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Tag: Healthcare

  • Clinical Trial Participation Associated with Improved Overall Survival in Ovarian Cancer Patients

    Clinical Trial Participation Associated with Improved Overall Survival in Ovarian Cancer Patients

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    Newswise — TAMPA (Saturday, March 25, 2023) – Clinical trial participation was associated with improved overall survival (OS) compared to no trial participation among women with platinum-resistant epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), according to a research study presented today at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) 2023 Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer.

    In the retrospective (2009-2017), single-institution cohort study by Molly Morton, MD and Laura Chambers, DO, et al., EOC cancer patients were divided into two cohorts – 46 clinical trial participants (CTP) and 259 participants receiving standard of care therapy (SOC).

    Amongst the two groups, there were no significant differences in age, BMI, race, medical co-morbidities, and ECOG performance status. In addition, there was no difference in PARP inhibitor use, Bevacizumab, or intraperitoneal chemotherapy among the two groups. CTP were exposed to a greater number of prior therapy lines compared to SOC.

    After analysis, CTP was associated with significantly improved OS (13.8 months) than SOC (10.5 months), underscoring the importance of the availability and participation in clinical trials in the gynecologic cancer space.

    “Effective treatment options for platinum resistant ovarian cancer are limited, and our data underscores the importance of clinical trial access for all patients with this condition to improve patient outcomes,” Morton shares. “Better understanding of the benefits of clinical trial participation may lead to improved counseling and enrollment, and further study of individual provider and patient barriers to engagement with clinical trials is critical to advancing patient care.”

    As availability and participation in clinical trials in the gynecologic cancer care space increases, researchers must be mindful of current racial disparities and work to ensure that research funding allocations address them.

    In a study by Linda Zambrano Guevera, MS, et al., National Cancer Institute funding allocations between 2011-2018 were assessed for difference in lethality by race for female reproductive cancers including female breast, uterine, ovarian, and cervical cancer.   

    Results showed that the funding to lethality score was lowest for Black individuals with uterine cancer specifically, while the highest funding to lethality score was for White individuals with breast cancer.

    “Research is an important tool to ameliorate disparities,” shares Zambrano Guevera. “Gynecologic cancers are significantly underfunded compared to other types of malignancies, which is particularly alarming given stark disparities. SGO and other stakeholders have put energy and resources to lobby research funding agencies to ensure more equitable access to research to underfunded cancers, and must continue to do so to improve clinical outcomes for gynecologic cancer patients.”

    About SGO
    The Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) is the premier medical specialty society for health care professionals trained in the comprehensive management of gynecologic cancers. As a 501(c)(6) organization, SGO contributes to the advancement of gyn cancer care by encouraging research, providing education, raising standards of practice, advocating for patients and members and collaborating with other domestic and international organizations. Learn more at www.sgo.org.

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    Society of Gynecologic Oncology

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  • ‘Smart’ bandages monitor wounds and provide targeted treatment

    ‘Smart’ bandages monitor wounds and provide targeted treatment

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    Newswise — Most of the time, when someone gets a cut, scrape, burn, or other wound, the body takes care of itself and heals on its own. But this is not always the case. Diabetes can interfere with the healing process and create wounds that will not go away and that could become infected and fester.

    These kinds of chronic wounds are not just debilitating for the people suffering from them. They are also a drain on healthcare systems, representing a $25 billion financial burden in the United States alone each year.

    A new kind of smart bandage developed at Caltech may make treatment of these wounds easier, more effective, and less expensive. These smart bandages were developed in the lab of Wei Gao, assistant professor of medical engineering, Heritage Medical Research Institute Investigator, and Ronald and JoAnne Willens Scholar.

    “There are many different types of chronic wounds, especially in diabetic ulcers and burns that last a long time and cause huge issues for the patient,” Gao says. “There is a demand for technology that can facilitate recovery.”

    Unlike a typical bandage, which might only consist of layers of absorbent material, the smart bandages are made from a flexible and stretchy polymer containing embedded electronics and medication. The electronics allow the sensor to monitor for molecules like uric acid or lactate and conditions like pH level or temperature in the wound that may be indicative of inflammation or bacterial infection.

    The bandage can respond in one of three ways: First, it can transmit the gathered data from the wound wirelessly to a nearby computer, tablet, or smartphone for review by the patient or a medical professional. Second, it can deliver an antibiotic or other medication stored within the bandage directly to the wound site to treat the inflammation and infection. Third, it can apply a low-level electrical field to the wound to stimulate tissue growth resulting in faster healing.

    In animal models under laboratory conditions, the smart bandages showed the ability to provide real-time updates about wound conditions and the animals’ metabolic states to researchers, as well as offer speed healing of chronic infected wounds similar to those found in humans.

    Gao says the results are promising and adds that future research in collaboration with the Keck School of Medicine of USC will focus on improving the bandage technology and testing it on human patients, whose therapeutic needs may be different than those of lab animals.

    “We have showed this proof of concept in small animal models, but down the road, we would like to increase the stability of the device but also to test it on larger chronic wounds because the wound parameters and microenvironment may vary from site to site,” he says.

    The paper describing the research, “A stretchable wireless wearable bioelectronic system for multiplexed monitoring and combination treatment of infected chronic wounds,” appears in the March 24 issue of the journal Science Advances. Co-authors are postdoctoral scholar research associates in medical engineering Ehsan Shirzaei Sani and Yu Song; medical engineering graduate students Changhao Xu (MS ’20), Canran Wang, Jihong Min (MS ’19), Jiaobing Tu (MS ’20), Samuel A. Solomon, and Jiahong Li; and Jaminelli L. Banks and David G. Armstrong of the Keck School of Medicine of USC.

    Funding for the research was provided by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, the Heritage Medical Research Institute, the Donna and Benjamin M. Rosen Bioengineering Center at Caltech, the Rothenberg Innovation Initiative at Caltech, and a Sloan Research Fellowship.

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    California Institute of Technology

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  • How one state beat national surgery opioid trends

    How one state beat national surgery opioid trends

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    Newswise — A statewide effort to treat the pain of surgery patients without increasing their risk of long-term dependence on opioids has paid off in Michigan, a study shows.

    In less than two years, the effort led to a 56% reduction in the amount of opioids patients received after having six different common operations, and a 26% drop in the chance that they would still be filling opioid prescriptions months after their surgical pain should have eased.

    Both of those drops beat national trends for similar patients, according to the new study published in Annals of Surgery by a team from Michigan Medicine, the University of Michigan’s academic medical center.

    Michigan patients having certain operations – for instance, to remove part of their colon – saw the biggest drops over the study period in how many opioids they received after their operations. They also had the biggest drop in risk of developing persistent opioid use, which the researchers define as filling opioid prescriptions for months or years after surgery, when their initial surgery-related prescription was intended for short-term use.

    The Michigan effort used prescribing guidelines based on real-world evidence about how many opioid doses surgery patients actually need to ease their pain, compared with what they were prescribed.

    Importantly, the guidelines don’t leave patients in pain. In fact, past research showed that surgery patients receiving smaller opioid prescriptions had similar pain outcomes and were just as satisfied with their pain care.

    “Tens of millions of people have operations in the U.S. every year, and most of them go home with a prescription for an opioid painkiller. Although they are meant for short-term use during recovery from surgery, unfortunately, some patients keep filling opioid prescriptions for months or years after surgery, which raises their risk of opioid use disorder, overdose, and death,” said Ryan Howard, M.D., M.S., the resident in the U-M Department of Surgery who led the new analysis. “Reducing those trends is a key part of addressing our national opioid problems.”

    A statewide team effort

    The achievement was driven by the Opioid Prescribing Engagement Network and the Michigan Surgical Quality Collaborative – both based at U-M – and by surgical team leaders at 70 hospitals across the state that take part in MSQC and have implemented OPEN guidelines.

    “Our study shows how voluntary prescribing guidelines, and involvement of surgical teams in choosing evidence-based pain care options, can really make a difference,” said senior author Chad Brummett, M.D., co-director of OPEN and director of pain research at Michigan Medicine’s Department of Anesthesiology. “Fewer opioids prescribed and dispensed means lower risk not only of persistent use, but also of risks to others in the household from unused opioid medication.”

    Helping patients get leftover opioids out of their homes and disposed of safely is another key goal of the opioid prescribing engagement network. They offer several free programs to Michigan organizations including free medication disposal pouches, permanent disposal boxes and medication take back event planning materials.

    Making Michigan the safest place for surgery

    The team showed that declines in Michigan – where these guidelines were implemented – outpaced the nation, and other Midwest states, by comparing records from tens of thousands of patients who had the six types of operations in Michigan and those who had them in other states.

    Their analysis spans almost four years before the prescribing guidelines were deployed statewide, and nearly two years afterward, from 2013 to mid-2019.

    They focused on patients covered by traditional Medicare, who had not filled an opioid prescription for a year before their operation, and who had not had a second operation in the six months after their index operation.

    The study focuses on nearly 25,000 Michigan patients and more than 118,600 non-Michigan patients who had minimally invasive gallbladder removal or appendix removal, minor or major hernia repairs, removal of part of the colon (colectomy), or hysterectomy.

    Those six types of operations were the first ones that focused on when developing and implementing prescribing guidelines based on opioid prescription fills and surveys of patients undergoing surgery. They were first published in October 2017, and have been added to ever since with guidelines for other types of surgical and dental procedures. The opioid prescribing engagement network recently published its first pediatric surgery prescribing guidelines.

    The 70 hospitals across Michigan where the guidelines were deployed account for the majority of surgical care in the state. The non-Michigan patients were a 20% sample of all traditional Medicare patients who had the same operations in the same timeframe.

    The researchers looked for signs of new persistent use of opioids, which means a patient filled an opioid prescription immediately after surgery, and then also filled at least one more opioid prescription in the three months after surgery, and another up to six months after surgery. They also looked at the total amount of opioids that patients received in the six months after their operation.

    Because opioid prescribing in general was trending downward in the mid-2010s, the researchers looked at differences between Michigan and national trends to see if there was any difference.

    Michigan outperforms the nation

    Michigan patients had a larger decrease in the rate of new persistent opioid use than their non-Michigan counterparts, with the two drops differing by about half a percentage point.

    This was driven especially by a 2.76 percentage-point reduction among those having colon surgery, and smaller but significant reductions among those having gallbladder and minor hernia operations. Patients having other operations had either no difference between Michigan and the rest of the nation, or a slight increase in Michigan for appendectomy.

    On the whole, Michigan surgical patients saw a faster drop in the size of the opioid prescriptions they filled, compared with those in other states having the same operations in the same time period.

    The difference was nearly 56 mg of opioids by the end of the study period, with significant drops in all types of surgery except laparoscopic appendectomy. Michigan patients started at about 200 mg morphine equivalents, and dropped to 89 mg morphine on average, while non-Michigan patients started at 218 mg morphine and dropped to 154 mg morphine.

    The size of dispensed opioid prescriptions to Michigan surgical patients was actually already lower than national surgical opioid prescribing before the guidelines, though persistent opioid use after surgery was higher in Michigan at 3.4% compared with 2.7%.

    When the researchers excluded cancer patients, or patients with substance issues, Michigan still outperformed the rest of the country in decreasing persistent use and reducing the size of prescriptions dispensed to patients.

    Michigan’s colon surgery patients had the biggest drop in both the amount of opioids they received and their chance of developing persistent use.

    The researchers also did additional comparisons of Michigan with a group of Midwestern states, and with Indiana and Wisconsin, as well as doing analyses that excluded cancer patients and patients who had previously been diagnosed with a substance use disorder. In all these cases, Michigan performed better than the nation.

    Both MSQC and OPEN receive funding from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. The opioid prescribing engagement network also has received funding from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and National Institutes of Health, as well as support from the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation.

    In addition to Howard and Brummett, the study’s authors are Andrew Ryan, Ph.D., formerly of the U-M School of Public Health, Hsou Mei Hu, Ph.D., M.B.A., of OPEN; Craig S. Brown, M.D., M.S., of Surgery; and OPEN co-directors Jennifer Waljee, M.D., M.P.H., M.S., Mark Bicket, M.D., Ph.D. and Michael Englesbe, M.D. Many of the authors are members of IHPI and the Center for Healthcare Outcomes and Policy.

    Paper cited: “Evidence-Based Opioid Prescribing Guidelines and New Persistent Opioid Use After Surgery,” Annals of Surgery. DOI: 10.1097/SLA.0000000000005792

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    Michigan Medicine – University of Michigan

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  • Mental distress among female individuals of reproductive age after overturning of Roe v Wade

    Mental distress among female individuals of reproductive age after overturning of Roe v Wade

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    About The Study: This case control study found that for female individuals, the loss of abortion rights was associated with a 10% increase in prevalence of mental distress relative to the mean over the three months after the Supreme Court of the U.S. decision. Restricting legal abortion access may be associated with disproportionate outcomes among individuals of lower socioeconomic status and in medically underserved areas, who may experience greater economic and mental health burdens of having unwanted pregnancies due to increased travel costs of obtaining abortions. 

    Authors: Muzhe Yang, Ph.D., of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, is the corresponding author. 

     

    Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

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    About JAMA Network Open: JAMA Network Open is an online-only open access general medical journal from the JAMA Network. On weekdays, the journal publishes peer-reviewed clinical research and commentary in more than 40 medical and health subject areas. Every article is free online from the day of publication.

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    JAMA – Journal of the American Medical Association

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  • Fungus/Fungal Disease Expert Can Comment on Outbreak at Healthcare Facilities

    Fungus/Fungal Disease Expert Can Comment on Outbreak at Healthcare Facilities

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    Darin Wiesner, a professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School who studies fungal disease, can comment on the surge of drug-resistant fungal infections at medical facilities across the US.

    The following quotes from Wiesner are available to journalists covering the issue.

    • Several aspects of C. auris should be concerning to immunocompromised patients, including the elderly and chronically ill, that receive care in a healthcare setting.
    • The fungus can access parts of an immunocompromised patient’s body that cause serious disease and make the treatment extremely difficult. C. auris is resistant to a few of the already small list of available antifungal medications.
    • At-risk populations congregate at healthcare facilities, C. auris tends to accumulate in areas that sick patients frequent, and the cycle repeats.
    • C. auris can grow on the skin and in nasal cavities of caregivers, as well as on surfaces of equipment and furniture at healthcare facilities.
    • Currently, there are only three classes of anti-fungal drugs. C. auris is completely resistant to one of them (azoles) and is evolving resistance to the others (polyenes and echinocandins). Like multi-drug resistant bacteria (e.g., MRSA), C. auris poses a serious risk of depleting treatment options and, consequently, increasing both the cost of treatment and the mortality of infected patients. Thankfully, developing new anti-fungal drugs is a very active area of investigation among academic researchers.

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    Rutgers University-New Brunswick

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  • Remoção de ambos os ovários em mulheres mais jovens associada ao aumento do risco da Doença de Parkinson

    Remoção de ambos os ovários em mulheres mais jovens associada ao aumento do risco da Doença de Parkinson

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    Newswise — ROCHESTER, Minnesota — A remoção cirúrgica de ambos os ovários está associada a um risco aumentado de Doença de Parkinson e parkinsonismo em mulheres com menos de 43 anos, conforme relatam os pesquisadores da Mayo Clinic na revista médica JAMA Network Open. 

    Usando dados de registros de saúde do Rochester Epidemiology Project, o estudo incluiu 2.750 mulheres que foram submetidas a cirurgia para remover ambos os ovários (um procedimento chamado ooforectomia bilateral) e 2.749 que não passaram pela cirurgia. As razões para a cirurgia foram uma condição benigna (não cancerosa), como endometriose, cisto ou outro motivo, incluindo a cirurgia preventiva do câncer. Os pesquisadores descobriram que para cada 48 mulheres com menos de 43 anos no momento da cirurgia, uma mulher adicional desenvolveu a Doença de Parkinson em comparação com mulheres da mesma idade que não tiveram os ovários removidos. 

    A Doença de Parkinson é um distúrbio progressivo que afeta o sistema nervoso e as partes do corpo controladas pelos nervos. Os tremores são comuns, mas o distúrbio também pode causar rigidez ou lentidão dos movimentos. Os sintomas muitas vezes são acompanhados por demência, distúrbios do sono e problemas intestinais e da bexiga. Parkinsonismo é um termo geral para lentidão dos movimentos, juntamente com rigidez, tremores ou perda de equilíbrio.

    A Doença de Parkinson se manifesta comumente quase duas vezes mais em homens do que em mulheres na população em geral, sugerindo que fatores de sexo ou gênero desempenham um papel no seu desenvolvimento. Para as mulheres, os ovários são a principal fonte do hormônio estrogênio. A remoção cirúrgica dos ovários de uma mulher pode ser recomendada devido ao câncer, mutações genéticas e outras condições. Quando os ovários de uma mulher são removidos cirurgicamente antes que ela entre na menopausa, essa fonte de estrogênio e outros hormônios é perdida e a remoção causa uma disfunção endócrina abrupta.

    As descobertas confirmam um estudo de 2008 que sugeriu que a falta de estrogênio causada pela remoção de ambos os ovários em mulheres mais jovens pode estar associada a um risco aumentado da Doença de Parkinson e do parkinsonismo. Os resultados comprovam as diretrizes atuais de que a remoção de ambos os ovários não deve ser realizada para prevenir o câncer de ovário em mulheres com risco médio de câncer, diz o Dr. Walter Rocca, neurologista e epidemiologista da Mayo Clinic e investigador principal do estudo.

    Para mulheres que carregam uma variante genética de alto risco para câncer de ovário, a remoção do ovário antes da menopausa pode ser indicada, mas as mulheres devem receber terapia de estrogênio após a cirurgia até os 50 ou 51 anos, idade aproximada da menopausa espontânea, diz ele. 

    “Hoje em dia, não é recomendado o uso de terapia com estrogênio para a prevenção de demência ou parkinsonismo após a menopausa espontânea para mulheres com idade entre 46 e 55 anos”, diz o Dr. Rocca. “Mas este estudo e estudos anteriores sugerem que a terapia com estrogênio é importante em mulheres cujos ovários foram removidos cirurgicamente antes dos 46 anos. Mulheres que passaram pela menopausa induzida cirurgicamente antes dos 40 anos são particularmente vulneráveis.”

    A pesquisa foi financiada em parte pelo National Institute on Aging (Instituto Nacional do Envelhecimento) dos National Institutes of Health.  Uma lista completa de autores e afiliações pode ser encontrada no artigo de pesquisa. 

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    Sobre a Mayo Clinic 
    A Mayo Clinic é uma organização sem fins lucrativos comprometida com a inovação na prática clínica, educação e pesquisa, fornecendo compaixão, conhecimento e respostas para todos que precisam de cura. Visite a Rede de Notícias da Mayo Clinic para obter outras notícias da Mayo Clinic. 

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    Mayo Clinic

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  • استئصال المبيضين لدى النساء الأصغر سنًا يرتبط بزيادة خطر الإصابة بداء باركنسون  

    استئصال المبيضين لدى النساء الأصغر سنًا يرتبط بزيادة خطر الإصابة بداء باركنسون  

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    Newswise — يرتبط الاستئصال الجراحي للمبيضين بزيادة خطر الإصابة بداء باركنسون والباركنسونية لدى النساء الأصغر من 43 عامًا، بحسب ما نشره باحثو مايو كلينك في مجلةجاما نتورك اوبن.  

    باستخدام بيانات السجل الصحي لمشروع علم الأوبئة في روتشستر، ضمت الدراسة 2,750 امرأة خضعن لجراحة استئصال المبيضين، وهي إجراء طبي يعرف باسم الاستئصال الثنائي للمبيض، و2,749 امرأة لم يخضعن لها. وكان سبب إجراء الجراحة هو وجود حالة مرضية حميدة (غير سرطانية) – مثل: الانتباذ البطاني الرحمي، أو التكيسات، أو غيرها من الحالات – أو للوقاية من السرطان. لقد وجد الباحثون أنه لكل 48 امرأة أجرت الجراحة في عمر أصغر من 43 عامًا، أُصيبت امرأة واحدة بداء باركنسون، مقارنة بالنساء في نفس العمر اللاتي لم يخضعن لاستئصال المبيضين.  

    داء باركنسون هو اضطراب يتفاقم تدريجيًا ويؤثر على الجهاز العصبي وأجزاء الجسم التي تتحكم بها الأعصاب. الرُعاش هو أحد الأعراض الشائعة لهذا الاضطراب، لكنه قد يسبب أيضًا التيبّس وتباطؤ الحركة. وعادة ما يصاحبه الخَرَف، واضطرابات النوم، ومشكلات الأمعاء والمثانة. الباركنسونية هو مصطلح عام يصف تباطؤ الحركة مع التيبّس أو الرُعاش أو فقدان التوازن. 

    يُصاب الرجال بداء باركنسون أكثر من النساء بمقدار الضعفين بين عموم السكان، مما يرجح أن العوامل المتعلقة بجنس الشخص تلعب دورًا في الإصابة. الـمِبيَضان هما المصدر الأساسي لهرمون الإستروجين لدى السيدات. وقد يُوصى بإجراء استئصال جراحي للـمبيضين بسبب السرطان والطفرات الجينية وغيرها من الحالات المرضية. وعندما يُستأصل الـمِبيَضان قبل بلوغ المرأة مرحلة انقطاع الطمث، فإنها بذلك تفقد المصدر الرئيسي لهرمون الإستروجين وغيره من الهرمونات، مما يسبب خللًا وظيفيًا مفاجئًا في الغدد الصماء. 

    تؤكد نتائج هذه الدراسة ما توصلت إليه دراسة أُجريت في 2008 تشير إلى أن نقص الإستروجين الناتج عن استئصال المبيضين لدى النساء الأصغر سنًا قد يرتبط بزيادة خطر الإصابة بداء باركنسون والباركنسونية. تدعم هذه النتائج التوجيهات الحالية بخصوص عدم جواز استئصال المبيضين للوقاية من سرطان المبيضين لدى النساء المعرضات لخطر متوسط للإصابة بالسرطان، بحسب ما أفاد به والتر روكا، دكتور الطب، وطبيب الأعصاب والأوبئة في مايو كلينك والمؤلف الأول لهذه الدراسة. 

    وأضاف: بالنسبة للنساء اللاتي يحملنَ متغيرًا جينيًا مرتفع الخطورة للإصابة بسرطان المبيضين، فقد يُنصح باستئصال المبيضين قبل بلوغ مرحلة انقطاع الطمث، ولكن يجب أن تتلقى تلك النساء علاج بهرمون الإستروجين بعد إجراء الجراحة حتى بلوغ سن 50 أو 51 عامًا، وهو العمر التقريبي لحدوث انقطاع الطمث التلقائي.  

    يقول دكتور روكا: “إلى يومنا هذا، لا يُنصح باستعمال علاج بهرمون الإستروجين للوقاية من الخَرَف أو الباركنسونية بعد انقطاع الطمث التلقائي لدى النساء بين 46 و55 عامًا”. ”لكن تشير هذه الدراسة والدراسات السابقة إلى ضرورة إعطاء علاج بهرمون الإستروجين للنساء دون سن 46 عاما اللاتي خضعن لجراحة استئصال المبيضين. فالنساء الأكثر عرضة للخطر هن من تعرضن لانقطاع الطمث قبل بلوغ 40 عامًا بسبب جراحة استئصال المبيضين”. 

    موَّل المعهد الوطني للشيخوخة (المعاهد الوطنية للصحة) هذه الدراسة بشكل جزئي.  للحصول على القائمة الكاملة للمؤلفين وانتماءاتهم المؤسسية، راجع الورقة البحثية.  

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    نبذة عن مايو كلينك 
    مايو كلينك هي مؤسسة غير ربحية تلتزم بالابتكار في الممارسات السريرية والتعليم والبحث وتوفير التعاطف والخبرة لكل مَن يحتاج إلى الاستشفاء والرد على استفساراته. لمعرفة المزيد من أخبار مايو كلينك، تفضَّل بزيارة شبكة مايو كلينك الإخبارية.  

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    Mayo Clinic

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  • How mHealth Can Put an Extra Spin on Your Healthcare Product | Entrepreneur

    How mHealth Can Put an Extra Spin on Your Healthcare Product | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    The world has become more comfortable with the opportunity to have a personal therapist or a dietician in our pocket. Now, digital forms of communication with other doctors are increasing in popularity, and they’re considered a more convenient means of contact. Patients really like these solutions. In the J.D.Powers study of telehealth satisfaction, 94% of patients who received medical services through a telehealth provider said they would use it to receive medical services in the future.

    As part of telehealth, mHealth can improve the healthcare system by increasing access to care, improving communication and saving money for patients and providers. You can also integrate mHealth solutions with existing electronic health records (EHR) to provide a more comprehensive view of a patient’s health.

    Add value to your healthcare product by providing your clients with a way to improve the quality of care in various fields. There are programs for chronic conditions, remote monitoring, patient data, electronic records, and e-prescriptions, along with fitness and wellness applications.

    Related: Why M-health Apps are the New Revolution India is Bidding For

    How can mHealth be integrated with EHR/EMR, patient portals and telehealth solutions?

    EHRs are patients’ digital medical histories used by healthcare providers. mHealth can supplement EHRs by providing real-time data to make treatment decisions. For example, if the mHealth app monitors a patient’s blood sugar levels, a clinic can use this information to adjust the patient’s insulin regimen. Tracking health metrics, such as steps taken or weight loss, will also give doctors meaningful information without too much hassle for the treated person.

    Patient portals allow patients to access their EHRs, schedule appointments and communicate with their providers. In this case, mHealth can improve patient engagement by providing reminders and notifications about upcoming meetings or test results.

    Additionally, mobile devices can support telehealth services such as remote monitoring and consultations. mHealth can provide real-time patient condition data to a faraway provider, which is irreplaceable in emergencies. Suppose a patient has a heart attack, and a mHealth device monitors their heart rate. The provider will be notified immediately and can dispatch the urgent care on time.

    What does it take to develop an innovative mHealth solution?

    The solid idea comes first. A must-have for it is a profound understanding of healthcare professionals’ and patients’ insights. It is also crucial to have a robust technology platform to support the new feature.

    Your top concerns should be:

    1. The privacy and security implications: Mobile devices are often less secure than traditional computers, so taking precautions to protect sensitive information is essential.

    2. User needs: Think through the pains you are addressing, and come up with a clear vision of how your mHealth solution will help.

    3. Technical capabilities: Find out what technical capabilities you will require.

    4. Regulatory environment assessment: If your idea taps the areas outside your primary product domain, you must consult about regulatory requirements for the new field.

    5. Business model: The revenue will vary depending on the business model. Device sales are the most lucrative, whereas “premium content” is at the bottom.

    6. Implementation strategy: Decide how your mHealth solution will be deployed and adopted by users.

    Related: 10 Health Tech Trends Entrepreneurs Should Keep in Mind for the Next Decade

    How do mHealth add-ons bring value to your healthcare clients?

    mHealth add-ons can help improve outcomes and reduce costs in healthcare. By providing real-time data and feedback, they let healthcare professionals make more informed decisions about patient care while helping patients take a more active role in their health and wellness.

    Apps can also help reduce the number of readmissions to the hospital. One study found that heart attack survivors who used a mobile app to track their symptoms and medication use had a 52% lower risk of re-hospitalization within 30 days than those who did not. It also helped patients stay on top of their medications and appointments.

    Telecom solutions can help providers communicate by providing secure messaging platforms, appointment scheduling tools and patient portals.

    Then comes preventing and managing chronic diseases. mHealth is very successful in promoting patients’ adherence to treatment. The apps can impact symptom management positively, cutting the need for hospitalizations and active physician interferences.

    And last but not least, mHealth solutions can help healthcare organizations save money. The savings came from a reduction in the number of office visits, laboratory tests and radiology studies.

    What are the easiest ways to enhance your product with a mHealth solution?

    1. Incorporating mHealth into your product’s design to be compatible with smartphones and tablets.

    2. Integrate your product with a wearable device like a fitness tracker or smartwatch. Collect data on the user’s activity, patterns, etc., and use it to develop new treatments and regimens.

    3. Encourage patients to engage in their health more. You could add a goal-setting feature in the app to help patients take medication regularly, rest more or journal their symptoms.

    4. Post-hospital care can reduce readmissions. A discharge planning tool would help patients and their caregivers arrange homecare services, follow-up appointments and more.

    Related: 3 Tech Trends Reshaping the Healthcare Industry

    Suppose you want to make a mHealth app. Next steps?

    Unless you have an extensive IT department with lots of free hands, it is better not to DIY. Partner with experienced developers who understand the needs of healthcare professionals and patients and have a robust technology platform.

    Ensure your mHealth product is user-friendly and beneficial for all stakeholders, and it will indeed become a beneficial asset in your portfolio.

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    Andrei Kasyanau

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  • Digitunity Report Identifies Need for Audio Enhancement

    Digitunity Report Identifies Need for Audio Enhancement

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    A new report examines the role of audio enhancement in education, healthcare and other applications.


    NORTH CONWAY, N.H., March 20, 2023 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Digitunity, a nonprofit organization committed to ending the digital divide, with the support of award-winning audio solution provider AVID Products, has released a commissioned report titled “The Crucial Role of Audio Enhancement in Learning & Health” on the role of audio enhancement in education, healthcare, and other applications. 

    The report is written by Richard West, a professor at Brigham Young University and an expert in using emerging technologies in education. The report examines how audio enhancement can be used in settings such as healthcare and education and provides recommendations to businesses, nonprofits and others who support digital equity on how they can incorporate audio enhancement in their work.

    Digitunity’s research shows how it is imperative to provide computers to the 36 million people in the United States who don’t have one, in order to connect them to educational and economic opportunities. However, the new report shows computers alone often are not enough. Audio devices like headphones, speakers, and other similar peripherals, greatly enhance individuals’ experience using a computer.

    “Digitunity operates on the belief that device ownership is the cornerstone of digital equity. However, it is just part of the digital equity equation,” Scot Henley, executive director of Digitunity, said. “This report clearly defines the need for audio enhancement as one of the many key hardware and software essentials that enable the productive use of a computer.”

    AVID is one of the cornerstone partners of Digitunity’s Corporate Pledge to End the Digital Divide. They also offer audio products to Digitunity’s Digital Opportunity Network members at a discount from the list price. These projects are among many that the two organizations partner on in the quest to improve digital equity across the U.S.

    “Audio is an underappreciated primary sense. It has the ability to open the door to opportunity on a variety of levels,” said Tom Finn, president & CEO of AVID Products. “Audio transcends many aspects of our everyday lives, allowing us to connect with one another, and with ourselves, through music, entertainment and information. Providing tools that aid in delivering sound to anyone, anywhere, anytime is our mission.” 

    This report also comes on the heels of Digitunity’s January 2023 webinar highlighting device essentials for digital equity. These essentials include audio accessories like speakers and headsets. They’re also featured in Digitunity’s “Device Essentials for Digital Equity” infographic that illustrates the factors that support device adoption and use.

    Through these publications and other similar works to be released, Digitunity intends to leverage its body of work and national lens to inform the field and provide communities with novel ideas on how to eliminate the digital divide. To learn more about Digitunity’s partnership with AVID, its Device Essentials, and other initiatives, please visit digitunity.org.  

    About Digitunity

    Since the 1980s, Digitunity has advanced digital inclusion by connecting donors of technology with organizations serving people in need. Our mission is to ensure everyone who needs a computer has one, along with robust internet connectivity and digital literacy skills. To learn more about our mission, please visit digitunity.org.

    About AVID Products

    Founded in 1953, AVID is a 100 percent employee-owned company supplying mindful, innovative, and accessible audio solutions to learners of all ages within education, healthcare, hospitality, travel, and more. They are passionate about providing solutions with impact and delivering an outstanding experience every step of the way. Learn more at avidproducts.com. 

    Source: Digitunity

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  • Maryland House Passes Bill Requiring Gender-Affirming Care Under Medicaid

    Maryland House Passes Bill Requiring Gender-Affirming Care Under Medicaid

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    Maryland’s House of Delegates passed a bill on Saturday that would expand the state’s Medicaid program to cover gender-affirming procedures for transgender, intersex, nonbinary, two-spirit and all other gender-diverse people.

    The Trans Health Equity Act, HB0283, would play an important role in ensuring that low-income transgender Maryland residents on Medicaid can have access to hormone therapy, puberty blockers, hair alterations, surgeries on the face and other parts of the body along with several other gender-affirming procedures that are often covered by private insurance.

    According to data from the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, 24,000 Maryland residents are transgender, and 6,000 are enrolled in Medicaid. In 2022, 98 transgender Maryland residents got gender-affirming care through Medicaid.

    But the state’s Medicaid program currently only covers some gender-affirming procedures, including mental health services, hormone replacement therapy, and gender reassignment surgery for patients 18 and older who meet specific qualifications. Meanwhile, gender-affirming care is commonly covered by private insurance.

    The legislation, a similar version to one that failed last year, passed in the House final vote by a count of 93-37. During the committee meetings, several Democrats spoke about their support for the legislation, including delegate Anne Kaiser who sponsored the bill.

    “We don’t have representation in this House by anyone in the trans community. So myself and, my 59 co-sponsors we are your voice. We are your representation,” Kaiser said.

    She continued: “We recognize that what is being said nationally … about trans people are the same lies that were said about gays and lesbians 20 years ago, and that’s part of the reason I feel the passion and the connection to our trans brothers and sisters, our neighbors, our community.”

    House Republicans proposed an amendment to the bill on Friday that would prevent qualifying individuals under age 18 from being provided gender-affirming care — a move that reflects nationwide attacks on such life-saving health care for transgender youth.

    “This is not about health. This is about male-to-female transition and female-to-male transition of children,” Delegate Mark Fisher, the Republican who proposed the amendment, said, according to the Baltimore Banner, sharing his concerns about minors being able to receive surgeries such as vaginectomies, mastectomies and penectomies.

    But delegate Bonnie Cullison, a Democrat, emphasized that “this is absolutely about health.” Cullison countered Fisher’s argument by adding that the surgeries he’s concerned about would only be provided under extreme circumstances and when medically necessary and indicated for the individual’s health. The bill also states that all gender-affirming medical care would only be done after a consultation between a parent, patient and medical provider.

    Fisher’s proposed amendment to bar minors from receiving gender-affirming care failed by 90-37, according to the Baltimore Banner. A second Republican-backed amendment aiming to prevent gender-affirming care to minors without the consent of both parents failed in the House by 91-36.

    The legislation will now go to the Senate and, if passed, will be sent to Gov. Wes Moore, who has previously expressed support for the legislation. The bill’s passage in the House arrives amid the 426 anti-LGBTQ legislation sweeping the nation, from bans on drag shows to limits on gender-affirming care.

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  • The University of Queensland-Ochsner Health Medical Program Celebrates High Residency Match; See Ochsner’s Full Match Day Results for 2023

    The University of Queensland-Ochsner Health Medical Program Celebrates High Residency Match; See Ochsner’s Full Match Day Results for 2023

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    Newswise — NEW ORLEANS, La. – The University of Queensland-Ochsner Health (UQ-Ochsner) Doctor of Medicine (MD) program and Ochsner Graduate Medical Education on March 17 celebrated Match Day 2023 – a rite of passage in which applicants from around the globe learn who has been selected for which U.S. residency program to start the next chapter of medical training.

    This year, 78 medical graduates from UQ-Ochsner’s Class of 2022 entered the match and received a 96% match rate through the National Residency Match Program (NRMP) –- one that exceeded the national match rate for U.S. medical schools.

    Leonardo Seoane, MD, FACP, Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer at Ochsner Health said, “Match Day is the culmination of years of dedication and hard work, and we are so proud of our graduates on this milestone day. Our medical school’s consistently high match rate is a testament to the academic excellence of our MD program, as well as to the stellar work of our students, faculty, and staff.”

    Since 2009, UQ and Ochsner Health has provided the opportunity for medical students who are United States citizens to obtain an integrated, global medical education. Students complete two years in Brisbane, Australia and in the third and fourth years, students attend the UQ-Ochsner Clinical School at Ochsner Health where they pursue their clinical rotations, guided by a clinical faculty that has been training medical students, residents, and fellows for more than 75 years. Ochsner Health is one of the largest independent academic medical centers in the United States.

    “We are honored to offer a medical program that spans two continents, providing students with a unique global perspective as they train to be medical professionals,” Dr. Seoane said. “This valuable experience in a health system in Australia and the United States prepares them to thrive professionally and with compassion in today’s dynamic healthcare industry.”

    The 96% match rate marks the twelfth consecutive year that the school’s match rate has been 90% or above. Overall, more than 856 UQ-Ochsner graduates have successfully matched into US ACGME-accredited programs in nearly every state and every specialty. For the Class of 2022, more than 65% of UQ-Ochsner graduates matched in their top three choices for residency.

    This year the graduates matched into residency training programs at many prestigious institutions across the country, including Ochsner Health, University of Texas-Houston, Oregon Health Science Center, University of California Davis, University of California Los Angeles, University of California San Francisco, Mayo Clinic, Harvard University, and the Lahey Clinic, to name a few. Students also matched at the in-state programs at Tulane University, LSU New Orleans, and Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport. These matches span a variety of specialties including Anesthesia, Emergency Medicine, Family and Internal Medicine, General Surgery, Vascular Surgery, Neurology, OB/GYN, Otolaryngology, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, and Radiology.

    Of the UQ-Ochsner medical graduates matched this year:

    • 38% are remaining in Louisiana for their residency
    • 62% matched outside of Louisiana for medical training

    Our newly matched graduates will start their residency training programs in July 2023. 

    To match with a residency program, medical students enter the NRMP during their final months of medical school. Throughout the fall and into the early winter, students apply and interview with residency programs as they complete their programs. From January to February, candidates and residency programs submit a preference list to the NRMP, which then uses a computerized mathematical algorithm to match programs and applicants. The final placement results are revealed each year on Match Day. For more information about the National Residency Match Program, visit www.nrmp.org.

    For more information on the UQ-Ochsner Doctor of Medicine program, visit https://ochsner.uq.edu.au/.

    Graduate Medical Education at Ochsner

    Graduate Medical Education at Ochsner filled:

    • 100% of positions to students from across the globe participating in this year’s match
    • 38% of positions were matched with students from within Louisiana
    • 52% of positions were matched with students from outside of Louisiana

    “We are thrilled that, once again, all positions offered by our Graduate Medical Education Office were filled in this year’s match. Ochsner offers high-quality programs, and our high fill rate record is a testament to our excellence,” said Ronald Amedee, MD, Dean of Medical Education for Ochsner Health and Head of University of Queensland Ochsner Clinical School. “We are excited to welcome residents and fellows from nationally-renowned medical schools in Louisiana and across the country.”

    The Ochsner Department of Graduate Medical Education offers 31 ACGME (Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education) accredited residency and fellowship programs in a variety of specialties, including anesthesiology, emergency medicine, internal medicine and more.

    Ochsner Graduate Medical Education sponsors programs that are properly structured, monitored, and evaluated to improve quality of care for our patients. GME provides programs that emphasize personal, clinical, and professional development for over 1,000 trainees at our campuses each year.

    For more information on Ochsner Graduate Medical Education, visit https://education.ochsner.org/gme.

     

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    About Ochsner Health

    Ochsner Health is an integrated healthcare system with a mission to Serve, Heal, Lead, Educate and Innovate. Celebrating 80 years in 2022, it leads nationally in cancer care, cardiology, neurosciences, liver and kidney transplants and pediatrics, among other areas. Ochsner is consistently named both the top hospital and top children’s hospital in Louisiana by U.S. News & World Report. The not-for-profit organization is inspiring healthier lives and stronger communities. Its focus is on preventing diseases and providing patient-centered care that is accessible, affordable, convenient and effective. Ochsner Health pioneers new treatments, deploys emerging technologies and performs groundbreaking research, including 4,000 patients enrolled in 685 clinical studies in 2022. It has more than 38,000 employees and over 4,600 employed and affiliated physicians in over 90 medical specialties and subspecialties. It operates 48 hospitals and more than 370 health and urgent care centers across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Gulf South; and its cutting-edge Connected Health digital medicine program is caring for patients beyond its walls. In 2022, Ochsner Health treated more than 1.4 million people from every state and 62 countries. As Louisiana’s top healthcare educator of physicians, Ochsner Health and its partners educate thousands of healthcare professionals annually. To learn more, visit https://www.ochsner.org/.

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    Ochsner Health

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  • The new insulin price cap: What you need to know

    The new insulin price cap: What you need to know

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    BYLINE: Tessa Roy

    Newswise — In early March, Eli Lilly made headlines after announcing a new $35 price cap on insulin for individuals with private insurance. Novo Nordisk and Sanofi made their own price reduction announcements shortly after Eli Lilly’s move.

    Here, Rodica Pop-Busui, M.D., Ph.D., Larry D. Soderquist Professor of Diabetes and Associate Director for Clinical Research, Mentoring, and Development at the Elizabeth Weiser Caswell Diabetes Institute discusses the potential impacts of the new cost reduction on people with diabetes.

    Can you discuss the impact the new price caps will have for patients?

    Pop-Busui: Diabetes is the most expensive chronic disease in the United states. As many as one in four Americans compromise their health by rationing insulin because they cannot afford it, and as a result skip or ration doses to make ends meet. For millions of Americans, skyrocketing insulin prices have made it financially out of reach. Additionally, diabetes prevalence is inversely related to household income level, with the poorest communities seeing the highest rates.

    According to the National Institutes of Health, those who earn less than $30,000 per year are three times as likely to have diabetes than those who make over $80,000 per year; additionally, those lower on the socioeconomic status ladder are more likely to develop diabetes, experience more complications and die sooner than those higher up on the SES ladder. Moreover, Black and Hispanic individuals are more than 50% more likely to have diabetes than non-Hispanic white individuals and are 2.3 times more likely to die from diabetes than their white counterparts. 

    Prices for insulin nearly tripled between 2002 and 2013. Thus, there is an insulin affordability crisis in America that impacts over 90 million Americans living with diabetes. Often, they must choose between basic living expenses and lifesaving medication.

    The American Diabetes Association has been at the forefront and is the leading voice advocating for insulin affordability for years. The ADA is working to ensure that all people with diabetes have access to the care they need.  

    Would this have any impact on how insurers can cover insulin?

    Pop-Busui:  Policymakers must use co-pay caps and other policies to make diabetes treatment more affordable. The Inflation Reduction Act is helping 3.9 million Americans living with diabetes on Medicare to afford insulin. But millions are not able to afford their insulin, even with their employer insurance. 

    Representatives Angie Craig, Dan Kildee and Lucy McBath reintroduced the Affordable Insulin Now Act, creating a $35 monthly copay cap for insulin in commercial insurance plans. The legislation previously failed to pass, but the ADA is actively supporting it today.

    The ADA also supported the INSULIN Act, introduced by Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Susan Collins last year and continues to work with the Diabetes Caucus co-chairs to advance a price limit on insulin in commercial plans. 

    What implications does this have for other companies like Eli Lilly? Is it possible that others will follow in their footsteps?

    Pop-Busui: This step Eli Lilly is taking is an important one. By limiting cost-sharing for its insulin, it’s encouraging other insulin manufacturers to do the same.

    While we have been able to help achieve significant progress on the issue of insulin affordability, including Medicare’s new out-of-pocket cost cap on insulin, state copay caps and patient assistance developments from insulin developers, our work is far from done. For instance, a key area the ADA is focused on includes supporting insulin co-pay cap legislation in more than 10 states. States that have passed legislation include Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware , District of Columbia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.

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    Michigan Medicine – University of Michigan

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  • House, Senate Reintroduce Bill to Increase Medicare Coverage of Chiropractic Services

    House, Senate Reintroduce Bill to Increase Medicare Coverage of Chiropractic Services

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    Newswise — Arlington, VA – Both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate have reintroduced legislation to increase access to Medicare-covered services provided by doctors of chiropractic. The Chiropractic Medicare Coverage Modernization Act (H.R. 1610 / S. 799) would bring Medicare’s coverage of chiropractic into alignment with most other federal programs and private health plans, giving seniors improved coverage of non-drug treatments to alleviate pain and improve function.

    The legislation was introduced March 14 by Reps. Gregory Steube (R-Fla.), Brian Higgins (D-N.Y), Mark Alford (R-Mo.) and John Larson (D-Conn.) in the House and Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) in the Senate. Both bills were introduced with a number of bipartisan original cosponsors. An identical bill that expired last year in Congress achieved more than 150 cosponsors in the House, split almost evenly between Democrats and Republications, and six cosponsors in the Senate.

    “The level of bipartisan support we achieved with the last bill tells us that this is an issue that resonates and has the momentum to go all the way,” noted John Falardeau, ACA senior vice president of public policy and advocacy. “We thank Sens. Blumenthal and Cramer and Reps. Steube, Higgins, Alford and Larson for their leadership in reintroducing this important legislation, which will benefit America’s seniors.”

    “Giving Medicare beneficiaries more options for non-drug services to treat common musculoskeletal conditions such as back pain is critical in ongoing efforts to reduce opioid overuse,” noted ACA President Michael Martin, DC. “Chiropractic care is a part of the solution for many patients who seek to avoid or reduce their reliance on prescription pain medications.”

    H.R. 1610/S. 799 would update the Medicare statute that has limited beneficiary access to chiropractic services for over 50 years. The bill adds no new benefits; it simply allows Medicare beneficiaries access to the profession’s broad-based, non-drug approach to pain management and musculoskeletal health. This includes manual manipulation of the spine (the only chiropractic service now covered), as well as services such as manual manipulation of the extremities and numerous other non-drug treatments, evaluation and management services, and diagnostic imaging. The range of services available to beneficiaries would be determined by a chiropractor’s state licensure.

    Chiropractic services and other nonpharmacologic approaches to pain management have become an important part of national efforts to reduce the overuse and abuse of prescription opioid pain medications. The opioid crisis has taken its toll among seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries as it has in communities nationwide.

    Learn more at www.acatoday.org/medicare.

    About the American Chiropractic Association

    The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) is the largest professional chiropractic organization in the United States. ACA attracts the most principled and accomplished chiropractors, who understand that it takes more to be called an ACA chiropractor. We are leading our profession in the most constructive and far-reaching ways—by working hand in hand with other health care professionals, by lobbying for pro-chiropractic legislation and policies, by supporting meaningful research and by using that research to inform our treatment practices. We also provide professional and educational opportunities for all our members and are committed to being a positive and unifying force for the practice of modern chiropractic. To learn more, visit www.acatoday.org.

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    American Chiropractic Association

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  • Hearing aids donated to Ukrainian refugees in response to article published in The Hearing Journal

    Hearing aids donated to Ukrainian refugees in response to article published in The Hearing Journal

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    Newswise — March 15, 2023 – In response to an article published in the February issue of The Hearing Journal, the audiology and hearing solutions company ReSound donated nearly 120 rechargeable hearing aids to address the hearing health care crisis among Ukrainian refugees in Poland. The Hearing Journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.

    The hearing aids were given to the Heart of Hearing team, which is led by King Chung, PhD, CCC-A, professor of audiology at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, IL and the director of the audiology program there. Over the past 12 years, groups of faculty and students from Northern Illinois University and other universities have traveled to eight countries and provided free hearing services to more than 4,000 people.

    When research drives action

    During Thanksgiving break in 2022, a team from Northern Illinois University and Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte in Brazil traveled to the Jewish Community Centre (JCC) in Kraków, Poland to address the hearing health care needs of Ukrainian refugees. As Dr. Chung explains, “After unsuccessful attempts to obtain rechargeable hearing aids from manufacturers, we brought four pairs of older lab hearing aids with us and planned to fit them to refugees with hearing loss.”

    During the trip, the team conducted otoscope exams, tympanometry, distortion product otoacoustic emissions, and pure-tone audiometry. Among the estimated 150 refugees tested, significant hearing loss was documented: approximately 66 needed hearing aids for the first time. The Hearing Journal covered the trip, and reading Dr. Chung’s description of the unmet needs motivated the donation from ReSound.

    The project is ongoing, and more help is needed

    The team plans subsequent trips to Poland to fit the newly donated hearing aids and provide follow-up services. The Hearing Journal will be writing about this ongoing work throughout 2023, so please watch for updates.

    To make a monetary donation to support the team’s travels, please:

    • Use the Northern Illinois University donation website: https://foundation.myniu.com/give.php and choose “Audiology General”
    • Then send an email to NIU Foundation at [email protected] to specify your name and donation amount for Heart of Hearing for Ukrainian Refugees—it is very important to do both steps

    To donate hearing aids, contact .

    “While the impact of the war is often expressed as the number of casualties in the media, the damage to people’s hearing is not mentioned,” Dr. Chung notes. “Ukrainian refugees are not only displaced by the war, but many are also left with a permanent disability that can negatively affect their communication abilities and cause long-term disability.”

    In addition, Dr. Chung points outs, hearing loss “will likely to be one of the most prevalent noncommunicable disabilities among the people who stayed in Ukraine, because of the continuous and relentless missile attacks. We strive to raise awareness of the great hearing health care needs among the people of Ukraine and . . . hope more people will join our cause to provide hearing and amplification services and devices.”

    Read [Significant Hearing Loss Found in Ukrainian Refugees]

    Wolters Kluwer provides trusted clinical technology and evidence-based solutions that engage clinicians, patients, researchers and students in effective decision-making and outcomes across healthcare. We support clinical effectiveness, learning and research, clinical surveillance and compliance, as well as data solutions. For more information about our solutions, visit https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/health and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter @WKHealth.

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    About The Hearing Journal 

    Established in 1947, The Hearing Journal is the leading publication in hearing health care, reaching more than 22,000 hearing healthcare professionals. Each month, the journal provides readers with accurate, timely, and practical information to help them in their practices. Read The Hearing Journal to find out about the latest developments in patient care, technology, practice management, and professional issues. Popular monthly features include Hearing Matters, Journal Club, Clinical Consultation, and Tot 10.

    About Wolters Kluwer

    Wolters Kluwer (WKL) is a global leader in professional information, software solutions, and services for the healthcare; tax and accounting; governance, risk and compliance; and legal and regulatory sectors. We help our customers make critical decisions every day by providing expert solutions that combine deep domain knowledge with specialized technology and services.

    Wolters Kluwer reported 2021 annual revenues of €4.8 billion. The group serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries, and employs approximately 20,000 people worldwide. The company is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands.

    For more information, visit www.wolterskluwer.com, follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

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    Wolters Kluwer Health: Lippincott

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  • Health Care Providers Rarely Ask Patients About Access to Firearms

    Health Care Providers Rarely Ask Patients About Access to Firearms

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    Newswise — Health care providers rarely ask patients if they have access to firearms in their home – a question that could diminish the risk of serious injury or death and encourage conversations about secure firearm storage, according to a Rutgers study.

    However, according to a study in Preventive Medicine, led by the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center at Rutgers, health care providers rarely screen their patients for firearm access.

    Researchers surveyed 3,510 English-speaking adults in five states: Colorado, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey and Texas, asking if a health care provider had ever asked them whether they have access to firearms.

    They found that 17.1 percent of participants had been asked by a health care provider about firearm access. This number was largely consistent across groups, with 20.1 percent of those with children 17 years old or younger, 25.5 percent of those with a history of mental health treatment and 21.4 percent of firearm owners ever having been screened for firearm access.

    “Although we know that firearm access increases the risk for fatal injury for everyone in the home, health care providers are rarely asking about firearm access,” said Allison Bond, a doctoral student at the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center and the lead author of the study. “In order to prevent these injuries and deaths, healthcare providers need consider adding screening for firearm access into standard practice so that they are better positioned to then provide resources on secure firearm storage to the families that would most benefit from that information.”

    Researchers also examined which factors were associated with greater odds of having been screened by a health care provider for firearm access.

    They found that individuals with a lifetime history of suicidal thoughts, men, those who identified as white, parents with children 17 years old or younger living in the home, those with a history of mental health treatment and firearm owners were more likely to have been screened.

    Among firearm owners, those with children in the home ages 17 or younger and those with a history of mental health treatment were more likely to have been screened. Even among groups with greater odds of having been screened, the majority of individuals had never been asked about firearm access.

    “Given these results, it appears that screening is more likely among certain health care providers, like pediatricians and mental health care providers,” said Michael Anestis, executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center, an associate professor in the Rutgers School of Public Health and senior author of the study. “It may also be that health care providers are often relying upon their sense of who is most likely to own a firearm when making a decision whether or not to ask.”

    “The problem with that, however, is that the demographics of firearm ownership have changed in the past few years and many of those at greatest risk for firearm injury or death never present in specialized mental health care settings,” said Anestis. “We need health care providers to broaden their vision of the role of firearm access to ensure they can help the greatest number of people.”

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    Rutgers University-New Brunswick

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  • MRI turns 50: Expert Brad Sutton explains its history and role in understanding the aging brain

    MRI turns 50: Expert Brad Sutton explains its history and role in understanding the aging brain

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    Newswise — March 16, 2023, marks 50 years since Paul Lauterbur published his seminal Nature paper establishing zeugmatography — now familiar to most as magnetic resonance imaging or simply MRI — as a viable way to visualize objects with a magnetic field and radiofrequency signals.

    A faculty member at Stony Brook University in New York at the time of the discovery, Lauterbur was recruited to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the 1980s and won the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for developing MRI along with British physicist Sir Peter Mansfield.

    Lauterbur’s first human MRI scanner is preserved in the Illinois MRI Exhibit at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, where cutting-edge advancements in medical imaging include:

    Most recently, researchers have unlocked the ability to conduct scans in real time and see the physical mechanics of activities like speaking, singing, and swallowing. They have also developed techniques to use MRI to visualize genetic expression in the brain when learning.

    Brad Sutton, a professor of bioengineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the technical director of the Biomedical Imaging Center at the Beckman Institute, comments below.

    How has MRI technology changed the scope of medical research in the last 50 years?

    MRI has become one of the most important tools for doctors to see inside the body to understand what is happening in disease. MRI shows soft tissues like the brain, the heart, and other muscles and organs. It provides several ways to view the status of the tissue, such as looking at the shape, changes to the structure, blood flow, and inflammation. Being able to see inside the body quickly and clearly has led to advanced treatments and longer, healthier lives. MRI is a flexible imaging technique, and many physicians, scientists, and engineers continue to develop new ways to see disease earlier, enabling more effective treatments.

    The MRI scanners themselves continue to improve. One way that the scanners have changed is the magnetic field strength. This is measured in Teslas as the unit — the earth’s magnetic field is approximately 0.00005 Tesla. Paul Lauterbur’s first human MRI magnet was 0.09 Tesla, or about 2,000 times the Earth’s magnetic field. This enabled him to see structures in the body, but grainy and at low resolutions. Modern clinical MRI systems are 3 Tesla. Recently, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Carle Hospital jointly purchased an MRI magnet that is 7 Tesla. With this higher magnetic field strength, 75 times stronger than Lauterbur’s initial magnet, we can localize function in the brain down to about 0.5 millimeters, clearly and with excellent contrast.

    How does advancing MRI technology help protect human health, especially in an increasingly aging population?

    New imaging technologies using MRI allow us to see how the body changes with age and disease, and how the body responds to interventions. For example, we can see how the brain changes as we get older. It is not just that important parts of the brain decrease in size; the way in which different parts of the brain communicate with each other also changes. This leads to less efficient processing of information and can lead to disruptions in things like decisionmaking.

    As the population ages, we need effective interventions that will allow us to maintain our brain function late into life. MRI is helping with this too, enabling clinical trials on drugs that impact the brain, but also on non-pharmaceutical interventions like aerobic exercise, yoga, and brain-specific training.  

    What can we expect or hope for from the next 50 years of MRI research?

    In the next few years, we will see new MRI systems with even higher magnetic fields, providing even higher spatial resolution images of the body and brain.

    At the same time, we are also seeing new MRI systems that are small and portable, which can be placed in the doctor’s office for easy access. We will see systems that integrate information across all patients to better understand what we are seeing in the image and what it means for the health of the patient. We will also see new information when looking at the images, with new techniques leading to images where the signal intensity in the image represents quantitative information about the status of the tissue, including concentrations of key molecules in each pixel of the image, mechanical and electrical properties of the tissues, information about how the brain is performing its activities including changes to the tissue structure and genetic expression, and the systems will produce actionable 3D visualizations of the person in the scanner so that a doctor can perform virtual interventions and virtual surgeries to see the best way to treat the patient.

    Given the pace of development from when Paul Lauterbur imaged his first living sample (a clam) until now, I am certain that we will see these developments before another 50 years.

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    Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology

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  • Pfizer Agrees to Buy Seagen for $43 Billion

    Pfizer Agrees to Buy Seagen for $43 Billion

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    Pfizer Agrees to Buy Seagen for $43 Billion

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  • ISPOR Announces New CEO

    ISPOR Announces New CEO

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    Newswise — Lawrenceville, NJ, USA—March 13, 2023—ISPOR—The Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research announced today that its Board of Directors has appointed Rob Abbott as the Society’s new CEO and executive director after an extensive search process. Mr Abbott is assuming the role of ISPOR’s CEO today, succeeding Nancy S. Berg who is retiring. 

    Mr Abbott is a highly accomplished, visionary leader with more than 20 years’ experience providing executive-level strategic and operational leadership in businesses, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), government environments, as well as professional societies and associations. Most recently, he served as executive director and CEO of Health Technology Assessment International, a global nonprofit society focused on health technology assessment (HTA). He is recognized for his knowledge in HTA, strategy, and stakeholder relations. He has successfully guided a number of organizations through their transformation and growth. He is also a pioneering social responsibility thinker and advisor who has authored 2 books and numerous articles on the nature of business and society. Mr Abbott holds an undergraduate honors degree from the University of Victoria and graduate degrees from the University of Toronto. Additionally, he holds professional designations as both a management consultant and an ICF-accredited coach. 

    “After a rigorous and comprehensive executive search process, I could not be more pleased to announce Rob Abbott as ISPOR’s next CEO!,” says ISPOR President Jan Hansen. “Rob is uniquely qualified—his bold vision, leadership experience, team-based orientation, and commitment to growth, make him the ‘right choice’ in further accelerating ISPOR’s impact and advancing ISPOR’s mission to improve healthcare decisions. Of course, we are certainly grateful to Nancy Berg for her many accomplishments and contributions. Rob will no doubt build upon her legacy, as the ‘next chapter’ in ISPOR’s evolution unfolds. It is indeed with great pleasure that I welcome Rob to the ISPOR organization!” 

    “It’s a privilege and an honor to succeed Nancy Berg as CEO of ISPOR,” stated Mr Abbott. ”The organization has an enviable reputation—and impact—globally. I look forward to working with the Board, staff, and members of ISPOR to help ensure that the organization continues to grow in its reach, its impact, and its membership. In particular, I want to leverage our collective influence to make HEOR essential to healthcare decision makers across the globe.”

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    ABOUT ISPOR
    ISPOR—The Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR), is an international, multistakeholder, nonprofit dedicated to advancing HEOR excellence to improve decision making for health globally. The Society is the leading source for scientific conferences, peer-reviewed and MEDLINE®-indexed publications, good practices guidance, education, collaboration, and tools/resources in the field.
    Website  | LinkedIn  | Twitter (@ispororg)  |  YouTube  |  Facebook  |  Instagram  

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    ISPOR–The Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research

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  • HSS Study Shows MISB, a Minimally Invasive Procedure for Treating Bunions, Does Not Affect Flatfoot

    HSS Study Shows MISB, a Minimally Invasive Procedure for Treating Bunions, Does Not Affect Flatfoot

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    Newswise — Existing thought in the orthopedic world is that treating a bunion with the minimally invasive procedure MISB may make a person’s flatfoot worse. A new study by researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York City shows that this procedure does not make flatfoot worse in people with asymptomatic flatfoot and may even improve the condition. The findings were presented today at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS).

    “Because of the way the bunion correction is performed with MISB, there is a thought that it may not help stabilize the foot in the same way that the more extensive, open procedures performed at the midfoot do,” said study senior author Anne Holland Johnson, MD, a foot and ankle surgeon at HSS. “When someone has a flatfoot deformity, which is essentially a fallen arch, the idea is that fixing the bunion through this minimally invasive technique could make the flatfoot worse because we cut the bones closer to the toe. What we found is that it was quite the opposite—that fixing the bunion in a minimally invasive way caused no changes in the overall flatfoot dimensions.”

    “Bunion” is an umbrella term describing a variety of painful deformities at the base of the big toe. In the most common type of bunion, called hallux valgus, the big toe turns inward from its normal position and angles toward the second toe. Hallux valgus often presents with secondary structural deformities such as flatfoot, which can be symptomatic or asymptomatic (causing no symptoms).

    All techniques for treating bunions involve cutting the bones and repositioning them with metal screws. The minimally invasive chevron and akin bunionectomy (MISB) fixes the bunion by cutting the bones through tiny incisions in the skin. “The advantages of doing the surgery through small incisions include minimal to no pain after the surgery; immediate weight bearing, so you can walk normally on the foot; and faster return to day-to-day activities and sports,” said Dr. Johnson.

    The researchers conducted a retrospective study using a patient registry at HSS. In the registry, they identified patients who were over 18 years of age and were diagnosed with a bunion deformity between 2016 and 2021. Of this cohort, patients were included in the study if they underwent a MISB procedure to correct a hallux valgus deformity; reported their outcomes for at least one year and up to two years, as recorded by a patient-reported outcomes tool known as PROMIS; and had x-rays before and three months after surgery, at minimum. Using preoperative x-rays, the team identified individuals who had evidence of flatfoot; using a chart review, they also identified those with an asymptomatic flatfoot. These reviews yielded a study group of 35 patients with asymptomatic flatfoot and 47 patients without flatfoot.

    “We collected PROMIS surveys on all our patients. These are a series of questionnaires that have been validated for use in foot and ankle research and ask the patient about their function, pain, and mental health,” said Rami Mizher, lead author of the study and a research assistant in the Department of Foot and Ankle Surgery at HSS. The researchers found that MISB resulted in similar improvements in the two groups in physical function, pain interference (how often the pain interferes with daily life), pain intensity, and global physical health (overall patient health), as measured by the PROMIS survey. There were no significant preoperative to postoperative changes in PROMIS global mental health and depression measures in either group.

    A chart review showed there was no difference in complications in the two study groups.

    The researchers also examined pre- and post-operative x-rays to clinically assess how well the surgery corrected the bunion deformity and if it changed any of the flatfoot-related measurements. In both groups, there was a similar correction of the bunion deformity. In terms of the flatfoot outcomes, the researchers looked at three different parameters: calcaneal pitch, or the height of the foot arch; Meary’s angle, which measures how much a foot sags; and talonavicular coverage angle, which measures how much the foot turns outward. The first two measures didn’t have any significant changes, while the talonavicular coverage angle improved in the flatfoot group.

    “Our research shows that you can fix the bunion with this comparatively easier procedure and not make the flatfoot worse,” said Dr. Johnson. “It proves that minimally invasive bunion correction is a viable option for patients with flatfoot.”

    Authors: Rami Mizher, BS; Lavan Rajan, BA; Jaeyoung Kim, MD; Syian Srikumar, BS; Elizabeth Cody, MD; Anne Holland Johnson, MD; Scott Ellis, MD (HSS)

    About HSS

    HSS is the world’s leading academic medical center focused on musculoskeletal health. At its core is Hospital for Special Surgery, nationally ranked No. 1 in orthopedics (for the 13th consecutive year), No. 3 in rheumatology by U.S. News & World Report (2022-2023), and the best pediatric orthopedic hospital in NY, NJ and CT by U.S. News & World Report “Best Children’s Hospitals” list (2022-2023). In a survey of medical professionals in more than 20 countries by Newsweek, HSS is ranked world #1 in orthopedics for a third consecutive year (2023). Founded in 1863, the Hospital has the lowest complication and readmission rates in the nation for orthopedics, and among the lowest infection rates. HSS was the first in New York State to receive Magnet Recognition for Excellence in Nursing Service from the American Nurses Credentialing Center five consecutive times. An affiliate of Weill Cornell Medical College, HSS has a main campus in New York City and facilities in New Jersey, Connecticut and in the Long Island and Westchester County regions of New York State, as well as in Florida. In addition to patient care, HSS leads the field in research, innovation and education. The HSS Research Institute comprises 20 laboratories and 300 staff members focused on leading the advancement of musculoskeletal health through prevention of degeneration, tissue repair and tissue regeneration. The HSS Innovation Institute works to realize the potential of new drugs, therapeutics and devices. The HSS Education Institute is a trusted leader in advancing musculoskeletal knowledge and research for physicians, nurses, allied health professionals, academic trainees, and consumers in more than 145 countries. The institution is collaborating with medical centers and other organizations to advance the quality and value of musculoskeletal care and to make world-class HSS care more widely accessible nationally and internationally. www.hss.edu.

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    Hospital for Special Surgery

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  • Raising Awareness About Colorectal Cancer

    Raising Awareness About Colorectal Cancer

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    Newswise — With the arrival of March, Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, faculty and staff in the Department of Internal Medicine’s Section of Digestive Diseases are redoubling their efforts to spread the word about the importance of screening, especially in younger individuals and those with a family history of the disease.

    Colorectal cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death in the United States. Still, many people are unaware of the role screening plays in reducing their risk of developing the disease.

    “Caught early, this cancer has an excellent prognosis, and screening has been shown to decrease incidence and mortality,” said Xavier Llor, MD, PhD, professor of medicine (digestive diseases), Yale School of Medicine; medical director of the Cancer Screening and Prevention Program and Colorectal Cancer Prevention Program at Smilow Cancer Hospital and Yale Cancer Center.

    Despite the continued overall decline of colorectal cancer, recent statistics are worrisome, Llor said. According to the latest report from the American Cancer Society, the proportion of cases among those younger than 55 has increased and the progress against colorectal cancer as a whole has slowed.

    Llor recommends that health care providers start the discussion with patients by age 40, to increase the chances that they will get screened by 45. Individuals with a parent, sibling, or child who had colorectal cancer should start screening earlier, at age 40, he said.

    “It takes time and repeated reminders for many people to finally have a colorectal cancer screening done,” he said. “If we promote awareness together, with the help of general practitioners, we can make a difference.”

    Since forming one of the nation’s first sections of hepatology and then gastroenterology over 50 years ago, Yale’s Section of Digestive Diseases has had an enduring impact on research and clinical care in gastrointestinal and liver disorders. To learn more about their work, visit Digestive Diseases.

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    Yale Cancer Center/Smilow Cancer Hospital

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