Media Coverage

Study Finds ‘No Clear Rationale’ for 45% of Antibiotic Prescriptions

Nearly half of antibiotic prescriptions for Medicaid patients appear to be inappropriate, new research suggests. “Indiscriminate use of antibiotics is increasing the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and rendering them ineffective,” said senior author Dr. Jeffrey Linder, chief of general internal medicine and geriatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, in Chicago.

Patients Often Get Antibiotics Without a Doctor Visit, Study Finds

Patients widely received antibiotics with no record of seeing a doctor, a nationwide study found, despite recommendations that doctors physically screen patients to prevent unnecessary prescriptions that could contribute to superbugs. Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Northwestern University looked through a decade of medical bills for 53 million people nationwide.

Meat Increases Heart Risks, Latest Study Concludes

On Monday, a group of prominent researchers pushed back, publishing a large study in JAMA Internal Medicine that once again highlighted the potential harms of a meat-heavy diet. The researchers analyzed data on a diverse group of thousands of people who were followed for an average of three decades.

Can you get rid of HPV once you have it?

If you have worries about HPV, you are not alone. Every year, millions of young women get the stomach-dropping notification that human papillomavirus was detected on a routine Pap. Dr. Lauren Streicher is a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University and medical director of the Northwestern Medicine Center for Sexual Medicine and Menopause and a regular contributor at TODAY.

No, You Won’t Catch the New Coronavirus Via Packages or Mail from China

In an era of online shopping and global shipping, some NPR listeners have written to us with this question: Am I at risk of catching the new coronavirus from a package I receive from China?
Infectious disease specialists we spoke with were even more definitive. “It’s not going to be transported on a box,” says Dr. Michael Ison of Northwestern University, who studies viral infections among transplant patients, who have weakened immune systems.

Stopping deadly virus is Illinois scientist’s goal

Northwestern University professor Karla Satchell is one of the scientists around the world racing to stop a new and deadly coronavirus. She’s working with a team investigating the virus structure to halt it from replicating in human cells

Northwestern University professor leading research team trying to stop coronavirus: ‘We are here specifically for this.’

Karla Satchell, a professor of microbiology-immunology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, is leading a team of U.S. and Canadian researchers to examine the atomic structure of the virus, which originated in Wuhan, China, in the Hubei province. Satchell leads the Center for Structural Genomics of Infectious Diseases, a consortium of nine labs at eight schools collaborating on this effort.

Scientists are unraveling the Chinese coronavirus with unprecedented speed and openness

At unprecedented speed, scientists are starting experiments, sharing data and revealing the secrets of the pathogen — a race that is made possible by new scientific tools and cultural norms in the face of a public health emergency.

“The pace is unmatched,” said Karla Satchell, a professor of microbiology-immunology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

A Placebo for Pain Relief—Even When You Know It’s Not Real

Vania Apkarian, director of the Center for Translational Pain Research at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, studies which patients respond to placebo. In a 2016 study in the journal PLOS Biology, he used brain scans to identify the regions in the brain that can predict a response to placebo in 56 chronic knee osteoarthritis pain patients compared with 20 control patients.

Probiotics: Don’t Buy the Online Hype

Many people turn to the internet with health questions, but how reliable is the information you find? When it comes to probiotics, a new study urges caution.