The Handoff: Your Week in Endocrinology News – 7/14/17

The Handoff is a weekly roundup of endocrinology and general medicine news covering various developments in subspecialties, as well as pharmaceutical industry, association, and society news.

–In an article published in Stat, Anette Walker, CEO of St. Joseph Health, called for a different kind of health care reform: a “sustained and concerted effort” to increase female leadership across the health care industry.

–Knowledge and research gaps may be leading to serious consequences for egg donors, according to a New York Times report. Without a system in place to capture data, long-term consequences of egg donorship — and the donors themselves — are “essentially lost to medical history.”

–Researchers at Stanford University conducted a large-scale study of step tracking data collected from anonymous smartphone users around the world. Results so far suggest that improving a city’s walkability may reduce activity inequality and the activity gender gap.

–A video shared by American Heart Association News on Twitter (@American_Heart) examines why maternal pregnancy deaths have more than doubled since 1987.

–Research published in Environmental Science & Technology found that any amount of household dust containing endocrine-disrupting chemicals can lead to increased obesity and elevated triglycerides.

–A study out of UMass Amherst suggests that early menopause risk may be mitigated with the consumption of vegetable protein, such as soy, tofu, and enriched pasta.

–Intestinal viruses may impact a person’s type 1 diabetes risk, according to researchers. Children with less diverse “viral communities” in their guts are more likely to develop the self-destructive antibodies that lead to type 1 diabetes. 

–A new deal between the FDA and the medical device industry — including companies that manufacture cardiac defibrillators and insulin pumps — may lead to delays in reports on malfunctions, according to the New York Times. One critic noted that it currently takes the FDA months and sometimes years to “detect patterns of failure” in devices; this deal could exacerbate the problem.