Health Sciences In The Media

Around 40 percent of Brits are thought to suffer with high, or borderline high cholesterol levels. The article cites a study led by Michael Grandner, PhD, director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at the College of Medicine – Tucson, that found links to sleeping issues and high cholesterol.

As eligibility for COVID-19 boosters widens in parts of the U.S., some people wonder when they should time their shots to maximize protection.

The UArizona Health Sciences Office of Communications team walked away with multiple honors at the 2021 Impact Awards ceremony for the Southern Arizona chapter of the Public Relations Society of America on Nov. 2 in Tucson. The team won in the categories for General Marketing Communications, News Release or PSA, Social Media Communications, Community Relations and Best in Show.

A $1.5 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency is funding a study through the University of Arizona Health Sciences on the cancer risks for wildland firefighters.

Lise Alschuler, ND, FABNO, associate director of the Fellowship in Integrative Medicine at the UArizona Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine, has seen some benefits with zinc. "Zinc supplementation has been shown in many clinical trials to shorten the duration of the common cold.”

COVID-19 cases in Arizona show signs of "exponential" growth, according to a new report published by the Arizona Public Health Association, based on analysis by Joe Gerald, MD, PhD, associate professor and director of the public health policy and management program at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, who noted an "abrupt increase in transmission levels among all age groups starting in early October."

Continuing coverage: At the UArizona Valley Fever Center for Excellence, researchers had a breakthrough for a vaccine that can be used to prevent Valley fever in dogs – with the hope it can be used for people one day. "It would be useful to prevent valley fever in dogs, but if we showed that, it would indicate this vaccine would give us lots of information suggesting it should go forward in clinical trials in humans as well," said John Galgiani, MD, professor of medicine at the College of Medicine – Tucson.

Joe Gerald, MD, PhD, an assistant professor at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, has been modeling the pandemic for Arizona for the past year and a half. In his weekly report, Dr. Gerald noted how case rates have risen 62% over the past three weeks as well. "For most counties, current rates exceed those observed at the height of the summer 2020 wave."

It is true that excess weight around the waist and deep in the abdomen near organs is associated with higher hospitalization and death rates with COVID. “People who think only obese people are in the hospital should come to Banner and see, like I do every day, that not everyone who dies is obese. The main issue is that COVID is unpredictable,” said Elizabeth Connick, MD, chief of infectious diseases at the College of Medicine – Tucson and Banner-University Medical Center.

UArizona College of Nursing researchers Jessica Rainbow, PhD, RN, and Claire Bethel, PhD, RN, have been studying nurse well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.