Media Coverage

Heart failure happens when your heart muscle can’t keep up with the demands of its role, and the rest of the body starts failing. Certain medications can potentially damage the heart muscle, Sanjiv J. Shah, MD, director of the Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction Program at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), like ibuprofen, can cause water retention, which interferes with blood flow, increasing your risk of heart failure, heart attack and stroke.

Gilbert Gottfried died of an abnormal heart rhythm condition that was a complication from a type of muscular dystrophy. People with myotonic dystrophy type 2, the type Gottfried had, experience muscle weakness that mainly affects the neck, shoulders, elbows and hips. Symptoms typically begin when patients are in their 20s or 30s but can go undiagnosed for a long time. “People can have symptoms for quite a while even before they notice it,” Dr. Elizabeth McNally, the director of Northwestern University’s Center for Genetic Medicine, told NBC News.

Chicago is now averaging more than 400 new COVID-19 cases per day. Dr. Michael Angarone, an infectious disease specialist at Northwestern Medicine, also said it’s likely public health officials will turn to mask mandates again, but the threshold must be determined. Angarone suggests taking precautions in situations when you don’t know who has been vaccinated or what people’s exposures are. This includes keeping your hands clean, not touching your face with your hands and trying to keep yourself distanced from other people.

Research has proven that walking every day not only strengthens your legs, but also boosts your immune system, assists with weight loss and even enhances your brain. According to a study by Northwestern University, walking for an hour each week reduces join pain, especially in stiff areas like the knees.

Certain personality traits may make older adults more or less vulnerable to waning memory and thinking skills, a new study suggests. The study, of nearly 2,000 older adults, found that those high on the “conscientious” scale – organized, self-disciplined and productive – were less likely to develop mild cognitive impairment. “Personality traits reflect an individual’s persistent patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving,” said Tomiko Yoneda, a postdoctoral researcher at Northwestern University in Chicago, who led the study.

A smelly belly button doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a problem. Just like any other parts of your skin, dead skin cells in and around your belly button slough off and flake off the surface, says Shuai Xu, MD, an assistant professor of dermatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Xu said if there’s no redness, pain or discharge, you really don’t need to worry.

Gilbert Gottfried, the beloved brash comedian, died Tuesday from type II myotonic dystrophy, a kind of muscular dystrophy. Elizabeth McNally, the director of the Northwestern University Center for Genetic Medicine, said the “slowly progressive” condition is often overlooked and undiagnosed. “People can have symptoms for quite a while before they even notice it,” she said. Symptoms tend to develop more as people age, so some patients may not be diagnosed until their 40s, 50s or 60s, or they may confuse their symptoms with other age-related health problems.

Growing evidence suggests that there has been a startling, ongoing rise in gestational diabetes in recent years that troubles many experts. “This is striking and alarming,” says Sadiya Khan, associate professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “Not only did we see an increase, but it happened over a short period of time.”

With only about one in five donated lungs actually getting transplanted and the shortage of donor lungs exacerbated by COVID-19 Northwestern Medicine is employing a new device that lets transplant surgeons prepare lungs outside of the body and increase the likelihood they’ll be usable. Dr. Ankit Bharat
, Northwestern Medicine’s chief of thoracic surgery and executive director of the Canning Thoracic Institute said “Because we were the first health system in the U.S. to offer lung transplants for COVID-19 patients, our patient volume continues to increase, and we need every tool to help us get more transplanted.”

In a new study, taking erectile dysfunction medications regularly translated into a higher risk for three vision-damaging conditions. Dr. Nicholas Volpe, a professor of ophthalmology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, said it’s important to acknowledge that any medication has the potential for side effects. None of these conditions happen only in the presence of these medications, Volpe said. SRD (serious retinal detachment), for example, is often diagnosed in patients who have diabetic retinopathy.