In a paper published in JAMA Internal Medicine, Mount Sinai researchers describe a troubling increase in the numbers of homebound older adults, likely driven by the pandemic, from 5 percent in the previous decade to 13 percent of the population in 2020. Homebound rates were highest in non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic/Latino populations, who also reported poorer health and less digital access. Learn more.

 

Losing weight and treating excess levels of fat in the blood may help prevent lung disease in firefighters who were exposed to dangerous levels of fine particles from fire, smoke, and toxic chemicals on September 11, 2001, a new study shows. Experts have long wondered whether this toxic exposure would later lead to lung disease in first responders. High body mass index (BMI), an indicator of obesity, combined with exposure to the highest levels of toxins from the attack on the World Trade Center, were the two greatest risk factors for lowered lung function, according to the study authors. Learn more.

 

New research by New York Medical College (NYMC) faculty and students found that cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) occurs at a higher frequency in COVID-19 patients and that it predominantly affects patients who are young, male and otherwise healthy. Findings from the study, which examined case records of 13,500 patients with COVID-19 admitted to six New York metropolitan tertiary care centers in the first half of 2020, were recently published in the American Journal of Neuroradiology. Learn more.

 

More than 60% of adults in the U.S. have now been fully vaccinated. But among pregnant women, a vulnerable population, the rate of vaccination is estimated to be far lower, around 20% nationally. The rate is believed to be even lower in certain geographic areas, including in Western New York. For that reason, the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo is leading an effort to promote vaccination among pregnant women in Western New York. to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Learn more.

 

A buildup of coronavirus in the lungs is likely behind the steep mortality rates seen in the pandemic, a new study finds. The results contrast with previous suspicions that simultaneous infections, such as bacterial pneumonia or overreaction of the body’s immune defense system, played major roles in heightened risk of death, the investigators say. Led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, the new study shows that people who died of COVID-19 had on average 10 times the amount of virus, or viral load, in their lower airways as did severely ill patients who survived their illness. Learn more.

 

Front-line staff who were already feeling burnout showed the most signs of mental distress during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, while those who fared best had an active social network and felt supported by their supervisors. These were among the many lessons learned by a team of Mount Sinai researchers based on two surveys of front-line Mount Sinai staff in 2020. “The main takeaway is what most people would expect—that if you’re involved in health care during a pandemic, it’s going to take its toll,” says Jonathan Ripp, MD, MPH, Dean for Well-Being and Resilience and Chief Wellness Officer at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Learn more.

 

While much of clinical COVID-19 research has focused on treatment for the sickest patients in hospital intensive care units, many of those same patients first present to clinics with milder symptoms. In a recently published study in the Journal of Clinical Medicine, Aaron Rips, SOM Class of 2023, examined the most common early prognostic indicators in patients presenting with mild cases of COVID-19 in the outpatient/ambulatory setting that indicated later progression to severe disease and subsequent hospitalization. His findings suggest the presence of comorbidities, shortness of breath and lymphopenia as the most reliable predictors of adverse outcomes, with 100 percent of those with more than three comorbidities requiring hospitalization. Learn more.

 

Cigarette smoking is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease, yet few studies have looked at smoking prevalence among people previously diagnosed with cardiovascular disease. In a study published online on June 9 in the Journal of the American Heart Association, Carlos Jose Rodriguez M.D., M.P.H., Cristian Zamora, M.D., and colleagues analyzed data from 2,615 participants 18 years old and over who were enrolled in the nationally representative Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study between 2013 and 2018 and self-identified as having cardiovascular disease. Learn more.

 

Children with infantile spasms, a rare form of epileptic seizures, should be treated with one of three recommended therapies and the use of non-standard therapies should be strongly discouraged, according to a study of their effectiveness by a Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian investigator and collaborating colleagues in the Pediatric Epilepsy Research Consortium. Early treatment with an effective therapy is important for improving neurodevelopmental outcomes and, for some children, can result in permanent remission of epilepsy. Learn more.

 

Menopause can mess with your memory, and a new study from the University of Rochester Medical Center has identified four profiles of cognitive function that may help researchers understand why memory declines for some women and not others. This adds to the mounting evidence of the memory changes that can happen when menopause approaches and could lead to better guidance and treatment for patients experiencing memory issues. Learn more.

 

The first experimental vaccine to be tested in the United States for treatment of opioid use disorder is being studied in a phase 1a/1b clinical trial led by researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. “We have good medications to treat opioid use disorder, but about half of the people who use these medications relapse after about six months,” says Sandra Comer, PhD, professor of neurobiology in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and principal investigator of the trial. Learn more.

 

A University at Buffalo team has developed a new model of how information in the genome is organized, called the novel genome archipelago model (GAM). The model provides new insights into how a multitude of interactions among genes may affect normal development as well as mutations that lead to cancer and other diseases. Learn more.

 

Eating fructose appears to alter cells in the digestive tract in a way that enables it to take in more nutrients, according to a preclinical study from investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian. These changes could help to explain the well-known link between rising fructose consumption around the world and increased rates of obesity and certain cancers. Learn more.

 

A new antimalarial drug candidate has the potential to be a single-dose treatment, according to a new report from researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and colleagues at the nonprofit Medicines for Malaria Venture. Though malaria infections and deaths declined sharply from 2000 to 2015, the disease still infects more than 2 million people and results in more than 400,000 deaths—mostly children under age 5—each year. Learn more.

 

Psychosocial issues are among the most common complications associated with and affecting type 1 diabetes. Depression and diabetes-related distress are frequently described and associated with poorer metabolic outcomes. Diabetes burnout has recently emerged. Yet, it is unclear whether these concepts are entirely distinct or whether they overlap. Learn more.

 

Competitive gamers spend hours in front of their screens, with some playing for as long as 12 straight hours. During this time, they can perform up to 500 actions per minute on their mouse or keyboard while also focusing at a level of attention that results in significant cognitive stress and physical limitations. While the effects of prolonged sitting have been well documented—even shown to disrupt cerebral blood flow and possibly oxygen flow to the brain—its impact on competitive gaming has not been widely evaluated. Learn more.

 

In a perspective piece that appears in the journal Science, Elaine Hill, Ph.D., an economist in the University of Rochester Medical Center Department of Public Health Sciences, calls for tighter regulation and monitoring of unconventional oil and gas development, commonly called fracking, as more evidence points to the negative health consequences of the practice. Learn more.

 

Fernando P. Bruno, MD, MPH, associate professor in the Department of Anatomy at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine Middletown, has been awarded a Science & Technology Policy Fellowship (STPF) from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). His fellowship placement will be at the Center for Translation Research and Implementation Science, within the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Bruno is among 284 highly-trained scientists and engineers who will spend a year serving professionally in federal agencies and congressional offices as a Science & Technology Policy Fellow. Learn more.

 

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the City University of New York Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH) have been awarded a five-year, $14.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to continue leading and expand their research on HIV treatment and care in five Central African nations. Learn more.

 

Wei-Dong Yao, a professor at Upstate Medical University, has been awarded $682,211 in federal funds to support research on a form of dementia. The announcement was made by U.S. Rep John Katko. SUNY Upstate Medical University has a dedicated team of researchers working to advance treatments and cures for neurological disorders. The new funds SUNY Upstate received are available through the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, a division of the National Institute of Health (NIH), and will allow SUNY Upstate to continue important research on neurological disorders. Learn more.