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Tag: Healthcare

  • Decision Guide Clarifies Indicators for Swallowing Consults

    Decision Guide Clarifies Indicators for Swallowing Consults

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    Newswise — A multidisciplinary group at ECU Health Medical Center in Greenville, North Carolina, developed a decision guide to provide healthcare teams with specific guidelines for swallowing care after extubation. The decision guide standardizes the process for clinicians to determine which recently extubated patients required further swallowing assessment by an appropriate professional.

    As the only Level 1 trauma center east of Raleigh, North Carolina, ECU Health Medical Center serves a vast rural region home to more than 1.4 million people and is the largest resource for critically ill patients in eastern North Carolina. Critically ill patients are frequently intubated with an endotracheal tube to maintain an adequate airway for breathing. After the endotracheal tube is removed, patients often experience difficulty swallowing, also known as dysphagia, which is associated with a variety of poor outcomes. 

    “It is important that patients experiencing dysphagia be treated swiftly because dysphagia can cause difficulty eating, drinking or swallowing necessary medications,” said Waverlyn J. Royals, MS, CCC-SLP, speech-language pathology (SLP) clinical specialist and student education coordinator for rehabilitation services at ECU Health Medical Center. “Determining which patients need a swallowing assessment helps care teams intervene early and improve outcomes, as well as more efficiently use resources and reduce costs.” 

    Since ECU Health is an academic health system, its partnership with Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University allows for team members such as Royals to conduct research to continue finding best practices for patients and care teams. The multidisciplinary group conducted a literature review as part of a process improvement project to help clarify decision-making for patients post-extubation. This review identified specific risk factors that healthcare teams should consider regarding dysphagia post-extubation.

    These risk factors became points of decision in the guide. A “yes” answer to any of the decision points resulted in the patient’s continued non-oral status and triggered a consult to SLP professionals. If each question has a “no” response, it eliminates unnecessary requests to assess patients who already tolerate an oral diet. For patients with no positive indicators from the decision guide, including a water swallowing challenge, the nurse consulted with a healthcare provider about starting an oral diet.  

    “In addition to clarifying which patients need further evaluation, the guide provides nurses and providers with clear indicators to answer questions from patients and families about why individuals were deemed unready to safely resume eating and drinking,” Royals said.

    “A Decision Guide for Assessing the Recently Extubated Patient’s Readiness for Safe Oral Intake” details the development of the guide, as well as the risk factors and clinical indicators it covers. The study is published in the February issue of Critical Care Nurse (CCN).

    As the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses’ bimonthly clinical practice journal for acute and critical care nurses, CCN is a trusted source of information related to the bedside care of critically and acutely ill patients. Access the article abstract and full-text PDF by visiting the CCN website at http://ccn.aacnjournals.org.

    About Critical Care Nurse: Critical Care Nurse (CCN), a bimonthly clinical practice journal published by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, provides current, relevant and useful information about the bedside care of critically and acutely ill patients. The award-winning journal also offers columns on traditional and emerging issues across the spectrum of critical care, keeping critical care nurses informed on topics that affect their practice in acute, progressive and critical care settings. CCN enjoys a circulation of more than 128,000 and can be accessed at http://ccn.aacnjournals.org/.

    About the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses: For more than 50 years, the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) has been dedicated to acute and critical care nursing excellence. The organization’s vision is to create a healthcare system driven by the needs of patients and their families in which acute and critical care nurses make their optimal contribution. AACN is the world’s largest specialty nursing organization, with about 130,000 members and over 200 chapters in the United States.

    American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, 27071 Aliso Creek Road, Aliso Viejo, CA 92656; 949-362-2000; www.aacn.org; facebook.com/aacnface; twitter.com/aacnme

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  • J&J Can’t Use Bankruptcy to Resolve Talc-Injury Lawsuits, Appeals Court Rules

    J&J Can’t Use Bankruptcy to Resolve Talc-Injury Lawsuits, Appeals Court Rules

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    A federal appeals court rejected Johnson & Johnson ‘s plan to use a legal strategy to push about 38,000 talc lawsuits into bankruptcy court, hampering the controversial tactic the company and a handful of other profitable businesses have used to move mass personal-injury cases to chapter 11.

    The Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday dismissed the chapter 11 case of J&J subsidiary LTL Management LLC, which the consumer-health-goods giant created in 2021 to move to bankruptcy court the mass lawsuits alleging its talc-based baby powder products caused cancer.

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  • Tesla, GM, Lucid, Alibaba, and More Stock Market Movers

    Tesla, GM, Lucid, Alibaba, and More Stock Market Movers

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    This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers visit http://www.djreprints.com.

    https://www.barrons.com/articles/stock-market-movers-tesla-alibaba-gm-lucid-51674835133

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  • Philips says it will cut 6,000 extra jobs by 2025 as it swings to a loss

    Philips says it will cut 6,000 extra jobs by 2025 as it swings to a loss

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    Royal Philips NV on Monday said it will cut an extra 6,000 jobs by 2025, including around 3,000 this year, as part of a plan to improve performance and drive value creation.

    The Dutch health-technology company
    PHIA,
    +0.57%

    PHG,
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    –which said in October that it was cutting 4,000 jobs, or about 5% of its 80,000-strong workforce–said Monday that the simplified operating model will make it more agile and competitive, while reducing costs. The job cuts announced Monday are in addition to those outlined in October.

    Philips said that it will now focus on extracting the full value of its portfolio through a strategy of focused organic growth.

    The company made the disclosure as it reported a swing to net loss for the fourth quarter of last year amid higher costs, but said that it has seen some improvement in the period and that is taking actions to address operational challenges in an uncertain environment.

    The Dutch health-technology company–which sells products including MRI scanners and ultrasound machines–posted a net loss attributable to shareholders of 106 million euros ($170.6 million) compared with a profit of EUR157 million for the fourth quarter of 2021 and a company-compiled consensus loss of EUR16 million.

    Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes and amortization–which strips out exceptional and other one-off items–was EUR651 million compared with EUR647 million and a consensus of EUR428 million.

    The company said its performance was hit by cost inflation that was partly offset by pricing and productivity measures.

    Group sales in the period were EUR5.42 billion compared with EUR4.94 billion and a consensus of EUR5.03 billion.

    Like-for-like sales were up 3%, compared with a company-compiled forecast for a fall of 5.2%, due to improved component supplies

    Royal Philips said it now expects low-single-digit comparable sales growth and high-single-digit adjusted Ebita margin for this year.

    It has also targeted mid-single-digit comparable sales growth and a low-teens adjusted Ebita margin by 2025, and for mid-single-digit comparable sales growth and mid-to-high-teens adjusted Ebita margin beyond 2025.

    “Considering the slowing of consumer demand and a gradual improvement of the order book conversion during 2023, Philips anticipates a slow start to the year, with improvements throughout the year supported by the ongoing productivity, pricing and other actions,” it said.

    Write to Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com

    The company said its performance was hit by cost inflation that was partly offset by pricing and productivity measures.

    Group sales in the period were EUR5.42 billion compared with EUR4.94 billion and a consensus of EUR5.03 billion.

    Like-for-like sales were up 3%, compared with a company-compiled forecast for a fall of 5.2%, due to improved component supplies

    Royal Philips said it now expects low-single-digit comparable sales growth and high-single-digit adjusted Ebita margin for this year.

    “Considering the slowing of consumer demand and a gradual improvement of the order book conversion during 2023, Philips anticipates a slow start to the year, with improvements throughout the year supported by the ongoing productivity, pricing and other actions,” it said.

    Write to Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com

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  • Tulane expert lauds new ‘cutting edge’ hemophilia treatment

    Tulane expert lauds new ‘cutting edge’ hemophilia treatment

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    Newswise — A new treatment that helps people with hemophilia A maintain higher levels of a crucial blood clotting factor with fewer treatments is a victory for patients, according to a new editorial in The New England Journal of Medicine this week by Dr. Cindy Leissinger, director of the Louisiana Center for Bleeding and Clotting Disorders at Tulane University School of Medicine.

    An estimated 20,000 people in the U.S. have hemophilia A, including almost 300 in Louisiana. Those with hemophilia A lack clotting factor VIII in their blood, which can lead to painful and sometimes life- and limb-threatening bleeding.

    The Food and Drug Administration fast-tracked a potential new therapy, efanesoctocog alfa, in 2021, and researchers published the results of their study in the Journal this week. The study shows the treatment helps patients maintain higher levels of the clotting factor VIII with only one infusion a week. Patients currently need two to three infusions a week with existing therapies that don’t prevent all bleeding.

    “Efanesoctocog alfa offers much better protection against bleeding with a more convenient dosing schedule for patients,” Leissinger said. “Most hemophilia patients administer their own intravenous infusions of clotting factor, so reducing infusions from three times a week to once a week is a big help for patients.”

    Hemophilia is a rare disease but the burden of treatment for patients and society has been disproportionately high owing to the intense nature of therapy and its cost, Leissinger wrote in the Journal. In a crowded field of transformative therapies that have recently been approved, are under review or in late-stage clinical trials, efanesoctocog alfa stands out as a winner that could soon make life easier for the patients Leissinger sees at Tulane.

    Although the Tulane center was not a part of the efanesoctacog alfa trial, Leissinger notes that other new therapies are being studied here, including a gene therapy trial that has the potential of a cure or “near-cure” for some patients with hemophilia.

    “Because hemophilia is a rare disease, these kinds of advances are made only because most patients are willing to participate in research and volunteer for trials of new therapies,” Leissinger said.

    “The future for patients with hemophilia has never looked brighter thanks to cutting edge research and to the patients who are willing to be part of that research.”

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    Tulane University

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  • Incorrectly recorded anesthesia start times cost medical centers and anesthesia practices significant revenue

    Incorrectly recorded anesthesia start times cost medical centers and anesthesia practices significant revenue

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    Newswise — ORLANDO, Fla. — Inaccurately recording the start of anesthesia care during a procedure is common and results in significant lost billing time for anesthesia practices and medical centers, suggests a study being presented at the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ ADVANCE 2023, the Anesthesiology Business Event.

    The anesthesia start time (AST) must be documented from a computer logged into the electronic health record (EHR), and typically occurs once the patient is in the operating room (OR). However, the anesthesiologist meets with the patient prior to their arrival in the OR and begins tasks that are vital to the procedure — such as administering pre-medication and attaching monitors — and that time typically is not recorded. Depending on the patient and procedure, adding two to five minutes to the AST when logging it would account for the preparation and transit time, researchers say.

    “These seemingly minor inaccuracies of recorded AST can cost medical centers and anesthesia practices hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue,” said Nicholas Volpe Jr., M.D., MBA, lead author of the study and an anesthesiology resident physician at Northwestern University McGaw Medical Center, Chicago. “We suspect most anesthesiologists are unaware that they aren’t recording AST accurately. It’s not a result of negligence, but rather reflects that workflow hasn’t been optimized for accuracy.”

    For the study, the researchers analyzed 40,312 procedures involving anesthesia — which occurred between November 1, 2021 and October 31, 2022 — at a single academic center. In 27,771 of the cases (68.74%), AST was recorded as starting once the patient was in the OR, without factoring in the preparation time. Using the national average charge for anesthesia time, the missing time translated to $638,671.57 in lost revenue for the year, the researchers determined.*

    “Logging AST is one of the many new tasks that anesthesiologists learn when starting a new role,” said Dr. Volpe. “Transitioning from an internship to clinical anesthesia practice involves learning a significant amount of new information, and understanding the importance of an accurately recorded AST may seem like a relatively minor issue compared to important patient-care information.”

    Several approaches could help address inaccurate AST documentation, including educating anesthesiologists on how to improve their AST recording practices and providing visual reminders such as signs in the OR, Dr. Volpe said. Also, an AST capture function could be built into the EHR mobile application so that AST can be noted by anesthesiologists on the way to the OR, or the EHR could automatically add two minutes to the AST log time, he said. The researchers plan to roll out some of those initiatives in the spring and determine if they are effective.

    *The projected savings are theoretical and not linked to billing at the institution where the study was conducted.

    # # #

    THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF ANESTHESIOLOGISTS

    Founded in 1905, the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) is an educational, research and scientific society with more than 56,000 members organized to raise and maintain the standards of the medical practice of anesthesiology. ASA is committed to ensuring physician anesthesiologists evaluate and supervise the medical care of patients before, during and after surgery to provide the highest quality and safest care every patient deserves.

    For more information on the field of anesthesiology, visit the American Society of Anesthesiologists online at asahq.org. To learn more about the role physician anesthesiologists play in ensuring patient safety, visit asahq.org/MadeforThisMoment. Like ASA on Facebook, follow ASALifeline on Twitter.

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  • Additional anesthesiology residency positions may help hospitals save costs, address projected workforce shortages of anesthesia care professionals

    Additional anesthesiology residency positions may help hospitals save costs, address projected workforce shortages of anesthesia care professionals

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    Newswise — ORLANDO, Fla. — Expanding anesthesiology residency programs — even in the absence of federal funding — may help medical institutions save staffing costs and address projected shortages of anesthesia care professionals, suggests a first-of-its-kind study being presented at the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ ADVANCE 2023, the Anesthesiology Business Event.

    In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, hospital expenses are rising as health care staff leave medicine and their positions are filled often using costly temporary workers or paying other staff members for overtime or extra shifts.

    “There is a projected shortage of anesthesia care professionals in the next three to five years, and a third of the physician anesthesiologist workforce is older than 601,” said Lauren Nahouraii, M.D., lead author of the study and an anesthesiology and perioperative medicine resident physician at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. “Adding extra anesthesiology residency positions can help address the issue, and our research suggests it also may be cost effective for the institution.”

    Physicians who graduate from medical school pursue residencies in their desired specialties at U.S. medical institutions through the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The federal government provides funds for those residencies, capping the positions available at each medical institution. While the U.S. Congress has made provisions for ACGME-qualified institutions to offer additional residency positions, they may not receive federal funding. Anesthesiology residency positions usually fill up every year. In the 2022 match, 1,182 medical students (44% of applicants) seeking an anesthesiology residency did not match, suggesting there aren’t enough positions, she said. 

    In the study, the researchers compared the cost of anesthesiology residents vs. nurse anesthetists, factoring in actual work hours and supervision ratios. They determined expanding the program to include more residents is financially beneficial as the cost per hour of clinical coverage for residents was $29.14, whereas paying nurse anesthetists to work overtime was $181.12 per hour of clinical coverage and paying nurse anesthetists to take on extra shifts was $255.31 per hour of clinical coverage. The researchers concluded that over three years, the addition of three residency positions resulted in a cost savings of between $440,000 and $730,000 for the first year, $840,000 and $1.4 million for the second year, and $1.2 million and $1.9 million for the third year. The analysis factored in the cost of those three additional residents, who weren’t supported by federal funding.

    “While institutions gain greater financial benefit if they can obtain federal funding for their anesthesiology residencies, our findings suggest they might consider expanding their residency positions even if they do not receive that funding,” said Dr. Nahouraii. “Given our study may be the first investigation and description of these cost savings, adding anesthesiology residency positions may quickly catch on across anesthesiology departments, as long as they are committed to maintaining the integrity of the educational mission of residency training.”

    THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF ANESTHESIOLOGISTS

    Founded in 1905, the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) is an educational, research and scientific society with more than 56,000 members organized to raise and maintain the standards of the medical practice of anesthesiology. ASA is committed to ensuring physician anesthesiologists evaluate and supervise the medical care of patients before, during and after surgery to provide the highest quality and safest care every patient deserves.

    For more information on the field of anesthesiology, visit the American Society of Anesthesiologists online at asahq.org. To learn more about the role physician anesthesiologists play in ensuring patient safety, visit asahq.org/MadeforThisMoment. Like ASA on Facebook, follow ASALifeline on Twitter.

    1. https://www.aamc.org/data-reports/workforce/interactive-data/active-physicians-age-specialty-2021

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    American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA)

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  • AI and health care: DePaul and Rosalind Franklin award interdisciplinary research grants

    AI and health care: DePaul and Rosalind Franklin award interdisciplinary research grants

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    ​​​Newswise — CHICAGO — DePaul University and Rosalind Franklin University of Science and Medicine are funding three faculty research projects that bring together artificial intelligence, biomedical discovery and health care. The competitive grants kickstart research among interdisciplinary teams, which include biologists, computer scientists, a geographer and a physicist.

    The first project will combine wearable, robotic sensors with GPS mapping to predict and prevent falls and injury among patients and members of the military. Another will analyze neurons in the brainstem to discover boundaries that control speech and swallowing. The third project uses machine learning and video tracking to develop early detection for illnesses like Parkinson’s disease.

    “We are thrilled with the scope and vision of these collaborative research projects from DePaul and Rosalind Franklin faculty members,” said Salma Ghanem, provost of DePaul University. “Together, we have the potential to see artificial intelligence fuel major advances for human health in our lifetime.”

    “This AI initiative and the outstanding funded first-round pilot projects represent the next step in the ongoing research collaboration between our two universities, which to date has yielded substantive outcomes,” said Ronald Kaplan, executive vice president for research at Rosalind Franklin University. “We believe this cutting-edge work has significant potential to improve health within our society.”

    Wearable sensors, GPS combine to prevent injury
    “We can tell a lot about a person’s health from how they walk,” said Sungsoon (Julie) Hwang, professor of geography at DePaul. She is teaming up with robotics expert Muhammad Umer Huzaifa and data scientist Ilyas Ustun. Their research will combine wearable technology and GPS to track a person’s gait.

    In his robotics and AI lab, Huzaifa deploys Inertial Measurement Units (IMU) to track whether a person is walking, sitting or even falling. These sensors, which measure a body’s movement by detecting the direction of gravity and rotational speeds, may be worn as part of an exoskeleton. “Predicting harmful walking patterns and preventing falls has implications for people in a health care setting and members of the military deployed in the field,” Huzaifa explained.

    DePaul faculty will work with Chris Connaboy, director of the Center for Lower Extremity Ambulatory Research at Rosalind Franklin, to use data from his lab. Ustun will use machine learning to integrate the GPS and IMU data, potentially predicting where injuries and falls could occur.

    “Our movements create patterns, and we want to identify distinct patterns using machine learning to help assess an individual’s current health, especially those who are at risk,” Ustun said.

    Machine learning discovery in the brainstem
    The brainstem is responsible for breathing and swallowing, which can have implications for speech disorders, apnea and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. “Within the brainstem, neurons are not clearly differentiated,” said Jacob Furst, professor of computing at DePaul. “Our project will look for genetic signatures that may differentiate the cells when there is no obvious physical difference.”

    “There is so much data being generated in the life sciences that it can be difficult to look for patterns to discover key biological insights,” said Thiru Ramaraj, an assistant professor of bioinformatics at DePaul. Drawing from an atlas of existing high resolution genome wide expression data from the adult mouse brain, Ramaraj and team will employ advance machine learning to identify clusters and borders within brainstem neurons.

    Working with questions that are important to brainstem researcher Kaiwen Kam at Rosalind Franklin, the team hopes to develop a neuroanatomical screening, which may also have applications for other types of tissue.

    “It’s both challenging and exciting to apply computational techniques to problems that have a real impact on health,” Ramaraj said.

    Diagnosing neurological disorders through AI movement patterns
    Eric Landahl is a DePaul physicist who has spent much of his career making movies of molecules, including work at Argonne National Laboratory. “Hollywood movies are usually filmed at 24 frames a second, but atoms move at a speed closer to a billion frames a second,” Landahl said. His research uses x-rays and lasers and creates massive amounts of data.

    He is joining EunJung Hwang at Rosalind Franklin to use a similar approach to tracking the movements of mice with Parkinson’s. Using cloud computing and machine learning, they aim to develop a model that can predict neurological disorders before they’re visible to a trained medical professional.

    “This is the chance to be at the forefront of modern approaches to data analysis,” Landahl said. “This research grant gives us the chance to briefly step away from our daily work to work on something exciting that could become something bigger in the future.”

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    DePaul University

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  • Susan G. KomenÂź Applauds House Introduction of Bipartisan Metastatic Breast Cancer Access to Care Act

    Susan G. KomenÂź Applauds House Introduction of Bipartisan Metastatic Breast Cancer Access to Care Act

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    Newswise — Susan G. Komen¼, the world’s leading breast cancer organization, applauds House lawmakers for their leadership on bipartisan legislation that would make financial benefits and health insurance immediately available to people living with metastatic breast cancer. In the 117th Congress, this bill was supported by more than 50 percent of members of the House of Representatives.

    The Metastatic Breast Cancer Access to Care Act (H.R.549) waives a five-month waiting period for Social Security Disability Insurance and a subsequent 24-month waiting period for Medicare benefits. People diagnosed with MBC, on average, don’t live long enough to receive both benefits, yet most face thousands of dollars in medical expenses every month without the means to pay their bills.

    “Many living with metastatic breast cancer do not have the luxury of waiting for the health care services and financial support they need. Those receiving this devastating diagnosis face enough challenges without the added burden of long and arduous waiting periods, which create barriers to the care patients so desperately need, and need now,” said Molly Guthrie, Vice President of Advocacy and Public Policy at Susan G. Komen.

    An estimated 168,000 Americans live with MBC, breast cancer that has spread beyond the breast to other parts of the body – often the brain, bones, lungs and liver. Treatments exist for MBC but there is no cure for it. The average life expectancy is three years after diagnosis and MBC is responsible for the majority of the breast cancer deaths each year.

    “In New York, over 16,800 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year and about 2,500 women die from the disease annually. Long Island has among the highest occurrences of breast cancer in the country. These numbers and the real people they represent make this issue deeply personal for me and for my constituents. Roughly 90 percent of breast cancer deaths are a result of metastatic disease and the life expectancy of an individual with metastatic breast cancer is anywhere between 4 and 36 months. Given this timeframe, it is outrageous to double the suffering of those living with this horrible disease by making them wait to gain access to health benefits that they are immediately eligible for. This bill waives these onerous waiting periods, relieving the potential financial burden on those with the disease, and allowing them to focus on fighting the cancer,” said Rep. Andrew R. Garbarino (R-NY-02), bill sponsor.

    Added Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL-14), original co-sponsor of the bill, “The statistics are startling. In 2022, it is estimated that 43,780 people died from breast cancer in the United States – 90 percent as a result of metastatic breast cancer (MBC). To save lives and improve breast cancer outcomes, we must invest in treatments and cures and increase access to affordable, quality care for individuals with MBC. Immediately connecting recently-diagnosed individuals with access to treatment can improve outcomes, and our bipartisan bill would eliminate barriers and reduce current health disparities in care. People diagnosed with MBC should not have to worry about long waiting periods for eligibility to care and I look forward to working with my colleague, Rep. Andrew Garbarino, to deliver financial security and critical care to families.”

    Passage of the MBC Access to Care Act is a top legislative priority for Susan G. Komen this year. “Komen applauds Reps. Garbarino and Castor for their leadership in reintroducing the Metastatic Breast Cancer Access to Care Act on behalf of those living with MBC,” Guthrie added. “We look forward to building off of previous support for this legislation and passing the bill as soon as possible to provide much-needed help to those who are living with the disease now and will be diagnosed in the future.”

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  • Reducing anesthetics during surgery decreases greenhouse gases without affecting patient care, study shows

    Reducing anesthetics during surgery decreases greenhouse gases without affecting patient care, study shows

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    Newswise — ORLANDO, Fla. — Anesthesiologists can play a role in reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming by decreasing the amount of anesthetic gas provided during procedures without compromising patient care, suggests new research being presented at the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ ADVANCE 2023, the Anesthesiology Business Event.

    Inhaled anesthetics used during general anesthesia are estimated to be responsible for 0.01% to 0.10% of the total worldwide carbon dioxide equivalent emission. For example, an hour of surgery using the inhaled anesthetic desflurane is equivalent to driving up to 470 miles, according to one study.1 Carbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas that traps heat in the Earth’s atmosphere, contributing to global warming.

     “Global warming is affecting our daily life more and more, and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions has become crucial,” said Mohamed Fayed, M.D., M.Sc., lead author of the study and senior anesthesia resident at Henry Ford Health in Detroit. “No matter how small each effect is, it will add up. As anesthesiologists, we can contribute significantly to this cause by making little changes in our daily practice — such as lowering the flow of anesthetic gas — without affecting patient care.”

    While most general anesthesia procedures require high fresh gas flow (FGF) at the beginning and end of the procedure to achieve the desired effect quickly, it is safe and effective to lower the flow during the rest of the procedure, Dr. Fayed said. As part of the initiative to reduce FGF overall, the researchers educated anesthesiologists at their institution about the benefits of dialing down the anesthetic gas flow during the procedure, including through departmental presentations, newsletter articles, posters placed in work areas and emails. They also removed desflurane from their operating rooms because it produces the most significant carbon dioxide emissions from among the existing inhaled anesthetics.

    In the study of more than 13,000 patients, the authors set a goal of an average FGF of 3 liters per minute (L/min) or less for procedures. In March 2021, prior to the intervention, authors determined that FGF was 5-6 L/min in many cases, and only 65% of cases achieved an FGF of3 L/min or less. By July 2021, they recorded an average FGF of 3 L/min or less in 93% of cases. The researchers now are aiming to reduce the FGF to less than 2 L/min throughout the system.   

    The initiative is part of a quality improvement project called the Multicenter Perioperative Outcome Group, which includes more than 60 anesthesia practices. The ultimate goal is to measure actual carbon footprints from anesthetic agent waste for each surgical case, Dr. Fayed noted, but that will require significant modifications and costs.

    Provided through a mask, inhaled anesthetics such as desflurane, sevoflurane and isoflurane are given to patients during general anesthesia so that they are unconscious during a major operation, such as open-heart surgery. Another inhaled anesthetic, nitrous oxide, sometimes is given during childbirth or during dental procedures. Inhaled anesthetics are not used for patients who undergo sedation, which is typically used for minimally invasive procedures, such as colonoscopies. Nor is it used during regional anesthesia, which is used for childbirth or surgeries of the arm, leg or abdomen and numbs only part of the body with the patient remaining aware.

    “For a long time, there was a notion that the greenhouse effect caused in health care settings was an inevitable and unavoidable cost of providing patient care,” said Dr. Fayed. “But we have learned that reducing anesthetic gas flow is one of the many ways health care can lessen its contribution to the global warming crisis, along with reducing waste, turning off lights and equipment when not in use and challenging practice habits, as long as they don’t compromise patient care.”

    Masakatsu Nanamori, M.D., is the lead attending physician on the study.

    THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF ANESTHESIOLOGISTS

    Founded in 1905, the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) is an educational, research and scientific society with more than 56,000 members organized to raise and maintain the standards of the medical practice of anesthesiology. ASA is committed to ensuring physician anesthesiologists evaluate and supervise the medical care of patients before, during and after surgery to provide the highest quality and safest care every patient deserves.

    For more information on the field of anesthesiology, visit the American Society of Anesthesiologists online at asahq.org. To learn more about the role physician anesthesiologists play in ensuring patient safety, visit asahq.org/MadeforThisMoment. Like ASA on Facebook, follow ASALifeline on Twitter.

    1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3522493/#:~:text=Using%20desflurane%20for%201%20hour,driving%2C%20according%20to%20the%20study.&text=The%20optimal%20(lowest%20environmental%20impact,it%20would%20minimize%20anesthetic%20use

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    American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA)

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  • Language of Care: University of Utah Health Researchers Co-Design Health Care With the Deaf Community

    Language of Care: University of Utah Health Researchers Co-Design Health Care With the Deaf Community

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    Newswise — Navigating health care is hard enough when English is your first language—imagine the difficulty when American Sign is your first language. How can we bridge the linguistic and cultural gaps needed to better care for patients? University of Utah Health is proud to present Language of Care, an incredible story of how a community of Deaf patients are breaking barriers by co-designing their own care with University of Utah Health researchers.

    Made possible by generous support from the Kahlert Foundation, Language of Care premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2023. The film showcases an innovative approach to health care being co-created by Michelle Litchman, PhD, her research team, and members of the Deaf community from across the country. Together, they lead a program called Deaf Diabetes Can Together. Litchman is a nurse practitioner, diabetes researcher, and Medical Director of the Intensive Diabetes Education and Support (IDEAS) Program at the University of Utah.

    Nearly 40 million people in the U.S. live with diabetes, but the majority of Deaf people with diabetes do not have equal access to health care. The film tells the story of how Deaf Diabetes Can Together is creating solutions for health equity in the Deaf community. By understanding the community’s unique needs, the team is tailoring educational and other types of resources to increase access to accurate information and care. This model is being replicated for rural, Pacific Islander and other under-resourced communities.

    “Together, with our patients, we’re changing the way heath care works,” Litchman explains in Language of Care.

    Academy AwardŸ-winning filmmaker Ross Kauffman came to Utah to document the Language of Care story. Kauffman has directed a number of award-winning films, including Born into Brothels, Of Medicine and Miracles, and Tigerland. Language of Care was produced by Robin Honan with executive producers Joe Borgenicht of U of U Health, award-winning documentarian Geralyn Dreyfous, and Heather Kahlert of the Kahlert Foundation.

    Language of Care is the third film in the U of U Health-produced series New Narratives in Health, which brings together scientists and artists to more broadly communicate advances in knowledge. The first film in the series, One in a Million, tells the story of how advanced genomic technologies combined with expert clinical insights vastly improved the quality of life for Tyler, a boy with a rare, debilitating disease. The second, Meet Me Where I Am, follows Adolphus Nickleberry through his journey at U of U Health’s Intensive Outpatient Clinic as he rewrites his story, which had been shaped by health disparities.

    Learn more at languageofcareutah.org.

    # # #

    About University of Utah Health

    University of Utah Health  provides leading-edge and compassionate care for a referral area that encompasses Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and much of Nevada. A hub for health sciences research and education in the region, U of U Health has a $458 million research enterprise and trains scientists and the majority of Utah’s physicians and health care providers at its Colleges of Health, Nursing, and Pharmacy and Schools of Dentistry and Medicine. With more than 20,000 employees, the system includes 12 community clinics and five hospitals. U of U Health is recognized nationally as a transformative health care system and provider of world-class care.

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    University of Utah Health

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  • Top 5 Fastest Growing Industries for 2023

    Top 5 Fastest Growing Industries for 2023

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    The world is changing rapidly, and with it, the industries that drive the global economy. In recent years, some industries have seen explosive growth while others have slowed or disappeared entirely. In this article, we’ll take a look at the top five fastest-growing industries and discuss what makes them so successful. From technology to health care, these sectors are driving the economy forward and paving the way for a brighter future.

    Related: These Are the 10 Fastest-Growing Jobs in the U.S.

    1. Shipping and delivery services

    The rising popularity of online purchases has led to an increased demand for shippers and is fast securing its place as the growth industry front-runner.

    The American Shipper reports that as much as 8% of all retail sales are made online, or $394 billion. With an increasing number of people purchasing items from websites like Amazon and eBay, there will be an increased demand for individuals who can transport these items from one location to another since the pandemic. It is predicted by many economists to be the fastest-growing industry world-over within the next year.

    As a result, shipping companies are hiring more people than ever, and your skills may allow you to join them. If you’re looking for a career that allows you flexibility in scheduling while still maintaining a stable income while working remotely (or at least part-time), this industry might be right up your alley.

    There are many benefits associated with being an independent contractor: flexible hours, no commute time, no dress code and a choice over how much work or money you want out of it (or how much time). These perks make it easy enough to fit into any lifestyle and succeed.

    2. The healthcare industry

    The healthcare industry is projected to expand by 19%, making it the second-fastest growing sector.

    The reason for this growth is the increasing demand for healthcare insurance and the need for more people to fill jobs in the healthcare industry. As our population grows, so do its medical needs — companies have to hire more doctors and nurses to meet those demands. More people are getting sick, which means that more people need treatment. This increase in demand has led to a rise in healthcare professionals’ salaries and an influx of new patients into the field.

    The influx of new patients who require medical attention due to new laws will also cause the demand for insurance policies to rise. For example, in 2019, many states mandated that employers cover their employees’ contraception costs under their health plans. This development has significantly increased the demand for healthcare insurance among young people seeking birth control coverage.

    Related: Telemedicine is the New Normal in the Health Care Industry

    3. Travel and food industries

    With the growing population and interest in traveling after years lost to the pandemic, dream jobs that combine travel with food and culture are set to land in third place.

    If you love to travel, consider a career as an agent or guide who helps others plan their trips. Ensure you’re certified by your local government to become a tour guide (usually required for historical sites).

    You could also be certified through organizations like the Professional Tour Guide Institute of San Francisco or the International Institute of Travel & Tourism Studies (IITTS). If you don’t want to work directly with tourists but still want to help with travel, become an agent for a company specializing in international flights and accommodations.

    Related: The Travel Sector Is Getting Upgraded

    4. Online retail

    As more consumers turn to online platforms for shopping, businesses are quickly adapting to meet this demand. Companies like Amazon, Walmart and Target invest heavily in online efforts to serve their customers better. With more people using the internet to shop and take advantage of discounts, the online retail sector is expected to grow significantly this year.

    The convenience of shopping online through the pandemic has significantly expanded — albeit less for wants and more for needs. However, e-consumerism is already showing a strong return, with 1 out of every five retail purchases occurring online and an estimated end-of-year worth of $1.1 trillion.

    5. The AI revolution

    The future of the global economy lies in Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI is expected to be one of the fastest-growing industries of 2023, already valued at $328.34 billion. AI has begun to revolutionize many industries, such as healthcare, finance and transportation. Through automation, improved data analysis capabilities and predictive analytics, AI is helping businesses become faster and more efficient while cutting costs. With its potential for tremendous growth and its ability to revolutionize existing industries, AI is set to be one of the most important drivers of economic growth not just today but for coming years.

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    Christopher Massimine

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  • Female and male hearts respond differently to stress hormone

    Female and male hearts respond differently to stress hormone

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    Newswise — (SACRAMENTO, Calif.) A new study published today (Jan. 20) in Science Advances shows female and male hearts respond differently to the stress hormone noradrenaline. The study in mice may have implications for human heart disorders like arrhythmias and heart failure and how different sexes respond to medications.

    The team built a new type of fluorescence imaging system that allows them to use light to see how a mouse heart responds to hormones and neurotransmitters in real time. The mice were exposed to noradrenaline, also known as norepinephrine. Noradrenaline is both a neurotransmitter and hormone associated with the body’s “fight or flight” response.

    The results reveal that male and female mouse hearts respond uniformly at first after exposure to noradrenaline. However, some areas of the female heart return to normal more quickly than the male heart, which produces differences in the heart’s electrical activity.

    “The differences in electrical activity that we observed are called repolarization in the female hearts. Repolarization refers to how the heart resets between each heartbeat and is closely linked to some types of arrhythmias,” said Jessica L. Caldwell, first author of the study. Caldwell is a postdoctoral scholar in the UC Davis School of Medicine Department of Pharmacology. “We know that there are sex differences in the risk for certain types of arrhythmias. The study reveals a new factor that may contribute to different arrhythmia susceptibility between men and women,” Caldwell said.

    Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S.

    Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States. It accounted for about 1 in every 4 male deaths and 1 in every 5 female deaths in 2020. Despite the impact on both sexes, cardiology research has largely been performed on male subjects.

    In this study, the researchers were interested in looking at factors that may contribute to arrhythmias. Arrhythmias are a type of heart disorder where the electrical impulses that control heartbeats don’t function properly. They affect somewhere between 1.5% to 5% of the population.

    Methods

    The novel imaging system uses a mouse, called the CAMPER mouse, that has been genetically modified to emit light during a very specific chemical reaction in the heart — cAMP binding.

    The cAMP molecule (an abbreviation of cyclic adenosine 3’,5;-monophosphate) is an intermediate messenger that turns signals from hormones and neurotransmitters, including noradrenaline, into action from heart cells.

    The light signals from the CAMPER mouse are transmitted by a biosensor that uses fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). This FRET signal can be picked up at high speed and high resolution by a new imaging system specially designed for hearts. This allows the researchers to record the heart’s reaction to noradrenaline in real time, along with changes in electrical activity.

    This new imaging approach revealed the differences in the breakdown of cAMP in female and male mice and the associated differences in electrical activity.

    Including female mice leads to discoveries

    The researchers had not planned to study sex-based responses, according to Crystal M. Ripplinger, senior author of the study. But the researchers started seeing a pattern of different reactions, which led them to realize the differences were sex-based.

    Ripplinger, an electrical and biomedical engineer, is a professor in the Department of Pharmacology.

    When she started her lab at the UC Davis School of Medicine over a decade ago, she exclusively used male animals. That was the norm for most research at the time. But several years ago, she began including male and female animals in her studies.

    “Sometimes the data between the two sexes is the same. But if the data start to show variation, the first thing we do is look at sex differences. Using both male and female mice has revealed clues into differences we would never have suspected. Researchers are realizing you can’t extrapolate to both sexes from only studying one,” Ripplinger said.

    She notes that with the current study, it’s not clear what the differences in cAMP and electrical activity may mean.

    “The response in the female mice may be protective — or it may not. But simply documenting that there is a measurable difference in the response to a stress hormone is significant. We are hoping to learn more in future studies,” Ripplinger said.

    Additional authors on the study include I-Ju (Eric) Lee, Lena Ngo, Lianguo Wang, Donald M. Bers, Manuel F. Navedo and Julie Bossuyt from UC Davis; Sherif Bahriz from UC Davis and Mansoura University; Bing (Rita) Xu and Yang K. Xiang from UC Davis and VA Northern California.

    This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, and the Veterans Administration Merit Grant.

    Resources

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    UC Davis Health

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  • ŰŁŰč۱ۧ۶ Ű§Ù†Ù‚Ű·Ű§Űč Ű§Ù„Ű·Ù…Ű«: ŰźŰšÙŠŰ± من Ù…Ű§ÙŠÙˆ كلينك ÙŠÙŰłŰ± Ű§Ù„ŰčÙ„Ű§ŰŹŰ§ŰȘ Ű§Ù„Ù‡Ű±Ù…ÙˆÙ†ÙŠŰ© وŰșÙŠŰ± Ű§Ù„Ù‡Ű±Ù…ÙˆÙ†ÙŠŰ©

    ŰŁŰč۱ۧ۶ Ű§Ù†Ù‚Ű·Ű§Űč Ű§Ù„Ű·Ù…Ű«: ŰźŰšÙŠŰ± من Ù…Ű§ÙŠÙˆ كلينك ÙŠÙŰłŰ± Ű§Ù„ŰčÙ„Ű§ŰŹŰ§ŰȘ Ű§Ù„Ù‡Ű±Ù…ÙˆÙ†ÙŠŰ© وŰșÙŠŰ± Ű§Ù„Ù‡Ű±Ù…ÙˆÙ†ÙŠŰ©

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    Ù…ŰŻÙŠÙ†Ű© ŰłÙƒÙˆŰȘŰłŰŻÙŠÙ„ŰŒ ÙˆÙ„Ű§ÙŠŰ© ŰŁŰ±ÙŠŰČÙˆÙ†Ű§ – يمكن ŰŁÙ† ÙŠŰ€ŰŻÙŠ Ű§Ù†Ù‚Ű·Ű§Űč Ű§Ù„Ű·Ù…Ű«ŰŒ Ù†Ù‡Ű§ÙŠŰ© ŰŻÙŽÙˆŰ±Ű© Ű§Ù„Ű­ÙŠŰ¶ŰŒ Ű„Ù„Ù‰ ŰžÙ‡ÙˆŰ± ŰŁŰč۱ۧ۶ Ù…Ű«Ù„ Ù‡ÙŽŰšÙ‘ÙŽŰ§ŰȘ Ű§Ù„Ű­Ű±Ű§Ű±Ű© ÙˆŰ§Ù„ŰȘŰčŰ±Ù‘Ù‚ Ű§Ù„Ù„ÙŠÙ„ÙŠ ÙˆŰ§Ù„ŰŁŰ±Ù‚ ÙˆŰ§Ù„ŰȘŰșÙŠŰ±Ű§ŰȘ Ű§Ù„Ù…ŰČŰ§ŰŹÙŠŰ©. Ù„Ű§ يُفŰȘ۱۶ ŰŁÙ† ŰȘŰčŰ§Ù†ÙŠ Ű§Ù„Ù†ŰłŰ§ŰĄ في Ű”Ù…ŰȘ: Ű„Ű° ŰȘŰȘÙˆÙŰ± Ű§Ù„ŰčŰŻÙŠŰŻ من ŰźÙŠŰ§Ű±Ű§ŰȘ Ű§Ù„ŰčÙ„Ű§ŰŹ. ŰȘŰ”Ù ŰŹÙˆÙŠÙ„ ÙƒÙ„ÙŠÙ†ŰŹŰŒ ŰŻÙƒŰȘÙˆŰ±Ű© Ű§Ù„Ű·ŰšŰŒ Ű±ŰŠÙŠŰłŰ© Ù‚ŰłÙ… ۔ۭ۩ Ű§Ù„Ù…Ű±ŰŁŰ© في Ù…Ű§ÙŠÙˆ كلينك في Ù…ŰŻÙŠÙ†Ű© ŰłÙƒÙˆŰȘŰłŰŻŰ§Ù„ŰŒ ŰšÙˆÙ„Ű§ÙŠŰ© ŰŁŰ±ÙŠŰČÙˆÙ†Ű§ŰŒ Ű§Ù„ŰčÙ„Ű§ŰŹŰ§ŰȘ Ű§Ù„Ù‡Ű±Ù…ÙˆÙ†ÙŠŰ© وŰșÙŠŰ± Ű§Ù„Ù‡Ű±Ù…ÙˆÙ†ÙŠŰ©.

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  • Xavier University of Louisiana and Ochsner Health Partner to Create College of Medicine and Pursue Health, Educational Equity

    Xavier University of Louisiana and Ochsner Health Partner to Create College of Medicine and Pursue Health, Educational Equity

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    Newswise — New Orleans, La. – Xavier University of Louisiana (Xavier) and Ochsner Health (Ochsner) today announced an agreement to establish a joint College of Medicine. The two institutions will create a strong physician pipeline that addresses longstanding inequities within the nation’s health care system and builds the health care workforce of the future. By anchoring their partnership with a College of Medicine, Xavier and Ochsner affirm their legacy of advancing health care excellence and education for the next generation, bringing new opportunities to marginalized populations in Louisiana and the United States.

    To launch the College of Medicine, Ochsner and Xavier will form a nonprofit corporation, create a new curriculum and use facilities, personnel, and administrative processes of both institutions. The new College of Medicine will be governed by a board of directors nominated by Ochsner and Xavier, with each institution appointing an equal number of directors.

    This initiative builds on a long-standing partnership between Ochsner and Xavier that dates to the early 1980s, when Ochsner and Xavier’s College of Pharmacy came together to offer more clinical training sites for pharmacy students. Xavier’s College of Pharmacy is the oldest in Louisiana and has for years been among the top in the nation in producing African American graduates with Doctor of Pharmacy degrees.

    “Our work with Ochsner and other partners who hold close to their hearts a vision of healing a broken world is a testament to Xavier’s mission to promote a more just and humane society,” said Dr. Reynold Verret, President of Xavier University of Louisiana. “Xavier was bestowed that mission by our founders St. Katharine Drexel and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament almost a century ago. Our dedication to preparing more Black health care professionals in our fight against health inequity is our answer to the call of our nation’s critical need and makes their legacy proud.”

    XULA and Ochsner: A Legacy of Collaboration

    In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged the world and disproportionately affected people of color, highlighting health disparities faced by historically marginalized communities. Ochsner Health and Xavier again forged partnerships to improve health equity through new graduate programs in health sciences and the establishment of the Ochsner Health and Xavier University Institute for Health Equity and Research (OXIHER). A few years before, Xavier and Ochsner also worked to improve diversity within the health sciences through a memorandum of understanding to establish a new Physician Assistant (PA) Program. In May 2022, Ochsner and Xavier celebrated the first graduating class of 37 students in the full-time graduate PA Program, which leads to a master’s degree in health sciences and trains the next generation of providers to make a meaningful impact on health care.

    “Ochsner has a long and rich history of excellence in medical education, and we are honored to continue our work with Xavier to improve the health of our state and region,” said Pete November, CEO of Ochsner Health. “The Xavier medical students will get outstanding clinical training in our integrated health care system, and this significant expansion of our partnership with Xavier demonstrates our commitment to training the next generation of health care providers to solve the critical shortage of physicians in the United States and meet the needs of the diverse communities we serve.”

    In 2022, Xavier became an integral advisory board partner for Healthy State by 2030, an ambitious plan to lift Louisiana off the bottom of national health rankings. Collectively, partners across multiple sectors and industries from across the state are committed to comprehensive public health initiatives, education, and outreach.

    “Investing in education, training and workforce development is critical to building a healthier state and stronger communities. Our partnership with Xavier furthers our Healthy State mission of enhancing diversity among health care providers, which has been linked to better care for diverse communities of our region and throughout the nation,” said Dr. Leonardo Seoane, MD, FACP, Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer for Ochsner Health. “We must work together to solve the challenges faced in our health care workforce and ensure communities across the country have access to the highest quality of care.”

    Closing the National and Local Workforce Gap

    For decades, Xavier University of Louisiana has produced more African American students and students of color who achieve medical degrees and doctorates in the health sciences than any other higher education institution in the nation. Ochsner, the largest academic health care system in Louisiana, has a long history of training medical students, residents, and fellows. Ochsner is invested in excellent health care, workforce development and education of communities throughout the Gulf South. The institutions are uniquely positioned to co-lead efforts in closing the health care workforce gap.

    “With their historic agreement to establish a College of Medicine at one of the nation’s top HBCUs, Xavier and Ochsner have heeded the call to shape the health of the state, the country, and the world for generations to come,” said Dr. Anne McCall, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost of Xavier University of Louisiana.

    Research shows an urgent need for an HBCU College of Medicine now, as demand for doctors is expected to grow. Louisiana is projected to rank third nationally for a shortage of physicians by 2030, according to a Human Resources for Health analysis. Representation of African Americans within medicine lags, as they comprise 5% of the nation’s physicians — although Black and African American populations account for 13% of U.S. residents. A new College of Medicine with Xavier, a high-ranking HBCU, and Ochsner, a high-performing academic health system with experience in training medical students, will result in representation among medical practitioners with excellent health care training, which is critical to bettering health outcomes by increasing quality of care, access, and patient trust in their health care providers.

    To learn more, please visit www.xula.edu and www.ochsner.org.

    # # #

     

    About Xavier University of Louisiana

    Xavier University of Louisiana, America’s only historically Black and Catholic University, is ranked among the top three HBCUs (historically Black colleges and universities) in the nation. Recognized as a national leader in STEM and health sciences, Xavier produces more African American students who graduate from medical schools each year than any other university in the United States. Additionally, Xavier’s College of Pharmacy is also among the top producers of African American pharmacists in the country.

    Established in 1925, by Saint Katharine Drexel and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament as a place for African American and Native Americans to receive quality education, Xavier has since expanded its programs in art, business, education, biological sciences, chemistry, pharmacy and political science. More recent additions in robotics, bioinformatics, engineering, data science, neuroscience and genetics, in addition to new STEM-based master’s programs, have provided Xavier students (2815 undergraduates and 787 graduates) an unbeatable combination of traditional classroom study, hands-on research, service-learning opportunities and life experiences. Xavier students collaborate with world-renowned faculty, who are experts in their fields, to produce award-winning research and notable work. The winning Xavier formula is to provide students with a well-balanced curriculum and an environment that nurtures their intellect and feeds their souls, thereby facilitating a more just and humane society for all. For more information about Xavier University of Louisiana, visit us online at www.xula.edu or contact Regi Reyes at (504) 520-5240 or [email protected].

     

    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 heart 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 academic 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 over 700 clinical studies. It has more than 36,000 employees and over 4,600 employed and affiliated physicians in over 90 medical specialties and subspecialties. It operates 47 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 2021, Ochsner Health treated more than 1 million people from every state and 75 countries. As Louisiana’s top healthcare educator, Ochsner Health and its partners educate thousands of healthcare professionals annually. Ochsner has 31 ACGME accredited residency and fellowship program training over 330 doctors annually. Ochsner for the past 14 years has had been a clinical medical school in partnership with the University of Queensland graduating over 750 medical students. Ochsner’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion empowers the Ochsner team to drive innovation and excellent outcomes through cultural competence. We focus our efforts in key areas that correlate back to our core values of Patient First, Compassion, Integrity, Excellence, Teamwork, and Inclusivity. To support the needs of every individual on the Ochsner team, the healthcare system supports ten resource groups that represent key interests across our organization, including African Americans Building and Leading Equality. Ochsner Resource Groups are voluntary, employee-led groups that focus on the patient experience, community outreach, mentoring, recruitment, and education. To learn more, visit www.ochsner.org.

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    Ochsner Health

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  • Oncology Researcher Joins Rutgers Global Health Institute

    Oncology Researcher Joins Rutgers Global Health Institute

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    Newswise — Wilfred Ngwa, a global oncology researcher and medical physics expert who is developing technologies that integrate with radiation therapy to reduce cancer treatment times and costs, has joined Rutgers Global Health Institute.

    Ngwa, who is a Rutgers Presidential Faculty Scholar and a professor of global health at the institute, also holds an appointment as a professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

    The broad aim of Ngwa’s research and global collaboration is to increase access to cancer treatment and reduce health disparities, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. He leads a research group that is developing low-cost approaches and technologies that can substantially reduce treatment times and costs and that can be implemented in resource-poor settings.

    One such technology incorporates artificial intelligence and smart radiotherapy biomaterials, such as nanoparticle drones that can be injected intravenously and will emit missile-like electrons when activated by photon beams during radiation therapy. This process is designed to increase damage to cancerous tumors while minimizing toxic effects on body tissues. This technology also can be programmed to sustainably deliver cancer-fighting immunotherapy drugs in resource-effective and measurable ways. This research is supported by the National Institutes of Health and industry partners and is in clinical translation, with multisite clinical trials on track to begin in 2023.

    Ngwa’s overall research program is designed to address many types of cancer, and he is leading studies related to treating prostate, breast, and cervical cancers in Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and the United States.

    “Expanding our multicenter clinical trials to additional U.S. and African institutions will be a focus of my research at Rutgers. Implementation research also will be a priority, so that we can turn knowledge into real-world actions that will improve health care delivery and global health,” Ngwa said. “By building on my work with radiotherapy and the use of advanced information and communication technologies in oncology care, I look forward to developing a vibrant research program at Rutgers.”

    Ngwa is widely regarded as an expert on public health policy and cancer control in sub-Saharan Africa. Since 2019, he has been the chair of The Lancet Oncology commission on cancer in sub-Saharan Africa, which in the spring published its report about the rapidly escalating cancer burden in this resource-poor area of the world. Ngwa is an external adviser to the U.S. presidential administration’s Cancer Cabinet, convened by President Joe Biden to help establish and make progress on the administration’s reignited Cancer Moonshot initiative, and he is a co-chair of the U.S. Cancer Moonshot 2.0 Lancet Oncology commission. He is editor of IOP Publishing’s scientific series in global health and radiation oncology and an editorial board member for Journal of Global Oncology, Frontiers in Oncology and ecancermedicalscience.

    As the founding director of the Global Health Catalyst Summit, Ngwa leads a collaborative that convenes an annual summit and other events designed to catalyze high-impact international collaborations and initiatives to eliminate health-related disparities in the United States and globally. An ongoing project that originated via a summit is C4: Comprehensive Cancer Center in the Cloud, an artificial intelligence-driven platform that Ngwa is developing with multidisciplinary partners to increase access to cancer care, research and education regardless of geographic location.

    Ngwa is originally from Cameroon, where he studied physics and computer science at the University of Buea, receiving a bachelor of science degree. He earned his master’s and doctoral degrees from University of Leipzig in Germany then completed postdoctoral education and training in radiation oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas and at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School.

    Ngwa previously was an associate professor of radiation oncology and molecular radiation sciences at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Medicine and Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. He also holds an appointment as a distinguished professor of public health at the ICT University, based in Cameroon.

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    Rutgers University-New Brunswick

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  • Mayo Clinic researchers link ovarian cancer to bacteria colonization in microbiome

    Mayo Clinic researchers link ovarian cancer to bacteria colonization in microbiome

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    Newswise — ROCHESTER, Minn. — A specific colonization of microbes in the reproductive tract is commonly found in women with ovarian cancer, according to a new study from Mayo Clinic’s Center for Individualized Medicine. The discovery, published in Scientific Reports, strengthens evidence that the bacterial component of the microbiome — a community of microorganisms that also consists of viruses, yeasts and fungi — is an important indicator for early detection, diagnosis and prognosis of ovarian cancer.

    “In addition, we found a clear pattern that reveals women with early stage ovarian cancer have a significantly higher accumulation of the pathogenic microbes when compared to women with later-stage disease,” says Abigail Asangba, Ph.D., a microbiome researcher within the Center for Individualized Medicine. “In later stages, the number of microbes fades. This strong signal could potentially help us diagnose women earlier and save lives — similar to how a noninvasive Pap smear is used to detect cervical cancer.”

    The study also suggests that a higher accumulation of pathogenic microbes plays a role in treatment outcomes and could be a potential indicator for predicting a patient’s prognosis and response to therapy.

    “We analyzed whether patients with similar outcomes also had a similar microbial composition before they started treatment, irrespective of stage, grade or histology of cancer, as well as other factors,” Dr. Asangba says. “And we found that the patients with a higher accumulation of pathogenic microbes had poorer outcomes in comparison to those without.” 

    Ovarian cancer ranks fifth in cancer deaths among women and is the second most common gynecological malignancy. An estimated 20,000 women in the U.S. are expected to be diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2023, and nearly 13,000 will die from the disease, according to the American Cancer Society. Most women who are affected are usually diagnosed at an advanced stage because early-stage disease is usually asymptomatic. Furthermore, only 20% of cases are caused by genetic mutations, including BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, while the remaining 80% of cases have no known cause.

    Zeroing in on pathogenic microbes

    For the study, the researchers investigated samples of 30 women undergoing a hysterectomy for ovarian cancer and compared them to samples of 34 women undergoing a hysterectomy for a benign condition. They used high-throughput sequencing to analyze the samples, which were recovered from the lower and upper reproductive tract, peritoneal fluid, urine, and anal microbiome.

    In the women with ovarian cancer, the team observed a colonization of disease-causing bacteria, including Dialister, Corynebacterium, Prevotella and Peptoniphilus.

    “These microbes are known to be associated with other diseases, including other cancers, but more study is needed to know if they are a contributing driver of ovarian cancer,” says Marina Walther-Antonio, Ph.D., a microbiome researcher within Mayo Clinic’s Center for Individualized Medicine and a study author. Dr. Walther-Antonio is a member of the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center. She focuses on women’s health, particularly gynecologic cancers.

    “Our ultimate goal is to understand what role the microbiome plays in gynecologic cancers. We are exploring several potential avenues: the role in the causation of the disease, aggravation of the disease and treatment resistance,” Dr. Walther-Antonio says. 

    The study is an extension of several other previously published studies by Dr. Walther-Antonio and her team that link the microbiome to endometrial cancer. In one study, the team found that a microbe called Porphyromonas somerae has a pathogenic role in endometrial cancer via intracellular activity. 

    Dr. Walther-Antonio says identifying microbiome signatures to predict the development of malignancies could lead to intervention before cancers have a chance to materialize.

    “Our latest study provides a significant leap toward understanding the prognostic potential of the microbiome and places us a step closer to being able to help our patients,” Dr. Walther-Antonio says.

    Acknowledgements

    This work was supported by a career development award from the Mayo Clinic Ovarian SPORE National Institutes of Health grant P50 CA136393), the Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance and CTSA grant KL2TR002379 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.

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    About Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center
    Designated as a comprehensive cancer center by the National Cancer Institute, Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center is defining new boundaries in possibility, focusing on patient-centered care, developing novel treatments, training future generations of cancer experts, and bringing cancer research to communities. At Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, a culture of innovation and collaboration is driving research breakthroughs that are changing approaches to cancer prevention, screening and treatment, and improving the lives of cancer survivors.

    About Mayo Clinic 
    Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to innovation in clinical practice, education and research, and providing compassion, expertise and answers to everyone who needs healing. Visit the Mayo Clinic News Network for additional Mayo Clinic news.

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  • New ‘gold standard’ surgical textbook co-written by hospital system CEO

    New ‘gold standard’ surgical textbook co-written by hospital system CEO

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    Newswise — CLEVELAND — Only 5 percent of hospitals in the United States are run by CEOs with a medical degree, according to the Journal of Hospital Administration. Many of those physician CEOs head some of the leading academic medical centers in the nation, including Cliff A. Megerian, MD, FACS, who is CEO of University Hospitals in Northeast Ohio, a system comprising 21 hospitals, more than 50 health centers and over 200 physician offices.

    If running a major health system were not enough, Dr. Megerian, who is also the Jane and Henry Meyer Chief Executive Officer Distinguished Chair, still sees patients, teaches, and writes medical texts books including a newly published second edition of a major surgical textbook co-written with colleagues Nicholas C. Bambakidis. MD, Chair of Neurological Surgery, Vice President and Director of the Neurological Institute at University Hospitals in Cleveland, and the Harvey Huntington Brown, Jr. Chair in Neurosurgery; and Robert F. Spetzler, MD, FACS, Emeritus President and CEO, Emeritus Chair, Department of Neurosurgery of the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix.

    The book, Surgery of the Cerebellopontine Angle, Second Edition, published by Springer Cham, is a boon resource for expert specialists in neurosurgery, neurotology, neuroradiology, otolaryngology/head and neck surgery, and endovascular surgery.

    Now fully revised and expanded in this edition, this book remains the gold standard guide to the surgical treatment of diseases in the cerebellopontine angle (CPA), the fragile area of the skull base. 

    Tumors can arise in the CPA, and four out of five of these tumors are vestibular schwannomas (commonly known as acoustic neuromas). The new edition combines current information on the relevant clinical diseases of the CPA with dramatically improved surgical management of its diseases, arranged in five thematic sections.  The book provides detailed descriptions of surgical management techniques for acoustic neuromas and other lesions in the CPA.  It also provides 21 distinct clinical cases with associated video segments, demonstrating the approaches and techniques in real time.

    “When I assumed the role of CEO of University Hospitals, I not only vowed to ensure we would uphold our mission — To Heal. To Teach. To Discover — but that I as an individual contributor in this health system, would continue to heal patients, to teach the next generation of medical professionals, and further research and medical innovation,” explained Dr. Megerian. “With the first edition in 2009, our collective goal was to convene the world’s experts on this topic and create a resource of best practices as it relates to surgery of the cerebellopontine angle. Given that this surgery is often done by teams, we emphasized selection of author groups that represent the top teams in the nation and the world. While this new 2023 second edition has updates that capture the evolution of the surgical science, it also includes video chapters comprising intraoperative step-by-step surgical sequencing by masters in the field in order to guide learners and younger teams in their development.  The three of us who co-wrote this book have been blessed with careers at iconic institutions and have enjoyed partnerships with top teams. As a result, we strongly believe it is our societal duty to share our collective experience with the next generation.”  

    Dr. Bambakidis said, “This book has become the go-to resource for surgeons tackling tough problems in the most difficult regions to reach in the brain.  It’s one of the reasons that our team of skull base surgery experts is recognized worldwide and why we host not one but two courses teaching these techniques to surgeons from around the world right here at UH.”

    Dr. Spetzler added, “My whole professional life has revolved around patient care, research and education, all of which has been possible by standing on the shoulders of our predecessors who have generously shared their knowledge with us. This volume is our contribution to further excellence in surgical care in the continuum to improve the care of our patients.”

     

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    About University Hospitals / Cleveland, Ohio Founded in 1866, University Hospitals serves the needs of patients through an integrated network of 21 hospitals (including five joint ventures), more than 50 health centers and outpatient facilities, and over 200 physician offices in 16 counties throughout northern Ohio. The system’s flagship quaternary care, academic medical center, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, is affiliated with Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Northeast Ohio Medical University, Oxford University and the Technion Israel Institute of Technology. The main campus also includes the UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, ranked among the top children’s hospitals in the nation; UH MacDonald Women’s Hospital, Ohio’s only hospital for women; and UH Seidman Cancer Center, part of the NCI-designated Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. UH is home to some of the most prestigious clinical and research programs in the nation, with more than 3,000 active clinical trials and research studies underway. UH Cleveland Medical Center is perennially among the highest performers in national ranking surveys, including “America’s Best Hospitals” from U.S. News & World Report. UH is also home to 19 Clinical Care Delivery and Research Institutes. UH is one of the largest employers in Northeast Ohio with more than 30,000 employees. Follow UH on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. For more information, visit UHhospitals.org.

     

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    University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center

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  • Tanking Biotech Stocks Will Mean a Big Year for Deals. Who Could Benefit.

    Tanking Biotech Stocks Will Mean a Big Year for Deals. Who Could Benefit.

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    Nearly two years after biotechnology stocks began to tumble, executives at small and midsize companies in the space are finally accepting that share prices aren’t bouncing back anytime soon.

    With reality setting in, it’s a buyer’s market for companies looking for acquisitions and partnerships, according to many of the pharmaceutical and medical technology executives who gathered at this year’s


    J.P. Morgan


    healthcare investor conference, which wrapped up in San Francisco on Thursday.

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  • AACI Welcomes LSU-LCMC Health Cancer Center

    AACI Welcomes LSU-LCMC Health Cancer Center

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    Newswise — This month Louisiana State University-Louisiana Children’s Medical Center (LSU-LCMC) Health Cancer Center became the 108th member of the Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI).

    The LSU-LCMC Health Cancer Center was established in 2021, when LCMC Health announced its commitment of $75 million to LSU over the next five years. The investment will support LSU’s journey to NCI designation through enhanced cancer research and treatment STEM education programs for future health care professionals. Professor of Surgery and Interdisciplinary Oncology John H. Stewart, IV, MD, MBA, is the founding director of the cancer center.

    Under Dr. Stewart’s leadership, the cancer center aims to reduce the cancer burden of Louisiana—particularly in New Orleans and surrounding parishes—through novel discoveries; improved access to advanced cancer treatments and clinical trials; community outreach and engagement; and training and education. Initiatives will integrate disease-specific research and care delivery with a patient-oriented approach that reflects the unique needs of the center’s catchment area.

    LSU-LCMC Health Cancer Center places a special emphasis on head and neck, breast, and prostate cancer screenings, and offers an active AIDS-related malignancies program that employs focused anal and cervical cancer screenings for high-risk populations.

    “We are pleased to welcome LSU-LCMC Health Cancer Center as AACI’s first new member of 2023,” said AACI Executive Director Jennifer W. Pegher. “The cancer center’s commitment to serving a diverse catchment area and training the next generation of oncology professionals aligns with AACI’s values.”

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    AACI’s mission is to accelerate progress against cancer by enhancing the impact of North America’s leading academic cancer centers. For more information, please visit aaci-cancer.org.

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    Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI)

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