UTMB News

"The best thing you can do if you’re concerned about getting dementia is twofold. Number one, follow the food rules. Try to cut out high-sugar, highly processed foods [think: pastries, desserts, sweetened drinks] that are known to be inflammatory and can negatively affect the body and the brain”, Dr. Samuel Mathis shares tips to protect your brain health and things people can do to lower risk of dementia if it runs in their family.

While SARS-CoV-2 gets all the headlines, there are other coronaviruses circulating in humans that do not cause great harm and that could be a hopeful glimpse of the future of COVID-19. UTMB’s Dr. Gregory Gray tells Science that humanity is under constant siege from viruses. “I think there are certainly other animal coronaviruses circulating that are challenging human immune systems,” Gray said.

UTMB’s Dr. Joan Richardson was featured in a Becker’s article on workforce trends. Richardson said she was most concerned about the decreasing numbers of pediatric subspecialist. Richardson was also featured in a Becker’s article on payer behavior.

Dr. Elizabeth M. Vaughan helps the Diabetes Discoveries & Practice Blog explains who community health workers are, how they are trained, and how health care professionals can successfully integrate CHWs into diabetes care. “I often call them “the bridge”—the bridge to help people get the health and social services they need,” Vaughan said.

Vaccine Smarts writers Dr. Megan Berman and Dr. Richard Rupp share twelve tips to help children, and their parents, deal with vaccinations. Their tips include explaining the purpose of vaccines in a simple and positive manner, reading children’s books where the characters get their vaccines, and bringing items to distract your child during the vaccination, among others.

In their latest Medical Discovery News column, Drs. Norbert Herzog and David Niesel explore the latest gene therapy for Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy, a neuromuscular genetic disorder caused by a mutation in the Dystrophin gene.

Dr. Melvyn Schreiber, one of the first radiology residents at UTMB and longtime faculty member and leader at the university, announced his retirement in December. “It’s really been a privilege to work here and to do the work I’ve done,” Schreiber told the Daily News. “I think I’ve had a positive impact on the people around me and on society in general. And that pleases me.”

Jerry A. Mansfield accepted the position of vice president and chief nursing executive and will begin work on Feb. 1.

The United Kingdom is soon to join Australia, Canada, Germany and the United States in routinely vaccinating children against chickenpox, write Drs. Megan Berman and Richard Rupp in their latest Vaccines Smarts column.

The first thing we should do when in conflict is to listen, says Dr. Samuel Mathis in his weekly column. The holidays can be stressful but Mathis provides tips to help deal with conflicts that may arise.

A tuberculosis vaccine has been around for about 100 years but it does not prevent pulmonary TB in adolescents and adults, write Drs. Norbert Herzog and David Niesel in their latest Medical Discovery News column. But a new TB vaccine, made of two bacterial proteins from the TB bacterium could change that.

UTMB’s Dr. Samuel Mathis tells The Healthy that alcohol raises blood pressure by increasing renin—a protein that constricts arteries—and decreasing nitrous oxide, which is a compound that relaxes them. Drinks with added sugars and those with high-alcohol content can exacerbate the blood pressure-raising effects, Mathis said.

UTMB’s Dr. Stanley Watowich is one of the principal investigators who will work with a local partnership of institutions to create the Gulf Coast Consortium Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hub. The NIH awarded a four-year $4 million grant to support the creation of the hub meant to support development and commercialization of transformative health care treatments based on research discoveries.

In their latest Medical Discover News column Drs. Norbert Herzog and David Niesel dig into the story of how, and who, discovered the structure of DNA. Dr. Rosalind Franklin is often left out of the conversation but she was an integral part of the process, Herzog and Niesel write.

UTMB’s Dr. Manuela Murry tells The Daily News she is excited about the new RSV immunization, nirsevimab. While the shot is in low supply in other parts of the country, UTMB has plenty.

The bottom line is while it is easy to say that we need to curtail the use of fossil fuels, we still need to find a new way to produce these essential products, write Drs. Norbert Herzog and David Niesel in their latest Medical Discover News column.