Health Sciences In The Media

Women with endometriosis appear to have a greater risk of stroke, even after taking into account known risk factors for stroke, according to a study presented at the 2021 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Leslie Farland, ScD, MSc, an assistant professor at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and colleagues, examined data from the Nurses’ Health Study II, where women were followed from 1989 until 2017 for development of incident stroke.

In one week, vaccine mandates may force some healthcare workers out of their jobs. Some still don't want the COVID-19 shot, but several hospital systems require all employees to be vaccinated by November 1. "I think there's going to be somewhat of an exodus of people who are reluctant to get it," said Shad Marvasti, MD, associate professor and director of Public Health, Prevention and Health Promotion Curriculum at the College of Medicine – Phoenix.

Arizona accounted for about 10,000 out of 18,000 reported Valley fever cases in 2019, according to the latest statistics from the CDC. Coccidioidomycosis is frequently mistaken not only for cancer, but also for rheumatic conditions and bacterial infections, according to Valley fever specialist John Galgiani, MD, director of the Valley Fever Center for Excellence at the University of Arizona in Tucson. "Where Valley fever is common, it should very frequently be in the differential for masses that are thought to be cancer," Galgiani said in an interview.

During the summer of 2020, Arizona’s health authorities activated crisis standards of care, and hospitals began rationing medical supplies. The situation has improved, but the persistently high levels of cases and deaths following a long period of low community transmission are concerning, according to a recent report written by Joe K. Gerald, MD, PhD, associate professor at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, and Patrick Wightman, PhD, MPP, a researcher at the Center for Population Science and Discovery.

The UArizona Sarver Heart Center recently welcomed four cardiologists: Michel Corban, MD, Craig Hoover, MD, and Saad Kubba, MD, joined the Division of Cardiology; and Robert L. Hooker, MD, joined the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery. All are faculty members in the UArizona College of Medicine – Tucson’s Department of Medicine, and all are seeing patients at Banner – University Medical Center Tucson.

Dan Derksen, MD, director of the UArizona Center for Rural Health, discusses the low vaccination rates in rural Arizona. Maiya Block, PhD, lead researcher for the UArizona Alliance for Vaccine Literacy, discusses the concerns people have about flu and COVID-19 vaccinations.

Data from an ongoing research study at the University of Arizona Health Sciences show that first responders – including firefighters, law enforcement, correctional officers and emergency medical service providers – are at elevated risk of COVID-19 infection compared with other essential workers and frontline health care personnel.

Evidence that the Moderna vaccine produces a higher level of antibodies than the Pfizer vaccine might give it an edge as a booster, some scientists say. Yet some people experience more side effects with Moderna, albeit mostly moderate ones, such as fatigue, muscle aches and chills. And the antibody difference between Pfizer and Moderna isn’t huge. “From the data we’ve got, Moderna is doing a touch bit better,” says Deepta Bhattacharya, PhD, a professor of immunobiology at the College of Medicine – Tucson. “We’re not talking orders of magnitude.”

The Dance for Parkinson’s community event was held on Thursday at the Health Sciences Innovation Building in Tucson. Dance for PD was born from the idea that people with Parkinson’s disease could benefit from the insight and specific techniques and methods used by dancers to guide their own bodies and minds.

Researchers at the University of Arizona are studying why women experience pain and addiction differently than men. Clinical trials have historically favored males, despite females being at a higher risk for both. Hormones could be central to new treatments and recovery methods. Tally Largent-Milnes, PhD, assistant professor of pharmacology and Alicia Allen, PhD, MPH, assistant professor of family and community medicine from the College of Medicine – Tucson, discuss their research.