Health Newsfeed – Johns Hopkins Medicine Podcasts

Anchor lead: Dry eye is more than a nuisance for some, Elizabeth Tracey reports Do you have trouble reading for more than 30 minutes or doing computer work for much of the day because your vision is blurry? You may have dry eye, a new study by Esen Akpek, an ophthalmologist at Johns Hopkins, and […]

Anchor lead: Where your fat is stored has important implications for heart failure, Elizabeth Tracey reports Belly fat is bad when it comes to heart failure. That’s the finding of a study by Erin Michos, a cardiologist at Johns Hopkins, and colleagues. Michos: Subcutaneous fat, fat that’s outside the abdominal cavity, was not linked to […]

Anchor lead: A lifetime history of obesity may be a cause for intervention, Elizabeth Tracey reports People who’ve been obese since age 20 have a threefold higher risk for heart failure than those who don’t report longstanding obesity, a study by Erin Michos, a cardiologist at Johns Hopkins, and colleagues found. Michos says this not […]

Anchor lead: Can knowing someone’s weight over time more precisely indicate their heart disease risk? Elizabeth Tracey reports Obesity is a well-known risk factor for heart failure. Now new research by Erin Michos, a cardiologist at Johns Hopkins, and colleagues, has shown that weight history is also informative. Michos: If we ask patients about their […]

Anchor lead: It’s important to get to the bottom of what’s causing acute flaccid myelitis, Elizabeth Tracey reports Two viruses are the most likely culprits when it comes to acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM, the condition that’s caused over a hundred children nationally to experience muscle paralysis. Matthew Elrick, a pediatric neurologist at Johns Hopkins, […]

Anchor lead: Can characterizing acute flaccid myelitis help clinicians spot it? Elizabeth Tracey reports Acute flaccid myelitis, the mysterious illness that has stuck fear into the hearts of parents nationally, has better definition now. Matthew Elrick, a pediatric neurologist at Johns Hopkins, and colleagues, have reviewed the clinical characteristics of AFM and helped distinguish it […]

Anchor lead: What are your privacy rights if you have your DNA tested? Elizabeth Tracey reports Perhaps you’ve given a loved one a gift of DNA testing through one of the services available for that purpose, marketed as helping them identify ancestors and lineage. Who owns the rights to that information? Jeffrey Kahn, director of […]

Anchor lead: How should the recently reported CRISPR twins be followed? Elizabeth Tracey reports Imagine being one of the CRISPR twins, the two babies reportedly born recently with modifications to their DNA made using CRISPR technology. The whole world is watching, and Jeffrey Kahn, director of the Berman Institute of Bioethics at Johns Hopkins, says […]

Anchor lead: Is the current state of mitochondrial replacement therapy a model for where CRISPR may go? Elizabeth Tracey reports Editing embryos using the technique known as CRISPR has reportedly resulted in the birth of twins, with changes in their DNA able to be passed on to other generations. Another technique known as mitochondrial replacement […]

Anchor lead: What is the best response to gene-edited babies being born? Elizabeth Tracey reports The announcement that so-called gene edited babies, twins, had been born took the world by storm recently, and unleased a furor of reaction. Jeffrey Kahn, director of the Berman Bioethics Institute at Johns Hopkins, offers his perspective. Kahn: There’s a […]