Media Coverage

The research found “night owls” had a 10% greater risk of dying than morning people. The study also found evening types also had higher risks for conditions such as diabetes or psychological disorders. “Night owls trying to live in a morning lark world may have health consequences for their bodies,” said co-lead author Kristen Knutson, associate professor of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, in a statement published Thursday.

The first task in addressing opioid abuse is treating overdose victims. First responders must be equipped with and trained in the use of naloxone. Once victims are stabilized, their treatment can begin. Much scientific evidence shows that opioid use disorder (a medical condition that in common parlance would be called opioid abuse or addiction) can be effectively treated, with recurrence rates no greater than those for other chronic illnesses such as diabetes, asthma and hypertension. The Food & Drug Administration has approved three medications for treatment—methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone—that block opioid cravings and effects. All three also significantly increase the likelihood that opioid users can recover to live healthy and sober lives.

“We need to continue to examine if medical providers have preferences for some groups over others, either implicit or explicit, and how that affects treatment, expectation for patient success, and interactions with patients,” said co-author Sylvia Perry, an assistant professor of psychology at Northwestern University who was Khosla’s undergraduate thesis advisor at Yale, in a statement. Medicine is portrayed as being fact-based, objective and free from racial bias and discrimination, Khosla said. But the study “emphasized how much bias works to control behaviors completely within our subconscious,” she said. “Science and medicine are not invulnerable to the effects of racism, because we are humans and are shaped by our environment.”

In total, 107 people have been hospitalized, including the three people who have died, since March 7, according to state officials. Numerous people who reported being sick after using synthetic pot later tested positive for brodifacoum, a poison commonly used in rodent control. Those sickened have reported blood in the urine, severe bloody noses and bleeding gums. Exposure to brodifacoum causes the human body to block its natural use of vitamin K, which helps in the process of blood clotting, according to Dr. Patrick Lank, a medical toxicologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. A person exposed to brodifacoum would have to take high doses of vitamin K for weeks to months to manage their symptoms.

Historically, there’s been very little academic study of how parenting can affect the sexual behavior of LGBTQ youths, said researcher Michael Newcomb, associate director for scientific development for the Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine. “We know a lot about how parents can influence the heterosexual teen’s sexual health, but we know very little about how parents can affect the sexual health of LGBTQ teens,” he said. “And in some ways, the same parenting practices would be relevant to LGBTQ teens, like talking to your kids about sex, monitoring who they’re hanging out with, who they’re dating, all those types of things.”

For gay or lesbian young people, however, being in a relationship can be a huge source of support. “The person they were dating was the first person they would go to when they had news to celebrate but also the first person they would go to commiserate or seek support if something awful happened,” says Brian Mustanski, one of the study’s authors. “They helped navigate issues with coming out or challenges they were having in the family about those relationships.” Mustanski said that although parents and friends can help sexual minorities feel better, that support doesn’t tend to offset the effects of bullying. “Here, if they were bullied and victimized and had relationships, that bullying had less of an effect on their mental health,” says Mustanski, who directs the Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.

Researchers from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, who were studying genetically vulnerable baby mice and the allergens that might trigger sensitivity, were surprised to find many of them did not develop food allergies even after their skin was exposed to peanuts. So the researchers started adding other possible exposures to the mix. They found mice with the genes for an eczema-like condition would only develop food allergies if they were also exposed to dust mites or mold, had skin contact with the problem foods and were cleaned with soap. “This is a recipe for developing food allergy,” said lead study author Joan Cook-Mills, a professor of allergy-immunology at Northwestern.

But officials here said they still have unanswered, vexing questions: How much of the tainted drug is still circulating throughout the Midwest, and how many more people will be sickened? Where are the drugs coming from, and how far have they spread? How did a dangerous chemical like brodifacoum, which does not create a sensation of being high, end up in synthetic marijuana? “This is not something we have previously seen,” said Dr. Patrick Lank of Northwestern Memorial Hospital. “As someone who watches public health, I worry, why is this happening? How did a substance get into these drugs that absolutely has no high?”

Scientists at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine announced recently that they’d created 3-D printed bioprosthetic ovaries allowing mice to ovulate, give birth and nurse their young, said Teresa Woodruff, director of the Women’s Health Research Institute at Northwestern. The hope is to restore fertility and hormone production in cancer survivors, but transgender patients might also one day benefit. While these prospects are exciting, Chen said she tries to focus on technology that’s available today when helping youths make decisions, because she doesn’t want to give them false hope. Even though discussing fertility is important, Chen also explores different forms of parenthood with patients, including adoption and surrogacy.

The analysis of nearly 9,000 people’s experiences underscores well-known connections between money and well-being, with prior studies linking lower incomes and rising income inequality with more chronic disease and shorter life expectancy. “This is really a story about everybody,” said lead researcher Lindsay Pool of Northwestern University’s medical school. Stress, delays in health care, substance abuse and suicides may contribute, she said. “Policymakers should pay attention.”