Benchmarks is your (semi) weekly dose of research news and notes about the Massachusetts General Hospital research community.

With over 9,500 individuals working across more than 30 departments, centers and institutes at Mass General, there is more research news than we can get to each week. Here are some highlights:

• In the News
• Single Dose of HPV is Highly Efficacious in Protecting Young Women
• Unawareness of Memory Decline Associated with Greater Risk of Alzheimer’s
• Deaths from Alcohol-Related Liver Disease Soared During the COVID-19 Pandemic
• Tweets of the Week
• This Week in MGH History
• Intensive Care Unit for Babies a Success

In the News

Single Dose of HPV is Highly Efficacious in Protecting Young Women

Ruanne Barnabas, MD, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Department of Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, is the senior author of a recent abstract presented at International Papillomavirus Conference, A Randomized Trial of Single-Dose HPV Vaccination Efficacy Among Young Women: Final Efficacy Results.

“This study provides important evidence that a single dose of HPV vaccine can be highly effective in preventing persistent infections, and ultimately, cervical cancer,” says Barnabas.

“Overall, we are proud to have contributed to advancing knowledge about HPV vaccination and its potential to prevent cervical cancer.” Read more.

Unawareness of Memory Decline Associated with Greater Risk of Alzheimer’s

Unawareness of memory decline—as opposed to greater awareness—is associated strongly with future clinical progression of Alzheimer’s disease in older adults, according to new findings.

These findings were the result of a cohort study examining 2 specific elements of self-awareness of memory function in cognitively normal older adults: increased and decreased awareness.

Ideally, the research would lead to greater general knowledge about changes in either direction of these 2 dimensions, in relation to Alzheimer’s disease risk. It was authored by Kayden J. Mimmack, MS, from the Department of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. Read more.

Deaths from Alcohol-Related Liver Disease Soared During the COVID-19 Pandemic

During the pandemic, deaths from alcohol-associated liver disease for American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) populations was six times higher than that of white people, according to a study by Massachusetts General Hospital.

The study was published in JAMA Health Forum.

“Even before the pandemic we saw a steady increase in alcohol consumption in this country and continue to experience high levels of alcohol-associated liver disease exacerbated by COVID-19,” said senior author Jagpreet Chhatwal, PhD, associate professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School and director of the Institute for Technology Assessment at MGH.

“Our examination of all racial or ethnic groups showed that none are more vulnerable than American Indian and Alaska Native.” Read more.

Tweets of the Week

This Week in MGH History

Intensive Care Unit for Babies a Success

May 7, 1973 (Associated Press)—Massachusetts General Hospital says it has an infant intensive care program which has the highest survival rate ever recorded for newborns with respiratory problems. “The single most common kind of disease that makes either a newborn or a child critically ill is something affecting the respiratory (or breathing) system,” says Dr. Daniel C. Shannon, director of the MGH Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

“The newborn with severe respiratory disease has a survival chance here (at MGH) of 73 per cent,’ according to last year’s figures,” Dr. Shannon says. “That’s about 20 per cent better than any published figures from anywhere else for that kind of problem’.”

The success of the MGH unit has made it New England’s referral center for the most critically ill newborn babies. Doctors attribute this success to two main factors: a team approach to treatment which brings together specialists from various fields for concentrated care; and a transportation system which not only gets the infant to the unit swiftly, but gets help to the infant before he reaches the hospital. Read more.

About the Mass General Research Institute
Massachusetts General Hospital is home to the largest hospital-based research program in the United States. Research at Mass General takes place in over 30 departments, centers and institutes and is supported by federal and state funding, foundations, industry partners and philanthropic donations.
Support research at Massachusetts General Hospital