12/23/05 | MOLECULE FROM THE SEA KILLS CANCER CELLS BY BLOCKING FIRST STEP OF PROTEIN BUILDING
A natural chemical made by a New Zealand sea sponge exerts its deadly effects on cancer cells by preventing the cells' protein-building machinery from turning on, Johns Hopkins scientists report in the Dec. 9 issue of Molecular Cell. |
12/23/05 | A LITTLE TELOMERASE ISN'T ENOUGH
--Study links length of chromosome ends to a rare disease of stem cells
With seed money from Johns Hopkins Institute of Cell Engineering, a Johns Hopkins geneticist and her team have discovered a critical link between the health of stem cells and the length of the chromosome ends within them. |
12/22/05 | NEW NEURONS TAKE BABY STEPS IN THE ADULT BRAIN
In experiments with mice, scientists from Johns Hopkins' Institute for Cell Engineering have discovered the steps required to integrate new neurons into the brain's existing operations. |
12/22/05 | BLOCKING PREVIOUSLY UNRECOGNIZED LINKS BETWEEN INFLAMMATORY SYSTEMS COULD MAKE COX-2 INHIBITORS SAFER
---Link could have implications for developing other novel painkillers
A recently identified path of inflammation once thought to be wholly independent of other inflammatory systems has now been linked to another major pathway. The findings by neuroscientists at Johns Hopkins are likely to point scientists to novel drugs that significantly reduce the risks of taking COX-2 inhibitor pain relievers, the investigators report. |
12/22/05 | JOHNS HOPKINS MEDICINE NAMES D.J. HALDEMAN AS MARKETING AND CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS VICE PRESIDENT
-Health care marketing specialist set to begin in February
Dalal J. Haldeman, M.B.A., Ph.D., an experienced health care industry executive, and specialist in marketing, public relations and business development, is the new Vice President for Marketing and Corporate Communications for Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM) |
12/21/05 | 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 bring musical comfort and cheer to patients and visitors. The choir, with some members in wheelchairs, along with children and grandchildren of original choristers, will sing under the direction of Pastor Rhonda Coleman. The festivities will begin at 7 p.m. and then continue as the choir tours the hospital. Visitors are invited to join in the procession, which often includes off-duty physicians, nurses and staff. |
12/21/05 | REPORT: NEW VIEW OF CANCER: "EPIGENETIC" CHANGES COME BEFORE MUTATIONS
A Johns Hopkins researcher, with colleagues in Sweden and at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, suggests that the traditional view of cancer as a group of diseases with markedly different biological properties arising from a series of alterations within a cell's nuclear DNA may have to give way to a more complicated view. In the January issue of Nature Reviews Genetics, available online Dec. 21, he and his colleagues suggest that cancers instead begin with "epigenetic" alterations to stem cells. |
12/19/05 | BLOCKING THE NERVE RECEPTOR EP1 IN MOUSE MODELS REDUCES BRAIN DAMAGE CAUSED BY STROKE
--- New approach offers alternative to COX-2 inhibiting drugs
Researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered how to block a molecular switch that triggers brain damage caused by the lack of oxygen during a stroke. The Hopkins study, conducted on mice, is believed to be the first to demonstrate that a protein on the surface of nerve cells called the EP1 receptor is the switch, and that a specific compound, known as ONO-8713, turns it off. |
12/19/05 | POPULAR ANTIDEPRESSANTS BOOST BRAIN GROWTH, HOPKINS SCIENTISTS REPORT
- Discovery in rodents may explain why some antidepressants require weeks of use before they work
The beneficial effects of a widely used class of antidepressants might be the result of increased nerve-fiber growth in key parts of the brain, according to a Johns Hopkins study being published in the January 2006 issue of the Journal of Neurochemistry. |
| 12/16/05 | TRADITIONAL RISK-FACTOR SCORING MISSES ONE-THIRD OF WOMEN VULNERABLE TO CORONARY HEART DISEASE
-- Cardiac CT scans recommended for some groups of women
Traditional risk-factor scoring fails to identify approximately one-third of women likely to develop coronary heart disease (CHD), the leading cause of death of women in the United States, according to a pair of reports from cardiologists at Johns Hopkins. |
12/14/05 | GENE MUTATION FOUND THAT INCREASES SEVERITY OF MULTISYSTEM SYNDROME
--Discovery mirrors expectations for genetic complexity of common diseases
Johns Hopkins scientists studying a rare inherited syndrome marked by eye and kidney problems, learning disabilities and obesity have discovered a genetic mutation that makes the syndrome more severe but that alone doesn't cause it. Their report appears in the advance online edition of Nature (Dec. 4). |
| 12/14/05 | HOPKINS HEAD AND NECK SURGEON HONORED WITH ENDOWED CHAIR IN OTOLARYNGOLOGY-HEAD AND NECK SURGERY
Johns Hopkins throat cancer and vocal-cord specialist Paul Flint, M.D., an authority on robotic-surgery techniques for removing tumors in the airway and on the use of botulinum toxin to restore voice strength, will be formally named the first Charles W. Cummings, M.D., Professor at a ceremony today at 4 p.m. on the institution’s East Baltimore medical campus. |
| 12/12/05 | THE JOHNS HOPKINS URBAN HEALTH INSTITUTE STARTS NEW JOURNAL, PROGRESS IN COMMUNITY HEALTH PARTNERSHIPS: RESEARCH, EDUCATION AND ACTION
The Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute announced the launch of a national peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the work of community health partnerships. Called Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education and Action, the new journal will address topics focusing on the growing field of community-based participatory research (CBPR) while promoting further collaboration and elevating the visibility and stature of CBPR in order to eliminate health disparities and improve health outcomes. |
12/12/05 | HOPKINS STUDY DESCRIBES POTENTIALLY FATAL HEART CONDITION AMONG YOUNG ATHLETES
-- Early diagnosis key to treatment that prevents sudden cardiac death
A Johns Hopkins study has provided the most comprehensive description to date of people most likely to develop a relatively rare heart condition, called arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia (ARVD), known to be among the top causes of sudden cardiac death among young athletes. |
12/8/05 | INTERNATIONAL STUDY LAUNCHED AT JOHNS HOPKINS TO SEEK GENETIC ROOTS OF SUDDEN CARDIAC DEATH
-- Gene-based screening tool could help identify those at risk
Heart specialists at the Johns Hopkins Heart Institute have been awarded more than $1.5 million from the France-based Leducq Foundation Trans-Atlantic Network of Excellence to study the genetic origins of sudden cardiac death. An estimated 1 million Americans or more die each year from sudden heart attacks, a third of them due to disturbingly fast and abnormal heartbeats that wreck the heart’s normal electrical rhythms. |
| 12/8/05 | MOUSE STUDY: NEW MUSCLE-BUILDING AGENT BEATS ALL PREVIOUS ONES
The Johns Hopkins scientists who first created "mighty mice" have developed, with pharmaceutical company Wyeth and the biotechnology firm MetaMorphix, an agent that's more effective at increasing muscle mass in mice than a related potential treatment for muscular dystrophy now in clinical trials. |
| 12/7/05 | JOHNS HOPKINS WELCH MEDICAL LIBRARY WINS GRANT TO ENCOURAGE MINORITY TEENS TO ENTER HEALTH INFORMATION CAREERS
The William H. Welch Medical Library of The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine was awarded a $639,746 grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services to develop, test and evaluate effective ways of introducing minority high school students to biomedical information careers. |
12/6/05 | HOPKINS TO HOST STUDENT NATIONAL MEDICAL ASSOCIATION (SNMA) REGION VI ANNUAL CONFERENCE
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Johns Hopkins University Chapter of the Student National Medical Association (SNMA) will host the 2005 SNMA Region VI annual conference on Dec. 10 on Hopkins’s East Baltimore medical campus. This year’s conference will focus on the causes and consequences of the shortage of minority men in the medical profession, as well as their historic contributions to medical knowledge and public health. |
12/5/05 | Johns Hopkins University to Lead New Homeland Security Center
Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff announced today the selection of Johns Hopkins University (JHU) to lead a consortium studying how the nation can best prepare for and respond to potential large-scale incidents and disasters. The Department of Homeland Security anticipates providing JHU and its partners with a total of $15 million over the next three years. |
12/5/05 | MODIFIED ATKINS DIET EFFECTIVELY TREATS CHILDHOOD SEIZURES
-- Two-thirds of children benefited.
A modified version of a popular low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet is nearly as effective at controlling seizures as the highly restrictive ketogenic diet, Johns Hopkins Children’s Center researchers report. |
12/2/05 | IRON PARTICLES AND MRI COULD REPLACE BIOPSIES TO TRACK STEM CELL THERAPY AND DEPLOY STENTS, ANIMAL STUDIES SHOW
In a series of experiments in animals, researchers at Johns Hopkins have successfully used a technique that tracks mesenchymal stem cells via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to monitor the progress of the cells in repairing tissue scarred by heart attack. |
12/2/05 | JOHNS HOPKINS STUDY SUGGESTS LINK BETWEEN CAFFEINE DEPENDENCE AND FAMILY HISTORY OF ALCOHOLISM
Genetic vulnerability likely in excessive caffeine use
A study led by Johns Hopkins investigators has shown that women with a serious caffeine habit and a family history of alcohol abuse are more likely to ignore advice to stop using caffeine during pregnancy. |
| 12/1/05 | HOPKINS STUDY PROVES COCHLEAR IMPLANTS PREVENT OR REVERSE DAMAGE TO BRAIN’S AUDITORY NERVE SYSTEM
-- Animal study advances call for early implants in children born deaf
New research at Johns Hopkins has clearly demonstrated the ability of cochlear implants in very young animals to forge normal nerve fibers that transmit sound and to restore hearing by reversing or preventing damage to the brain’s auditory system. |
| 12/1/05 | HOPKINS STUDY SHOWS 30-DAY SOFT CONTACT LENSES POSE VERY SMALL RISK OF VISION LOSS
A team of researchers led by the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute have determined that the corneal infection rate associated with the use of 30-day – extended-wear contact lenses made from silicone hydrogel is comparable to that previously reported for older lens types worn for fewer consecutive 24-hour periods |
| 11/29/05 | DENDRITIC CELLS OFFER NEW THERAPEUTIC TARGET FOR DRUGS TO TREAT MS AND OTHER AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE
Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have found that a gene pathway linked to a deadly form of leukemia may provide a new way to treat autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis. Their tests in cell cultures and mice suggest that blocking the pathway by interfering with a blood cell growth gene, known as FLT3, targets an immune system cell often ignored in favor of T-cell targets in standard therapies. |
11/21/05 | STUDY BY HOPKINS RESEARCHERS REVEALS HOW CERTAIN CHEMICALS PRODUCED BY THE ENZYME COX-2 PROTECT THE BRAIN AGAINST CELL DAMAGE
-- Study could lead to better treatments for Alzheimer’s disease
A study by Johns Hopkins scientists has revealed that stimulating brain cell receptors for certain hormone-like chemicals in brain cells called prostaglandins can protect the cells from amyloid ?-peptide 42 (A?1-42), a compound that has been linked to brain cell death and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). |
11/18/05 | MAGNETIC PROBE SUCCESSFULLY TRACKS IMPLANTED CELLS IN CANCER PATIENTS
By using MRI to detect magnetic probes of tiny iron oxide particles, an international research team for the first time has successfully tracked immune-stimulating cells implanted into cancer patients for treatment purposes. The technique revealed that ultrasound guidance of the cells' injection failed in half the patients. |
11/18/05 | NEW DRUG TARGET IDENTIFIED FOR FIGHTING PARKINSON'S DISEASE
Researchers at Johns Hopkins' Institute for Cell Engineering (ICE) have discovered a protein that could be the best new target in the fight against Parkinson's disease since the brain-damaging condition was first tied to loss of the brain chemical dopamine. |
| 11/16/05 | CONNECTIVE TISSUE CELLS FROM LUNGS FUSED WITH HEART MUSCLE TO FORM BIOLOGICAL PACEMAKER
In guinea pig experiments, Johns Hopkins scientists fused common connective tissue cells taken from lungs with heart muscle cells to create a safe and effective biological pacemaker whose cells can fire on their own and naturally regulate the muscle’s rhythmic beat. |
11/16/05 | American Federation for Aging Research Awards Highest Honor to Director of Geriatrics Division at Johns Hopkins
Linda Fried, M.D., M.P.H., professor of medicine and epidemiology and director of the Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology at Johns Hopkins, will receive the American Federation for Aging’s (AFAR) highest honor, the 2005 Irving Wright Award of Distinction. The award is for her "exceptional contributions to basic and clinical research or to the encouragement of such research in the field of aging." Fried becomes the organization’s 26th member honored with the award, which carries a cash prize of $1,500. |
| 11/15/05 | HEALTHY DIETS RICH IN PROTEIN AND GOOD FAT, AND LOWER IN CARBS LINKED TO BETTER HEART HEALTH
A healthy diet that replaces some carbohydrates with either protein or monounsaturated fat can substantially reduce blood pressure and cholesterol levels, resulting in a substantial reduction in overall risk of heart disease, according to government-funded studies by researchers at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere. |
11/15/05 | EARLY RESULTS USING THERAPEUTIC PANCREATIC CANCER VACCINE SHOW PROMISE
Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers are encouraged by early results of a treatment vaccine for pancreatic cancer, a disease with few options and low odds for long-term survival. At about two years into a study of 60 patients, the researchers report that 88 percent survived one year and 76 percent are alive after two years. |
| 11/15/05 | HOPKINS STUDY MAY CHANGE RULES FOR TREATING HEART FAILURE
-- Discovery suggests that some patients on beta blockers should not be
A Johns Hopkins study has raised doubts about a long-accepted notion of what’s going on in many cases of heart failure, suggesting that nearly half of patients with the disorder may be getting the wrong treatment for their disease. |
| 11/15/05 | DRUG COMPOUND RESTORES YOUTH TO AGING ARTERIAL CELLS IN ELDERLY HYPERTENSIVES, HOPKINS STUDY SHOWS
-- Stiff arteries relax like younger blood vessels after taking alagebrium
A compound called alagebrium, which is very similar to another used in anti-wrinkle creams, may be useful in reducing the deleterious effects of arterial aging in the majority of elderly Americans with systolic hypertension, a new study from researchers at Johns Hopkins shows. |
11/14/05 | CELLS DERIVED FROM HEART STEM CELLS CAN REPAIR HEART ATTACK DAMAGE
Stem cells derived from human heart tissue develop into multicellular, spherical structures called cardiospheres that express the normal properties of primitive heart tissue, smooth muscle and blood vessel cells, according to a study by Johns Hopkins researchers. |
| 11/13/05 | HEART MAPPING TECHNIQUE SAFELY GUIDES CATHETER REPAIR OF ARRHYTHMIA
In experiments with dogs, Johns Hopkins researchers successfully used a 3D map of the heart and sensor-guided catheter to perform cardiac ablation, a mainstay treatment that stops abnormally fast and potentially fatal heartbeats, or arrhythmias. |
11/10/05 | JOHNS HOPKINS COMMUNITY PHYSICIANS GET AWARD FOR SAFE MEDICATION PRACTICES
The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) has named Johns Hopkins Community Physicians (JHCP) a winner of its eighth annual Cheers Awards. According to ISMP, the award is given each year to organizations that “have set a superlative standard of excellence for others to follow in the prevention of medication errors and adverse drug events.” |
11/10/05 | MENTAL ILLNESS EXACTS "ENORMOUS TOLL" FOR U.S. BUSINESSES AND INSTITUTIONS, HOPKINS PSYCHIATRIST FINDS
--Study links worker depression and anxiety to office-wide morale and productivity problems
A study led by a Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine psychiatrist highlights the toll anxiety and depressive disorders exact on workplace performance and profits and points to employer-guaranteed specialized psychiatric care as both cost effective and humane. |
11/9/05 | JOHNS HOPKINS FLU EXPERT CALLS FOR MANDATORY VACCINATION OF HEALTH CARE WORKERS
Johns Hopkins’ senior hospital epidemiologist and flu expert is calling for mandatory vaccination of all health care workers as the best means of protecting patients and hospital staff from widespread outbreaks of the viral illness. Studies by other United States researchers show that voluntary vaccination programs don’t do the job and that each year, nearly 40,000 Americans die from influenza, many of them elderly or ill, with weakened immune systems that cannot readily fend off the disease. |
11/9/05 | HOPKINS STUDY FINDS NO “COGNITIVE DECLINE” AFTER USE OF HEART-LUNG MACHINE DURING BYPASS SURGERY
-- Controlled study should reassure patients
The use of a cardiopulmonary heart pump during coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery does not significantly damage such high-level mental tasks as thinking, reasoning and remembering, according to a study by Johns Hopkins researchers recently published in Neurology. |
11/8/05 | HOPKINS RADIOLOGISTS DOMINATE IN ANNUAL "MINNIE" AWARDS
The Johns Hopkins Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences and its physicians swept the 2005 AuntMinnie.com "Minnie" awards for excellence in radiology, winning five of the relevant seven categories. |
| 11/7/05 | SOME OUTGROW ALLERGY TO TREE NUTS, JOHNS HOPKINS CHILDREN’S CENTER EXPERTS REPORT
Nine percent of children allergic to almonds, pecans, cashews and other tree nuts outgrow their allergy over time, including those who’ve had a severe reaction such as anaphylaxis shock, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center |
11/7/05 | NOV. 11 EVENT CELEBRATES A CENTURY OF BRAIN SCIENCE AT JOHNS HOPKINS
Media are invited to attend the Nov. 11 symposium "Discovery and Hope: A Celebration of Brain Science," featuring two Nobel laureates and a host of other top neuroscientists from around the country, at Turner Auditorium at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore. The daylong symposium will begin at 8 a.m. |
| 11/4/05 | CONFERENCE ON INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AT THE CLINICAL INTERFACE TO BE HELD AT JOHNS HOPKINS NOV. 13-15, 2005
The application of point-of-care information technology in the clinical setting and its impacts on health care delivery will be the focus of a conference to be held at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Nov. 13-14, 2005. |
11/3/05 | JOHNS HOPKINS CELEBRATES ITS FIRST CENTURY OF NEUROSCIENCE
--Solomon Snyder, the neuroscience department's first and only director, leads a symposium and celebration that looks back at historic discoveries at Hopkins and looks ahead to what's coming next in the brain sciences.
What's in a name? At Johns Hopkins, a formal Department of Neuroscience was founded 25 years ago, but the institution's contributions to understanding and studying the brain started three quarters of a century before that, in 1906. |
11/3/05 | Stem Cell Research 101: The Science, Ethics and Politics of Stem Cell Research
A one-day primer sponsored by The Johns Hopkins University for policymakers, journalists and citizens interested in stem cell research. Topics include the latest developments in both laboratories and legislatures and the debate over ethical issues. |
11/1/05 | CHARACTERISTIC CARDIAC SCAR PATTERN PREDICTS RISK OF FATAL ARRHYTHMIAS
-- Pattern could also help rule out need for defibrillators in other patients
Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of the heart wall, researchers at Johns Hopkins have found that people whose muscle wall thickness contained more than 25 percent scar tissue were approximately nine times more likely to test positive for a fast and dangerous heart rhythm known as ventricular arrhythmia. |
10/31/05 | JOHNS HOPKINS DEPARTMENT OF NEUROLOGY PLANS SYMPOSIUM MARKING 35 YEARS OF DISCOVERY AND CLINICAL CARE
Symposium part of weekend of celebration of Neurosciences
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine’s Department of Neurology will mark its 35th anniversary and a long tradition of rigorous science-based approaches to treating neurological disorders with a scientific symposium Nov. 10. |
10/27/05 | JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE CELEBRATES RECORD PERCENTAGE OF WOMEN FULL PROFESSORS
----"More to come," says vice dean for faculty
On Nov. 1, 2005, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine will celebrate the milestone of having promoted more than 100 women to full professorships at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The celebration, scheduled to begin in the Turner Auditorium on campus at 7:45 a.m., will include a symposium featuring 2004 Nobel Laureate Linda Buck Ph.D., a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at the University of Washington, Seattle, as keynote speaker. Also featured are Hopkins faculty member Catherine DeAngelis, M.D, editor in chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association; Cokie Roberts of ABC News and more than a dozen of Johns Hopkins’ leading women physicians and scientists. |
10/27/05 | MEDICAL NEWS TIPS
News tips based on Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center presentations made at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiation and Oncology 47th Annual Meeting October 16-20, 2005, in Denver, Colorado. |
| 10/26/05 | JOHNS HOPKINS ESTABLISHES CENTER FOR CLINICAL GLOBAL HEALTH EDUCATION
Center Will Train Health Care Professionals in Resource-Limited Settings
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has established a new center designed to provide clinical training to health care providers in parts of the world where resources and infrastructure are limited or lacking. Called the Center for Clinical Global Health Education (CCGHE), the new operation aims to use advanced telemedicine technology and Hopkins experts to provide clinical training to health care workers around the world in an efficient and cost-effective manner. |
| 10/26/05 | JOHNS HOPKINS MOOD DISORDER CENTER TO HOST EXPERTS ON DEPRESSION AND BIPOLAR DISORDERS
The Johns Hopkins Mood Disorders Center, a newly organized entity in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, is presenting a panel of prominent faculty to discuss the latest research and clinical findings on depression and bipolar disorders. The discussion will take place in the David Mahoney Forum of the Dana Center located at 900 15th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., on Nov. 1 from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. |
| 10/25/05 | VIAGRA BLUNTS EFFECTS OF STRESS ON THE HUMAN HEART
Sildenafil citrate (Viagra), a drug used to treat erectile dysfunction (ED) in millions of men, reduces the stimulatory effects of hormonal stress on the heart by half, according to results of a new study by researchers at Johns Hopkins. |
10/24/05 | HOPKINS EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN APPOINTED TO NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE
Johns Hopkins emergency medicine specialist Gabor Kelen, M.D., has today been elected to the prestigious Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences. Kelen, a professor and chair of emergency medicine at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, was named to the IOM along with 63 other accomplished physicians and scientists from across the country. |
| 10/21/05 | STEM CELLS’ ELECTRIC ABILITIES MIGHT HELP THEIR SAFE CLINICAL USE
Researchers from Johns Hopkins have discovered the presence of functional ion channels in human embryonic stem cells (ESCs). These ion channels act like electrical wires and permit ESCs, versatile cells that possess the unique ability to become all cell types of the body, to conduct and pass along electric currents. |
| 10/20/05 | COMMUNITY CENTER TO PROVIDE HOPKINS H.E.A.L.T.H SERVICES TO EAST BALTIMORE RESIDENTS
The Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute and its partner organizations will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony, tour and health fair to celebrate the grand opening of the Johns Hopkins Center for Community Health Education, Advocacy, Leadership and Training at Hopkins (HEALTH) Center. The center helps underserved area residents without health insurance in getting access to health care and health education. |
| 10/20/05 | Johns Hopkins’ 11th annual "A Woman’s Journey" symposium slated for Nov. 12.
Catherine DeAngelis, M.D., former Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine vice dean for academic affairs and the first woman editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association will give the keynote address to kick off Johns Hopkins Medicine’s 11th annual symposium on women’s health and medical issues. This year’s A Woman’s Journey will be held Saturday, Nov. 12, from 8:15 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel, 700 Aliceanna St. Nearly 1,000 attendees from more than a dozen states are expected to attend. |
10/19/05 | HOPKINS EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN WARNS OF POST-HURRICANE DISEASE AND ILLNESS
-- Improved public health system best means of stemming effects from future disasters
A Johns Hopkins emergency physician who spent the past five weeks working on public health issues in the Gulf Coast region following hurricane Katrina warns that the disaster’s potential for wreaking havoc and damage to people’s health may continue for months after the hurricane has passed. |
| 10/19/05 | Wilmer Eye Institute Named Top Program by Ophthalmology Times 10th Consecutive Time
For the 10th year running, the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins has been named the best overall ophthalmology program in the country by Ophthalmology Times. The publication’s rankings, which appear in the Oct. 15 issue, were compiled from a poll of ophthalmology department chairmen and directors of residency programs across the United States. |
| 10/19/05 | CEPAR Sends Emergency Medical Team to Pakistan
At the request of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), the Johns Hopkins Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response (CEPAR) and Hopkins’s Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Refugee and Disaster Response have sent a team of two physicians and a nurse to Pakistan to assess long-term health needs and provide clinical care in the wake of the devastating earthquake there. |
10/18/05 | JOHNS HOPKINS URBAN HEALTH INSTITUTE TO CELEBRATE GRAND OPENING OF COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER
The Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute and its partner organizations will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony, tour and health fair to celebrate the grand opening of the Johns Hopkins Center for Community Health Education, Advocacy, Leadership and Training at Hopkins (HEALTH) Center. The center helps underserved area residents without health insurance in getting access to health care and health education. |
| 10/18/05 | ANTIPSYCHOTIC DRUGS LINKED TO INCREASED RISK OF DEATH FOR SOME ELDERLY ALZHEIMER’S PATIENTS
--Hopkins psychiatrists suggest alternative treatments.
Some newer antipsychotic medications may be associated with a small increased risk of death when used to treat elderly dementia patients, psychiatrists at Johns Hopkins warn. |
| 10/17/05 | HOPKINS SCIENTIST TO DIRECT INTERNATIONAL STUDIES OF ANTIBIOTIC AS NEW TREATMENT FOR TUBERCULOSIS
-- If successful, moxifloxacin could be first new treatment for TB in more than 40 years
A Johns Hopkins infectious disease expert will lead two international studies of the effectiveness of the antibiotic moxifloxacin as a new treatment for tuberculosis, the highly contagious bacterial disease that kills more than 2 million people worldwide each year and is the leading cause of death of people living with HIV and AIDS. Moxifloxacin is currently approved in more than 100 countries, including the United States, as a treatment for bacterial respiratory infections, such as bronchitis, sinusitis and pneumonia. |
10/13/05 | HOPKINS MEDICAL CAMPUS TAKES FIRST STEP IN MASSIVE CAMPUS REDEVELOPMENT
On October 14, 2005, thousands of employees and many patients and visitors coming to the Johns Hopkins East Baltimore medical campus will need to park their vehicles in new locations to make way for the major phase of the massive reconstruction of Johns Hopkins Medicine. |
10/12/05 | Institute Taps Computer Power to Advance Medical Research The Institute for Computational Medicine, launched today at The Johns Hopkins University, will address important health problems by using powerful information management and computing technologies to produce a better understanding of the origins of human disease. Institute researchers plan to use this approach to identify disease in its earliest stage and to look for new ways to treat illnesses. |
10/11/05 | JOHNS HOPKINS’ RESIDENT SWIMS CATALINA CHANNEL TO RAISE MONEY FOR CANCER RESEARCH
Johns Hopkins surgical resident Peter Attia this afternoon completed his swim of the Catalina Channel, a 26-mile stretch from Catalina Island to Point Vicente in Los Angeles, in less than 11 hours. According to his wife, Jill Attia, “Peter looks great and is in good spirits. I am so proud of him.” |
10/04/05 | HOPKINS STUDY SHOWS LIVING KIDNEY "PAIRED DONATION" AN EFFECTIVE STRATEGY IN OVERCOMING DONOR-RECIPIENT INCOMPATIBLITIES
A Johns Hopkins study has affirmed the success of living kidney "paired donation" (KPD) as a means of efficiently finding more kidney donors who are a match for patients in need. |
9/29/05 | NATIONAL FUNDING GOES TO JOHNS HOPKINS TO ADVANCE RESEARCH ON STEM CELL THERAPIES FOR HEART ATTACK
One of only three sites funded
Heart specialists at Johns Hopkins Heart Institute have been awarded more than $12 million from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to study how stem cell therapies can be used to treat hearts damaged by heart attack or heart failure. |
9/29/05 | JOHNS HOPKINS HOSTS 2005 ANNUAL FALL MEETING OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING SOCIETY
An international organization of biomedical, electrical, chemical and mechanical engineers and medical specialists will discuss the future of biomedical engineering during the 2005 fall meeting of the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), to be held in Baltimore Sept. 28 through Oct. 1 and hosted by Johns Hopkins. The conference, “The Changing Face of Biomedical Engineering – Celebration of the Whitaker Foundation,” will be held in the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Baltimore. |
9/26/05 | The Johns Hopkins Hospital Named Consumer Choice Winner for 10th Straight Year
For the tenth straight year, The Johns Hopkins Hospital has received the Consumer Choice Award for the Baltimore region from the National Research Corporation (NRC). |
9/26/05 | CANCER DRUG MIGHT HELP KIDS WITH FATAL "AGING" SYNDROME
Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered that a drug currently being tested against cancers might help children with a rare, fatal condition called Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, which causes rapid, premature aging. |
9/26/05 | PHYSICIANS ILL-PREPARED TO DIAGNOSE, TREAT BIOTERRORISM DISEASES
Online Training Can Greatly Improve Physician Readiness
More than one-half of 631 physicians tested were unable to correctly diagnose diseases caused by agents most likely to be used by bioterrorists, such as smallpox, anthrax, botulism and plague, according to a Johns Hopkins study published in the Sept. 26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. |
9/22/05 | HOPKINS GENETICIST DISCOVERS MUTATIONS IN CANCER CELLS THAT SUGGEST NEW FORMS OF TREATMENT
Researchers at Johns Hopkins and J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Md., helped identify three new genetic mutations in brain tumors, a discovery that could pave the way for more effective cancer treatments. |
9/22/05 | JOHNS HOPKINS RESEARCHERS DISCOVER KEY PROTEIN LINKED TO TRANSVERSE MYELITIS AND MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS
Hopkins researchers have discovered a single molecule that is a cause of an autoimmune disease in the central nervous system, called transverse myelitis (TM), that is related to multiple sclerosis.
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9/22/05 | HOPKINS SCIENTISTS UNCOVER "TAGS" THAT FORCE PROTEINS TO CELL SURFACE
--Discovery likely to streamline drug and vaccine development--
Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered internal "shipping labels" that allow -- and perhaps force -- hundreds if not thousands of proteins to get to the surface of cells and stay there. Two natural proteins that use one of these "tags" are the ion channel that lets heart cells contract on cue, and the docking point that allows HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, into cells, the researchers discovered. |
9/21/05 | HOPKINS EXPERTS HIGHLIGHT STRATEGIES FOR PEOPLE TO RAISE THEIR LEVELS OF SO-CALLED GOOD HDL CHOLESTEROL
-- HDL cholesterol helps prevent blocked arteries and heart attack
Cardiology experts at Johns Hopkins have issued interim guidelines for physicians on how best to treat low levels of HDL cholesterol, the so-called good cholesterol, which helps keep arteries clear from the buildup of LDL cholesterol, the so-called bad cholesterol. More than 54 million Americans are estimated to need higher levels of HDL, according to the American Heart Association. |
9/20/05 | BEST DRESSED SALE SET FOR SEPTEMBER 29 - OCTOBER 2
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 2005. 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 – but demanding - shoppers. |
9/20/05 | JOHNS HOPKINS HEALTH SYSTEM TO GRADUATE 77 EMPLOYEES AS PART OF PROJECT REACH PROGRAM
The Johns Hopkins Health System and Hospital will hold a graduation ceremony this Thursday, Sept. 22, at 1 p.m. in Hurd Hall for 77 graduates of Project REACH (Resources and Education for the Advancement of Careers at Hopkins.) |
9/20/05 | SUGAR HELPS CONTROL CELL DIVISION
Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered that a deceptively simple sugar is in fact a critical regulator of cells' natural life cycle. |
9/19/05 | GRASMICKS CONTRIBUTE SECOND $1 MILLION GIFT TO HOPKINS HEART INSTITUTE
When you find something you really believe in, you want to do everything in your power to help it succeed, said Lou Grasmick, founder and CEO of Louis J. Grasmick Lumber Company Inc., after he and his wife, Nancy, made their second $1 million gift within two years to the Johns Hopkins Heart Institute. The more involved we become with Johns Hopkins the more impressed we become. This heart center continues to make strides in research and patient care that will give hope to people with heart disease, people who may not have had hope in the past. If our gifts can assist with this effort, then we are happy to provide them |
| 9/19/05 | AT JOHNS HOPKINS: EMPHASIS ON IMPROVED CARE AND FASTER
ACCESS TO SERVICES SHORTENS HOSPITAL STAYS
-- Key is careful planning; financial resources conserved as well,
hospital program shows
Physicians at The Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) have disproved
the notion that longer hospital stays mean better care. They
have successfully cut back on wait times across one dozen hospital
departments and, as a result, reduced to well below six the average
number of days patients with congestive heart failure, a need for
dialysis or surgery, and many other conditions must spend in the
hospital. |
9/16/05 | HOPKINS MEDICAL TEAM LEAVES SEP. 16 TO RELIEVE GROUP DEPLOYED NEAR NEW ORLEANS
The Johns Hopkins Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response (CEPAR) is sending a new 16-member medical team to Jefferson Parish, La., Saturday, Sept. 17, to relieve the 12-member Hopkins group that has been providing emergency care there for nearly two weeks. |
9/16/05 | DIGITAL MAMMOGRAPHY BETTER AT FINDING CANCER IN YOUNG WOMEN
A study of 42,760 women at 33 sites across the United States and Canada, including Johns Hopkins, found that digital mammography is better than standard X-ray mammography at locating cancer in young women and those with dense breast. The study, one of the largest breast cancer screening studies ever performed, was conducted by the American College of Radiology, funded by the National Cancer Institute, and reported September 16, 2005 in a special online publication of the New England Journal of Medicine. |
9/15/05 | PREVENT PROSTATE CANCER WITH ANTIOXIDANTS? GENE PATHWAY MAY REVEAL MORE CLUES
Scientists from Maryland and New Jersey have identified a molecular pathway in mice that makes prostate cells vulnerable to cancer-causing oxygen damage. The pathway, which is also involved in human prostate cancer, may help determine how and whether antioxidants, such as certain vitamins or their products that reverse the damage, can prevent prostate cancer. |
9/13/05 | EXERCISE STRESS TESTING HELPS IDENTIFY PEOPLE AT RISK OF DEVELOPING CORONARY HEART DISEASE
Performing cardiac stress tests that measure exercise capacity and heart rate recovery can improve dramatically on existing techniques that predict who is most likely to suffer a heart attack or die from coronary heart disease (CHD), the leading cause of death in the United States, a team of cardiologists at Johns Hopkins reports. |
9/12/05 | PSA REMAINS BEST INDICATOR OF PROSTATE CANCER PROGRESSION
Despite recent claims by some urologists that measuring the blood protein prostate-specific antigen (PSA) may not be effective in predicting risk of prostate cancer, a Johns Hopkins study of more than 2,000 men confirms that PSA remains the best measure of the likelihood of cancer recurrence after surgery. |
9/12/05 | A FRIENDLY REMINDER FOR HIV PATIENTS
In a study from Johns Hopkins, a pocket-size device giving electronic-voice reminders to “take your medicine” proves to be a success for people living with HIV whose memory is slightly impaired by the virus. |
9/09/05 | BLOOD TEST FOR COLON CANCER RISK TO BE GOAL OF HOPKINS PROJECT
An interdisciplinary team of scientists from Johns Hopkins and elsewhere has been selected to receive a $2.25 million, five-year grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to develop a practical test to predict a person's risk of colon cancer by looking for a particular biological marker in the blood. |
9/08/05 | JOHNS HOPKINS LAUNCHES STUDY TO DETERMINE IF HEART ANGIOPLASTY IS SAFE IN COMMUNITY HOSPITALS
Cardiologists at Johns Hopkins have launched a nationwide study of more than 16,000 patients to see if a potentially life-saving procedure called angioplasty can be safely performed in smaller, community hospitals, easing access to the therapy for patients. Researchers expect to enroll the first study patients in early fall 2005. |
9/06/05 | RESEARCH SHOWS WHERE BRAIN INTERPRETS “PITCH”
Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered a discrete region of the monkey brain that processes pitch, the relative high and low points of sound, by recognizing a single musical note played by different instruments. |
9/05/05 | HOPKINS RESEARCHERS DEVELOP NEW WAY TO TRACK MIGRATION OF STEM CELLS USED TO TREAT DAMAGED HEARTS
A team of scientists from the Johns Hopkins Department of Radiology and Institute of Cell Engineering has used a non-invasive imaging technique, called SPECT/CT, to successfully trace stem cells' destinations after being injected into the body to treat animal hearts damaged by myocardial infarction, or heart attack. |
9/04/05 | EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS ACCRUE GENETIC CHANGES
An international team of researchers has discovered that human embryonic stem cell lines accumulate changes in their genetic material over time. |
9/03/05 | First Group of Hopkins Medical Experts Heads to Gulf Coast |
9/02/05 | BALTIMORE GIRL WITH JUVENILE RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS TOHELP KIDS LIKE HER -Focus is on blindness as a complication- Efforts to fight or find cures for adults’ life-threatening or life-altering diseases are many and noble: marathon runs, marches, bracelets and expensive gatherings for adults. |
8/31/05 | TRANSPLANT REJECTION DRUG HOLDS PROMISE FOR INFLAMMATORY EYE DISEASE
The immunosuppressive drug mycophenolate mofetil, used to prevent rejection of transplanted hearts, kidneys and livers, may also be effective in controlling inflammatory eye diseases, according to a study by researchers at Johns Hopkins’ Wilmer Eye Institute. |
8/31/05 | PATIENTS TREATED WITH RESPECT MORE LIKELY TO FOLLOW MEDICAL ADVICE
Attention doctors: Want patients to follow your advice? Treat them with dignity, a Johns Hopkins study has found. |
8/31/05 | COCHLEAR IMPLANTS’ PERFORMANCE NOT AFFECTED BY AMOUNT OF HEARING LOSS IN THE IMPLANTED EAR
Hearing-impaired individuals with severe to profound hearing loss and poor speech understanding who possess some residual hearing in one ear may experience significant communication benefit from a cochlear implant even if it is placed in the worse-hearing ear, a Johns Hopkins study suggests. |
8/30/05 | RAGWEED ALLERGIES NOTHING TO SNEEZE AT-- Johns Hopkins Allergist Available to Discuss Surviving Ragweed Season
Now that spring allergy victims are finally feeling relief from the diminishing tree and grass pollen, along comes the start of the ragweed pollen season, promising new challenges and miserable rounds of sneezing, and itchy, watery eyes for the more than 36 million Americans who have hay fever. |
8/23/05 | SCIENTISTS FOCUS ON “DWARF EYE”
--Genetic finding may have implications for farsightedness and nearsightedness, too Working with an Amish-Mennonite family tree, Johns Hopkins researchers at he Wilmer Eye Institute have discovered what appears to be the first human gene mutation that causes extreme farsightedness. |
8/22/05 | MRI USED TO MAP “SILENT” HEART CHANGES THAT “REMODEL” THE HEART
- Changes in heart mass and volume linked to early signs of left ventricle problems
Using magnetic resonance imaging technology, or MRI, to tag the work of millions of individual strands of heart muscle fibers, researchers at Johns Hopkins have successfully mapped the smallest deformations inside the beating hearts of 441 middle-aged and elderly men and women who have either silently developed heart disease or remained healthy. The novel use of the MRI allowed the researchers to create a gridlike, three-dimensional, computer image of each heart and track gradual deformations during each heartbeat. |
8/15/05 | DUAL-DRUG THERAPY TARGETS ONE COLON CANCER GENE
Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists have found that interferon, used for 30 years to treat blood cancers, multiple sclerosis and hepatitis, selectively kills colon cancer cells when combined with another standard chemotherapy agent. New studies in cell lines suggest that the combination tactic, which targets a common gene pathway in colon cancer cells, could be more potent than either drug alone, and has fewer side effects. |
8/11/05 | PROTEIN LINKED TO GROWTH OF ORGANS AND CANCER
Johns Hopkins scientists have identified a protein in fruit flies whose counterpart product in humans may help cause cancer |
8/10/05 | INFECTIOUS DISEASE EXPERT WARNS OF SPREAD OF ROCKY MOUNTAIN SPOTTED FEVER
-- Hopkins scientist believes that physician awareness is needed to combat emerging infectious diseases
An infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins who has spent nearly three decades studying the life-threatening, tick-borne infection known as Rocky Mountain spotted fever warns that the first widespread outbreak of the bacterial disease in Arizona is a growing and dangerous sign of how humans can inadvertently help spread infectious organisms beyond traditional state boundaries. |
8/10/05 | The Eye Site Exhibit Tour
THE EYE SITE-the National Eye Institute’s traveling exhibit on low vision-will open at White Marsh Mall in Baltimore, Maryland on Saturday, August 13. THE EYE SITE, which provides information on low vision in English and Spanish, features five kiosks with an interactive multimedia touchscreen program, a display of assistive devices, and a list of local low vision resources. The exhibit, which will be located at White Marsh Mall in Center Court, is free and open to the public during all mall business hours |
8/9/05 | CLINICAL PRACTICE GUIDELINES MAY NOT APPLY TO OLDER PATIENTS WITH SEVERAL CHRONIC ILLNESSES
-- Many focus on one disease and exclude coexisting conditions -
Results of a Johns Hopkins study suggests that doctors who follow current clinical practice guidelines when caring for an older person with multiple conditions may yield an overly complicated health regimen for the patient, or potentially harmful drug interactions. |
8/9/05 | CAUSE OF DIABETES-RELATED ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION IS CLARIFIED BY JOHNS HOPKINS RESEARCHERS
A new study from the Brady Urological Institute at Johns Hopkins suggests an over-supply of a simple blood sugar could be a major cause of erectile dysfunction in diabetic men. |
8/8/05 | HOPKINS RESEARCHERS USE DIFFUSION MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING TECHNIQUE TO MONITOR ULTRASOUND UTERINE FIBROID TREATMENT
Johns Hopkins researchers have, for what is believed to be the first time, used a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique called diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI), a technique that images the movement, or diffusion, of water molecules in tissues, to successfully determine the effectiveness of high-intensity focused ultrasound for treating uterine fibroids. Uterine fibroids are noncancerous tumors that line the uterine wall and can cause intense pain and bleeding. The study appears in the July edition of Radiology. |
8/5/05 | NEW TECHNOLOGY SHOWS OUR ANCESTORS ATE…EVERYTHING!
Using a powerful microscope and computer software, a team of scientists from Johns Hopkins, the University of Arkansas, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and elsewhere has developed a faster and more objective way to examine the surfaces of fossilized teeth, a practice used to figure out the diets of our early ancestors. |
8/4/05 | HOPKINS’ CENTER FOR INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE OFFERS NEW ALTERNATIVE PROGRAMS FOR PATIENTS
Johns Hopkins will now offer selected, evidence-based alternative medicine services, including acupuncture, a mind-body program and a consultation service, through the Johns Hopkins Center for Integrative Medicine (CIM). The program is designed to fill a void for those who wish to explore proven alternative therapies not offered by conventional health care providers. |
8/3/05 | BAKER TO HEAD JHM BOARD OF VISITORS
Lenox D. Baker Jr., M.D., who recently completed a three-year term as chairman of the Johns Hopkins Medicine Board of Trustees, has been named chairman of the JHM Board of Visitors. This external committee, composed of 40 friends of Hopkins Medicine, serves as an advisory council to the Dean/CEO and focuses its efforts on defining ways to enhance future development. |
8/2/05 | FORD TO OVERSEE CLINICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT HOPKINS
Daniel E. Ford, M.D., M.P.H., has been named vice dean for clinical investigation at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. A professor at both the School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health, Ford will replace Michael Klag, M.D., M.P.H., who will become dean of the Bloomberg School in September |
8/1/05 | DIALYSIS TREATMENT CHOICE AFFECTS RISK OF DEATH IN PATIENTS WITH END-STAGE KIDNEY DISEASE
-- CHOICE study finds risk of death increases with peritoneal dialysis over hemodialysis
Researchers at Johns Hopkins have found that in people with end-stage kidney disease (ESRD), choosing peritoneal dialysis over hemodialysis increases their risk of dying by 50 percent. |
| 7/29/05 | JOHNS HOPKINS CELEBRATES BALTIMORE’S MINORITY HEROES
African-American artists, transplant recipients, donors and healthcare workers will celebrate National Minority Donor Awareness Day though music, dance and film during an open house hosted by The Johns Hopkins Hospital’s Comprehensive Transplant Center on Monday, Aug. 1 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine’s Turner Concourse, 720 Rutland Avenue, Baltimore, Md. |
| 7/27/05 | Hellmann Appointed New Vice Dean for Hopkins Bayview
David B. Hellmann, M.D., M.A.C.P., a nationally renowned rheumatologist and chairman of the Department of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, has been named the Hopkins School of Medicine’s vice dean for the Hopkins Bayview Campus. |
| 7/26/05 | STUDY: WELL-KNOWN PROTEIN HELPS STEM CELLS BECOME SECRETORY CELLS
Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered that a single protein regulates secretion levels in the fruit fly’s salivary gland and its skin-like outer layer. |
| 7/26/05 | HOPKINS RESEARCHERS IDENTIFY RISK FACTORS FOR PREDICTION OF LETHAL PROSTATE CANCER AFTER RECURRENCE FOLLOWING SURGERY
--Information helps determine candidates for more aggressive treatment
Researchers at Johns Hopkins and The Brady Urological Institute have identified three risk factors and developed a simple reference tool that doctors can use to determine who is at high risk of death after prostate cancer recurrence following surgery. The new tool - a set of tables that assess a combination of blood tests, the surgical pathology results and time following surgery - can be used to tell which men with recurring cancer after surgery are most likely to die from their renewed disease and would benefit from further treatment. |
| 7/25/05 | STEM CELL THERAPY SUCCESSFULLY TREATS HEART ATTACK IN ANIMALS
-- Two patients enrolled in Phase I clinical trials at Hopkins
Final results of a study conducted at Johns Hopkins show that stem cell therapy can be used effectively to treat heart attacks, or myocardial infarction, in pigs. In just two months, stem cells harvested from another pig’s bone marrow and injected into the animal’s damaged heart restored heart function and repaired damaged heart muscle by 50 percent to 75 percent. |
7/22/05 | RUM TO HEAD HOPKINS MEDICINE DEVELOPMENT, ALUMNI RELATIONS
Steven A. Rum will lead Development and Alumni Relations for Johns Hopkins Medicine, effective September 1. Currently Vice Chancellor for Development and Alumni Affairs at the Duke University Medical Center, his title at Johns Hopkins, where development is coordinated enterprise-wide, will be Senior Associate Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations for Medicine. |
7/21/05 | Pediatric Cardiologist Langford Kidd Dies
Professor emeritus of pediatrics Langford Kidd, M.D., died suddenly on July 19, 2005. He was 74. |
7/18/05 | HOPKINS’ WORKFORCE HEALTH INITIATIVE WINS GRANT
The Andrew Family Charitable Foundation Inc. has awarded $150,000 to the Johns Hopkins Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine to fund an initiative aimed at reducing the incidence of illnesses and injuries in health care workers and patients. |
7/14/05 | EXPERTS DISCUSS USE OF HUMAN STEM CELLS IN APE AND MONKEY BRAINS
--Panel publishes recommendations to minimize risk of altering animals' "moral status"
An expert panel of stem cell scientists, primatologists, philosophers and lawyers has concluded that experiments implanting, or grafting, human stem cells into non-human primate brains could unintentionally shift the moral ground between humans and other primates. Writing in the July 15 issue of Science, the panel reports its recommendations for minimizing the chances that experiments with human stem cells could change the cognitive and emotional capabilities -- and hence the "moral status" -- of the animals. |
| 7/12/05 | STUDY: NOSE DOESN'T SMELL LIKE THE EYES SEE
Johns Hopkins scientists have uncovered new details of how smelly things create signals in the nose that eventually go to the brain. The findings raise issues about how the process involved has been described for many years in biology textbooks. |
7/8/05 | THE JOHNS HOPKINS HOSPITAL TOPS U.S.NEWS & WORLD REPORT’S "HONOR ROLL" 15TH YEAR IN A ROW
For the 15th consecutive year, The Johns Hopkins Hospital has topped U.S. News & World Report’s rankings of American hospitals. |
7/7/05 | CANCER GENE CONTROLS NERVE CELL DEATH IN HUNTINGTON'S DISEASE
Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered that a gene well known for its role in promoting cancer also helps cause nerve cell death in Huntington's disease, a fatal disease in which specific brain cells gradually die. |
7/7/05 | Peterson Re-elected MHA Officer
Ronald Peterson, president of The Johns Hopkins Health System and The Johns Hopkins Hospital, was re-elected vice chair of the Maryland Hospital Association’s (MHA) Board at the association’s annual meeting on June 14. Peterson’s term of office began July 1. |
7/1/05 | JOHNS HOPKINS SCIENTISTS UNCOVER CLUES TO “DISAPPEARING” PRECANCERS
May provide better targets for cervical cancer vaccine development
New research sheds light on why cervical precancers disappear in some women and not in others. Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center report in the July 1 issue of Clinical Cancer Research that the reason many of these lesions persist is an unlikely mix of human papilloma virus (HPV) strain and a woman’s individual immune system. |
6/30/05 | New Members Elected to Johns Hopkins Medicine Board of Trustees
A collateral descendant of Johns Hopkins himself is among seven new members of the board of Johns Hopkins Medicine, elected along with leaders in the banking, real estate, public affairs and technology fields. |
6/30/05 | Hopkins to Publish Print Edition of Johns Hopkins Antibiotics (ABX) Guide
The Johns Hopkins Point of Care-Information Technology (POC-IT) Center is teaming with Thomson PDR to publish, market and distribute the first print edition of the Johns Hopkins Antibiotics (ABX) Guide, currently available to 280,000 physicians and other users via the World Wide Web and handheld personal digital assistant (PDA) devices. PDR, a part of the Thomson Corporation (NYSE:TOC; TSX:TOC), is a customer-focused company known for combining authoritative medical content with integrated information solutions for physicians, researchers and other health care professionals worldwide. |
6/28/05 | NERVES' GROWTH DEPENDS ON "DUAL-ACTION" PROTEIN
--Finding is important step toward efforts to regrow damaged nerves
By studying nerves in "pre-tadpole" frogs, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Cell Engineering have uncovered the first link between two key biological factors that guide growing nerves. |
| 6/28/05 | JOHNS HOPKINS AIDS EXPERTS ISSUE WARNING ABOUT GLOBAL EFFORTS TO PROVIDE DRUG THERAPIES IN DEVELOPING WORLD
-- Historical precedents show aid programs could backfire unless local rationing plans are made
Johns Hopkins infectious disease specialists who have spent more than two decades leading efforts to combat HIV and AIDS worldwide are warning that limited international relief supplies of antiretroviral therapies currently being distributed in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean will not get to those who can least afford to pay for them. |
| 6/28/05 | TIPS FROM A JOHNS HOPKINS OPHTHALMOLOGIST TO PREVENT EYE INJURIES THIS FOURTH OF JULY HOLIDAY
Fireworks are a Fourth of July tradition to celebrate Independence Day and so are the injuries they cause. More than 50 percent of all fireworks-related ocular injuries occur around the Fourth of July holiday, and approximately 12,000 Americans are admitted to emergency rooms every year for fireworks-related injuries, according to the United States Eye Injury Registry (USEIR). Almost half of those injured are bystanders, and nearly 400 patients lose vision in one or both eyes because of their injuries, the USEIR reports. |
| 6/23/05 | JOHNS HOPKINS SCIENTISTS USE GENE THERAPY TO PREVENT HEART ARRHYTHMIAS FROM STEM CELL TRANSPLANTS
Heart specialists at Johns Hopkins believe they have figured a way around a persistent barrier to successful adult stem cell therapy for millions of Americans who have survived a heart attack but remain at risk of dying from chronic heart failure. |
| 6/22/05 | Special National Accreditation Awarded to Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
The Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs Inc. (AAHRPP) recently awarded full accreditation to Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions for all research involving the protection of human subjects. Johns Hopkins is the only medical institution in Maryland and one of only a few organizations in the nation to gain this recognition. |
6/21/05 | NEW COSMETIC PROCEDURE “ELEVATES” FACIAL SKIN
A procedure using FDA-approved barbed sutures to lift sagging or wrinkling skin from the brow, midface and neck is currently being performed by surgeons in the Johns Hopkins Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. |
6/20/05 | STEM CELLS GROWN IN LAB MIRROR NORMAL DEVELOPMENTAL STEPS
Johns Hopkins scientists have developed a way to study the earliest steps of human blood development using human embryonic stem cells grown in a lab dish instead of the embryos themselves. |
6/15/05 | JOHNS HOPKINS AGAIN TOPS LIST OF NIH AWARDS TO MEDICAL SCHOOLS
For the 13th consecutive year, Johns Hopkins earned more grants, awards and contracts from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) than any of the other 122 U.S. medical schools that receive them. Awards include research grants, training grants, fellowship awards, and research and development contracts. |
6/9/05 | IMMUNE CELLS' GENETIC "JAM SESSION" IS CONTROLLED BY CELL DIVISION MACHINERY
--Discovery sheds light on development of immune system cancers
If a dividing cell's activity is a pop song, then the same process in an immune cell is an extended-play dance remix. The basics of cell division are the same in both, but there's a heck of a lot more going on in immune cells, Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered. |
6/9/05 | JOHNS HOPKINS TEAM FINDS "ANCESTRAL" HEPATITIS-C VIRUS AT THE ROOT OF EVOLUTION IN ACUTE AND CHRONIC INFECTIONS
-- Scientists discover how virus evades immune system in acute and chronic infections; new vaccines may result
Researchers at Johns Hopkins have uncovered how a majority of the genetic changes in the hepatic-C virus, the most common cause of liver disease, allow it to evade the body’s immune system during infection. |
6/9/05 | JOHNS HOPKINS AIDS EXPERT SAYS GLOBAL STRATEGY NEEDED TO COMBAT "FEMINIZATION" OF HIV/AIDS
A Johns Hopkins physician and scientist who has spent a quarter-century leading major efforts to combat HIV and AIDS worldwide has issued an urgent call for global strategies and resources to confront the rapid "feminization" of the AIDS pandemic. |
6/8/05 | ONCE GIVEN "NO RESPECT," CELLS' TINY RNAS TAKE DRIVER'S SEAT IN CANCER DEVELOPMENT
Ribonucleic acid, or RNA, has long been viewed as a mere translation service for getting DNA’s blueprint to make the proteins that are cells' workhorses. But new evidence shows that tiny bits of RNA not used make proteins actually play central roles in normal biology and the development of cancer. |
6/8/05 | JOHNS HOPKINS STUDY SHOWS HOME TEST KITS HIGHLY EFFECTIVE AGAINST SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES
-- Related survey finds reinfection rates high in Baltimore schools
Researchers at Johns Hopkins say they have evidence that more than one-third of young women are willing and able |
