Media Coverage

Ever since the pandemic, when rates of teenage suicide, anxiety and depression spiked, policymakers around the world have pushed to make mental-health resources more broadly available to young people through programming in schools and on social media platforms. This strategy is well intentioned. Traditional therapy can be expensive and time-consuming; access can be limited. But there is now reason to think that this approach is risky. Recent studies have found that several of these programs not only failed to help young people; they also made their mental-health problems worse. Jessica Schleider, PhD, a psychology researcher and associate professor of medical social sciences and pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, has tested several single-session treatments that can be offered online and show promising results in teenagers. But although such offerings fill gaps in our mental health infrastructure, they cannot take the place of more time- and resource-intensive forms of care. The hard truth is that soaring rates of teenage depression and anxiety present a structural problem requiring structural solutions, including the training of a much larger work force of therapists.

In February, Global Pharma, announced the recall of EzriCare and another eye drop brand it said had potentially been contaminated with drug-resistant bacteria linked to infections that caused deaths, eye-removal surgeries and blindness. In another public health warning last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned consumers to avoid or discard more than two dozen versions of eye drops. The FDA said these over-the-counter products sold by CVS Health, Rite Aid, Target, Walmart, Leader/Cardinal Health, Rugby/Harvard Drug Group and Velocity Pharma LLC could cause infections leading to vision loss or blindness. Timothy Milton Janetos, MD, an assistant professor of ophthalmology at Northwestern University and co-author of the JAMA Ophthalmology paper, said the vast majority of eye drops sold over-the-counter are safe. He said the challenge for both doctors and consumers is evaluating the less than 1% risk that an eye drop is contaminated. “It’s hard for physicians because we get asked all the time, ‘What is safe for me?”’ Milton said. “I can’t really make a recommendation because there’s really no source of information for me to look at and say, ‘Oh, this is a good eye drop or a bad eye drop.'” Milton and his co-author David N. Younessi concluded that “limitations in regulatory oversight highlight a substantial gap in the public health safety net, potentially leaving consumers exposed to harmful products.”

When considering the health benefits of an activity like walking or running, there are two connected factors to keep in mind. One is the workout’s effect on your fitness — that is, how it improves the efficiency of your heart and lungs. The second is the ultimate positive outcome: Does it help you live a longer life? The gold standard for assessing fitness is VO2 max, a measure of how much oxygen your body uses when you’re exercising vigorously. It’s also a strong predictor of life span, said Allison Zielinski, MD, a sports cardiologist at Northwestern Medicine Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute. Even doing a small amount of activity — like taking slow steps throughout the day — somewhat improves VO2 max compared with staying completely sedentary, according to a 2021 study of 2,000 middle-aged men and women. But bigger benefits come when you begin walking faster, which raises your heart and breathing rates. Check with your doctor first if you’re being treated for heart disease or another chronic condition, or if you have symptoms like chest pain, Dr. Zielinski said. You might need to undergo a stress test or other evaluation before being cleared to do vigorous activity.

Doctors have long relied on a few key patient characteristics to assess risk of a heart attack or stroke, using a calculus that considers blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking and diabetes status, as well as demographics: age, sex and race. Now, the American Heart Association is taking race out of the equation. “We should not be using race to inform whether someone gets a treatment or doesn’t get a treatment,” said Sadiya Khan, MD, a preventive cardiologist at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, who chaired the statement writing committee for the American Heart Association, or AHA. “Race is a social construct,” Dr. Khan said, adding that including race in clinical equations “can cause significant harm by implying that it is a biological predictor.” That doesn’t mean that Black Americans are not at higher risk of dying of cardiovascular disease than white Americans, she said. They are, and life expectancy of Black Americans is shorter as well, she added. But race has been used in algorithms as a stand-in for a range of factors that are working against Black Americans, Dr. Khan said. It’s not clear to scientists what all of those risks are. If they were better understood, “we could address them and work to modify them,” she said.

Spending all day glued to your smartphone probably isn’t doing you any favors. Excess phone use has been linked with a range of concerns, including sleep issues, elevated cortisol levels, joint pain and even relationship woes. But if it’s radiation you’re worried about, experts say you don’t have to ditch your phone. “There’s no risk of anything hazardous or dangerous with radiation from cellphones,” said Gayle Woloschak, PhD, an associate dean and professor of radiology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “A lot of people think ‘radiation is radiation,’ but it’s not all the same.” Dr. Woloschak said. “There’s no DNA damage seen from cellphone use.” Cellphones today are nothing like the brick phones of the early 2000s. The phones we’ll use next decade will be different, too. This makes it challenging to study the long-term risks from any one phone. Radiation actually decreased with newer technology, and Dr. Woloschak said new networks aren’t riskier than older ones, either. According to Dr. Woloschak, radiation would need to heat our bodies several full degrees to pose health risks like burns or a fever. “A cellphone’s never going to do that,” she said.

An analysis released Tuesday from scientists behind a research initiative called the BIG JOY Project finds that people who commit daily “micro-acts” of joy experience about a 25% increase in emotional well-being over the course of a week. “I appreciate the skepticism,” says Judith Moskowitz, PhD, MPH, a social scientist at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, who is not involved in the new Big Joy analysis. The body of research on positive psychology has to date produced mixed results. And Moskowitz says the ongoing research creates an opportunity to better understand the effects of these small steps. Moskowitz’s own research has shown a series of small steps (similar to those used in the Big Joy project) can help people cope during bad situations. For instance, she found caregivers caring for a sick loved one were able to tamp down anxiety after going through a 5-week course. “So many of the things that are causing us stress and sadness are out of our control,” Moskowitz says. “So these micro moments can give you something to hold on to,” she explains, and help you stay engaged. “Decades of research have shown that even in the context of really stressful events or sickness, there is absolutely the capacity to experience moments of positive emotion as well,” she says.

According to PhRMA, the pharmaceutical industry research and advocacy group, the average drug takes over 10 years and $2.6 billion dollars to reach the market. The group also notes that only 12% of drugs entering clinical trials result in a medicine that’s approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Research and development of pharmaceuticals relies on a lot of trial and error, according to Yuan Luo, PhD, who is Director of the Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. “That’s a bet,” said Dr. Luo. “What if it failed? Then years of the investment got wasted.” Dr. Luo and other experts who watch the emerging field of AI in drug discovery said machines will help humans cut down on the time it takes to complete repeat tasks. “We can move the most promising candidates to clinical trials and save time and save resources,” said Dr. Luo. He said AI brings a huge shift to this space, allowing scientists to do less “wandering” and more discovering. “It’s sort of like a GPS,” Dr. Luo said. “It will take us to the neighborhood we are looking for, and also along the way advance our existing knowledge of the human biology.”

Bauer entered a hospital with the flu, a bit of pneumonia in his lungs. However, the next day he couldn’t walk. The flu had turned into a lung infection resistant to antibiotics. On April 17, Bauer entered the intensive care unit at Saint Louis University Hospital. He was moved onto a ventilator, then into a medically induced coma. SLU Hospital refused to perform a lung transplant, saying Bauer was too sick to survive. After the hospital called the Northwestern Medicine Canning Thoracic Institute, the man and his girlfriend relocated to Chicago. Bauer’s surgery was “uncharted territory” for the program, said Dr. Rade Tomic, medical director of the Northwestern Medicine Canning Thoracic Institute Lung Transplant Program. “We knew that to get him listed (for a transplant), we had to resolve the infection,” Tomic said. “The only way to resolve the infection was actually taking the lungs out.” The surgical team removed Bauer’s infected lungs and cleaned out his chest cavity. To keep his body alive without lungs, the team needed to create channels for blood to flow in and out of his heart, said Dr. Ankit Bharat, chief of thoracic surgery and director of the Canning Thoracic Institute. That’s where a pair of DD breast implants came in. “We needed something to support his heart, and the DD breast implants seemed to be the perfect fit,” Bharat said. With Bauer’s heart stabilized between the implants, surgeons created an artificial lung outside Bauer’s body. The thoracic surgery team collaborated with plastic surgeons for a “crash course” on working with breast implants.

The rapid test is finally, blissfully, negative after a week of dark red positives. You’re technically over Covid — but the virus doesn’t seem to be over you, as fatigue, coughing or a general sense of “blah” persists. If symptoms linger for four or more weeks after a negative test, that’s the point at which they could first be identified as long Covid, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For most people, the immune system quiets down quickly after it fights Covid. For some, though, it stays active. Researchers are not entirely sure why this happens. If you’re still feeling poorly after 30 days, reach out to a primary care doctor, who may be able to offer strategies for managing your symptoms. You may also want to see if there is a medical facility, like a research hospital, that specializes in long Covid recovery near you, advised Marc Sala, MD, co-director of the Northwestern Medicine Comprehensive Covid-19 Center in Chicago.

Hepatitis C cases have been rising in recent years, significantly impacting women of childbearing age. Hepatitis C can cause low birthweight, liver disorders and pre-term births in an infant. A medical challenge that exists with this virus is doctors not treating pregnant individuals who carry Hepatitis C until after they give birth, which is something Northwestern Medicine and Lurie Children’s Hospital is changing. Ravi Jhaveri, MD, head of pediatric infectious diseases at Lurie Children’s Hospital, shared more about Hepatitis C. “We recommend testing for Hepatitis C,” Jhaveri said. “Any time any adult sees their doctor, it should be part of their visit, especially during pregnancy.” Jhaveri said the medications developed to fight this virus are powerful, and can effectively cure any patient. “The treatment is once per day with very few side effects,” Jhaveri said. “We’re talking almost 100% of people being cured.” If Hepatitis C is not treated, Jhaveri said it can affect a person’s liver and the risk for fibrosis and cancer can go up.