Health

March 10, 2021

Doralyn Davenport, a 54-year-old woman from Crosby, knew something wasn’t right when she started to have stomach pains, difficulty going to the bathroom, and bleeding. She was shocked when a colorectal screening colonoscopy revealed a more than 6-centimeter tumor in her gastrointestinal tract, and was worried how undergoing chemotherapy and radiation might impact her chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), an inflammatory lung disease that causes obstructed airflow from the lungs.

March 5, 2021

Daylight saving time is one week away, and as many look forward to the longer and warmer days that accompany this time change, losing an hour of sleep can have you feeling out of sorts. An expert with The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) shares why it’s important to prepare our bodies for the time change.

March 4, 2021

Researchers with The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) and Rice University have created a peptide-based immunotherapy, called SynerGel, to aid in oral cancer.

March 3, 2021

At 31 weeks and 5 days pregnant with identical twins, Amberlyn Smith went to her bi-weekly ultrasound feeling confident. Just two weeks prior, both of the twins had grown appropriately and screening tests came back normal. But that day, Dec. 23, there was a clear discrepancy in their size, as well as a notable abnormality in their blood flow. Smith was immediately sent to see an intervention specialist with UTHealth at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital, where she emergently delivered the twins the next morning, on Christmas Eve.

February 27, 2021

“You may be quick to compare Johnson & Johnson’s figures to those of previously authorized vaccines, such as Pfizer or Moderna, but a 66% percent efficacy rate of preventing symptomatic illness is worth celebrating,” said Katelyn Jetelina, PhD, an assistant professor at UTHealth School of Public Health in Dallas.

February 26, 2021

Projections from Texas’ first cardiac arrest registry show that every day at least 60 Texans will suffer an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, which is a sudden loss of heart function, breathing, and consciousness. If bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is performed, the victim’s chance of survival can triple, but less than half of victims in the Lone Star State receive any bystander CPR, according to data from the registry.

February 25, 2021

When doctors in her home state told Amira Carson there was nothing they could do to save her son’s life, she didn’t take no for an answer.

At just two weeks old, Imani was diagnosed with congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries (CCTGA), a rare heart defect that affects less than 1% of babies. In CCTGA, the two lower ventricles and their attached valves are reversed.

February 24, 2021

Dropping out of high school, having schizophrenia, or being diagnosed with a co-occurring personality disorder increases the likelihood of someone becoming a “high utilizer” of inpatient psychiatric hospital services, according to a new study by researchers at UTHealth. A high utilizer is someone who has been admitted three or more times within one year.

February 18, 2021

As Houstonians brace for more below-freezing temperatures, medical experts with The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) are concerned those without power may continue to turn to risky measures to heat their homes that could lead to carbon monoxide poisoning.  

February 12, 2021

It was a typical evening workout for Pearland resident Quan Collins before the 49-year-old passed out after a two-mile run with his wife, Ganesa. Without hesitation, Ganesa dialed 911 and began CPR by performing chest compressions. This action helped pumped blood out of his heart, and kept it circulating during what was later identified as cardiac arrest.