Medical Student Measures Political Engagement at Medical Schools Nationwide
Jordan Rook, a fourth-year student, measured medical students’ views on healthcare reform and political engagement, publishing the findings in the journal Academic Medicine.
Brain Stimulation Reverses Age-Related Memory Loss
Stimulating one part of the brain’s memory center with electromagnetic pulses improved the memory of older adults with age-related memory loss, according to a recent study.
Student Investigates Statin Use in People With HIV
Robert Riestenberg, a third-year medical student, was the first author of a recent study that evaluated statin use among people with HIV, a population at an increased risk for cardiovascular disease.
First Labs Move Into Simpson Querrey Biomedical Research Center
Feinberg began moving into the new Louis A. Simpson and Kimberly K. Querrey Biomedical Research Center on April 15, marking a significant milestone in the expansion of the medical school’s research enterprise.
Prospective Medical Students Return to Northwestern for Second Look
At Feinberg’s annual Second Look event, admitted students get a taste of life at Feinberg by attending seminars, touring campus and meeting with current students and faculty.
Inter-Sensory Processing Uncovered
A recent study revealed how sensory processing centers communicate with one another within brain, with implications for neurodegenerative disease.
Media Coverage
Diabetes drug has heart and kidney benefits, researchers find
This study has the potential to influence medical practice, said Dr. Mark Molitch, professor of endocrinology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, who was not involved in the new study but often has prescribed canagliflozin for his own patients. Canagliflozin, a medication used to treat type 2 diabetes, belongs to a class of drugs called sodium-glucose cotransporter-2, or SGLT2 inhibitors, which lower blood sugar by causing kidneys to remove sugar
Poverty Could Leave Its Mark on Genes
“First, we have known for a long time that [poverty] is a powerful determinant of health, but the underlying mechanisms through which our bodies ‘remember’ the experiences of poverty are not known,” said study author Thomas McDade. He directs the Laboratory for Human Biology Research at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. The findings also show that life experiences can shape genetic structure and function. “There is no nature vs. nurture,” McDade said in a Northwestern news release.
Prostate Cancer: To Treat or Not to Treat?
Dr. Edward M. Schaeffer, chair of the department of urology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, agrees. “Active surveillance has proven to be a safe and effective way to manage men with small amounts of minimally aggressive prostate cancer,” he says. “While under careful surveillance, the risk of developing advanced cancer is less than 0.5% over 10 years and the risk of death is effectively zero.”
Is jet lag good for you? Could be — at least it’s great for fruit flies
The study by researchers at Northwestern University found that fruit flies carrying a gene for Huntington’s disease appeared to receive a protective boost against the brain-damaging illness when researchers changed the insects’ sleep cycles in a way similar to jet lag. The team also found that silencing a circadian clock-controlled gene produced a similar benefit. “It seems counterintuitive, but we showed that a little bit of stress is good,” Ravi Allada, a physician who heads the neurobiology department at the university’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and Pathology, said in a statement. “We subtly manipulated the circadian clock, and that stress appears to be neuroprotective.”