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1645 | One in four dogs at top show Crufts found to be overweight. | A quarter of dogs competing in the world’s biggest dog show are overweight, scientists said on Monday. | true | Health News | An analysis of canines at Britain’s Crufts show - held annually since the reign of Queen Victoria - found 74 percent were in ideal condition but 26 percent were overweight. None of the animals studied were underweight, researchers from the University of Liverpool reported in the journal Veterinary Record. The team reac... |
41648 | 103 NHS walk-in centres have closed or been downgraded since 2010. | We don’t know exactly, as this information isn’t collected centrally. Research from an NHS regulator and from campaign group 38 Degrees suggests more than 90 have been closed or downgraded. | unproven | health | There are 16,481 fewer beds in hospitals since 2010. This is in the right ballpark, but it doesn’t seem to be the best comparison. It seems to compare the number of beds at different times of the year, but the number available fluctuates seasonally. Comparing July-September in 2010 and 2017, the decrease in beds availa... |
33471 | The Gardasil HPV vaccine has been proved to have caused the deaths of 32 women. | The Gardasil HPV vaccine hasn't been proved to have caused the deaths of 32 women. | false | Medical, cervical cancer, drugs, gardasil | Gardasil is a vaccine intended for girls and young women between the ages 9 to 26 to protect against human papillomavirus (HPV), a virus which is currently linked to an estimated 70% of known cervical cancer cases. Because Gardasil prevents only the onset of HPV infections (rather than curing those who have already bee... |
17701 | In July 2010 the government said small businesses -- 60 percent -- will lose their health care, 45 percent of big business and a large percentage of individual health. | Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Inc said on Tuesday France’s Sanofi SA will pay the drugmaker $260 million for the termination of their partnership to develop diabetes drug Zynquista. | false | Health Care, PunditFact, Sean Hannity, | Shares of Lexicon jumped 37.8% to $2.37 in after hours trading. Under the terms of the settlement, Sanofi will pay $208 million upfront and the remainder within twelve months to Lexicon, which was eligible to receive up to $1.4 billion in milestone payments under the partnership. The four-year partnership was terminate... |
9283 | Anti-rejection medications for transplant recipients protect against Alzheimer's disease | This release points to a novel strategy for targeting some of the pathology associated with Alzheimer’s disease that is newsworthy and deserves attention. The study that it describes shows that certain drugs may inhibit a key enzyme that contributes to Alzheimer’s plaque buildup in the brain — and that patients who too... | mixture | beta-amyloid,calcineurin inhibitors,organ transplants,University of Texas Medical Branch | The economic and clinical toll taken by Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia is staggering, so a treatment that could reduce the likelihood of developing the disease would have large consequences. Identifying who should receive the treatment is important since not everyone will develop dementia. That makes the cost ... |
37842 | "In May 2020, scientists found evidence a parallel universe exists, and in it, ""time runs backward." | In May 2020, Did Scientists Find Evidence of a Parallel Universe Where Time Runs Backwards? | false | Fact Checks, Viral Content | "If you spent any time on social media in the later days of May 2020, chances are you saw a New York Post article from May 19 2020 about scientists “discovering a parallel universe” circulating on social media, which is apparently a place where time “runs backwards,” at least relative to our own:In a scenario straight ... |
26231 | The flu didn't kill any Americans this year. | The post is wrong. While COVID-19 has made assessing flu fatalities more complicated, thousands of Americans have died from influenza during the pandemic. | false | Public Health, Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Facebook posts, | "Flawed claims that the seasonal flu has killed more people than COVID-19 have circulated around the internet for a while now. But now a post on Facebook claims the opposite: that no Americans have died from the flu in 2020. The May 16 post reads: ""Not one American died from the Flu this year - 1st time in history BUT... |
10707 | Area firm’s pneumonia treatment passes test | This business section article reports on results of a Phase III clinical trial of cethromycin, a new type of antibiotic designed to treat community acquired pneumonia. In this case, the news article is inferior to the company’s press release. The article falls short of best practices in several ways: It features the c... | false | "The story didn’t discuss the cost of what it called the current ""standard of treatment,"" Biaxin, nor the cost of the new drug, cethromycin. If a drugmaker says it is ready to file for new drug approval within a few months, as the story states, you can be assured they have some ballpark estimate of what they expect t... | |
31034 | A major Hepatitis A outbreak in San Diego has been pinned on undocumented immigrants there. | We have reached out to the San Diego Regional Task Force on the Homeless seeking comment. The group reported in April 2017 that there were 9,116 people locally as “living in the streets or in shelters,” up 5 percent compared to 2016. Alvarez told us that the task force did not ask for individuals’ immigration status wh... | false | Medical, Hepatitis A, san diego, San Diego County | On 3 September 2017, the web site America’s Freedom Fighters published a story that purported to directly link undocumented immigrants in San Diego, California to a local Hepatitis A outbreak: The ultra liberal city of San Diego, California which incidentally is inundated with illegal aliens is facing a health crisis a... |
176 | Hurricane Dorian swirls toward anxious Florida, packing 140-mph winds. | Hurricane Dorian spun across the Atlantic ocean toward Florida on Friday, becoming an even stronger Category 4 storm as residents and tourists alike hunkered down in one of America’s biggest vacation destinations. | true | Environment | Dorian has the potential to put millions of people at risk, along with holiday attractions such as Walt Disney World, the NASA launchpads along the Space Coast, and even President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach. The Miami-based National Hurricane Center said Dorian was packing maximum sustained winds of 140 mp... |
8512 | Singapore confirms 386 more cases of coronavirus in biggest daily jump. | Singapore’s health ministry confirmed 386 more cases of coronavirus infection on Monday in the city-state’s biggest daily jump, taking its total to 2,918. | true | Health News | The Southeast Asian island nation, which is under partial lockdown to try to curb a recent surge in infections, also reported its ninth death from the disease. A large number of the new cases are linked to outbreaks in migrant workers’ dormitories. Singapore has quarantined thousands of workers in dormitories after the... |
11898 | In 2010, 48,000 felons and fugitives lied and illegally tried to purchase guns. They [The Obama administration] prosecuted only 44 of them. | "Cruz said: ""In 2010, 48,000 felons and fugitives lied and illegally tried to purchase guns"" and the Obama administration ""prosecuted only 44 of them."" There may have been even fewer federal prosecutions of such felons and fugitives, figures indicate, though Cruz failed to note that this paucity wasn’t unique to on... | true | Crime, Texas, Guns, Ted Cruz, | "U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas suggested that Barack Obama’s administration bears some responsibility for the mass shooter in a Texas town acquiring guns. In a late-night Nov. 6, 2017, interview with Shannon Bream of Fox News, the Republican senator said that he’d spent the day comforting residents of Sutherland Springs,... |
33843 | Designer Tommy Hilfiger stated that blacks and Asians shouldn't wear his clothes. | As immediately satisfying as it is to believe the old Liz Claiborne tale has updated itself by attaching to a newer, fresher designer, there’s another likely explanation that must also be considered. As Hilfiger’s clothing became more and more popular, it increasingly became a target for the Pacific Basin knock-off spe... | false | Business, Consumer Relations | Rumors that Tommy Hilfiger made a racist remark exploded onto the Internet in the fall of 1996 after a news article purporting to be from a Philippines tabloid began making the online rounds. These self-same rumors had been in circulation at least nine months earlier, but the appearance of that article brought them to ... |
7646 | Roche takes on Loxo, Bayer in gene-defined cancer class. | Roche’s entrectinib cancer pill was shown to shrink tumors in 57 percent of patients within a group that can only be identified via genetic profiling, as the Swiss drugmaker challenges an alliance of Bayer and Loxo Oncology in a new targeted treatment area. | true | Science News | The trial results on patients with a gene anomaly known as NTRK fusion, which occurs in less than 1 percent across a range of tumor types, were presented at the annual congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) in Munich on Sunday. Germany’s Bayer and U.S. partner Loxo, in turn, released data for thei... |
15430 | "Florida Democratic Party Says Jeb Bush ""oversaw (an) average in-state tuition increase of 48.2 percent during his tenure." | The U.S. state of Arizona withdrew its support for a proposed nationwide opioid settlement with Purdue Pharma LP, saying the maker of OxyContin sought to “undermine material terms of the deal,” according to a court filing on Monday. | true | Education, Florida, Florida Democratic Party, | Since Purdue filed for bankruptcy protection in September, Arizona is the first state to switch sides in the looming showdown over the privately-held company’s proposed settlement, which it has estimated is worth more than $10 billion. Purdue reached the deal last month with 24 states and the local governments that hav... |
40540 | A new law in Illinois makes it illegal for people to record all interactions with police officers. | Illinois Law Makes it Illegal to Record Police | false | Crime / Police | It’s not true that it would be illegal to record all interactions with police officers under a bill approved by the Illinois legislature. The measure would, however, make it illegal to record private conversations with cops and government officials. Critics argue that it would be hard for the public to understand the d... |
405 | GM halts operations at 11 Michigan plants after utility's urgent appeal. | General Motors Co said late on Wednesday it will temporarily suspend operations at 11 Michigan plants and its Warren Tech Center after a utility made an emergency appeal to users to conserve natural gas during extreme winter cold. | true | Environment | Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV also said it had canceled a shift on Thursday at both its Warren Truck and Sterling Heights Assembly plants and was considering whether it would need to cancel additional shifts. GM said it had been asked by Consumers Energy, a unit of CMS Energy Corp, to suspend operations to allow the uti... |
7326 | Virus raises specter of gravest attacks in modern US times. | America’s surgeon general raised the specter of the gravest attacks against the nation in modern times to steel an anxious country Sunday for the impending and immeasurable sorrow he said would touch untold numbers of families in the age of the coronavirus. The government’s top infectious disease expert urged vigilant ... | true | AP Top News, Understanding the Outbreak, Health, General News, Politics, Infectious diseases, Virus Outbreak, Michael Pence, Donald Trump | The blunt assessments show just how much has changed in the weeks since President Donald Trump’s predictions that the virus would soon pass, and his suggestions that much of the economy could be up and running by Easter, April 12. But they also point to the suffering and sacrifice ahead until the pandemic begins to aba... |
15659 | "There's no statistical evidence that"" a waiting period for handgun purchases ""reduces violence whatsoever." | "Wanggaard said, ""There’s no statistical evidence that"" a waiting period for handgun purchases ""reduces violence whatsoever."" There is research to indicate that handgun waiting periods are linked with lower suicide rates. But we did not find evidence that waiting periods coincide with less violence being committed ... | true | Crime, Public Health, Guns, Wisconsin, Van Wanggaard, | "Amid a surge in murderous gun violence in Milwaukee, the Republican-controlled Wisconsin Senate voted to repeal a state law that requires a two-day wait for handgun purchases. Just before the April 21, 2015, vote, the author of the bill, state Sen. Van Wanggaard, made this waiting-period claim: ""There’s no statistica... |
26538 | “Now, they’re doing tests on airlines — very strong tests — for getting on, getting off. They’re doing tests on trains — getting on, getting off.” | The CDC is not testing passengers for COVID-19 as they get on or off airplanes and trains. The federal government is screening certain passengers at 13 airports. Screening can include looking for symptoms, but it’s not the same as a test. | false | Coronavirus, Donald Trump, | "President Donald Trump said he was considering whether to stop domestic travel between U.S. hotspots for COVID-19. As he explained his reluctance to harm the transportation industry, Trump inaccurately said airline and train passengers were already being tested for the disease. ""We have to get our country back, we ha... |
9779 | Bacteria From Mother May Colonize Cesarean Births | This is a well-articulated but incomplete story about a proof-of-principle study suggesting that when babies born by C-section are swabbed with their mother’s vaginal fluids, they have a microbiome more closely approximating those of their vaginally-born peers up to a month after birth. The article does a nice job of e... | true | babies,c-section,gut bacteria | The article does not discuss the costs associated with inoculation. However, it’s implied that vaginal microbial transfer is very inexpensive (it only requires a piece of gauze, saline, and a sterile bottle – all standard hospital supplies) so we won’t ding the story for this omission. With that being said, there is a ... |
35059 | Drinking hot water with lemons will cure or prevent COVID-19; drinking hot water with lemons and sodium bicarbonate will “alkalize the immune system” and cure or prevent COVID-19. | Though early work had suggested vitamin C as a treatment for the common cold, which is also a viral upper respiratory infection, later work has cast doubt on that notion. In general, no scientific research has shown an ability for vitamin C supplementation to “kill” any upper-respiratory system virus or to reduce its s... | false | Medical, COVID-19 | A significant amount of COVID-19 coronavirus disease misinformation spreading across social media or chat apps takes the form of copied-and-pasted “advice” posts attributed to anonymous “experts”. These posts are usually riddled with scientific errors and/or promises of cures. Here we look at two such “cure” posts that... |
1810 | French hospital to open wine bar to cheer up terminally ill. | A hospital in the French city of Clermont-Ferrand is to open a wine bar where terminally ill patients will be able to enjoy a “medically-supervised” glass or two with their families. | true | Health News | “Why should we refuse the charms of the soil to those at the end of their lives? Nothing justifies such an prohibition,” the Clermont-Ferrand University Hospital Center said in statement. The center’s head, Dr. Virginie Guastella, said terminally ill patients had the right to “enjoy themselves”. The bar will be the fir... |
35334 | "The COVID-19 Testing, Reaching, And Contacting Everyone (TRACE) Act, or H.R. 6666, would authorize federally administered COVID-19 testing groups to enter American homes and force testing against residents' will, and then ""take"" those who test positive to quarantine sites." | No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. | false | Politics, COVID-19 | On May 1, 2020, as U.S. federal leaders negotiated emergency proposals to combat the COVID-19 coronavirus disease pandemic, U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush from Illinois introduced a proposal that would set aside $100 billion to help local agencies identify people who were exposed to the coronavirus without knowing it. Rush, a De... |
12233 | "Blogger Says a New York physician and his wife jumped to their deaths because they ""can’t afford"" Obamacare." | "Bloggers said a New York physician and his wife jumped to their deaths because they ""can’t afford"" Obamacare. Multiple blog posts said that the couple committed suicide because of unaffordable medical costs. That was based on initial reports about the note the pair left behind, and turned out not to be the case. New... | false | Fake news, PunditFact, Bloggers, | "A story shared on multiple websites about a New York couple who committed suicide because they couldn’t afford to pay for health care is the result of news outlets that at first wrote the pair left a note saying as much, but later walked back the claim. A July 28, 2017, post on NewsBreaksHere.com said a 53-year-old Ma... |
25880 | Facebook post Says the NIH “15 years ago published a study on chloroquine. It is effective against COVID-(1).” | The 2005 study wasn’t published by the NIH and didn’t prove chloroquine was effective against “COVID-1” because that’s not a real disease. The study found that chloroquine could inhibit the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in animal cell culture, and the authors said more research was needed. There are curre... | false | Public Health, Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Facebook posts, | "Chloroquine is back. The anti-malarial drug first showed up as a possible COVID-19 treatment around May 2020, when President Donald Trump said he had been taking its chemical cousin, hydroxychloroquine, to prevent getting infected with the virus. Since then, some studies have found that the drugs could help alleviate ... |
25015 | Sen. McCain was already turning his sights to Iraq just days after 9/11, and he became a leading supporter of an invasion and occupation of (Iraq). | McCain's record on Iraq: eager to attack | true | National, Iraq, Barack Obama, | "Sen. Barack Obama, speaking to veterans, lashed into his opponent for poor military judgment, alleging Sen. John McCain had fixated on Iraq immediately after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. ""Sen. McCain was already turning his sights to Iraq just days after 9/11, and he became a leading supporter of an invasion and oc... |
33346 | Children’s television show host Fred Rogers hid a violent and criminal past. | Children's television show host Fred Rogers has been the focus of many rumors, including that he hid a violent and criminal past and served as a sniper or a Navy SEAL. | false | Entertainment, Broadcast Legends, Mister Rogers, Radio & TV | In 2003 the television world mourned the loss of Fred Rogers, the gentle and genial host who delivered lessons on love, kindness, and friendship to children for over 30 years on the television program Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. His show-opening “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” ditty, his daily on-camera donning of a cardi... |
10452 | Treating fibroids without surgery | A growing body of evidence suggests that uterine artery embolization (UAE) is a viable alternative to surgery for symptomatic fibroids for women who don't desire future pregnancy. For many women, avoiding surgery is a tremendous relief. However, there are still unanswered questions about the safety and efficacy of UAE.... | true | The story does not describe the costs of uterine artery embolization or how they compare to costs of surgery. The cost of UAE is quite high and for some women may not be covered by insurance. The story provides adequate quantification of some of the most important things for consumers to know, such as the fact that aft... | |
328 | Bayer bets on 'silver bullet' defense in Roundup litigation; experts see hurdles. | Bayer AG plans to argue that a $2 billion jury award and thousands of U.S. lawsuits claiming its glyphosate-based weed killer Roundup causes cancer should be tossed because a U.S. regulatory agency said the herbicide is not a public health risk. | true | Health News | Some legal experts believe Bayer will have a tough time convincing appellate courts to throw out verdicts and lawsuits on those grounds. Bayer has a better shot if a business-friendly U.S. Supreme Court takes up the case, experts said. But that could take years. Bayer has come under intensifying pressure after a third ... |
41655 | The number of operations classed as urgent that have been cancelled twice have doubled since 2010. | Correct. The number of urgent operations in England cancelled for the second time or more for non-medical reasons more than doubled between 2011/12 and 2017/18. | true | health | There are 16,481 fewer beds in hospitals since 2010. This is in the right ballpark, but it doesn’t seem to be the best comparison. It seems to compare the number of beds at different times of the year, but the number available fluctuates seasonally. Comparing July-September in 2010 and 2017, the decrease in beds availa... |
10110 | Inducing labor for convenience gets a second look | This was an excellent story looking at practice variation and trends in medicine, namely, that of medically-managed birth which can potentially result in harms to patients and may increase healthcare costs. Cultural trends underpinning increased use are handled well: The story speculates that the increased practice of ... | true | "The story addresses cost by implying there is an overall cost savings when labor is not induced early and the birth process is not medically managed if a mother and fetus are otherwise healthy. This story suggests that savings may be in the form of fewer birth complications, decreased risk of hemorrhage and transfusio... | |
8994 | Spironolactone may be an alternative to antibiotics in women's acne treatment | Researchers at Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania compared about 38,000 records from women treated for acne with two different drugs. They found those who used the diuretic drug spironolactone switched to a different drug within one year at almost the same rate as those who began with antibio... | false | acne,antibiotic,spironolactone,University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine | The news release doesn’t provide the cost for either antibiotics or spirinolactone. It only suggests that using spirinolactone could be “less expensive” than the antibiotic course. This criterion rates a Not Satisfactory because the study did not set out to quantify benefits of a specific drug or drugs and yet the rele... |
23183 | "Planned Parenthood Says ""Scott Walker tried to pass a law to allow pharmacists to block women’s access to birth control." | Planned Parenthood says Scott Walker tried to pass a bill to allow pharmacists block women’s access to birth control | false | Health Care, Message Machine 2010, Women, Wisconsin, Planned Parenthood, | "Planned Parenthood Advocates, the lobbying and political action arm of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, says it made more than 1.1 million ""voter contacts"" in the 2008 elections. The Madison-based group, which supports pro-choice candidates, has also been working to influence voters in 2010 -- including pushing them... |
7931 | Synairgen gets green light for coronavirus drug trial. | British pharmaceutical company Synairgen said on Wednesday it had the go-ahead to test a drug that could boost the lung function of patients with coronavirus, potentially assisting in the global fight against the pandemic. | true | Health News | The company said it had received expedited approvals from regulators to trial the drug - an inhaled formulation of interferon-beta-1a - in hospital patients who have COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. Explaining the drug’s mechanism, Chief Executive Richard Marsden said interferon-beta was a naturally occurring... |
14918 | "The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ""no congressional oversight." | "Fiorina said the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ""no congressional oversight."" She has a point that where the bureau is concerned, lawmakers lack one of their strongest levers of influence -- the power of the purse. This makes it reasonable to say that the bureau has an unusually low amount of congressional... | mixture | National, Financial Regulation, Carly Fiorina, | "During the Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee, Carly Fiorina brought up an issue that delves deep into the weeds of the federal regulatory system. She took aim at the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, a law passed by a Democratic Congress and signed by President Barack Obama that plac... |
30846 | A tradition of celebrating Veterans Day with ravioli dinners was initiated by President Woodrow Wilson in 1919. | It may be the case that many Americans eat ravioli on Veterans Day, but only because many Americans eat ravioli on every other day of the year as well, not because President Wilson once served it to some White House visitors. | false | Holidays, ravioli, veterans day, woodrow wilson | Veterans Day (known prior to 1954 as Armistice Day) is a U.S. holiday that celebrates the service of all U.S. military veterans and is observed on November 11 to coincide with the date of the signing of the 1918 armistice that brought an end to hostilities in World War I. Although annual presidential proclamations call... |
8564 | Brazil turns to local industry to build ventilators as China orders fall through. | Brazil’s health minister said on Wednesday that the country’s attempts to purchase thousands of ventilators from China to fight the coronavirus epidemic fell through and the government is now looking to Brazilian companies to build the devices. | true | Health News | “Practically all our purchases of equipment in China are not being confirmed,” Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta said at a news conference. An attempt to buy 15,000 ventilators in China failed and Brazil was making a new bid, he said, but the outcome is uncertain in the intense competition for medical supplies in the glo... |
7587 | Cavs’ Love raises mental health awareness with ‘locker’ talk. | Kevin Love can’t remember being this freshly shaven, gliding his fingers over his smooth cheeks and chin while glancing at a large mirror. | true | Cleveland Cavaliers, Anxiety, Mental health, Health, Cleveland, Kevin Love, Basketball, NBA, Sports, Depression | The reflection doesn’t pain him anymore. From the outside, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ All-Star forward appears to have it all: A model’s striking looks, a multi-million dollar contract and dream job. At 30, he’s in the prime of his career, and maybe for the first time, truly happy. “I’m getting there,” he said, his voice... |
15920 | Mercury is used in vaccines, and there is no safe level of mercury. | Anti-vaccine claim rooted in bad science, confusion | false | Georgia, Public Health, Mike Adams, | "With a measles outbreak sprouting in 14 states, and Georgia reporting its first case in almost three years, vaccine opponents are reviving claims about the dangers of vaccines against the disease in newsfeeds across the country. An alert reader was skeptical of one Facebook post, reviving a 2012 story that purports to... |
1363 | Electric cars win? Britain to ban new petrol and diesel cars from 2040. | Britain will ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2040 in an attempt to reduce air pollution that could herald the end of over a century of reliance on the internal combustion engine. | true | Environment | Britain’s step, which follows France, amounts to a victory for electric cars that if copied globally could hit the wealth of oil producers, as well as transform car industry jobs and one of the icons of 20th Century capitalism: the automobile itself. The mayors of Paris, Madrid, Mexico City and Athens have said they pl... |
34785 | "Americans can send holiday cards to service members and veterans through the ""Holiday Mail for Heroes"" program." | "What's true: The ""Holiday Mail for Heroes"" program allowed people to send holiday greetings to service members and veterans. What's false: The Red Cross changed the program to ""Holidays for Heroes,"" which is not as focused on correspondence; this means there is no longer a national P.O. Box to send cards." | mixture | Holidays, ASP Article, holidays, holidays for heroes | Recent years have seen several Internet-based grass-roots promotions of programs that enable the public to send letters, cards, gifts, and other greetings to U.S. troops serving overseas or recovering in stateside hospitals, particularly around the holiday season. Unfortunately, many such promotions (such as the “Recov... |
22102 | "George Allen ""had 40,000 earmarks"" while he was a senator." | British shale gas company Cuadrilla said on Thursday it would restart fracking at its Preston New Road site in Britain in the third quarter of 2019 and plans to use a thicker fracking fluid to help reduce earth tremors. | false | Federal Budget, Virginia, Jamie Radtke, | Fracking, or hydraulically fracturing, involves extracting gas from rocks by breaking them up with water and chemicals at high pressure. Operations at the first well at the Preston New road site in Lancashire where halted several times last year because of minor seismic events. British regulations demand work be suspen... |
17236 | You can buy lobster with food stamps. | Food stamp lobster claim true, but extent unclear | true | Georgia, Government Regulation, State Budget, Greg Morris, | "A food fight recently erupted in the Georgia Legislature over food stamps -- with a morsel of information tossed out by one lawmaker that was too tasty for the Truth-O-Meter to pass up. Before a Senate committee, state Rep. Greg Morris, a Republican from Vidalia, was battling for a bill he authored that would require ... |
10002 | AstraZeneca Says Brilinta Beats Plavix in Clinical Trial | "As the individual ratings illustrate, this story on the release of partial results of a trial of a new anti-clotting drug, Brilinta, falls short of several best practices of health journalism. Most importantly: It fails to discuss costs and treatment alternatives It fails to include medical sources who could provide... | mixture | "The story fails to discuss the new drug’s cost or even cite the price of its chief competitor. It may be difficult to project a drug’s cost before it’s on the market. But these drugs are expensive [Plavix, the incumbent anti-clotting blockbuster, is $4 per day] and readers should realize that. Because the story focuse... | |
5758 | Elderly man evicted over medical marijuana hits another snag. | A 78-year-old New York man who was evicted from federally subsidized housing because he uses medical marijuana for pain said Tuesday that the conflicting state and federal pot laws that left him homeless are now threatening his medical care. | true | Homeless shelters, Legal Marijuana, Medical marijuana, New York, Marijuana, Health, Niagara Falls, U.S. News | “The federal government has stepped in again and squashed it,” said John Flickner, who uses a wheelchair and has a doctor’s prescription for the drug. After news reports detailed his eviction last week, Flickner, who is now staying at a homeless shelter, said the Niagara Falls program that coordinates his care suddenly... |
38107 | A Facebook post dubbed “A Gentle Reminder from Pope Francis” talks about how life goes by fast, and the need to focus on what’s really important. | E-cigarette or vaping-linked lung injuries that have killed 29 and sickened more than 1,000 people in the United States are likely to be rare in Britain and other countries where the suspect products are not widely used, specialists said on Monday. | false | Inspirational, Religious | Experts in toxicology and addiction said they are sure that the 1,299 confirmed and probable American cases of serious lung injuries linked to vaping are “a U.S.-specific phenomenon,” and there is no evidence of a similar pattern of illness in Britain or elsewhere. “What’s happening in the U.S. is not happening here (i... |
10303 | St. Francis heart surgeon pioneering ‘new horizon’ repair technique | This story performed cheerleading for local research in a number of ways. It said the procedure: May revolutionize cardiac care; Could save and improve thousands of lives (no source cited for this projection); Has vast potential. But – for the new use described in the story – it’s only been tested in animals. No... | false | "There was no mention of treatment costs. No data were given about potential benefits. There was no discussion of potential harms of this treatment. There is no evidence presented in this story – only anecdotes. We are told that the use of this material for the treatment of heart failure is currently under study in ani... | |
5870 | Health reports rosy in Ohio’s otherwise ugly US Senate race. | There’s rosy news in the nasty, high-stakes battle for Ohio’s U.S. Senate seat: Both Rob Portman and Ted Strickland are in excellent health. | true | Columbus, OH State Wire, Health, Ohio, Rob Portman, Ted Strickland | Doctors’ letters provided to The Associated Press give glowing medical marks to both men. The AP requested the results of a post-primary physical and, for each, a list of any major health conditions or prescription medications. Neither has any medical problems to speak of. The two have been engaged in one of the year’s... |
23985 | Rudy Giuliani Says federal law enforcement officers cut off questioning of the Christmas Day underwear bomber by giving him a Miranda warning after 30 minutes of questioning. | Giuliani says U.S. only questioned underwear bomber for 30 minutes before reading Miranda rights | mixture | National, Homeland Security, Legal Issues, Crime, Terrorism, This Week - ABC News, Rudy Giuliani, | "The government's questioning of two accused terrorists -- Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who is accused of trying to bomb an airliner on Christmas Day 2009 using explosives sewn into his underwear, and Faisal Shahzad, who is being held for the failed Times Square bombing on May 1, 2010 -- has prompted critics to say the O... |
26906 | "Facebook post Says the 2019 coronavirus ""causes sudden death syndrome." | The 2019 coronavirus has killed 1,017 people in China. There is no evidence that the virus causes sudden death syndrome. | false | Public Health, Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Facebook posts, | "A video on Facebook is spinning a conspiracy theory about the effect of the 2019 coronavirus. The nearly 50-minute video plays clips that purportedly show 2019 coronavirus victims. A narrator speaks over them, promoting conspiracies about everything from the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to the source of the corona... |
9527 | Why Biogen is breathing a sigh of relief with the latest Alzheimer’s data | This STAT story is a contextual view of not only the status of doomed scientific efforts so far to delay or halt Alzheimer’s dementia at its biological sources, but also of Big Pharma’s persistence at chasing an anti-amyloid cure. The reporting makes the case that in the opinion of credible researchers, the reason for ... | true | alzheimer's disease | It’s too early to discuss how much one of these experimental drugs might cost. But the article could have reported something about the estimated costs of currently caring for these patients. It’s also worth noting that if a drug is ever approved, it will cost Medicare a bundle. In the story’s descriptions of “promising... |
10872 | Experimental drug guadecitabine found safe in patients with colorectal cancer | The news release discusses the findings of a small study that was designed to assess the safety of the experimental drug guadecitabine for use in conjunction with the conventional drug irinotecan to treat metastatic colorectal cancer. Phase 1 studies are designed to evaluate safety, observe side effects and identify th... | true | Academic medical center news release,colon cancer | We’ll rate this “Not Applicable” given the very early nature of the study and the fact that guadecitabine is clearly still far from approval for treating colorectal cancer so it would be difficult to put a precise dollar figure on it. It’s worth noting, however, that guadecitabine is also being considered for use in tr... |
31293 | A photograph shows President Trump touring a chemtrail plane. | These tanks are filled with water and engineers can transfer water between the tanks during flight to shift the weight of simulated cargo or passengers. The center of gravity, or CG as pilots call it, is important to the flight characteristics of any airplane. During flight test, Boeing must ensure the plane is safe an... | false | Humor, nc scooper | In June 2017, entertainment web site Nevada County Scooper published an article in June 2017 appearing to report that U.S. President Donald Trump had promised to shut down the government’s “chemtrail program” after touring a “chemtrail plane”. The chemtrail conspiracy theory holds that airplanes have been spraying harm... |
4621 | Congo confirms 1st Ebola case in city of Goma. | The Congolese health ministry confirmed an Ebola case in Goma late Sunday, marking the first time the virus has reached the city of more than 2 million people along the border with Rwanda since the epidemic began nearly a year ago. | true | AP Top News, Health, General News, Africa, Epidemics, Rwanda, International News | The health ministry said the man who had arrived earlier Sunday in the regional capital had been quickly transported to an Ebola treatment center. Authorities said they had tracked down all the passengers on the bus the man took to Goma from Butembo, one of the towns hardest hit by the disease. “Because of the speed wi... |
1412 | G7 told to act on antibiotics as dreaded superbug hits U.S. | Britain told the G7 industrial powers on Friday to do more to fight killer superbugs as the United States reported the first case in the country of a patient with bacteria resistant to a last-resort antibiotic. | true | Health News | U.S. scientists said the infection in a 49-year-old Pennsylvania woman “heralds the emergence of truly pan-drug resistant bacteria” because it could not be controlled even by colistin, an antibiotic reserved for “nightmare” bugs. In Japan, British Prime Minister David Cameron said leading countries needed to tackle res... |
21956 | When I became president and CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, it was supposed to go bankrupt . . . We turned it around with common-sense business principles. | A thorough review of business records and interviews with executives who worked with Cain show that the chain was widely considered troubled when he arrived. It's a slight exaggeration to say it was supposed to go bankrupt. But from all accounts, Cain's performance as CEO is widely considered a success. | true | National, Candidate Biography, Corporations, Herman Cain, | "Editor's note: This fact-check is a excerpt of a longer examination of Herman Cain's business accomplishments, including his work experience before and after Godfather's Pizza. Read the longer story here. Pizza is Herman Cain's biggest selling point. He says his track record running Godfather’s Pizza, a chain that onc... |
9154 | Common cold duration is shortened similarly by zinc acetate and zinc gluconate lozenges | This news release describes results of a meta-analysis of seven studies on the use of zinc lozenges for shortening the duration of common colds. The study compared the effectiveness of two kinds of zinc salt in lozenges: zinc acetate and zinc gluconate. Although the studies with zinc acetate lozenges shortened colds mo... | mixture | Common cold,University of Helsinki,zinc | No mention is made in the release about how much zinc lozenges cost. Zinc supplements can be purchased at pharmacies and most supermarkets for less than $10. The release release gives details from the original study regarding benefits of both types of zinc lozenges, as well as dosages. But the benefits are only given i... |
8027 | German health institute warns pandemic could overstretch system: paper. | Germany’s health system could face strains similar to those in Italy if the coronavirus outbreak in the country worsens, the head of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the federal agency responsible for disease control, told a newspaper. | true | Health News | Lothar Wieler’s comments came as RKI data on Sunday showed the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany had risen to 52,547 and 389 people had died of the disease there. “We cannot rule out that we will have more patients than ventilators in this country ... Of course, we must expect that the capacities will no... |
29943 | "Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that ""owning guns is not a right. If it were a right, it would be in the Constitution." | As we’ve previously documented, this is hardly the first time that misinformation has been spread about her. | false | Politics, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, fake quote, gun control | Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been the subject of a number of false rumors and accusations since she became the youngest woman elected to congress. In January 2019, we came across yet another meme that attempted to paint the freshman lawmaker as inexperienced and uneducated, this time by falsely attributin... |
1746 | Dutch discover bird flu in wild ducks, cull continues. | Dutch animal health authorities found bird flu in two samples taken from wild ducks, a government statement said, but it was unclear if that was the source of an outbreak at four chicken farms in the Netherlands. | true | Health News | Duck droppings from the central Dutch province tested positive for the highly contagious H5 strain of the disease, the deputy economic affairs minister wrote in a letter to parliament. “Based on this information I am considering follow-up measures,” deputy minister Sharon Dijksma wrote. Dutch authorities said earlier o... |
6595 | Phelps honored for honesty on mental health, helping others. | While swimming to Olympic glory, Michael Phelps found comfort in the pool and quite a bit of angst out of it. | true | Mental health, Health, Baltimore, North America, Sports, Michael Phelps, Depression, Swimming | His bout with depression reached its nadir in 2014 after a second DUI arrest. That’s when the most decorated Olympian of all time checked himself into a rehabilitative center in a desperate effort to make sense of it all. “When I was in my room and not wanting to talk to anybody for a number of days and not wanting to ... |
33444 | Comedian Andy Kaufman is still alive, many years after his announced death. | As usual, we expect that long after the book Zmuda was hawking (Andy Kaufman: The Truth, Finally) is forgotten, Andy Kaufman will still be dead | false | Inboxer Rebellion, hoaxes | One would be hard-pressed to think of any other entertainer who sowed as much doubt about his true character than comedian Andy Kaufman did in the 1970s and 1980s. He adopted multiple personas and stayed in character even when he was off-stage. He performed as other people. Or he had other people perform as him. Or may... |
396 | J&J becomes first drugmaker to add prices to television ads. | Johnson & Johnson said on Thursday it will start adding the price of its medicines to television commercials by next month, becoming the first drugmaker to heed a call by U.S. President Donald Trump for price transparency of drugs advertised directly to consumers on TV. | true | Health News | The healthcare conglomerate said it will include both the list price of a product - the price before any rebates or discounts to insurers or pharmacy benefit managers - as well as potential out-of-pocket costs that patients will pay. The move, announced in a statement on J&J’s website, won swift praise from U.S. Health... |
6124 | Feds crack Medicare gene test fraud that peddled cheek swabs. | Federal agents took down an alleged Medicare scam Friday that exploited seniors’ curiosity about genetic medicine by enticing them to get their cheeks swabbed for unneeded DNA tests. Medicare was billed $2.1 billion. | true | Seniors, Genetic testing, Health care industry, Health, General News, Politics, Business, Medicare | Dubbed “Operation Double Helix,” the crackdown targeted telemedicine companies, doctors and labs, in a joint effort by the Justice Department , the FBI, U.S. attorneys’ offices, and the Health and Human Services inspector general. Thirty-five people were charged around the country. The alleged fraud flourished at a tim... |
26037 | Wisconsin was the last state to start paying COVID-related federal unemployment benefits. | Wisconsin did have trouble getting the federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation payments to Wisconsinites, and was the last to do so. But the state started making federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance payments at about the same time as most other states. | true | Jobs, States, Wisconsin, Robin Vos, | "Unemployment payments have been a big point of concern in Wisconsin since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites were laid off or furloughed due to the health crisis, putting intense pressure on the state’s unemployment insurance system. And since March 2020, a backlog of unpaid ... |
36655 | Taylor Swift was dropped from Spotify and iTunes because she supports Democrats. | Taylor Swift’s Political Endorsements: The Rumors and the Reality | false | Entertainment, Fact Checks, Politics | Pop superstar Taylor Swift — once a darling of the far-right and alt-right crowds because of her “Aryan goddess” looks and their own fevered imaginations — broke a years-long policy of silence on political matters in October 2018 to endorse a political party on her Instagram account:I’m writing this post about the upco... |
35282 | "The word ""quarantine"" stems from the Italian word for ""forty,"" representing the number of days persons potentially exposed to communicable diseases had to remain in isolation." | Beginning in middle of the 14th century, repeated waves of plague swept across Europe. After arriving in southern Europe in 1347, plague spread rapidly, reaching England, Germany, and Russia by 1350. During this time, it is estimated that one-third of Europe’s population died. The profound impact of the epidemic led to... | true | Language, COVID-19 | During the COVID-19 coronavirus disease pandemic of 2020, many Americans first became acquainted with the phrase “social distancing,” a term referring to the practice of people avoiding gathering in groups and maintaining physical space between themselves in public settings (in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19).... |
14160 | Austin is number one in Texas in startups, venture capital and patents. | Biogen Inc’s (BIIB.O) shock decision this week to bring its experimental Alzheimer’s drug back from the scrap heap was born out of “top secret” meetings, non-disclosure agreements and six months of hashing over trial data with scientists, regulators and statisticians, researchers told Reuters. | true | City Government, Economy, Small Business, Technology, Texas, Steve Adler, | Biogen had announced in March that it would terminate two large clinical trials of aducanumab because they were likely to fail. Within weeks, a group of company researchers set out to understand what went wrong. As they studied data from a larger pool of patients who received the drug, they began to question that concl... |
8860 | UCB recalls Parkinson's patch, reviews 2008 outlook. | Belgian drugmaker UCB said on Thursday it was recalling its Parkinson’s patch Neupro in the United States and some batches from Europe, prompting a review of its 2008 forecast. | true | Health News | UCB shares dropped as much as 18.4 percent to 21.60 euros, their lowest level since August 2003, as investors took a dim view of the latest in a series of setbacks to hit the group. This month, U.S. health officials warned its prescription cough medicine Tussionex could be fatal for young children if taken frequent... |
12957 | Some countries are contributing (peacekeeping) troops because they're making money off of them. | "Haley said that ""some countries"" contribute peacekeeping troops because they make money off the U.N. payments. Every expert we reached agreed that for some nations, the financial payoff is a factor. However, they all said that money was not the sole driver, and that countries gained military training and experience ... | true | Global News Service, Foreign Policy, Nikki Haley, | "U.S. senators asked South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley about U.N. peacekeeping missions during her confirmation hearing to be America’s ambassador to the United Nations. They were especially concerned about the war-torn nation of South Sudan, but Haley tackled peacekeeping more broadly. Haley said there were red flags. "... |
15944 | Every year in the United States between 3,000 and 4,500 severe vaccine reactions are reported to the Centers for Disease Control. Not mild reactions. Severe reactions that land somebody in the hospital, the intensive care unit or cause a permanent disability or death. | "Sears said, ""Every year in the United States between 3,000 and 4,500 severe vaccine reactions are reported to the Centers for Disease Control. Not mild reactions. Severe reactions that land somebody in the hospital, the intensive care unit or cause a permanent disability or death."" Sears reached this conclusion by d... | false | Health Care, Public Health, PunditFact, Bob Sears, | "In a debate on CNN, a pediatrician who lends a sympathetic ear to the anti-vaccine movement described what he said was one of the risks of vaccinating children. ""Every year in the United States between 3,000 and 4,500 severe vaccine reactions are reported to the Centers for Disease Control,"" Dr. Bob Sears told CNN’s... |
41652 | The number of patients waiting more than 12 hours in A&E is up 2,700% since 2010. | Correct (although not all patients will necessarily have been waiting in A&E). In 2011/12, 120 patients in England waited 12 hours between the decision to admit them to emergency admissions and their actual admission, compared to 3,500 in 2017/18. | true | health | There are 16,481 fewer beds in hospitals since 2010. This is in the right ballpark, but it doesn’t seem to be the best comparison. It seems to compare the number of beds at different times of the year, but the number available fluctuates seasonally. Comparing July-September in 2010 and 2017, the decrease in beds availa... |
9075 | Early data shows nearly 2x prolonged median survival for inoperable pancreatic cancer | This news release reports results of a retrospective study comparing conventional radiotherapy for inoperable pancreatic cancer versus an adaptive radiation therapy that allows clinicians to see the tumor in real time and respond to changes on a daily basis. Targeting the tumor more specifically means higher doses of r... | true | pancreatic cancer,ViewRay | Costs of the MRIdian on-table adaptive radiotherapy in comparison to conventional radiotherapy are not discussed. Given that it is new and more personalized than current treatment options it’s likely to be correspondingly more expensive. Certainly, more frequent MRIs would be very costly. The release provides exact inf... |
3733 | Chinese report says illnesses may be from new coronavirus. | A preliminary investigation into viral pneumonia illnesses sickening dozens of people in and around China has identified the possible cause as a new type of coronavirus, state media said Thursday. | true | Health, General News, MERS, Wuhan, Pneumonia, China, Asia Pacific, International News | Chinese health authorities did not immediately confirm the report from state broadcaster CCTV. Coronaviruses are spread through coughing or sneezing or by touching an infected person. Some cause the common cold and others can lead to more severe respiratory diseases, such as SARS and MERS. Such viruses are common in pe... |
2994 | Kentucky governor reaffirms support for teacher pay raise. | Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear reaffirmed his support for a teachers’ pay raise and made a pitch to overhaul a criminal-justice system soaking up too much of the state’s money as he delivered his first State of the Commonwealth speech to the Republican-dominated legislature. | true | Legislature, Teacher pay, Health, General News, Kentucky, Education | Speaking to a statewide television audience Tuesday night, the state’s new Democratic governor outlined a broad agenda that includes protecting health-care coverage, tackling criminal-justice reform, ending cuts to higher education and embracing new gaming-related revenues. Beshear, who made support for public schools ... |
11058 | Study says late angioplasty futile | The story reports on new research that shows angioplasty performed late after a heart attack (defined as 3 to 28 days) does not improve survival, chance of another heart attack, or chance of heart failure compared to taking medications alone in a subset of people. The story does a nice job of describing the current cul... | true | "The article doesn't mention costs of angioplasty or costs of medications, which presumably must be taken for the rest of one's life. The article does mention that angioplasty is expensive, but does not provide real numbers or comparisons. The story provides absolute numbers of the primary endpoint over a 4-year period... | |
28975 | Chinese plants are processing chickens raised by Tyson in the U.S. and shipping them back to America. | What's true: In 2013 four Chinese poultry processors were approved to begin shipping a limited amount of processed chicken products to the United States. What's false: China is not processing imported, U.S.-raised chickens and shipping them back to America. | mixture | Food, chicken, china, smithfield | Back in August 2013, the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) issued a final report regarding the food safety system governing the processing of chicken for export in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The gist of that report was that four Chinese poultry process... |
10682 | Fewer Colorado women getting mammograms since 2009 guideline change | The reason for this story is the release of new studies, but readers aren’t told where the studies are presented, where they appear, how anyone can read more about their findings. Inexplicably, the story includes no response from the Task Force itself. So a clear imbalance exists in the story. Indeed, a flip side to th... | false | "At some point, cost has to enter into this discussion. The story stated two things related to cost: What is that cost? To the insured? To the uninsured? How many women did lose insurance coverage in the time frame in question? The story focused on the alleged harms of the USPSTF mammography guidelines. Any benefits at... | |
11427 | Small scanners find hidden heart disease | "This story about the use of ultrasound for arterial screening is confusing, thinly reported and potentially misleading. It fails to make a clear distinction between the use of ultrasound as part of conventional diagnostic practice and its more recent, commercial use for screening asymptomatic people. The report sugges... | false | The article reports that at a hospital the test costs $295 and from an indepdendent ultrasound technician it costs $180. The article indicates that insurers usually don’t pay for the scans when used for screening purposes. However, the story would have been stronger if it had explored the costs of unnecessary medical p... | |
3539 | Pennsylvania reports vaping death, investigating injuries. | The Pennsylvania Health Department says one person in the state has died from lung injuries associated with vaping and it’s investigating dozens of other suspected or confirmed cases. | true | Health, Vaping, General News, Pennsylvania, Injuries | The state’s health secretary, Dr. Rachel Levine, announced the death Friday and said Pennsylvania has also reported nine confirmed cases to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Health Department reported the death on Thursday to the federal agency. State officials aren’t disclosing publicly any other det... |
9541 | Breathe. Exhale. Repeat: The benefits of controlled breathing | This election-week story attempts to give readers news you can use: how to calm yourself with deep breathing exercises. However, it overstates the proven benefits of controlled breathing and doesn’t compare it with other stress-busting strategies, such as exercise or talking to a friend. And while some readers may have... | false | breathing,Well blog | Since deep breathing is free, no discussion of costs is warranted. The story asserts that controlled breathing “has been shown to reduce stress, increase alertness and boost your immune system.” It also states that studies have found breathing practices “can help reduce symptoms associated with anxiety, insomnia, post-... |
10968 | Rolfing brings woman relief from disorder | "This was a very flawed story about the use of rolfing – a form of massage therapy – in two patients – one with tardive dyskinesia-dystonia and the other with nerve damage after back surgery. The piece was built mainly on anecdote, with several major shortcomings. Most notably, there was no description of how rolfing i... | false | "The story does not list the cost of treatment. This is a great oversight in a story on a complementary therapy, which is typically not covered by health insurance and may need to be part of on-going pain management. While some health insurers may pay a portion of therapeutic massage for some chronic conditions, there... | |
11502 | The ABCs of D: Almost everyone needs more of the sunshine vitamin | "This was an overzealous piece about an important vitamin. A more balanced piece would have included information about possible harms of excess vitamin D intake, and about availability of testing for inadequate vitamin D status. A reference for lists of foods high in vitamin D (available on the NIH website) would have ... | false | "There was no discussion of costs of vitamin D rich foods, vitamin D supplemented foods, or vitamin D containing supplements. Though the story starts with a quip that ""it's free"", this only applies to sunlight. A brief discussion even of the costs of supplements at the doses recommended would have strengthened the st... | |
11555 | Egg storage untested as a fertility treatment, experts caution | This short piece summarizes a new report from the American Society for Reproductive Medicine which urges caution about the practice of freezing of eggs for use in later attempts at in vitro fertilization. The article uses a few facts deftly to describe the efficacy of the treatment. It indicates which women are unlikel... | true | "The article states clearly that the procedure costs around $10,000. It would have been useful to add whether this includes the cost of multiple cycles of ovarian stimulation, which are often required. The article states that freezing an egg results in a pregnancy only 2 to 4 percent of the time, compared to 25 to 43 p... | |
39660 | Reports have gone viral that a scientist from Johns Hopkins University said flu vaccines aren’t as effective as once thought and that studies used to promote widespread vaccines are often low quality. | Johns Hopkins Scientist Questions Flu Vaccine – Authorship Confirmed! | true | Medical | It’s true that a former post-doctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University questioned the safety and effectiveness of flu vaccines in a scholarly article, but that view isn’t widely accepted in the epidemiology field. Peter Doshi was a post-doctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine when he pu... |
10462 | Study shows value of quality-of-life cancer care | The story was marred, however, by a failure to discuss any limitations of the research or to properly quantify the benefits. In addition, its sourcing included only experts likely to hold a favorable view of palliative medicine. We cannot tackle the health care crisis without looking at the costs of care at the end of ... | true | "While it could have been more detailed about the actual numbers involved, this story explained that the cost of palliative care is currently comprised primarily of fees for doctor visits. It could have noted that this is the only component of palliative care that is billable currently, and that other members of the in... | |
17677 | In Jeanne Shaheen, New Hampshire has a Senator who was the deciding vote to pass Obamacare. | "Rubens said Shaheen was ""the deciding vote to pass Obamacare."" It’s true that all 60 Democratic votes -- including Shaheen’s -- were needed to pass the measure through the Senate. However, Shaheen, unlike Ben Nelson, was hardly a holdout until the last minute; she gave indications early on that she supported the pre... | false | New Hampshire, Health Care, Voting Record, Jim Rubens, | "With glitches continuing to hamper the federal health care website that went live in October 2013, a group of Senate Democrats is asking the White House to extend the open enrollment period for people to buy coverage. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and nine others say individuals shouldn’t be penalized for lack of cover... |
26156 | In voting by mail, “hundreds of thousands of ballots have been rejected for defects and millions more end up missing or in landfills.” | A conservative legal group’s report said that during the past four general elections, about 28 million ballots were recorded by the government as “unknown” after they were mailed. These included ballots that were not returned by the voter, spoiled, returned as undeliverable, or otherwise unable to be tracked. Experts s... | false | Elections, Coronavirus, J. Christian Adams, | "The coronavirus pandemic has escalated the political battle over efforts to expand voting by mail, with the White House, Congress and local election officials feuding over whether to make it easier to cast ballots from home this year. A June 3 House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on protecting the right to vote amid t... |
41717 | The government is putting 20,000 more police on the streets. | The government has committed to do this. If this happens it will take the number of police in England and Wales to almost, but not quite the same level as it was at in 2010. | true | health | There will be 50,000 more nurses going into the NHS. The government has committed to do this by 2024/25. Not all of these nurses will be ‘new’. The government have announced the end of hospital parking charges for patients. In December it was announced that hospitals in England will have to provide free car parking to ... |
36043 | Actor Lucy Liu is also a world renowned artist known for her lesbian paintings under the pseudonym Yu Ling, which is her Chinese name. | Is Lucy Liu an Acclaimed Artist Known for Her Lesbian Paintings Under the Pseudonym Yu Ling? | mixture | Fact Checks, Viral Content | On November 5 2019, a Facebook user shared the following post about actor Lucy Liu, indicating they were “today years old” when they discovered Liu was an accomplished artist under a pseudonym (“Yu Ling”) in addition to her acting credits:Alongside photographs of various works, Liu, and Liu posing with paintings, the u... |
5653 | Rabies found in steer in Larimer County. | Officials say a steer in northeast Colorado has contracted rabies. | true | Animals, Colorado, Rabies, Health, Loveland | The Loveland Reporter-Herald reports that Larimer County Department of Health and Environment announced it is the first confirmed case of rabies in a mammal other than a skunk this year. Rabies is most common in skunks and bats but will occasionally cross over into other species. So far this year, Larimer County has th... |
1941 | More U.S. doctors facing charges over drug abuse. | Michael Jackson’s doctor, accused of killing the pop star with a powerful anesthetic, has joined a small but growing number of U.S. physicians facing criminal charges over their handling of prescription drugs. | true | Health News | A bottle of prescription medication rests on a counter at a pharmacy in New York December 23, 2009. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson Medical negligence cases in the United States are typically handled in civil court, with the victim or victim’s family seeking money damages from the doctor. In the case of Jackson’s doctor, Conrad ... |
8297 | Australia to retain coronavirus curbs for at least another four weeks. | Australia will retain curbs on public movement for at least four more weeks, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday, dashing speculation the sustained low growth in new cases could spur a quicker return to normal. | true | Health News | Australia has avoided the high numbers of coronavirus casualties reported in other countries around the world after closing its borders and imposing strict “social distancing” measures for the past month. Restaurants, bars and other “non-essential” businesses have closed and public gatherings of more than two people ha... |
10996 | FDA Approves Krystexxa to Treat Gout | "There are several ways to cover FDA approval of a new drug. You could take the FDA approval itself as gospel and/or take the word of the manufacturer as gospel. Or you could do independent vetting of the claims and seek independent perspectives on ""how big a story is this?"" This story chose the former approach. We p... | false | "No mention of costs. Why not? And, since the drug must be administered every two weeks as an intravenous infusion, cost of delivery could be another substantial issue. (Our medical editor on this story says such biologic infusions tend to cost more than $1,000 per infusion.) How could this be excluded from such a stor... | |
16762 | We are accepting more legal immigrants than we ever have in the history (of the United States.) | "Santorum said, ""we are accepting more legal immigrants than we ever have in the history"" of the country. Over the last 10 years, in raw numbers, the United States has admitted slightly more immigrants into the country compared to any other 10-year period. But when you factor in the new arrivals as a share of the U.S... | false | Immigration, PunditFact, Rick Santorum, | "The country’s focus is trained on headlines about illegal immigration. But a claim by former GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum made us wonder about the other side of our immigration policy. What’s the trend for immigrants lawfully living in the United States? Santorum’s claim came up in a heated exchange with D... |
9152 | MT Pharma America Announces FDA Approval of RADICAVA™ (Edaravone), the First New Treatment Option for ALS in More Than 20 Years | If this release from MT Pharma America on its new amyotrophic laterals sclerosis (ALS) drug had provided a clear enumeration of the benefits of the drug, cost information, and some explanation of any conflicts of interest in the physician being quoted, it would be a solid release. In many ways, this release provides go... | mixture | ALS,MT Pharma America | It’s almost as if a sentence is missing from the release. It does not say that the drug is expensive or inexpensive, but one must presume that it is expensive because it goes into some detail about a program set up to help people afford the drug. It says, “MTPharma America is helping to make RADICAVA accessible to all ... |
4923 | Utah governor talks Trump, gun control ahead of Pence visit. | Utah Gov. Gary Herbert is calling for increased discussions about mental health and violent video games in response to recent mass shootings. | true | Global trade, Shootings, Mental health, Health, General News, Utah, Michael Pence, Gary Herbert, Donald Trump | Herbert added that President Donald Trump’s messaging sometimes distracts from the administration’s strong policy. During his monthly news conference at KUED-TV on Wednesday, the Republican governor said while he is open to discussing stronger gun control measures, legislators need to consider how mental illness and vi... |
8710 | UK coronavirus death toll could be far higher than previously shown. | The United Kingdom’s true death toll from the novel coronavirus far exceeds estimates previously published by the government, according to broader official data that include deaths in the community such as in nursing homes. | true | Health News | Even before the new figures, the official British death toll was the fifth-highest globally and a senior scientific adviser to the government has said the country risks becoming the worst-hit in Europe. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said 5,979 people in England had died by April 3 with COVID-19, the respirat... |
9729 | Club Drug Ketamine Gains Traction As A Treatment For Depression | The use of ketamine to treat depression is worthy of notice, but that means it is also worthy of clear-eyed evaluation. This story gushes with glowing testimonials, but the flow of skepticism is much more limited. A physician-advocate and a grateful patient are highlighted and personalized, while critics receive limite... | mixture | ketamine | Nice detail here. The story reports that each treatment can cost $500 to $1000 and it is usually repeated every few weeks. The story also reports the treatment is generally not covered by insurance. Perhaps the main reason this story doesn’t quantify the benefits of ketamine for people with depression is that the small... |
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