Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Kicks Off Annual Halloween Greeting Card Drive

LOS ANGELES (October 16, 2024)—Scary and spooky and a little bit silly and kooky? Sounds like it’s time for Halloween and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) is getting ready for what is one of its favorite holidays of the year. Supporters and friends in the community, across the country and around the world are invited to take part in the hospital’s annual Halloween greeting card drive.

National Academy of Medicine Selects FAU for Substance Use, Opioid Crises Collaborative

FAU joins the National Academy of Medicine’s Action Collaborative on Combating Opioid Crises. This pilot project, involving more 80 organizations, aims to enhance coordination and address addiction challenges through collaboration among public, private and nonprofit sectors.

Uncontrolled Hypertension: The Old ‘Silent Killer’ is Alive and Well

High blood pressure affects about 45% of U.S. adults. In the 1970s, only about 50% of patients were aware of their hypertension. Today, 54% are aware of their high blood pressure, 40% are actively treated and 21% are actively controlled. As such, researchers alert health care providers that the old “silent killer” is alive and well.

FAU Researcher Receives Grant to Personalize Radiation Therapy for Cancer

While chemotherapy has advanced in personalization, personalized radiation therapy for cancer remains underdeveloped. A new project will use AI, in particular, deep reinforcement learning, to analyze multimodal data, and enhance cancer characterization and treatment to ultimately improve patient outcomes. Using personal health data, genetic information about the tumor, and patient treatment and follow-up data, digital twins will simulate diagnoses and treatment options to help physicians choose the most effective treatments and monitor responses over time.

PFF Celebrates Black History Month and Encourages Diversity in Research

The PFF celebrates and honors Black History Month this February. The PFF advocates for increasing diversity of patient representation through the PFF Community Registry to enhance research and improve treatment options for those in the African-American and other communities.

Novel Wearable Belt with Sensors Accurately Monitors Heart Failure 24/7

There is a critical need for non-invasive solutions to monitor heart failure progression around the clock. This novel wearable device is based on sensors embedded in a lightweight belt that monitors thoracic impedance, electrocardiogram (ECG), heart rate and motion activity detection. The device was tested in different conditions including sitting, standing, lying down and walking. Findings showed that all of sensors kept track of the changes for all of the different conditions.

LifeBridge Health Launches Mobile App for Patients

LifeBridge Health has launched a new comprehensive mobile app for patients and consumers. Now available for download for iPhone and Android phone users, LifeBridge Health Mobile offers convenient and immediate access to the health system’s services such the physician directory, patient portal and online scheduling. LifeBridge Health Mobile is just one piece of the health system’s overall strategy to improve the digital patient experience.

AI Could Predict Ideal Chronic Pain Patients for Spinal Cord Stimulation

Spinal cord stimulation is a minimally invasive FDA-approved treatment to manage chronic pain such as back and neck pain. The ability to accurately predict which patients will benefit from this treatment in the long term is unclear and currently relies on the subjective experience of the implanting physician. A study is the first to use machine-learning algorithms in the neuromodulation field to predict long-term patient response to spinal cord stimulation.

Asian American / Pacific Islander Nurses Association and JMIR Publications Announce New Partnership to Publish Asian / Pacific Island Nursing Journal

Dr. Gunther Eysenbach, founder and CEO of JMIR Publications, says,

“Asian / Pacific Island Nursing Journal is an important addition to what we can offer as a publisher. I am thrilled to support the important voices and issues highlighted in the journal, and look forward to working with the Editor-in-Chief and editorial board to propel the title to the forefront of research on health disparities in minority patients.”

SUSAN G. KOMEN® NAMES TOP BREAST CANCER EXPERTS AS SCIENTIFIC ADVISORS

Susan G. Komen has appointed 10 world-renowned breast cancer researchers and two patient advocates to serve as advisors to the organization. They join a distinguished group of breast cancer researchers, clinicians and advocates who help guide Komen’s work so that people who have been diagnosed with breast cancer can live longer, better lives.

Mobile apps can help those suffering from hypertension, improve communication between patients and providers

The use of physician-monitored mobile apps for tracking blood pressure can help curb the effects of chronic hypertension and improve communication between patients and providers, according to new research from Binghamton University, State University of New York.

More Than $1.3 Million Raised During 32nd Annual Mix 106.5 Radiothon for Johns Hopkins Children’s Center Patients

Thanks to generous donations from listeners, the 32nd annual Mix 106.5 Radiothon last week raised $1,328,335.32 for Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. The final total was announced on Mix 106.5 on Monday, March 1. Since the first radiothon in 1990, more than $25 million has been raised for the Children’s Center.

Congress Must Act To Fortify Health Care System And Protect Access To Care

The final 2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule fails to avert the potential impact on seniors of payment cuts to more than a million health care providers already reeling from COVID-19’s financial impact. If Congress does not act now to address these changes, the results may be devastating for patients, communities and providers.

Ingo Mellinghoff Named Chair of MSK’s Department of Neurology

Neuro-oncologist and renowned physician-scientist Ingo Mellinghoff will lead MSK’s distinguished Department of Neurology after previously serving as Acting Co-Chair.

Nurses’ Use of Physician Term Anesthesiologist Misleading to Patients

The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) yesterday urged the New Hampshire Supreme Court to uphold the New Hampshire Medical Board’s decision that health care professionals using the term “anesthesiologist” must be licensed physicians and meet all the requirements to practice medicine in the state, according to an amicus curiae brief filed on behalf of ASA and the American Medical Association (AMA).

FDA Approves First At-Home Saliva Collection Test for Coronavirus

Rutgers’ RUCDR Infinite Biologics received an amended emergency use authorization from the FDA late Thursday for the first SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus test that will allow people to collect their own saliva at home and send to a lab for results. The decision follows the FDA’s recent emergency approval to RUCDR Infinite Biologics for the first saliva-based test, which involves health care workers collecting saliva from individuals at testing sites.

GW Survey Evaluates Influence of Social Media in Attracting Patients

A recent survey from the George Washington University suggests that patients do not take social media into consideration when looking for a dermatologist and recommend that practitioners should use social media as a tool in engaging and educating patients.

FAU Finds Simple Solution to Make Thousands of Face Shields for Baptist Health South Florida

A disposable face shield developed by FAU only requires clear polyester plastic, elastic fabric bands, and a laser cutter. Unlike 3D printed solutions, this process is simple and quick. FAU re-tooled their facilities to leverage the opportunity to make face shields much faster than are currently being manufactured. They plan to share the blueprint for this PPE broadly with other academic institutions as well as industry.

Robot Uses Artificial Intelligence and Imaging to Draw Blood

Rutgers engineers have created a tabletop device that combines a robot, artificial intelligence and near-infrared and ultrasound imaging to draw blood or insert catheters to deliver fluids and drugs. Their research results, published in the journal Nature Machine Intelligence, suggest that autonomous systems like the image-guided robotic device could outperform people on some complex medical tasks.

New Robot Does Superior Job Sampling Blood

In the future, robots could take blood samples, benefiting patients and healthcare workers alike. A Rutgers-led team has created a blood-sampling robot that performed as well or better than people, according to the first human clinical trial of an automated blood drawing and testing device.

Oh My Aching Back: Do Yoga, Tai Chi or Qigong Help?

About 80 percent of Americans will experience low back pain at some point. Patients are often advised to manage their back pain with exercise and mind-body interventions. But, do they really help? Researchers compared and contrasted yoga, tai chi and qigong, and found them to be effective for treatment of low back pain, reporting positive outcomes such as reduction in pain or psychological distress such as depression and anxiety, reduction in pain-related disability, and improved functional ability.

Global Team Enables Child With a Fatal Genetic Disease to Recover

A young boy with a rare genetic disease that typically kills within weeks of birth is now 3 years old and in remission thanks to a collaborative effort that included physicians at King Saud University Department of Pediatrics and immunologists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.