In the News

Around Half of Hip-Hop Videos Feature Smoking, Researchers Say – Yahoo! Finance via Agence France-Presse

Read article – Continued coverage of research led by Kristin Knutzen, Geisel ’17, research project coordinator at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, that found that almost half of the music clips made for hip hop’s biggest hits in the past five years have featured scenes of smoking or vaping. (Picked up by Breitbart and France24. Similar coverage in Daily Mail, HealthDay News, and Doctors Lounge.)

Smoking Is Rampant in Hip-Hop Videos and That Could Be a Public Health Problem – The Boston Globe

Read article – Quotes Kristin Knutzen, Geisel ’17, research project coordinator at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, about a study she coauthored that found that 40 to 50 percent of the top hip-hop videos from 2013 to 2017 contained depictions of tobacco or marijuana smoking or vaping. “These depictions may affect fans’ attitudes toward smoking and increase the likelihood of smoking,” says Knutzen. The article also cites comments by Samir Soneji, associate professor of The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, who was the study’s coauthor.

Hip-Hop Videos Rife With Smoking Imagery, Dartmouth Study Finds – WBUR

Read article – Features an interview with Kristin Knutzen, Geisel ’17, research project coordinator at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, in which she discusses research she led that examined the prevalence of smoking tobacco or marijuana products in hip-hop music videos from 2013 to 2017. Knutzen discusses the findings, and what we know about the influence hip-hop videos may or may not have on young adults.

Film Gives Voice to Chronic Fatigue Patients Seeking Understanding, Treatment – Valley News

Read article – Quotes Roshini Pinto-Powell, associate professor of medicine and of medical education, in a feature story about how the Massachusetts ME/CFS & FM Association and the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth are hosting a screening and panel discussion of Unrest, a Sundance award-winning documentary about myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (M.E.). Pinto-Powell, who has encountered patients with M.E. and agrees with patients and advocates that the name “chronic fatigue syndrome” fails to capture the life-changing nature of the disease, will attend the discussion. The article also mentions that Paul Guyre, active emeritus professor of microbiology and immunology, and a team of researchers in a lab in the Borwell research building at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, are examining blood samples in search of a difference in immune response to infections in people with M.E.

Editorial: D-H, Geisel School Step Up Nutrition Focus – Valley News

Read article – Quotes Rima Itani Al-Nimr, director of the Nutrition in Medical Education program, in an editorial examining how physicians and medical students around the country and the world—including those at the Geisel School of Medicine and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center— have begun emphasizing nutrition and the role food can play in preventing disease and helping patients establish lifestyles that promote good health. Geisel is significantly expanding its focus on food and diet by incorporating evidence-based nutrition study across all four years of the curriculum. “We’ve realized that we can’t graduate the complete physician unless we include a significant nutrition component,” says Al-Nimr.

Virtual Reality Beaches in Antarctica Beating Isolation and Helping Future Astronauts – Australian Broadcasting Company News

Read article – Quotes Jay Buckey, professor of medicine and adjunct professor of engineering, in a feature story about how Dartmouth is collaborating with the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) to understand how virtual reality can help with mental health during months of isolation—and the research could be used for astronauts going to Mars. “There aren’t that many people who live in challenging, isolated and confined environments like this so the information we get from them is so valuable because it tells us how people in this kind of environment would use a tool like this,” says Buckey.

Juul Boosts Lobbying Amid FDA Scrutiny – The Hill

Read article – Quotes Samir Soneji, associate professor of The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice, in an article about how e-cigarette maker Juul is ramping up its Washington lobbying operation as it tries to head off potential regulatory threats from the Trump administration and Congress. Soneji cautioned that there’s no research that shows how teenagers might respond if popular e-cigarette flavors were banned. “Would kids switch to tobacco, or would they stop using e-cigs outright? Nobody is sure. It’s an open question that nobody to date has answered,” says Soneji.