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Petrie Dish

Why does a new study on depression have people asking their doctors about their SSRI medications? Will sequencing the human genome soon be affordable for almost everyone? On Petrie Dish, join host and veteran reporter Bonnie Petrie for deep dives into a wide range of bioscience and medicine stories.

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  • The Medicaid cuts add up to nearly a trillion dollars over ten years, and 12 million people could lose access to health care. Medicare also faces deep reductions in spending, even though it's not slashed in this legislation. It insures the elderly, and it may lose half a trillion dollars to sequestration. KFF Health News DC correspondent Julie Rovner told Bonnie Petrie that no one will be unaffected.
  • Be Well Texas is revolutionizing how substance use disorder is treated in Texas.
  • A UT Health San Antonio researcher confirms that how magnesium gets into immune system cells can determine whether they fight oral cancer or support tumor growth. The discovery offers hope for new ways to prevent and treat the disease.
  • At the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, the brain bank is accepting deposits.
  • HHS Secretary Kennedy's decision to purge all 17 members of the CDC vaccine advisory board concerns public health experts. Some fear a new board will change vaccine recommendations, leading to reduced access for all and a surge in vaccine-preventable diseases.
  • Human immunity wanes as we age, but what if it could be restored? A UT Health San Antonio researcher who studies the thymus has confirmed that a certain protein can restore its size and function in mice, leading to a larger and more diverse T cell population that more closely resembles the T cells of youth.
  • If you’re in your 40s or 50s, there may be something you can do right now to fight Alzheimer’s disease. It involves Omega 3 fatty acids—the good stuff in fatty fish and fish oil, which has been linked to lower rates of dementia for a while.
  • Tinnitus is the number one service-connected disability within the Veterans Administration, and for those with PTSD, it can cause significant distress. A UT Health San Antonio researcher who suffers from chronic tinnitus is studying the connection between the two and how to improve treatment.
  • When people think about things they can do to stay healthy, they don’t think about their teeth nearly enough.
  • Mosquito season has begun in earnest, and until November, there is an increased risk for mosquito-borne illnesses, including dengue fever. CDC has urged U.S. doctors to watch for dengue, particularly in people who've traveled to countries where the virus is endemic. But several states, including Texas, have reported locally acquired cases of dengue over the last fifteen years.