The Trump administration has terminated millions worth of funding for Springer Nature, a German-owned scientific publishing giant that has long received payments for subscriptions from NIH and other agencies, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: President Trump and MAGA have made a push to target academic institutions as well as research organizations perceived to be the source of so-called "woke" ideology, including DEI and gender-affirming care policies, by withholding federal funding and in some cases initiating legal action.

State of play: Earlier this year, the Justice Department sent a letter to a Springer publication questioning its editorial practices and accusing the publishing house of acting as a partisan in scientific debates, as well as wrongfully advocating for positions, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.

• The letter also posed questions about Springer's alleged ties to China, CCP funding and related claims of censorship.
• At least one other scientific journal, Chest, also received a letter about taking sides in scientific debates, as the Washington Post reported in April.
• Springer Nature has more than 3,000 journals and publications, and its portfolio includes Nature and Scientific American. The editorial content ranges from science and medical news to peer-reviewed research papers written by scientists. The company went public last October.

Prior to the administrative action, Donald Trump Jr. had tweeted "No more taxpayer money for woke publishers!" linking to a Breitbart story about possible cuts to government-funded subscriptions for scientific and medical journals.

• About $20 million in grants covering subscriptions have been cut, with billions more being evaluated, according to the source.

Springer Nature declined to comment.

• Spokespersons for the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services didn't respond to requests for comment.

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Pharmacists have been steadily giving more direct patient care in hospitals over the past decade, according to an American Society of Health-System Pharmacists' report provided first to Axios.

Why it matters: As retail pharmacies expand their roles in the health system, hospital pharmacists are doing the same in clinical settings and helping alleviate physician and other health workforce shortages.

By the numbers: A survey of about 250 hospitals to be published today in the American Journal of Health System Pharmacy found 3 in 4 U.S. hospitals assign pharmacists to provide direct care to most admitted patients.

• That includes high-intensity units such as critical care (68.5%) and oncology (56.9%).
• Nearly half of the responding hospitals said they manage direct care in cardiology (48.5%), infectious disease/antimicrobial stewardship (48.1%) and emergency department (46.5%) inpatients.
• Direct care can include prescribing, monitoring and managing dosages of medications. Pharmacists independently prescribe in 18.5% of hospitals, the survey found.

Yes, but: Nationwide shortages of pharmacy staff along with drug shortages, reimbursement and formulary concerns could undercut some of the efficiencies.

With record-high temperatures becoming the norm, humans are more regularly hitting the threshold of our ability to cope with heat.

Why it matters: Nearly 190 million were under some form of heat advisory or warning as of Monday afternoon, Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick reports.

• The extreme weather broke temperature records across the West and Alaska before shifting east, and it is bringing an especially dangerous combination of heat and humidity.

Between the lines: The body typically cools itself through a mixture of sweat and evaporation, as well as the constriction and dilation of different veins to move blood around and transport heat from the core to other parts and then be released, he said.

Reality check: Certain groups face a disproportionate burden of extreme weather due to factors such as income, education, health care access and housing, according to the EPA.

Threat level: A 2022 study from Penn State researchers found that 87° F at 100% humidity was the maximum for young healthy individuals to adequately regulate. Another recent study suggests a range between 104° F and 122° F — depending on the humidity — is the threshold, NBC News reported.

• A person can start developing heat illness at even lower temperatures than that depending on age, health, the ability to regularly find relief and even the medications they're on.

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Women are being prescribed GLP-1 weight-loss drugs at higher rates than men, new data shows.

Why it matters: This is another cultural moment when women, especially those approaching menopause, are paying more for their well-being.

By the numbers: Women have been prescribed GLP-1 drugs at higher rates than men since 2021, according to newly released 2024 data from FAIR Health.

The fine print: The data reflects insured adults who received medical care nationally, but doesn't include people buying non-FDA-approved versions of the drugs from compounding pharmacies.

Zoom in: Some 18.6% of women prescribed GLP-1 drugs received them for weight loss (and not diabetes) — double the rate of men, at 9.3% — according to FAIR Health.

• Women between 40 and 64 have been the top recipients of GLP-1 prescriptions since 2019. For men, the top users in most years have been seniors.

What we're hearing: "In my experience, thus far, it's been entirely women" — many of them approaching menopause — who ask to be on GLP-1 drugs to lose weight, says family physician Beth Oller, who practices in rural Kansas.

• At a certain age, "the things you used to do for weight loss aren't cutting it anymore," says Oller, who's 45 and tells Axios she has firsthand experience with this.

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