

During surgery, these cells were injected into a structure on each side of the brain that’s involved in movement.

“The idea is to place these neuron progenitors right where you need them to connect with other neurons in the brain,” says Dr. Viviane Tabar, a stem-cell scientist and chair of neurosurgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Tabar is also a founding investigator at BlueRock.

PET scans taken 18 months later showed that the transplanted cells were producing dopamine. An assessment using a standard rating scale of Parkinson’s progression suggested the treatment was also easing symptoms.

For a typical Parkinson’s patient, “you would expect every year to get two to three points worse,” says Dr. Lorenz Studer, who directs the Center for Stem Cell Biology at the Sloan Kettering Institute in New York and is a scientific adviser to BlueRock.

For most, the idea that you might don a headset to zap your depression away or use electromagnetic pulses to sharpen your cognition seems better placed in a science fiction novel from the 1930s than modern neuroscience, but these kinds of treatments are more common than you might think.

In fact, you can now buy “vagal reset” gadgets to practice what’s broadly referred to as neurostimulation at home – Instagram and Tiktok are awash with ads for them. And for more intense forms of this kind of technology, a quick online search will deliver a range of private clinics offering “repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation” to treat depression and anxiety.

Tennis legend Serena Williams is among those who’ve checked into a private facility to undergo a treatment like this. The athlete recently shared a sponsored Instagram post about her “ExoMind” journey, describing the treatment as a form of self care. Williams’ caption in the ad post read: “I never do enough self care and my friend introduced me to @exomindbtl and it’s really changed how I’ve prioritized wellness, not only for my muscles with @emsculptneo, but also for my mind.”

The company responsible for ExoMind describes the treatment as “a workout for your mind. An FDA-cleared for the treatment of depression”. The company also offers treatments that use electric pulses to tone and strengthen muscles all over the body – from the stomach to the pelvic floor.

But naturally, Williams’ Instagram post prompted some confusion about possible uses for neurostimulation, delivery methods and who should be using technology like this. Do we need to be nudging our brains with electrical stimuli for improved “mental fitness”? Or should we just stick with mindfulness apps and fish oil supplements for better brain health?

Furthermore, is neurostimulation actually a serious cure for depression? Do you need to visit a clinic or will an at-home headset deliver the same results? And most importantly, is this all safe?

Neurostimulation is the act of stimulating the brain, spinal cord or peripheral nerves to modulate neuronal activity. There are a variety of ways to do this and types of neurostimulation vary. For example, a headset that you can buy online without a prescription that promises to “reset your vagus nerve” is not the same as an in-clinic transcranial stimulation session delivered by a qualified practitioner.

The Flow headset, for example, sends the equivalent current of an AA battery directly to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, “targeting depression at its source to help relieve symptoms”. Rival company Neurosym claims that its device emits precise electrical pulses for “safe stimulation of vagus nerve fibres”. The company isn’t clear on how this approach differs from Flow’s, but it does claim that the device activates the parasympathetic nervous system to “effectively manage chronic pain, fibromyalgia, gut problems, long-covid symptoms, inflammation, POTS symptoms, fatigue, sleep issues, HRV issues, ADHD symptoms, stress, anxious and depressive thoughts and more”. Quite the list of claims.

Pulsetto, another headset that you can use at home, also describes itself as a “vagus stimulator”. Pulsetto technology uses the lowest form of bluetooth energy – ultra low radiofrequency energy (ULRE) – which according to the brand, “passes safely into the body to biohack your parasympathetic nervous system”.

“These headsets have great branding but in reality you don’t know the exact effects that treatment is going to have on you,” says Adam O’Hagan, specialist rTMS practitioner and coordinator at Priory Wellbeing Centre Harley Street.

“The do-it-yourself kits have shown to be effective but not as much as in controlled settings. Some headsets use rTMS in low levels but they’re very different to what we do. They can be more cost effective but use different technologies and these can be significantly less effective.”

The kind of treatment offered at Priory differs vastly from headsets like Flow and Neurosym – technologies that you can easily buy online albeit for a high price point. Technically, all treatments fall under the umbrella of neurostimulation, but there are significant differences when it comes to the technology and frequencies used, and the applications and results.

The idea with both in-clinic treatments and do-it-yourself headsets is to nudge the areas of the brain that are responsible for emotional regulation, cognitive function and self-control. These areas can often become under-active and this lack of activity is associated with low mood, anxiety, depression and behavioural disorders. Neurostimulation devices generate magnetic pulses to induce electrical currents in the brain, stimulating under-active brain regions.

“An in-clinic session can last about 30 minutes and is typically recommended for treatment-resistant depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, significant eating disorders and anxiety symptoms. The intensity of the machine used is much higher and the treatment is administered by a trained professional,” explains O’Hagan.

“During an rTMS session, electromagnetic coils are placed on your scalp in order to deliver magnetic pulses to your brain. The treatment specifically targets areas of the brain that are involved in mood control, which means it can help to alleviate the symptoms of your mental health conditions and improve wellbeing.”

“The side effects are extremely minimal compared to other treatments such as medication, so it’s a much safer and less invasive solution. Some patients can see results after five sessions or around the halfway mark in the treatment plan,” he adds.

It’s worth noting that rTMS is very different to electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, which sends a seizure-inducing current through the brain. Doctors have used ECT for almost a century, and though it’s still used in some cases, it remains a controversial and rudimentary treatment.

At the other end of the neurostimulation spectrum are home devices – headsets that deliver a mild electrical current to the brain and that can be worn daily on the head or neck. These devices offer “improved mental fitness” – a catch-all term that seems to comprise several indicators of good health such as boosted mood, lower anxiety levels, improved memory and cognition, and better focus.

The biohacking and longevity crowd are especially keen on the idea of fitness for your mind – Bryan Johnson wears a Pulsetto headset in his Netflix documentary Don’t Die. However, Dr Faye Begeti, practising neurology doctor at Oxford University Hospitals and author of The Phone Fix, explains that the term mental fitness is actually quite vague if we’re discussing the true benefits of these devices.

“The term ‘mental fitness’ allows companies to market these devices without clear scientific backing,” she says. “While some biohackers report subjective benefits, scientific evidence supporting any substantial long term improvement from these devices is weak.

“Established good brain habits such as adequate sleep, regular exercise, learning new skills to build cognitive reserve, and stress management have stronger evidence for improving brain function over time. Expecting dramatic improvements in memory, focus, or productivity from neurostimulation devices is likely unrealistic.”

But as mental health issues such as anxiety and depression continue to affect large swathes of the UK population, people are looking for alternative sources of support – particularly within biohacking and functional medicine. So despite scant evidence that at-home devices can help – and their hefty price tags – neurostimulation headsets have become incredibly popular.

This might have something to do with the fact that social media is currently flooded with instructional videos on “how to reset your vagus nerve”. These techniques range from simple massage and acupressure to recommendations for headsets like the Neurosym or Pulsetto.

“The vagus nerve ‘reset’ trend is a mix of science and misinformation,” explains Dr Begeti. The vagus nerve plays a key role in the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps regulate stress, digestion and heart rate. Activities like spending time in nature, meditation, and breathing exercises can stimulate vagal tone, which may have calming effects – but calling it a ‘reset’ or a ‘detox’ is misleading. The nervous system is not something that needs ‘resetting’ in the way social media often suggests.”

“The issue is that social media often oversimplifies complex neuroscience, making it seem like a single technique is a quick hack for mental health. Instead, it’s important to have multiple tools in your toolkit for managing difficult emotions while also seeking professional advice when needed,” she adds.

As Dr Begeti says, there’s no one trick to eliminate mental health issues. A healthy diet of gut-friendly foods, regular exercise, quality sleep and other techniques like breathwork, yoga and time in nature can all have a positive impact on the brain and nervous system when combined. In isolation, a neurostimulation device won’t make much difference if you’re not taking good care of yourself.

However, the most recent studies on the effects of clinical rTMS are promising. “We are witnessing a growing mental health crisis,” explains O’Hagan. “Depression is treatable, but for some people, medication and psychotherapy do not provide relief. In such cases, rTMS is a really incredible new tool.”

The important thing is not to downplay the intensity of a treatment like this. Though it’s akin to tickling your brain, one should be aware of the risks. Various studies have shown that neurostimulation can help improve mood, but a small number of patients have experienced long term effects like tinnitus, cognitive impairment, behavioural changes and short term memory loss.

These outcomes are far less likely with an at-home treatment as the power generated by a wearable isn’t comparable to an in-clinic rTMS treatment. However, there are still risks associated with using one. You are, after all, giving your brain a buzz, regardless of the dose.

“The biggest concern is that many brands do not disclose the exact stimulation parameters, making it difficult to know what effect the device is actually having. Additionally, improper use – such as applying stimulation to the wrong area of the brain – could lead to unintended effects,” says Dr Begeti.

She advises researching the frequency and intensity used in detail and checking if the device has been tested in peer-reviewed studies, rather than relying on general research. She also recommends checking for FDA approval or CE certification for specific medical conditions, as opposed to general wellness claims, and reading the instructions thoroughly.

“For low mood, anxiety and issues with feeling dysregulated, a headset could help,” says O’Hagan. However, the best course of action is to use a wearable in conjunction with other healthy habits. These devices are definitely not a magic bullet and O’Hagan recommends using them alongside other interventions like talking therapy and daily self care routines.

“Typically I wouldn’t recommend them for people with clinical depression,” he says. But this is where a treatment like clinical rTMS might make a difference, particularly if you’ve tried other treatments and found them inconsistent or unhelpful.

 

Walking at a brisker pace could lower the risk of a wide range of heart rhythm problems, according to a study.

The peer-reviewed research, published in BMJ Heart, analysed data from 420,925 participants of the UK Biobank who had provided data on their walking speed. Of these, 81,956 gave more detailed data on the amount of time they spent walking at different paces.

According to the study, a slow pace was defined as less than 3mph; steady/average pace as 3–4mph; and a brisk pace as more than 4mph. Just over 6.5% of participants had a slow walking pace, 53% had an average walking pace and 41% had a brisk walking pace.

Tracking these individuals for an average of 13 years showed that 36,574 participants (9%) developed some form of heart rhythm abnormality.

After accounting for background demographic and lifestyle factors, an average or brisk walking pace was associated with, respectively, a 35% and 43% lower risk of all heart rhythm abnormalities compared with a slow walking pace.

These higher walking speeds were also associated with lower risks of atrial fibrillation and other cardiac arrhythmias.

While the amount of time spent walking at a slow pace was not associated with the risk of developing heart rhythm abnormalities, more time spent walking at an average or brisk pace was associated with a 27% lower risk.

Overall, around 36% of the association between walking pace and all heart rhythm abnormalities was influenced by metabolic and inflammatory factors.

Demographic and lifestyle factors accounted for by the study included that participants reporting a faster walking pace were more likely to be men and tended to live in less deprived areas and have healthier lifestyles.

Atrial fibrillation is a condition where the heart’s upper chambers beat irregularly and too fast, while ventricular arrhythmias occur when an abnormal heart rhythm starts in the lower chambers.

Heart rhythm problems can increase the risk of stroke, heart failure and cardiac arrest if left untreated. They can occur when there is a problem with the electrical system that makes the heart beat.

The researchers noted that the study was observational, meaning that no firm conclusions could be drawn on whether walking at a brisk pace was a direct cause of a lower risk of heart rhythm abnormalities.

The study was also limited by the fact the participants were self reported and did not reflect a broad spectrum of ages and ethnic backgrounds. The average age was 55, 55% were women and 97% were white.

The researchers, led by Prof Jill Pell of the University of Glasgow, said: “This study is the first to explore the pathways underpinning the association between walking pace and arrhythmias, and to provide evidence that metabolic and inflammatory factors may have a role: walking faster decreased the risk of obesity and inflammation, which, in turn, reduced the risk of arrhythmia.

“This finding is biologically plausible because cumulative epidemiological studies have shown that walking pace is inversely associated with metabolic factors, such as obesity, HbA1c [fasting glucose], diabetes, and [high blood pressure] which, in turn, are associated with the risk of arrhythmias.”

President Trump signed an executive action Tuesday intended to lower prescription drug prices for Americans.

A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters ahead of the signing that the move would include “delivering lower prices to seniors” and improve the Medicare drug price negotiation program, which was created by the Inflation Reduction Act that passed in 2022.

“We are confident we will eclipse the savings the Biden administration achieved in the first year,” the official said.

Because the number of drugs subject to negotiation increases each year, greater savings over time were baked into the law. Medicare negotiated the prices of 10 drugs in 2024, and it will negotiate 15 more this year, including for Ozempic, the blockbuster diabetes medicine with a list price of around $1,000 a month.

Any price breaks would take time

But consumers will have to wait to see the results. The lower Medicare prices negotiated in the Biden administration won’t take effect until 2026. And prices from the new round of negotiations by the Trump administration won’t be available until 2027.

And if the administration applies tariffs to imported pharmaceuticals and ingredients used to make medicines domestically, consumers could pay more for many medications. A federal notice filed Monday said the secretary of commerce is investigating the national security effects of the importation of drugs and drug ingredients. The findings could be a precursor to tariffs.

The official said the administration would resurrect a program from Trump’s first term to give insulin to low-income individuals, including those without insurance. In some cases, the official said, patients would pay 3 cents a vial, plus a small administrative fee, for insulin; injectable epinephrine would cost $15 for auto-injector under the program, the official said.

“The president is leveraging current programs to deliver meaningful cost savings here,” the official said.

The action directs the Food and Drug Administration to facilitate approval of state importation programs and to streamline the approval for lower-cost generics and biosimilars. So far, only one state, Florida, received FDA approval to import lower cost drugs from another country like Canada. According to a news report from November, it had not yet begun doing so.

Pills vs. biologics

The official added that the action would seek to address Medicare’s drug price negotiation program as it applies to small molecule drugs – which comprise most prescription pills like statins and blood pressure treatments — versus more complex biologic drugs, like blockbuster rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis drug Humira.

Under current law, small molecule drugs are eligible for Medicare negotiation seven years after FDA approval; for biologics, negotiations aren’t allowed until 11 years after approval.

This creates an “imbalance” that pushes companies to invest in biologics drugs, usually given by injection, over pills. Trump’s action instructs Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to work with Congress to address this imbalance in a way that does not increase overall Medicare spending.

In addition, the executive action would take steps to align the price Medicare pays with the cost for hospitals to acquire drugs and begin the process to align payment across care settings, the same official said on background.

For many years, Eric Wunderlin’s health issues made it hard to find stable employment.

Struggling to manage depression and diabetes, Wunderlin worked part-time, minimum-wage retail jobs around Dayton, Ohio, making so little that he said he sometimes had to choose between paying rent and buying food.

But in 2018, his CareSource Medicaid health plan offered him help getting a job. It connected him to a life coach, who helped him find full-time work with health benefits. Now, he works for a nonprofit social service agency, a job he said has given him enough financial stability to plan a European vacation next year.

“I feel like a real person and I can go do things,” said Wunderlin, 42. “I feel like I pulled myself out of that slump.”

Republicans in Congress and several states, including Ohio, Iowa and Montana, are pushing to implement work requirements for nondisabled adults, arguing that a mandate would encourage enrollees to find jobs. And for Republicans pushing to require Medicaid enrollees to work, Wunderlin’s story could be held up as evidence that government health coverage can help people find employment and, ultimately, reduce their need for public assistance.

Yet his experience is rare. Medicaid typically does not offer such help, and when states do try to help, such efforts are limited.

And opponents point out that most Medicaid recipients already have jobs and say such a mandate would only kick eligible people off Medicaid, rather than improve their economic prospects. Nearly two-thirds of Medicaid enrollees work, with most of the rest acting as caregivers, going to school, or unable to hold a job due to disability or illness, according to KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News.

Existing efforts to help Medicaid recipients get a job have seen limited success because there’s not a lot of “room to move the needle,” said Ben Sommers, a professor of health care economics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Most Medicaid enrollees already work — just not in jobs with health benefits, he said.

“The ongoing argument that some folks make is that there are a lot of people freeloading in Medicaid,” he said. “That’s just not supported by the evidence.”

Using health care programs to encourage work

The GOP-controlled Congress could allow or require states to implement a Medicaid work requirement as part of revamping and downsizing Medicaid. The first Trump administration encouraged those work mandates, but many were struck down by federal judges who said they were illegal under federal law.

Policy experts and state officials say more attention should be paid to investments that have helped people find better jobs — from personalized life coaching to, in some cases, health plans directly hiring enrollees.

They argue that work requirements alone are not enough. “The move to economic mobility requires a ladder, not a stick,” said Farah Khan, a fellow with the Brookings Institution, a nonpartisan think tank.

While Medicaid work requirements have been debated for decades, the issue has become more heated as 40 states and Washington, D.C., have expanded Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act to the vast majority of low-income adults. More than 20 million adults have gained coverage as a result — but Republicans are now considering eliminating the billions in extra federal funding that helped states extend eligibility beyond groups including many children, pregnant women and disabled people.

Only Georgia and Arkansas have implemented mandates that some Medicaid enrollees work, volunteer, go to school, or enroll in job training. But a study Sommers co-authored showed no evidence that work requirements in Arkansas’ program led to more people working, in part because most of those who could work already were.

In Arkansas, more than 18,000 people lost coverage under the state’s requirement before the policy was suspended by a federal judge in 2019 after less than a year. Those who lost their Medicaid health care reported being unaware or confused about how to report work hours. Since 2023, Arkansas has been giving Medicaid health plans financial incentives to help enrollees train for jobs, but so far few have taken advantage.

Some plans, including Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s, offer members $25 to $65 to complete a “career readiness” certificate. In 2024, some Arkansas health plans offered enrollees educational videos about topics including taxes and cryptocurrency.

Health plans don’t have an incentive to help someone find a better-paying job, because that could mean losing a customer if they then make too much to qualify for Medicaid, said Karin VanZant, a vice president at Clearlink Partners, a health care consulting company.

Rather than offering incentives for providing job training, some states, such as California and Ohio, require the insurance companies that run Medicaid to help enrollees find work.

In Montana, where some lawmakers are pushing to implement work requirements, a promising optional program nearly collapsed after state lawmakers required it be outsourced to private contractors.

Within the program’s first three years, the state paired 32,000 Medicaid enrollees with existing federally funded job training programs. Most had higher wages a year after starting training, the state found.

But enrollment has plummeted to just 11 people, according to the latest data provided by the state’s labor department.

Sarah Swanson, who heads the department, said several of the nonprofit contractors that ran the program shuttered. “There was no real part in this for us to deliver direct services to the folks that walked through our door,” she said. The state hopes to revive job training by allowing the department to work alongside contractors to reach more people.

The hunt for results

State officials say they don’t have much data to track the effectiveness of existing job programs offered by Medicaid plans.

Stephanie O’Grady, a spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Medicaid, said the state does not track outcomes because “the health plans are not employment agencies.”

Officials with CareSource, which operates Medicaid plans in multiple states, say it has about 2,300 Medicaid and ACA marketplace enrollees in its JobConnect program — about 1,400 in Ohio, 500 in Georgia and 400 in Indiana.

The program connects job seekers with a life coach who counsels them on skills such as “showing up on time, dressing the part for interviews, and selling yourself during the interview,” said Jesse Reed, CareSource’s director of life services in Ohio.

Since 2023, about 800 people have found jobs through the program, according to Josh Boynton, a senior vice president at CareSource. The health plan itself has hired 29 Medicaid enrollees into customer service, pharmacy and other positions — nearly all full time with benefits, he said.

In 2022, California started offering nontraditional health benefits through Medicaid — including help finding jobs — for enrollees experiencing homelessness or serious mental illness, or who are otherwise at risk of avoidable emergency room care. As of September, it had served nearly 280,000 enrollees, but the state doesn’t have data on how many became employed.

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, which is among the largest private employers in Pennsylvania, running both a sprawling hospital system and a Medicaid plan, has hired over 10,000 of its Medicaid enrollees since 2021 through its training and support services. Among other jobs, they took positions as warehouse workers, customer service representatives and medical assistants.

The vast majority left low-paying jobs for full-time positions with health benefits, said Dan LaVallee, a senior director of UPMC Health Plan’s Center for Social Impact. “Our Pathways to Work program is a model for the nation,” he said.

Josh Archambault, a senior fellow with the conservative Cicero Institute, said Medicaid should focus on improving the financial health of those enrolled.

While the first Trump administration approved Medicaid work requirements in 13 states, the Biden administration or federal judges blocked all except Georgia’s.

“I don’t think states have been given ample chance to experiment and try to figure out what works,” Archambault said.

KFF Health News senior correspondent Angela Hart contributed to this report.

Scientists have successfully grown human teeth in a lab for the first time, according to a new study.

Researchers at King’s College London say the breakthrough could lead to patients regrowing lost teeth in future, offering an alternative to fillings or dental implants.

The team developed a material that mimics the environment needed for tooth development, allowing cells to send signals and begin forming a tooth.

Dr Ana Angelova-Volponi, director of regenerative dentistry at King’s College London, said the research has the possibility to “revolutionise dental care”.

The study says some animals like sharks and elephants have the ability to grow new teeth, but humans only have one set from adulthood.

The ability to regenerate teeth would therefore be a major leap forward for dentistry, researchers suggest.

Unlike implants and fillings, which are fixed and cannot adapt over time, the study outlines how a lab-grown tooth made from a patient’s own cells could integrate into the jaw and repair itself like a natural tooth.

The research, in collaboration with Imperial College London, has been more than a decade in the making.

Xuechen Zhang, researcher at the Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences, said: “Fillings aren’t the best solution for repairing teeth. Over time, they will weaken tooth structure, have a limited lifespan, and can lead to further decay or sensitivity.

“Implants require invasive surgery and a good combination of implants and alveolar bone. Both solutions are artificial and don’t fully restore natural tooth function, potentially leading to long-term complications.

“Lab-grown teeth would naturally regenerate, integrating into the jaw as real teeth. They would be stronger, longer lasting, and free from rejection risks, offering a more durable and biologically compatible solution than fillings or implants.”

Previous efforts to recreate this process in the lab had failed, as the cells were unable to communicate effectively.

Researchers are now exploring two possible approaches: growing a whole tooth in the lab before implanting it or placing early-stage tooth cells directly into the patient’s jaw where they could continue developing.

Mr Zhang added: “We have different ideas to put the teeth inside the mouth. We could transplant the young tooth cells at the location of the missing tooth and let them grow inside the mouth.

A high-end medical practice is offering clients the purported service of scrubbing their blood of microplastics.

In an interview with Wired, Clarify Clinics CEO Yael Cohen said that her London facility’s bespoke blood-filtering service — which is otherwise known as apheresis and generally used for plasma donation or other so-called therapeutic plasma exchange procedures — is so comfortable that some patients doze off during it.

“Once it’s running, you feel nothing. It’s very comfortable,” Cohen told the magazine of its Clari procedure, which costs more than $12,000 per session. “Patients take calls, do Zooms, watch movies, sleep. The ones who sleep are my favorite.”

People who come to the facility located off Harley Street, home to London’s storied high-end district, reportedly seek reprieve from everything from chronic fatigue and brain fog to long COVID and Lupus.

Though Cohen and her clinic claim the ability to help ease those ailments, the jury is still out as to how bad microplastics actually are for the human body. While studies in recent years have established links between microplastics and damage to human cells and hearts, that research was all, as Wired notes, observational. Thus far, the only thing we know definitively is that these mysterious particles have been found nearly everywhere researchers have looked, from our blood and guts and brains to archaeological digs and Mount Everest.

While there don’t appear to be any studies about the effectiveness of the Clari procedure, there’s a pretty strong body of evidence suggesting that therapeutic plasma exchange in general is a safe and effective treatment for some autoimmune and neurological disorders.

In a similar vein, the desire to get those foreign and synthetic particulates out of one’s blood, and to clean one’s blood in general, makes some degree of sense. According to Cohen, longevity influencer Bryan Johnson’s interest in so-called “total plasma exchange” — a more extreme apheresis procedure he used to get his son’s blood filtered into his own — where all of the body’s plasma is removed and replaced with proteins and antibodies, has been a big boon for her business.

“He’s a big platform, and he is spending a lot of time and energy finding the things that move the needle the most,” the CEO said of Johnson, a former Futurism investor who’s no longer involved with the site.

Though it doesn’t appear that Wired shelled out for its reporter, Matt Reynolds, to get his blood scrubbed, the journalist did get his microplastics levels tested to see what the fuss was about. In a fingerprick sample of blood, Reynolds had about 190 microplastic particles per millimeter, which is apparently on the lower end of the scale.

Pleased with the results, the reporter emailed Cohen. In response, she pointed out the stark truth: that he still has “around a million particles in [his] circulatory system!”