Bonnie Nagel, Ph.D., says scientists don’t yet know if the pandemic has altered children’s brains, but the national Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study, or ABCD study, will help explain how youth are affected.

In story about the return of mask requirements in Oregon, Dawn Nolt, M.D., says she is skeptical of some reports of outdoor transmission, noting it’s hard to definitively determine whether or not it happened in those reports.

Physician leaders with OHSU, Kaiser, Legacy and Providence, including Renee Edwards, M.D., and frontline workers with Providence participate in a media availability Aug. 25 and ask the community to take immediate action to ensure hospitals have the capacity to care for everyone who needs us.

Esther Choo, M.D., speaks about delaying COVID-19 booster doses.

Story features a report authored by Deborah Cohen, Ph.D., and Shannon Sweeney, Ph.D., focused on the holes in data exchange infrastructure that impacted the response to COVID-19.

While discussing a study that found the drug pegvisomant is safe and effective in treating aggressive, uncontrolled or active forms of the condition acromegaly that need long-term treatment, Maria Fleseriu, M.D., says: “Pegvisomant had a favorable safety profile in clinical practice, especially concerning pituitary tumor volumes and liver tests.”

Asha Singh, M.D., joins sleep experts around the country in describing the 11 things that make sleep apnea worst: "The main factor that contributes to sleep apnea is obesity. There is increased fat deposition around your neck area, which can make your upper airway and your windpipe area more vulnerable to collapse at nighttime. And on the other side, you can have increased fat deposition around your abdomen, which can increase your abdominal girth. That could reduce your lung volumes and impact the collapsibility of your upper airway. All these factors combine together to increase your risk of having obstructive sleep apnea."

Donn Spight, M.D., and Dawn Nolt, M.D., were among local leaders discussing vaccine hesitancy in BIPOC communities during a virtual town hall. A Portland woman who participated in that town hall says Spight provided her information that helped her decide to get vaccinated. Spight says his goal is “to see truth and correct information put in the space where a person can make a decision."

OHSU is among metro area hospitals postponing nonemergency surgeries to accommodate a surge in patients critically ill with COVID-19.

In an article that describes how Oregon went from being the poster child for limiting the spread of the coronavirus to being hammered by the super-contagious delta variant, Renee Edwards, M.D., says Oregon’s low immunity level, considering previous infection rates and the number of unvaccinated people, creates a high risk for new infections.