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:

Women and Men Receive Different Health Advice When It Comes to Prevent Heart Disease, Study Finds

Prima Wulandari, MD, a researcher in the Division of Cardiology, presented findings of a new study that found men and women receive different medical advice when it comes to preventing heart disease, even though the guidelines are both the same.

“Our study found that women are advised to lose weight, exercise and improve their diet to avoid cardiovascular disease but men are prescribed lipid-lowering medication,” said Wulandri, who presented the findings at the ESC Asia conference this week. “This is despite the fact that guideline recommendations to prevent heart disease are the same for men and women.” Read more.

A Link Between Motorcycle Rallies and Higher Availability of Transplant Organs

David Cron, MD, a surgical resident at Mass General, was lead author of a study in JAMA Internal Medicine analyzing the connection between huge motorcycle rallies and organ donations. Cron and colleagues found that between 2005 and 2021, the number of organ transplants increased by 21 percent per day during motorcycle rallies.

The findings highlight the safety risks posed by rallies and can help to ensure transplant teams are ready to act if and when donor organs become available as a result. 

“Organ donation is often called the gift of life, says Cron. “We should make sure that we do not squander it and can turn any of these tragic deaths into a chance to potentially save other lives.” Read more.

How Neuroscience Can Help Us Confront the Threats of Climate Change

The human brain has been remarkably creative in finding solutions to the challenges of everyday life. So why do we get so stuck when it comes to addressing the threats of climate change? It may be that the nature of the problem itself plays into weaknesses within our neural wiring.

Ann-Christine Duhaime, MD, Director of the Mass General Center for the Environment and Health, takes a closer look at the cognitive barriers to addressing climate change and how we can overcome them in her new book, Minding the Climate: How Neuroscience Can Help Solve Our Environmental Crisis.

An excerpt from the book is featured in the Harvard Gazette.

“Our brains may be more readily equipped to make us feel effective and positive by sending money to flood victims than we feel by engaging in the kinds of behavior changes that would help prevent the cause of their suffering,” Duhaime writes.

“Still there may be ways to pick up the pace if we know why these changes are especially difficult and can implement strategies proven to make them easier.”
Read more.

Temel Recognized for Leadership in Palliative Cancer Care

Jennifer Temel, MD, Director of the Cancer Outcomes Research and Education (CORE) program and Hostetter MGH Research Scholar 2017-2022, was recently profiled in OncLive, the official website for the Oncology Specialty Group

“[Dr. Temel] has a calming demeanor and an easy laugh. It is easy to see how patients feel comforted in her presence, although she shared that she feels most at ease when with small groups of people. A truly gentle spirit, she is a lifelong vegetarian, something she now shares with her older son, and despite her nearly career-defining blood phobia, she is an avid fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”

“Temel has published much of the most important data in palliative medicine, including what may be the most influential findings in the field, a 2010 paper that brought palliative care into the mainstream.”
Read more.

Mass General Cancer Center Researchers at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium

Clinicians and researchers from the Mass General Cancer Center were well represented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium this week. Be sure to check out @mghcancercenter for a recap of the presentations and findings, as well as photos and videos of the team presenting their research and connecting with colleagues:

This Week in Mass General History

A “Box to Brain” System to Reduce Pain

December 8, 1965: An article in the Desert Sun newspaper about the future of microelectronics highlighted a box developed at Massachusetts General Hospital that reduced pain in cancer patients by transmitting electrical impulses to electrodes that had been surgically implanted in the brain.
“It had been necessary to dose one patient heavily with morphine every two to three hours to dull her pain. But for several months since she began using the pain box, she has been without drugs.”
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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