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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CNN
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New US liver transplant policy raises cost and equity concerns, according to new study
Changes to the policy that governs how liver transplants are allocated in the United States were meant to increase the number of transplants and make the process more equitable, but a new study raises concerns that it’s putting certain underserved communities at a greater disadvantage. The new liver allocation policy changed the geographic parameters that guide which people receive donated organs. Instead of operating within defined regional service areas, the new policy prioritizes the sickest liver candidates who are listed at transplant hospitals that are within a 500-nautical-mile radius of the donor hospital. It was implemented in February 2020 by the United Network for Organ Sharing, which is contracted by the federal government’s Organ Procurement and Transplant Network. While it’s clear that not all transplant centers are “equally resilient in responding to changes in national allocation policy,” the sample of centers used in the new analysis might not be nationally representative, wrote the authors, led by Daniela Ladner, MD, MPH, founding director of the Northwestern University Transplant Outcomes Research Collaborative. Federal data suggests that liver transplants did increase in the US overall, despite the decrease observed in the sample of 22 centers.
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New York Post
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Rise and grind? Researchers reveal the best time to drink coffee
Genetics play a role in how long caffeine keeps you alert. “Everyone responds to caffeine differently,” Marilyn Cornelis, PhD, a caffeine researcher at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, told the New York Times Wednesday. Genetics play a role in how long caffeine keeps you alert, Cornelis said — some only need one java to last them the day, while others are jonesing just hours later. A morning coffee may still help workers and exercisers stay focused, while delaying it may extend the effects of caffeine into the early afternoon. Caffeine can make it more difficult to fall asleep — and stay asleep — as it competes with adenosine, a naturally occurring chemical in the body that promotes drowsiness.
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Chicago Tribune
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Double lung transplants weren’t typically recommended for lung cancer patients. But a new technique developed at Northwestern has been successful.
For decades, double lung transplants were not considered a viable option for treating lung cancer. “It had been done, but it had always failed,” said Ankit Bharat, chief of thoracic surgery at Northwestern Medicine. “When you took out the lungs, the cancer cells would spread to the rest of the body, and it would come back a matter of months after the transplant.” But after developing a new technique to replace damaged lungs during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Northwestern Medicine’s Canning Thoracic Institute has now performed more than 40 successful lung transplants on cancer patients in just two and a half years. The operation has a 100% success rate for lung cancer patients today, and in January the hospital completed its first transplant on a patient with lungs affected by both COVID-19 and lung cancer. While lung transplants had typically been performed by removing the lungs one by one, cutting first the vein that takes blood from the heart to the lungs and then the vein that takes it back, surgeons had to figure out a way that would prevent COVID bacteria from moving from the lungs to the heart, according to Bharat. Doctors developed a technique to cut the veins simultaneously and later discovered the same technique could stop the spread of cancer cells. “We had to make the same modifications for lung cancer,” said Rade Tomic, MD, a pulmonologist at Northwestern Medicine who also worked on the transplant treatment. “We had to make sure we didn’t spread the cancer, or let it enter the bloodstream.”
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TODAY
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Why do babies say Dada first?
It can dash a mom’s hopes to hear their babies say “Dada” before “Mama,” but mothers shouldn’t take it personally, experts say. Kids go through predictable stages when babbling, says Elizabeth Norton, PhD, a developmental scientist and an associate professor at Northwestern University. “Kids first use vowels and then put a consonant at the beginning of that vowel and say, ‘Coo’ for example, before moving into ‘duplicated babbling’ which is saying a consonant and vowel over and over again,” she says. “Even when kids speak a language that doesn’t include ‘Mama or ‘Dada,’ kids will still say, ‘mamamamama’ or ‘dadadadadada.’” Other than “Mama” and “Dada,” says Norton, kids who speak a variety of languages most commonly express words related to their social routines that translate to “Bye,” “Thank you,” “No,” “Vroom” and “Ball.” And if your child isn’t saying “Mama,” don’t worry too much. “There are lots of ways that kids show that caregivers are important to them,” says Norton, “such as hugs, shared cuddles and time together.”
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New York Times
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Despite Setback, Neuralink’s First Brain-Implant Patient Stays Upbeat
Just four months ago, Noland Arbaugh had a circle of bone removed from his skull and hair-thin sensor tentacles slipped into his brain. A computer about the size of a small stack of quarters was placed on top and the hole was sealed. Paralyzed below the neck, Mr. Arbaugh is the first patient to take part in the clinical trial of humans testing Elon Musk’s Neuralink device, and his early progress was greeted with excitement. This first Neuralink experiment also highlights how complicated the mechanics of the connection between the brain and a device are. Lee Miller, PhD, a professor of neuroscience and rehabilitative medicine at Northwestern University, described the difficulties of working with the brain. It is bathed in salt water, moves around as the head swivels and bobs, and it is equipped with immune defenses meant to wall off invaders. Researchers have observed the brain forming scar tissue around sensors and even rejecting an entire sensing unit that used a grid of tiny needles.
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Chicago Tribune
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Cicada anxiety can be managed says children book author
As people across Illinois prepare for a once-in-a-lifetime cicada dual emergence, fear of the weird-looking flying bugs with big red eyes is on the rise, experts say. But they also say that fear is understandable and there are ways to get past it including standing in an area filled with cicadas, a practice psychologists call exposure therapy. “Exposure therapy is very simple conceptually and very hard to do,” said Rick Zinbarg, PhD, Professor and Director of Clinical Science Training in the Psychology Department on the Evanston campus of Northwestern University. He said exposure therapy works two ways. In the case of a fear or phobia of cicadas flooding involves summoning up the courage to literally go to an area where there are lots of the bugs and to stand there for as long as possible. Gradual exposure is much less confrontational and could include looking at photos or videos of the bugs online or in a book. Zinbarg said with both techniques there’s a very good chance the fear of cicadas is going to subside. “I encourage people to start where they’re ready and push it out when they’re ready,” he said.
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CNN
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Horrific nightmares may signal initial onset of these chronic diseases, study says
Such unusual symptoms [intense nightmares] may also be a signal that an established disease may be about to intensely worsen or “flare” and require medical treatment, said lead study author Melanie Sloan, a researcher in the department of public health and primary care at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. Jennifer Mundt, PhD, an assistant professor of sleep medicine, psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago who was not involved in the study, said in an email she was pleased the study focused on nightmares. “Although nightmares are a very distressing problem in many medical and psychiatric conditions, they rarely get focused on except in the context of PTSD (post-traumatic stress syndrome),” Mundt said. “A recent study showed that 18% of people with long-COVID have (frequent) nightmares, and this compares to a general population prevalence of about 5%,” she said. “Hearing the patient perspective is critical so that research and clinical care can be guided by what is most important to patients themselves.”
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AP News
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Have you tried pink noise for sleep? Here’s what to know
You may have heard of white noise used to mask background sounds. Now, it has colorful competition. There’s a growing buzz around pink noise, brown noise, green noise — a rainbow of soothing sounds — and their theoretical effects on sleep, concentration and the relaxation response. Scientists at Northwestern University are studying how short pulses of pink noise can enhance the slow brain waves of deep sleep. In small studies, these pink-noise pulses have shown promise in improving memory and the relaxation response. Pink noise has a frequency profile “very similar to the distribution of brain wave frequencies we see in slow-wave sleep because these are large, slow waves,” said Roneil Malkani, MD, associate professor of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. If Northwestern’s research pans out, it could lead to a medical device to improve sleep or memory through personalized pulses of pink noise. But many scientific questions remain unanswered, Malkani said. “There’s still a lot of work we have to do.”
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AP News
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US pediatricians group reverses decades-old ban on breastfeeding for those with HIV
People with HIV can breastfeed their babies, as long as they are taking medications that effectively suppress the virus that causes AIDS, a top U.S. pediatricians’ group said Monday in a sharp policy change. The AAP policy comes more than a year after the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reversed longstanding recommendations against breastfeeding by people with HIV. That guidance said people who have consistent viral suppression should be counseled on their options. It also emphasizes that health care providers shouldn’t alert child protective services agencies if a parent with HIV seeks to breastfeed. The goal is listening to patients “and not blaming or shaming them,” said Lynn Yee, MD, MPH, a Northwestern University professor of obstetrics and gynecology who helped draft the NIH guidance. Breastfeeding provides ideal nutrition for babies and protects them against illnesses and conditions such as obesity and Type 2 diabetes, research shows. Nursing also reduces the mother’s risk of breast and ovarian cancer, diabetes and high blood pressure. In developed nations, however, experts had recommended against breastfeeding because the wide availability of safe water, formula and human donor milk could eliminate the risk of HIV transmission, Yee said.
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HealthDay
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Brain’s ‘Food Smell’ Circuitry Might Drive Overeating
The smell of food is appetizing when you’re hungry. At the same time, it can be a turnoff if you’re full. That’s due to the interaction between two different parts of the brain involving sense of smell and behavior motivation, a new study finds. And it could be why some people can’t easily stop eating when they’re full, which contributes to obesity, researchers say. The weaker the connection between those two brain regions, the heavier people tend to become, results show. “The desire to eat is related to how appealing the smell of food is — food smells better when you are hungry than when you are full,” said study co-author Guangyu Zhou, a research assistant professor of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. “But if the brain circuits that help guide this behavior are disrupted, these signals may get confused, leading to food being rewarding even when you are full.” Further, “If this happens, a person’s BMI could increase. And that is what we found,” Zhou added in a Northwestern news release. “When the structural connection between these two brain regions is weaker, a person’s BMI is higher, on average.”
