Welcome to Benchmarks, a weekly collection of research news and notes featuring Mass General investigators. With a research community of over 9,500 people that spans more than 30 departments centers and institutes, there’s more news each week that we can get to. Here are a few highlights:

New Drug Could Increase Bone Mass in Osteoporosis Patients

A recent research study led by Marc Wein, MD, PhD, was profiled on the IFL Science website.

Wein and colleagues identified a new oral drug compound may be able to stimulate the body to form bone and increase bone mass, possibly preventing and treating osteoporosis in patients, according to a study in mice.

The discovery may offer an alternative to the current hormone treatments for osteoporosis, which can only be given by daily injection, and could result in better usability and reduced costs.  

“Currently there are no orally available medications for osteoporosis that stimulate bone formation,” says Wein. “We sought to develop such medications based upon our detailed understanding of the pathways that normally govern bone production.” Learn more.

New Approaches Needed to Treat Cancer Patients with Serious Mental Illness

The ASCO Post spoke with Kelly E. Irwin, MD, MPH, a psychiatrist at Mass General Cancer Center, Boston, who specializes in the research and care of cancer patients with serious mental illness.

Adults with serious mental illness, particularly bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, have two to four times higher rates of death from breast, lung, colorectal and oral cancers.

Irwin, the director of the Collaborative Care and Community Engagement Program, is the Principal Investigator of the Bridge trial, the first randomized trial to include adults with serious mental illness and a recent cancer diagnosis.

The Bridge intervention includes a proactive psychiatry consultation and a person-centered, team-based approach designed to improve communication among mental health and oncology clinicians, increase patient and caregiver engagement and increase access to evidence-based cancer and mental health care.

The initial feedback from the trial has been promising, Irwin says, but there is still more work to be done.

“More broadly, as a social justice advocate, I think we need to be honest as a society that access to cancer care is a human right,” Irwin says.

“However, access to care remains inadequate for many patients with cancer and mental illness. Recognizing patients with serious mental illness as a disparities population is a critical step to inform future research and care delivery.” Learn more.

Innovator Spotlight Q&A Series: Shuhan He, MD

Shuhan He, MD, an emergency medicine physician at Mass General and a member of the Laboratory of Computer Science, was recently profiled as part of the MGH Center for Innovation in Digital Healthcare’s Innovator Series.

Dr. He was highlighted for his work developing an open-source Emoji Based Visual Analogue Scale that gives patients more ways to communicate subjective information, such as pain perception.

He has also been an advocate for incorporating more anatomically correct organs into the standard Emoji keyboard to help overcome language barriers between patients and caregivers.

He was one of the co-authors of the anatomically correct heart and lung emojis that are now available across all digital platforms.

“We are now actively working to endorse the Anatomical Stomach, Liver, Kidney, Spine, and other more medically salient Emoji for the next submission in 2024,” says He.

“We are also working to understand how people use Emoji in free text with a high degree of freedom to express themselves. This is a very complicated big data and machine learning problem!” Read more.

Tweets of the Week

This Week in Mass General History

Fire in the Hospital Basement Causes Considerable Excitement

Dec. 29, 1912 – A fire at Massachusetts General Hospital that started late in the afternoon on Dec. 28, 1912 caused considerable excitement at the institution, according to a report in the Washington Herald.

“All of the patients were hastily prepared for sudden removal if it became necessary. The employees of the hospital fought the fire for a time, but it got away from them, and it was necessary to call the regular fire fighting force of the city to put out the blaze.” Read more.

Scientists Look to Antarctic Seals for Data on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

This article from the San Bernardino Sun highlights the work of the late Mass General researcher Warren Zapol, MD. Read more about Zapol’s life.

December 27, 1983—Max the Seal is snorting, bobbing up and down in his manmade ice hole while doctors hurry to draw blood samples before he dives to the briny deep again. Too late.

With a slobbery sigh he expires all the air in his ample lungs and heads downward, the needle still dangling from the end of the slender tube that leads to his aorta.

Satisfied with the samples they did get, the scientists carefully pack up Max’s blood. Within 48 hours, it will be in Copenhagen.

Out here in a cluster of tiny huts atop the seven-foot ice crust covering McMurdo Sound, anesthesiologists from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston are trying to learn more about the art of holding your breath. Max, an 800-pound, lovesick native Antarctican, is teaching them.

Weddell seals like Max are the world’s champion divers, better even than most whales. They can dive deeper than 1,500 feet and hold their breath for well over an hour. The longest recorded human dive is 13 minutes and 14 seconds.

Dr. Warren Zapol, the Boston researcher directing this study on the free-diving Weddell seals, believes the seals’ unique diving talents may offer insight into Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, since pregnant Weddells are believed to have some sort of internal alarm system that warns their unborn pups they are about to take a high-pressure dive that will slow down the fetal heart rate. Read more.

About the Mass General Research Institute
Research at Massachusetts General Hospital is interwoven through more than 30 different departments, centers and institutes. Our research includes fundamental, lab-based science; clinical trials to test new drugs, devices and diagnostic tools; and community and population-based research to improve health outcomes across populations and eliminate disparities in care.
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