November 29, 2021

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, the World Health Organization gave the name omicron to the newest identified version of SARS-CoV-2 and called it a variant of concern. There is still much to be learned about this latest variant and how potentially dangerous it is. In a story on the variant, Cincinnati.com interview Carl Fichtenbaum, MD, of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the UC College of Medicine.

December 3, 2021

The Atlanta Journal Constitution published a story on research at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine possibly adding a weapon to hospitals’ bacteria fighting arsenal.Using the topical drug called AB569 — a combination of acidified nitrite and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid — promotes killing of antibiotic-resistant bacteria while enhancing the healing of wounds in a variety of burn injuries, the study found. The study was published in the journal Infection and Immunity.

September 24, 2021

In overweight and obese adults at high cardiovascular risk, once-daily subcutaneous liraglutide plus changes in diet and physical activity reduced visceral fat, a single-center phase 4 placebo-controlled trial showed. Vincent Fong, MD, was interviewed for his reaction to the study by Medscape.

November 10, 2021

UC researchers are taking part in a new nearly $2 million, multiyear study that will help develop a new generation of PPE, or personal protective equipment, for health care workers. UC researchers will work with teams from Iowa State University and the University of California-Davis to improve the design, function and safety of PPE, or personal protective equipment, the university said in a release this week. The study is part of a multi-institutional, four-year grant worth $1.8 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Cincinnati Business Courier published a story on the research.

November 5, 2021

Verywell Family posted an article featuring experts on whether or not pregnant people should get the COVID-19 booster shot. One of those was Heather Masters, MD, assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the UC College of Medicine.

November 9, 2021

Spray on skin, called RECELL, is now approved for both adults and children, sparing them the unnecessary pain of dozens of skin grafts. UC Health says it’s the first in the region to use the technology made by Avita. WVXU published a story on the spray, quoting Julia Slater, MD, assistant professor in the Department of Surgery at the UC College of Medicine.

January 25, 2022

Women who receive a kidney transplant have low rates of contraceptive use according to new research from the University of Cincinnati. The study, published in the Journal of Nephrology, finds an overall contraceptive use rate of 9.5% among women with kidney transplants in the United States.

March 9, 2022

COVID-19 first entered the public consciousness about two years ago. It drew a lot of comparisons to another pandemic just over a hundred years earlier. WVXU interviewed Carl Fichtenbaum, MD, of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the UC College of Medicine to learn more about how the COVID-19 outbreak compares with the 1918 influenza outbreak.

February 21, 2022

In 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) set opioid-prescribing guidelines for physicians. The idea was to offer doctors the best ways to protect people from an over-prescription of pain pills which had fueled the misuse of opioids and amplified cascading overdose deaths in the United States. While the goal was to protect patients, the impact was not all positive. In an article published by Cincinnati.com, Christine Wilder, MD, of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience at the UC College of Medicine and the director of the UC Health Addiction Sciences, was one of the experts cited.

February 22, 2022

Health experts in the United States are monitoring an increase in cases of bird flu in several states, including Indiana, Kentucky and Virginia. In January, the United States Department of Agriculture detected the first U.S. bird flu case after a hunted wild bird tested positive for the virus in Colleton County, South Carolina. Experts reported that it was the H5N1 strain, a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAI) — the same strain responsible for fatal poultry outbreaks across Europe and Asia in late 2021. In a story on the increase in bird flu published by Healthline, Carl Fichtenbaum, MD, of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the UC College of Medicine was one of the experts cited.