The Portland Business Journal provides an update on OHSU's financial challenges; Danny Jacobs, M.D., says: “One of the biggest challenges we’re currently addressing is a financial performance that continues to be more constrained. The issues we continue to grapple with are unlike anything I’ve ever encountered. Our expenses continue to far exceed revenues, and now we’re about $100 million off budget."

A new generation of lipid nanoparticles, or "fat bubbles," with greater potency, fewer side effects, increased stability and more precise tissue-targeting properties is now under development, according to Science; other improvements could come from boosting the uptake of LNPs into cells and then enhancing their ability to break free of the sacs of cell membrane. According to Gaurav Sahay, Ph.D., the vast majority of fat bubbles get trapped in these receptacles and then destroyed or ejected without delivering their vaccine payloads, meaning “there’s a huge amount of RNA that’s not being used."

Inclined sleepers for babies and crib bumper pads will be banned from being manufactured and sold, under legislation signed into law Monday by President Joe Biden; in reporting this story, ABC News quoted a previous interview with Ben Hoffman, M.D.: "There is an assumption that [products] are safe until they are proven dangerous, as opposed to what I think the public believes, which is if something is sold, it is safe."

In an article regarding a collaboration with OHSU and others to provide more than 7,500 COVID-19 vaccinations to local residents, Donn Spight, M.D., says: “We move at the speed of mutual trust. I want to see accurate information put in a space where a person can make an informed decision.”

In an article on pandemic-driven innovations that hospitals should continue, Stephanie Halvorson, M.D., says OHSU's ED has for years been admitting patients to its two partner community hospitals, but “we never did a lot of transfers of existing inpatients until we had covid surges and needed to free up inpatient beds." Once OHSU started transferring those patients to a unit at an affiliated hospital, "that saved more than 300 inpatient days at the academic center in just the first few months,” she said.

In a story on Congress passing a ban on inclined sleepers and crib bumpers, Ben Hoffman, M.D., says: "There is an assumption that [products] are safe until they are proven dangerous, as opposed to what I think the public believes, which is if something is sold, it is safe."

An OHSU clinic launched in 2019 to provide easy access for people seeking medication to treat opioid use disorder switched to virtual-only service during the pandemic; a newly published study indicates many patients prefer virtual appointments, and Bradley Buchheit, M.D., says: "Virtual visits were perceived by participants as a valuable and critical option for accessing treatment. While many participants preferred virtual visits, some favored face-to-face visits due to relational and physical interactions with providers.”

Ben Hoffman, M.D., provides guidance for parents struggling to find infant formula amid the nationwide shortage: “This is a crisis and it doesn’t seem like there is going to be an easy way out and I feel for all of those parents. Formula is designed specifically to be as close to human breast milk as it can be and anything that we do that doesn’t follow the specific recommendations from the manufacturer about how to add water, etc., can make it dangerous for babies.”

A randomized trial shows an injection of bupivacaine following Mohs micrographic surgery procedures significantly reduces pain scores and the use of post-surgery narcotics; Justin Leitenberger, M.D., says: "Bupivacaine, in this study, shows promise to provide longer lasting pain control from the surgical appointment and easier bridging to nonopioid pain control."

Nine nursing students on the School of Nursing's La Grande campus will travel to Honduras to take part in an international service project focused on health-related outreach and sustainable development; nursing student Jessica Norton says, “For most of us, we are wanting to be able to have more experience caring for a more diverse population. We’d like to gain that experience with a more diverse community and increase access to the care that they’re unable to receive.”