Health

Giving young children the influenza and pneumococcal vaccines together appears to increase their risk of fever, according to a study led by researchers from Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). However, the fever was brief, and medical care was sought for few children, supporting the routine immunization schedule for these vaccines, including the recommendation to administer them simultaneously. The study, which looked at children 6–23 months old, was published online on Jan. 6, 2014, in "JAMA Pediatrics."

Using high-resolution functional MRI (fMRI) imaging in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and in mouse models of the disease, Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers have clarified three fundamental issues about Alzheimer’s: where it starts, why it starts there, and how it spreads. 

The examination of mental disorders would seem to be the almost exclusive domain of psychiatrists and psychologists, not humanities scholars. Yet William V. Harris, the William R. Shepherd Professor of History, has spent his time in recent years studying his chosen field—the history of ancient Greece and Rome—through the lens of mental illness. 

The fifth annual Puppy Study Break is kicking off. Students are encouraged to take a break from their studies and play with puppies in John Jay. 

In one of his first public addresses since being elected mayor three weeks ago, Bill de Blasio came to Columbia to give the keynote address at the Earth Institute’s NYC Summit on Children, an all-day conference on the value of early childhood development programs and pre-kindergarten education.

You probably think you know how to wash your hands, but Elaine Larson could tell you for sure.

An infectious disease expert who has published more than 200 papers on hand hygiene, Larson is the go-to source for commonly asked questions such as whether anti-bacterial soaps work better than regular soaps (no), whether alcohol hand sanitizer is more effective than hand-washing (yes) and whether you should really wash your hands for as long as it takes to sing “Happy Birthday” twice. (Not necessarily, just be sure to scrub between the fingers and under fingernails.)

Study points to possible treatments and confirms distinction between memory loss due to aging and that of Alzheimer's.

A new initiative at Columbia University Medical Center is focused on improving physical and mental health care for gay, lesbian, bisexual and especially transgender individuals. 

As a recent medical school graduate of Cairo University, Wafaa El-Sadr arrived in the U.S. in 1976 confident that more training in medicine would help her meet the challenges of curing infectious diseases in poor countries around the world, like her native Egypt.

Nashwa Khalil knew the benefits of physical therapy long before she enrolled in the doctor of physical therapy program at Columbia’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. She began physical therapy as an infant after a birth injury that limited range of motion, strength and mobility in her left arm. 

When she started medical school four years ago Camila Mateo felt an immediate connection to the neighborhood surrounding the College of Physicians and Surgeons. 

From the chimera in Greek mythology to the sphinx in ancient Egypt, humans have imagined making creatures from pieces of different organisms for millennia.