Infectious Disease Expert Publishes Coronavirus Commentary in Arkansas Media Outlets

Mar 13, 2020

Infectious disease expert Carl Abraham, M.D., assistant professor of clinical medicine at NYITCOM-Arkansas, published an op-ed in Arkansas Business on the importance of social distancing to help slow the spread of COVID-19. In his commentary, Abraham explains the need for drastic measures and why all Americans play a role in mitigating virus transmission.

“Doctors are having to choose between intubating a 40-year-old with two kids, a 40-year-old who is fit and healthy with no comorbidities, and a 60-year-old with high blood pressure, because they don’t have enough beds. In the hallway, meanwhile, there are another 15 people waiting who are already hardly breathing and need oxygen. The army is trying to bring some of them to other regions with helicopters but it not enough. The flow is just too much, too many people are getting sick at the same time,” said Abraham.

Similar coverage also appeared in the Arkansas Democratic Gazette and The Jonesboro Sun.

 

Newsday Shares Harper’s Medical Advice Amidst COVID-19 Concerns

Mar 04, 2020

Brian Harper, M.D., chief medical officer of New York Institute of Technology’s Academic Health Centers, shared his public health expertise in Newsday’s coverage of COVID-19, also known as the coronavirus. Harper notes that staying away from others who display signs of illness, even though they likely have another illness and not COVID-19, is of “primary importance.” He adds that touching infected surfaces and then placing hands on the face is one of the most common ways that people contract the virus.

“The way a person becomes infected generally is by coming in contact with the actual virus,” says Harper, who also reminds individuals that the Centers for Disease Control recommends hands be washed thoroughly with soap and water for 20 seconds.

 

CNN Quotes Yao on Back and Neck Pain Relief

Mar 03, 2020

Sheldon Yao, D.O., chair and professor of osteopathic manipulative medicine at NYITCOM, was quoted in a CNN story on U.S. national spending on back and neck pain. A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that Americans and their insurance companies spent an estimated $134.5 billion on lower back and neck pain in 2016—more than the national spending on all forms of cancer combined. In addition to identifying habits that contribute to this pain, Yao recommends lifestyle adjustments to improve symptoms and dispels the myth that patients should go on total bed rest.

“One of the biggest misconceptions is, ‘I hurt myself. I need to go on complete bed rest and lie in bed and do nothing.’ That's been shown to really not be effective and, ideally, they need to try to maintain some form of activity as much as they can, and that's been shown to have positive results,” says Yao.

 

Nizich Quoted in Newsday on Ransomware Protection for Small Businesses

Feb 24, 2020

Michael Nizich, Ph.D., director of the Entrepreneurship and Technology Innovation Center, was quoted in Newsday regarding the ways in which small businesses can protect themselves from ransomware attacks. Nizich says firms must have a security plan with clear policies that lay out disciplinary actions, and he also emphasizes the need to educate employees on what to look for in phishing emails, such as ensuring the suffix of an email matches the institution it purportedly comes from. He states, “Education programs should be part of every security plan.”

 

Riley on Academic Minute: Social Media Can Jeopardize a Physician's Professional Credibility

Feb 21, 2020

In a segment on The Academic Minute, NYITCOM’s Bernadette Riley, D.O., explains her research on the ways in which social media practices impact the professionalism of medical students and physicians. The segment, which also appeared in Inside Higher Ed, describes how social media platforms increase patient access to physicians and blur the boundary between a physician’s professional and private life.

”A growing number of healthcare organizations now encourage professionals to have a social media presence,” says Riley. “However physicians are held to a higher standard. Content posted to social media platforms, as well as dating apps like Tinder, could possibly jeopardize a physician’s professional credibility.”

 

Children with Autism Benefit from Playing Sports, Lopez Explains on The Academic Minute

Feb 20, 2020

Research by School of Health Professions’ Alexander Lopez, J.D., OT/L, was featured on The Academic Minute. In the segment, which also appeared in Inside Higher Ed, Lopez explains how sports and activities improve sensorimotor and cognitive performance in children with autism spectrum disorder.

“We rewire the brain by utilizing strategies that enable it to process sensory information in a more functional manner. Recognizing that every play experience is a brain experience, we enlist a number of strategies to promote structural and functional brain changes. Strategies can be specifically designed to motivate and engage children while addressing their unique sensory-motor, psychosocial, and cognitive-behavioral needs.”

 

Pokala's Neuroscience Research Featured on The Academic Minute

Feb 19, 2020

In a segment of The Academic Minute, the College of Arts and Sciences' Navin Pokala, Ph.D., discusses how the brains of roundworms can improve understanding of human behavior and neuropsychology. Pokala notes that the sheer complexity of the human brain, which has 86 billion neurons and trillions of connections, provides a major hurdle to understanding psychiatric illness. However, studying much simpler brains, like that of the roundworm C. elegans, could provide useful shortcuts to understanding the complex human brain and help guide the development of new psychiatric treatments. He states:

“Unfortunately, most of today’s psychiatric drugs result from accidental discoveries made in the mid-20th century. Many are only slightly effective and have terrible side effects. Understanding how neural networks generate behaviors and emotions could help guide the development of new psychiatric therapies.”

This segment was also featured in Inside Higher Ed.

 

The Academic Minute Features Del Signore's Urban Design Research

Feb 18, 2020

As heard on The Academic Minute, School of Architecture and Design’s Marcella Del Signore, M. Arch., explores how collaborative “wiki spaces” encourage human interaction with urban environments. In the segment, she notes that technology has caused our interactions with city spaces to expand beyond the physical, stating:

“As devices allow for more efficiency and collaboration, we may come to expect the same synergy from the physical places we occupy. Our needs may demand more participatory interfaces in place of traditional public spaces. These areas may become wiki spaces, interactive environments where occupants are not just observers but active participants.”

This segment also appeared in Inside Higher Ed.

 

Ilyas Discusses HIV Detection Research on The Academic Minute

Feb 17, 2020

In a segment of The Academic Minute, Azhar Ilyas, Ph.D., of the College of Engineering and Computing Sciences, shares how cost-effective nanotechnology can help to detect AIDS in developing countries. Currently, HIV diagnosis requires an expensive machine called a flowcytometer, operated by a trained technician. Additionally, re-agents used during this process require cold chain transportation and reliable refrigeration, increasing the cost per test.

“There may be an easier, cost-effective way. Because most diseases originate at molecular or cellular levels, nanotechnology can help us investigate the presence of potentially fatal diseases at a very small scale. My research aims to design and develop novel micro and nanodevices to sense and characterize important biomarkers,” he states.

Similar coverage also appeared in Inside Higher Ed.

 

New York Tech Ranks First in the Nation in Student Diversity

Feb 13, 2020

New York Tech ranks first in the nation for its diverse student body, according to analysis conducted by 24/7 Wall St., a financial news and opinion company, and reported in USA Today and dozens of other news outlets across the country.  

According to the research findings, the chance that two random New York Tech students would be of a different race, ethnicity, or U.S. citizenship status is greater than 83 percent, the highest chance of any large four-year college in the country. 24/7 Wall St. analyzed data from the U.S. Department of Education from the fall 2018 semester.