New in the Hastings Center Report, May-June 2023 Issue

Transgender Youth Athletes, Gender-Affirming Care, Home Care in America

2023-06-08

(Press-News.org) Examining the Ethics and Impacts of Laws Restricting Transgender Youth‐Athlete Participation

Valerie Moyer, Amanda Zink, Brendan Parent

As of this writing, 21 states have passed laws barring transgender youth-athletes from competing on public school sports teams in accordance with their gender identity. Proponents of these regulations claim that transgender females in particular have inherent physiological advantages that threaten a “level playing field” for their cisgender competitors. Existing evidence is limited but does not support these restrictions. Gathering more robust data will require allowing transgender youth to compete (rather than preemptively barring them), but even if trans females are shown to retain some advantage, this would not have greater moral significance than the many other “fair” physical and economic advantages found across sports. These regulations deprive transgender youth, an exceptionally vulnerable population, from the vast physical, mental, and social benefits of sports. While we advocate for transgender inclusion under our current, gender-segregated model of sport, we propose changes to the overarching structure that would promote a more inclusive and fairer athletic environment.

Gender‐Affirming Care for Cisgender People

Theodore E. Schall, Jacob D. Moses

Gender-affirming care is almost exclusively discussed in connection with transgender medicine. However, this article argues that such care predominates among cisgender patients, people whose gender identity matches their sex assigned at birth. To advance this argument, we trace historical shifts in transgender medicine since the 1950s to identify central components of “gender-affirming care” that distinguish it from previous therapeutic models, such as “sex reassignment.” Next, we sketch two historical cases—reconstructive mammoplasty and testicular implants—to show how cisgender patients offered justifications grounded in authenticity and gender affirmation that closely mirror rationales supporting gender-affirming care for transgender people. The comparison exposes significant disparities in contemporary health policy regarding care for cis and trans patients. We consider two possible objections to the analogy we draw, but ultimately argue that these disparities are rooted in “trans exceptionalism” that produces demonstrable harm.

Also in this issue:

Home Care in America: The Urgent Challenge of Putting Ethical Care into Practice

Coleman Solis, Kevin T. Mintz, David Wasserman, Kathleen Fenton, Marion Danis

Other Voices

Centering Home Care in Bioethics Scholarship, Education, and Practice

Mercer Gary, Nancy Berlinger

Dementia and Concurrent Consent to Sexual Relations

Samuel Director

Other Voices

Dementia, Sex, and Consent: Beyond the Uncomplicated Cases

Jed Adam Gross, Evelyn M. Tenenbaum

Table of Contents Hastings Center Report: Vol 53, No 3 (wiley.com)

For more information, contact:

Susan Gilbert

Director of Communications

The Hastings Center

845-424-4040 x244

gilberts@thehastingscenter.org.

END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Geisel study offers new insights into how Medicare fraud has spread across U.S. regions in recent years

2023-06-08

Geisel Study Offers New Insights into How Medicare Fraud Has Spread Across U.S. Regions in Recent Years Findings from an innovative study conducted by a team of researchers at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine and published in the journal Social Science & Medicine, are providing new insights into how the rapid spread (or diffusion) of fraudulent Medicare home healthcare billing has occurred across the U.S. in recent years. To understand the significant growth of Medicare fraud during the 2000s in just a few regions of the country, the research team examined the network structure of home health agencies (HHAs) and identified a set ...

Study finds Mark Cuban’s cost plus drug company could save taxpayers millions on Medicare generic oncology drugs

2023-06-08

The U.S. government could save taxpayers between $228 million-$2.15 billion a year if insurers who operate its Medicare Part D plans purchased seven generic oncology drugs at the same prices obtained by the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company (MCCPDC), according to a study published today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, The Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) study, led by Ruchika Talwar, MD, a urologic oncology fellow, estimated potential savings by switching to MCCPDC prices with the implication ...

Hallucinogen use other than LSD on the rise among young adults

2023-06-08

ANN ARBOR—Young adults ages 19 to 30 nearly doubled their past 12-month use of non-LSD hallucinogens in the United States from 2018 to 2021, according to a study by the University of Michigan and Columbia University. In 2018, the prevalence of young adults' past-year use of non-LSD hallucinogens was 3.4%. In 2021, that use increased to 6.6%. "While non-LSD hallucinogen use remains substantially less prevalent than use of substances such as alcohol and cannabis, a doubling of prevalence in just three years is a ...

Seaweed farming may help tackle global food insecurity

2023-06-08

To help solve hunger and malnutrition while also slowing climate change, some farmers could shift from land to sea, suggests a recent study from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. The study was published in Global Food Security. Producing and selling seaweed could boost incomes for farmers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), particularly in coastal regions of Africa and Southeast Asia, said Patrick Webb, the Alexander McFarlane Professor of Nutrition at the Friedman School and senior author of the study. The other ...

Pritzker Molecular Engineering researchers “split” phonons – or sound – in step toward new type of quantum computer

2023-06-08

When we listen to our favorite song, what sounds like a continuous wave of music is actually transmitted as tiny packets of quantum particles called phonons. The laws of quantum mechanics hold that quantum particles are fundamentally indivisible and therefore cannot be split, but researchers at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME) at the University of Chicago are exploring what happens when you try to split a phonon. In two experiments – the first of their kinds – a team led by Prof. Andrew Cleland used a device called an acoustic beamsplitter ...

Robotic vehicles fight dengue-carrying mosquitos in Taiwan sewers

2023-06-08

Unmanned ground vehicles can be used to identify and eliminate the breeding sources of mosquitos that carry dengue fever in urban areas, according to a new study published this week in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases by Wei-Liang Liu of the Taiwan National Mosquito-Borne Diseases Control Research Center, and colleagues. Dengue fever is an infectious disease caused by the dengue virus and spread by several mosquito species in the genus Aedes, which also spread chikungunya, yellow fever and zika. Through the process of urbanization, ...

Reversing age-related taurine loss via supplementation improves mouse longevity and monkey health

2023-06-08

Taurine deficiency may be a driver for aging, according to a new study, which evaluated the amino acid’s effect on health and longevity across several animal models. According to the authors, reversing age-associated taurine loss via supplementation improved the healthy lifespan in worms, rodents, and non-human primates – findings that warrant further human trials to examine taurine’s effect on healthy lifespan in humans and the potential risks involved. Taurine – a semi-essential micronutrient – is one of the most abundant amino acids in animals. Previous studies in several species have shown that taurine deficiency during early life causes functional ...

2020’s COVID-19 lockdowns altered mammal movements worldwide

2023-06-08

Reduced traffic and human mobility during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown restrictions rapidly altered some mammals’ movement behaviors, according to a new study. The findings illustrate how human activities constrain animal movement and how they react when those activities cease, which provides valuable insight into future conservation strategies designed to improve human-wildlife coexistence. During the initial global outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, governments worldwide introduced lockdown measures to curb the spread of the virus, resulting in a drastic reduction in human mobility and vehicular traffic. This “anthropause,” as it’s come to be known, ...

Some intestinal T cells can hinder cancer immunotherapy, while others can enhance it, finds a new pair of studies

2023-06-08

Two new studies in Science and Science Immunology spotlight a group of intestinal T cells with α4β7 integrin receptors that could be targeted to prevent resistance to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) cancer immunotherapy. Both studies were conducted in mice and corroborated in samples from patients. In the Science study, Marine Fidelle and colleagues evaluated how interactions between antibiotics, the gut microbiome, and α4β7+ CD4+ T cells promote ...

Climate underlies African forest and savanna biomes

2023-06-08

Coupled field observations and phytoclimatic modeling show that the distribution of African forest and savanna ecosystems are highly predictable by climate, researchers report in a new study. The findings suggest that the effects of climate change on the distribution of African forests and savanna may be more easily forecasted than previously recognized. An important yet challenging goal for ecological science is predicting how global vegetation patterns will be altered by ongoing climate change. Generally, the distribution of Earth’s vegetation biomes is determined by climate. However, at local or regional ...

ASH 2025: Study suggests that a virtual program focusing on diet and exercise can help reduce side effects of lymphoma treatment

A sound defense: Noisy pupae puff away potential predators

Azacitidine–venetoclax combination outperforms standard care in acute myeloid leukemia patients eligible for intensive chemotherapy

Measurable residual disease shows strong potential as an early indicator of survival in patients with acute myeloid leukemia

Chemotherapy and radiation are comparable as pre-transplant conditioning for patients with b-acute lymphoblastic leukemia who have no measurable residual disease

New in the Hastings Center Report, May-June 2023 Issue

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: