Recent News

March 21, 2006 Research Study Will Assess Use of Botox for Excessive Sweating in Teens CHICAGO—Forget that adage about how men sweat and women perspire. We all sweat, and it’s a good thing we do. Sweating controls body temperature. But some people, including adolescents, sweat copiously and uncontrollably following mild or even no stimulation. They[…]

February 14, 2006 Ethnic Gap Widens for Kids’ Asthma CHICAGO—Fifty percent more black children than white children are hospitalized for asthma, and 25 percent more black children than white children are dying from asthma, according to a report in the February issue of Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. The report described a study by[…]

February 7, 2006 More People Have Cholesterol Levels Above Optimum CHICAGO—An estimated 63 million adults have low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels higher than what would be ideal as recommended by the National Institutes of Health. Of that group, 38 million are people with health conditions that put them at increased risk for cardiovascular disease. These[…]

February 20, 2006 Doctors Fail to Recommend Colon Cancer Tests CHICAGO—Fewer than nine out of 10 low-income, medically underserved minority patients at risk for colorectal cancer receive a recommendation for colorectal cancer screening by physicians at government-supported community health centers, according to a study by Northwestern University researchers. The researchers subsequently found that 7 percent[…]

February 7, 2006 Heart Disease Prevention Should Start Before Middle Age CHICAGO—If you think you’re too young to worry about heart disease or stroke—think again. Efforts to prevent America’s No. 1 and No. 3 killers should begin long before you’re middle-aged, according to a study in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. The study,[…]

February 21, 2006 Noted Cardiologist to Give Feinberg Lecture on March 8 CHICAGO—Elizabeth G. Nabel, MD, director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), will speak at the 10th Annual Frances Feinberg Lecture at 5 p.m. Wednesday, March 8, in the Conference Center of the Feinberg Pavilion, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, 251 E. Huron[…]

February 1, 2006 Stem Cell Transplantation as Lupus TreatmentCHICAGO—About half of patients with severe lupus that does not respond to standard treatment and who undergo autologous stem cell transplantation to boost their immune system have substantial improvement of their disease after several years, according to preliminary research published in the February 1 issue of the[…]

Galter Library’s Restored Rare Books Featured at Block Museum Exhibit Albinus’ Tabulae Selecti et Musculorum Corporis Humani, published in 1747, required restoration before it could be displayed. The exhibit “Anatomy of Gender” at Northwestern’s Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art explores the relationship between sex, gender, and images of dissection in Renaissance and early[…]

Martha Twaddle Passionate About End-of-Life Care by Cheryl SooHoo Mentors have meant a great deal to Martha L. Twaddle, MD, GME ’89. She has valued their sage advice and used their counsel in many ways to define her life. So in 1989 when Harry J. Miller, MD, now associate professor emeritus of medicine and former[…]

January 25, 2006 Compound Targets Alzheimer’s Brain Cell Degeneration CHICAGO—Drug discovery researchers at Northwestern University have developed a novel orally administered compound specifically targeted to suppress brain cell inflammation and neuron loss associated with Alzheimer’s disease. The compound is also rapidly absorbed by the brain and is non-toxic—important considerations for a central nervous system drug[…]

Anatomy Wins Top Publications Honor The Association of American Medical Colleges/Group on Institutitional Advancement (AAMC/GIA) has awarded Anatomy of Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, the school’s annual report for fiscal year 2004, an Award of Excellence (the top honor) in the single or special issue category in the group’s annual competition. The school’s Office[…]

January 25, 2006 Program to Treat Skin of Individuals of Color CHICAGO—Northwestern University has created a Center for Ethnic Skin, a specialized program focusing on the diagnosis and treatment of hair, skin, and nail disorders in individuals of skin of color—African Americans, Asian Americans, and Hispanic/Latino Americans. Roopal V. Kundu, MD, assistant professor of dermatology[…]

In Vivo Variety Show Slated for January 27–28 “Billy Medicine” is the 27th annual production of In Vivo, the comedy revue that features the writing, directing, performing, and technical talents of students and facutly and staff members of Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. A medically oriented spoof of the popular Adam Sandler film, “Billy[…]

December 27, 2005 Some Women at Greater Risk for Melanoma CHICAGO—Older white women with a history of non-melanoma skin cancer are at greater risk for developing melanoma, regardless of the amount of sun they have been exposed to, finds a study in the online journal Cancer. “This study adds a history of the relatively favorable[…]

Middle-Age Obesity Raises Later Heart, Diabetes RiskCHICAGO—Obesity in middle age—even without established cardiovascular disease risk factors such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol levels— greatly increases risk of hospitalization for and death from heart disease and diabetes in older age, according to a study in the January 11 issue of the Journal of the[…]

Michael J. Fox Foundation Grant Funds Parkinson’s Research CHICAGO—Northwestern University, the University of California-San Francisco, and RheoGene, Inc., have received a grant from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research that will provide up to $4.2 million for development of a regulatable gene therapy system to treat Parkinson’s disease. Martha C. Bohn, PhD, a[…]

December 27, 2005 Common Gene Increases Prostate Cancer Risk CHICAGO—A common, inherited gene that predisposes one in eight people to development of certain forms of cancer, including breast, colon, and ovarian cancers, has been found by Northwestern University researchers to also increase prostate cancer risk—by 200 percent. Boris Pasche, MD, and colleagues at The Robert[…]

Contact: Megan Fellman at (847) 491-3115 or atfellman@northwestern.edu Scientists Identify Molecular Structure of Key Viral Protein EVANSTON, Ill.—Scientists at Northwestern University have determined the molecular structure of a viral protein, the parainfluenza virus 5 fusion (F) protein. The parainfluenza virus 5 is part of a family of viruses (paramyxoviruses) that causes everything from pneumonia, croup,[…]

December 27, 2005 Grant Funds Schizophrenia Study CHICAGO—D. James Surmeier, PhD, Nathan Smith Davis Professor and chair of physiology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, has received a five-year, $1.5 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to study how the brain adapts to drugs used to treat schizophrenia. The award is[…]