Health Sciences In The Media

The legacy of racism in healthcare for Black patients in America has been a pressing issue that has an impact when someone goes in for critical care. Victoria Murrain, DO, vice dean of diversity, equity and inclusion at the College of Medicine – Tucson, discusses what the college is doing to build an environment where true diversity can thrive.

Besides the health department recommendation to extend the mask mandate, some health professionals felt an extension would be a good idea because case numbers still high. Extending the mask mandate sends the right message, says Joe Gerald, MD, PhD, an associate professor of public health policy at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health.

Researchers from the University of Arizona Health Sciences found that people who suffer from migraine may benefit from green light therapy, which was shown to reduce the frequency and intensity of headaches and improve patient quality of life. This content originated with a Health Sciences news release.

Michael Grandner, PhD, director of the Sleep and Heath Research Program at the College of Medicine – Tucson, explains the history of weighted blankets, originally an occupational therapy tool designed to help children with developmental disabilities who often sleep restlessly and benefit from movement restriction therapies.

Researchers are exploring a potential link between COVID-19 vaccination and tinnitus. Shaowen Bao, PhD, an associate professor of neuroscience, physiological sciences, and physiology at the College of Medicine – Tucson, discusses his research on the association between tinnitus and SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination, and whether patients who develop tinnitus after vaccination should receive a booster dose.

Researchers at the College of Medicine – Phoenix have received a grant from the National Institutes of Health to study how medications used to treat hypertension may provide insight into novel treatments to produce long-lasting protection against heart disease. Taben Hale, PhD, associate professor and director of the Hale Laboratory, will lead the study.

U.S. Representatives Kevin MacCarthy (R-CA) and David Schweikert (R-AZ), co-chairs of the Congressional Valley Fever Task Force, have previously called for research funding to combat the disease. Both congressmen were praised by the Valley Fever Center for Excellence at the University of Arizona and Valley Fever Institute at Kern Medical for their efforts.

John Galgiani, MD, director of the UArizona Valley Fever Center for Excellence, estimated a vaccine would cost $200 million to fully develop. Dr. Galgiani is currently testing a vaccine that will be used in dogs and hopes to deploy to veterinarians by 2023.

For Frank Moreno, MD, professor of psychiatry at the College of Medicine – Tucson, migrants have levels of stress and depression associated with their condition that reflect other social factors, conditions he assures are conducive to developing other types of health problems such as "headaches, ulcers, high blood pressure, problems regulating blood sugar, all chronic diseases are complicated by stress."

Chronic stress among the elderly can make the problem worse, says Roberta Diaz Brinton, PhD, director of the Center for Innovation in Brain Science at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson. She says that elderly stress caused by everything from loneliness to finances to poor health can make mental decline worse.