OHSU partners with OHA and Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek to purchase a three-year supply of the abortion drug Mifepristone as legal battles continue about the FDA’s approval of the drug more than 20 years ago.

While describing research that found elderly people who exercise in the evening reduce their blood pressure more, Leandro Campos de Brito, Ph.D., says: “Elderly patients or those with resistant hypertension or obesity don’t always experience as much blood pressure benefit from exercise as other groups. For these patients, finding a more beneficial time to exercise may reduce their need for medication or help it work better."

In a story about the possibility of the U.S. government allowing the use of hallucinogenic drugs like MDMA to treat mental illness, Erick Turner, M.D., indicates the results of clinical trials investigating such drugs so far may be biased. He says trials are likely to produce positive results for an experimental treatment when it’s clear which participants receive a placebo, adding: “Patients know what they’re getting and believe in it. They’re going to be biased by that knowledge."

Charles Fennell describes OHSU’s recruitment for a clinical trial evaluating a monoclonal antibody to prevent Alzheimer’s disease symptoms, and especially for people of color who are disproportionately impacted by the disease. He says: “The chronic diseases Black people are more likely to have – diabetes, hypertension, high blood pressure – all of these chronic diseases amalgamate and put you at a higher risk of Alzheimer’s.”

OHSU is training people to manage bleeding from traumatic injuries like gunshot wounds. Heather Wong, M.H.S., B.S.N., RN, says: “Having courses like Stop the Bleed, which gets bystanders to intervene while they’re waiting for EMS or fire responders to come and take care of the patient provides an opportunity to save a patient’s life and results in better outcomes for that patient."

A story discussing how patients with long COVID-19 often struggle to have their condition recognized or understood mentions a 2022 Annals of Internal Medicine editorial by Aluko Hope, M.D., which called for better understanding the condition and improving patient recovery from it.

OHSU’s Casey Eye Institute and the Foundation Fighting Blindness will co-host their annual Retinal Cell and Gene Therapy Innovation Summit April 21 in New Orleans to discuss the latest research and potential treatments for inherited retinal disease.

In a story that describes how their research found the human clitoris has at least 10,000 nerve fibers, Blair Peters, M.D., says: “My biggest hope is that these findings encourage us to question what we think we know. So much of medicine and science is affected by social bias. What is studied and how it was studied was affected by biases at the time the work was carried out. Vulvar sexual health and sexuality in general has long been made taboo.”

Central Oregon Daily highlights the Pathfinder 2 study’s availability at St. Charles in Bend. Cindy Shuman, a St. Charles clinical research coordinator says: “But too often, cancer isn’t found until it’s advanced and harder to treat, and that’s why studies like this are important -- so we can improve early detection. At the same time, participants will feel more informed about their own health and will enjoy the peace of mind that comes with that.”

KTVZ-TV highlights the Pathfinder 2 study’s availability at St. Charles in Bend. Cindy Shuman, a St. Charles clinical research coordinator says: “But too often, cancer isn’t found until it’s advanced and harder to treat, and that’s why studies like this are important -- so we can improve early detection. At the same time, participants will feel more informed about their own health and will enjoy the peace of mind that comes with that.”