2003 Press Releases

12/24/03	Young Named Senior Vice President at Howard County General Hospital James E. Young has been named Senior Vice President of Finance/Chief Financial Officer at Howard County General Hospital: A Member of Johns Hopkins Medicine, effective January 5, 2004.
12/23/03	Christmas Eve Caroling Under the Hopkins Dome, Billings Administration Building In one of Baltimore’s oldest holiday traditions, the memorial Baptist Church choir will gather under the Johns Hopkins dome on Christmas Eve to continue its long-term legacy of bringing comfort and cheer to the patients of The Johns Hopkins Hospital with their beautiful music. The choir, under Pastor Calvin Keene, will gather under the Dome at 7 p.m. and then bring its cheer throughout The Hospital with visitors invited to join in the procession.
12/19/03	A PAIR OF DISCOVERIES HELPS UNRAVEL COMPLEX GENETICS OF INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE Researchers at Johns Hopkins have linked versions of two different genes with the inflammatory bowel diseases known as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. The discoveries are a crucial step in developing new treatments and prevention strategies for these disabling conditions that together afflict one million Americans, the scientists say.
12/19/03	STATEMENT FROM JOHNS HOPKINS MEDICINE REGARDING THE DEATH OF BRIANNA COHEN With permission from the family given December 17, Johns Hopkins can now, and with deep regret, sadness and apology, publicly report and take responsibility for the untimely death December 4, 2003 of Brianna Cohen, 2, the child of Mark and Mindell Cohen of Owings Mills, Maryland. Brianna was, at the time of death a child with cancer followed by the staff at the Johns Hopkins Childrens Center.
12/18/03	KEY APPETITE REGULATOR MAY BE IDENTIFIED, SCIENTISTS REPORT Scientists at Johns Hopkins have discovered the first direct evidence in mammals that a chemical intermediate in the production of fatty acids is a key regulator of appetite, according to a report in a recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
12/18/03	"HAPMAP" SCIENTISTS PROVIDE DETAILED PLANS The international team of scientists working to determine the most common variations of the human genome report the details of their plans, known as the "HapMap" project, in the Dec. 18 issue of Nature.
12/18/03	HOPKINS RESIDENCY PROGRAM REGAINS FULL ACCREDITATION The Johns Hopkins Department of Medicine's internal medicine residency program has received full accreditation for three years from the Residency Review Committee for Internal Medicine (RRC-IM) of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)
12/11/03	HOPKINS HOSPITAL, UNION NEGOTIATING TO ACHIEVE NEW CONTRACT The Johns Hopkins Hospital and District 1199E-DC/Service Employees International Union -- AFL/CIO -- currently are in negotiations for a new contract for the 1,700 union members at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. While the current agreement between the Hospital and the Union was to expire on Monday, December 1, 2003 at 7:00 a.m., Hospital officials have agreed to extend the contract until January 31, 2004, at the Union’s request.
12/9/03	ATKINS DIET MAY REDUCE SEIZURES IN CHILDREN WITH EPILEPSY Along with helping some people shed unwanted pounds, the popular low-carbohydrate, high-fat Atkins diet may also have a role in preventing seizures in children with epilepsy, say researchers at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.
12/8/03	EARLY TREATMENT CAN PREVENT SEVERE VISION LOSS IN PREMATURE INFANTS A new study by specialists at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center and 25 other institutions nationwide for the first time gives eye doctors a precise way to identify premature babies at the highest risk of abnormal blood vessel growth in the retina and subsequent blindness. The computerized risk assessment tool they used should lead to treatment of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) at its earliest stages, stopping or limiting both loss of vision and structural damage to the eye.
12/3/03	Origin of Multiple Myeloma Found in Rare Stem Cell Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists have identified the cell likely to be responsible for the development of multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow that destroys bone tissue. The research, published in Blood online, suggests that therapies designed for long-term cure of the disease should target this stem cell, which, unlike other cells, can copy itself and differentiate into one or more specialized cell types.
12/3/03	Whites, African-Americans Better Rate Their Medical Care Experiences When Seeing Same-Race Physicians White and African-American patients who see physicians of the same race rate their medical visits as more satisfying and participatory than do those who see physicians of other races, even when the nature of the conversation in both types of visits is similar, a Johns Hopkins study finds.
12/2/03	Chromosomes are "Nibbled" Before They Fuse, Researchers Report Overturning 60 years of scientific presumption, new evidence from Johns Hopkins scientists shows that enzymes nibble away at chromosomes when the chromosomes' protective tips, called telomeres, get too short.
12/2/03	Lloyd Minor Named Otolaryngology Chief at Hopkins Lloyd B. Minor, M.D., an expert in hearing and balance disorders, has been named the new Andelot Professor and Director of the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at Johns Hopkins.
11/26/03	New Standard for Voice-Saving Care of Larynx Cancer Patients Results of a national clinical trial confirm that simultaneous treatment with chemotherapy and radiation preserves the voice of patients with advanced larynx cancer without compromising survival rates. The findings, reported in the November 27, 2003, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine are compelling enough to have the combination treatment become the standard of care for such patients, the study's authors report.
11/25/03	Scientists Discover How Brain Draws and Re-Draws Picture of World Children usually spill if trying to drink from a full cup, but adults rarely do. How we learn to almost automatically complete complex movements -- like how to lift a cup and tip it so the liquid is right at the edge when we're ready to drink -- is one of our brain's mysterious abilities.
11/24/04	Johns Hopkins Nursing Achieves Exclusive "Magnet" Designation in Maryland The Johns Hopkins Hospital's Department of Nursing has earned the American Nurses Credentialing Center's (ANCC) highest honor, the so-called "Magnet" status, recognizing national excellence in nursing. The designation is awarded to select hospitals following an intensive review of documentation, data, and clinical practices, followed by lengthy on-site visits. Fewer than 100 hospitals in the U.S. have magnet status, and The Johns Hopkins Hospital is the first hospital in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Delaware to achieve it.
11/20/03	Johns Hopkins Medicine Establishes Academic Division in Singapore Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM) and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) of Singapore have established the Johns Hopkins Medicine Division of Biomedical Sciences in Singapore. The move marks the first time JHM has created such a full division outside its home base in Baltimore, Maryland.
11/11/03	Stents Combined with Clot-Busting Drugs Effective in Limiting Impact of Deadly Form of Stroke A small but promising study suggests that coupling the insertion of stents with injections of clot-busting tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) directly into blocked blood vessels that serve the brain is an effective way to either prevent or limit the damage from acute vertebrobasilar ischemic stroke, according to a team from Johns Hopkins.
11/11/03	C-REACTIVE PROTEIN A STRONG PREDICTOR OF POOR FITNESS C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of inflammation circulating in the blood, may also be an indicator of poor physical fitness, a Johns Hopkins study indicates.
11/11/03	FORMAL SCREENING MAY BETTER IDENTIFY DEPRESSED HEART ATTACK SURVIVORS A formal screening program for depression among heart attack survivors might help health care providers better identify and treat the condition in this population, improving survival rates, a Johns Hopkins study suggests.
11/10/03	Daily Vitamins Could Prevent Vision Loss Among Thousands If every American at risk for advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD) took daily supplements of antioxidant vitamins and zinc, more than 300,000 people could avoid AMD-associated vision loss over the next five years, according to results of a new government study led in part by researchers at Johns Hopkins' Wilmer Eye Institute.
11/10/03	Aspirin May Not Be Strong Enough To Prevent Clots in Some Heart Patients While an aspirin a day helps keep a heart attack at bay, it may need reinforcement to totally prevent blood clots among patients with chest pain, a Johns Hopkins study shows.
11/10/03	Surgery Reconstructs Hearts in Failure A Johns Hopkins cardiac surgeon is one of only a handful in the country performing an uncommon procedure to reshape enlarged, damaged hearts in heart failure patients, restoring efficiency and potentially preventing the need for a transplant.
11/10/03	WOMEN WITH MILD HYPERTENSION HAVE WORSE HEART FUNCTION OVER TIME Women with even mild hypertension may be at risk for more severe heart problems down the road, according to a Johns Hopkins study
11/10/03	SKIN CHOLESTEROL INDICATES PRESENCE OF PLAQUE BUILD-UP IN THE HEART The amount of cholesterol found in skin cells may be a good indicator of the presence of plaque build-up in the heart, a Johns Hopkins study shows
11/8/03	Region of Chromosome 1 Important in Blood Pressure Regulation Scientists are closing in on genetic contributors to high blood pressure and other causes of heart and cardiovascular disease. At the American Society for Human Genetics annual meeting in Los Angeles, Hopkins research associate Yen-Pei Christy Chang, Ph.D., will present evidence that a region of chromosome 1 is involved in appropriately regulating blood pressure. Her talk is scheduled for 10:15 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 8.
11/6/03	Genetic Aberration Helps Explain Variation in Cystic Fibrosis At the annual meeting of the Americal Society for Human Genetics in Los Angeles, Hopkins researchers will reveal the existence of specific short repeats of particular genetic building blocks in the gene at the root of cystic fibrosis, an inherited and often fatal lung disease. The researchers will also show how the repetitious pattern may help predict the disease's severity.
11/6/03	Cellular Problem Discovered Behind Syndrome of Obesity, Learning Disabilities A research team led by Johns Hopkins scientists has discovered a potential new contributor to obesity -- faulty cilia.
11/10/03	Panel: Clinical Use of Embryonic Stem Cells Jeopardized by Bush's Policy on Federal Funding The human embryonic stem cell lines currently eligible for research with federal funds are not suitable for use in future clinical trials, nor would they ensure fair access to new stem cell based therapies, according to the scientists, philosophers and lawyers on a panel convened at Johns Hopkins.
11/3/03	Children with HIV More Likely to Utilize Health Services than Infected Adults Although more American adults than children are infected with the HIV virus, children with the disease use more HIV-related health care services, a Johns Hopkins Children's Center researcher reports.
10/30/03	Excellent Survival Rates for Liver Cancer Patients Undergoing Transplant More than 60 percent of liver transplant patients with advanced liver cancer are still alive after five years, compared to nearly zero survival for those patients who did not undergo transplant, according to a study by Johns Hopkins researchers.
10/27/03	"A WOMAN’S JOURNEY” NEWS TIP SHEET Listed below are selected story ideas that focus on topics to be discussed by Johns Hopkins faculty physicians during “A Woman’s Journey” symposium on Saturday Nov. 8.
10/26/03	BIOLOGICAL TRICK REVEALS KEY STEP IN MELATONIN'S REGULATION Johns Hopkins researchers have uncovered a key step in the body's regulation of melatonin, a major sleep-related chemical in the brain. In the advance online section of Nature Structural Biology, the research team reports finding the switch that causes destruction of the enzyme that makes melatonin -- no enzyme, no melatonin.
10/25/03	Desiderio to Head Hopkins' Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences Stephen Desiderio, M.D., Ph.D., professor of molecular biology and genetics at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, has been named director of the school’s Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences. The Institute was formed in December 2000 to unite the school's eight basic science departments and several hundred scientists.
10/24/03	CEPAR Receives $3.5 Million in Federal Grants to Create National Disaster Response Plans The Johns Hopkins Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response (CEPAR) has received federal grants totaling $3.5 million to develop plans for health system response to bioterrorism and other disasters, including infectious disease outbreaks.
10/24/03	IT’S NOT YOUR GRANDFATHER’S BUILDING! Three years in the making, the $140 million, 372,000-square-foot Broadway Research Building opened on the East Baltimore campus of The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions.
10/24/03	Eileen Vining to Direct Pediatric Epilepsy Program Eileen P.G. Vining, M.D., has been named director of the John M. Freeman Pediatric Epilepsy Center at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. Professor of neurology and pediatrics at Johns Hopkins, and former associate director of its pediatric epilepsy center, Vining oversees a comprehensive treatment program that incorporates medications, vagal nerve stimulation, diet, and surgical techniques.

Press release summary for 2003

10/22/03	JOHNS HOPKINS PATIENT SAFETY EXPERTS AWARDED $1 MILLION GRANT TO ENHANCE MICHIGAN ICU OPERATIONS The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has awarded a Johns Hopkins team of patient safety experts a $1 million grant to aid the Michigan Health and Hospital Association with statewide intensive care unit initiatives.
10/22/03	VISION-PRODUCING CELLS FAIL "TASTE-TEST," TREAT KEY LIGHT-DETECTING MOLECULES IDENTICALLY Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered that the eye's vision-producing rods and cones cannot tell the difference between their respective light-detecting molecules. The findings appeared in a recent issue of Nature.
10/22/03	EMBRYONIC PATHWAY CRITICAL TO GROWTH OF DIGESTIVE TRACT TUMORS A common signal critical for normal embryo development in many species also contributes to cancers of the esophagus, stomach and pancreas in people, according to Johns Hopkins researchers. Upwards of 50,000 cancer deaths a year may now be partly attributable to this pathway's activity, say the researchers. Their report appears in the Oct. 23 issue of Nature.
10/14/03	EDWARD BERNACKI, M.D., M.P.H., AWARDED PRIZE FOR HIS WORK TO IMPROVE EMPLOYEE HEALTH AND SAFETY Edward Bernacki, M.D., M.P.H., associate professor of medicine, director of the Division of Occupational Medicine and executive director of Health, Safety and Environment, of the Johns Hopkins University and Hospital, won this year’s Innovations in Occupational and Environmental Health award from the Occupational and Environmental Health Foundation and Pfizer Inc.
10/17/03	HOPKINS RESEARCHERS DISCOVER HOW NITRIC OXIDE PREVENTS BLOOD VESSEL INFLAMMATION Johns Hopkins scientists investigating nitric oxide (NO) - the molecular messenger that contributes to body functions as wide-ranging as cell death, new blood vessel growth and erections - have figured out how it can block blood vessel inflammation and prevent clotting, a process that has long stumped biologists.
10/14/03	Study Confirms Benefits of Hemispherectomy Surgery A new study by Johns Hopkins Children's Center scientists confirms the lasting benefits of hemispherectomy, a dramatic operation in which half the brain is removed to relieve frequent severe seizures that medications cannot control.
10/8/03	Hopkins' Peter Agre Receives 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry Peter Agre, M.D., 54, professor of biological chemistry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, today was awarded the 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The Academy recognized him for his laboratory's 1991 discovery of the long-sought "channels" that regulate and facilitate water molecule transport through cell membranes, a process essential to all living organisms.
10/7/03	Hospitalization Injuries Prove Costly to Patients, Health Care System An analysis of more than 7 million recent discharge records from hospitals in 28 states reveals that a group of 18 medical injuries that occur during hospitalization may account for 2.4 million extra hospital days, $9.3 billion in excess charges, and almost 32,600 attributable deaths in the United States annually.
10/6/03	Respiratory Illness Experts The specter of the coming flu season is made particularly ominous this year by the threat of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome). Most infectious disease experts predict the disease will return this year. Because the symptoms of SARS can resemble those of many respiratory illnesses, experts say everyone should be especially aware of the signs you may have a respiratory illness.
10/2/03	Thorough, Searchable Database of Human Proteins Unveiled Like expert curators who verify and create catalogs of the world's great art collections, an international team of scientists has developed a human protein database they say will change the way biology is done. The team unveils the online Human Protein Reference Database in the October issue of Genome Research.
SEPTEMBER
9/30/03	Manual, Low-Tech Method for 2nd Trimester Abortions Found Safe and Effective A hand-held vacuum aspiration device works as well as a more expensive electrical one for ending second-trimester pregnancies, according to results of a study by Johns Hopkins obstetricians published in the October issue of the International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics.
9/29/03	Hopkins Offers Free Seminars on Minimally Invasive Treatment for Uterine Fibroids Kevin Kim, M.D. assistant professor of radiology and surgery, and director of gynecologic intervention at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, will host four seminars on treatment for uterine fibroids. The seminars will be held at Johns Hopkins at White Marsh on Tuesday, October 7 and Wednesday, October 8, and at Johns Hopkins at Green Spring Station on Tuesday, October 14 and Tuesday, October 21. The seminars will run from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.
9/24/03	Avon Foundation Gives Landmark $10 Million Gift to Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center The Avon Foundation has awarded $10 million to the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins to build a new breast center, support research designed to decrease breast cancer incidence and death rates and fund education and outreach initiatives. It is the largest gift ever to the Cancer Center's breast cancer program and Johns Hopkins is one of only six institutions receiving this level of funding and the only cancer center in the Mid-Atlantic region.
9/23/03	Exercise Measures Identify Heart Disease in Seemingly Healthy Women A woman's fitness level and the time it takes for her heart to return to normal after exercise are more accurate predictors of female heart disease risk than electrical recordings of the heart, according to a national study led by Johns Hopkins researchers.
9/21/03	Cellular Problem Discovered Behind Syndrome of Obesity, Learning Disabilities A research team led by Johns Hopkins scientists has discovered a potential new contributor to obesity -- faulty cilia.
9/16/03	Hopkins Surgeons Successfully Separate Nigerian Conjoined Twin Girls Surgeons at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center on Thursday successfully separated 2-month-old conjoined twins Faithful and Favour Sobowale-Davies. The twins, from Lagos, Nigeria, had been joined at the abdomen and sternum (chest), and their livers had been fused.
9/15/03	Johns Hopkins Hospital Wins 2003 Consumer Choice Award in Both Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Once again received the Consumer Choice Award for both the Washington and Baltimore regions from the National Research Corporation (NRC). Hopkins was one of only a few hospitals to earn top choice status in a dual-market region, according to NRC, a firm specializing in health care performance measurement. The company issues its annual awards to hospitals with the highest quality and image ratings based on the firm's syndicated health care market guide telephone survey of households in 130 markets.
9/11/03	The Johns Hopkins University and ATCC Form Collaboration In an unusual collaboration, The Johns Hopkins University and the non-profit American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) have established the Johns Hopkins Special Collection, an ever-expanding set of biological materials developed at Johns Hopkins that will now be more readily available to researchers worldwide through ATCC.
9/11/03	Study Finds Simple Way To Reduce HIV Transmissions From Mom To Baby In the Sept. 13 issue of The Lancet, Johns Hopkins and Ugandan researchers report final results of a study showing that a safe, simple and inexpensive treatment reduces transmission of HIV from mothers to babies during childbirth and the first few weeks of life, offering a good chance to curb the spread of HIV.
9/11/03	Bracing is Less Effective in Overweight Teen with Scoliosis In teenagers, being overweight appears to threaten the success of wearing a back brace, the most commonly prescribed and only proven non-surgical treatment for curvature of the spine, say researchers from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.
9/9/03	Similar Genetic Origins Possible for Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder Findings may lead to childhood screening, early treatment A study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center, University of Cambridge and the Stanley Medical Research Institute appears to offer the first hard evidence that schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, severe psychoses that affect 2 percent of the population, may have similar genetic roots.
9/3/03	Herbal Weight-Loss Product Information Can be Misleading Many Internet sites marketing and advertising dietary supplements containing the herb ephedra are posting false or misleading information, a Johns Hopkins study demonstrates.
9/1/03	BEST DRESSED SALE SET FOR OCTOBER 2-5 Some Baltimore traditions just keep getting bigger and better. That's certainly the case with this year's Johns Hopkins Best Dressed Sale and Boutique 2003. Exclusive designer dresses and shoes, chic contemporary fashions, classic accessories and enduring vintage clothing will be on the racks, waiting for a favored place in the closets of bargain-conscious shoppers. All money raised goes to support The Johns Hopkins Hospital and its patients. Items not sold will be given to charity.
AUGUST
8/28/03	Weight Management News Tips FRESHMAN WEIGHT GAIN: WHAT TO DO?; POUNDS STAY AWAY! HOW TO MAINTAIN HEALTHY EATING HABITS DURING THE WINTER; EXERCISES TO FIGHT WEIGHT GAIN
8/27/03	Berg To Head NIH Institute Jeremy Berg, Ph.D., professor and director of biophysics and biophysical chemistry and director of the Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences at the School of Medicine, has been appointed director of the National Institute for General Medical Sciences at the National Institutes of Health. He is expected to begin in early November.
8/26/03	Scientists: Cloak of Human Proteins Gets HIV Into Cells Three Johns Hopkins researchers propose, for the first time, that HIV and other retroviruses can use a Trojan horse style of infection, taking advantage of a cloak of human proteins to sneak into cells.
8/18/03	Disease-Causing Genetic Mutations In Sperm Increase With Men's Age There's a lot said about a woman's ticking biological clock, but male biology doesn't age as gracefully as men might like to think.
8/14/03	Dedicated Trauma Program Improves Patient Outcomes A dedicated trauma service staffed by full-time specialists at hospitals can significantly reduce patient triage times in the emergency department (ED), help reduce ED overcrowding and lower death rates, a Johns Hopkins study shows.
8/14/03	Hopkins Is First U.S. Institution to Obtain Powerful Genotyping System Ahead of other U.S. academic institutions, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and its McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine have pooled resources to obtain a commercial system capable of processing hundreds of DNA samples and determining up to 600,000 genotypes a day.
8/13/03	Graduation Time for Empower Baltimore Retention and Advancement Program the Johns Hopkins Hospital Fifteen employees will graduate from the Empower Baltimore Retention and Advancement Program at a ceremony to be held on Thursday, August 14, at 12:00 Noon at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.
8/13/03	Chlamydia Infection Prevalent Among Female Army Recruits Nearly 10 percent of female Army recruits tested positive for the bacteria that causes the sexually transmitted disease chlamydia (Chlamydia trachomatis), according to researchers from Johns Hopkins, the Department of Defense and the Army. The researchers also found that the number of recruits testing positive for chlamydia increased over the four-year duration of the study, from 1996 to 1999.
8/12/03	Natural Hormone Could Reverse Heart Damage By altering the signaling pathway of the natural hormone leptin, Johns Hopkins researchers say, doctors may one day be able to minimize or even reverse a dangerous enlarged heart condition linked to obesity. Their report is published in the Aug. 12 issue of the journal Circulation.
8/11/03	Summer Medical News Tips HOW TO ACHIEVE THAT HEALTHY TAN WITHOUT THE HARM; BEING SUN SAFE; PREVENT DEHYDRATION; PREVENT COMMONPLACE INJURIES THIS SUMMER
8/7/03	Gene Therapy for ALS Mice and for Patient It's not a cure, but a novel form of gene therapy has delayed symptoms and almost doubled life expectancy in mice with the equivalent of Lou Gehrig's disease, a team from the Salk Institute and Johns Hopkins reports in the Aug. 8 issue of Science.
8/7/03	Home Visits From Community Health Workers Spur Blood Pressure Reduction As little as one home visit by a community health worker, as part of a community/academic health center program, may be enough to encourage someone with high blood pressure to take measures to lower it, a Johns Hopkins study demonstrates.
8/6/03	Home Ownership = Fewer Emergency Department Visits by Local Population A Johns Hopkins study has found that even in relatively impoverished neighborhoods, home ownership is linked to lower rates of use of emergency departments for emergent and general medical care.
8/5/03	Dr. Robot Tested at Hopkins It lacks the warm bedside manner of Marcus Welby or Dr. Kildare, but a high-tech robot being tested at The Johns Hopkins Hospital could be used to link patients with their physicians in a whole new way.
8/4/03	Local Man Celebrates 20-year Heart Transplant Anniversary Orlando DeFelice, 48, of Phoenix, Md., has a lot to be thankful for. Twenty years ago he was diagnosed with idiopathic cardiomyopathy, a serious heart disorder of unknown origin. On Aug. 6, 1983, he received a heart transplant at Johns Hopkins, after which doctors told him he had an 80 percent chance of living one year after the operation, and only a 50 percent chance of living five years after surgery.
8/1/03	Johns Hopkins Surgeons Perform World's First ‘Triple Swap' Kidney Transplant Operation Surgeons with The Johns Hopkins Comprehensive Transplant Center on July 28 performed what is believed to be the world's first "triple swap" kidney transplant operation, giving a woman from Miami, a woman from Pittsburgh and a child from Washington, D.C., new leases on life.
8/1/03	Reproductive Genetics Advisory Committee Named The Genetics and Public Policy Center, at Johns Hopkins University, has established the Reproductive Genetics Advisory Committee to provide expert advice on the scientific, medical, legal, social, ethical, and policy issues that accompany genetic testing, gene transfer and cloning technologies and their potential applications to human reproduction. The Center, a $10 million project supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts, seeks to assess societal attitudes towards reproductive genetics and to develop evidence-based policy options to guide the development and use of these technologies.
JULY
7/29/03	Immune System Drug May Increase Availability of Liver Transplants Animal research at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has found that a drug already approved by the FDA for testing in people might one day dramatically expand the number of livers useable for human transplantation.
7/29/03	Immune System Drug May Increase Availability of Liver Transplants Animal research at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has found that a drug already approved by the FDA for testing in people might one day dramatically expand the number of livers useable for human transplantation.
7/28/03	Greider Named Director of Molecular Biology at Hopkins After an exhaustive national search, Carol W. Greider, Ph.D., a Johns Hopkins faculty member since 1997 and internationally known for her work on telomerase, has been named the Daniel Nathans Professor and Director of the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The appointment is effective Aug. 1, 2003.
7/23/03	New Growth-Stimulating Cue Identified for Nerve Cells For decades, scientists have hunted for signals that guide nerve cells' tentacle-like axons, hoping to understand how these cell tips reach out to distant targets. It's knowledge that might one day help researchers learn how to rebuild nerves lost to spinal cord injuries or diseases like Huntington's.
7/23/03	Common Treatment for Depression is Safe and Effective for Alzheimer's Patients Researchers at Johns Hopkins have shown that a drug, Zoloft, commonly used for depression, also improves quality of life and alleviates disruption in daily activities for the one-quarter of Alzheimer's patients who also suffer from major depression. However, the drug did not improve patients' cognitive abilities, such as thinking, remembering and learning, which are often impaired in Alzheimer's disease patients.
7/17/03	The Johns Hopkins Hospital Tops U.S. News & World Report's "Honor Roll" 13th Year in a Row For the 13th consecutive year, The Johns Hopkins Hospital has topped U.S. News & World Report's rankings of American hospitals.
7/16/03	Benjamin Baker, Johns Hopkins "Renaissance" Physician, Dies at 101 Benjamin M. Baker Jr., M.D., a former Baltimore internist, part-time physician at Johns Hopkins, and medical consultant to Gen. Douglas MacArthur, died of ischemic cardiomyopathy July 14 at his home in Baltimore. He was 101.
7/15/03	Inflammation Blocks Impact of Heart Healthy Diets for Some Results of a Johns Hopkins study suggest that natural chemicals released in the body as a result of chronic inflammation may underpin the failure of low-fat, so-called heart healthy diets to actually reduce cholesterol and heart disease risk in some people.
7/15/03	Depression in African-American Men May Be Barrier to High Blood Pressure Control A study from The Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing concludes depression may sabotage efforts to control high blood pressure in urban, African-American men. The researchers found no direct link between depression and high blood pressure, but the depressed men were five times more likely to abuse alcohol, leading to behaviors that counteract efforts to control blood pressure.
7/14/03	Changing Focus of Traditional Hospital "Rounds" Improves Patient Care Researchers at Johns Hopkins are challenging a practice that's almost as old as American medicine: the venerable doctors' "rounds," visiting hospitalized patients daily to check their health status with eager, white-coated medical students and residents scurrying along from bed to bed as each case is reviewed and discussed.
7/13/03	Straight Talk: Adult and Embryonic Stem Cells and the Future of Research At an American Association for Cancer Research forum designed to provide straight talk on what's known -- and what isn't known -- about the primitive precursor cells that act as a reservoir of new cells in the body, Johns Hopkins' Curt Civin, M.D., will lead a discussion about stem cell research and policy and their relation to cancer research. The forum is scheduled for July 13 at the Washington, D.C., meeting.
7/11/03	Briefing with Pediatric Neurosurgeon Benjamin Carson, M.D. regarding results of surgery to separate Adult Conjoined Twins in Singapore
7/10/03	From Hopkins: Children May Outgrow Peanut Allergies Parents whose kids are allergic to peanuts may be relieved to know that it's possible their children could outgrow their allergy over time.
7/8/03	Pre-Diabetic Adults at Increased Risk of Colon Cancer People with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), a precursor to diabetes, are at increased risk of dying from colon and other cancers, according to a study directed by Johns Hopkins researchers.
7/8/03	Comments by Benjamin Carson, M.D., Regarding the Deaths of Twins Ladan and Laleh Bijani “Although I did not know Ladan and Laleh for long, they grew on me very quickly. I was particularly impressed by their strong determination to lead separate lives, and I was convinced they would seek separation no matter who performed the surgery.
7/2/03	DeWeese First Director of Hopkins' New Radiation Oncology Department Theodore L. DeWeese, M.D., has been named the first director of the new Department of Radiation Oncology at Johns Hopkins Medicine. Director of Hopkins' Radiation Biology program since 2000, he was selected after an extensive national search to lead the newly designated department, which provides a wide spectrum of radiation treatment to cancer patients. The appointment was made by Edward D. Miller, M.D., Dean and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine, and by Ronald R. Peterson, President of The Johns Hopkins Health System and Hospital.
JUNE
6/27/03	Human Stem Cells Improve Movement in Paralyzed Rats In the current issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins researchers report that injection of human stem cells into the fluid around the spinal cord of each of 15 paralyzed rats clearly improved the animals' ability to control their hind limbs -- but not at all in the way the scientists had expected.
6/26/03	Senior Citizens Involved in Hopkins Program To Be Honored by Mayor O'Malley More than 100 seniors involved in Baltimore's Experience Corps will be recognized by Mayor Martin O'Malley for their mentorship and tutoring of pre-kindergarten to third grade students in the greater Homewood area school system. Also in attendance at the ceremony will be Johns Hopkins Hospital officials from the department of medicine and members of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, local and state political dignitaries and directors of affiliated local senior programs and non-profits.
6/23/03	Pancreatic Cancer Linked to Errant Reactivation of Embryo Cell Pathway Research by Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center specialists has uncovered a novel pathway in the origin of pancreatic cancers, one of the deadliest of malignancies. Their findings are reported in the June 23, 2003, issue of Cancer Cell.
6/23/03	"Reverse CPR" Performed on Back Could Better Restore Blood Flow A pilot study of the first proposed major change in decades to cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) suggests that performing the maneuver while patients are on their stomachs offers far better restoration of blood flow and blood pressure than the standard practice of keeping patients on their backs. The feasibility study of so-called reverse CPR, conducted by researchers at Johns Hopkins and Columbia universities, appears in the June issue of the journal Resuscitation.
6/20/03	Johns Hopkins Hospital Board of Trustees Elects New Member James T. Dresher Jr., a local business leader, has been elected to The Johns Hopkins Hospital Board of Trustees. In addition, Alice Reid, first vice president of The Women's Board of The Johns Hopkins Hospital, has joined the board as an ex officio member.
6/17/03	Injection Prevents Blinding Blood Vessel Growth in Mice Researchers at Johns Hopkins' Wilmer Eye Institute and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals have identified an experimental medicine that stops the blinding blood vessel growth associated with diabetic eye diseases and possibly macular degeneration in laboratory mice.
6/16/03	Hopkins Medicine Appoints Four New Vice Presidents The Johns Hopkins Medicine Board of Trustees has appointed four women already in leadership roles as vice presidents. They are Elaine Freeman, Vice President for Corporate Communications; Toby A. Gordon, Sc.D., Vice President for Strategic Planning and Market Research; Judy A. Reitz, Sc.D., Vice President for Quality Improvement, and Linda Robertson, Vice President for Government Affairs and Community Relations.
6/15/03	At Last: Just Three Cell Types Detect Light in the Eye Putting to rest years of controversy, an international research team led by Johns Hopkins scientists has discovered that the eye's job of detecting light is most likely carried out by just three cell types.
6/12/03	Scientists Close in on Understanding Learning and Memory For decades, scientists have proposed that learning occurs and memories are stored when connections among nerve cells are weakened or strengthened, but there's been no direct way to prove it.
6/12/03	Pediatric Neurosurgeon Benjamin Carson, M.D. To Separate Adult Conjoined Twins in Singapore Benjamin Carson, M.D., the director of pediatric neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center who has surgically separated three sets of conjoined twins, will join an international effort, to separate 29-year-old female twins who are conjoined at the head.
6/9/03	American College of Endocrinology Honors Hopkins Endocrinologist Paul W. Ladenson, M.D., professor of medicine and director of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at Johns Hopkins Medicine, was honored recently with the American College of Endocrinology Award for Distinguished Contributions to Clinical Endocrinology at the college's 2003 annual meeting.
6/6/03	Prematurity, Infections Most Likely Causes of Brain Damage Among Infants The most likely causes of brain damage among low birthweight infants are prematurity and infections, not oxygen starvation, a Johns Hopkins study has found.
6/5/03	Heart Drug Might Help Fight Chronic Fungal Infections Johns Hopkins scientists have determined why a drug routinely used to treat heart arrhythmias might become a crucial addition to fighting chronic fungal infections, they report online in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
6/5/03	Lung Cancer Screening Study Seeks Minorities Current and former smokers ages 55 to 74, especially African Americans, are needed for a national study to learn if screening at-risk individuals with either CT scans or chest X-rays before they have symptoms can reduce deaths from lung cancer. The study, called the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST), is sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and is enrolling 50,000 participants at Hopkins and 29 other sites throughout the United States.
6/4/03	Hopkins Radiologist Richard Wahl Appointed to New Professorship in Nuclear Medicine Richard L. Wahl, M.D., professor of radiology, director of nuclear medicine/PET, and vice chair of new technology and business development in the Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science at Johns Hopkins Medicine, has been selected as the first recipient of the Henry N. Wagner Jr., M.D., Professorship in Nuclear Medicine at Hopkins.
6/3/03	Antidepressant Found to Reduce Hot Flashes Menopausal women battling hot flashes may have a new weapon to add to their arsenal: paroxetine.
6/3/03	Hospitalized Children Experience Medical Errors at the Same Rate as Adults As healthcare leaders from around the country continue to examine ways to improve patient safety in hospitals nationwide, a new study from researchers at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) finds that hospitalized children experience rates of medical errors similar to those of hospitalized adults.
6/3/03	Johns Hopkins Researchers Report from the American Transplant Congress Meeting Better Communication Needed to Increase African-american Transplant Rates Machine-Preserved Cadaveric Kidneys Function Better after Transplantation
MAY
5/27/03	Nature Sights and Sounds Ease Pain During Common Lung Procedure Investigators at Johns Hopkins have strong evidence that distracting patients during and after bronchoscopy with a colorful mural of a meadow and the gurgle of a babbling brook significantly enhances efforts to reduce pain.
5/27/03	Alumnus Peter McDonnell To Head Hopkins' Wilmer Eye Institute Peter John McDonnell III, M.D., a California ophthalmologist known for his expertise in diseases of the cornea and refractive surgery, has been named the new director of the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins. He will take office July 1.
5/27/03	Three Johns Hopkins Biomedical Researchers Named to American Academy of Arts and Sciences Three biomedical researchers at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an international honorary society founded in 1780. Two additional members of the Johns Hopkins community also were elected.
5/22/03	Older Pilots Ok to Fly, Study Shows An airplane pilot's experience is a better indication of crash risk than his or her age, Johns Hopkins researchers say.
5/21/03	Red Tape Squeezes Access to Mental Health Care While competition among managed care organizations is thought to improve access to medical care, the "administrative burden" of juggling their policies and procedures may limit patient access to high-quality mental health services, according to a national survey of more than 7,000 primary care physicians.
5/20/03	Benefits of Lung Surgery Reported for Emphysema Patients Patients with severe emphysema who undergo lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS) along with medical management are more likely to function better and face no increased risk of death after two years compared to those treated with medical management alone, according to results of a five-year study at Johns Hopkins and 16 other clinical research centers across the country.
5/19/03	Hopkins Researchers Find Potential New Treatment for Children with Chronic Hepatitis C Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center and five other institutions have found that a drug recently approved for adults with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) also may be a safe and effective treatment for children with the disease. The study is believed to be the first to examine how the drug, peginterferon alfa-2a, affects the young.
5/19/03	Zerhouni Commencement Speaker for Johns Hopkins School of Medicine The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine will award doctor of medicine degrees to 118 women and men from 29 states and six foreign countries at the commencement exercises May 22, 2003. The class is the 108th to graduate since the school opened in 1893. Johns Hopkins is among the most selective medical schools in the nation, with 4,622 applicants for 120 places for the freshman class this fall.
5/16/03	Robotic Heart Surgeries Offered at Johns Hopkins Johns Hopkins surgeons have begun performing minimally invasive heart surgeries with the aid of a robot. In their first case on April 3, they used the robot to place a pacemaker lead in a middle-age woman. During the second case on April 4, surgeons moved a chest wall artery in an 80-year-old man for use in a coronary artery bypass operation.
5/15/03	Accomplishments of Minority Doctors Showcased with New Visiting Professorship The Johns Hopkins University Department of Medicine announces the first annual visiting professorship designed to showcase the talents of outstanding minority medical scientists and doctors. Each year, the Visiting Professorship will bring leading academic physicians and scientists to Johns Hopkins to lecture and mentor minority faculty, residents and fellows.
5/14/03	Hopkins Scientists Uncover Role of Fanconi's Anemia Genes in Pancreatic Cancer Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have identified three genes, long linked to a rare inherited disease known as Fanconi's Anemia (FA), that now appear to play a role in many cases of pancreatic cancer.
5/14/03	Hopkins Hosts 200 Transplant Patients at Educational Conference May 17 Nearly 200 transplant patients and their families from across the country are expected to attend a day-long educational seminar sponsored by the Johns Hopkins Comprehensive Transplant Center on Saturday, May 17, at The Holiday Inn in Timonium, 2004 Greenspring Drive.
5/14/03	Johns Hopkins Offers Free Screenings for Vascular Disease Johns Hopkins will offer free screenings for vascular disease on Saturday, May 17, as part of a national effort to detect abdominal aneurysms and plaque buildup in blood vessels of the neck and legs.
5/13/03	Anti-HIV Drugs Save Vision, Improve Outlook for AIDS Patients A new study from Johns Hopkins researchers shows the multiple anti-HIV drug regimen called highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) saves eyesight as well as lives. A second study led by Johns Hopkins researchers finds that among AIDS patients with longstanding vision problems, those who took HAART reported higher overall quality of life.
5/12/03	Reduced Daily Eye Patching Effectively Treats "Lazy Eye" Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center and 34 other ophthalmology centers across North America report that in children with moderate amblyopia, or "lazy eye," patching the unaffected eye for two hours daily works just as well as patching the eye for six hours, the standard amblyopia treatment.
5/12/03	Heat Zaps Bone Tumors A team of radiologists and orthopedic specialists at Johns Hopkins Medicine has successfully used heat generated by electrode-tipped probes to destroy painful, benign bone tumors in eight of nine patients in a clinical study.
5/12/03	Hopkins Doctor Provides Information about Melanoma Too much fun in the sun can be fatal. The medical community wants to remind summer enthusiasts that sun exposure is linked to melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer that kills an estimated 8,000 people a year in the United States. Mona Mofid, M.D., assistant professor of dermatology at Johns Hopkins, says many of these deaths can be prevented by limiting sun exposure, using sunblocks and wearing protective clothing, and through early detection and treatment of the disease.
5/9/03	Johns Hopkins Receives $24 Million from Donald W. Reynolds Foundation to Study Sudden Cardiac Death The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has been awarded a four-year, $24 million gift from the Las Vegas-based Donald W. Reynolds Foundation to establish a multidisciplinary center focused exclusively on reducing the rate of sudden cardiac death.
5/8/03	Systematic Analysis of Gene Family Uncovers New Therapeutic Targets Colon Cancer Investigators from the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and Howard Hughes Medical Institute have completed what is believed to be the first systematic analysis of a disease-related gene family. Their analysis, reported in the May 9, 2003 issue of Science, uncovered gene mutations, linked to more than 30 percent of colon cancers, which could serve as therapeutic targets.
5/6/03	News Tips from the 2003 Annual Meeting of The Pediatrics Academic Societies Community Hospitals Miss Some Child Abuse Cases; Atypical Chronic Lung Disease May Have Infectious Origins; Gene Mutation May Contribute to Chronic Lung Disease; Common Gout Drug Delays Development of Heart Failure in Mice; Study Finds Few Young Men Disclose Std Diagnosis to Sexual Partners
5/6/03	Good News: Cognitive Decline after Bypass Surgery Mostly Temporary and Reversible More than two thirds of patients who undergo coronary artery bypass surgery may experience problems with their ability to think, remember and learn, and are slower at tasks like writing and drawing immediately following surgery than they were before surgery. Now, researchers at Johns Hopkins concerned about the lasting mental effects of bypass surgery have discovered that they are generally reversible and last for no more than three months.
5/6/03	Johns Hopkins Researchers Devise Methods To Evaluate Disaster Drills Researchers at Johns Hopkins and Loma Linda universities have published what is believed to be the first peer-reviewed set of standards for planning and evaluating disaster drills anywhere in the world.
5/5/03	Hyperglycemia May Increase Risk of Eye Disorder in Premature Infants Premature infants with hyperglycemia, or high blood sugar, may be at an increased risk in the first month of life for retinal detachment and blindness, say researchers from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.
5/1/03	Imaging Technique May Help in Confirming, Monitoring Treatment of Malignant Brain Tumors In what is believed to be a first-of-its-kind study, Johns Hopkins researchers have used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure sodium concentrations in the cells of malignant brain tumors. Because growth of such cancers are linked to elevated sodium levels, an easy way to measure them could improve diagnosis and treatment monitoring. The study is published in the May 1 edition of Radiology..
5/1/03	Johns Hopkins Honors Organ Donors at May 4 Ceremony About 75 people who have donated organs for transplant surgeries at Johns Hopkins will be honored in a ceremony at the hospital on Sunday, May 4, at 3 p.m.
5/1/03	Common Gene Variant Increases Risk of Atherosclerosis A common version of a gene has been identified as a potent risk factor for early-onset atherosclerosis, report the Johns Hopkins scientists who first linked it to shorter life expectancy in humans. Their report appears in the May issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics.
APRIL
4/30/03	Global Fight Against AIDS Requires More Than Drug Cocktails It will take more than wider access to drugs to win the fight against AIDS in countries where medical and economic resources are limited. What is needed is a combination of affordable anti-HIV drugs and an infrastructure focused on prevention and access to effective clinical care for patients infected with the virus, according to an editorial by Johns Hopkins AIDS experts appearing in the May 1 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
4/29/03	Hopkins Geneticist Elected to National Academy of Sciences Carol Greider, Ph.D., professor and interim director of molecular biology and genetics at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, was elected today to the National Academy of Sciences, an honorary society whose members advise the government on scientific matters.
4/29/03	Linda Fried Named Geriatrics Head at Johns Hopkins Linda P. Fried, M.D., M.P.H., a geriatrician and epidemiologist who specializes in the prevention of disease, frailty and disability in older adults, has been named director of the Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology at Johns Hopkins.
4/22/03	Multiple Lifestyle Changes Effectively Lower Blood Pressure The combination of weight loss, exercise, reduced salt intake and a healthy diet can dramatically lower blood pressure, according to a national study, called PREMIER, conducted at Johns Hopkins and three other institutions.
4/22/03	17th Annual Depression Symposium Features Acclaimed Author and Pediatrician Pediatrician Mark Vonnegut, M.D., author of The Eden Express, will be a featured speaker at the annual symposium sponsored by the Johns Hopkins Affective Disorders Clinic, DRADA, the Depression and Related Affective Disorders Association, and the Institute for Johns Hopkins Nursing.
4/22/03	Technique Brings Immune-Based Therapies Closer To Reality Johns Hopkins researchers have developed an inexpensive, reliable way to make large quantities of targeted immune cells that one day may provide a life-saving defense against cancers and viral infections.
4/21/03	NEWS TIPS: GENETICS RESEARCH BUILDS ON LEGACY OF DOUBLE HELIX In April 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick published their report describing for the first time the correct, double helical structure of the DNA molecule. Twenty-five years later, Johns Hopkins researchers Hamilton Smith and Daniel Nathans were awarded the Nobel Prize for finding proteins in bacteria that could cut DNA at specific, predictable places, ushering in the era of genetic engineering.
4/17/03	Structure Reveals Keys to Important Gene Regulator A team of researchers from Johns Hopkins and the University of Colorado has discovered a chink in the structure of a gene-controlling protein critical in regulating the growth and death of immune, brain and muscle cells, they report in the April 17 issue of Nature.
4/15/03	Common Thyroid Cancer Gene Mutation Found Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have found that a single genetic mistake causes about two-thirds of papillary thyroid cancers. Their research, published in the April 16, 2003, issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, may lead to new therapies that could counteract the mistake.
4/14/03	Nitric Oxide-Like Drug Could Revive A Failing Heart The 5 million or so heart failure patients in this country traditionally have been treated with nitroglycerin or other drugs that release nitric oxide into the bloodstream. While these medicines increase the heart's ability to contract, they also blunt chemical signals allowing the heart to fully relax and pump most effectively.
4/8/03	Up-and-Comers: Johns Hopkins Marks Contributions of Young Investigators For the 26th year in a row, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine is celebrating the scientific contributions of students and fellows, and along the way paying tribute to a system of education that consistently nurtures the early stages of future distinguished careers.
4/4/03	Johns Hopkins Center Calls For Stricter Controls For Genetic Testing Genetic testing to detect carriers of cystic fibrosis (CF) is being routinely offered to many couples seeking prenatal care. Recent reports in the medical literature indicate that guidelines for safe and appropriate testing are not always being followed.
4/4/03	U.S. News & World Report Ranks Hopkins #2 Among Top Medical Schools The attached letter from the Dean of The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine thanks faculty and staff for once again making the School of Medicine one of the top two medical schools in U.S. News & World Report's annual ranking of graduate schools. The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine has ranked second on the list for the past 13 years. This year, Johns Hopkins is proud to share the number two spot with Washington University in St. Louis. The letter offers other details, including Johns Hopkins' medical specialty programs ranked in the top ten.
4/1/03	Families with Severe Form of Bipolar Disorder Help Scientists Narrow the Search for Disease Genes After years of frustrating searches for genes that contribute to mental illness, researchers at Johns Hopkins studying families with a severe form of manic depressive illness, called psychotic bipolar disorder, may be one step closer to finding the genetic underpinnings of both bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
MARCH
3/28/03	Fruit Fly Cells Reveal Hedgehog's Secrets A Johns Hopkins-led research team has successfully used a technique to rapidly find fruit fly genes involved in a cell signaling pathway called Hedgehog, which is critical to proper embryo development and a key trigger in some cancers, including the deadly childhood brain cancer medulloblastoma.
3/19/03	The College Basketball Players' Other Opponent: ACL Injuries Sports Medicine News Tips: Hey, Weekend Warriors: Pay Attention To Your Pain!; How to Prevent Injuries On The Green
3/19/03	The Envelope Please... School of Medicine Students Meet Their Match Hugs, high-fives, cheers and kisses should fill the room Thursday when Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine seniors find out which hospital residency programs they will enter after graduation this spring.
3/18/03	In Vitro Fertilization May Be Linked To Bladder Defects Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center report that a group of rare urological defects, including bladder development outside the body, may be more common in children conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF). The researchers caution, however, that the findings are preliminary, and should not necessarily dissuade couples from considering the procedure.
3/18/03	Scientists Find New Way To Grow Human Embryonic Stem Cells Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered that primitive human embryonic stem (ES) cells, temperamental in the lab, can be grown with the help of special cells from bone marrow, offering an easily obtained and well-studied source of human cells to nurture the human ES cells as they divide.
3/13/03	Potential Blood Test For Colon Cancer Risk Johns Hopkins scientists have found a way to predict with a simple blood test which people may be at higher than normal risk for the most common form of colon cancer. The research, described in the March 14, 2003, issue of Science, focuses on genetic "red flags" housed not in the sequence of the DNA building blocks themselves, but in other subtle modifications made to the genetic code.
3/12/03	STATEMENT: Medical Students' Training in Performing Pelvic Exams Johns Hopkins, like most other teaching hospitals, does allow this practice, but with patient safeguards. The attending physician introduces any gyn/ob patient to the students and residents at the beginning of her care. Patients have the right to refuse student participation, and such requests are honored.
3/11/03	Six-Week, Six-Shot Regimen Fights Hayfever For More Than One Season Johns Hopkins researchers last year reported that an experimental treatment for severe ragweed allergy consisting of just six shots in six weeks dramatically reduced allergic symptoms such as runny nose, nasal congestion and sneezing, and nearly eliminated the need for relief medications like antihistamines and decongestants. Now, follow-up of patients who continued in the study for a second year, shows that the initial six-injection course of this treatment appears to be effective – and safe – for more than one allergy season.
3/11/03	New Associate Dean and Registrar at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Mary Foy, whose career at Johns Hopkins began 40 years ago, has been promoted to Associate Dean and Registrar at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. After serving as an assistant to the Registrar, she rose to the post of Registrar in 1968 and was Assistant Dean and Registrar since 1986. Foy has worked for six of the thirteen deans of the School of Medicine, and in 1987 she received the Dean’s Special Recognition Award for exceptional service to the School of Medicine.
3/10/03	Chemical In Soy Alters Reproductive Organs In Male Rats Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health report that male rats whose mothers were fed diets containing genistein, a chemical found in soybeans, developed abnormal reproductive organs and experienced sexual dysfunction as adults.
3/10/03	Amey Appointed Associate Dean for Research Administration at Hopkins Medical School Michael Amey has been named Associate Dean for Research Administration at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He will continue to direct the Office of Research Administration for the School, which reviews and negotiates grant contract awards and partners with academic research teams on compliance and administrative policy issues.
3/7/03	Early Miscues Cause Late Problems in Model of Marfan Syndrome By studying mice, Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered that excessive activity of an important signaling protein, TGF-beta, likely underlies a variety of problems in Marfan syndrome, including the tendency to develop emphysema, they report in the March issue of Nature Genetics.
3/7/03	Johns Hopkins Scientists Create Forgetful Mouse Studying mice, scientists from Johns Hopkins have successfully prevented a molecular event in brain cells that they've found is required for storing spatial memories. Unlike regular mice, the engineered rodents quickly forgot where to find a resting place in a pool of water, the researchers report in the March 7 issue of the journal Cell.
3/6/03	"One-Stop" Approach Works Well For Cervical Cancer Prevention Treating women for precancerous cervical lesions the same day they are discovered could reduce cervical cancer rates in developing nations, according to a study of Thai women by researchers at Johns Hopkins and their Thai colleagues.
3/5/03	Target for New Lung Cancer Therapy in Embryonic Cell Pathway New work by researchers in the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins may allow them to halt the smoking-induced cellular events that lead to 99 percent of all small cell lung cancers (SCLC). The research is reported in the March 5, 2003, issue of Nature.
FEBRUARY
2/27/03	Hopkins Breaks Ground for New Cancer Research Building Just three years after dedicating a building devoted solely to cancer research, Johns Hopkins Medicine will break ground for a second cancer research building on its East Baltimore campus on Monday, March 3, 2003. The groundbreaking ceremony, scheduled to begin at 2 p.m., will include elected officials such as Senator Paul Sarbanes, Maryland State Senate President Thomas V. "Mike" Miller, Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley and Baltimore City Council President Sheila Dixon, as well as Hopkins leaders, including Raymond A. "Chip" Mason, chairman and CEO of Legg Mason, Inc. and chairman of the board of trustees of Johns Hopkins University.
2/26/03	Johns Hopkins Conference to Study Prevention of Thyroid Cancer During Nuclear Events Johns Hopkins endocrinologists and two thyroid organizations are working together to educate public health professionals about the importance of having potassium iodide on hand in case of a nuclear emergency.
2/24/03	Drug Tested For HIV Prevention In Baltimore As effective vaccines against HIV remain elusive, Johns Hopkins researchers have completed the first tests to see if a drug already used to treat HIV infection might one day be used to prevent sexual and blood-borne transmission of the virus that causes AIDS.
2/19/03	Consent Form Language Too Complex For Many Research by Johns Hopkins epidemiologists has confirmed what some have long suspected about consent forms required of clinical trial volunteers: They use language far too difficult for most people to understand.
2/17/03	The Nucleus: Not Just a Bag of Chromosomes Educators and scientists should discard the idea that a cell's nucleus is just a bag of chromosomes, according to Johns Hopkins' cell biologist Kathy Wilson, Ph.D. In a Feb. 17 session at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Denver, Wilson and five others will introduce visual evidence of the nucleus's newly recognized importance.
2/16/03	Dealing with Reams of Data: Scientists Work Toward Unraveling Gene Expression in the Brain Using Web-based tools they developed to sift through reams of data, scientists from the Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins hope to unravel the genetics of neurological problems associated with Down syndrome, autism and lead poisoning.
2/14/03	Hopkins, Government Reach Agreement on Medicare Audit In 1996, the federal government began a series of audits at various medical schools around the country, including Johns Hopkins, to assess compliance with rules governing Medicare billing by faculty physicians when residents also were involved in patient care. This audit program was called the Physicians at Teaching Hospitals (or "PATH") initiative. The review at Hopkins focused on Medicare billings by The Johns Hopkins University in 1994. Today, February 14, 2003, Hopkins and federal authorities agreed to settle the matter for a payment of $800,000.
2/13/03	Teen Girls With Common Hormonal Disorder More Concerned About Fertility Than Peers A new study of teenage girls with menstrual problems and other hormone-related symptoms finds they are far more worried about their future fertility that their healthy age-mates and need more health care and counseling than they are getting.
2/11/03	Pacemaker Therapy Halves Heart Failure Deaths Using specialized pacemakers to recharge the weakened hearts of heart failure patients can halve the death rate from the disease and reduce hospitalizations by nearly a third, a Johns Hopkins study has found.
2/11/03	Exercise and Imaging Tests Predict Heart Events In High-Risk Families Combining an exercise stress test with an image of blood flow through the heart may be an effective method to predict and prevent heart attacks and other events among adult siblings of heart disease patients, a Johns Hopkins study has found.
2/7/03	Low Levels of Amniotic Fluid No Risk To Normal Birth Doctors may not have to deliver a baby early if it has low levels of amniotic fluid surrounding it, Johns Hopkins obstetricians report.
2/7/03	Gene Loss Creates Age- and Gender-Dependent Cancer Syndrome In Mice Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have discovered that loss of a gene already implicated in human cancers also leads to age- and gender-linked cancers in mice. The findings, reported in the February issue of Nature Genetics, validate the gene's dysfunction as an early step in development of cancer in people, the scientists say.
2/5/03	WEIGHT MANAGEMENT NEWS TIPS Food Aphrodiasiacs- Fact or Fiction?; Weight Loss and Nutrition Myths: How Much Do We Know?; Eating Healthy with Ethnic Food; New Trends in Exercise Alternatives
2/4/03	Johns Hopkins Launches Infectious Disease Guide on BlackBerry Wireless Handhelds Johns Hopkins' popular ABX (antibiotic treatment) Guide, currently used on mobile communications devices and personal computers by more than 115,000 registered individuals, is now available on BlackBerry Wireless Handhelds from Research In Motion (RIM).
2/3/03	Study Finds Doctors Fail To Bridge Confidential Communication Gap With Teens Teenagers seeking confidential health care for such conditions as pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases frequently get inaccurate information about their doctor's confidentiality policies, according to a study by a Johns Hopkins researcher in the February issue of Pediatrics.
JANUARY
1/30/03	Hopkins Medicine Plans 'Low Risk, Go Slow' Approach to Vaccinating Health Care Workers Against Smallpox In response to the U.S. Government's recommendation to vaccinate volunteer "first response" health care workers against smallpox, Johns Hopkins Medicine has adopted a "low risk, go slow" approach, decided upon after review of known scientific facts, consultation with its own experts and ethicists, as well as colleagues at the University of Maryland Medical System, the Baltimore City Health Department, and the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The first volunteers at Hopkins will receive their vaccinations from the Baltimore City Health Department shortly after the City initiates its vaccination program in February.
1/29/03	Julie Freischlag Named Hopkins' Surgery Chief Julie A. Freischlag, M.D., a California vascular surgeon, will be the new William Stewart Halsted Professor and Director of the Department of Surgery at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and surgeon in chief of The Johns Hopkins Hospital, effective March 1. She is the first woman and only the sixth person to serve in these posts in the school's 110-year history.
1/27/03	A Bed of Microneedles: Johns Hopkins Scientists' Gadget Measures Muscle Cell Force Using the same technology that creates tiny, precisely organized computer chips, a Johns Hopkins research team has developed beds of thousands of independently moveable silicone "microneedles" to reveal the force exerted by smooth muscle cells.
1/21/03	Hopkins Rings in New Year With It's Own "Ball" Drop Completion of the $4.5 million Gamma Knife Center at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins will be marked on January 21, 2003, with the "dropping" of the spherical helmet device, the key component of brain therapy combining surgery and radiation.
1/15/03	Medical Devices Safe, But Could Be Safer With Better Regulation Johns Hopkins infection control experts who last year traced the source of a bacterial infection in 32 patients to three defective bronchoscopes say more rigorous regulation and faster recall of the devices may have prevented the outbreak.
1/15/03	Little Value Seen In CT Scans For Lung Cancer Screening Computed tomography (CT) scans widely marketed to consumers may not be valuable for mass screening of lung cancer, a Johns Hopkins study has found.
1/15/03	Hopkins' Emergency Medicine Administrator Appointed to State Committee James J. Scheulen, administrator of Johns Hopkins Medicine's Department of Emergency Medicine, has been appointed to Maryland's Statewide Emergency Medical Advisory Committee (SEMSAC).
1/15/03	Blood Banking Systems Improving In China, More Progress Needed After years spent analyzing blood banking and transfusion practices in China, a Johns Hopkins-led research team says that major improvements are needed to ensure the safety and reliability of the blood supply that serves 20 percent of the world's population.
1/14/03	Eye's Light-Detection System Revealed A research team led by Johns Hopkins scientists has discovered that a special, tiny group of cells at the back of the eye help tell the brain how much light there is, causing the pupil to get bigger or smaller. The findings, which appeared in the Jan. 10 issue of Science, largely complete the picture of how light levels are detected in the eye.
1/13/03	Hopkins Cardiac Surgery Pioneers' Story Told On PBS Program Feb. 10 With little money and only a high school diploma, an African-American lab technician named Vivien Thomas in 1944 helped pioneer a groundbreaking heart operation at Johns Hopkins that saved thousands of children's lives and ushered in the modern era of cardiac surgery.
1/10/03	Cancer Therapy May Offer Lupus Patients New Hope Researchers at Johns Hopkins report success in using high doses of the anti-cancer drug cyclophosphamide to treat patients with moderate and severe forms of lupus, a chronic and sometimes fatal autoimmune disease. Their findings are published in the January 10, 2003 issue of Arthritis and Rheumatism.
1/10/03	Hopkins Geneticist Honored by National Academy of Sciences Carol Greider, Ph.D., professor and interim director of molecular biology and genetics at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, has won the National Academy of Sciences' Richard Lounsbery Award for her outstanding scientific achievements.
1/7/03	Patient Compliance Influences Pediatric Transplant Recommendations Whether or not a doctor recommends a child for kidney transplantation often depends on the child's track record for sticking to a medication regimen, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center report.
1/6/03	Martin Luther King Celebration Featuring Danny Glover In what has become a much-anticipated annual tradition, Johns Hopkins Medicine will remember and honor civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. with tributes, music and community service awards during this year's Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration. The celebration will take place Friday, Jan. 10 in Turner Auditorium from noon to 1:30 p.m. Headlining the annual tribute is keynote speaker Danny Glover, human rights activist, actor, director and executive producer whose portrayals have earned worldwide acclaim.
1/6/03	Parents' Views On Toy Guns Vary By Gender And Race Race, gender and other social factors may explain why some parents allow their children to play with toy guns, while others shudder at the thought, a Johns Hopkins researcher reports in the January issue of Pediatrics.
1/6/03	Sirtuin Protein Has A New Function; May Play Role In Lifespan Extension Scientists from Johns Hopkins and the University of Wisconsin have discovered that a protein called Sir2, which is found in nearly all living cells, has a new function that might help explain how calorie restriction can increase lifespans for some animals, the scientists say. Their report appeared in the Dec. 20 issue of Science.
1/2/03	Hopkins Researchers Find Genetic Cause For Multi-System Disorder Faulty cell communication is at the root of a complex and rare disorder that affects many of the body's structures and systems, including the eyes, face, teeth, fingers and toes, a Hopkins-led research team has discovered.