Media Coverage

Higher estimates of HCM-related sudden death stem largely from specialized centers caring for and studying the sickest people, and thus might suggest patients are at considerably higher risk than in reality, said Dr. Robert Bonow, professor of cardiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago and a past president of the AHA. At the same time, uncertainty about HCM’s true incidence makes even the new study’s risk calculations imprecise.

A Northwestern University researcher known for developing wearable technology got a $10 million federal grant to create a potentially lifesaving implantable device for opioid addicts. John Rogers, one of the world’s top researchers in materials science and a professor at Northwestern, secured the money from the National Institutes of Health to develop the implant, according to a release from the university.

Kidney stones form when your urine contains more crystal-forming substances than your urine’s fluid can dilute, says Dr. Cybele Ghossein, a nephrologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. She’s also a professor of nephrology and hypertension at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Not drinking enough fluids to dilute calcium and other substances in the urine is the most common risk factor for developing kidney stones, she says. But there are others.

As far as the rise in cases and a rise in people meeting online, Brian Mustanski is skeptical the two are connected. He’s the director of Northwestern’s Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing. Whether the internet has an impact on sexually transmitted diseases is not a new question, he said. Years ago, for example, people discussed whether the ability to meet through chatrooms meant more infections. “This is something that people have been talking about since 2000.”

One study found pregnant women under pressure had higher levels of cortisol; those levels were also present in the baby’s amniotic fluid at 17 weeks gestation.
“Stress during pregnancy can be harmful for both mom and baby,” said Laura Berman, assistant clinical professor of OB/GYN and psychiatry at the Feinberg School of Medicine.

Chronic sleep loss has been associated with higher risk for cancer, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, heart attacks, Alzheimer’s, dementia, depression, stroke, psychosis and suicide. As Phyllis Zee, chief of sleep medicine in the department of neurology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, says, “Sleep deprivation … doesn’t only affect the brain — it affects all your other organs. … Think about it as punching your other organs.”

“If we lose these antibiotics because people are repeatedly getting them after repeated exposures to gonorrhea, then we’re not going to be treating it with one shot, we’re going to be treating it with multiple shots or with multiple drugs,” said Dr. Michael Angarone, assistant professor in the division of infectious diseases at Northwestern Medicine. Sometimes these infections do not cause symptoms, and go undetected.

“Delaying the cancer from growing is meaningful,” said Dr. Maha Hussain, who led the trial, which was funded by drug makers Astra Zeneca and Merck. “At the end of the day, patients want to live longer, and also better,” added Hussain, a professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, in Chicago. She recently presented the findings at the annual meeting of the European Society for Medical Oncology, in Barcelona. Studies reported at meetings are generally considered preliminary until they are published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Dr. Maura Quinlan, a Northwestern Medicine obstetrician-gynecologist, said she communicates with her patients early on, letting them know when they will be offered the vaccines during an office visit. While the influenza vaccine may be offered at any time during the pregnancy during flu season, the Tdap shot is given early in the third trimester, she said. “It can be a hard conversation to have for vaccine-averse patients,” Quinlan said. And because OB-GYNs don’t administer vaccines as much as other physicians such as pediatricians, some may forget to bring up the topic, she said.

While some people might not want to know about the early signs of Alzheimer’s, the new findings could help more women when they can still make plans for the future, experts said. “As your memory becomes more impaired, you are less and less aware you are having memory problems,” said Sandra Weintraub, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and the clinical board director of the Mesulam Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Center at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. “That is the worst time to plan.”