Johns Hopkins Medicine News

Johns Hopkins and other researchers report what is believed to be the first direct evidence in lab animals that the erectile dysfunction drug sildenafil amplifies the effects of a heart-protective protein.

A team of Johns Hopkins neuroscientists has worked out how some newly discovered light sensors in the eye detect light and communicate with the brain.

The hormone deprivation therapy that prostate cancer patients often take gives them only a temporary fix, with tumors usually regaining their hold within a couple of years. Now, researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered critical differences in the hormone receptors on prostate cancer cells in patients who no longer respond to this therapy.

When researchers look inside human cancer cells for the whereabouts of an important tumor-suppressor, they often catch the protein playing hooky, lolling around in cellular broth instead of muscling its way out to the cells’ membranes and foiling cancer growth.

Despite increased emphasis on patient safety, little progress has been made in making hospitals safer, says Johns Hopkins critical care specialist Peter Pronovost, M.D., Ph.D., in an article in the Dec. 24 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The information on this page is provided by Johns Hopkins Medicine in response to an article on hospitals and uncompensated care published in The Baltimore Sun’s December 21, 2008 edition.

Five Johns Hopkins University researchers have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science by their peers. Jonathan Bagger, Ted Dawson, Barbara Landau, Jun Liu and Jeremy Nathans are among 486 new fellows around the world. Election as a fellow honors their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.