News

After a sleepless night, have you ever said, “It’s like I just can’t turn off my brain at night?” For people with insomnia, that may be literally true. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh recently published an article in the journal SLEEP showing that some regions of the brain may not completely shut down in people with insomnia. After comparing brain scans from 44 research participants who are good sleepers and 40 participants with insomnia, researchers found that participants with...

A risk calculator tool may be able to help healthcare providers predict which children at high risk for bipolar disorder due to family history may develop the condition later in life, according to study results published in JAMA Psychiatry. Children of parents with bipolar disorder have a higher than average risk of developing bipolar spectrum disorder (BPSD) themselves, and early signs may be present for two to ten years before the diagnosis. However, because many of the early symptoms of BPSD...

A surgical procedure to remove clots from blocked brain vessels—known as thrombectomy—may help some stroke patients beyond the six-hour treatment window that current guidelines recommend, according to a groundbreaking new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. During an ischemic stroke, a clot blocks a blood vessel in the brain. Without blood and the oxygen it carries, part of the brain starts to die and brain damage can begin within minutes. To restore blood flow and minimize...

A computer program that automatically monitors blood test results can detect acute kidney injury earlier, reducing severity and improving survival, according to new research from the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC. Acute kidney injury, which is a sudden episode of kidney failure or damage, is common in hospitalized patients and particularly prevalent in older adults and those in intensive care units. When the kidneys do not function properly, waste products build up in the blood and can...

Online therapy, both alone and in combination with an internet support group, is a more effective treatment for anxiety and depression than a doctor’s usual primary care, according to recent research from the University of Pittsburgh. Researchers enrolled 704 patients and randomly assigned them to one of three groups: an eight session computerized cognitive behavioral therapy (CCBT) program, an eight session CCBT program plus an online internet support group (ISG), or usual care by a patient’s...

Fluid-filled pancreatic cysts are often seen on abdominal imaging tests, but predicting which cysts are benign and which may turn into potentially life-threatening pancreatic cancer has been difficult. However, new findings from University of Pittsburgh researchers show that a genetic test developed at UPMC called PancreaSeq® is highly effective in determining which pancreatic cysts are most likely to be associated with one of the most aggressive types of pancreatic cancer. The study, which...

Doctors recommend that women who have weight loss surgery (also called bariatric surgery) wait at least a year and a half before trying to become pregnant in order to avoid complications like fetal growth problems, preterm delivery, and neonatal intensive care unit stays, but new research from the University of Pittsburgh reports that many women don’t follow this advice. Researchers collected data from 710 women ages 18 to 44 who had recent weight loss surgery and found that 4 percent of study...

A national precision medicine study that aims to enroll more than one million people throughout the country and put an end to cookie-cutter healthcare is placing Pittsburghers at the forefront of medical research. As the first site in the country to launch, the Pittsburgh-based All of Us Pennsylvania Research Program—a partner of the National Institutes of Health All of Us Research Program—is an integral part of a long-term study that seeks to speed up medical breakthroughs and develop...

The high-dose flu shot, which contains four times the flu-fighting substance of the standard vaccine and is typically recommended for older adults due to their diminished immune response, may also provide benefit to middle-aged adults with chronic health conditions. According to recent results from researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, expanding the high-dose flu vaccine recommendation to include people aged 50-64 with illnesses like heart disease, lung disease...

A woman’s race and weight gain pattern could provide clues about her likelihood of having more fat around the heart, a potential risk factor for heart disease, according to new research led by the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. The findings, published in the journal Menopause, show that black women who put on fat around their midsection during midlife are more likely to accumulate fat around their hearts, whereas white women’s risk of fat around the heart is higher...

Exercise can improve mobility in older adults who have difficulty walking and research from Jennifer Brach, PhD, PT, at the University of Pittsburgh reports that standing exercise is better than seated exercise. Difficulty walking is a common problem in older adults that can lead to a loss of independence and an increased risk of becoming sick or even dying. Community-based group exercise programs can be a good option for older adults who want to exercise, but the specific type of exercise...

A subset of people with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)–a progressive, debilitating lung disease affecting 30 million Americans–may be helped by a treatment called mepolizumab, according to results published in the New England Journal of Medicine. In two separate studies, researchers found that for the 40% of patients with a specific type of the disease called “eosinophilic predominant” COPD who were not finding symptom relief from standard treatments, mepolizumab reduced the...

Gestational diabetes is an inability to control high blood sugar during pregnancy. For the 5-7% of pregnant women in the United States diagnosed with gestational diabetes, the condition can lead to an increased risk of having a very large baby resulting in premature birth, birth trauma, and cesarean section delivery, as well as an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life for mothers. Pregnant women in the United States are typically screened for gestational diabetes between 24...

Pennsylvania Medicaid recipients who suffer a nonfatal opioid or heroin overdose continue to be prescribed opioids at high rates, with little change in their use of medication-assisted treatment programs after the overdose, according to a University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health analysis published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers looked at insurance claims data from 2008 to 2013 for the 6,013 Pennsylvania Medicaid patients who had a medical record...

Many menopausal women use hormone replacement therapy (HRT) taken orally or vaginally to relieve symptoms such as urinary problems, vaginal discomfort, and pain during sex. While certain health risks associated with oral HRT have been well documented, until recently less was known about health risks related to vaginal estrogens applied locally through creams and inserts. Newly published results in the journal Menopause found that women using vaginal estrogens had no greater risk of stroke...