Hebrew SeniorLife, New England’s largest nonprofit provider of senior health care and living communities and the only senior care organization affiliated with Harvard Medical School, announces that its Deanna and Sidney Wolk Center for Memory Health has been recognized by the Institute of Healthcare Improvement (IHI) as an Age-Friendly Health System, level 2, Committed to Care Excellence.

Firearm injuries that sent victims to the hospital had gone down steadily over the five years before the COVID-19 pandemic began, but reversed course sharply over the next two years, a new University of Michigan study finds.

About The Study: This cohort study showed that, during the 2022 to 2023 season, infection with SARS-CoV-2 was associated with more severe disease outcomes than influenza or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), whereas differences were less pronounced during the 2023 to 2024 season. 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. 

About The Study: This cohort study evaluating hospitalizations for firearm-related injuries during the COVID-19 pandemic has 2 principal findings. From 2020 to 2021, there was a 34% increase in firearm-related hospitalizations, consistent with an additional 13,268 admissions. Second, the increase in firearm-related hospitalization disproportionately affected children, patients enrolled in Medicaid, and Black individuals. Taken together, these findings raise new concerns about the sustained increase in firearm-related injury that disproportionately affected younger and minoritized Americans.

A brain rhythm working in tandem with the body’s natural sleep-wake cycle may explain why bipolar patients alternate between mania and depression, according to new research.

The McGill University-led study published in Science Advances marks a breakthrough in understanding what drives shifts between the two states, something that, according to lead author Kai-Florian Storch, is considered the “holy grail” of bipolar-disorder research.