The Health Variant: Recent Episodes
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A weekly dive into health and healthcare from NewsMD, offering interesting interviews, quick looks at new research and reporting from behind the scenes.
Health Correspondent Jeremy Fugleberg, speaks with immunologist Dr. Marc K. Jenkins of the University of Minnesota.
With the omicron variant of COVID-19 rapidly spreading across the US, now seems like a good time to talk to an expert on how the body fights off disease, including the ins and outs of natural immunity. Also, we had to ask: Is a global scientific conspiracy even possible? Our host, NewsMD Health Correspondent Jeremy Fugleberg, speaks with immunologist Dr. Marc K. Jenkins of the University of Minnesota to discuss what we know, what we don't know and how the scientific community is built to figure out the difference.
https://www.inforum.com/newsmd
They are health care's freelancers, reinforcements who have been crucial to helping short-handed nursing staffs during the COVID-19 pandemic. And you probably haven't even heard of them. In this episode, host and NewsMD Health Correspondent Jeremy Fugleberg talks with Professor Joshua Gottlieb, a nursing markets researcher at the University of Chicago, to get some answers about why traveling nurses are so important, and why they can get paid top dollar for what they do.
No, this isn't a rant of a podcast. But it is a dig into recent research on a powerful factor that can shape how much you trust what should be uncontroversial health advice provided by a state health department, for example. Yes, this is really relevant during a politicized pandemic. Our host, NewsMD Health Correspondent Jeremy Fugleberg, speaks with lead researcher Dr. Rebekah Nagler, of the University of Minnesota, to break it all down.
We get a lot of press releases and story pitches, but it's not often the American Heart Association essentially calls and says, "Hey, we're worried about you, let's talk." So we took them up on their offer. They were looking at some troubling statistics in the Dakotas, especially North Dakota. AHA President Dr. Donald Lloyd-Jones joins the podcast to give us a little check-up, and some encouragement about a little something you might have heard about.
Groundbreaking research from Sanford Research provides big insight into what could make youth football more safe, at least in terms of head impacts. Host and NewsMD Health Correspondent Jeremy Fugleberg talks with Dr. Thayne Munce of Sanford Research about the results of his newly published study of a junior football team, and the big insights gained from tracking years of head hits. Read about the research here.
COVID-19's delta variant has wrecked the idea of getting back to normal. How did that happen, and what does it mean for everything from masking to potentially getting regular COVID booster shots? NewsMD Correspondent Jeremy Fugleberg talks to Dr. Louis Mansky, director of the University of Minnesota Institute for Molecular Biology, about this no good, very bad variant.
Blood banks are desperate for donations right now, and it's a national problem. Host and NewsMD Correspondent Jeremy Fugleberg talks with Dr. Maria Beaver, of Essentia Health, about why this shortage is so bad, why donations are so critically needed right now, and hot tips on how to overcome that fear of needles. To find your local blood bank or donation site, go to: www.aabb.org/for-donors-patients/give-blood.
Jayne Jones grew up in Minnesota loving hotdishes and desserts. Until she found out those things were killing her. Here's what she did next, and how she's rocketing to newfound food fame as the "No Sugar Baker." She's online at nosugarbaker.com and on Facebook, at "No Sugar Baker."
We’ve all seen the headlines about the recent heat wave that hammered the Pacific Northwest. But the Midwest is increasingly no stranger to skyrocketing temps -- causing both drought and life-threatening heat conditions. In this episode, host Jeremy Fugleberg will talk to Dr. Teddie Potter of the University of Minnesota School of Nursing, where she’s the first-ever director of planetary health. You better believe he’ll ask what that means. A hint: It makes her an expert on this topic.
A funny thing has been happening in the Upper Midwest. While the national birth rate continues to fall, the region has been going the other direction. That's according to Sanford Health, the South Dakota-based health system that also serves North Dakota and Minnesota. It's probably too early to call it a baby boom. But Dr. Laurie Landeen of Sanford Health has some ideas for what's going on. And yes, that includes "Fertile Myrtles" (her words).
Delta-8 has been dubbed "THC-lite" and the hemp product is booming in popularity in states -- such as Minnesota and the Dakotas -- where recreational marijuana remains illegal. Is there a connection? Yes. Host Jeremy Fugleberg talks with Jason Tarasek of Minnesota Cannabis Law to discuss Delta-8: what it is, what it does, its legality, and what its popularity might mean for the future of cannabis and hemp laws.
Meet our sister NewsMD podcast, Health Fusion, brought to you by host Viv Williams. Williams loves making podcasts that offer health news you can use, as you'll hear in our short intro interview with her. Then, in the following sample Health Fusion episode, she'll dig into the science of sleep, what we can learn from top athletes and what the heck a "nappuccino" is. Give it a listen and subscribe to Health Fusion in any podcast app.
Some fast answers to COVID-19 vaccine questions from someone who knows what they're talking about: Dr. Louis Mansky, director of the Institute for Molecular Virology at the University of Minnesota. He answers questions about finding good information, booster shots, fertility questions, a universal flu shot and why he has a giant image of the COVID-19 virus hanging on his wall.
This past year was a mad scramble for drugs to fight off COVID-19. The hunt was full of trials, errors, blind alleys and conspiracy theories. So what actually worked? Paul Scott, NewsMD health correspondent, joins host Jeremy Fugleberg to run down what we know, including two treatments that didn't work and four that were proven to help. To read more from Scott's "The Future of COVID" series, find his work online: www.inforum.com/incoming/author/Paul-John-Scott.
COVID-19 tore through many nursing homes. Now the question is, what's next for them? Some just might close. Others, if they're to survive, need big changes. Tu-Uyen Tran, a senior writer for the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, recently dug into the uncertain future for nursing homes. We talk to him about his findings. Yes, robots do come up. To read his reporting, go online to minneapolisfed.org.
Worried your child isn't their hitting developmental milestones? You're not alone. A federal effort, "Learn The Signs. Act Early" has a host of resources, including a smartphone app, to help you out, including family support groups and program "ambassadors" in every state. Hilory Liccini, the North Dakota ambassador for the program, fills us in. For more info about the program, go online to the CDC.gov website and search for it by name.
That's right -- we're talking influenza, better known as the flu. Thanks largely to steps taken to fight the spread of COVID-19, this season was a welcome failure for influenza. How did that work, and what might next flu season look like? We talk to Karen Green Martin of the Minnesota Department of Health, who breaks it all down.
If you're like a lot of people, you bought some home fitness gear during this last pandemic year. So now what? We talk to NewsMD correspondent and fitness writer Paul Scott on his recommendations about what to keep, buy or leave in simple home fitness equipment.
If you haven't used telehealth, get ready: It's the future of a lot of healthcare. Thanks to COVID-19, telehealth such as virtual visits and home monitoring became crucial and common. Dr. Sarah Manney of Essentia Health tells us what has changed, and what's next, in telehealth.
https://www.inforum.com/newsmd/
Dr. Bevan Yueh, CEO of University of Minnesota Physicians, learned some hard lessons over this last pandemic year, including the humility gained by COVID-19 sending him to his own hospital. He shares what he's learned.
The craziest place in the country for cannabis laws right now? That's easy: South Dakota. Voters last year legalized both medical and recreational marijuana -- on the same ballot. That's when the fighting started. So what's going on in South Dakota?
Three neighbors, three different COVID-19 approaches. Host Jeremy Fugleberg and three fellow reporters -- all who covered COVID-19 over the last year -- compare and contrast the unique pandemic choices of the governors of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.
How do you report on the final days of a newborn? We go behind the scenes with Luke Hagen, editor of the Mitchell (S.D.) Republic, who describes what it was like to build trust with the family of newborn Cameron Vobr, as he worked to responsibly report -- and grapple with his own feelings -- on Cameron's death and funeral, his family's grief and the organ donation legacy he left behind. To read Luke's story and see photos of Cameron and his family, go to www.mitchellrepublic.com and search "Cameron Vobr."