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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USA Today
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What causes myocarditis in boys and young men after COVID vaccination? Study offers answers.
A new study may partly explain what’s driving rare cases of heart inflammation, called myocarditis, in some young people who have gotten repeat doses of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. While severe cases of myocarditis can damage the heart and cause of heart failure, cases of COVID vaccine-related myocarditis have typically been mild in nature, said Dr. Donald Lloyd-Jones, former president of the American Heart Association and Eileen M. Foell professor of heart research at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “While we can see over time some scar tissue form in the heart, we can see that people can get back to doing what they do, like getting back to sports” within a month, he said.
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New York Times
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Why Do Some People Develop Allergies in Adulthood?
Allergies come in many different forms, and generally develop when your immune system mistakenly treats a harmless allergen, like pollen or animal dander, as a threat. It then reacts every time it encounters that allergen, with symptoms that can vary widely, ranging from coughing, sneezing and itchiness and more serious reactions like hives, vomiting, trouble breathing and loss of consciousness. Experts don’t know how common it is for different kinds of allergies to develop in adulthood, said Dr. Ruchi Gupta, a professor of pediatrics who specializes in allergy at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Though we do have some data as it relates to food allergies. In one survey of more than 40,000 adults in the United States published in 2018, for instance, Dr. Gupta and her colleagues found that about 45 percent of those who had food allergies developed at least one new food allergy in adulthood. Of this group, a quarter never experienced food allergies as children.
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WGN
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New tech helps chemo target hard-to-reach brain tumors
There is new hope for patients with the deadliest form of brain cancer. It’s a breakthrough and that’s exactly what this latest technology does – it breaks through the brain’s natural shield so the most powerful chemotherapy drugs can finally reach a tumor. Dr. Adam Sonabend is a neurosurgeon at Northwestern Medicine and associate professor of neurological surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. It’s been the greatest challenge for doctors like Sonabend and Roger Stupp, who treat patients with glioblastoma, an aggressive and lethal brain cancer. “Most drugs that we can use for treating cancer do not reach into these tumor cells that are hidden in the brain,” Sonabend said. “That’s because of this structure called the blood brain barrier.” Using an implantable device, equipped with nine ultrasound emmitters, the Northwestern Medicine team is able to deliver the most potent chemotherapy drugs across the barrier.
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TODAY
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Is a low-carb diet or low-fat diet better for longer life?
Consuming a low-fat diet full of healthy foods during the middle age may lengthen your life, a new study suggests. In contrast, a healthy low-carbohydrate eating pattern did not lead to much of an improvement in longevity, according to the analysis of dietary data from more than 370,000 middle-aged and older adults published in the Journal of Internal Medicine. But there are limitations to these findings, despite the strong data analysis, Linda Van Horn, PhD, chief of nutrition at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, who wasn’t involved in the research. She points out that the data used is 20 years old and from when “people had a very different understanding of diet and nutrition.” She also believes the results are lacking important context around participants’ overall health. “My major concern is that nowhere do they talk about obesity or what condition these people were in,” Van Horn says. “We don’t know what their physical activity level was. We don’t know what their BMI was.”
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Yahoo! News
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Menopausal symptoms from hot flashes to insomnia are negatively impacting women’s careers – and the economy, says new study
Most people are aware that menopause can come with intense symptoms such as hot flashes and insomnia. Women’s health experts are shocked by the latest findings. “There have been multiple studies, mostly from the U.K., which have shown this or worse,” Dr. Lauren Streicher, a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine said. “Why is anybody surprised that this has a billion-dollar impact on the corporate level and below? Insomnia, hot flashes…people are not able to function. As a result of this, they’re dropping out of the workplace, making mistakes, and they’re really struggling.”
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TODAY
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Will King Charles rule for a long time? What we know about his health
On coronation day, all eyes will be on King Charles III as he is officially crowned at 74 – an age when most people are already years into their retirement. Will his strength hold up in the coming years? His parents’ famous health longevity offers some clues, experts say. For a few years now, British media have wondered about the royal’s swollen fingers and hands. Heart, liver and kidney disease are common causes of swelling, but it usually involves the whole body, says Dr. Jeffrey Linder, chief of internal medicine at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago. “The feet and ankles are usually affected first and swelling generally has to be pretty advanced to involve the hands,” Linder said. Fluid retention can also cause swelling in the hands and ankles, which can be more marked in older adults who’ve been inactive or sitting, he added. Some medications can make hand and ankle swelling worse. For isolated hand and finger swelling, osteoarthritis, or “wear and tear” arthritis, can sometimes be the cause, but osteoarthritis is usually associated with bony changes, Linder said.
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USA Today
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Do weight loss pills work? The truth about the controversial drugs and supplements.
America has long been obsessed with weight lost. It’s no wonder the CDC reports more people are on diets now than were a decade ago. For the right person, weight loss pills can be a helpful tool in weight management. Rutuja Desai Patel, DO, obesity medicine specialist at Northwestern Medicine acknowledges “clinical trials do show that they are effective for weight loss and weight maintenance,” but notes that weight loss pills are usually only suggested for people with a body mass index over 30 and after other weight loss treatments such as diet and exercise have been implemented into one’s lifestyle first. “Over-the-counter supplements for weight loss should be viewed with caution because at best, they don’t work, and at worst, they may cause harm,” warns Patel.
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LA Times
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Who gets on a kidney waitlist? We’re in the dark on a crucial step toward transplant
To even have a chance at a kidney from a deceased donor – a lifesaving resource in limited supply – an ailing patient needs to get onto the waiting list. But a shrinking share of Americans undergoing dialysis have been getting that chance, national data show. Their odds have been disturbingly shaped by race and income, researchers have found. “I’m still seeing patients that have been on dialysis for seven, 10, even 15 years, who say, ‘Oh yeah, I just had a conversation about transplant,’” said Dr. Dinee C. Simpson, a transplant surgeon and assistant professor of surgery in organ transplantation at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Federal regulators have started tying some funding for dialysis centers to the percentage of patients who get onto the kidney transplant waitlist, nudging them to refer more patients to transplant centers. But whether a patient makes it on the waitlist can also hinge on which transplant center is scrutinizing them as a patient.
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AP News
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No link between COVID vaccines and placental abnormalities
Research shows no link between COVID-19 immunizations and problems with the placenta, and many vaccinated women have carried their pregnancies to full term. “For our research, we looked at 60 different placental anomalies that cover the whole range of pregnancy complications and found no association between vaccination and problems with the placenta,” said Dr. Jeffrey Goldstein, an assistant professor of pathology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. In addition to Goldstein’s research, another study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology in 2022 found “no significant difference in placental findings between the vaccinated and unvaccinated groups, further emphasizing the safety of vaccination during pregnancy.” Goldstein, who said he personally examines 500 to 600 placentas a year in his role as a physician, said he’s seen no major uptick in any abnormality, or any other indication of a link between vaccination and placental complications.
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Good Morning America
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Popular diabetes drug Mounjaro could be FDA-approved for weight loss this year, company says
A popular drug currently approved to treat Type 2 diabetes could soon also be approved for weight loss. Eli Lilly, the maker of the drug Mounjaro, said Thursday it expects the medication could be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for weight loss as early as the end of the year.
Veronica Johnson, MD, internal medicine at the Northwestern Medicine Center for Lifestyle Medicine, discussed the impact she is seeing on the patients taking the drug. “These medications are promoting a lot more weight loss and so we’re having significant impacts in not only reducing our patients’ weight but improving their overall health,” she said.
