Recapping the weekend’s life-sciences news:
Legislator calls for disclosure of drug-company payments to doctors – Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said he would introduce a bill requiring drug companies to disclose payments they make to doctors for lecturing, consulting and attending meetings, the NYT reported. Grassley joins Senate Democrats Herb Kohl of Wisconsin and Claire McCaskill of Missouri, who proposed a similar federal registry for doctor payments in June. The NYT editorialized in favor of such disclosures here (subscription required).
Autism in girls gets a fresh look – Writing in the NYT Magazine, Emily Bazelon considers whether the symptoms of autism may vary by gender and how that might challenge the long-held belief that it is far more common in boys than in girls. Preliminary findings suggest girls often experience autism as a disorder of depression and social anxiety — a sharp contrast to the withdrawal and social aloofness usually seen in autistic boys.
Biological bases for gender behavior, fever and rosacea – Scientists pinpointed a neuronal circuit that seems to determine whether mice behave in a gender-specific fashion, a spot in the brain that controls the body’s fever response, and proteins that appear to be responsible for the apple-red cheeks common in people with rosacea.
Drug industry set to shrink — So says this AP story, which rounds up the latest gloom-and-doom in the industry, from the latest rounds of job cuts to the number of drugs due to lose patent protection over the next few years. Pass the handkerchiefs.
