Health Sciences In The Media

The US has an underreported and perpetuating issue with clinician burnout and suicidality. Mara Windsor, DO, an emergency medicine physician at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix, describes a day in the emergency department treating patients in a region which at one point this winter went 59 straight days averaging more than 5000 new COVID-19 cases daily.

During a virtual Targeted Oncology Case-Based Roundtable event, Daniel O. Persky, MD, professor of medicine and associate director of clinical investigations at University of Arizona Cancer Center, reviewed the case of a 61-year-old patient with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

The University of Arizona College of Pharmacy has been awarded a $1.4 million grant from the Flinn Foundation to fund scholarships for a dual-degree program offering students the opportunity to simultaneously earn Doctor of Pharmacy and Master of Science in Nursing degrees along with a family nurse practitioner certificate.

Boots on the ground interview with Sana Khan, a doctoral student in epidemiology at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and vaccination site volunteer at the UArizona POD in Tucson. Khan shares her first-hand experience on the ground, and what the 1-year mark means to her.

Dr. Cecilia Rosales, Associate Dean of Community Engagement and Phoenix Programs at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, is a guest on the show to discuss the facts about the COVID-19 vaccine and pregnancy.

Researchers used the gene-editing technique CRISPR to successfully repress the gene and increase pain tolerance in mice. The effects lasted up to 44 weeks. If it proves safe in people, the therapy could offer an alternative to opioids, the authors say. "The problem is, we need pain to live, "said Rajesh Khanna, a pharmacology professor and chronic pain researcher at the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy who wasn't involved in the Navega Therapeutics study. "Pain serves as a warning signal that something is wrong."

The University of Arizona's high-capacity state vaccination site has over 4,000 volunteers registered but the clinics will need a steady stream of volunteers for the next several months. "While we have a lot of interest right now, interest can fade,” said Kristen Pogreba-Brown, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and an organizer of the task force's volunteer campaign. “We are really going to need volunteers at least until June, so even if you sign up and don't get a shift right away, don't despair."

The rise of COVID-Somnia, a term used to describe the increase in sleep disturbances caused by the pandemic, means many of us will be springing forward already sleep-deprived. “If your bank account is already empty, getting hit with a mandatory expense is extra stressful,” says Dr. Michael Grandner, Director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson. “For people already starting out with sleep debt, that extra hour lost can have implications for mental and physical performance, that can have a measurable impact on health and safety.”

University of Arizona Health Sciences Innovation Building was named the best higher education/research project in Engineering News-Record's "Best of the Best Projects 2020."

A study in mice shows certain types of pain can be prevented or reversed without apparent side effects by silencing a gene involved in pain signaling. "It's a beautiful piece of work," said Rajesh Khanna, a neuroscientist who studies pain mechanisms and potential treatments at the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy. Despite successes of gene therapy against rare and life-threatening disorders, few teams have explored genetic approaches to treating pain, he said. "I think this study is going to be our benchmark."