Media Coverage

After Menopause, Ovaries May Transform Into Organs With Immune Powers

Francesca Duncan’s team at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine reports this month in Molecular Human Reproduction that the ovaries of old mice become infiltrated with immune cells and may secrete immune signals into the body.

The consequences of these changes aren’t clear, but a similar transformation in humans could have health implications after menopause, Duncan and other researchers say.

A Controversial, Cancer-Detecting Blood Test Just Got Backed By Key FDA Panel

“The key plain takeaway: (This type of testing) may complement current screening by identifying lethal cancers that are otherwise undetected earlier and with limited downstream burden,” Dr. Mohamed Abazeed, chair and professor of radiation oncology at Northwestern University, who was not involved with the study, previously told USA TODAY.

How Northwestern Medicine Is Changing Emergency Care for Older Adults

By 2040, 80 million American adults will be 65 or older. This massive shift threatens to overwhelm traditional hospital emergency rooms, which simply aren’t built for the unique needs of aging patients.

To fix this, ER doctors like Scott Dresden, the director of Geriatric Emergency Department Innovations (GEDI) for Chicago’s Northwestern Medicine, are working to improve care and coordination for vulnerable patients with GEDI teams.

Woman Details Losing Vision in 1 Eye After Taking GLP-1 As Hundreds of Patients Sue Drug Companies

In patients who take GLP-1s, many papers have found an association with a two- to four-fold increase in risk, which still makes the condition very rare, said Dr. Manjot Gill, a retina specialist and professor of ophthalmology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

“The take-home message would be that while there is an increase in relative risk — and this is really an association, we haven’t determined an absolute causation — the absolute risk is still very small,” Gill told NBC News.

How Are Overdoses and Cardiac Arrest Related?

With a cardiac arrest, the “heart stops and cannot do its vital function to pump blood to the rest of the body,” Dr. Quentin Youmans, a heart failure and heart transplant specialist at Northwestern Medicine Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute, told USA TODAY in a statement.

While irregular heart rhythms cause most sudden cardiac arrests, recreational drug use can cause cardiac arrest in otherwise healthy people.