Health Sciences In The Media

Dan Derksen, associate vice president for health equity, outreach and interprofessional activities at the University of Arizona Health Sciences, said the state might have to consider measures such as the stay-at-home orders imposed this summer to protect the availability of hospital beds.

Spine surgeon Ali Baaj, MD, is the inaugural chief of spine surgery at the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix and Banner-University Medical Center Phoenix. As spine surgery chief, Dr. Baaj will build a new academic spine program at UArizona-Banner.

The debate continues over the practice of mass screening of healthy men with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood tests for the early detection of prostate cancer. The article cites Richard Ablin, PhD, of the University of Arizona College of Medicine, who discovered PSA in 1970. He stressed that PSA testing was not intended for use for mass screening but rather to follow men with advanced disease.

Researchers at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson have found that people who have had COVID-19 develop long-lasting immunity. Their study appears in the journal Immunity.

A clinical trial at the University of Arizona Health Sciences designed to study the safety and effectiveness of a personalized cancer vaccine in combination with the immunotherapy drug Pembrolizumab will expand its cohort after promising preliminary data was presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Immunotherapy of Cancer.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says wearing cloth masks not only keeps people from unknowingly transmitting the virus, it keeps people from inhaling the virus from the air. Saskia Popescu, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Arizona, tweeted, "We know that even fabric masks offer some variable protection for the wearer, but I think the bigger issue is that the CDC has to reiterate this to get people to wear a mask."

Despite news on Nov. 9 that a COVID-19 vaccine is 90% effective, it is important to note that it still could be several more months until it's widely available, and there are some potential issues that come with it. "The challenges with this vaccine is it has to be stored at -94 degree," said Dr. Shad Marvasti, Director of Public Health at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. "Most vaccines are stored at 35°F to 45°F, in a standard refrigerator."

Researchers at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson have developed a method of using ketamine in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. The university has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Pharmather Inc., a subsidiary of Newscope Capital Corporation, for the development and commercialization of the method.

On Monday, pharmaceutical maker Pfizer reported it’s COVID-19 vaccine appears to be 90% effective. Dr. Shad Marvasti, with the University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix, is cautiously optimistic about the news. “We still want to look at the details to verify this, but it definitely sounds very promising and it’s good to hear,” Marvasti said. However, Marvasti cautions that adhering to mitigation efforts like wearing a mask and social distancing is critical even if the vaccine is approved.

As coronavirus cases grow in Arizona, the state could reach a “crisis point” after Thanksgiving, one expert recently warned. “I don’t see us reaching any particular crisis point before Thanksgiving,” Dr. Joe Gerald, an associate professor with the University of Arizona’s Zuckerman College of Public Health, told the Arizona Daily Star. “But once we hit Thanksgiving and move towards Christmas and New Year’s, I think we will eventually reach a crisis point.”