HJNO Mar/Apr 2022

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS I  MAR / APR 2022 35 For weekly eNews updates and to read the journal online, visit HealthcareJournalNO.com Applications for the TEFRA program may be submitted beginning Jan. 1, 2022. Consideration for Act 421 coverage will not occur before Jan. 1, 2022. Anyone applying before that date will only be considered for exist- ing Medicaid programs. Visit http://www.ldh.la.gov/act421 for addi- tional information and answers to frequently asked questions. Epilepsy Specialist Najib Murr, MD, FAAN, Joins North Oaks Neurology Clinic Fellowship-trained and board-certified neurol- ogist and epileptologist Najib Murr, MD, FAAN, has joined North Oaks Neurology Clinic in Ham- mond and is accepting new patients. A fellow of the American Academy of Neurol- ogy, Murr is certified in clinical neurophysiology and epilepsy by the American Board of Psychia- try and Neurology. As a neurologist and epileptologist, Murr spe- cializes in the diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy. He also works in the diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of a wide variety of disorders that affect the nervous system, including headaches, stroke, movement disorders and tremors, Parkin- son’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and multiple sclerosis. Murr earned a medical degree from the Leb- anese University School of Medicine in Beirut, Lebanon. He completed an internship in inter- nal medicine through Kansas University School of Medicine in Wichita and a residency in neurol- ogy through the University of Nebraska Medical Center-Creighton University in Omaha. He served as chief resident in his final year and was honored as Resident of the Year. Murr went on to complete a fellowship in clinical neurophysiology/epilepsy through Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. Murr will see patients at North Oaks Neurology Clinic, located in the North Oaks Clinic Building at 15813 Paul Vega, MD, Drive, Suite 402 in Ham- mond. Hours of operation are weekdays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. FDA Authorizes First Anti- Viral Pills for COVID-19 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently issued an emergency use authorization for Pfizer’s Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir tablets and ritonavir tablets), the first oral treatment for COVID-19. The pill can be used to treat mild-to-moder- ate coronavirus disease in adults and pediatric patients who are 12 years of age and older weigh- ing at least 40 kilograms (about 88 pounds) who test positive for COVID and are at high risk of hos- pitalization or death. Paxlovid is available by prescription only and should be initiated as soon as possible after test- ing positive for COVID and within five days of symptom onset. Prescribers should be aware of the potential for significant drug interactions and contraindica- tions for use with certain drugs. In addition, Pax- lovid is not recommended in patients with severe kidney or severe liver impairment. In patients with moderate renal impairment, a reduced Paxlovid dose is needed. Louisiana has received a very limited number of Paxlovid regimens. These pills have been allo- cated to a small number of independent phar- macies across the state. If you feel you may be a good candidate for the treatment, contact your provider or medical professional. LSUHealth NO to Help Develop Personalized Nutritional Approaches LSU Health New Orleans scientists will partici- pate in a $170 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) study that will develop algorithms to pre- dict individual responses to food and dietary routines. Lucio Miele, MD, PhD, chair of genet- ics, and principal investigator of the LSU Health New Orleans All of Us study site, and Judd Shell- ito, MD, Lowenstein Professor of Medicine, have been awarded a five-year, $1.63 million grant to enroll 2,000 participants in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, administer dietary surveys, col- lect data, administer research meals to a sub- set of participants, and collect samples for meta- bolic and ancillary studies. The LSU Health New Orleans team will work with researchers at Pen- nington Biomedical Research Center. Powered by the All of Us Research Program, the Nutrition for Precision Health (NPH) study will recruit a diverse pool of participants who are also part of NIH’s All of Us Research Program to create more personalized nutrition recommendations. How nutritional, physical, and environmental fac- tors combine to influence individual health is not yet understood. Data on multiple potential pre- dictive factors, including the microbiome of the gut, metabolism, nutritional status, genetics, and the environment from a total of 10,000 partici- pants, will help the researchers develop a more complete picture of how individuals respond to different foods or dietary routines. “The role of diet in maintaining health can- not be overemphasized,” said Miele, who also serves as assistant dean for translational science at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine. “A healthy diet, along with exercise, decreases modifiable risk factors for many chronic diseases, from diabetes to heart diseases to cancer. The Nutrition for Precision Health initiative lever- ages the national All of Us Precision Medicine Research Program to generate scientific evidence for healthy, sustainable diets and to better assess individual risk of diseases associated with poor nutritional health.” The study will not only provide the knowledge to individually tailor nutritional prevention or treatment approaches for chronic diseases, but will also help reduce health disparities. “The link between diet and health has been known since the beginning of humankind,” said Shellito. “This grant will apply some hard science to diet and will lead to practical dietary interven- tions to improve health and well-being.” CDC Shortens Moderna Booster Dose Interval to 5 Months The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has updated its recommendations for the Moderna booster, shortening the six-month inter- val between completing the Moderna COVID- 19 vaccine series and receiving a booster dose to five months. Earlier this week, the booster interval was short- ened for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as well. This means that individuals 12 and older who initially received an mRNA vaccine series (two doses of either the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine) should now receive an mRNA booster dose five months after completing their initial series. The booster interval recommendation for people who initially received the J&J vaccine (two months) has