While providing outside commentary on recent research that found nearly half of menstruating people temporarily experienced heavier bleeding after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, Alison Edelman, M.D., notes uterine lining has been linked to the immune system, which could trigger a disruption in the menstrual cycle.

In a Portland Mercury story describing the impacts of a Northeast Portland homeless encampment being dismantled by city contractors, Hilary Nichols describes the former encampment as being “a medically fragile community of people in poverty all waiting for housing” and says “I was shocked at the astronomical level of trauma that it left on the residents,” adding it worsened the physical, mental and social health of those who lived there.

Todd Korthuis, M.D., testifies before the Clackamas County commissioners as they considered banning the growth and supervised use of psilocybin for mental health issues in Clackamas County. Korthuis says: “The bottom line for me as an addiction medical provider … is that I do not worry about psilocybin. I spend a lot of time worrying about the effects of fentanyl on our kids and general population. I spend a lot of time worrying about vaping and methamphetamine. Psilocybin is at the bottom of that list."

In a panel discussion about the implications of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn the former constitutional right to abortion care and efforts to limit that care in multiple states, Paula Amato, M.D., says it could increase mortality, exacerbate health care disparities, adversely impact fertility services and more.

Kathleen Carlson, Ph.D., describes the goals of the OHSU Gun Violence Prevention Research Center. She says her vision is for OHSU to be the "go-to clearinghouse and credible source of firearm statistics for our state and region."

Yahoo! News cites a Snopes.com story on a claim that a woman overdosed from a "fentanyl-laced dollar bill”; Todd Korthuis, M.D., says the risk of fentanyl exposure through the skin is extremely low.

E. Hayes Bakken, M.D., describes the “huge push” that OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital received from eager parents to get their children younger than 5 vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as they could, and how she expects demand to taper off as other parents have concerns about safety and efficacy. She says: “Adverse events are exceedingly rare –- much more rare than complications from COVID itself."

Marcel Curlin, M.D., says while the BA.5 omicron subvariant is causing new cases, available data appears to indicate it doesn’t make people sicker. He added: “We still have to take seriously the destruction it can wreck, especially on vulnerable people."

While providing outside commentary on recent research that found nearly half of menstruating people temporarily experienced heavier bleeding after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, Alison Edelman, M.D., notes uterine lining has been linked to the immune system, which could trigger a disruption in the menstrual cycle.

Can AI Drive Better Patient Experiences? Join host Chris Hemphil and his panel of guests Dr. John Glaser, Dr. William Hersh, (OHSU) Dr. Matt Cybulsky, Christopher Penn, Sheetal Shah, and Dave Pavaletz as as they discuss what AI can do for us.