Even a little walking each week appears to lower the risk of hip fractures in men over 50, a new long-term study suggests. Diane Feskanich, assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is the study author.
High-profile schemes to defraud the elderly of their lifetime savings have headlined top newspapers and tabloids alike. As crime rates – and vulnerable populations – increase, the scientific and legal communities must pool our ever-increasing knowledge and resources to protect elderly family members. The article was co-written by Bruce Price, associate professor of neurology at McLean Hospital and Judith Edersheim, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Older men considering taking testosterone for low libido, fatigue, irritability or muscle loss should be made aware of the heart-related risks of testosterone therapy, according to a statement from the Endocrine Society. Shalender Bhasin, lecturer on medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is a coauthor of the statement.
Researchers are continuing to try to untangle the basic science behind the process of regenerating hair cells – delicate cells that are located deep in the inner ear and sense sound. Research by Albert Edge, associate professor of otology and laryngology at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, is highlighted.
With the steep rise in prescription narcotics and deaths from unintentional overdose of these drugs, an HMS study found a wide-scale problem that could be contributing to the dangerous trend: One in three Medicare patients who fill prescriptions for narcotics like opioids get them from multiple doctors who were unaware that their patients were already prescribed these drugs. Anupam Jena, assistant professor of health care policy, is the author of the study.
Thomas Stossel, professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, authored this opinion piece in response to a USA TODAY editorial about doctors receiving payments from pharmaceutical companies.
The authors write that if you attend to your own well-being by taking advantage of the latest medical findings, a leap is possible into a higher state of health that can be termed radical well-being. Rudolph E. Tanzi, the Kennedy Professor of Neuroscience at HMS and Massachusetts General Hospital, is a coauthor of the article.
Catherine Steiner-Adair, research associate in psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at McLean Hospital, authored this blog post about the importance of taking a break from our digital devices to focus on spending time with one another.
Alvin F. Poussaint, faculty associate dean for student affairs and a professor of psychiatry at HMS, is mentioned in this opinion piece that explores racial bias.
A monkey controlling the hand of its unconscious cage-mate with its thoughts may sound like animal voodoo, but it is a step towards returning movement to people with spinal cord injuries. Ziv Williams, assistant professor of neurosurgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, led the study.
