Iowa news

McDonald family initiates fundraiser to name UIHC room, provide education opportunities

The family of the late Harley McDonald has initiated a fundraiser to name a room at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital in Iowa City. McDonald, of Scranton, died last winter after suffering injuries in a cabin fire. The fundraiser was recently extended to run through May, and donations will help enhance treatments for future patients by providing continuing education for physicians and nursing staff in the University of Iowa Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and the burn treatment center as well as providing scholarships for interns focused on joining the burn unit. (Carroll Times Herald)

University of Iowa Health Care holds clinical trial for treatment of endometrial cancer

Experts are predicting by the year 2040, endometrial cancer will be the third most-common cancer and fourth leading cause of cancer deaths in women in the U.S. It’s one of the few cancers in the U.S. increasing in incidents. The University of Iowa Health Care recently took part in a clinical trial that showed some promising results. More than 800 women with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer took part in the international clinical trial. The study compared giving the women chemotherapy alone and giving them chemotherapy with immunotherapy. They found women who had endometrial cancer with a specific mutation saw a 70% reduction in disease progression or death. Those without the specific mutation saw a 40% reduction in disease progression. (KCRG)

Eastern Iowa mental health partnership with Challenge to Change

Eastern Iowa Mental Health/Disability Services provides support and linkage to mental health, crisis, residential and vocational services throughout eastern Iowa including Cedar, Clinton, Jackson, Muscatine and Scott counties. Christine Gradert, eastern Iowa regional director of children’s services, and Jordan Turner, Challenge to Change, recently met to discuss the various no-cost, voluntary participation services. Particular focus is on the Challenge to Change program partnership with the agency. (KWQC)

National news

Maker of eyedrops linked to deadly infections couldn’t ensure factory was sterile, FDA says

The manufacturer of eyedrops recently linked to deaths and injuries lacked measures to assure sterility at its factory in India, according to U.S. health inspectors. Food and Drug Administration officials uncovered about a dozen problems with how Global Pharma Healthcare made and tested its eyedrops during an inspection from late February through early March. The company uses procedures that can’t ensure its products are sterile. In particular, the inspectors found that the plant had used “a deficient manufacturing process” between December 2020 and April 2022 for products that were later shipped to the U.S. (NBC News)

WHO says new omicron subvariant is ‘one to watch’

The World Health Organization added XBB.1.16 to its list of variants it is monitoring. The omicron subvariant has been reported in 22 countries, with most cases detected in India. India is seeing a significant jump in cases, reporting the highest single-day increase in nearly six months on April 2.  XBB.1.16 has a very similar profile to XBB.1.5, the dominant strain in the U.S., with one additional mutation in the spike protein that has shown increased infectivity and a potential increase in pathogenicity in laboratory studies. The strain has appeared in the U.S., though it does not appear on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s variant proportion tracker. (Becker’s Hospital Review)

CDC investigating salmonella outbreak linked to flour