A $500 Non-Invasive Blood Test Could Detect 8 Types Of Cancers — But It’s A Long Way Off

Los Angeles Times: This New Blood Test Can Detect Early Signs Of 8 Kinds Of Cancer
Scientists have developed a noninvasive blood test that can detect signs of eight types of cancer long before any symptoms of the disease arise. The test, which can also help doctors determine where in a person's body the cancer is located, is called CancerSEEK. Its genesis is described in a paper published Thursday in the journal Science. (Netburn, 1/18)

In other public health news —

Los Angeles Times: Forget Concussions. The Real Risk Of CTE Comes From Repeated Hits To The Head, Study Shows
For more than a decade, researchers trying to make sense of the mysterious degenerative brain disease afflicting football players and other contact-sport athletes have focused on the threat posed by concussions. But new research suggests that attention was misguided. Instead of concerning themselves with the dramatic collisions that cause players to become dizzy, disoriented or even lose consciousness, neuroscientists should be paying attention to routine hits to the head, according to a study that examines the root cause of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, better known as CTE. (Healy, 1/18)

Los Angeles Times: British Government Targets A Modern Public Health Scourge: Loneliness
The country that put the starch in "stiff upper lip" has made companionship, conversation and human contact a national priority. On Wednesday, British Prime Minister Theresa May announced the creation of a new ministerial portfolio in her Cabinet: combating loneliness. With more than 9 million British adults reportedly experiencing chronic loneliness — and a stack of studies documenting the corrosive health effects of such social isolation — May said it was time that a high-level government official coordinate a "first-ever strategy" to address the scourge. (Healy, 1/17)