Health Sciences In The Media

The University of Arizona is launching a $7.7 million yearlong study funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to identify patterns of COVID-19 immunity over time in previously and newly infected individuals. Dr. Jeff Burgess, associate dean for research and a professor at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, is serving as principal investigator for the study, named the Arizona Healthcare, Emergency Response, and Other Essential Workers Surveillance, or AZ HEROES, Study.

Part of the virus that causes the illness Covid-19 could be used to help relieve pain, a new study suggests, by blocking the body’s pain pathway at a cellular level. Rajesh Khanna, a professor in the College of Medicine at the University of Arizona Health Sciences, and his research team found that the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein binds to neuropilin in exactly the same location as VEGF-A.

Doctors are saying that the president is doing extremely well after being hospitalized with COVID-19 over the weekend. Dr. Shad Marvasti, of the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix, on what we are hearing about the president’s condition. Air time: 10:19 PM

Scientists at the University of Arizona Health Sciences say the virus that causes COVID-19 may have a surprising ability to relieve pain. Laboratory experiments with rodents show when the virus enters the body by binding to a gateway protein called neuropilin, it blocks the first step in the pathway that causes pain. That might explain why so many people diagnosed with COVID-19 don’t feel any symptoms. KNAU spoke with the study’s senior author Dr. Rajesh Khanna from the UArizona College of Medicine, about his findings.

A new study from scientists at the University of Arizona Health Sciences center shows that the novel coronavirus has a second receptor that is linked to pain signaling.

In a small preliminary study, researchers affiliated with the University of Arizona Health Sciences Comprehensive Pain and Addiction Center exposed 29 people—all of whom experience episodic or chronic migraine and failed multiple traditional therapies, such as oral medications and Botox injections— to white and green light.

Colorectal cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death among Native Americans, prompting calls for increased screenings to improve detection and treatment of colorectal disease. The University of Arizona Cancer Center is working to address this problem. The program was recently awarded $3 million by the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Moonshot Initiative, which aims to accelerate cancer research and prevention.

Q&A with Environmental microbiologists and public health researchers at the University of Arizona: Kelly Reynolds, professor and chair of the Community, Environment and Policy Department at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and Charles Gerba, an environmental microbiologist from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Payson now has a state-of-the-art, high-tech telemedicine clinic, with the opening of the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix Rural Health Clinic. The clinic will train medical students and also offer treatment for everyone regardless of medical insurance status, taking advantage of the latest technology to run tests, talk to specialists and manage the care of complex medical issues.

Dr. Lisa Grimaldi, an associate professor in the Division of Cardiovascular ICU at the University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix, said most children who have tested positive for COVID-19 do not have symptoms or have only a very mild disease. Grimaldi also is pediatric critical care physician at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. She said there are reports out of New York and Europe that children are being hospitalized with a new disease that appears to be tied to Coronavirus. Called multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C).