Media Coverage

Turns Out, There Are 5 Sleep Styles — And Each Affects Your Brain Differently

A new study suggests there’s more to sleep than how long you snooze each night. Your overall sleep pattern could shape your mood, brain function and even long-term health.

Researchers from Concordia University in Montreal identified five distinct sleep profiles that may help explain why some people feel well-rested while others struggle with fatigue, poor focus or emotional ups and downs.

Experts say the profiles could help doctors tailor sleep treatments in the future.

“We really need to consider multiple sleep profiles in our research and clinic — the value of a multidimensional approach to data,” Dr. Phyllis Zee, director of the Center for Circadian and Sleep Medicine at Northwestern University, who was not involved in the study, told NBC News.

Training, Support Empowers Pediatricians In Peanut Allergy Prevention

Pediatricians can better help parents prevent peanut allergies if they are provided support that helps them follow national guidelines, a new study says.

Doctors were more likely to recommend early introduction of peanut-containing foods into the diets of infants if they had educational and clinical support, researchers reported Oct. 6 in the journal Pediatrics.

These docs were three times more likely to follow the guidelines for kids at high risk for peanut allergy and 14 times more likely for low-risk kids, the study found.

“We found that supporting pediatricians with training, electronic health record prompts, and educational materials for parents significantly improved their ability to counsel families on early peanut introduction,” said lead researcher Dr. Ruchi Gupta, a pediatrician and researcher at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.

Trump slashed funding for universities that helped create these vital drugs

Richard Silverman, a medicinal chemist at Northwestern University, started a NIH-supported line of research to create a treatment for epilepsy in the late 1970s. In 1989, Ryszard Andruszkiewicz, a visiting scholar in his lab, synthesized a molecule that looked promising.

One study found that $13.8 million in NIH funding had supported development of Lyrica. At Northwestern, $790 million in federal funding was frozen in April. “There needs to be more funds put into research,” Silverman said. “Fundamental research can lead to important applications and commercialization.”

Study suggests new ways to reduce risk of young kids developing peanut allergies

Pediatricians’ use of “easy-to-implement tools” such as training videos, health record prompts and informational handouts to adhere to updated allergy-prevention guidelines could translate to a lower likelihood of children developing peanut allergies, a new study has found.

Dr. Ruchi Gupta, the study’s lead author and a pediatrician and professor of pediatrics and medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said in a press release Monday, “Because pediatric visits at 4 and 6 months are so busy, this support is critical to ensure families receive clear guidance. Our hope is that these conversations will help parents feel confident introducing peanut products early. We want to reverse the trend of increasing food allergies in the U.S. through prevention.”

‘Crunchy Moms’ Have Stayed Away from Tylenol for Years

While some studies have found associations between acetaminophen exposure during pregnancy and risk of neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism, a causal link has not been established, as underscored by the Food and Drug Administration.

“The best studies that we have available, and the ones that do control for things that we know do impact neurodiversity, do not show autism having an association with Tylenol and no studies show Tylenol causing autism,” said Dr. Rachel Follmer, an assistant professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a physician at Lurie Children’s Hospital whose clinical focus is children with autism and other neurodevelopmental differences.