In the News

Can Your Smartphone’s Sensors Reveal if You’re Depressed?

The Verge – This article quotes Ethan Berke, associate professor of community and family medicine and of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice at Geisel, on a recent study that found a smartphone’s sensors could potentially identify whether the user might suffer from depression. “It’s a very small study, and they didn’t get data over a long period of time, but those things aside, it definitely advances our knowledge base,” says Berke. (Similar coverage in Tech Times and iFreePress.)

VA Opens First PTSD ‘Brain Bank’

Valley News – Mentions the recent appointment of Paula Schnurr, research professor of psychiatry at Geisel, as executive director of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in White River Junction, V.T. The article also quotes Matthew Friedman, professor of psychology, pharmacology and toxicology, on the National Center for PTSD’s opening of the first national “brain bank” devoted to post-traumatic stress disorder research.

Why Allow Illness to Be Part of Your Identity?

MyCentralJersey – H. Gilbert Welch, professor of medicine, community and family medicine, and of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, comments on the health consequences of focusing our thinking on disease. “Too many people are being made to worry about diseases they don’t have and are at only average risk to get,” says Welch. “You may not consider that a harm, but remember health is not simply a state of physical being, it’s also a state of mind.”

A Life: Margo Krasnoff, 1957 — 2015: ‘She Was So Genuine in All of Her Interactions’

Valley News – A feature article remembering the life of Geisel School of Medicine faculty member and alumna Margo Krasnoff, who died in January 2015. The article quotes John Butterly, professor of medicine and of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice at Geisel; Lisa Adams, associate dean for global health, and many more on Krasnoff’s lasting impact on the Dartmouth community.

Here’s Why You Can Skip the New Insomnia Drug, Belsomra

Consumer Reports – Steven Woloshin and Lisa Schwartz, both professors of medicine, community and family medicine, and of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice at Geisel, were commissioned to review the research and prepare a Drug Facts Box for Belsomra. Their analysis showed that the small improvements in sleep provided by the drug didn’t help people feel more refreshed. Instead, more people who took Belsomra felt drowsy the next day compared with those who took a placebo.

Which Trendy Diets Actually Work?

Fox News – Cites research conducted at the Geisel School of Medicine on the Ketogenic Diet, which was developed for children suffering with epilepsy as a way to manage their seizures. The researchers found that that even though the diet reduces the frequency of seizures in children, it may result in long-term memory trouble and poor quality brain growth.

Pregnant and Hooked: How One Program Helps Heroin Addicts

NBC Nightly News – News that rates of heroin use doubled among women over the past decade doesn’t surprise Shea, who’s 26 and pregnant. She’s also a newly clean addict. It also doesn’t surprise the staff at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Perinatal Addiction Treatment program in New Hampshire, where Shea got help to reduce the odds of giving birth to an addicted baby.