Media Coverage

“The boxing we’re talking about is not what Muhammad Ali did – this is noncontact boxing; [the participants with Parkinson’s] are not fighting each other or getting hit in the head,” notes Dr. Danny Bega, an assistant professor of neurology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago and the lead investigator of a study with Parkinson’s patients and Rock Steady Windy City.

A little stress can actually be a good thing, motivating us to work hard and get ahead, experts say. But constant stress and worry over the long haul can damage our bodies. “The stress response was made for short-term acute stress, like needing to run away from a bear or a saber tooth tiger,” said David Victorson, an associate professor of medical social sciences at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a health psychologist at Northwestern Medicine. “It’s been a part of the human process since the beginning. But stressors today can be much more chronic and we’re ill equipped to deal with that.”

Garfield, an associate professor of pediatrics at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said research on fatherhood is a fairly recent phenomenon, so it’s difficult to compare dads of today with fathers in the ’60s, for example. But he said change is in the air, as evidenced not only by formal studies, but by cultural phenomena such as the rise of ‘dad-vertising,’ in which fathers are portrayed as capable, hands-on parents, rather than workaholics or bumbling oafs.

“It’s an interesting intervention but there’s limited and conflicting data,” says Dr. Tanya Simuni, director of the Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Center at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. “I’m cautiously interested in WBV – and there’s a tremendous need for alternative therapies for people with Parkinson’s disease – but more [research] needs to be done.”

Researchers in Illinois have unveiled the third gene linked with Parkinson’s, a discovery that comes following the death of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali, who suffered from the neurodegenerative disease for three decades. Scientists’ findings, published Monday in Nature Genetics, suggest the genetic mutation TMEM230 was present among Parkinson’s patients in North America and Asia, and had similar protein trafficking characteristics as the other two genetic mutations linked with Parkinson’s, according to a Northwestern University press release. They found TMEM230 produced a protein involved in the packaging of dopamine in neurons, which is significant because Parkinson’s is marked by the breakdown of dopamine-producing neurons.

Not getting a good night’s sleep can result in a number of problems including poor concentration, weight gain, and a greater likelihood of accidents. For shift workers and individuals who experience chronic sleep deprivation, new research suggests insufficient sleep could also increase the risk of heart disease. In humans, as in all mammals, almost all physiological and behavioral processes, in particular the sleep-wake cycle, follow a circadian rhythm that is regulated by an internal clock located in the brain,” said Daniela Grimaldi, M.D., Ph.D., lead author and a research assistant professor at Northwestern University, said in a press release. “When our sleep-wake and feeding cycles are not in tune with the rhythms dictated by our internal clock, circadian misalignment occurs.”

Not getting a good night’s sleep can result in a number of problems including poor concentration, weight gain, and a greater likelihood of accidents. For shift workers and individuals who experience chronic sleep deprivation, new research suggests insufficient sleep could also increase the risk of heart disease. In humans, as in all mammals, almost all physiological and behavioral processes, in particular the sleep-wake cycle, follow a circadian rhythm that is regulated by an internal clock located in the brain,” said Daniela Grimaldi, M.D., Ph.D., lead author and a research assistant professor at Northwestern University, said in a press release. “When our sleep-wake and feeding cycles are not in tune with the rhythms dictated by our internal clock, circadian misalignment occurs.”

Sleep deprivation and an abnormal sleep cycle may increase the risk of heart disease, especially for shift workers, a small study suggests. “In humans, as in all mammals, almost all physiological and behavioral processes, in particular the sleep-wake cycle, follow a circadian rhythm that is regulated by an internal clock located in the brain,” said study lead author Dr. Daniela Grimaldi. “When our sleep-wake and feeding cycles are not in tune with the rhythms dictated by our internal clock, circadian misalignment occurs,” added Grimaldi, a research assistant professor at Northwestern University in Chicago.

Sleep deprivation and an abnormal sleep cycle may increase the risk of heart disease, especially for shift workers, a small study suggests. “In humans, as in all mammals, almost all physiological and behavioral processes, in particular the sleep-wake cycle, follow a circadian rhythm that is regulated by an internal clock located in the brain,” said study lead author Dr. Daniela Grimaldi. “When our sleep-wake and feeding cycles are not in tune with the rhythms dictated by our internal clock, circadian misalignment occurs,” added Grimaldi, a research assistant professor at Northwestern University in Chicago.

National Cancer Survivors Day was June 5, 2016. As the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center prepared for our annual Survivors’ Celebration Walk and 5K, I reflected on the experiences of the patients I treat there. As a clinical psychologist, I am privileged to hear their innermost thoughts and feelings about what it means to survive cancer — some of which they have not shared with their other doctors, friends or family.