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Category: Health

UW-Madison engineers use carbon nanotubes to better protect against brain injuries

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Wisconsin Public Radio

University of Wisconsin-Madison engineers have developed a new shock-absorbing foam made from carbon nanotubes aimed at reducing traumatic brain injuries in U.S. soldiers. The material has been shown to absorb shock 18 times better than existing military helmet liners and could also offer athletes better protection against concussions.

In order to tackle big issues like brain injuries on the battlefront, UW-Madison associate professor of engineering and physics Ramathasan Thevamaran thinks small — as in micrometers. He and fellow engineers at the university have developed a way to make flexible carbon tubes, around a thousand times smaller than a human hair, into a new type of ultra-shock-absorbing foam.

UW-Madison researcher says drone-delivered defibrillators can save lives

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Wisconsin Public Radio

When a heart stops, survival rates fall with every passing minute. A University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher thinks minutes and lives can be saved in rural areas with fleets of autonomous drones equipped with defibrillators.

And saving lives is in UW-Madison assistant professor and researcher Justin Boutilier’s blood. When he was growing up in Canada, his mother was a nurse and his father was a paramedic and firefighter.

Wisconsinites feel the effects of national veterinarian shortage

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Quoted: Mark Markel, dean of the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine, said many vets are no longer willing to work the brutal hours they did in the past.

“If veterinarians used to work 70 hours a week or 80 hours a week, and now they’re working 40, we’ve got a workforce shortage by almost half — even if we’re seeing the same number of patients,” he said.

UW Health updates facility names

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WKOW-TV 27

As we head into the new year, UW Health facilities are getting some new names.

This is being done to make the names more intuitive and help patients and their families better able to find their way around, according to a release from the hospital system.

UW Madison Joins National Harm Reduction Research Network

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WORT FM

In 2021, over 107,000 people lost their lives to opioid addiction across the country. Public officials across the country have been working to address the issue for years, but a new nation-wide harm reduction research network is looking to find new ways to address the problem.

Today, UW Madison announced that they are joining a new nationwide network to research and evaluate harm reduction services.

Dr. Ryan Westergaard is a professor of medicine at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, and is leading UW Madison’s research wing of the initiative.

In praise of the monthly water bill

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The Hill

The cost of delivering safe, clean tap water to every household and business in a community is massive. In fact, it may be among the most expensive of all human undertakings. That is why only the wealthiest countries have achieved it at high rates and why 2 billion people on our planet still lack it.

Co-authored by Manny Teodoro, an associate professor of public affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

2022 was a ‘historic’ year for abortion. Now, advocates on both sides are looking ahead to next year.

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Noted: According to an analysis of a national study by the University of Wisconsin Collaborative for Reproductive Equity, health care providers have not performed any abortions in the state since the fall of Roe vs. Wade.

“In April and May of 2022, Wisconsin abortion providers reported 590 and 620 abortions, respectively. In July and August, those numbers fell to zero,” it said.

Booster rates fall short of health officials’ goals before holidays

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Quoted: Dr. Ajay Sethi, a professor of Population Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said BQ.1 can be treated with Paxlovid, an antiviral drug. But in some cases, people with severe cases of COVID-19 may need to receive monoclonal antibodies, or injectable medical treatments at a hospital.

Sethi emphasized that masking remains one of the safest ways to protect yourself and the community against the virus.

“As people gather for the holidays, you know, getting a rapid test and verifying whether you could be infected is a good idea. And if you have any symptoms, stay home,” he said.

What older Americans need to know before undergoing major surgery

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CNN.com

Quoted: Ask your surgeon, “How is this surgery going to make things better for me?” said Dr. Margaret “Gretchen” Schwarze, an associate professor of surgery at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. Will it extend your life by removing a fast-growing tumor? Will your quality of life improve by making it easier to walk? Will it prevent you from becoming disabled, akin to a hip replacement?

Schwarze, a vascular surgeon, often cares for patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms, an enlargement in a major blood vessel that can be life-threatening if it bursts.

Here’s how she describes a “best case” surgical scenario for that condition: “Surgery will be about four to five hours. When it’s over, you’ll be in the ICU with a breathing tube overnight for a day or two. Then, you’ll be in the hospital for another week or so. Afterwards, you’ll probably have to go to rehab to get your strength back, but I think you can get back home in three to four weeks, and it’ll probably take you two to three months to feel like you did before surgery.”

Among other things people might ask their surgeon, according to a patient brochure Schwarze’s team has created: What will my daily life look like right after surgery? Three months later? One year later? Will I need help, and for how long? Will tubes or drains be inserted?

UW Health expert offers advice for keeping children safe while driving in winter weather

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CBS 58

As holiday weekend travel gets underway, an expert at UW Health in Madison is sharing some steps to keep children safe on the roads.

If you want to warm up your car before heading out for the day, try to move the car outside of the garage to avoid the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. Then, ensure that the vehicle’s tailpipe is not blocked with snow or ice.

Vehicles should also be inspected to ensure any child’s car set or booster seat is installed correctly, while remembering that bulky clothing or winter coats will impact the fit of a safety harness on a child.

Rishelle Eithun, a UW Health pediatric injury prevention manager says, ” … but definitely making sure that when we’re traveling, they’re making sure they’re sitting up nice and tall, and they’re not falling to the window to take a nap, those are you know some of those risks we try to stay away from if we could.”

University of Wisconsin System spent $240K of federal COVID-19 relief money on unallowable expenses, audit finds

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The University of Wisconsin System spent nearly $240,000 of federal COVID-19 relief money on expenses not allowed under federal criteria, a new nonpartisan state audit found.

The $239,200 in misspent funds identified by the Legislative Audit Bureau on Dec. 22 represent less than 1% of the $564 million that UW System received in federal money to help navigate through the pandemic.

Kathleen Gallagher: Could Wisconsin be the center of a regional medical physics hub? The stage is already set.

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Quoted: At the heart of Great Lakes medical physics research is the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Medical Physics. It was the first such department in the country and is the largest in terms of faculty members and graduate students, said Brian Pogue, department chair and a professor in the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health.

“We have close to 100 grad students working on medical imaging technologies,” Pogue said. “We have an army.”

Medical Physics’ faculty are among the university’s top royalty recipients and have developed world class technologies like the tomotherapy radiation technique, the ubiquitous pinnacle radiation treatment planning software, and lunar bone mineral densitometry to detect osteoporosis.

Wisconsin sees 2 major hospital mergers finalized back to back

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Quoted: University of Wisconsin-Madison Economist Alan Sorensen said mergers may give hospitals more leverage in negotiations with insurance companies.

He said insurance companies want to pay as low a price as they can negotiate, while health care providers want to get paid as much as they can negotiate.

“Those negotiations are enormously important for the bottom lines of these companies,” Sorensen said. “A lot of times what’s driving the mergers is that (hospital systems) feel like if they’re bigger, they’ll do better in those negotiations, they’ll have more bargaining power, they’ll be more indispensable to the insurance company.”

If health systems can negotiate for higher rates, he said, it could raise prices for patients.

“If the insurance companies have to pay higher prices to the hospitals, some of the increase is going to get passed through to the consumer in the form of higher insurance premiums,” Sorensen said.

‘Great concern’: Invasive group A strep cases spiking in parts of US — CDC is investigating

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Fox News

“We are seeing an increase in invasive Streptococcus pyogenes (Group A strep) bacterial infections here in our area, mostly following respiratory viral illnesses like Influenza A and RSV,” said Conway, who’s also a professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

Study finds Indigenous people face high financial burden of Alzheimer’s disease, related dementias

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Spectrum News

A new University of Wisconsin-Madison study finds that Indigenous people face high health and financial burdens from Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

Researchers said it costs $880 million to $1.9 billion annually in additional health care-related costs for dementia diagnoses among Indigenous people.

“Taken together, this work exemplifies the potential benefits of offering programs to prevent, accurately diagnose and treat Alzheimer’s and related dementias among Indigenous adults,” said Adrienne Johnson, assistant professor of medicine, UW School of Medicine and Public Health, and lead author of the study, in a press release.

Deaths on public roadway eyed in new WI farm-related fatalities report

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Wisconsin State Farmer

Quoted: “Farm fatality numbers remain alarmingly high, and because a farm is like any other dangerous industrial workplace, the types of hazards are many,” said John Shutske, Ph.D., professor and agricultural safety specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Many continue to be concerned with the high number of deaths on public roadways. Clearly, as farms get bigger and farmers need to spend more time on the road moving from farm to farm/field to field, we are going to see more and more risk on roadways.”

Growing number of UW System campuses installing opioid overdose kits

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Wisconsin Public Radio

As opioid deaths surge in Wisconsin, a growing number of universities are making the overdose reversal drug naloxone publicly available in dormitories and other campus buildings.

This fall, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, UW-Milwaukee, UW-La Crosse, UW-Eau Claire and UW-Parkside installed opioid overdose rescue kits called “Nalox-ZONE” boxes aimed at preventing opioid overdose deaths. They join UW-Oshkosh, which installed the boxes in late 2021.

When to begin gender treatments and how far to go an individual decision

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Wisconsin State Journal

Of roughly 315 patients at UW Health’s pediatric and adolescent transgender health, or PATH clinic, about 40% are on puberty blockers, estrogen or testosterone. The others haven’t started the treatments or have decided they don’t want them, said Dr. Jennifer Rehm, co-medical director of the clinic.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin proposes federal travel funding for abortion seekers

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Quoted: Amy Williamson is the associate director at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Collaborative for Reproductive Equity, or CORE. She said even before Roe ended, it was difficult for many abortion seekers to raise the funds needed for the procedure, as well as any necessary childcare and time off work. The added requirement of traveling to another state makes it all the more difficult, she said.

“We know that some pregnant Wisconsinites are traveling hundreds of miles to other states at great expense and difficulty in their lives to access the care they need, or they remain pregnant when they do not want to be,” Williamson said.

Period underwear is better for the environment, but does it work? Experts weigh in

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CNN

Brands behind conventional period products aren’t required by the US Food and Drug Administration to list every material included in their products, so knowing exactly what you’re putting in contact with your body is another great reason to use period underwear, said Sarah Frank, a doctoral student and lecturer in the departments of sociology and legal studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Because of Wisconsin’s abortion ban, one mother gave up trying for another child

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NPR

Quoted: Decisions about how many children to have, when to start trying, how close in age children should be spaced – are usually not made by individuals alone, explains Dr. Abigail Cutler, an obstetrician-gynecologist and professor at the University of Wisconsin’s medical school.

Those decisions are often made with other people, “partners within the context of families, romantic relationships, extended family or chosen family, friends, faith leaders,” she says. Now, after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, she says a new element must be added to that calculus: the state laws where people live, and whether they have access to comprehensive care during pregnancy.

 

Fresh off win on same-sex marriage, Sen. Tammy Baldwin proposes federal travel fund for women seeking abortions

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Noted: Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison estimated in an August report that patients in 42 of the state’s 72 counties would see the distance they have to travel to get an abortion increase by an average of 82 miles, one-way. In Milwaukee and Dane counties, which accounted for 56% of the state’s abortions before the Dobbs decision, residents would have to travel 70 and 120 more miles to reach an abortion clinic, respectively. In the state’s 30 other counties, the distance to an abortion clinic didn’t change because they were already closest to an out-of-state clinic.

With Republicans in the Senate minority, Ron Johnson says he’ll coordinate with House on investigations

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Quoted: Patrick Remington, a former epidemiologist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s preventive medicine residency program, noted that vaccines “save tens of thousands if not millions of lives each year.” Remington added that the scientific community’s knowledge of COVID has continued to evolve. While vaccines might not prevent infection from COVID, he said, they have been shown to reduce risk of serious illness or death.

“I would encourage any investigation to be non-partisan but also focused not simply on identifying problems, but understand what’s worked,” Remington said. “If a hearing went into identifying the reasons for the success that we’ve seen, then that hearing could be balanced with opportunities for improvement.”

Policing pregnancy: Wisconsin’s ‘fetal protection’ law, one of the nation’s most punitive, forces women into treatment or jail

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Wisconsin Watch

Noted: And analysts — and even one of the co-sponsors — doubted its constitutionality. The nonpartisan Wisconsin Legislative Council and Legislative Reference Bureau advised that the liberty and privacy rights enshrined in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey would likely outweigh the state’s interest in “unborn human life before fetal viability,” according to the Collaborative for Reproductive Equity at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

‘Some come every single day’: Wisconsin college students’ use of campus food pantries soars this year

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A ribbon-cutting event for a former storage room marked a milestone for Milwaukee Area Technical College.

MATC converted the small space at its Walker’s Square campus into a food pantry that opened Tuesday. It’s the last of MATC’s five campuses to open a food pantry for students, all of which launched within the last year.

The pantries couldn’t have come at a better time.

Soaring food costs have college students feeling the pinch. The need is especially great at Walker’s Square, which is on the near south side in the heart of Milwaukee’s Latino community. Many students at the campus are enrolled in the GED or English as a Second Language programs while working minimum wage jobs that don’t provide enough to cover rent, gas, groceries and other expenses.

UW Health expert says testing most kids for RSV may be unnecessary

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CBS-58

Dr. Gregory DeMuri, who specializes in Pediatric Infectious Disease at UW Health Kids compared it to having a bad cold, “I think the biggest thing is most kids have already had RSV and they haven’t been tested. We didn’t do this before COVID, for most children, and that’s because most kids get over it on their own and it’s mainly going to be just a bad cold.”

Confused about health insurance during open enrollment? A navigator can help.

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Wisconsin Watch

Health insurance can be confusing.

Meet Quentella Perry, who helps people plow through the complexities while working for Covering Wisconsin, a nonprofit organization based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison that educates people about health insurance and helps them choose a plan.

Just as accountants are busy during tax time, Perry and her colleagues have their hands full helping people navigate the choices offered during the Affordable Care Act open enrollment period from Nov. 1 to Jan. 15.

Rash of illnesses among Wisconsin kids keeping caregivers home from work

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Quoted: Laura Dresser, associate director of COWS, a University of Wisconsin-Madison think-tank, said there’s also been a fundamental change in how employers and employees navigate illness.

“There is this thing that’s changed about what we do when we’re sick, when our kids are sick, what our child cares will accept or tolerate when our kids are sick,” Dresser said. “I think people send their kids or themselves to school or work sick less often than we used to.”

She expects people having more access to sick time hasn’t had a major impact in their decision to take time off.

“The fact that more workers get paid now when they’re sick than used to makes it slightly more likely that they’ll stay home,” Dresser said. “But even in the olden days, they stayed home when their kid was sick, they just didn’t get paid.”

RSV surge raises questions about repeat cases: Can you or child get it again?

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Fox News

But these patients only account for a third of hospitalizations, said Dr. James H. Conway, pediatric infectious disease physician and medical director of the immunization program at UW Health Kids in Madison, Wisconsin.”About two-thirds of the kids who get admitted with RSV are actually healthy, normal kids,” said Conway, who’s also a professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

Factors That Contribute to Cognitive Decline and Alzheimer’s

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Cheapism

Research on the causes and treatments of dementia, including Alzheimer’s, is ongoing. Among those committed to prevention is the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Institute at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. “Our internationally recognized research program, the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer’s Prevention, known more familiarly as WRAP, holds tremendous promise for demystifying the biologic origins of Alzheimer’s,” the site explains. “The WRAP study is the first and crucial step toward prevention and early intervention. Started in 2001, WRAP is the largest study of its kind enrolling more than 1,500 adult children of parents with Alzheimer’s representing diverse communities and populations.”

Wisconsin had 1,427 opioid overdose deaths last year, 16% higher than previous record

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Wisconsin State Journal

UW-Madison in October installed naloxone kits in dorms and dining areas, in an effort to reverse overdoses. The kits, known as Nalox-ZONE boxes, contain nasal spray naloxone, instructions on how to administer it and a breathing mask.

Other campuses, starting last year with UW-Oshkosh, have installed the kits in an effort organized by Wisconsin Voices for Recovery. The parents of Cade Reddington, 18, of Waunakee, and Logan Rachwal, 19, of Pewaukee, UW-Milwaukee students who died from overdoses involving fentanyl last year, urged campus officials to make the kits widely available.

UW Health celebrates 12,000th kidney transplant

Posted on
NBC-15

“There may not be more than one other center that has done more, and as I like to say we kind of punch above our weight,” Dr. Kaufman said. “Madison is not the largest city in the country and the other centers that do a lot are in California and big cities so, we have pulled together a wonderful team for many many years and have kind of been leaders in the field and we feel so good that we’re able to help so many people.”

Wisconsin-based company under investigation for allegedly using child labor

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

Quoted: Laura Dresser, associate director of the COWS economic think tank at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the labor shortage may make some companies more likely to violate protections for minors.

“It is probably the case that tight labor markets mean that there may be more sorts of violations like this because firms are desperate to fill jobs and may cut corners in order to do so,” she said.

Child labor laws help to ensure that minors are able to gain an education and receive a high school diploma, Dresser said.

“If we’re going to prioritize and require that students be enrolled in school and do everything we can to encourage them to graduate, then kids shouldn’t be working on overnight shifts (and) they shouldn’t be working excessive numbers of hours,” she said.

In post-Roe Wisconsin, what’s the role of crisis pregnancy centers? Critics say they mislead, pressure women.

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Noted: Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison estimated in an August report that patients in 42 of the state’s 72 counties would see the distance they have to travel to get an abortion increase by an average of 82 miles, one-way. In Milwaukee and Dane counties, which accounted for 56% of the state’s abortions before the Dobbs decision, residents would have to travel 70 and 120 more miles to reach an abortion clinic, respectively. In the state’s 30 other counties, the distance to an abortion clinic didn’t change because they were already closest to an out-of-state clinic.

Wisconsin’s biohealth industry is growing quickly, fostering innovation

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

Quoted: In fact, the state’s higher education system is a major reason the industry is thriving, according to Dr. Zachary Morris, a researcher and associate professor for the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Medicine and Public Health.

He said colleges and universities throughout Wisconsin are producing the highly-skilled workers that the biohealth sector needs, and research being done at those institutions also is helping to strengthen the industry.

“The universities, through the faculty, are in many cases steering or developing innovative technologies that these companies are then helping to spin out and commercialize,” he said.

Meat cultivated at UW-Madison offers glimpse into possible food future

Posted on
PBS Wisconsin

An unconventional yet burgeoning project looming on the horizon of the grow-your-own movement is the development of cultivated, or cultured meat. It is real animal meat and seafood that is produced by cultivating animal cells, according to the Good Food Institute (GFI). Backers say it reduces the land and water pollution caused by large-scale meat agriculture.

Masatoshi Suzuki is a researcher and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In recent years, Suzuki’s lab has worked in collaboration with GFI to create a prototype of a beef patty grown from the stem cells of a cow.

Psychologist: Take time to de-stress, re-center after midterm election

Posted on
WISC-TV 3

“It was definitely stressful, it was a really close race for everyone,” Morgan, a student in her fourth year at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said. “My roommate and I, my sister and I, had the results pulled up on our phone pretty consistently throughout the entire night refreshing it every 20 minutes.”