As students prepare to head back to classes at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, they will find 13 more Opioid Overdose Reversal Boxes across campus. “Narcan saved my life way more times than I could count,” Kaeden Watford said.
“With cats, there is excessive vocalization and disorientation and changes in interaction with humans or other animals, such as hissing and swatting,” said Starr Cameron, clinical associate professor in small animal neurology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison’s School of Veterinary Medicine, who studies cat dementia. “Some cats are up all night and vocalizing. They go outside the litter box or can’t find it.”
The Home-Based Hospital Care program currently allows up to four adult patients to receive hospital care and equipment — everything from oxygen tanks and intravenous pumps to multiple in-person visits by medical staff daily — from home. Patients will also receive smart devices that will allow them to call medical staff at any time, just like a call button in a hospital bed.
Though the program only serves four patients at a time, it may expand to help more than 300 patients a year by 2024.
As kids head back to school, we take a look at the politics of school lunch, including compensation issues among school lunch workers, parental involvement with school meals, and the role of farmers in school lunches. Interview with Jennifer Gaddis, an assistant professor in the Department of Civil Society and Community Studies at UW-Madison’s School of Human Ecology.
“It is really revolutionary,” said Roseanne Clark, a clinical psychologist and director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s postpartum depression research treatment program.
“The concern is, could that cause a very similar spike epidemiologically, with more spread, more hospitalizations, more death?” said Ajay Sethi, professor of population health sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “It doesn’t have to replicate what we saw the last time (with omicron), … but it certainly is on everybody’s mind.”
Through a new program at UW Health and a growing number of health systems around the country, some adult patients are receiving hospital-level care at home.
Students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will now see more overdose rescue boxes in buildings on campus, in the university’s effort to prevent opioid and fentanyl overdoses.
Madison-area hospital systems UW Health and SSM Health did not respond to about their procedures for fentanyl screenings.
Richard Keller, professor of medical history and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said social isolation is the greatest risk factor for dying of heat stroke.
“Especially if they’re living on their own in marginal conditions without access to air conditioning and without access to a steady social network, they can often find themselves with no one to help if they find themselves in crisis,” Keller said.
Funds awarded to the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health will be used to improve the health outcomes of mothers and infants, UW Health said Thursday.
“We are a nation with many resources, and yet, generic medications across the board, and things like infant formula, are resources that some of our citizens don’t have access to because we haven’t really built the policies to ensure that there would be access,” said Kari Wisinski, chief of hematology and oncology and palliative care at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Medicine.
“As a physician, I believe that these deaths are almost completely preventable,” said Bill Kinsey, a physician and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Until we determine as a society the importance of a human right for people to work in healthy situations, we are going to see continued illness and death in this population.”
Ketamine has emerged as a therapeutic option for treatment-resistant depression and other mental health conditions. We talk to Cody Wenthur, an assistant professor at UW-Madison’s School of Pharmacy and director of the school’s new Psychoactive Pharmaceutical Investigation master’s program, about how it works and why ketamine clinics have popped up across Wisconsin.
Dr. Michael Lucey, professor of gastroenterology and hepatology at the University of Wisconsin’s medical school, said those resources are an “integral part” of performing more comprehensive psychosocial evaluations.
A new school year is quickly approaching. We check in with Dr. Emily Ruedinger, a pediatrics expert from UW-Madison, about how to best prepare children mentally and physically.
Dr. Nasia Safdar, medical director of infection control at the University of Wisconsin spoke with CNET in 2021, when scientists were first getting a grip on long COVID, that the key to discerning the condition is to pay attention to new symptoms that develop or ones that never go away — about 30 days post-infection. This separates long COVID from the initial viral infection itself.
Dr. Megan Moreno, a professor of pediatrics with UW Health Kids, said the study had a surprising impact.
“I think there was a lot of skepticism around whether a five-minute conversation with a pediatrician would have much effect,” she said. “The answer was, ‘Yes, absolutely.’ A pediatrician isn’t going to be able to go into great detail, but if our intervention got kids to talk to their parents, that is great.”
Most people who have had cancer drink, including some at high levels during treatment, says a study involving a UW Health cancer doctor, even though alcohol increases the risk of some types of cancer and can make treatment for any cancer riskier and less effective.
It may be time to break out the face masks again.
COVID-19 cases are on the rise nationwide due to a new omicron subvariant, EG.5, nicknamed “Eris.” Though Wisconsin isn’t getting hit hard yet, hospitalizations are up 14.3% and deaths are up 10% in the last week, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
Dr. Nasia Safdar, medical director of infection control at the University of Wisconsin spoke with CNET in 2021, when scientists were first getting a grip on long COVID, that the key to discerning the condition is to pay attention to new symptoms that develop or ones that never go away — about 30 days post-infection. This separates long COVID from the initial viral infection itself.
A new study from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health finds that even a brief conversation about social media with their doctor can improve teens’ behavior on the platforms.
“I think there was a lot of skepticism around whether a five-minute conversation with a pediatrician would have much effect,” Dr. Megan Moreno of UW Health Kids and a professor of pediatrics at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health said. “The answer was, ‘Yes, absolutely.’ A pediatrician isn’t going to be able to go into great detail, but if our intervention got kids to talk to their parents, that is great.”
While some radiopharmaceuticals have been utilized in thyroid cancer treatment for decades, new radiation drugs are showing promise in many other areas, according to Dr. Steve Cho, a professor and section chief of the nuclear medicine section of the Department of Radiology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Medicine and Public Health.
Dr. Steve Barczi, a professor of medicine at UW Health, said making a few small changes during the weeks leading up to the school year will go a long way.
“Most people project that if you can even just shift a child’s bedtime by maybe 15 minutes everyday or a couple days, until you move them back let’s say that hour that they need to be back to be able to be prepared for school, that’s a good gauge,” Barczi said.
A spokesperson for UW Health, another major provider for Madison-area residents, also confirmed with the Cap Times that it will “continue to serve (its) transgender, gender expansive and nonbinary patient communities.”
Dr. Jeff Pothof, chief quality officer and emergency medicine physician at UW Health, says a new COVID booster is good news. Dr. Pothof encourages people to get the new booster in September or October when they get their flu shot.
“Our immune systems get a little bit lazy and they don’t work as well against COVID. So having this booster is going to be helpful. It’s actually against the strain that’s pretty common out there right now,” Dr. Pothof.
The annual event is organized by the Pancreas Cancer Task Force, a group of volunteers dedicated to raising funds for pancreas cancer research while supporting patients throughout their cancer journey. Gerianne Holzman, chair of Roll and Stroll 2023, says “Gathering survivors, along with their family, friends, and care teams shows everyone impacted by this disease that they are not alone.”
There are a number of reasons why sports physicals are important, especially this time of year. Dr. David Bernhardt, a pediatric sports medicine physician with UW Health said it allows kids to participate in sport which has a significant impact on mental and physical health, among other benefits.
Now, new research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison could give doctors a better understanding of which patients are affected by these strains by mapping the location of antibiotic resistance in great detail.
Laurel Legenza is a postdoctoral researcher at UW-Madison’s School of Pharmacy and lead author of the new study. She used data from cases of E. coli infections at three Wisconsin health care systems to map out where bacteria were susceptible to two common antibiotic treatments.
Pancreatic cancer is one of the most deadly cancers, with only 10% of people living more than five years after diagnosis, according to the American Cancer Society. In Wisconsin and nationally, pancreatic cancer is the third-leading cause of cancer-related deaths.
The free clinic is meant to eliminate barriers for children to play sports. The WIAA requires high school athletes to complete a physical exam before the first day of practice.
To address the problem, University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics announced it would create a registered nurse apprenticeship program. It’s one of the first programs of its kind in the country, according to UW Health.
University of Wisconsin Hospitals, including University Hospital and East Madison Hospital, were named the best hospital in Wisconsin for the 12th straight year by. U.S. News and World Report.
UW Health celebrated its first-place ranking in a statement and noted the continued success in the well-known survey of hospitals. “As we reflect on 12 years as the best hospital in Wisconsin, I am proud of the teamwork it takes to maintain this level of excellence,” UW Health CEO Dr. Alan Kaplan said. “UW Health will continue to set the standard for remarkable care, innovative practices and health equity.”
The first project at University Hospital would add a six-story building that with 22 emergency rooms, 22 flexible care beds and 48 inpatient rooms. The new space at will be located between the UW Medical Foundation Centennial Building, 1685 Highland Ave. and University Hospital.
UW Health plans to add a new six-story building to its main hospital in the coming years, while its one on Madison’s east side will see its own expansion.
The expansion at University Hospital will include 22 emergency department rooms, 22 flexible care beds and 48 inpatient rooms and will be located between the UW Medical Foundation Centennial Building, 1685 Highland Ave., and University Hospital, according to a press release from UW Health. The East Madison Hospital expansion will include six operating rooms, 40 recovery rooms, 20 rooms for post-anesthesia care, 14 flexible care rooms, 20 emergency department rooms and four care rooms that can be shared between the emergency department and medical imaging.
University Hospital, 600 Highland Ave., will add a six-story structure planned to include 22 emergency department rooms, 22 flexible care beds, and 48 inpatient rooms. The new space will be located between the UW Medical Foundation Centennial Building, 1685 Highland Ave., and University Hospital.
We talk to an expert on early childhood media consumption about the potential harms of unregulated kids’ content on YouTube, and what parents need to be aware of. We also talk to a PBS Wisconsin education engagement specialist about what outreach is being done to help kids and parents make healthy media choices.
This notion of a “DIY society” can extend to the numerous ways parents—especially mothers—are asked to “hold it all together,” the University of Wisconsin at Madison sociologist Jessica Calarco told me. For example, the rise of double-earner households was not met with policies like affordable child care or mandatory paid leave. Instead, families have been forced to navigate confusing and competitive marketplaces to acquire basic services such as day care and summer camp, and they are largely on their own to deal with any breakdowns.
“It’s been proven that protracted hot weather can make people depressed,” said Dr. Charles Raison, who has done research on heat intolerance and summer-related depression. “It seems as if the system that modulates body temp also modulates mood.”
Raison, professor of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, said people with mental illness often have trouble with thermal regulation. “From our data, we know that people with depression tend to run body temperatures higher than average, and they don’t sweat as much. So being depressed could set you up to not be able to tolerate heat well.”
That’s a problem, said UW-Madison assistant professor Dr. Christopher Nicholas, who researches how psychedelics and other psychoactive compounds can be used to treat addiction, trauma, chronic pain and depression. “Trauma doesn’t discriminate … and those who are suffering often don’t have the resources to pay for ketamine,” Nicholas said.
At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, anesthesiology professor Matthew Banks is tinkering with something in between leaving the trip alone and anesthesia: What if you let people have their full-on psychedelic experience, but then erase their memory of the trip altogether? Do you need to remember a trip for the benefits to stick?
“Other carbon sources turn off uric acid utilization,” explained Federico Rey, an associate professor at UW-Madison and the principal investigator in the study.
Leading that revolution is the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which in August opened the Transdisciplinary Center for Research in Psychoactive Substances, expanding upon clinical psychedelic studies that have been on campus for seven years. The UW School of Pharmacy is also home to the nation’s first master’s program in psychoactive pharmaceutical investigation, where researchers are studying ketamine’s effects on the brain.
UW Health started screening ER and hospitalized patients for food insecurity in 2017, and screens children at clinic visits, spokesperson Emily Greendonner said. Patients needing food get food packages at discharge.
One in 12 Wisconsin families can’t afford the food they need, according to data before the COVID-19 pandemic, said the Wisconsin Food Security Project at UW-Madison. Food insecurity can contribute to chronic disease and poor mental health, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Some Wall Street analysts tempered their enthusiasm about Leqembi’s approval in part because of limited capacity at hospitals and infusion centers to administer the biweekly IV infusions. Donanemab, however, is only administered every 4 weeks, which may ease the infusion issues as well as the long-term costs, geriatrics researchers from the University of California San Francisco, SUNY Upstate Medical University and the University of Wisconsin wrote in an editorial published in JAMA Monday.
“The modest benefits would likely not be questioned by patients, clinicians, or payers, if amyloid antibodies were low risk, inexpensive and simple to administer,” wrote UCSF’s Dr. Eric Widera, SUNY Upstate Medical University’s Dr. Sharon Brangman and the University of Wisconsin’s Dr. Nathaniel Chin. “However, they are none of these.”
According to Newsweek, the UW Carbone Cancer Center is listed as the top cancer hospital in Wisconsin for 2023. We learn about the hospital’s latest work, including prostate MRI’s and proton therapy. Interview with Dr. Joshua Lang, associate director of translational research, and Dr. Nataliya Uboha, an oncologist and faculty leader for Cancer Therapy Discovery & Development, both at the UW Carbone Cancer Center.
“(The) clinic is actively involved with all of the communities from which people come,” said Fred Coleman, a 20-year clinic partner and psychiatrist on the clinical faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
More than 80 years ago, the American Institute of the History of Pharmacy was founded at UW-Madison. Today, the organization supports pharmacy education around the country. We speak with Lucas Richert, the institute director, and Hannah Rose Swan, the archivist at the UW-Madison School of Pharmacy, on how the history of pharmaceuticals resonates today.
“Michael (Love) was one of the healthiest people we’ve ever seen who needed this procedure,” UW Hospital surgeon Dr. Satoru Osaki said after the procedure. “It was clear to us that he would take his recovery very seriously because he was so serious about his goals.”
“For the general community, I think the risk is pretty low,” said Dr. Nasia Safdar, a professor in infectious diease and infectino control at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
Dr Bruce Klein from the Medical School at the University of Wisconsin has been researching the infection for about 40 years. He mentioned that the virus is underreported and that reported cases in Wisconsin are uncommon.
Shereen Siewert welcomes Wisconsin bestselling author Michael Perry and University of Wisconsin Center for Dairy Profitability Farm Succession Outreach Specialist Joy Kirkpatrick for a discussion on farmer well-being and mental health.
“It’s probably more common than we think,” said Dr. Bruce Klein of the University of Wisconsin Medical School.
“We’re doing it for the Carbone Cancer Center out at the University of Wisconsin. We’re both University of Wisconsin graduates. His sister died a couple of years ago, then my sister died this year on Palm Sunday of cancer, so we now had a cause and that’s when we decided let’s do this for cancer,” said Schmelter.
“ConnectRx, essentially, is a social prescription,” Adrian Jones, UW Health’s director of community health improvement, said. UW Health serves as the host site for the program, which includes all the major health systems in the county, the Black Maternal and Child Health Alliance, the Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness, Public Health Madison and Dane County, the Madison Metropolitan School District and United Way of Dane County.
A surprisingly wide range of medical conditions are being shown to be linked to sexual violence. Many may not appear until years after the events. Cancer is one such condition. “A history of abuse may increase a woman’s risk of and susceptibility to cancer,” a review article by researchers at the University of Wisconsin concludes. Cervical cancer is the most prevalent type linked to abuse, and some studies find more breast cancer in survivors (other research does not support this finding). One possible mechanism: heightened immune and inflammatory factors brought on by chronic stress that have been tied to cancer growth, the researchers note.
