Media Coverage
The work done by Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine faculty members (and even some students) is regularly highlighted in newspapers, online media outlets and more. Below you’ll find links to articles and videos of Feinberg in the news.
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The Wall Street Journal
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If Some Cold Medicines Don’t Work, What Should You Take for a Stuffy Nose?
When a cold or flu strikes, choosing among hundreds of products can be overwhelming. But to clear up a stuffy nose, doctors and pharmacists say consumers should choose medicine wisely. A key ingredient found in many over-the-counter medicines—oral phenylephrine—just doesn’t work, according to a finding last month by advisers to the Food and Drug Administration. A few weeks after that determination, CVS Health stopped selling certain oral medicines with the ingredient. There are plenty of convenient alternatives for relief from a cold or flu, but the first step is to consider your symptoms: Congestion? Congestion with a runny nose? “The most important thing is for people to always think about, ‘What is going on? What am I feeling?’ That helps you understand what’s best for you,” said Sterling Elliott, a clinical pharmacist and assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. There is one medicine that is the time-honored standard for relieving congestion from cold and flu: Pseudoephedrine. The decongestant shrinks blood vessels in the nasal area and prevents blood from flowing into them, stopping the congestion. “We know that it works because when people take it they certainly report benefit and relief,” said Elliott.
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WebMD
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Needle-Free Flu Vaccine for Home May Be Approved for Next Year
Drug-maker AstraZeneca announced this week that the FDA is currently considering approving the needle-free option for home use. Called FluMist, the vaccine must be refrigerated and would be shipped in insulated packaging to people’s homes. FluMist has been around for more than two decades and is approved for people ages 2 to 49 years old. It’s fallen in and out of favor over the years, including one period where a CDC advisory panel highlighted FluMist as the preferred flu vaccine for children. AstraZeneca expects the FDA to make a decision on whether to allow home use of FluMist by Spring 2024. The convenience of home administration could increase the number of people who get a flu vaccine, said Ravi Jhaveri, MD, Chief of Infectious Diseases in the Department of Pediatrics at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. “Vaccination rates for children and adults under 50 years of age declined in the 2022-2023 flu season, highlighting a need for more accessible solutions,” said Jhaveri in an AstraZeneca press release. “The ability for individuals and parents to choose where to administer an injection-free flu vaccine could help increase access and, subsequently, vaccination rates, and greatly benefit those most impacted by this serious and contagious respiratory illness.”
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New York Times
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It’s Covid Season. What Are the New Rules for Staying Safe?
While cases are not as high as they were at the end of this summer, newer variants are spreading, and experts predict that the patterns often seen over the last three years of the pandemic – the temperature drops, people cluster indoors, cases rise – will play out again this fall. As the holiday season approaches, here is a quick refresher on how to navigate the pandemic. Risk largely boils down to how crowded a place is and how long you spend there. If you’re popping into a convenience store, for example, your risk is probably minimal; if you’re lingering unmasked for hours in a full concert hall, it’s higher. “Any time you’re indoors with a lot of people, the risk is still there,” said Marc Sala, MD, co-director of the Northwestern Medicine Comprehensive Covid-19 Center in Chicago. It’s a good idea to wear a mask on the subway or bus. Planes are likely less risky because of their ventilation, but you still may want to mask, especially when boarding and deplaning. As the coronavirus has evolved, the amount of time between being exposed and developing symptoms has shortened.
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New York Times
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Feeling Stressed? These 5 Books Can Help.
Too much stress is bad for our health – putting us at risk for conditions like depression, heart disease and memory problems. But life is full of commitments and pressures that make relaxation seem impossible, and finding ways to soothe can be difficult. “Stress happens. Stress is normal. Negative emotions are normal,” said Judith T. Moskowitz, a professor of medical social sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “But, whatever stress you’re experiencing, there are things you can do to bring more positive emotions.” Some book titles experts recommended include “Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It” by Ethan Kross, “Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life,” by John Kabat-Zinn, “Rest Is Resistence: A Manifesto” by Tricia Hersey, “The Relaxation and Stress Reduction Workbook” by Martha Davis, Elizabeth Robbins Eshelman and Matthew McKay, and “Unwinding Anxiety: New Science Shows How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind” by Judson Brewer.
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Crain’s Chicago Business
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On the policy side, Illinois leaders prioritize child mental health
As the severity of the child mental health crisis came into full view during the COVID-19 pandemic, Illinois state officials became serious about writing policy that could help transform how families and children find and access treatment in communities across the state. Audrey Brewer, MD, MPH, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and attending physician at Lurie Children’s Hospital, says she often treats young patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, as well as trauma-like symptoms, including stress, anxiety and depression, especially among older children and teenagers. Some patients have even come to Brewer after reporting suicidal ideation, a phenomenon Brewer has studied extensively. In a 2022 study published by the American Academy of Pediatrics, Brewer and her team found that child emergency department visits for suicidal ideation spiked nearly 60% from 2016 and 2017 to 2019 and 2021 in Illinois, with an additional 57% surge in hospitalizations during 2020 — the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The possibility that mental health screenings in schools could provide intervention for struggling children before they reach such an acute crisis makes Brewer supportive of the Blueprint for Transformation’s effort.
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ABC 7 Chicago
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Doctor shares how to prevent and treat viruses this ‘sick season’
As school is in full swing, sick season has begun. Children are more prone to catch illnesses and bring them home. Alin Abraham, MD, health system clinician of general internal medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine shared how to stay protected from illnesses this sick season. RSV, strep throat and COVID are some of the viruses of which doctors are seeing an uptick in children Abraham said. “The winter months tend to be the highest risk for catching illnesses,” Abraham said. She suggests parents stay vigilant of their children’s health and monitor any symptoms if they are sick. If your child is having trouble breathing, urinating or is showing signs of dehydration, you should reach out to your pediatrician office, Abraham said.
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WGN Chicago
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Medtronic receives FDA approval for extravascular defibrillator to treat abnormal heart rhythms, sudden cardiac arrest
Medtronic plc, global leader in healthcare technology, has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for the Aurora EV-ICD MRI SureScan and Epsila EV MRI SureScan defibrillation lead to treat dangerously fast heart rhythms that can lead to sudden cardiac arrest. “The Aurora EV-ICD system is a tremendous step forward in implantable defibrillator technology,” said Bradley P. Knight, MD, medical director of electrophysiology at Northwestern Medicine Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute, a co-author of the study and professor of cardiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “Placing the leads outside of the heart, rather than inside the heart and veins, reduces the risk of long-term complications, ultimately allowing us to further evolve safe and effective ICD technology.” In the pivotal study, the device’s effectiveness in delivering defibrillation therapy at implant was 98.7%, and there we no major intraprocedural complications, nor any unique complications observed related to the EV ICD procedure or system compared to transvenous and subcutaneous ICDs.
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CBS News
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New Hispanic Breast Cancer Clinic at Northwestern aims to improve access to care
A new breast cancer clinic at Northwestern Memorial Hospital aims to give Hispanic women critical access to care and treatment once they’ve been diagnosed. The Lurie Cancer Center Hispanic Breast Cancer Clinic, which opened in September, was created to address disparities between Hispanic women and White women when it comes to screening, treatment, and research. It’s led by Claudia Tellez, MD, a Colombian-born oncologist and clinical assistant professor of hematology and oncology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “What we’re finding with the Hispanic population is that our patients are being diagnosed with cancers that are more aggressive and more advanced, and as result their prognosis is negative,” Tellez said. According to Research by the National Institutes of Health, despite being diagnosed less than White women, breast cancer in Hispanic women tends to be more aggressive and more deadly. “Many of the Hispanic patients are presenting later for their screening tests or presenting with more advanced cancers, when they’ve already discovered lumps in their breasts and maybe they’ve delayed for months coming for help,” Tellez said. “The other factor is that their cancers actually are more aggressive, they grow more rapidly and so when we discover them, their stages are more advanced.”
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New York Times
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You Snooze, You…Win?
New research out of Sweden suggests that it may not be as detrimental to your sleep as it seems, though some sleep experts still advise against it. Across two studies, researchers set out to examine the effects of snoozing, or using intermittent alarms to postpone finally dragging yourself out of bed. Broadly speaking, experts said there is not strong evidence to definitively prove whether it’s a bad idea to hit the snooze button, because there is so little research on the subject. A 2022 study of 450 people in the United States found that those who snoozed didn’t get less sleep overall. But another study of around 300 university students in Japan found that those who hit the snooze button had more prolonged sleep inertia — which can include the groggy, confused, irritable, “almost a little bit drunken” feeling you have when you first wake up, said Dr. Phyllis Zee, a sleep medicine specialist at Northwestern Medicine. Sleep inertia also slows down your thinking, reduces your reaction time and worsens your short-term memory.
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TODAY
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Untreated UTIs can be deadly. Menopausal women have a higher risk
Many people in menopause notice that they experience more urinary tract infections (UTI) than they did in their younger years. For some, if they’re left untreated, they may end up in the hospital facing more serious conditions, such as sepsis and delirium. “When we look at recurrent urinary tract infections in a post-menopause population, it is devastating,” Lauren Streicher, MD, a clinical professor at Northwestern University shared. “It’s one of the easiest, solvable conditions out there, and yet, not only do woman not know they’re associated with menopause, but neither do their doctors. These women keep getting unnecessary and often the wrong antibiotics. They get unnecessary procedures,” she explains. “They’re miserable, and they get in trouble where they end up with sepsis and people die — and I’m not overstating this.”
