Media Coverage

Some babies born with Zika virus have serious eye problems

“Based on current information, in our opinion, clinicians in areas where Zika virus is present should perform ophthalmologic examinations on all microcephalic babies,” Dr. Lee M. Jampol, a professor of opthalmology at Northwestern University wrote in an editorial in Wednesday’s medical journal. “Because it is still unclear whether the eye lesions occur in the absence of microcephaly, it is premature to suggest ophthalmic screening of all babies born in epidemic areas.”

Eye Defects Seen in Some Babies Born With Zika-Linked Microcephaly

However, Dr. Lee Jampol and Dr. Debra Goldstein, from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, pointed out in an accompanying journal editorial that microcephaly may have several causes. The birth defect may be genetic, metabolic, drug-related or due to problems during pregnancy such as malnutrition, infection or lack of oxygen.

Some Brazilian babies with Zika-related birth defects show eye problems

In an accompanying editorial, Lee Jampol and Debra Goldstein of Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine suggest doctors perform thorough eye exams on all babies with microcephaly in areas with Zika outbreaks.

“We’re very concerned about this,” said Jampol, a professor of ophthalmology at Northwestern. “There hasn’t been enough testing yet to know what these babies’ vision is going to be.”

Zika tied to major eye defects in babies with microcephaly, study finds

Lee Jampol, a professor of ophthalmology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, said that lesions found in the babies’ retinas could have far-reaching effects for families trying to care for the infants and the next generation.

Curing multiple sclerosis

THIRTY years ago a young haematologist called Richard Burt was training at Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore. He noticed that after leukaemia patients had received a treatment to wipe out their immune systems, they needed to be re-immunised against diseases such as measles and mumps. Although the patients in question had been vaccinated as children, the therapy for their blood cancer had erased this cellular memory. Dr Burt turned to his teacher, William Burns, and ask whether the same might be possible in autoimmune diseases. “I could see a light go on in his eyes. ‘You should try it in multiple sclerosis’ he said.” Thus began decades of painstaking work.

The Surprising Reason You Have Trouble Sleeping

Recent evidence indicates that what you eat and when you eat can in turn affect sleep and circadian rhythms,” says Phyllis C. Zee, MD, PhD, the director of the Center for Circadian and Sleep Medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, who says emerging research “points to a bi-directional relationship.”

Trading Drug Addiction for Food Addiction

“Food addiction is not taken seriously by health professionals in the way other addictions are,” said Dr. Julie Friedman, an assistant professor at Northwestern University Medical School, and also the VP of Binge Eating programming at InSight Behavioral Health in Chicago. “If you go to your primary care doctor and say, ‘I’m binging three to four times per week,’ they’ll tell you to go to Weight Watchers.”

Long shifts for young surgeons don’t threaten patient safety

“This is the first time we have randomized trial data on this controversial topic,” said study leader Dr. Karl Bilimoria. “You would think for such a hot-button issue we would have had randomized trial data, which is sort of the gold standard for research, years ago.”