Should skinny jeans be worn only in moderation?
Regardless of what the fashion police might decree, one Yale doctor definitely agrees.
In an ABC News article published Friday, School of Medicine neurologist Orly Avitzur said the hipster staple may cause meralgia paresthetica, which is a pain or numbing sensation that extends from the spinal column to the thigh.
Yale psychiatry professor Marc Potenza has been awarded over $400,000 to found a gambling disorder research center at the University.
The grant from the Institute for Research on Gambling Disorders, to be administered over three years, will provide start-up funds for a “Center of Excellence” at Yale to study gambling disorders. Potenza will head the center, which will investigate “whether the [alcoholism] drug naltrexone will be effective in a ‘real world’ clinical setting,” the NCRG announced in a release May 14. The IRGD has awarded a similar grant to researchers at the University of Minnesota, which will host a center like Yale’s.
“This is trying to understand better how the medication works when it does work and for whom it’s going to work best,” Potenza said.
The grant will allow the center to hire research staff, although Potenza said he is not certain how many and which positions will be filled for the project.
Commencement should not be affected by the swine flu outbreak, Vice President and Secretary Linda Lorimer said today in an e-mail to the community.
No cases of the novel H1N1 virus have been confirmed at Yale and there are currently no more cases of probable or even suspected swine flu under investigation, Lorimer said.
“We can all be pleased that the swine flu ‘situation’ has abated and no serious problem materialized here,” she said. “I hope there will be no further need to hear from me on this subject!”
The University advised those with flu-like symptoms to stay home and to contact their primary care providers rather than Urgent Care at Yale University Health Services as health officials had previously advised. However, individuals returning from Mexico were instructed to contact either Student Medicine or Employee Health before resuming their normal activities.
In other news, Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced today that five more cases of swine flu had been confirmed in the state, bringing the total thus far to 38 — four of which were from New Haven County.
Swine flu has finally come to New Haven County.Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced this afternoon that 11 new cases of the H1N1 virus have been confirmed in eight Connecticut cities, including two in New Haven County. None of the confirmed cases is a Yale affiliate, said Paul Genecin, the director of Yale University Health Services.
The swine flu cases were confirmed in Ridgefield, Danbury, Darien, Derby, Greenwich, Old Saybrook, Waterbury and Wilton. Derby is about 10 miles west of New Haven, while Waterbury is 20 miles north.
Rell said she expects the number of confirmed swine flu cases in Connecticut to increase, adding that since the state’s health laboratory is now able to test for the virus, officials will know more quickly if possible cases are in fact swine flu. Previously, officials had to send probable cases of the disease to the headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta for testing.
At present, four additional cases of possible swine flu are being tested at the Connecticut Department of Public Health. Of the 29 total cases of the virus — 25 confirmed and four likely — 13 are male and 16 are female.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed 10 new cases of H1N1 flu in Connecticut, Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced yesterday.
Among the new cases, which brought the total number of confirmed cases in Connecticut to 14, were six Fairfield residents as well as residents of North Granby, Wethersfield and Glastonbury. None of the now-recovering individuals needed to be hospitalized.
A Middlefield child has become Connecticut’s second confirmed case of swine flu, state officials announced this afternoon.
In addition, just down I-95 at Fairfield University, five more students have been identified with “probable” cases of swine flu. The Connecticut Department of Public Health said a child from Wethersfield is probable for the virus, too.
Both the Middlefield child and the Stratford man who was the first confirmed case of influenza A H1N1 in the state have suffered only moderate symptoms of the disease, officials emphasized. So far, no individuals in Connecticut have needed to be hospitalized due to swine flu or probable swine flu.
At long last, the much anticipated swine/Mexico/H1N1 flu has arrived in Connecticut, state officials say. A Stratford man who had traveled to Cancun in mid-April is the state’s first confirmed case of the virus.
The man, who is between 30 and 40 years old, has made a full recovery.
State officials are still awaiting word from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as to whether a Fairfield adult and two Fairfield University students who live on-campus have the H1N1 flu.
Four Yale affiliates are being treated for mild cases of the flu, and samples have been sent to the Connecticut Department of Public Health to determine whether any of the cases are indeed swine flu, the University announced Thursday.
“These patients all live off campus, and they are only mildly ill and receiving treatment at home,” Vice President and Secretary Linda Lorimer wrote in an e-mail message to the Yale community this afternoon. “As a precautionary measure, these patients are receiving anti-viral medications. If it turns out that any members of the Yale community have confirmed cases of swine flu, we will let you know right away.”
In other news, Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced that two students at Fairfield University have been identified by state health offiicals as “probable” for swine flu, raising the number of probable cases in Connecticut to five. Rell added that neither of the students had reported traveling recently.
Samples from the two Fairfield students have been sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for testing, the governor said. In addition, two other suspected cases in East Haddam, Conn., turned out to not be swine flu, she said.
Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced today that state officials have identified two “probable cases” of swine flu in Connecticut. According to a news release from the Governor’s Office:
The two cases – both involving adults who reported recent travel in Mexico – were identified in Stratford and Southbury. Both of the affected individuals are recovering and neither required hospitalization.
Also today, the superintendent of schools in East Haddam ordered the three schools there closed after two members of a family that had recently traveled to Cancun, Mexico, became ill. A third, younger child also became sick. The schools will be closed for a thorough cleaning and then be reopened.
Samples have been sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for confirmation, Rell said.
Swine flu sure sounds scary. But Yale has spent the better part of the last two years preparing for an even scarier kind of flu — bird flu.
Since the bird flu scare that swept the world in 2006, Vice President and Secretary Linda Lorimer has led a team charged with making preparations in case a pandemic bird flu ever reaches Yale’s campus. Yale has even made plans to have hundreds of hospital beds set up, if necessary, in the William K. Lanman Center in Payne Whitney Gymnasium.
Nobody, so far, thinks that those measures will need to be taken as a result of the swine flu.
Vice President and Secretary Linda Lorimer sent an e-mail message to the Yale community this afternoon offering an update on Yale’s preparations for a possible outbreak of the swine flu. Lorimer urged Elis to seek medical attention if they exhibit any flu-like symptoms. She also asked employees to resist the urge to come to work if they are feeling under the weather.
“Often devoted staff and faculty persevere and come to work when they are ill,” she wrote. “This is NOT the time to do this. Use your sick time! Obviously this is a very busy time of the year, but we need to consider the health of others at this time.”
For more on Yale’s preparations for a flu outbreak, see Florence Dethy’s report in today’s News.
Lorimer’s message also included a set of frequently asked questions — prepared by Yale University Health Services Medical Director Michael Rigsby MED ’88 — about the swine flu virus. Read them after the jump. The takeaway: Don’t touch infected pigs, and if you do, you probably should go to YUHS.