| 7/1/08 | SPIRITUAL EFFECTS OF HALLUCINOGENS PERSIST, JOHNS HOPKINS RESEARCHERS REPORT
-Related report gives safety guidelines for hallucinogen research
In a follow-up to research showing that psilocybin, a substance
contained in "sacred mushrooms," produces substantial spiritual
effects, a Johns Hopkins team reports that those beneficial effects
appear to last more than a year. |
| 6/27/08 | Johns Hopkins Experts Available To Discuss Cardiac Arrythmia
The state Medical Examiner's Office cited cardiac arrhythmia, or abnormal heart rhythm, as the cause of sudden death of 19 year-old U.S. Naval Academy student Kristen Dickmann. |
| 6/25/08 | Drug Treatment for Marfan Syndrome Looks Promising, Johns Hopkins Researchers Say
A small study in 18 patients assessing the effectiveness of the drug losartan for treating Marfan syndrome in children has yielded encouraging results. Reporting in the June 26 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, Johns Hopkins researchers showed that losartan-a compound used for years to treat high blood pressure-slowed the enlargement of the aorta, the most life-threatening defect associated with Marfan syndrome |
| 6/24/08 | MENDEL DIDN’T HAVE THE WHOLE PICTURE: OUR GENOME CHANGES OVER LIFETIME, JOHNS HOPKINS EXPERTS SAY
--Epigenetics Research Among Utah and Iceland Populations May Explain “Late-Onset” and Other Diseases
Contrary to conventional wisdom, it appears that while the overall health of our genomes is indeed inherited from our parents, chemical marks on our genomes’ DNA sequences actually change as we age, driving increased risk of disease susceptibility for us and similarly for our close family members. |
| 6/20/08 | Johns Hopkins Medicine Hosts Five-Day Summer Science Camp for East Baltimore Elementary School Students
Hopkins scientists and youngsters from Ft. Worthington Elementary, Dr. Rayner Browne Elementary, Dr. Bernard Harris, Sr. Elementary, William A. Paca Elementary, Harford Heights Intermediate and Tench Tilghman Elementary schools |
| 6/17/08 | DEPRESSION AND DIABETES: FELLOW TRAVELERS, RESEARCHERS SAY
Researchers have long known that type-2 diabetes and depression oftengo hand in hand. However, it's been unclear which condition developsfirst in patients who end up with both. Now, a new study led by JohnsHopkins doctors suggests that this chicken-and-egg problem has a dualanswer: Patients with depression have an increased risk of developingtype-2 diabetes, and patients with type-2 diabetes have an increasedrisk of developing depression. |
| 6/17/08 | EFFECTIVE TREATMENT FOR SICKLE CELL UNDERUSED BY DOCTORS
Uncertainties about proper use and possible long-term effects of hydroxyurea in the treatment of sickle cell anemia may be wrongly influencing doctors to avoid prescribing it to those in serious need, according to results of a literature review by specialists at Johns Hopkins. |
| 6/17/08 | RADIATION THERAPY PROLONGS LIFE IN MEN WITH RECURRENT PROSTATE CANCER
Men whose tumors recur after prostate cancer surgery are three times more likely to survive their disease long term if they undergo radiotherapy within two years of the recurrence. Surprisingly, survival benefits were best in men whose new tumors were growing fastest, according to results of a "look-back" study of 635 men by Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions researchers reported June 18 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. |
| 6/16/08 | STAY OR GO? RESEARCHERS DISCOVER CONTROLLER OF CELL MOVEMENT
--May Shed Light on Cancer Spread
A zebra's stripes, a seashell's spirals, a butterfly's wings: these are all examples of patterns in nature. The formation of patterns is a puzzle for mathematicians and biologists alike. How does the delicate design of a butterfly's wings come from a single fertilized egg? How does pattern emerge out of no pattern? |
| 6/15/08 | NEW INDEX EXPLAINS WHY SOME DRUGS WORK BETTER THAN OTHERS AGAINST HIV
A team of AIDS experts at Johns Hopkins has found a simple mathematical equation that accurately explains how well each of 25 anti-HIV drugs in five commonly used drug groups suppresses the virus and keeps the disease in check. |
| 6/14/08 | HOW MONTEZUMA GETS HIS REVENGE
--Johns Hopkins Researchers Discover Clue to How Dysentery Parasite Might Evade Immune System
Every year, about 500 million people worldwide are infected with the parasite that causes dysentery, a global medical burden that among infectious diseases is second only to malaria. In a new study appearing in the June 15 issue of Genes and Development, Johns Hopkins researchers may have found a way to ease this burden by discovering a new enzyme that may help the dysentery-causing amoeba evade the immune system. |
| 6/12/08 | THE SHAPE-SHIFTING MECHANICS OF CELLS
Cell biologists at Johns Hopkins have discovered how tiny molecular motors within cells work together with other structural players to coordinate critical cell shape changes that accompany cell division. |
| 6/10/08 | “HICY” DRUG REGIMEN REVERSES MS SYMPTOMS IN SELECTED PATIENTS
--New approach to immunosuppressant treatment tested in nine individuals shows promise
A short-term, very-high dose regimen of the immune-suppressing drug cyclophosphamide seems to slow progression of multiple sclerosis (MS) in most of a small group of patients studied and may even restore neurological function lost to the disease, Johns Hopkins researchers report. The findings in nine people, most of whom had failed all other treatments, suggest new ways to treat a disease that tends to progress relentlessly. |
| 5/29/08 | JOHNS HOPKINS RESEARCHERS DEVELOP HUMAN STEM CELL LINE CONTAINING SICKLE CELL ANEMIA MUTATION
--Improved Adult Cell Reprogramming Methods Open Doors for Disease Research
Researchers at Johns Hopkins have established a human cell-based system for studying sickle cell anemia by reprogramming somatic cells to an embryonic stem cell like state. Publishing online in Stem Cells on May 29, the team describes a faster and more efficient method of reprogramming cells that might speed the development of stem cell therapies. |
| 5/27/08 | JOHNS HOPKINS RESEARCHER NAMED HOWARD HUGHES MEDICAL INSTITUTE  INVESTIGATOR Duojia Pan, Ph.D., a professor of molecular biology and genetics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, is one of 56 new members of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Combined, the new class of investigators will receive more than $600 million in research funding. |
| 5/20/08 | PETER BEILENSON TO SPEAK AT SCHOOL OF MEDICINE COMMENCEMENT
--Award-winning former Baltimore Health Commissioner was chosen by 205 graduates for ceremonies May 22
Peter Beilenson, M.D., M.P.H., health officer for Howard County and former Baltimore City health commissioner is the guest speaker at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine’s 113th diploma award ceremony on Thursday, May 22, 2008 at 2:30 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore. |
| 5/19/08 | BYPASS NOT TO BLAME FOR HEART PATIENTS’ MENTAL DECLINE
--Finding removes stigma from viable treatment, Hopkins researchers say
Heart patients often experience lasting problems with memory, language, and other cognitive skills after bypass surgery. However, these problems aren’t caused by the surgery itself or the pump used to replace heart function during surgery, a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers suggests. The findings may lead to better approaches to prevent cognitive decline regardless of which treatment heart disease patients receive. |
| 5/16/08 | Senior Johns Hopkins leadership take hammers in hand for Habitat for Humanity
Johns Hopkins Medicine’s top leadership team will replace their Blackberries, cell phones and pens on Friday morning with hammers, saws and paint brushes to help put finishing touches on a formerly empty and dilapidated East Baltimore row house. As part of the Habitat for Humanity program, the newly restored house will become home to a low-income family. The proud owner of the new house will be working along side Hopkins officials to complete the renovation. |
| 5/15/08 | YOUNG ATHLETES TO BE SCREENED FOR RISK OF SUDDEN HEART DEATH
-- African-American players at special risk of death from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
Volunteer heart experts at Johns Hopkins have embarked on what is believed to be the largest single-day event to date to screen young athletes in the United States for early signs of life-threatening defects in the body’s blood-pumping organ. |
| 5/14/08 | RESEARCHERS FINE-TUNE CLOT-BUSTING TREATMENT FOR BLEEDING IN BRAIN
--Treatment dramatically increases survival for deadly condition
A multicenter study led by Johns Hopkins doctors has fine-tuned the dosage and timing for administering clot-busting tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) to patients with strokes caused by bleeding within the brain. The treatment, as reported this week at the European Stroke Conference in Nice, France, has been shown to dramatically decrease death and disability in patients with this typically lethal subset of stroke. |
| 5/14/08 | Too Much Water Raises Seizure Risk In Babies
It’s a recurrent summer-time scenario in the pediatric emergency room and doctors from Johns Hopkins Children’s are sounding the alarm on it: An otherwise healthy infant is brought in by panicked parents after suffering a seizure, which turns out to be caused by drinking too much water. |
| 5/13/08 | DRUG THERAPY FOR PKU REVERSES HEART DAMAGE
-- Studies with BH4 in mice show promise
A pricy drug used to treat a rare but well-known genetic disorder may hold wider promise as a treatment for millions of Americans with potentially lethal enlarged hearts, due mainly to high blood pressure, a study from Johns Hopkins shows. |
| 5/13/08 | TREATING SAFETY RESEARCH LIKE OTHER CLINICAL STUDIES SLOWS PROGRESS
--Regulations for human studies may need overhaul, Hopkins researchers say
Progress in patient safety research could slow to a crawl unless regulators work out a host of ethical issues, Johns Hopkins researchers assert in an upcoming opinion piece. |
| 5/12/08 | TOO HOT TO HANDLE! SCIENTISTS IDENTIFY HEAT SENSING REGULATOR
Neuroscientists at Johns Hopkins are a step closer to understanding pain sensitivity - specifically why it’s variable instead of constant - having identified a gene that regulates a heat-activated molecular sensor. |
| 5/8/08 | HOPKINS RESEARCHERS DISCOVER NEW LINK TO SCHIZOPHRENIA
--Mouse Model Mimics Clinical Features
Neuroscientists at Johns Hopkins have discovered that mice lacking an enzyme that contributes to Alzheimer disease exhibit a number of schizophrenia-like behaviors. The finding raises the possibility that this enzyme may participate in the development of schizophrenia and related psychiatric disorders and therefore may provide a new target for developing therapies. |
| 5/6/08 | KILLER COMPETITION: NEURONS DUKE IT OUT FOR SURVIVAL
The developing nervous system makes far more nerve cells than are needed to ensure target organs and tissues are properly connected to the nervous system. As nerves connect to target organs, they somehow compete with each other resulting in some living and some dying. Now, using a combination of computer modeling and molecular biology, neuroscientists at Johns Hopkins have discovered how the target tissue helps newly connected peripheral nerve cells strengthen their connections and kill neighboring nerves. The study was published in the April 18th issue of Science. |
| 5/5/08 | DAILY RECORD NAMES THREE JOHNS HOPKINS MEDICINE WOMEN TO ITS LIST OF MARYLAND’S TOP 100 WOMEN
Elizabeth A. Hunt, M.D., a clinical fellow in the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Redonda G. Miller, M.D., assistant professor of medicine and assistant dean for student affairs, and Stephanie L. Reel, chief information officer for the Johns Hopkins University and Health System, have been named as three of Maryland’s Top 100 Women by the Daily Record business paper. |
| 5/1/08 | TIME MAGAZINE NAMES JOHNS HOPKINS PATIENT SAFETY EXPERT ONE OF WORLD’S ‘MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE’ OF 2008
Peter J. Pronovost, M.D., Ph.D., a practicing anesthesiologist and critical care physician at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and an internationally prominent patient safety researcher and advocate has been named one of the world’s "most influential people" of 2008 by Time Magazine. |
| 5/1/08 | News Tips from the Eyes of Innovation, 2008 Annual Meeting of The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO)
- DRUG THERAPY MORE EFFECTIVE THAN STANDARD TREAMENT IN FIGHT AGAINST DIABETES RETINAL SWELLING
- PROMISING TREATMENT FOR RETINAL THICKENING
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| 5/01/08 | STUDY IN 7,000 MEN AND WOMEN TIES OBESITY, INFLAMMATORY PROTEINS TO HEART FAILURE RISK
-- Obesity-related inflammation also pegged as catalyst in metabolic syndrome
Heart specialists at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere report what is believed to be the first wide-scale evidence linking severe overweight to prolonged inflammation of heart tissue and the subsequent damage leading to failure of the body’s blood-pumping organ. |
| 4/30/08 | JOHNS HOPKINS PROFESSORS ELECTED TO NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
Gregg L. Semenza, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of pediatrics at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Jane I. Guyer, Ph.D., a professor of anthropology at The Johns Hopkins University were elected as members of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) for their excellence in original scientific research. Membership in the NAS is one of the highest honors given to a scientist or engineer in the United States. Semenza and Guyer will be inducted into the Academy next April during its 146th annual meeting in Washington, D.C. |
| 4/29/08 | IMMUNE SYSTEM KICK-STARTED IN MOIST NASAL LINING IN SINUSITIS, ASTHMA AND COLDS
-- Study explains why steroid therapy loses its punch over time
Scientists at Johns Hopkins have outlined a new path for potential therapies to combat inflammation associated with sinusitis and asthma based on a new understanding of the body’s earliest immune response in the nose and sinus cavities. |
| 4/28/08 | TIGHT BLOOD PRESSURE CONTROL NOT ENOUGH TO TEMPER KIDNEY DISEASE IN AFRICAN AMERICANS
--Other unknown factors at play in worsening this condition
Even when their blood pressure is kept strictly under control with the best available medicine, African-American patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) continue to lose their kidney function over time, research led by a Johns Hopkins team shows. The finding suggests that treating CKD in this population may be vastly more complex than researchers had previously thought, with blood pressure control being only one piece of the therapeutic puzzle. |
| 4/23/08 | President Bush Meets with "Six-Way" Kidney Tranplant Team and Patients
President George W. Bush met with patients, doctors and nurses who participated in the ground-breaking, twelve-patient “domino” kidney transplant in the Oval Office of the White House on April 23. Aside from being what is believed to be to first-ever simultaneous paired donation transplant of six kidneys, White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolton’s brother, Randall Bolton, was one of the patients. |
| 4/21/08 | HOPKINS DOCTOR URGES EARLY DIAGNOSIS TO AVOID CANCER’S “FORGOTTEN KILLER”
- Free Oral Cancer Screening Scheduled for April 24
On average, two Marylanders each day are diagnosed with potentially fatal oral cancers that are often curable if identified and treated early. The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Office of Oral Health reports that the state ranks in the country’s top 10 for number of deaths caused by oral cancers. Nationally, statistics show that the death rate from these cancers is higher than those of cervical cancer, Hodgkin's lymphoma, testicular cancer, and thyroid and malignant melanoma. |
| 4/15/08 | AMA FOUNDATION HONORS JOHNS HOPKINS PHYSICIAN AS AN OUTSTANDING LEADER IN MEDICINE
Edbert Hsu, M.D., M.P.H., an emergency medicine physician at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, has received the American Medical Association (AMA) Foundation’s 2008 Leadership Award. This award provides medical students, residents/fellows, early career physicians and established physicians from around the country with special training to develop their skills as future leaders in organized medicine and community affairs. |
| 4/14/08 | OLYMPIC MEDALIST DOROTHY HAMILL AND ACTRESS MARIETTE HARTLEY FEATURED SPEAKERS AT THE JOHNS HOPKINS MOOD DISORDERS SYMPOSIUM
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine will hold its 22nd annual Mood Disorders Symposium, focused this year on depression and bipolar illness among women and teenagers, at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, April 15. The symposium is to be held in the Thomas B. Turner Building, 720 Rutland Ave. on the Johns Hopkins medical campus. |
| 4/10/08 | BLOOD VESSELS: THE PIED PIPER FOR GROWING NERVE CELLS
Researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered that blood vessels in the head can guide growing facial nerve cells with blood pressure controlling proteins. The findings, which suggest that blood vessels throughout the body might have the same power of persuasion over many nerves, are published this week in Nature. |
| 4/9/08 | HUMAN EMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCH REVEALS EARLIEST STEP IN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
--Finding Reinforces Limitations of Using Other Cell Types in Research, Scientists Say
Researchers at Johns Hopkins have uncovered the molecular underpinnings of one of the earliest steps in human development using human embryonic stem cells. Their identification of a critical signal mediated by the protein BMP-4 that drives the differentiation of stem cells into what will become the placenta, will be published in the April issue of Cell Stem Cell. |
| 4/8/08 | HOPKINS PERFORMS HISTORIC "SIX-WAY DOMINO" KIDNEY TRANSPLANT
Six donor-recipient pairs interchange kidneys in simultaneous group procedure
Surgical teams at Johns Hopkins performed what is believed to be the first six-way donor kidney swap among 12 individuals Saturday, April 5. The 10-hour surgeries used six operation rooms and occupied nine surgical teams at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. |
| 4/7/08 | JOHNS HOPKINS MEDICAL SCHOOL SETS RESEARCH AND TEACHING COLLABORATION WITH UNIVERSITY OF PATRAS IN GREECE
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has established a formal educational agreement with the University of Patras, the third largest university in Greece, to collaborate on research and student and faculty exchanges. |
| 4/4/08 | CLINICAL TRIAL VOLUNTEERS MOSTLY INDIFFERENT - BUT NOT BLIND TO - RESEARCHERS’ FINANCIAL CONFLICTS
Unless a researcher has stock ownership in a company whose drug is being tested, telling potential research volunteers about an investigator’s financial interests is unlikely to affect their willingness to volunteer, a new study shows. |
| 4/3/08 | JOHNS HOPKINS SCHOOL OF MEDICINE HONORS 18 YOUNG INVESTIGATORS
The 31st annual Young Investigators’ Day celebration at Johns Hopkins will highlight discoveries from how cells sense oxygen to how nerve cells grow and develop. Twelve students and six fellows will receive awards, and all young investigators at the School of Medicine will be celebrated. |
| 4/2/08 | RESEARCHERS ID GENE LINKED TO LUNG CANCER
Researchers at Johns Hopkins, as part of a large, multi-institutional study, have found one gene variant that is linked to an increased risk of lung cancer. |
| 4/1/08 | LARGE MULTI-CENTER STUDY SHOWS OLDER CORNEAS SUITABLE FOR TRANSPLANTS
In what could be a landmark, federally funded study, a team of scientists and a national team of researchers have shown that transplantation of corneas from older donors have rates of success similar to those from younger donors. |
| 3/28/08 | HOPKINS RANKED IN THE TOP TIER OF MEDICAL SCHOOLS BY U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT
The Dean of The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine thanks faculty and staff for helping maintain the School of Medicine’s position as #2 in U.S. News & World Report’s 2009 edition of its publication ranking the nation’s accredited medical schools. |
| 3/27/08 | FOLATE SCORES ANOTHER WIN IN ANIMAL STUDIES: BRIEF, HIGH DOSES OF B VITAMIN BLUNT DAMAGE FROM HEART ATTACK
-- Nutrient may act as heart energy reserve
Long known for its role in preventing anemia in expectant mothers and spinal birth defects in newborns, the B vitamin folate, found in leafy green vegetables, beans and nuts has now been shown to blunt the damaging effects of heart attack when given in short-term, high doses to test animals. |
| 3/26/08 | LARGE MULTI-CENTER STUDY SUGGESTS NEW GENETIC MARKERS FOR CROHN’S DISEASE
Results shed light on special genetic vulnerabilities of Ashkenazi Jews
What is believed to be the largest study of its kind for the genetic roots of inflammatory bowel diseases has suggested new links to Crohn’s Disease as well as further evidence that some people of Jewish descent are more likely to develop it. |
| 3/19/08 |  GOOD LUCK INDEED: 53 MILLION-YEAR-OLD RABBIT’S FOOT BONES FOUND
One day last spring, fossil hunter and anatomy professor Kenneth Rose, Ph.D. was displaying the bones of a jackrabbit’s foot as part of a seminar at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine when something about the shape of the bones looked oddly familiar.
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| 3/13/08 | SABOTAGE OF INFLAMMATION CHEMISTRY IN INJURED KIDNEY MAY TRIGGER WIDER ORGAN FAILURE
--Finding in mice could help prevent common complications of kidney damage
Kidney damage often sets off a slew of complications in patients, spreading organ failure like wildfire throughout their bodies. Now, researchers at Johns Hopkins say they have evidence in mice that this deadly progression-at least to the lungs-may be due to genetic alterations in kidney-based genes that sabotage inflammation control and send toxic signals to healthy organs. The signals convince these organs to react as if they, too, are damaged. |
| 3/12/08 | DNA DETECTIVES FIND GENETIC MARKERS FOR LUNG CANCERS MOST LIKELY TO RECUR
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have uncovered clearly recognizable genetic alterations in tumors and tissue removed from patients with early-stage lung cancers that look like good predictors of which of these cancers are more likely to recur. |
| 3/12/08 | HGH and Anabolic Steroids....What's the Difference?
"Play Ball!" will soon be heard in major league baseball parks across the country. It may also signal renewed controversy over Major League Baseball's Mitchell Report on the use by professional athletes of such banned substances as anabolic steroids and human growth hormone (HGH). |
| 3/11/08 | RESEARCHERS ID BEHAVIORAL RISK FACTORS FOR HEAD AND NECK CANCERS
--Sex practices and lifestyle are culprits
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have teased out two distinct sets of risk factors for head and neck cancers, suggesting that there are two completely different kinds of the disease. |
| 3/11/08 | DEAN MILLER TESTIFIES BEFORE CONGRESS
Edward D. Miller, M.D., Dean of the Medical Faculty at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and CEO, Johns Hopkins Medicine, will testify before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on Tuesday, March 11, at 11 a.m. in the Dirksen Room 430 on the growing risks to American medical research resulting from continued flat funding by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). |
| 3/11/08 | PANDEMIC FLU EMERGENCY MOCK DRILL
Second year medical students at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine will participate in a drill simulating what would occur at hospitals during a pandemic flu outbreak. |
| 3/11/08 | INVESTIGATOR ATTENDANCE AT REVIEW BOARD REVIEWS: HINDRANCE OR HELP?
Probably neither, Johns Hopkins study says
Inviting researchers to attend institutional review board sessions designed to approve these same investigators’ requests to conduct research involving human subjects doesn’t seem to affect the efficiency of the process one way or the other, a new study led by Johns Hopkins bioethicists suggests. |
| 3/11/08 | WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT AND KEEP IT OFF? PERSONAL COUNSELING BEATS WEB-BASED INFORMATION
--Differences were modest but clear that weight-loss Web site is no substitute for chats with trained counselors, JAMA study says
Individuals are less likely to regain lost weight when they get monthly tips straight from trained counselors rather than from a weight-loss Web site, according to results of a study by Johns Hopkins and other researchers. |
| 3/9/08 | GENETIC RESEARCH UNVEILS COMMON ORIGINS FOR DISTINCT CLINICAL DIAGNOSES
Researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered that two clinically different inherited syndromes are in fact variations of the same disorder. Reporting in the April issue of Nature Genetics, the team suggests that at least for this class of disorders, the total number and "strength" of genetic alterations an individual carries throughout the genome can generate a range of symptoms wide enough to appear like different conditions. |
| 3/5/08 | PACEMAKER TUNE-UP WORKS CHEMICAL WONDERS ON DAMAGED HEARTS IN DOGS
-- Study points to longer-lasting treatment benefits for congestive heart failure
Using pacemakers to electrically retune a heart damaged by long bouts of a wobbling heartbeat, where one heart muscle wall is beating sooner than the other, leads to fast improvements in the tissue levels of more than a dozen proteins key to the organ’s health, scientists at Johns Hopkins report in experiments in dogs. |
| 3/4/08 | RISK OF SURGERY FOR LUNG CANCER LOWER AT TEACHING HOSPITALS
Patients cared for by hospitals with residents in training have a 17 percent less chance of dying after lung cancer surgery compared with patients undergoing surgery at non-teaching hospitals, according to results of a Johns Hopkins study published in the March issue of the Annals of Thoracic Surgery. |
| 2/28/08 | CHIEF OF MEDICINE HONORED FOR SUCCESSFULLY RECRUITING MINORITIES TO JOHNS HOPKINS
Johns Hopkins cardiologist and physician in chief Myron "Mike" Weisfeldt, M.D., has been named the recipient of the 2008 Diversity Award by the Association of Professors of Medicine, an organization whose members come from across the United States and Canada. The award will be presented to Weisfeldt at a luncheon on Feb. 28 during the association’s annual meeting in Miami, Fla. |
| 2/26/08 | THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON JAZZ: RESEARCHERS USE MRI TO STUDY SPONTANEITY, CREATIVITY
A pair of Johns Hopkins and government scientists have discovered that when jazz musicians improvise, their brains turn off areas linked to self-censoring and inhibition, and turn on those that let self-expression flow |
| 2/22/08 | Autism's Origins: Mother's Antibody Production May Affect Fetal Brain
The mothers of some autistic children may have made antibodies against their fetuses’ brain tissue during pregnancy that crossed the placenta and caused changes that led to autism, suggests research led by Johns Hopkins Children’s Center investigators and published in the February issue of the Journal of Neuroimmunology. |
| 2/15/08 | ATAXIA TREATMENT CENTER TO BE ESTABLISHED AT JOHNS HOPKINS
A new full-service patient care and clinical research center for people with a relatively rare and disabling brain disorder will be launched at Johns Hopkins with initial support from a $450,000 National Ataxia Foundation (NAF) grant funded by the Gordon and Marilyn Macklin Foundation. Gordon and Marilyn Macklin were members of the Chesapeake Chapter of the National Ataxia Foundation, which was instrumental in the development and funding of the center. |
| 2/13/08 | CHROMOSOME HIT-AND-RUN
--3-D Analysis of Enzyme Reveals How It Alters Gene Function
By solving the 3-D structure of one particular enzyme that controls genes, researchers at Johns Hopkins, working with colleagues at University of Pennsylvania and the Wistar Institute, have discovered how the enzyme adds chemical groups to chromosomes to alter gene function. The research team reports in this week’s Nature that the new structure paves the way for developing new chemical inhibitors and therapies for diseases like cancer. |
| 2/12/08 | "LAB ON A CHIP" MIMICS BRAIN CHEMISTRY
---- Will speed studies of brain cells.
Johns Hopkins researchers from the Whiting School of Engineering and the School of Medicine have devised a micro-scale tool - a lab on a chip - designed to mimic the chemical complexities of the brain. The system should help scientists better understand how nerve cells in the brain work together to form the nervous system. |
| 2/8/08 | Mock CPR "Codes" Expose Weaknesses In Hospital Emergency Response For Children
Staging mock cardiac and respiratory arrests – “code” situations in hospital parlance – easily expose common failures in rapid response with CPR and other life-saving care for children and also set up powerful incentives to sharpen emergency skills and move fast to use them, suggests a study from the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. |
| 2/7/08 | JOHNS HOPKINS RESEARCHER LEADS INTERNATIONAL EFFORT TO CREATE “PROTEINPEDIA”
--Online Human Protein Encyclopedia Will Speed Research
A researcher at the Johns Hopkins Institute of Genetic Medicine has led the effort to compile to date the largest free resource of experimental information about human proteins. Reporting in the February issue of Nature Biotechnology, the research team describes how all researchers around the world can access this data and speed their own research. |
| 2/5/08 | BREAST-FEEDING NOW SAFER FOR INFANTS OF HIV-INFECTED MOTHERS
- First solid evidence that viral transmission through breast milk can be prevented by a drug
An antiretroviral drug already in widespread use in the developing world to prevent the transmission of HIV from infected mothers to their newborns during childbirth has also been found to substantially cut the risk of subsequent HIV transmission during breast-feeding. |
| 1/30/08 | JOHNS HOPKINS OPENS CENTER TO TREAT SEVERE SICKLE CELL PAIN
--Infusion clinic could help patients avoid emergency room visits
A new urgent care center specifically geared to treat sickle cell patients experiencing acute pain will open Feb. 5, physicians at Johns Hopkins Medicine announced. A formal opening celebration is scheduled for Feb. 18. |
| 1/29/08 | SECONDHAND SMOKE EXPOSURE WORSENS CYSTIC FIBROSIS
--Discovery of Additional Genes at Play
Researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered the first genetic evidence that secondhand smoke can worsen lung disease. The report in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association describes one gene variation that can weaken lung function as well as shorten the lifespan of those affected by cystic fibrosis and also are exposed to secondhand smoke. |
| 1/29/08 | HEART TRANSPLANTS: DO MORE OR DO NONE, JOHNS HOPKINS STUDY SUGGESTS
- Findings contradict recently lowered government standard
Heart surgeons at Johns Hopkins have evidence to support further tightening rather than easing of standards used to designate hospitals that are best at performing heart transplants. |
| 1/29/08 | DOWNSIZED HEART AIDS BYPASS SURGERY
An estimated one in 20 patients undergoing a common operation to boost blood supply to the heart and to ward off repeat heart attacks may do better if their surgeons also remold the heart to a near normal size, by cutting and suturing together stretched muscle and scar tissue resulting from the initial attack, according to cardiac surgeons at Johns Hopkins. |
| 1/28/08 | MODIFIED ATKINS DIET CAN CUT EPILEPTIC SEIZURES IN ADULTS
--High-fat, low-carb diet may be an option when other treatments fail
A modified version of a popular high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet can significantly cut the number of seizures in adults with epilepsy, a study led by Johns Hopkins researchers suggests. The Atkins-like diet, which has shown promise for seizure control in children, may offer a new lifeline for patients when drugs and other treatments fail or cause complications. |
| 1/24/08 | MARIJUANA WITHDRAWAL AS BAD AS WITHDRAWAL FROM CIGARETTES
Study could potentially help clinicians treat marijuana addiction
Research by a group of scientists studying the effects of heavy marijuana use suggests that withdrawal from the use of marijuana is similar to what is experienced by people when they quit smoking cigarettes. Abstinence from each of these drugs appears to cause several common symptoms, such as irritability, anger and trouble sleeping - based on self reporting in a recent study of 12 heavy users of both marijuana and cigarettes. |
| 1/23/08 | JOHNS HOPKINS OFFICIAL NAMED TO "SUPERLAWYERS" LIST
Wes Blakeslee, J.D., executive director of technology transfer at The Johns Hopkins University, has been named to the 2008 Maryland SuperLawyers list by Super Lawyers magazine, a national publication. |
| 1/22/08 | JOHNS HOPKINS TO PARTICIPATE IN 1000 GENOMES PROJECT
--International Consortium to Support Disease Research
Researchers at the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine (IGM) at Johns Hopkins will join other national and international scientists in the 1000 Genomes Project, an ambitious effort that will involve sequencing the genomes of numerous people from around the world to create the most detailed and medically useful picture to date of human genetic variation. |
| 1/22/08 | HOPKINS TEAM IDENTIFIES AUTISM SUSCEPTIBILITY GENE
-- mother-to-son transmission may be critical to inheriting susceptibility
Researchers at Johns Hopkins have identified a common genetic alteration that appears to be associated with autism only when inherited by sons from their mother. The CNTNAP2 gene, also identified by two other groups publishing jointly in the January issue of The American Journal of Human Genetics, is one of the strongest common genetic links to autism susceptibility found to date. |
| 1/21/08 | PROTEIN CLASS DISPLAYS STRONG ANTICANCER ACTION
--May lead to drugs with less-harmful side effects
Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered a previously unsuspected mechanism of cell death that may afford a new way to find and develop stronger yet less-harmful anticancer drugs. Specifically, they have found that a cellular stress-response protein prevents cells from dying by interacting with a particular signaling protein and mediating its response to some conventional anticancer drugs. The results appear in last week’s Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. |
| 1/17/08 | KIDNEY CYSTS: NOT ALL CREATED EQUAL
Researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered a window in kidney growth that affects the onset of polycystic kidney disease and can mean, in mice, the difference between developing severe cystic disease early in adolescence or late in adulthood. |
| 1/16/08 | JOHNS HOPKINS’ VICTOR MCKUSICK WINS PRESTIGIOUS ‘JAPAN PRIZE’
-- Genetics pioneer is sole 2008 laureate for $470,000 prize in Medical Genetics and Genomics category
Victor A. McKusick, M.D., University Professor of Medical Genetics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, is the 2008 recipient of the prestigious Japan Prize in Medical Genetics and Genomics, the Science and Technology Foundation of Japan announced today in Tokyo. |
| 1/16/08 | TOXOPLASMA INFECTION INCREASES RISK OF SCHIZOPHRENIA, STUDY SUGGESTS
Findings from what is believed to be the largest comparison of blood samples collected from healthy individuals and people with schizophrenia suggest that infection with the common Toxoplasma gondii parasite, carried by cats and farm animals, may increase the risk of schizophrenia. |
| 1/14/08 | RUBBER GLOVES: "BORN" - AND NOW BANISHED - AT JOHNS HOPKINS
… move addresses potentially fatal allergy to latex
William Stewart Halsted, The Johns Hopkins Hospital’s first surgeon in chief, is widely credited as the first to develop and introduce rubber surgical gloves in the United States. That was in 1894, five years after the institution opened. |
| 1/14/08 | TRUST BETWEEN DOCTORS AND PATIENTS IS CULPRIT IN EFFORTS TO CROSS RACIAL DIVIDE IN MEDICAL RESEARCH
- Study shows lingering doubts and fears hamper research participation by African Americans
More than three decades after the shutdown of the notorious Tuskegee study, a team of Johns Hopkins physicians has found that Tuskegee’s legacy of blacks’ mistrust of physicians and deep-seated fear of harm from medical research persists and is largely to blame for keeping much-needed African Americans from taking part in clinical trials. |
| 1/11/08 | WAYS TO IMPROVE INFORMED CONSENT ARE TESTABLE, STUDY SAYS
--Findings could prevent costly but worthless attempts to improve mainstay of clinical trials
New ways to make sure people are adequately informed about the risks and benefits of taking part in a clinical trial can be field-tested for effectiveness as rigorously as new medical treatments themselves, a study led by a Johns Hopkins bioethicist suggests. |
| 1/10/08 | STORY IDEAS FROM THE JOHNS HOPKINS' "A WOMAN'S JOURNEY" CONFERENCE
Johns Hopkins Medicine is hosting its first Palm Beach area symposium on women’s health and new advances in preventing, detecting and treating women’s diseases on Thursday, Jan. 24. Called “A Woman's Journey” (AWJ), the event will be held from 9:15 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Raymond F. Kravis Center’s Cohen Pavilion. |
| 1/9/08 | STEM CELLS MAKE BONE MARROW CANCER RESISTANT TO TREATMENT
Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center say they have evidence that cancer stem cells for multiple myeloma share many properties with normal stem cells and have multiple ways of resisting chemotherapy and other treatments. |
| 1/9/08 | RNA SHOWN TO SILENCE CANCER SUPPRESSOR GENE
----Discovery sheds light on “epigenetic” mechanisms in tumor development in plants and animals
One way cancer arises is when tumor suppressor genes that normally keep cell growth in check are mysteriously turned off. Now, researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered that at least one tumor suppressor gene is in fact turned off by a “noncoding” single stranded RNA nucleic acid similar to its double-stranded DNA cousin. |
| 1/9/08 | CIVIL RIGHTS ADVOCATE TO SPEAK AT ANNUAL HOPKINS EVENT HONORING MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, a Baptist minister, radio and television personality and outspoken civil rights advocate, will be the featured speaker at the 2008 event honoring Martin Luther King Jr. In what has become a much-anticipated annual tradition, Johns Hopkins Medicine will remember and honor the civil rights leader with tributes, music and community service awards during this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration. |
| 1/9/08 | ANNUAL JOHNS HOPKINS WOMEN’S HEALTH CONFERENCE COMING TO PALM BEACH
The latest findings on women’s health and new advances in preventing, detecting and treating women’s diseases will be presented during this one-day symposium sponsored by Johns Hopkins Medicine. |
| 1/9/08 | ANNUAL JOHNS HOPKINS WOMEN’S HEALTH CONFERENCE COMING TO PALM BEACH
The latest findings on women’s health and new advances in preventing, detecting and treating women’s diseases will be presented Thursday, Jan. 24, at Palm Beach’s first annual “A Woman’s Journey” symposium sponsored by Johns Hopkins Medicine. The one-day conference, at the Raymond F. Kravis Center’s Cohen Pavilion, begins at 9:15 a.m. and concludes at 2 p.m. |
| 1/4/08 | WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS: HOPKINS RESEARCHERS PAINT PICTURE OF CANCER-PROMOTING CULPRIT
They say that a picture can be worth a thousand words. This especially is true for describing the structures of molecules that function to promote cancer. Researchers at Johns Hopkins have built a three-dimensional picture of an enzyme often mutated in many types of cancers. The results, published Dec. 14 in Science, suggest how the most common mutations in this enzyme might lead to cancer progression. |
| 1/3/08 | GENE DOSE AFFECTS TUMOR GROWTH
Researchers at Johns Hopkins and Ohio State University have found that the number of copies of a particular gene can affect the severity of colon cancer in a mouse model. Publishing in the Jan. 3 issue of Nature, the research team describes how trisomy 21, or Down syndrome in humans, can repress tumor growth. |
| 1/2/08 | PROTEIN A POSSIBLE KEY TO ALLERGY AND ASTHMA CONTROL
Activating a protein found on some immune cells seems to halt the cells’ typical job of spewing out substances that launch allergic reactions, a study by Johns Hopkins researchers suggests. The findings could eventually lead to new treatments for allergic reactions ranging from annoying bouts of hay fever to deadly asthma attacks. |
| 1/1/08 | "SWISH-AND-SPIT" TEST ACCURATE FOR CANCER
A morning gargle could someday be more than a breath freshener - it could spot head and neck cancer, say scientists at Johns Hopkins. Their new study of a mouth rinse that captures genetic signatures common to the disease holds promise for screening those at high risk, including heavy smokers and alcohol drinkers. |
