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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The New York Times
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That Sleep Tracker Could Make Your Insomnia Worse
Fiddling with your phone in bed, after all, is bad sleep hygiene. And for some, worrying about sleep goals can make bedtime anxiety even worse. There’s a name for an unhealthy obsession with achieving perfect sleep: orthosomnia. It was coined by researchers from Rush University Medical School and Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in a 2017 case study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. Dr. Kelly Baron, one of the paper’s authors and the director of the University of Utah’s behavioral sleep medicine program, said that sleep trackers can be helpful in identifying patterns.
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Crain’s Chicago Business
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See Northwestern’s big new biomedical research building
“Inside this modern new building, scientists will pioneer discoveries that will impact the practice of medicine and transform human health,” Dr. Eric G. Neilson, vice president for medical affairs and Feinberg’s dean, said in a statement. “Here, we will accelerate the pace of lifesaving medical science that fuels the local and national economy, near world-class campus partners and in a global city with unrivaled opportunities for biomedical commercialization and entrepreneurship.”
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Chicago Tribune
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Slow down the calorie counting: Personalized diets could be the future of healthy eating, study suggests
Northwestern medical professor Dr. Robert Kushner, whose clinical focus is nutrition and weight management, asks that individuals continue to follow the most recent governmental dietary guidelines for now. The idea that individual responses to a diet vary is an old one, he said, though Spector’s study pushes it further. He gave the example of reducing salt for hypertension; though not everyone will benefit, the guidelines are “recommendations for populations.”
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The Washington Post
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Living with HIV means increased risk of heart disease
In recent decades, antiretroviral therapy has helped transform the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) from a near-certain death sentence into a chronic, manageable disease. As HIV patients are living longer, however, they’re also at higher risk for heart attacks, strokes, heart failure, sudden cardiac death and other diseases than people without HIV, according to a new scientific statement from the American Heart Association published in the journal Circulation. “Even when the virus is controlled such that it is not detectable by routine blood tests, there remains an HIV reservoir in certain tissues of the body which leads to chronic immune system activation and inflammation,” said Matthew Feinstein of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, lead author of the statement.
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The Washington Post
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Living with HIV means increased risk of heart disease
In recent decades, antiretroviral therapy has helped transform the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) from a near-certain death sentence into a chronic, manageable disease. As HIV patients are living longer, however, they’re also at higher risk for heart attacks, strokes, heart failure, sudden cardiac death and other diseases than people without HIV, according to a new scientific statement from the American Heart Association published in the journal Circulation.“Even when the virus is controlled such that it is not detectable by routine blood tests, there remains an HIV reservoir in certain tissues of the body which leads to chronic immune system activation and inflammation,” said Matthew Feinstein of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, lead author of the statement.
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U.S. News & World Report
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Best Over-the-Counter Products for Digestive Problems
Constipation is common and can be caused by a lack of liquid in the GI tract or a diet insufficient in fiber, says Dr. John Pandolfino, chief of gastroenterology at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago. “For constipation, MiraLAX is our first-line treatment,” he says. “It’s very effective, it’s safe and just a very gentle kind of laxative.” Pandolfino cautions that if you’re also experiencing bloody stools, rectal bleeding or unexplained dramatic changes in bowel habits, you should contact your health care provider. Often, though, bouts of constipation can be managed with OTC products, he says.
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NBC News
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Chickenpox vaccine linked to lower rates of shingles in children, study finds
An attenuated virus, such as the one used in the varicella vaccine, is a strain that has been engineered to be so weakened that it can’t make you sick when you get the vaccine, said Dr. Tina Tan, a professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and an infectious disease specialist at the Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital. It’s just similar enough to the regular virus to alert your immune system to make antibodies that can fight the virus in the future, but apparently, in a small number of cases, that weakened form of the virus could to lead to shingles, Tan told NBC News.
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Reuters
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Patients give more ‘5-star’ ratings to hospitals with fewer services
“There is no reason to expect that patient experience scores would be associated with the breadth of services they provide,” said Dr. Karl Bilimoria, a researcher at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago who wasn’t involved in the study. “In fact, small centers often do well because they are able to offer more individual attention to patients,” Bilimoria said by email. “Simply offering a service doesn’t improve satisfaction; it must delivered well.”
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Associated Press
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Sleeping with the TV on may make you gain weight
Animal research and smaller studies in humans have linked prolonged light exposure with weight gain. Exactly how is uncertain but scientists think disruption in release of hormones related to sleep and appetite may be involved. Dr. Phyllis Zee, an expert in sleep and circadian rhythm disorders at Chicago’s Northwestern University, said the study is important because it highlights a behavior that can be easily changed to reduce the risk of gaining weight. “Properly timed light should be considered as part of a healthy life style,” she said, along with exercise and good nutrition.
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HealthDay
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American Soldiers’ Hearts in Worse Shape Than Civilians’
New research shatters the image of U.S. soldiers as the epitome of fitness and primed for battle: Instead, they are less likely to have ideal blood pressure than their civilian counterparts. In fact, less than one-third of active Army personnel have ideal blood pressure (120/80 mm Hg), compared with over half of the general population, the researchers found. “It’s unexpected that, given the recruitment process, Army personnel at these ages are worse off than the civilian population,” said researcher Dr. Darwin Labarthe. He is a professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
