Media Coverage

Still, the results highlight the importance of parents having frequent, ongoing, open communication with teens about sex, said Dr. Kate Lucey of Northwestern University and the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. “Sexually transmitted diseases such as gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis are all on the rise among adolescents, and condom use is one of the best ways to prevent STDs,” Lucey, the author of an accompanying editorial, said by email. “Having one-on-one, honest conversations with your teen about why condom use is important and the specifics of how to use a condom is critical.”

Blyler said having highly paid pharmacists spending hours driving to barbershops could ultimately be too expensive. She’s now conducting a study in which pharmacists conduct follow-ups remotely, via video conferencing. She said she’d like to see future studies targeting African-American women in beauty shops. But the study’s promise far outweighs its logistical roadblocks, said Dr. Clyde Yancy, chief of cardiology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. “It’s an ingenious and potentially disruptive study that makes a very strong case that going into the community works,” said Yancy, who was not involved in the study.

He was sitting alongside others who had also undergone heart transplants at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. They gathered as Northwestern doctors announced that this year they’ve broken the record for performing the most heart transplants ever at an Illinois hospital in one year. With less than two weeks left in 2018, doctors have transplanted 54 hearts this year, besting the previous record of 45 heart transplants set by Rush University Medical Center in 1995, according to Northwestern. “The accomplishment is a reflection (that) there’s more patients in Chicago that are receiving the type of care that they ought to be receiving,” said Dr. Allen Anderson, medical director of the Center for Heart Failure at Northwestern’s Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute.

This is a minuscule amount of data on which to base strong recommendations. An accompanying editorial written by Clyde Yancy, a professor of cardiology at Northwestern School of Medicine, noted that only 0.3 percent of the studies that looked at sodium restriction and heart failure were of sufficient quality to be included in this systematic review. We need better research. Some of that may be on the way. The Geriatric Out of Hospital Randomized Meal Trial in Heart Failure randomly assigned 66 patients to home-delivered low-salt meals after hospital discharge to study how well they work. Its findings are pending.

At an event today, the hospital said that it has performed 54 heart transplants in 2018. The state’s previous record was set by Rush University Medical Center, with 45 in 1995. The event was a celebration of both the hospital’s success and patients’ survival, as those who have received heart transplants and their families hugged the Northwestern doctors and staff who helped save their lives. It also paid homage to the people who have donated their organs. “Today, we recognize first the incredible generosity that arises from tragedy and acknowledge organ donors and their families who make the gift of life through transplantation possible,” said Dr. Allen Anderson, medical director of the Center for Heart Failure at Northwestern’s Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute.

About 1 million men in the United States have inflammatory bowel disease, which includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. “These patients may need to be screened more carefully than a man without inflammatory bowel disease,” said study lead author Dr. Shilajit Kundu. Screening for prostate cancer begins with a blood test called a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test. PSA is a substance made by the prostate gland. “If a man with inflammatory bowel disease has an elevated PSA, it may be an indicator of prostate cancer,” said Kundu, an associate professor of urology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

“One of the scariest parts about the 2014 Ebola outbreak was that we had no treatments on hand; tens of thousands of people became sick and thousands of people died because we lacked a suitable treatment,” said Judd Hultquist, assistant professor of medicine in the division of infectious disease at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, in a statement. New research by Northwestern University could pave the way for the development of an effective treatment for the rare disease. Researchers have discovered a human protein that helps fight the Ebola virus.

The study, which was recently published in the Journal of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndromes, surveyed MSM in Chicago and found young black MSM in the city are 16 times more likely to have HIV than their white counterparts, despite lower numbers of sexual partners, less unsafe sex and more frequent testing for HIV. “Our study illuminates how HIV disparities emerge from complex social and sexual networks and inequalities in access to medical care for those who are HIV positive,” said senior study author Brian Mustanski, a professor at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine and director of its Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing.

While urgent care clinics provide a wide array of services, patients shouldn’t use them as a substitute for a primary care physician, says Matthew Kippenhan, medical director at the Northwestern Medicine Immediate Care Center in Chicago. A primary care physician can help you ward off and, if necessary, manage chronic conditions like cancer, diabetes, heart disease and obesity, he says. “People with chronic medical issues should have a primary care doctor,” he says

Dr. Seth Goldstein, an associate professor of surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, noted that “over the past few years, there’s been a bit of a spotlight on hospital systems and how to maintain quality of care 24/7. “I think what this study does is points out that it’s not unique to nights and weekends,” he said. He believes that reduced hospital staffing, and a time when patients are less likely to want to be in the hospital, could have this effect. Goldstein, who was not involved in the study, is also a pediatric general and thoracic surgeon at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.