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Ten Medical and Scientific Breakthroughs of 2021 at Mount Sinai

AHA Publisher — Tue, 04 Jan 2022 08:00:25 +0000

Mount Sinai Health System via Newswise 1. Ketamine Infusions Found Promising for PTSD A team of researchers led by Dennis Charney, MD, Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine, and Adriana Feder, MD found that repeated intravenous ketamine infusions appeared efficacious in reducing symptom severity among individuals with chronic PTSD. Their study was published in The American Journal of Psychiatry. “We want people suffering with PTSD to know that hope is on the horizon, and we are working diligently to collect the information that will help bring them the relief they so desperately need,” said Dr. Feder. Speech Changes Predictor of Schizophrenia Risk Researchers hope to use speech changes to predict which adolescents and young adults are at high risk for schizophrenia and may go on to develop the disease. In a new study published in The Lancet journal E Clinical Medicine found that the artificial intelligence program predicted, with 75 percent accuracy, who would get Alzheimer’s disease. Cheryl Corcoran, MD, explains, “It’s been a lot of small studies finding the same signals.” At this point, she said, “We are not at the point yet where we can tell people if they are at risk or not.” First Successful Trachea Transplant Eric Genden, MD, and Sander Florman, MD, led a large team to perform the first successful transplant of a trachea, giving hope for patients throughout the world and future treatments of those who have been on ventilators. Dr. Genden said, “Although it seemed like a pretty straightforward thing, because at first sight it seems just like a tube, it turns out it’s a highly complex organ system. New Cancer Vaccine a Game Changer for Young and Old Patients Thomas Marron, MD, PhD, is developing a personalized cancer vaccine that was tested in a phase one trial. Dr. Marron and a lung cancer patient in the trial, a 74-year-old retired attorney, discussed the promising outcomes in a news report. “The cancer vaccines try to teach your immune system how to recognize your cancer and eliminate it,” Dr. Marron said. “Our initial data suggest that, after getting all 10 vaccines, patients can be very strongly immunized against their cancer.” Apple Watch Used to Measure Resilience in Health Care Workers A new study led by Robert Hirten, MD, and Zahi Fayad, PhD, published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, shows how using wearable devices can track health care worker resiliency during the pandemic. Researchers from Mount Sinai gave 361 health care workers from seven hospitals across New York City Apple Watches to measure their heart rate. The study’s participants also downloaded a customized app to complete surveys each week that measured resilience, emotional support, stress, optimism and quality of life. Dr. Fayad said, “The experience of this pandemic has been especially stressful for health care workers, and as a community we need to be able to support them, especially as the virus persists. Our study is one of the first to document not only the toll the pandemic has taken on our health care workers, but also the importance of resilience and social support as specific paths toward efficiently and effectively directing support.” Launch of Department of Artificial Intelligence and Human Health Thomas Fuchs, DSc, and Dennis Charney, MD, Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine, announce the first-of-its-kind Artificial Intelligence and Human Health Department at the Mount Sinai Health System. Dr. Fuchs said, “If you are serious about this, then computer scientists have to work together with the physicians in the trenches. One reason why big tech has failed in health care is that even with all their talent, if you’re just throwing artificial intelligence over the fence into a hospital, that doesn’t work. It has to come out of systems like ours.” COVID-19 Vaccine Less Protective for Multiple Myeloma Patients A new study led by Samir Parekh, MBBS, and published in the journal Cancer Cell shows how COVID-19 vaccines may be less protective for multiple myeloma patients. “[This research] suggests that booster shots are looking extremely promising for people with multiple myeloma,” said Dr. Parekh. “Patients who haven’t received them should do that immediately.” Long COVID Has Long-Lasting Impact A study published in the American Journal of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine and led by David Putrino, PhD, showed that the impact on everyday functioning in patients with long COVID lasted at least a year after initial infection. “Our work and the work of others has shown that this affects people’s abilities to make plans, synthesize information, and do their daily activities of work,” said Dr. Putrino. “They suffer from a lot of memory loss and inability to form new memories, as well as difficulty with speaking. This is a very debilitating condition with serious cognitive conditions.” Cannabis Use in Pregnancy Women who use cannabis during their pregnancies could be putting their children at risk of developing mental health and behavioral problems, according to a new study by Yasmin Hurd, PhD, and published by the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “I do think that pregnant women and their physicians need to have more discussions about cannabis use, just like they have in terms of alcohol,” said Dr. Hurd. “Then they need to be given the resources to be able to get help for themselves and their children. This is not about stigmatizing women. It’s the opposite. It’s about the more knowledge you have, the more power you have.” Lung Cancer Screening Saves Lives Early detection and the increased use of screening for lung cancer are saving lives, according to a study published on JAMA Network Open. Screening patients using CT scans and following up on potential cancers helps physicians identify precancerous and early cancer tissue growth to surgically remove, leading to a decline in lung cancer deaths, Mount Sinai Health System researchers report. Raja Flores, MD, the study’s lead author and Chair of Thoracic Surgery at the Mount Sinai Health System, said, “If we find lung cancer early, we can cure it with surgery. Early screening is the key.” To read the original article click here.

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How Neurofeedback Can Help Treat Depression, Anxiety, Addiction & PTSD

AHA Publisher — Fri, 18 Sep 2020 07:00:07 +0000

Makram Leaf via Dr. Caroline Leaf – For many people, brain maps can be quite alien and strange. What are they telling us? What do they mean? Do all these shapes and colors and symbols mean there is something terribly wrong with me? It certainly doesn’t help when you read sensationalist headlines like “This is your brain on drugs!” or “This is what happens to your brain when you are stressed!”, which only serve to make us more nervous about what is happening between our ears. In this week’s blog and podcast, I speak with UCLA-trained neuroscientist, top performance coach and founder of The Peak Brain Institute Dr. Andrew Hill about what brain scans an tell us about our brain, the role they play in neurofeedback therapy, how neurofeedback and brain scans can boost our performance and help treat depression, anxiety, addiction and PTSD, the myth of the normal brain, how to biohack sleep, and so much more! As humans, we tend to exhibit similar behaviors within a bell curve or range. When the core functions of the brain get out of this range, it can cause all sorts of mental and physical health issues. Brain maps like QEEGs (which is what Andrew uses at his institute and what I used in my most recent clinical trials) allow us to compare a set of brain waves to a referenced database. These images show the ways your brain is different; they are not a diagnostic tool, but a way of exploring your mind and generating ideas about what may be going on in your life and what to change. It is important to remember that there is no such thing as a normal brain. We are all different, so when we look at a brain map we should not wonder why we are not closer to the average. People are generally similar within a bell curve; brain maps are yard sticks, not value labels. It is not about trying to map you onto a “normal” brain; at the end of the day, only you are your own true comparison, which is why seeing how your brain maps change over time is far more important that comparing your brain to someone else’s. At The Peak Brain Institute, Andrew teaches people how to read their unique brain maps and make changes in their lives. He gives them agency and perspective and shows them how to use the information because only the person who is suffering truly knows what they need to do to change. Andrew is passionate about empowering people to take back control of their lives, and believes that the locus of control should always be internal. One of the main ways the Peak Brain Institute helps teach people how to change their brains and behavior is through something called neurofeedback therapy. As Andrew points out, neurofeedback is a process in which simple auditory and visual feedback guide your brain gradually to make more or less of specific brainwave frequency bands, and/or to enhance connectivity between two regions of the brain. These frequencies and connectivity guide much of our mental behavior—as we adjust them, we adjust the corresponding behaviors. Neurofeedback is based on receiving positive input when you want the brain to do more of something by measuring what is going on in your head. With this encouraging reinforcement, the brain starts to lean into the change. You don’t notice this change as much at first, but over time you will feel better and better. This is like an iterative training session or workout for the brain—you tune into the process to get more positive effects and reduce any negative side-effects. This kind of training can help with our performance and creativity by boosting alpha and theta energy in the brain. It can also help with PTSD, anxiety and depression. In addition, neurofeedback can help with common issues like sleep deprivation and unhealthy eating habits. As Andrew points out, if we want to be healthier, we should always start with the routine things. The best place to start biohacking your body and increasing your performance and health is with the things you do every day, like sleeping, eating and exercising. When it comes to sleep, the fear of not sleeping often creates a larger issue over time than the sleep loss itself, and can become a major issue in people’s lives, as I discussed in a recent blogand podcast. Trying get more deep sleep can really make a difference in your life. You can start doing this by: Fasting before bed. Don’t eat for at least 3-4 hours before bed, so that there is no insulin in the bloodstream, which will suppress the growth hormones that are released during sleep (this is especially true for women). Maintaining your schedule. It is important to try to get up around the same time 7 days a week—crazy schedules can throw our sleeping patterns off for weeks. Exercising before you eat. Fasted workouts can really help improve sleeping patterns and overall health. Tracking your sleeping habits. Use devices like the Oura Ring to monitor how much deep sleep you get. To read the original article click here. For more articles from Dr. Leaf click here.

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