Health Sciences In The Media

Sandy Kurtin, PhD, ANP-C, AOCN, Hematology/Oncology Nurse Practitioner at the University of Arizona Cancer Center and ASH Clinical News Associate Editor, offers advice for promoting interprofessional agility to keep pace with an ever-changing health care environment.

Sleep is paramount for healing. A simple bedtime ritual like using a dimmable light which automatically dims to a warm glow over 45 minutes, can help establish that bedtime routine. “The dimming light not only helps your natural melatonin production, but is a reminder to your brain and body to start winding down,” Dr. Michael Grandner, Director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at the University of Arizona Health Sciences.

Even in patients with stage 2 pancreatic cancer, surgery is typically worthwhile after chemotherapy, because it appears to extend patients' lives, a new study in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons concludes. The study was led by Dr. Amanda Arrington, a surgical oncologist at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson.

Interview with Dr. Jeff Burgess, associate dean for research and professor at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, who leads the ongoing Arizona HEROES study of 4,000 health care professionals and other front line workers.

Dr. Shad Marvasti, associate professor with the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Phoenix discusses the current state of COVID-19 in Arizona.

Even after just one dose of the mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna, the vaccines reduced the chance of getting infected with SARS-CoV-2, researchers report March 29 in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. “We clearly showed in our study that if you were at least 14 days out from your first shot, you had 80% protection" from infection, said Jeff Burgess, associate dean for research at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona.

Data from ongoing University of Arizona Health Sciences research have confirmed the findings from Phase III clinical trials conducted by Pfizer and Moderna for COVID-19 vaccine approval. The findings, published by the CDC, are the first in the U.S. to measure vaccine effectiveness against both symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 specifically among first responders, health care and frontline workers.

A $3.3 million NIH grant will allow University of Arizona Health Sciences researchers to characterize the unique immune response associated with emphysema, ultimately informing earlier and more personalized treatment approaches for COPD.

In March, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that small gatherings of vaccinated people are low risk. Kelly Reynolds, professor of environmental health sciences at the University of Arizona’s Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, recommends taking precautions if you don’t know whether the people you will be with are vaccinated.

University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix faculty and physicians Dr. Natasha Bhuyan and Dr. Farshad Fani Marvasti answer questions about travel safety for people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19.