Read article – Quotes James Stahl, associate professor of medicine and of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, about a new study that shows meditation may help reduce the risk of heart disease when it’s added to proven approaches like lifestyle changes or drugs to lower blood pressure and cholesterol.

Read article – An opinion piece by Leslie Henderson, dean of faculty affairs, associate dean for diversity and inclusion, and professor of physiology and neurobiology, about how faculty members who teach both undergraduate and graduate students must go beyond symbolic protests and find a better way to grapple with complex social issues.

Read article – Cites comments by Jay Dunlap, chair and professor of molecular and systems biology, and professor of biochemistry and cell biology, about the recent news that three Americans won a Nobel Prize for discovering key genetic “gears” of the body’s 24-hour biological clock. Dunlap, who studies biological clocks in bread mold, said the Nobel-winning work helped expose the molecular details behind daily rhythms and that such knowledge can be important in telling when to deliver drugs for maximum effect, and perhaps for developing new ones. (Additional coverage: The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and more)

Read article – Quotes James Bernat, the Louis and Ruth Frank Professor of Neuroscience and emeritus professor of neurology and medicine, about how French researchers say a man in a 15-year vegetative state is showing signs of consciousness following vagus nerve stimulation. The study results challenge ideas that consciousness disorders lasting longer than 12 months are irreversible, the researchers believe. Bernat, who was not involved in the study, referred to the new case report as “provocative” and “exciting,” and praised the researchers for their choice of patient: someone in a long-term vegetative state. Additional coverage: Washington Post, U.S. News & World Report.

Read article – Features research led by Steven Woloshin, professor of medicine, community and family medicine, and of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, that found that drug companies aren’t meeting the Food and Drug Administration’s requirement to study possible side effects and alternative doses for medicines once they hit the broader market. Woloshin and his colleagues looked at federal records and found that among the 614 studies mandated in 2009 and 2010, 20 percent were never started and 9 percent have been delayed.

Read article – An opinion piece by Julie Kim, assistant professor of pediatrics, in which she advocates for the implementation of family drug courts in New Hampshire.

Read article – Louisa Chen, Geisel ’20, and Nasim Azizgolshani, Geisel ’20, are featured in a series called “Alternatives,” which examines some of the less traditional approaches in curbing New Hampshire’s opioid epidemic. Chen and Azizgolshani are two of five Geisel medical students who are running a needle exchange at the Claremont Soup Kitchen. This kind of program is common in many other states but it’s the first of its kind in New Hampshire.