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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Crain’s Chicago Business
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Maternal Stress During Pregnancy Leads to Sad Babies, Study
Pregnant people who had bigger fluctuations in stress from one moment to the next – also called lability – had infants with more fear, sadness and distress at three months old than mothers with less stress variability, according to a Northwestern University study. Prior research has found that mothers’ distress during pregnancy has been related to infant temperament and behavior, but this is one of the first studies to measure mothers’ experience of stress in real time on many occasions, which enables a closer look at whether changes in mothers’ stress across pregnancy matter for infant development, Northwestern said in a statement. “Research often examines stress as a static, unchanging construct – one that is either high or low, present or absent – but most of us have a lot of ebbs and flows in our stress depending on what is going on around us,” lead study author Leigha MacNeill, researcher professor of medical social sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a member of the Northwestern Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences said in the statement.
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Associated Press
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Candy, Cash, Gifts: How Rewards Help Recovery From Addiction
For an increasing number of Americans, addiction treatment involves not only hard work, but also earning rewards – sometimes totaling $500 – for negative drug tests or showing up for counseling or group meetings. There’s brain science behind the method, which is known as contingency management. And barriers to wider adoption of reward programs, such as government concerns about fraud, are starting to crumble. Medication can help people quit abusing opioids, but stimulant addiction has no effective medicine. Rewards programs – especially when the dollar value increases with consistent performance – are widely recognized as the most effective treatment for people addicted to stimulants. The method is grounded in brain science. Psychologists have known for years that people who prefer small, immediate rewards over larger, delayed ones are vulnerable to addiction. “Biologically, the use of substances lights up the same part of the brain that is lit up when a person wins the lottery, falls in love or experiences something really positive and exciting,” said psychologist Sara Becker of Northwestern University. The same pathway is lit up if someone wins a reward. “That’s part of what’s powerful about these programs,” Becker said.
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TODAY
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Epilepsy strikes woman, 20, out of the blue in rare symptom
Grace Hinchman was a healthy 20-year-old college athlete when she suddenly developed epilepsy – an ordeal that made it difficult for her to talk, walk or know where she was. Doctors called her case one in a million 0 or even more unique – for contracting and then completely recovering from a rare but catastrophic sudden epilepsy syndrome. It can strike children and young adults after they develop a fever from the flu or another benign infection. Fewer than 20% of patients who have this condition, known as FIRES (the acronym for febrile infection-related epilepsy syndrome) make a full cognitive recovery, said Dr. Ayush Batra a neurointensivist at Northwestern Medicine who helped treat Hinchman and an assistant professor of neurocritical care and pathology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “What’s so disturbing about it is there can be no known prior medical history, nothing developmentally abnormal,” Batra said. “So you couldn’t think of a more devastating situation where you have these young healthy children (and young adults) and out of nowhere, out of the blue, with no known predilection, they develop this syndrome.” Doctors don’t know exactly why it happens, but it’s believed a low-grade infection that leads to a fever somehow triggers abnormal inflammation, Batra said. Hinchman has made a full neurologic recovery by all metrics and measures, “an incredibly rare case,” Batra said. She’s back in college, playing volleyball again and feeling just like she did before the ordeal.
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US News & World Report
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Music: Bridging Memories for People with Alzheimer’s
The program, Musical Bridges to Memory, has been shown to enhance patients’ ability to non-verbally interact with their caregivers, according to a study published recently in the journal Alzheimer Disease and Associated Disorders. The music therapy also reduces troubling dementia symptoms like agitation, anxiety and depression. In the program, a live ensemble plays music from a patient’s youth. The patient and their caregiver are encouraged to interact with the music together by singing, dancing or playing simple instruments like shakers, drums or tambourines. It’s well-established that even as dementia wreaks havoc on the mind and memories, the degenerative brain disorder doesn’t appear to affect a person’s ability to enjoy music until much later in the disease course, said senior researcher Dr. Borna Bonakdarpour. He is an associate professor of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. Because of this, patients can retain their ability to dance and sing long after their ability to talk has diminished. “They can process music, they can get it, they receive it, they respond to it, they can dance with it, they can play with it, they can sing along with it,” Bonakdarpour said. “These are components that are pretty much intact, which is amazing.” The Alzheimer’s Association recognizes music therapy as an important non-drug therapy for dementia.
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CNN
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How extreme heat can kill and how you can stay safe
It’s nearly fall, but extreme high temperatures broke records in cities across the United States this week. Schools closed early, outdoor activities were canceled and some pools even shut down in California. High temperatures are not just uncomfortable, they are bad for your health – and can even be deadly. Of all the natural disasters, extreme heat is the No.1 killer, studies show, killing more people than hurricanes and tornadoes combined. The “most worrisome consequence” of high heat is heatstroke, said Dr. Scott Dresden, an associate professor of emergency medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. With heatstroke, the body can’t cool itself and regulate its temperature. In normal temperatures, your body loses water through sweating, breathing and going to the bathroom. But when humidity rises over 75%, sweating becomes ineffective. Our bodies can let off heat only when the outside temperature is lower than our internal body temperature, usually around 98.6 degrees. If you notice that someone is confused, has a flush to their skin, seems to be breathing quickly or complains of a headache, move to the shade or into air-conditioning. Cool them with cool water, icepacks or wet towels around their neck, head, armpits and groin. And get medical help as soon as possible.
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New York Times
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Jane Fonda Says She Has Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
The actress Jane Fonda announced on Friday that she had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a treatable form of cancer of the lymph system, and that she would be undergoing chemotherapy treatment for six months. People age 60 and older are more likely to develop non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, said Dr. Leonidas Platanias, director of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern Medicine, and the earlier it is detected, the better chance a person has of surviving. Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is the fifth most common type of cancer in America. The National Cancer Institute estimates that there will be more than 80,000 new cases of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma this year. Symptoms of unmanaged non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma can include pain, night sweats, weight loss, swelling an fevers, although some kinds of lymphoma can be asymptomatic and are found while doing tests for other purposes.
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TODAY
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How, where and when to get updated COVID booster shots
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Thursday that teenagers and adults get updated booster shots from Pfizer or Moderna. The shots – also known as bivalent vaccines – are designed to target both the original coronavirus strain and the currently circulating omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5. Some vaccine experts wonder whether the shots are necessary yet for young, healthy people. Nonetheless, Pablo Peanloza-MacMaster, an assistant professor of microbiology-immunology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, says the potential benefits seem to outweigh the risks. “the way that I look at it right now is that it seems like there’s not much to lose,” he said.
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CBS Chicago
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Skin of Steel raises funds for melanoma research, in hopes of finding a cure
Skin of Steel is determined to find a cure for melanoma, but the pandemic created challenges for the Chicago area organization’s melanoma tissue collection. The work of the organization is now moving forward that the pandemic is easing. “If you’re looking forward and looking for new cures – not just for melanoma, but all cancers – this work is crucial,” said Dr. Jeffrey Wayne, chief of oncology in the department of surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Wayne is the lead investigator for one of four U.S. branches of the Melanoma Tissue Bank Consortium, which has partnered with the Chicago area non-profit Skin of Steel. “To have the tissue and be able to analyze and test treatments and to see if a particular treatment might work on the cellular level before you take it and use it in patients – that’s what this is all about,” Wayne said. SPF 50 sunscreen is among the best defenses to protect against melanoma. “Wearing a wide brimmed hat, sunglasses – those are also important things people can do,” Wayne said. In 2020, Northwestern University’s Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center in Chicago partnered with Skin of Steel and the Melanoma Tissue Bank Consortium. This summer, Northwestern started collecting tissue samples. They have collected more than 80 of the 500 samples needed for melanoma research.
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Crain’s Chicago Business
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Northwestern to Study Apple Watch as Wearable AFib Monitor
With an eye toward getting atrial fibrillation (AFib) patients off lifelong, continuous blood-thinning medication, Northwestern University and Johns Hopkins University will study the effectiveness of using a heart rhythm app on an Apple Watch to tell patients when to use blood thinners temporarily. Using the app on Apple Watch and an accompanying app on iPhone, patients in the trial will be able to target blood-thinning medication use for a limited period of time and only in response to a prolonged episode of AFib, the statement said. “If proven effective, this new treatment paradigm will fundamentally change the standard of care for the millions of Americans living with AFib,” principal investigator Dr. Rod Passman, director of the Center for Arrhythmia Research and a professor of medicine in the division of cardiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “Many of these patients are on blood thinners for the rest of their lives even if they have infrequent episodes of atrial fibrillation. If we can show that this strategy is equally protective against stroke and reduces bleeding, that could save lives, reduce cost and improve quality of life. The trial, called the Rhythm Evaluation for AntiCoagulaTion trial, is a collaboration between Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and the American Heart Association, with Apple providing Apple Watches to patients in the trial.
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CNN
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Religion linked to better measures of heart health among Black Americans, study says
African American adults who participate in frequent religious activities, or hold deeper spiritual beliefs, are more likely to score higher in indicators linked to good heart health than those who don’t, according to new research. More religious participants had better scores for blood pressure, cholesterol and other metrics known to influence cardiovascular health, found a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association last Wednesday. Epidemiologist Mercedes R. Carnethon, vice chair of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, told CNN that the research suggests that religious practices and beliefs are correlated with better measures of cardiovascular health. “One hypothesis that could explain these observations is that both the practice of religion and the behaviors that are associated with better cardiovascular health such as adherence to physician recommendations for behavior change, not smoking, and not drinking excessively share a common origin or personality characteristic,” Carnethon said. “Observing a religion requires discipline, conscientiousness and a willingness to follow the guidance of a leader. These traits may also lead people to engage in better health practices under the guidance of their healthcare providers,” Carnethon further said.
