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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US News & World Report
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Virtual Singing Programs Boost Mood, Well-Being Of Isolated Seniors
Singing can be a balm for the soul, but does it still soothe if a person is singing alone in a virtual crowd?Yes, says a pandemic-era study that tested whether seniors received any emotional or mental benefit from participating in a virtual choir during COVID-19 lockdowns. Isolated seniors said they felt less anxiety, better social connection, and an emotional and intellectual boost from participating in choir practice conducted over Zoom and Facebook Live, according to results published April 22 in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. “Beyond the pandemic, the study suggests virtual singing could benefit individuals in rural areas, those with mobility limitations or those experiencing social anxiety,” lead researcher Borna Bonakdarpour, PhD, director of the Northwestern University Music and Medicine Program, said in a news release. “We found virtual group singing could provide emotional, cognitive and social support through accessible, engaging music programs for diverse aging populations,” he said. “For people with neurocognitive disorders — who frequently struggle with verbal communication — music and singing can offer alternative ways to express themselves, much like we see in individuals with aphasia,” Bonakdarpour said. “Singing familiar songs can help facilitate communication and create a comfortable, low-pressure environment for interaction and sharing.” Nearly 9 in 10 participants (87%) reported improved well-being as a result of participating in the virtual choir, researchers said.
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WebMD
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Tick Season Is Back, but New Lyme Treatment Is on the Horizon
Tick season is back, and so is the threat of Lyme disease, with cases expected to climb yet again as climate change fuels tick activity. But two new studies point to new treatment options on the horizon: Researchers have identified new strategies that could make it easier to stop infection early and also reduce the risk of developing a long-term complication called Lyme arthritis. Researchers at Northwestern University in Illinois recently tested more than 500 antibiotics and other FDA-approved compounds to see if they could treat the infection in a way that attacks the unique cellular features of Borrelia burgdorferi. The findings were published Wednesday in Science Translational Medicine. In their experiments, an antibiotic from the penicillin family called piperacillin cured mice of Lyme disease using a dose 100 times lower than the current treatment, the antibiotic doxycycline. Doxycycline is known to cause a host of side effects including gut problems because it kills healthy bacteria, too. And it’s ineffective in up to 20% of people. Another limitation is that young children cannot take doxycycline. “Our recent discovery may provide a new treatment option for Lyme disease that could help patients recover quickly,” minus all those side effects, said study author Brandon Jutras, PhD, associate professor in the microbiology-immunology department in the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. However, the treatment would still need to be tested in humans, even though piperacillin is already approved for other uses.
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US News & World Report
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Mood Disorders Have Increased Among Kids, Teens
Depression and anxiety have been increasing steadily among children and teenagers in recent years, a new study says. More than 1 in 10 children (10.6%) suffered from anxiety in 2022, up from 7.1% in 2016, researchers reported April 21 in JAMA Pediatrics. “Our findings underscore the critical need to prioritize youth mental health, which continued to worsen even as we emerged from the pandemic,” lead researcher Marie Heffernan, PhD, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said in a news release. “Parents and schools need more support to be better equipped to help children suffering from anxiety or depression,” she added. For the study, researchers analyzed data from the National Survey of Children’s Health, which is funded by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration. “Continued attention and resources are warranted at a national level to clarify and address the multitude of potential causes of worsening anxiety and depression in children and adolescents,” senior researcher Michelle Macy, MD, MS, an emergency medicine physician at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, said in a news release. According to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, symptoms of a childhood mood disorder can include: sad, depressed, irritable, angry or elevated moods that are more intense than usual; friction with family; lack of motivation or pleasure in activities kids usually enjoy; changes in sleeping or eating patterns; frequently physical complaints like headaches, stomach aches or fatigue; and difficulty achieving in school.
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Yahoo! News
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New Heart-Health Measurement May Help Identify Silent Heart Disease
It’s no secret that your smartwatch churns out all kinds of data on a regular basis, including your daily step count and your average heart rate, which provides helpful insights into your health and wellness. But new research suggests that actually combining those two numbers will give you a better peek into how efficiently your heart is working than each stat does on its own. The researchers are calling this new stat your “daily heart rate per step” or “DHRPS,” and it’s a helpful tool to know about, especially if you’re really dialed in to your heart health. DHRPS isn’t designed to replace your step count or your heart rate numbers, explains Zhanlin Chen, lead study author and a medical student at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Instead, “it’s an integrative measure that uses information beyond step count.” In other words, its a combo of two key metrics that can give you a little clearer insight.
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USA Today
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Jeannie Rice, 77, is running the Boston Marathon and shattering records. What’s her secret?
Boston Marathon hopeful Jeannie Rice has turned heads – from fellow athletes and health enthusiasts to researchers – for her superior physical health in her late 70s. Rice, 77, is a medical marvel. She’s a world record-holder in various distances for people her age (including a marathon), with the highest VO2 max ever recorded in women over 75 years old and in line with younger distance runners that are the best in the world, according to a report published in the Journal of Applied Physiology. The things that we know that work today include sticking to an exercise routine, keeping your weight at a healthy level, getting regular and good sleep and avoiding cigarettes and other toxins, according to Douglas E. Vaughan, , professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and the director of the Potocsnak Longevity Institute. You should also try and reduce stress in your life and maintain healthy relationships with loved ones. If Rice has inspired you to begin a running journey, remember the old adage: Slow and steady wins the race.
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USA Today
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Acid reflux impacts about 20% of American adults. What causes it?
While the occasional heartburn episode usually isn’t an indicator of anything major, continuous and recurring symptoms may be an indication of a health issue, such as acid reflux, that’s worth consulting your doctor about. Acid reflux is referred to in the medical community as gastroesophageal reflux (GER), or gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) for more severe and long-lasting cases. Both occur when the acidic contents of your stomach are regurgitated up into your esophagus, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Most acid reflux an be alleviated with changes in behavior. or others, surgery may be a better option compared to long-term medication usage. Common surgeries, according to Northwestern Medicine, include Nissen fundoplication — in which the upper part of the stomach is wrapped around the lower esophageal sphincter in order to fix a hiatal hernia and prevent acid reflux — or the Linx procedure, in which a metal ring is implanted at the lower esophageal sphincter in order to create a reflux-preventing barrier.
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Yahoo! News
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The Market For Menopause Products Is Booming—But There’s An Easy Way To Find What Actually Works
A couple years ago, whenever a patient came into the office with questions about a new product for menopause symptoms, Traci Kurtzer, MD, an ob-gyn at Northwestern Medicine’s Center for Sexual Medicine and Menopause, would get excited and spend hours investigating it. These days, she skips the deep dive. “So many products come out so quickly now, it’s just a fad-of-the-year thing,” says Dr. Kurtzer, who is also a clinical assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. Doctors also note that the generation of women now entering menopause seems more interested in health and longevity—and they’re being proactive about it. They know what they want, and they’re not afraid to ask for it. That means ravenously consuming information online, including through social media, about what’s happening to their bodies during this major transition, asking their doctors more questions, and seeking better solutions. For products that tout their clinical research, Dr. Kurtzer suggests digging into what that really means—which is actually a lot easier than it sounds. Ideally, a study should have more than 100 participants, and there should be more than one study, because results don’t mean much if you can’t replicate them. She also advises checking to see whether the study is limited to a certain racial or ethnic group—another clue that it might not be robust.
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CNN
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Yawning may be more dangerous than you think, experts say
Find yourself yawning a lot? Do you need that third or fourth cup of coffee to make it through the afternoon at work? Such signs of sleepiness may be a red flag of a serious sleep deficit that could put you in physical danger and harm your long-term health, according to a new position paper by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Not getting a quality night’s rest of at least seven to eight hours has been linked to the development or worsening of diabetes, depression, heart and kidney disease, high blood pressure, obesity and stroke, experts say. “Nodding off in boring meetings is an indication of insufficient sleep. Someone who is fully rested will not fall asleep in meetings, no matter how boring the meeting is,” said sleep specialist Kristen Knutson, PhD, an associate professor of neurology and preventive medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. “Excessive daytime sleepiness can impair performance and be an indicator of underlying sleep disorders or other issues,” Knutson said via email. “If someone is experiencing excessive daytime sleepiness regularly, they should discuss this with their physician.”
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Yahoo! News
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How a new wearable sensor can track your health — without even touching your skin
Researchers at Northwestern University have developed the world’s first contactless wearable device that can monitor your health by measuring gases naturally emitted and absorbed by the skin without ever touching it. “This technology has the potential to transform clinical care, particularly for vulnerable populations, including newborn babies, the elderly, patients with diabetes, and others with compromised skin,” said Guillermo A. Ameer, ScD, a professor of biomedical engineering who co-led the study. The gadget is tiny — just two centimeters long and one-and-a-half wide — and loaded with sensors that pull in gas samples through a mini air chamber that hovers just above the skin without making contact. “For workers in potentially hazardous environments, it’s helpful to know how much of those hazardous species are entering the body through the skin,” said John Rogers, a professor and researcher at Northwestern who co-led the study. One of the biggest perks of the compact wearable is that it would allow patients to manage their skin health at home, eliminating the need for bulky, traditional hospital equipment. “It’s about predicting overall health, preventing infection and disease, and creating a future where personalized care is driven by real-time, non-invasive continuous health tracking,” Rogers continued.
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WBEZ Chicago
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For accused mentally ill killers and their victims, help comes too little too late
There’s no single entity overseeing the mental health care system in Chicago. That means, for instance, that homeless patients discharged from private hospitals might be given a bottle of medication and told to follow up at a clinic without what experts say should be a “warm hand-off” to a treatment provider.What’s urgently needed, many experts say, is housing to provide the stability people need so they can address their illnesses. Stephen Dinwiddie, MD, chief of forensic psychiatry at Northwestern University’s medical school and a former medical director at Elgin Mental Health Center, says mental illness “by no means is going to be predictive of dangerous and violent behavior.” But he also says it doesn’t mean society can’t prevent those who are mentally ill who might become violent from doing so, especially when they’ve had numerous encounters with law enforcement and clearly need medical treatment. “Had there been the ability to early on adequately treat the mental illness, which was the driver of the other acts, then [the] tragedy would not arise,” Dinwiddie says. “Nobody would be thinking about it because the interventions worked.”
