Category Archives: In the News

Availability of Removed Federal Data

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As you may have read in the news or experienced while looking for government data and websites, recent federal government mandates have led to online information removal.

A 2/5/25 screenshot of the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System website that includes the message, "CDC’s website is being modified to comply with President Trump’s Executive Orders."

A 2/5/25 screenshot of the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System website that includes the message, “CDC’s website is being modified to comply with President Trump’s Executive Orders.”

Several sources have worked to preserve deleted information:

General
End-of-Term Project
This project has been in existence since the 2008 administration change.
GovDiff.com
A tool to compare government websites before and after January 20, 2025.

Climate
Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (Council on Environmental Quality, Executive Office of the President, copy)
Environmental Justice Index (CDC, 2022 and 2024 data) – Does not work on the VPN
Environmental Justice Scorecard (EPA, copy)
Sea level data (NOAA)

Health
Social Vulnerability Index (CDC, 2022 data) – Does not work on the VPN
Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) National Datasets, (CDC, 1991-2021 data)
Office of Research on Women’s Health website (NIH, copy)  
Additional CDC and NIH data
CDC data is also available for a fee through PolicyMap

The Healthy Regions & Policies (HeRoP) Lab at the University of Illinois is saving datasets from the CDC, EPA, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and more relating to social and structural determinants of health.

Harvard Law School Library’s Innovation Lab is working on a vault for government data, which should be made available soon.

Read more from 404 Media, The Journalist’s Resource, and Stat News. And follow the International Association for Social Science Information Service and Technology’s (IASSIST) Google Doc for a constantly updated list of resources.

The New Role of RAS Genes in Cancer, Quitting Smoking Boosts Survival in Cancer Patients, and More

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  • In collaboration with other researchers, researchers at the National Institutes of Health discovered an entirely new ways RAS genes, which are “the second most frequently mutated genes in cancer”, drive cancer growth. The knowledge of RAS genes’ role in cancer was well established, but discovering how RAS genes trigger a chain “of events involving the transport of specific proteins in the nucleus” is an entirely new turn. The discovery can pave the way for new drug combinations to treat RAS-promoted cancers more effectively. The study was published in Nature Cancer.
  • Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) conducted the phase I clinical trial of an investigational vaccine for the prevention of triple-negative breast cancer recurrence. This small clinical trial of a new type of vaccine, known as a neoantigen DNA vaccine, demonstrated promising, better-than-expected, results for patients with this aggressive, hard-to-treat, type of breast cancer. The study was published in Genome Medicine.
  • Another research that has implications for triple-negative breast cancer, among other cancer types, is conducted at Johns Hopkins University. This research is related to cancer cells that, after leaving the hypoxic (i.e., lacking oxygen) environment deep in the tumor, enter the bloodstream and spread. Scientists have identified 16 genes that breast cancer cells use to survive in the bloodstream. Each of these genes can become a therapeutic target to stop cancer recurrence, one of which has already been in clinical trials. The research was reported on in Nature Communications.
  • Researchers from Northwestern University have found an unexpected connection between COVID-19 infection and cancer regression. They discovered that the RNA from the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 triggers the development of a unique type of immunity that can fight cancer. The discovery may lay a foundation for novel cancer treatments. The study was published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.
  • Researchers from MD Anderson found significant survival benefits in patients who quit smoking after cancer diagnosis. “The best outcomes were observed in patients who started tobacco treatment within six months of a cancer diagnosis and were abstinent from smoking three months later.” The study was published in JAMA Oncology.

5-FU Acts Differently in Gastrointestinal Cancers, New Insights into Biology of Bladder Cancer and More

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  • A study by researchers from Rockefeller University provided a new insight into cancer biology by demonstrating that a lipid type is crucially essential for cancer immune evasion. The findings imply that existing medications for impeding lipid production can boost the immune system in fighting cancer. The study was published in Nature.
  • Researchers from Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital showed that lung cancer screening guidelines by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force don’t adequately serve their purpose, especially in Black patients. In place of requiring the equivalent of a pack a day for 20 years the Harvard researchers suggest switching “to a simple measure that would recommend annual screening for anyone who’s smoked for 20 years, regardless of how many cigarettes they smoke a day”. The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
  • Unlike other breast cancer types, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) does not respond to hormone therapy or anti-HER2 drugs. A new study from Mass General Brigham established that combining two types of therapeutic agents (AKT and EZH2 inhibitors) can selectively kill these cancer cells, establishing a foundation for a new triple-negative breast cancer treatment. The study is published in Nature.
  • A study by Weill Cornell Medicine and the New York Genome Center has offered “unprecedented insights” into early bladder cancer (specifically, urothelial carcinoma) development. Researchers found that antiviral enzymes and standard chemotherapy were the main culprits for bladder cancer development as sources of mutations. The researchers also gained insights into the mechanisms of bladder cancer resistance to therapy. These findings are breakthrough contributions to the knowledge of bladder cancer biology and pave the way to new therapeutic strategies. The study was published in Nature.
  • Researchers from MIT discovered that the old cancer drug 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) which has been around since the 1950s, “acts differently in different types of cancer”. While it was long established that it affects cancer by damaging building blocks of DNA, the new study found that in gastrointestinal cancers it kills cells by interfering with RNA synthesis. This new finding will have an impact on what combinations of 5-fluorouracilwith with other chemotherapy drugs are given to achieve synergistic effects in different types of cancer. The study was published in Cell Reports Medicine.