Media Coverage

The Northwestern University study, published recently in the Journal of the American Heart Association, is the first to examine how childhood family environment affects heart disease risk in older middle age. Children with troubled home lives are at increased risk of stress, smoking, anxiety, depression and physical inactivity that continues into adulthood. That, in turn, can lead to excess weight, diabetes, high blood pressure, vascular dysfunction and inflammation, according to the researchers.

The technology leverages research from Northwestern inventor John Rogers, whose team previously debuted a flexible patch worn on the skin that monitors stroke patients. Meanwhile, algorithms created by AbilityLab scientists are designed to recognize different types of coughs and patterns of respiration.

Bilal Naved, an M.D.-Ph.D. student at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and a member of the school’s M.D.-Ph.D. admissions committee, urges premeds not to become “defensive” when asked challenging questions. He says it’s essential for premeds to acknowledge their limitations when appropriate. “Admitting your mistakes, recognizing you do not know things, and asking for help are hallmarks of good physicians,” Naved wrote in an email. “Remember, if physicians do not ask for help when they need it, patients can suffer.”

The regularity of your exercise routine may be the most important factor in ensuring the immune benefits of activity, says Jim Beitzel, clinical athletic trainer and clinical coordinator for the Northwestern Medicine Athletic Training & Sports Performance Clinic in Warrenville, Illinois. For instance, a 2011 British Journal of Sports Medicine study that tracked 1,000 adults found that those who engaged in exercise five or more times per week reported 43% fewer sick days than those who exercised less often.

In the early weeks of the crisis in the U.S., there was already some evidence that critical differences of opinion had emerged along racial lines. In a March survey of 673 adults by Northwestern University’s Center for Applied Health Research on Aging, analysts found that black respondents described themselves as less worried and viewed themselves as less likely to get COVID-19, yet also felt less prepared for an outbreak compared to white Americans.

“There’s no guarantee that those antibodies you have actually are what we call neutralizing antibodies, meaning they’re protective and will help you fight against a future infection,” says Dr. Elizabeth McNally, director of the Center for Genetic Medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.

Dr. Amy Paller, chair of the department of dermatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said one possible explanation is that these patients had such a mild disease and that viral replication was limited, making the virus undetectable.

Jacqueline Gollan, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, has coined a name for this phenomenon based on her 15 years of research into depression, anxiety and decision-making: “caution fatigue.” Gollan likens social-distancing motivation to a battery.

Dr. Clyde W. Yancy, chief of cardiology in the department of medicine at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine, has studied racial health inequities for most of his career. As a black man and a native of the Baton Rouge area who grew up during segregation, he also understands them on a personal level. “These disparities are real, they are deep and they are exacting a terrible price,” says Dr. Yancy, who wrote an article pulling together research about the connection between black Americans and Covid-19, published online in The Journal of the American Medical Association on April 15.

“There is a new mental calculation: Is this test administered at the hospital worth the potential risk of being exposed to COVID-19?” said Dr. Sadiya Khan, an assistant professor at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago. “Our ER, as well as many others, are seeing far fewer patients because people are scared to come in.”