Media Coverage
The work done by Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine faculty members (and even some students) is regularly highlighted in newspapers, online media outlets and more. Below you’ll find links to articles and videos of Feinberg in the news.
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TODAY
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How this longevity lab aims to help slow down the aging process
A longevity lab in Chicago is researching new therapies and interventions to help understand and slow down the human aging process so that people can live longer, healthier lives. “If you want to think about potentially extending your lifespan, the right diet, exercise, healthy habits; avoid high risk activities, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that stress reduction might have impact on aging,” said Douglas Vaughn, MD, director of the Potocsnak Longevity Institute and professor of medicine (cardiology) at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. The goal of this institute is to study aging of people with socioeconomic statuses, ethnicities and disadvantages – ultimately learning how to extend these people’s healthspan.
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Yahoo! News
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Swapping Salt for This May Lower High Blood Pressure, Study Finds
It may be time to remove the salt shaker from your table. New research shows that using salt substitutes may effectively reduce your risk of high blood pressure and boost heart health. The study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology looked at how replacing regular table salt with a potassium-enriched salt substitute might impact blood pressure. Typical table salt is almost entirely sodium chloride. The salt substitute used in the study contained around one-third less sodium chloride than table salt. The salt substitute also contained 25% potassium chloride, which doesn’t raise blood pressure, the study noted. After two years, researchers found that those using the salt substitute were 40% less likely to develop high blood pressure, or hypertension, compared to those using regular salt. The goal of a salt substitute is to replace the concerning component of salt (sodium) with another mineral (potassium) so that it still looks and tastes like salt but can offer a way to reduce risk and cut back on a person’s salt intake, explains Sadiya S. Khan, MD, professor of cardiovascular epidemiology at Northwestern Medicine’s Feinberg School of Medicine and American Heart Association Go Red for Women volunteer. “This is very important because we know that salt is an important driver of poor heart health and risk for high blood pressure,” she notes.
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WBEZ Chicago
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The science of IVF: What to know about Alabama’s ‘extrauterine children’ ruling
An Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos can be considered “extrauterine children” under state law has major implications for how in vitro fertilization, commonly called IVF, is performed. Each cycle of IVF is a multistep process that is keyed to a patient’s menstrual cycle in the beginning. First, a patient needs to take injectable hormones every day for a 10- to 12-day period, explains Eve Feinberg, MD, a reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist at Northwestern University in Chicago. Those hormones prime multiple eggs to mature inside the ovary, in little fluid-filled sacs called follicles. Patients are monitored regularly, often daily. Once those follicles reach a certain size, the patient takes a different hormone that gets the eggs ready to be retrieved. Each cycle of IVF is a multistep process that is keyed to a patient’s menstrual cycle in the beginning. First, a patient needs to take injectable hormones every day for a 10- to 12-day period, explains Dr. Eve Feinberg, a reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist at Northwestern University in Chicago. Those hormones prime multiple eggs to mature inside the ovary, in little fluid-filled sacs called follicles. Patients are monitored regularly, often daily. Once those follicles reach a certain size, the patient takes a different hormone that gets the eggs ready to be retrieved. “By definition, 45% of all embryos grown in the laboratory ‘die,’” she says. “And the charge of wrongful death can now be applied. As a reproductive specialist, that idea is terrifying,” Feinberg says. “Who wants to assume that risk?”
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The Washington Post
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More dermatologists are offering skin-care services for people of color
Patients of color should have access to physicians who are sensitive to skin and hair conditions unique to them and know how to treat them. Sixteen clinics nationwide now specialize in caring for patients of color. The clinics were prompted in part by a history of racial and ethnic disparities that have afflicted the health-care system, experts said. “Communities that have been historically underserved or at times mistreated have a mistrust of the health-care system,” said Roopal Kundu, MD, professor of dermatology and medical education at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and director of its Center for Ethnic Skin & Hair. “We are rebuilding this trust.” The clinics treat conditions common to dark-skinned individuals, such as hyperpigmentation or hypopigmentation, when areas of skin are darker or lighter than the normal skin tone; keloids, or excessive scar tissue that develops once an injury has healed; and hair loss or other scalp disorders. Some of these, such as pigmentation and keloids, occur more frequently in people of color. Others, for example hair loss and scalp ailments, afflict both Blacks and Whites but require different treatments. Many of these clinics are run by dermatologists of color, which inspires patient confidence, experts said.
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CBS News
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Stranger steals Chicago area woman’s opioid prescription, prompting concerns amid epidemic
A woman went to the pharmacy to pick up her oxycodone prescription, only to find out they had given it away to someone else who knew her name and birthday. A CVS spokesperson said the person picking up for the woman gave the identifying information required that validated a relationship with her. In Illinois, it is not required to show a state ID when picking up highly addictive narcotics. Others can prevent this from happening to them by advocating for themselves and telling the pharmacist specifically who is allowed to pick up their prescriptions. “The idea that it’s 90 pills out there is an opportunity for at least one, if not more, people to start to have a problem,” said Sterling Elliott, PharmD,, assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine who shared Jones’ concern. Elliott focuses on how patients use opioids safely, and he called what happened to Jones’ pills diversion. “They’re moving it out into a secondary marketplace in the street, and that’s a whole other realm of danger,” Elliott said. It’s that behavior that fuels the nation’s epidemic. The CDC’s latest data from 2021 show 45 people died each day from prescription opioid overdose.
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AP News
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FDA expands use of asthma drug Xolair to treat severe food allergies
A medication used to treat asthma can now be used to help people with food allergies avoid severe reactions, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Friday. Xolair, the brand name for the drug omalizumab, became the first medication approved to reduce allergic reactions caused by accidental exposure to food triggers. Patients as young as age 1 with allergies can take the drug by injection every two to four weeks, depending on their weight and their body’s response to allergens. An estimated 17 million people in the U.S. have the type of food allergies that can cause rapid, serious symptoms, including severe, whole-body reactions that are potentially deadly. The drug has been used “off-label” to treat food allergies, said Ruchi Gupta, MD, MPH, director of the Center for Food Allergy & Asthma Research at Northwestern University. She welcomed full approval of the product. Xolair is a monoclonal antibody, a type of treatment that works by blocking the body’s natural response to allergens.
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New York Times
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How Protected Am I Against the Covid Variant JN.1?
JN.1 currently accounts for about 93 percent of cases nationwide, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s unusual for a single variant to make up almost all cases, but JN.1’s dominance gives us a unique window into the risk of reinfection for many people. If a person is exposed to the same variant or a very similar one in the months that follow a bout of Covid, their body is often equipped to recognize and combat it before it can cause an infection. Scientists disagree on exactly how long that protection lasts, but estimates range from around two to six months. But JN.1 has “many more mutations than we’re used to seeing,” said Marc Sala, co-director of the Northwestern Medicine Comprehensive Covid-19 Center in Chicago. That’s why people who were recently infected with another variant, even one that was previously dominant, may get infected again.And those who do get infected with JN.1 will likely find themselves well protected for as long as it remains the dominant variant. Right now, it isn’t showing any signs of slowing down.
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WGN Chicago
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CDC poised to loosen isolation restrictions for COVID infection
The Center for Disease Control is poised to loosen restrictions after a COVID infection. But doctors say people still have a responsibility of diligence. “People who have covid instead of isolating for five days, making the recommendation that they isolate until they stop having a fever,” Michael Angarone, an infectious disease specialist with Northwestern Medicine said. The key is to still test and if someone is positive for SARS Co-V2, the virus that causes COVID, the fever may last for up to three days. “And once they haven’t had a fever for 24 hours without taking any fever, reducing medications, they can come off isolation,” Angarone said. But as cases rose and federal health experts were worried about the triple threat of respiratory illnesses, COVID, flu and RSV, they backed off. “There were a lot of people getting sick but we just weren’t seeing as many people getting severely ill,” Angarone said. “I think the more they’ve gotten the infection, the less severe the symptoms are and it tends to be a little bit short-lived.”
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Yahoo! News
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Here’s What An Asthma Attack Actually Feels Like, According to Pulmonologists
Here’s exactly what happens: First, your airways become swollen and inflamed. The muscles around your airways begin to contract, and your airways begin to narrow. Plus, your airways may also produce extra mucus, which also reduces the space for air to flow through. You may start coughing or wheezing, or you might realize that you’re feeling short of breath. Your chest may feel tight and painful. You may feel like you’re not able to breathe in enough air—or you may feel like you’re trying to breathe through a straw. If you have a child with asthma, encourage them to speak up if they feel like they are on the verge of having an asthma attack. “If they are home, they need to tell whoever is there to help them,” says Luis Torero, MD, a pediatric pulmonologist with Northwestern Medicine’s Regional Medical Group. “If they are at school, the same thing. They shouldn’t be shy.” And if you’re the one with asthma, the same advice applies. If you need help, ask.
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The Washington Post
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How long covid takes a toll on relationships and intimacy
While much has been written about the physical toll of long covid, less is known about how the condition affects relationships. Common symptoms such as fatigue, brain fog and dizziness can make it difficult for someone with long covid to help with household chores, go out on dates or be physically intimate. As a result, experts say many long-covid patients struggle with strained relationships. Many of the challenges couples face when one partner has long covid are similar to the challenges of any relationship, such as communication, sexual intimacy and navigating career and home priorities. But when one partner has long covid, how couples approach these issues often requires extra planning, compassion and compromise. Long covid is also uniquely challenging for couples because of how much uncertainty it brings into relationships, said John S. Rolland, an adjunct professor of psychiatry at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and author of “Helping Couples and Families Navigate Illness and Disability.” “It becomes a question of ‘When do we start to plan our lives as if this is not going to go away?’” Rolland said. “If every hope is put on a cure, what happens if the illness doesn’t go away?” With long covid, he said, people may focus so much on trying to cure the illness that they forget to maintain a healthy connection with their partner.
