Science News covers a recent OHSU study about the importance of astrocytes in brain function, including the discovery of a “pay attention” signal in the form of a chemical signal called tyramine. Marc Freeman, Ph.D., says, “The fact that an arousal cue could take an astrocyte from ignoring all of those major neurotransmitters to suddenly listening to everything … it boggles the mind when you think about the implications.”

Highlights OHSU among health systems using an artificial intelligence tool to improve speed and accuracy of coding in insurance claims.

Public News Service covers collective bargaining involving OHSU and Advance Practice Providers.

Labroots reports on OHSU research uncovering new insights about the influence of astrocytes governing brain function. Kevin Guttenplan, Ph.D., says, “Being able to turn off some of those circuits allows astrocytes to make sense of the cacophony of activity occurring in the brain from moment to moment.”

From the Bench cites the OHSU blood test for pancreatic cancer as a “game-changer” among notable discoveries highlighted by the American Association for Cancer Research: “For a disease that often hides until it’s too late, this could help flip the script and bring pancreatic cancer out of the shadows.”

Woman’s World highlights strategies for getting a timely diagnosis and treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, Jeffrey Kaye, M.D., says a shortage of neurologists makes it difficult: “I’m part of a nationally funded, NIH-supported institution, yet all my colleagues report substantial wait times for an appointment — it’s a real phenomenon.”

U.S. Medicine covers a retrospective cohort study from OHSU and the VA Portland Healthcare System about respiratory illness seasons in 2022-23 and 2023-24: “During both seasons, RSV remained a milder illness, whereas COVID-19 was associated with higher long-term mortality. Vaccination attenuated differences in disease severity and long-term mortality.”

In a Medcape story about lifestyle changes to reduce the risk of age-related macular degeneration, Steven Bailey, M.D., says, “The low hanging fruit is healthy diet and active lifestyle, and those overlap with so many other benefits.”

OPB-Radio covers expected and unexpected hazards as the weather warms and traumatic injuries increase. Matt Hansen, M.D., says OHSU’s emergency department handles avoidable injuries every year, including fireworks: “The demographic tends to be young men, often with alcohol combined, that are doing fireworks, operating in an unsafe way. And we see people’s fingers and hands get blown apart every year on the Fourth of July.”

In a story about a 4-year-old child from Estacada who was taken to OHSU after falling out of a window, KPTV-TV and KGW-TV note that experts at OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in 2024 warned that 3,300 children younger than 6 fall from windows nationwide each year.