I feel it sometimes, like a phantom limb, banging against my side as I move around the house. I sense it nestled in the crook of my arm as I wander from room to room. It was the one-time receptacle of all I held immediately important: purse, receipts, identification, charger, books, tissues (fresh and used),…
When I was in elementary school, I occasionally had trouble falling asleep, and people would tell me to count sheep. I had seen the activity graphically depicted in cartoons, but when I tried it, I never saw anything — just black. I’ve been counting silently into the darkness for years. There were other puzzling comments…
When I’m angry — which is often these days — I pull weeds. Getting my hands in the dirt untangles the knots that form in my stomach. With the first few weeds, I feel my exasperation with those who refuse to wear masks relent. It takes a little more digging and pulling to address the…
The 50-year-old physician dropped into the leather chair in her psychiatrist’s Manhattan office. Her new normal, she announced to Dr. Deborah Cabaniss, was constant fatigue. Cabaniss noted that although her patient looked put together as usual, she could see the exhaustion in her eyes. “You don’t look like yourself,” the therapist agreed. The patient had…
Given the disproportionate impact that COVID-19 has on older adults in terms of death and lasting disability, and the impact of common aging-related comorbidities like diabetes and cardiovascular disease, Buck Institute professor and practicing geriatrician John Newman, MD, PhD, can make a compelling argument that those infected with the SARS-CoV2 virus are suffering from an…
In a clinical trial evaluating a novel immunotherapy option for cancer treatment, a child with rhabdomyosarcoma, a form of muscle cancer, that had spread to the bone marrow, showed no detectable cancer following treatment with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells that were engineered to target the HER2 protein on the surface of the cancer…
By now, we’re all aware that COVID-19 is especially dangerous for older adults–the older you are, the higher your risk for serious illness and even death if you contract the virus. Because there is no treatment or a vaccine yet, it’s vitally important that we practice social distancing and wear masks to protect ourselves from…
July 15, 2020 – Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of Americans have had to delay recommended but elective orthopedic surgical procedures, such as joint replacement surgery or knee arthroscopy. Now an expert panel has issued recommendations to guide safe resumption of elective orthopedic surgery. The guidelines appear in the July 15, 2020…
NEW YORK, NY (July 15, 2020) – A study supported by the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation and published today in JAMA Network Open provides the first evidence that rotigotine, a drug that acts on dopamine transmission in the brain, improves cognitive function in patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease. While rotigotine did not show a significant…
Boston, MA — More than 3 million people in the United States have been infected with COVID-19 and more than 130,000 have died. More people have died of COVID-19 in the U.S. than in any other country, but few studies offer national data on the factors that may contribute to outcomes for critically ill patients.…