logo
Six Massachusetts hospital workers on same floor report getting brain tumors

Six Massachusetts hospital workers on same floor report getting brain tumors

The Guardian16-04-2025

The number of staff members who have developed brain tumors while working on the same floor of a Boston-area hospital has increased to at least six, according to the facility's leadership.
A recent statement attributed to the president of Mass General Brigham's Newton-Wellesley hospital, Ellen Moloney, said the newly reported tumor was benign, as were five previously documented ones. The statement maintained that investigators had not turned up any evidence of environmental risks at the hospital, though their work remained ongoing.
Nonetheless, even before the number of staffers with tumors jumped, a labor union representing nurses at the hospital had pledged to press for answers.
That pledge came after Newton-Wellesley hospital's leadership initially confirmed that five nurses had reported developing non-cancerous growths in their brains after having worked on the facility's fifth-floor maternity unit at some point.
The sixth case – described as having been reported by a staffer rather than a nurse – was disclosed in the statement from Moloney, which the Boston.com news website first reported on.
An additional half-dozen staff members with experience working on the floor in question reported other health concerns that did not involve brain tumors, Newton-Wellesley officials have said.
The hospital has repeatedly suggested there is no evidence to establish that the situation is anything more than a coincidence – albeit one which was unusual enough to have captured attention on the national news and social media after word about it spread.
Moloney alluded to how the hospital had worked internal and governmental occupational offices while also consulting with outside environmental experts. Testing since then has examined the hospital's water, radiation levels, air quality and other factors, according to a 2 April memo from the facility.
'Based on the results of this rigorous ongoing investigation, we can assure you that no environmental risks have been identified at our hospital,' Moloney's more recent statement said.
The Massachusetts Nurses Association has said it is conducting its own investigation, despite the hospital's assurances.
The union argued that 'the hospital only spoke to a small number of nurses' and that the 'environmental testing was not comprehensive'.
Sign up to Headlines US
Get the most important US headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning
after newsletter promotion
The union told NBC10 Boston that it received more than 300 survey responses, emails, and telephone calls from nurses and other professionals working at the hospital – as well as from former employees.
Union officials reportedly said: 'It will take several weeks to sort through the information … vet it and obtain follow-up, including medical records, if respondents are willing to provide them.' They also said: 'The hospital cannot make this issue go away by attempting to provide a predetermined conclusion.'
Moloney's statement, for its part, alluded to 'a great deal of misinformation shared on social media and in other forums'.
'Health, wellbeing, and safety – along with that of our employees – remain our top priority,' Moloney's statement said. 'We want to make sure you have the facts.'

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

The everyday activity that can reveal your brain's age
The everyday activity that can reveal your brain's age

BBC News

time2 days ago

  • BBC News

The everyday activity that can reveal your brain's age

The speed at which you walk can reveal profound insights into your brain's rate of ageing – with slower walkers having smaller brains and fundamental differences in crucial structures. It might seem trivial, but how quickly you can walk from A to B can reveal a great deal about the inner workings of your body and mind. Research has shown that the speed at which you walk to the shops, the local park, or the bus stop, can predict your chance of being hospitalised, suffering a heart attack, and even dying. In fact, a person's gait speed can even be used to reveal their rate of cognitive ageing. The walking speed test is a way of assessing someone's functional capacity – their ability to perform daily tasks around the house and maintain independence. It can also reveal how frail a person is, and predict how well they will respond to rehabilitation after a stroke. Although it is normal for people to walk more slowly as they age, a precipitous decline in the speed of someone's gait could indicate that something more serious is going on. "When a person's normal walking pace declines, it is often associated with underlying health declines," says Christina Dieli-Conwright, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, who studies the effects of exercise on cancer prognosis. "It might be that the person has a chronic condition which has meant that they haven't been moving as much or have become sedentary. That means that, more than likely, they've experienced a decrease in muscle strength, and joint mobility, which unfortunately leads to further health declines," says Dieli-Conwright. A simple technique To perform the walking speed test, all you need is a stopwatch and a way of measuring distance, such as a tape measure. There are two common versions. If you are outside and you have lots of space, you could try the 10m (33ft) walking speed test. First, measure out 5m (16.5ft), followed by another 10m. To get started, it's recommended to walk for 5m to get up to your normal speed, then walk at your normal pace for 10m. To calculate your walking speed simply divide 10m by the number of seconds it took to walk that distance. If you're at home and space is more limited, you could try the 4m (13.2ft) walking speed test. With this test, measure out 1m (3.3ft), followed by 4m. The idea is to use the first metre to get up to speed, then time how long it takes to walk for 4m at your usual pace. To work out your speed, divide four metres by the number of seconds it took you to walk that distance. Alternatively, there are many apps you can use to measure your walking speed, including fitness trackers like Walkmeter, MapMyWalk, Strava, and Google Fit, which use GPS to track distance and time, allowing them to calculate your speed. Studies have shown that gait speed is a significant predictor of life expectancy in older adults. For example, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh pooled together the results of nine studies which collectively tracked more than 34,000 community-dwelling adults aged 65 years or older aged between six and 21 years. The study showed that that gait speed was significantly associated with lifespan. For example, men with the slowest walking speeds at age 75 had a 19% chance of living for 10 years, compared to men with the fastest walking speeds who had an 87% chance of survival. One explanation is that people who are already unwell tend to be less mobile. However a 2009 study in France found that even amongst healthy adults aged over 65, participants with low walking speed were around three times more likely to die of cardiovascular disease during the study period compared with people who walked faster. "Walking seems like such a simple thing – most of us don't think about it, we just do it," says Line Rasmussen, a senior researcher in the department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University, North Carolina. "But walking actually relies on many different body systems working together: your bones and muscles carry and move you, your eyes help you see where you're going, your heart and lungs circulate blood and oxygen, and your brain and nerves coordinate it all," Rasmussen adds. According to Rasmussen, as we age, the function of these systems starts to slow down – and a slower walking speed can therefore reflect this overall decline and be a sign of advanced ageing. This doesn't just apply to older adults. In a 2019 study, Rasmussen and colleagues found that, even amongst 45-year-olds, a person's walking speed could predict the rate at which their brain and body were ageing. Rasmussen and researchers at Duke University took 904 people aged 45 who were part of the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, a longitudinal research project which has followed the lives of over 1,000 people born between 1972 and 1973 in Dunedin, New Zealand. Individuals in the cohort have had their health and cognitive function assessed regularly over their entire lifespans. "I was surprised by how much variation there was in walking speed among people who were all the same age," says Rasmussen. "You might expect everyone at 45 to be somewhere in the middle, but some walked as quickly as healthy 20-year-olds, while others walked as slowly as much older adults," she says. The study revealed that 45-year-olds with slower gait speeds showed signs of "accelerated ageing", with their lungs, teeth and immune systems in poorer shape compared to those who walked faster. They also had 'biomarkers' associated with a faster rate of ageing, such as raised blood pressure, high cholesterol, and lower cardiorespiratory fitness. The found that slow walkers had other signs of physical ill health, too, such as weaker hand-grip strength and more difficulty rising from a chair. (Read more from the BBC about the test for your chances of living to 100 and the test that reveals how well you're ageing.) Rasmussen and colleagues also found that slow walkers showed signs of advanced cognitive ageing. For example, they tended to score lower on IQ tests overall, performing worse on tests of memory, processing speed, reasoning and other cognitive functions. MRI scans also showed that this cognitive deterioration was accompanied by observable changes in the participants' brains. Slower walkers had smaller brains, a thinner neocortex – the outermost layer of the brain, which controls thinking and higher information processing – and more white matter. Intriguingly, even the faces of slow walkers were rated as ageing at a faster rate than the other participants. More like this:• Sit-to-stand: The simple test that reveals how you're ageing• Quick home health tests: Check your reaction times• Grip strength: The test for your chances of living to 100 In all, the research suggests that the bodies and brains of slow walkers age at a faster rate to those of quick walkers. There were also signs that these health differences were present from an early age, as researchers were able to predict the walking speed of 45-year-olds based on intelligence, language and motor skills tests taken when the participants were just three years old. "What surprised me most was finding a link between how fast people walked at age 45 and their cognitive abilities all the way back in early childhood," says Rasmussen. "This suggests that walking speed is not just a sign of ageing, but also a window into lifelong brain health." However, readers who class themselves as slow walkers needn't be too disheartened, as there are many things we can do to improve our walking speed. As part of her research to help cancer patients, Dieli-Conwright produces exercise regimes to help people recovering from chemotherapy regain their strength. Participants are advised to increase the duration and intensity of their walking exercise every three to four weeks to improve their fitness. And there are even simpler things that people can do. "Take any opportunity you can to walk more regularly, as remaining physically active is so important," says Dieli-Conwright. Her tips include parking further away from your destination, meeting up with friends to walk socially, or taking a pet to the local park. "It's important to take walking breaks, especially for individuals who have a more sedentary job," says Dieli-Conwright. "Even if it's just a five-minute walking break to go to the bathroom, or a five-minute quick walk around the block – it's vital to interrupt that sitting time." -- For trusted insights into better health and wellbeing rooted in science, sign up to the Health Fix newsletter, while The Essential List delivers a handpicked selection of features and insights. For more science, technology, environment and health stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram.

Common food item could lower your risk of heart disease & type 2 diabetes, boffins claim
Common food item could lower your risk of heart disease & type 2 diabetes, boffins claim

The Sun

time4 days ago

  • The Sun

Common food item could lower your risk of heart disease & type 2 diabetes, boffins claim

BUTTER could actually reduce your risk of heart disease, scientists say. Having a teaspoonful a day was found to cut the risk of getting type 2 diabetes by a third. The study, published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that butter boosts 'good' cholesterol - which helps to remove harmful fats known to cause heart attacks and strokes. Scientists from Boston University tracked 2,500 men and women over the age of 30 over decades, noting what they ate and how many went on to develop heart disease. Those who ate five grammes of butter a day or more were 31 per cent less likely to develop Type 2 diabetes - usually caused by poor diet and lifestyle - than those eating little or no butter. Margarines - often promoted as 'healthy' alternatives for butter - increased the risk of diabetes by more than 40 per cent and heart problems by 30 per cent. Researchers put it down to the unhealthy 'trans fats' used in margarines from the 1970s onwards - now largely ditched by spread manufacturers. Eating a portion of beans a day could also slash your risk of deadly heart attack or stroke, new research shows. Beans - whether they're dried, canned or frozen - can boost heart and metabolic health, according to scientists. Daily portions of chickpeas and black beans could serve as a "simple, cost-effective" way to reduce the risk of chronic diseases, they said. The new study links chickpeas to improved cholesterol levels, which blacks beans seemed to reduce inflammation.

Eating at least five grams of butter a day can reduce the risk of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease
Eating at least five grams of butter a day can reduce the risk of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease

Daily Mail​

time5 days ago

  • Daily Mail​

Eating at least five grams of butter a day can reduce the risk of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease

Spread the news – butter might actually reduce your risk of heart disease, according to scientists. They found tucking into at least five grams a day – or roughly a teaspoonful – reduced the risk of Type 2 diabetes, a major cause of heart disease, by almost a third. Butter also increased levels of so-called 'good' cholesterol in the blood and lowered those of harmful fats known to clog up arteries and lead to heart attacks and strokes. The findings, by researchers from Boston University in the US, fly in the face of decades of research showing saturated fats such as butter contribute to potentially fatal cardiac disease. At the same time, popular margarines introduced as a 'healthy' replacement for butter had the opposite effect – raising the risk of diabetes by more than 40 per cent and heart problems by 30 per cent. Studies linking diets rich in dairy fats with cardiovascular problems first emerged in the 1960s, when scientists investigated the link between Western eating habits and soaring rates of heart disease. As a result, medical advice has stressed the need to reduce the consumption of animal fats to protect the heart against damage. But more recent studies have questioned butter's connection with blocked arteries and found it contains ingredients which may actually be good for the heart. The Boston University team tracked almost 2,500 men and women over the age of 30 for several decades, recording what they ate and how many went on to develop diabetes or heart disease. The results, published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, showed those who ate 5g or more a day were 31 per cent less likely to develop Type 2 diabetes – which is usually caused by poor diet and a poor lifestyle – than those eating little or no butter. Meanwhile, those eating margarines faced a bigger risk of heart problems. Researchers stressed this was probably due to unhealthy trans fats being used from the 1970s onwards in margarines, but which have now largely been phased out of most spreads. WHAT SHOULD A BALANCED DIET LOOK LIKE? • Eat at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables every day. All fresh, frozen, dried and canned fruit and vegetables count • Base meals on potatoes, bread, rice, pasta or other starchy carbohydrates, ideally wholegrain • 30 grams of fibre a day: This is the same as eating all of the following: 5 portions of fruit and vegetables, 2 whole-wheat cereal biscuits, 2 thick slices of wholemeal bread and large baked potato with the skin on • Have some dairy or dairy alternatives (such as soya drinks) choosing lower fat and lower sugar options • Eat some beans, pulses, fish, eggs, meat and other proteins (including 2 portions of fish every week, one of which should be oily) • Choose unsaturated oils and spreads and consuming in small amounts • Drink 6-8 cups/glasses of water a day • Adults should have less than 6g of salt and 20g of saturated fat for women or 30g for men a day

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store