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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Washington Post
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New study links melatonin and heart failure, but experts say don’t panic yet
A study that reviewed health records for tens of thousands of adults with chronic insomnia found that people who took prescribed melatonin for more than a year had a higher chance of heart failure over five years compared with people who were identified as nonusers, the American Heart Association announced Monday.
“It’s difficult because many patients are searching for help with insomnia,” said Kelly Gill, MD, a sleep medicine specialist at Northwestern Medicine. People often don’t want more prescriptions and consider melatonin a natural and easily accessible option.
“Now, we have to be careful about how we recommend it and how patients utilize it, especially in the context of heart failure,” Gill said.
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NPR
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To optimize health, sync your habits with your body clock. Here’s how
The return to “standard time” is better for our health according to sleep scientists, but the time change can be disruptive, and our bodies must also adjust to more hours of darkness as we head towards winter.
And when it comes to exercise, some people find they do best in the morning, others in the afternoon, says Dr. Phyliss Zee, director of the Center for Sleep and Circadian Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. But the science shows exercising late at night, just before bed can disrupt sleep.
“There’s a peak time for almost every physiological process,” Zee says. “The timing of feeding, the time that you exercise, the physical activity, all of these help entrain the clocks in your body so that they’re in sync,” she says.
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NBC News
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Is saturated fat back on the menu? What to know as RFK Jr. touts whole milk and beef tallow
Changes may be coming to the U.S. dietary guidelines: If public comments from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., are any indication, Americans could see a big difference when it comes to saturated fat.
Too much LDL cholesterol — the so-called bad cholesterol — can combine with fats and other substances to create a thick, hard substance called plaque that builds up in the inner walls of blood vessels, reducing blood flow.
“If you obstruct blood flow to a heart, you have a heart attack. If you obstruct blood flow to the brain, you have a stroke,” said Dr. Clyde Yancy, chief of cardiology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.
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Crain’s Chicago Business
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Foot, leg amputations in Illinois jump 65% over 8 years, study finds
The rise in diabetes and peripheral artery disease is taking a gruesome toll on Illinois residents, with a large spike in rates of leg and foot amputations performed in the state’s hospitals.
Northwestern Medicine researchers saw a 65% increase in lower extremity amputations between 2016 and 2023, according to a new study published yesterday in the journal Diabetes Research & Clinical Practice.
“Unfortunately, by the time a patient with diabetes and/or PAD (peripheral artery disease) presents with a foot wound or ascending leg infection, their disease might be just too advanced and amputation may be the only treatment option,” Dr. Maggie Reilly, first author and a vascular surgery resident at McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University, said in a press release.
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WTTW
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Nearly 2M Illinois Residents Stand to Lose SNAP Benefits Amid Government Shutdown
Nearly 2 million Illinois residents, including 900,000 people in Cook County, face losing their benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, if Congress fails to pass a budget by Nov. 1.
Some critics of SNAP, like the Illinois Policy Institute, cite the state’s error rate. Illinois has a higher error rate than the national average at 11.6%, which the conservative institution reports costs taxpayers up to $700 million in penalties.
“The error rates include anything from a typo to misqualifying somebody,” said Lindsay Allen, a health economist and policy researcher at Northwestern University School of Medicine. “It’s really overstating how many people are getting SNAP benefits when they normally shouldn’t be.”
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Fox Chicago
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Northwestern scientists develop nanomedicine that wipes out leukemia in animal study
A groundbreaking Northwestern University study has unveiled a new nanomedicine that wiped out acute myeloid leukemia in animal trials — a major step forward in the fight against cancer.
Chad Mirkin, PhD, is director of the International Institute for Nanotechnology and the George B. Rathmann Professor of Chemistry at Northwestern University. In a new study, Mirkin and his team focused on the traditional chemotherapy drug 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu), which often fails to reach cancer cells efficiently.
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ABC, Good Morning America
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Father and daughter take on breast cancer together
GMA shares the inspiring story of a father and daughter who discovered they’d be battling breast cancer side by side. Regina Stein, MD, assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology and Oncology, spoke on the potential genetic link.
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WGN
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Deficiency in Omega-3 Fatty Acids May Have Negative Effects on Children’s Health
We hear a lot about omega-3 fatty acids and most of what we hear is that we don’t get enough of them in our diets. In the audio clip above, Dr. Daniel Robinson, an associate professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, and an attending physician in the Division of Neonatology at Lurie Children’s Hospital, tells WGN’s Steve Alexander about a city-wide study of Chicago adults.
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NPR
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Got 3 minutes? This habit may help boost hope and reduce stress
Our social media feeds can push us to the dark side, with content full of strife and anger, or videos that make us feel bad about ourselves. But there is a way to reprogram what you see by making different choices. And a new study finds three to five minutes of inspiring content each day can help you feel more positive.
“This finding is not a surprise at all to me,” says Judith Moskowitz of Northwestern University who studies the impact of positive emotions. “It’s great to have the science tell us what we sort of know intuitively — that if we look at positive content, we’re going to feel more positive and more hope,” she says.
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Washington Post
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A big study links feeding babies peanuts to lower allergy risk. When to do it.
Feeding peanut products to infants was connected with a 43 percent lower association with developing peanut allergies, according to a study published recently in the journal Pediatrics.
“Children can’t be carefree, and for parents it’s very stressful because allergies influence where families can go: from restaurants to sporting events to social activities,” said Ruchi Gupta, director of the Center for Food Allergy and Asthma Research at Northwestern University, who also serves on the board of the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Allergy and Immunology.
