Health

NBC News - Congress has less than a month before health insurance premiums are set to spike for millions of Americans, and hopes of a deal to mitigate the pain are fizzling.

Nautilus - Muscle cells may outcompete cancer cells for sugar, which could be why exercise has been shown to slow cancer. (Read on New Scientist) 

NBC News -  A group of advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is preparing to vote on whether the agency should dismiss its long-standing recommendation that every baby get a hepatitis B vaccination within 24 hours of birth. The shot is credited with driving down cases of acute hepatitis B infections in kids by 99%. It has been universally recommended for newborns in the U.S since the early 1990s. 

The virus, which can be passed from mother to baby during childbirth, can lead to liver disease and early death. There is no cure. Despite its success, the hepatitis B vaccine has become the latest target of skeptics who question whether the benefits of the shot outweigh potential risks.

A review of more than 400 studies found no evidence that the birth dose of the vaccines causes any short- or long-term health problems. On the contrary, the review of research, published by the Vaccine Integrity Project, an independent group of experts led by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, found that giving newborns a vaccine has prevented more than 6 million infections and nearly 1 million hospitalizations. The paper was not published in a peer-reviewed journal. Read the full story.