MEDICAL NEWS TIPS
Listed below are story ideas from The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. To pursue any of these stories, call the contact person listed.
THE BUZZ ABOUT BEES, IN LATE SUMMER
This time of year prompts increased aggressiveness from stinging insects. Bees and wasps are more apt to attack. Although multiple stings are relatively rare, they can produce enough poison in the body to produce a toxic reaction, instead of the milder allergic reaction that single stings provoke from the immune system. These more severe reactions kill ten times the number of people each year that snake bites do. Nadine Levick, M.D., an assistant professor of pediatric emergency medicine at Johns Hopkins can discuss the magnitude of the problem, what people can do to minimize their encounters with dangerous pests, and offer her perspective on how well emergency departments around the country are trained to deal with the problem.
To interview Levick, contact Beth Simpkins at (410)955-4288 or [email protected].
THE MAGIC TOUCH
Call it medicine from the fingertips. A skilled and certified massage therapist can help improve circulation, relax muscles, ease constipation and diarrhea. Massage can help premature babies gain weight and even help breast cancer patients avoid complications from surgery.
"Just the touch...in a caring, professional manner can be very therapeutic for the individual receiving the work," explains Patricia Grimm, Ph.D., associate professor of nursing (and current massage student, working towards Maryland certification) at Johns Hopkins. Massage therapy retains a vital role in today's technology-driven medicine, and offers a wide variety of measurable medical benefits, she says.
To interview Grimm, contact Kate Pipkin at (410)955-7552 or [email protected].
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