Health Sciences In The Media

Quit smoking. “Cigarette smoking is probably public enemy number one,” says Joseph Alpert, MD, a cardiologist as the University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center. “People who smoke a pack of cigarettes a day are twice as likely to get a heart attack over non-smokers.”

A breast cancer survivor and longtime supporter of the University of Arizona has given $8.5 million to the University of Arizona Cancer Center to strengthen the center's breast cancer patient care and research programs.

The Tohono O'odham Nation has committed $1 million to the University of Arizona to help researchers fight COVID-19. UA researchers have been involved in understanding the coronavirus and testing people across the state since the pandemic’s arrival in the United States in the spring. An antibody test developed by immunologists in the College of Medicine-Tucson has been deployed throughout Arizona in partnership with Gov. Doug Ducey, according to the UA.

University of Arizona Heath Sciences researchers developed one of the most accurate COVID-19 antibody tests available and now have shown antibodies persist for months after infection, providing long-term immunity.

The personal protective equipment industry is trying to inject some clarity into the mask-purchasing experience by creating a uniform set of standards to show consumers how well the products would protect them and those around them. "Whether it's a standard or whether it's something equivalent to the Consumer Reports rating (of) good, better or best, it is probably useful because otherwise people are lost," said Philip Harber, a professor of public health at the University of Arizona who studies the use of respirators. He warned that given some Americans' hostility toward masks, the standards have to be "very, very, very simple."

A promising new biomarker that appears in patients before stomach cancer develops may help with early detection of the disease and improve patient response to therapy, according to findings in a study led by University of Arizona Health Sciences researchers.

A study conducted by researchers at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix and an international team shows about 14% of cerebral palsy cases may be tied to de novo genetic mutations or mutations that appear in a child but not in the parents.

There is concern among ophthalmologists that increased screen time might further accelerate the myopia epidemic. “As ophthalmologists, we have now an opportunity to raise awareness among parents and teachers and eventually engage with policy makers and curriculum developers to set up strategies for myopia mitigation that will help students also beyond the pandemic,” said Jordana M. Smith, MD, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson.

Community spread of the coronavirus is back to the levels Arizona saw in late May, according to Joe Gerald, an associate professor in the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, with increases now in all age groups, not just college students.

Fry's grocery stores is no longer sanitizing shopping carts for customers. Instead, the stores are providing sanitizing wipes for customers to do it themselves. "Obviously shopping carts are one of those things that a high number of people are going to be touching," Dr. Sahd Marvasti from the University of Arizona College of Medicine said. "But if I had to choose between whether or not masks were required versus universal sanitizing, I would choose masks."