Johns Hopkins Medicine News http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/index.html News about Johns Hopkins Medicine activities in patient care, research, and education. en-us Johns Hopkins Copyright 2009 High Blood Pressure Easy to Miss in Children with Kidney Disease-11/20/09 Spot blood pressure readings in children with chronic kidney disease often fail to detect hypertension – even during doctor’s office visits — increasing a child’s risk for serious heart problems, according to research from Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and other institutions. http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/High-Blood-Pressure-Easy-to-Miss-in-Children-with-Kidney-Disease.aspx http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/High-Blood-Pressure-Easy-to-Miss-in-Children-with-Kidney-Disease.aspx Kenneth L. Baughman, M.D., 63, Former Johns Hopkins Faculty Physician, Remembered by Fellow Cardiologists-11/20/09 The Johns Hopkins Medicine community mourns the sudden death of cardiologist Kenneth L. Baughman, M.D., who was killed in an accident Monday while running in Orlando, Fla. He was attending the annual Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association, and had attempted to cross a street when a car struck him. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/11_20_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/11_20_09.html Mother’s Depression a Risk Factor in Childhood Asthma Symptoms, Study Suggests-11/19/09 Asthma symptoms can worsen in children with depressed mothers, according to research from Johns Hopkins Children’s Center published online in the Journal of Pediatric Psychology. http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/asthma-symptoms-worse-in-children-with-depressed-mothers.aspx http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/asthma-symptoms-worse-in-children-with-depressed-mothers.aspx Sweet! Sugared Polymer a New Weapon Against Allergies and Asthma-11/19/09 Scientists at Johns Hopkins and their colleagues have developed sugar-coated polymer strands that selectively kill off cells involved in triggering aggressive allergy and asthma attacks. Their advance is a significant step toward crafting pharmaceuticals to fight these often life-endangering conditions in a new way. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/11_19_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/11_19_09.html Vitamin B Niacin Offers No Additional Benefit to Statin Therapy in Seniors Already Diagnosed with Coronary Artery Disease-11/17/09 The routine prescription of extended-release niacin, a B vitamin (1,500 milligrams daily), in combination with traditional cholesterol-lowering therapy offers no extra benefit in correcting arterial narrowing and diminishing plaque buildup in seniors who already have coronary artery disease, a new vascular imaging study from Johns Hopkins experts shows. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/11_18_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/11_18_09.html Breast Center Imaging and Administrative Directors Voice Opinion on Mammography Recommendations-11/17/09 Several leaders at the Johns Hopkins Avon Foundation Breast Center have issued a statement regarding the new mammography screening guidelines suggested by the United States Preventive Task Force Service. http://www.hopkinskimmelcancercenter.org/index.cfm/cID/1684/mpage/item.cfm/itemID/1154 http://www.hopkinskimmelcancercenter.org/index.cfm/cID/1684/mpage/item.cfm/itemID/1154 Need for Emergency Airway Surgery for Hard-to-Intubate Patients Reduced-11/17/09 Be prepared, that old Boy Scout motto, is being applied with great success to operating room patients whose anatomy may make it difficult for physicians to help them breathe during surgery, Johns Hopkins researchers report in a new study. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/11_17_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/11_17_09.html Rapid, Erratic Heartbeats: Exercise-Linked Ventricular Tachycardia is Not a Risk to Healthy Older Adults-11/16/09 Researchers say such fears surfaced after previous studies found that episodes of errant heart rhythms, more formally known as non-sustained ventricular tachycardia, more than double the chance of sudden death in people who have already suffered a heart attack. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/11_16b_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/11_16b_09.html Migraine Raises Risk of Most Common Form of Stroke-11/16/09 Pooling results from 21 studies, involving 622,381 men and women, researchers at Johns Hopkins have affirmed that migraine headaches are associated with more than twofold higher chances of the most common kind of stroke: those occurring when blood supply to the brain is suddenly cut off by the buildup of plaque or a blood clot. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/11_16a_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/11_16a_09.html Heart Experts Say Early End to Key Study on Benefits of Niacin, a B Vitamin, in Keeping Arteries Open was Premature-11/15/09 Heart experts at Johns Hopkins are calling premature the early halt of a study by researchers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Washington Hospital Center on the benefits of combining extended-release niacin, a B vitamin, with cholesterol-lowering statin medications to prevent blood vessel narrowing. Cardiovascular atherosclerosis, as it is also known, is believed responsible for one in three deaths in the United States each year. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/11_15d_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/11_15d_09.html 'Scaffolding' Protein Changes in Heart Strengthen Link Between Alzheimer's Disease and Chronic Heart Failure-11/15/09 A team of U.S., Canadian and Italian scientists led by researchers at Johns Hopkins report evidence from studies in animals and humans supporting a link between Alzheimer’s disease and chronic heart failure, two of the 10 leading causes of death in the United States. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/11_15c_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/11_15c_09.html Heart and Bone Damage from Low Vitamin D Tied to Declines in Sex Hormones-11/15/09 Researchers at Johns Hopkins are reporting what is believed to be the first conclusive evidence in men that the long-term ill effects of vitamin D deficiency are amplified by lower levels of the key sex hormone estrogen, but not testosterone. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/11_15b_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/11_15b_09.html Young Athletes Need Dual Screening Tests for Heart Defects, Study Suggests-11/15/09 To best detect early signs of life-threatening heart defects in young athletes, screening programs should include both popular diagnostic tests, not just one of them, according to new research from heart experts at Johns Hopkins. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/11_15a_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/11_15a_09.html Back Pain Permanently Sidelines Soldiers at War-11/9/09 Military personnel evacuated out of Iraq and Afghanistan because of back pain are unlikely to return to the line of duty regardless of the treatment they receive, according to research led by a Johns Hopkins pain management specialist. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/11_09_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/11_09_09.html 1930s Drug Slows Tumor Growth-11/6/09 Drugs sometimes have beneficial side effects. A glaucoma treatment causes luscious eyelashes. A blood pressure drug also aids those with a rare genetic disease. The newest surprise discovered by researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine is a gonorrhea medication that might help battle cancer. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/11_06_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/11_06_09.html Scientists Reveal How Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Differ From Embryonic Stem Cells and Tissue of Derivation-11/4/09 The same genes that are chemically altered during normal cell differentiation, as well as when normal cells become cancer cells, are also changed in stem cells that scientists derive from adult cells, according to new research from Johns Hopkins and Harvard. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/11_04_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/11_04_09.html Teen Girls With PID More Likely To Tell and Seek Treatment For Partners After Watching Video-11/4/09 A study at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center found that girls diagnosed with pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) who watched a short educational video were three times more likely to discuss their condition with their partners and to ensure partner treatment than girls diagnosed and treated without seeing the film. http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Teen-Girls-With-PID-More-Likely-To-Tell-and-Seek-Treatment-For-Partners-After-Watching-Video.aspx http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Teen-Girls-With-PID-More-Likely-To-Tell-and-Seek-Treatment-For-Partners-After-Watching-Video.aspx Low Cholesterol May Shrink Risk for High-Grade Prostate Cancer-11/3/09 Men with lower cholesterol are less likely than those with higher levels to develop high-grade prostate cancer, an aggressive form of the disease with a poorer prognosis, according to results of a Johns Hopkins collaborative study. http://www.hopkinskimmelcancercenter.org/index.cfm/cID/1684/mpage/item.cfm/itemID/1140 http://www.hopkinskimmelcancercenter.org/index.cfm/cID/1684/mpage/item.cfm/itemID/1140 This is Your Brain on Fatty Acids-10/30/09 Saturated fats have a deservedly bad reputation, but Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered that a sticky lipid occurring naturally at high levels in the brain may help us memorize grandma’s recipe for cinnamon buns, as well as recall how, decades ago, she served them up steaming from the oven. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_30_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_30_09.html Sight Gone, But Not Necessarily Lost?-10/30/09 Retinas Like all tissues in the body, the eye needs a healthy blood supply to function properly. Poorly developed blood vessels can lead to visual impairment or even blindness. While many of the molecules involved in guiding the development of the intricate blood vessel architecture are known, only now are we learning how these molecules work and how they might affect sight. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_30a_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_30a_09.html Of Mice and Men: Stem Cells and Ethical Uncertainties -10/29/09 The recent creation of live mice from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) not only represents a remarkable scientific achievement, but also raises important issues, according to bioethicists at the Berman Institute of Bioethics. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_29a_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_29a_09.html Moonlighting' Molecules Discovered-10/29/09 Since the completion of the human genome sequence, a question has baffled researchers studying gene control: How is it that humans, being far more complex than the lowly yeast, do not proportionally contain in our genome significantly more gene-control proteins? http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_29_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_29_09.html Lessons From Flu Seasons Past: Risk of Serious Flu-Related Sickness Far Outpaces Risk of Injectable Vaccine in Pregnant Women -10/29/09 Pregnant women who catch the flu are at serious risk for flu-related complications, including death, and that risk far outweighs the risk of possible side effects from injectable vaccines containing killed virus, according to an extensive review of published research and data from previous flu seasons. http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Risk-of-Serious-Flu-related-Sickness-in-Pregnant-Women-Outweighs-Risk-of-Injectable-Vaccine.aspx http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Risk-of-Serious-Flu-related-Sickness-in-Pregnant-Women-Outweighs-Risk-of-Injectable-Vaccine.aspx Lack of Insurance May Have Figured In Nearly 17,000 Childhood Deaths, Study Shows-10/29/09 Lack of health insurance might have led or contributed to nearly 17,000 deaths among hospitalized children in the United States in the span of less than two decades, according to research led by the Johns Hopkins Children's Center. http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Lack-of-Insurance-May-Have-Figured-In-Nearly-17000-Childhood-Deaths.aspx http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Lack-of-Insurance-May-Have-Figured-In-Nearly-17000-Childhood-Deaths.aspx Muscle Weakness a Common Side Effect of Long Stays in Intensive Care Units-10/27/09 After decades of focusing on the management of respiratory failure, circulatory shock and severe infections that lead to extended stays in hospital intensive care units, critical care researchers are increasingly turning attention to what they believe is a treatable complication developed by many who spend days or weeks confined to an ICU bed: debilitating muscle weakness that can linger long after hospital discharge. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_27_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_27_09.html New “Schizophrenia Gene” Prompts Researchers to Test Potential Drug Target-10/26/09 Johns Hopkins scientists report having used a commercially available drug to successfully “rescue” animal brain cells that they had intentionally damaged by manipulating a newly discovered gene that links susceptibility genes for schizophrenia and autism. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_26_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_26_09.html Now Hear This-10/23/09 Deep in the ear, 95 percent of the cells that shuttle sound to the brain are big, boisterous neurons that, to date, have explained most of what scientists know about how hearing works. Whether a rare, whisper-small second set of cells also carry signals from the inner ear to the brain and have a real role in processing sound has been a matter of debate. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_22a_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_22a_09.html Physicians Have Less Respect for Obese Patients, Study Suggests-10/22/09 Doctors have less respect for their obese patients than they do for patients of normal weight, a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers suggests. The findings raise questions about whether negative physician attitudes about obesity could be affecting the long-term health of their heavier patients. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_22_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_22_09.html $3.7 Million NIH Grant Will Fund Study on Stem Cells Derived from ALS Patients-10/21/09 Johns Hopkins scientists have been awarded a $3.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to learn more about the nerve and muscle-wasting disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) using stem cells developed from ALS patients’ skin. The award, given over a two-year span, will be shared with three other laboratories, including one at Harvard University and two at Columbia University. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_21_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_21_09.html New Anne and Mike Armstrong Medical Education Building Dedicated-10/20/09 More than a century ago, Johns Hopkins revolutionized the teaching of medicine with a new curriculum that merged evidence-based science with patient-centered clinical care. This so-called Hopkins model became the national gold standard for modern medical education. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_20_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_20_09.html Johns Hopkins Researchers at Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting-10/19/09 Chicago, Il, October 17-21 http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_19_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_19_09.html Hispanic Children Rarely Get Top-Notch Care For Brain Tumors-10/14/09 Hispanic children diagnosed with brain tumors get high-quality treatment at hospitals that specialize in neurosurgery far less often than other children with the same condition, potentially compromising their immediate prognosis and long-term survival, according to research from Johns Hopkins published in October’s Pediatrics. http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Hispanic-Children-Rarely-Get-Top-Notch-Care-For-Brain-Tumors.aspx http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Hispanic-Children-Rarely-Get-Top-Notch-Care-For-Brain-Tumors.aspx Stephanie Desmon Joins Johns Hopkins Medicine's Media Team-10/14/09 Stephanie Desmon, an award-winning medical journalist, has joined Johns Hopkins Medicine as a senior media relations representative and public information officer. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_16_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_16_09.html Pediatric Otolaryngologist Receives Prestigious Award-10/14/09 TDavid E. Tunkel, M.D., director of the Division of Pediatric Otolaryngology at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and associate professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, has received the Distinguished Service Award of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS). http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Pediatric-Otolaryngologist-Receives-Prestigious-Award.aspx http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Pediatric-Otolaryngologist-Receives-Prestigious-Award.aspx New Medical Informatics Journal To Launch In December-10/14/09 Two Johns Hopkins Children’s Center researchers have assembled a 25-member editorial board of international experts to launch a quarterly online medical journal devoted to original research and commentary on the use of computer automation in the day-to-day practice of medicine. http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/New-Medical-Informatics-Journal-To-Launch-In-December.aspx http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/New-Medical-Informatics-Journal-To-Launch-In-December.aspx Johns Hopkins Researchers Receive $1M ARRA Award to "Map Mobile DNA in Humans"-10/12/09 Sequencing the human genome was just one step in understanding our biology: Researchers still know very little about the function of most of our DNA. Now, a team of researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has been awarded $1 million in stimulus funding to examine how certain mobile segments of DNA known as transposons contribute to human genetic diversity by mapping transposon locations in more than 100 people over the next two years. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_12a_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_12a_09.html "Consumer Choice" Award Goes to The Johns Hopkins Hospital for the 14th Consecutive Year-10/12/09 For the 14th straight year, the National Research Corporation (NRC) has given The Johns Hopkins Hospital its Consumer Choice Award for the Baltimore region. For 2009-2010, Hopkins also was rated as the top choice by consumers in the Bethesda, Md., area. The award is based on ratings from health care consumers, who assessed hospital standings based on four metrics: best overall quality, best image/reputation; best doctors, and best nurses. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_12_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_12_09.html H1N1 Briefing by Local Experts on What Parents Need to Know: Take Precautions, Don't Panic and Don't Overreact-10/7/09 At an H1N1 briefing at Johns Hopkins, medical experts from The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions,the University of Maryland Medical Center, and government health officials urge parents to take prudent approach when children show signs of flu. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_07_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_07_09.html Autism: Genome-Wide Hunt Reveals New Genetic Links - 10/7/09 About 90 percent of autism spectrum disorders have suspected genetic causes but few genes have been identified so far. Now, leading an international team, Johns Hopkins researchers have identified several genetic links to autism, chief among them a variant of semaphorin 5A, whose protein product controls nerve connections in the brain. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_07a_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_07a_09.html Hispanic Children Rarely Get Top-Notch Care For Brain Tumors - 10/7/09 Hispanic children diagnosed with brain tumors get high-quality treatment at hospitals that specialize in neurosurgery far less often than other children with the same condition, potentially compromising their immediate prognosis and long-term survival, according to research from Johns Hopkins published in October’s Pediatrics. http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Hispanic-Children-Rarely-Get-Top-Notch-Care-For-Brain-Tumors.aspx http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Hispanic-Children-Rarely-Get-Top-Notch-Care-For-Brain-Tumors.aspx What Parents Of Fetuses With Congenital Defects Want From Their Doctors - 10/7/09 Before and after delivery, the mothers of unborn babies prenatally diagnosed with severe birth defects want doctors to walk a fine line between giving them realistic information—no matter how grim the prognosis—and giving them hope for the best possible outcome. http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/What-Parents-Of-Fetuses-With-Congenital-Defects-Want.aspx http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/What-Parents-Of-Fetuses-With-Congenital-Defects-Want.aspx "Telomere" Expert Carol Greider Shares 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine- 10/5/09 Carol Greider, Ph.D., 48, one of the world’s pioneering researchers on the structure of chromosome ends known as telomeres, today was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The Academy recognized her for her 1984 discovery of telomerase (ta-LAW-mer-ace), an enzyme that maintains the length and integrity of chromosome ends and is critical for the health and survival of all living cells and organisms. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_05_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_05_09.html "Mask Debate" Diverting Needed Attention from Flu-Preventive Measures that Work- 10/1/09 Infection control experts at Johns Hopkins and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control report that a contentious debate in the medical community over what type of protective masks health workers should wear to prevent the spread of H1N1 and other flu viruses is dangerously distracting the health care community from focusing on simple prevention measures that are clearly known to work. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_01_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/10_01_09.html Preventing Medical Errors: Avoid Blame Game, But Punish Habitual Offenders- 9/30/09 Patient safety experts at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere are taking their prescription for avoiding medical errors in hospital care one step beyond already successful “no fault, no blame” approaches, calling now for penalties for doctors and nurses who fail to comply with proven safety measures. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/09_30b_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/09_30b_09.html Johns Hopkins and USC Win $10.4 Million to Study Cancer Epigenome- 9/30/09 The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has awarded $10.4 million to Johns Hopkins and The University of Southern Califonia (USC) to decipher epigenetic marks in the cancer genome. The joint five-year grant is expected to help scientists develop drugs and tests that target epigenetic changes in cancer cells. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/09_30a_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/09_30a_09.html H1N1 (Swine Influenza) Experts at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions- 9/30/09 Johns Hopkins has a wide range of experts available for interviews and comments about H1N1 and seasonal flu, emergency preparedness, infection control, transmission in children, vaccine safety, flu treatment, public health ethics, flu in cancer patients, and public communications strategies. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/09_30_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/09_30_09.html Johns Hopkins Epigenetic Center Receives $16.8 Million NIH Grant- 9/28/09 Johns Hopkins’ Center for the Epigenetics of Common Human Disease has been chosen as one of four recipients of a $45 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant for Centers of Excellence to advance genomics research. The Hopkins Center will receive $16.8 million over five years. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/09_28_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/09_28_09.html NIH "Pioneer" and "Innovator" Awards Go To Johns Hopkins Scientists- 9/24/09 A Johns Hopkins scientist who proposes to manipulate forces to activate enzymes in live cells, and a second researcher who has developed a way to hunt down tuberculosis germs with real-time imaging have received a total of $4 million in special awards from the National Institutes of Health. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/09_24_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/09_24_09.html Healing Badly Damaged Lungs: Distinct Set of White Blood Cells Found to Set the Pace of Wound Repair- 9/21/09 After more than 50 experiments in mice, medical scientists at Johns Hopkins have mapped out the basic steps taken by a particular set of white blood cells in setting the pace of recovery after serious lung injury. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/09_21b_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/09_21b_09.html Mild Exercise While in the ICU Reduces Bad Effects of Prolonged Bed Rest- 9/21/09 Critical care experts at Johns Hopkins are reporting initial success in boosting recovery and combating muscle wasting among critically ill, mostly bed-bound patients using any one of a trio of mild physical therapy exercises during their stays in the intensive care unit (ICU). http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/09_21a_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/09_21a_09.html Johns Hopkins Launches Stem Cell Web Documentary- 9/21/09 Johns Hopkins Medicine, a co-host of the 2009 World Stem Cell Summit, is telling a comprehensive stem cell story via a new interactive Web site http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/stem_cell_research/ on which its researchers and clinicians collectively describe their explorations into stem cell biology and engineering. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/09_21_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/09_21_09.html Historic Johns Hopkins Multiple Kidney Swap Operations to be Featured on the Dr. Oz Show- 9/21/09 Robert A. Montgomery, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Johns Hopkins Comprehensive Transplant Center and 11 Johns Hopkins patients, who were part of the first eight-way, multihospital, domino kidney transplant this summer, will be featured on the new Dr. Oz Show. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/09_22_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/09_22_09.html Cheap, Quick Bedside "Eye Movement" Exam Outperforms MRI for Diagnosing Stroke in Patients with Dizziness- 9/18/09 In a small “proof of principle” study, stroke researchers at Johns Hopkins and the University of Illinois have found that a simple, one-minute eye movement exam performed at the bedside worked better than an MRI to distinguish new strokes from other less serious disorders in patients complaining of dizziness, nausea and spinning sensations. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/09_18_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/09_18_09.html Antioxidant Controls Spinal Cord Development- 9/17/09 Researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine have discovered how one antioxidant protein controls the activity of another protein, critical for the development of spinal cord neurons. The research, publishing this week in Cell, describes a never-before known mechanism of protein control. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/09_17_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/09_17_09.html Guide on Lung Cancer in "Never-Smokers": Different Disease, Different Treatments- 9/16/09 A committee of scientists led by Johns Hopkins investigators has published a new guide to the biology, diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer in never-smokers, fortifying measures for what physicians have long known is a very different disease than in smokers. http://www.hopkinskimmelcancercenter.org/index.cfm/cID/1684/mpage/item.cfm/itemID/1115 http://www.hopkinskimmelcancercenter.org/index.cfm/cID/1684/mpage/item.cfm/itemID/1115 Genetic Hint for Ridding the Body of Hepatitis C- 9/16/09 More than seventy percent of people who contract Hepatitis C will live with the virus that causes it for the rest of their lives and some will develop serious liver disease including cancer. However, 30 to 40 percent of those infected somehow defeat the infection and get rid of the virus with no treatment. In this week’s Advanced Online Publication atNature, Johns Hopkins researchers working as part of an international team report the discovery of the strongest genetic alteration associated with the ability to get rid of the infection. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/09_16_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/09_16_09.html Johns Hopkins Best Dressed Sale Set for October 1-4- 9/15/09 September 16, 2009- 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 2009, now in its 42nd year. 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. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/09_15_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/09_15_09.html Dividing Cells "Feel" Their Way Out of Warp- 9/10/09 Every moment, millions of a body’s cells flawlessly divvy up their genes and pinch perfectly in half to form two identical progeny for the replenishment of tissues and organs — even as they collide, get stuck, and squeeze through infinitesimally small spaces that distort their shapes. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/09_10_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/09_10_09.html Surgical Scrub Solution: It's Good For Patients, Too- 9/3/09 Giving critically ill hospital patients a daily bath with a mild, soapy solution of the same antibacterial agent used by surgeons to “scrub in” before an operation can dramatically cut down, by as much as 73 percent, the number of patients who develop potentially deadly bloodstream infections, according to a new study by patient safety experts at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and five other institutions. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/09_03_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/09_03_09.html Anticancer Drug Yields Positive Response in People with Advanced or Recurring Skin and Brain Cancer- 9/3/09 The Hedgehog signaling pathway is involved in a preliminary study and case report describing positive responses to an experimental anticancer drug in a majority of people with advanced or metastatic basal cell skin cancers. One patient with the most common type of pediatric brain cancer, medulloblastoma, also showed tumor shrinkage. http://www.hopkinskimmelcancercenter.org/index.cfm/cID/1684/mpage/item.cfm/itemID/1108 http://www.hopkinskimmelcancercenter.org/index.cfm/cID/1684/mpage/item.cfm/itemID/1108 HIV Subtype Linked to Increased Likelihood for Dementia - 8/28/09 Patients infected with a particular subtype of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, are more likely to develop dementia than patients with other subtypes, a study led by Johns Hopkins researchers shows. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/08_28_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/08_28_09.html Disclosing Financial Conflicts of Interest to Research Participants May Not Be Enough - 8/26/09 Disclosure of financial conflicts of interests to potential participants in research is important, but may have a limited role in managing these conflicts, according to a new study by Johns Hopkins, Duke and Wake Forest. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/08_26_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/08_26_09.html Brain Cancer Experts and Resources at Johns Hopkins - 8/26/09 Johns Hopkins’ Brain Tumor Center is one of the largest brain tumor treatment and research centers in the world. With specialists ranging from neurosurgeons, oncologists, and laboratory researchers currently developing new cutting edge treatments, Johns Hopkins can provide you with unique sources who can answer your timely questions about brain tumors. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/braincancer.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/braincancer.html Setting Priorities for Patient-Safety Efforts Will Mean Hard Choices - 8/25/09 Is it more urgent for hospitals, doctors and nurses to focus resources on preventing the thousands of falls that injure hospitalized patients each year, or to home in on preventing rare but dramatic instances of wrong-side surgery? Is it best to concentrate immediately on preventing pediatric medical errors or on preventing drug interactions in the elderly? http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/08_25_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/08_25_09.html Milk Safe, Even Encouraged, For Some After Treatment For Milk Allergy - 8/18/09 Some children with a history of severe milk allergy can safely drink milk and consume other dairy products every day, according to research led by the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and published in the Aug. 10 online edition of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Milk-Safe-Even-Encouraged-After-Treatment-For-Milk-Allergy-For_Some.aspx http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Milk-Safe-Even-Encouraged-After-Treatment-For-Milk-Allergy-For_Some.aspx Common Sleeping Disorder Ups Chances of Dying - 8/17/09 Nightly bouts of interrupted, oxygen-deprived sleep from a collapsed airway in the upper neck raises the chances of dying in middle-aged to elderly people by as much as 46 percent in the most severe cases, according to a landmark study on sleep apnea by lung experts at Johns Hopkins and six other U.S. medical centers. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/08_17_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/08_17_09.html John D. Strandberg, D.V.M., Ph.D., D.A.C.V.P., 1939-2009 - 8/06/09 John D. Strandberg, Distinguished Member of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists and former director of the Division of Comparative Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, passed away on Aug. 1 in St. Paul, Minn. after a long illness. He was 69. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/08_07_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/08_07_09.html Johns Hopkins Researchers Make Stem Cells From Developing Sperm - 8/06/09 The promise of stem cell therapy may lie in uncovering how adult cells revert back into a primordial, stem cell state , whose fate is yet to be determined. Now, cell scientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have identified key molecular players responsible for this reversion in fruit fly sperm cells. Reporting online this week in Cell Stem Cell, researchers show that two proteins are responsible redirecting cells on the way to becoming sperm back to stem cells. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/08_06a_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/08_06a_09.html Colon Cancer May Yield to Cellular Sugar Starvation - 8/06/09 Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have discovered how two cancer-promoting genes enhance a tumor’s capacity to grow and survive under conditions where normal cells die. The knowledge, they say, may offer new treatments that starve cancer cells of a key nutrient - sugar. However, the scientists caution that research does not suggest that altering dietary sugar will make any difference in the growth and development of cancer. http://www.hopkinskimmelcancercenter.org/index.cfm/cID/1684/mpage/item.cfm/itemID/1095 http://www.hopkinskimmelcancercenter.org/index.cfm/cID/1684/mpage/item.cfm/itemID/1095 Hopkins Scientists Find Cells Responsible for Bladder Cancer's Spread - 8/06/09 Johns Hopkins scientists have tracked down a powerful set of cells in bladder tumors that seem to be primarily responsible for the cancer’s growth and spread using a technique that takes advantage of similarities between tumor and organ growth. The findings, reported in the July Stem Cells, could help scientists develop new ways of finding and attacking similar cells in other types of cancer. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/08_06_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/08_06_09.html Is There Long-Term Brain Damage After Bypass Surgery? More Evidence Puts the Blame on Heart Disease Itself- 8/03/09 Brain scientists and cardiac surgeons at Johns Hopkins have evidence from 227 heart bypass surgery patients that long-term memory losses and cognitive problems they experience are due to the underlying coronary artery disease itself and not ill after-effects from having used a heart-lung machine. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/08_03_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/08_03_09.html Hopkins Psychiatrists Named "Top Therapists" By Washingtonian Magazine- 7/30/09 Four Johns Hopkins psychiatrists have been named “Top Therapists” in this month’s Washingtonian magazine. The list includes geriatric psychiatrist Peter V. Rabins, M.D., M.P.H.; eating disorders psychiatrist Angela S. Guarda, M.D.; general psychiatrist Todd S. Cox, M.D.; and child and adolescent psychiatrist Elizabeth A. Kastelic, M.D. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_31_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_31_09.html Bring on the "SUDS": Prototype, 7-Foot-Tall Sanitizer Automates Disinfection of Hard-To-Clean Hospital Equipment- 7/30/09 Johns Hopkins experts in applied physics, computer engineering, infectious diseases, emergency medicine, microbiology, pathology and surgery have unveiled a 7-foot-tall, $10,000 shower-cubicle-shaped device that automatically sanitizes in 30 minutes all sorts of hard-to-clean equipment in the highly trafficked hospital emergency department. The novel device can sanitize and disinfect equipment of all shapes and sizes, from intravenous line poles and blood pressure cuffs, to pulse oximeter wires and electrocardiogram (EKG) wires, to computer keyboards and cellphones. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_30_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_30_09.html An 'Eye Catching' Vision Discovery- 7/26/09 Nearly all species have some ability to detect light. At least three types of cells in the retina allow us to see images or distinguish between night and day. Now, researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine have discovered in fish yet another type of cell that can sense light and contribute to vision. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_26_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_26_09.html Hepatitis C Infection: Treatment Options Equally Effective, Likelihood of Success Known Early On- 7/22/09 Results of a long-awaited study of 3,070 American adults at Johns Hopkins and 118 other U.S. medical centers show that treatment with either of the two standard antiviral drug therapies is safe and offers the best way for people infected with hepatitis C to prevent liver scarring, organ failure and death. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_22_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_22_09.html Close Caregiver Relationship May Slow Alzheimer's Decline- 7/22/09 A study led by Johns Hopkins and Utah State University researchers suggests that a particularly close relationship with caregivers may give people with Alzheimer’s disease a marked edge over those without one in retaining mind and brain function over time. The beneficial effect of emotional intimacy that the researchers saw among participants was on par with some drugs used to treat the disease. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_22a_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_22a_09.html Hopkins-Designed Animal TB “Tracker” To Speed Drug and Vaccine Studies- 7/20/09 Johns Hopkins researchers have developed a novel way to monitor in real time the behavior of the TB bacterium in mouse lungs noninvasively pinpointing the exact location of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The new monitoring system is expected to speed up what is currently a slow and cumbersome process to test the safety and efficacy of various TB drug regimens and vaccines in animals. Plans are already under way for developing a similar system to monitor TB disease in humans. http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Hopkins-Designed_Animal_TB_Tracker_To_Speed_Drug_and_Vaccine_Studies.aspx http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Hopkins-Designed_Animal_TB_Tracker_To_Speed_Drug_and_Vaccine_Studies.aspx Daily Potassium Citrate Wards Off Kidney Stones in Seizure Patients On High-Fat Diet- 7/20/09 Children on the high-fat ketogenic diet to control epileptic seizures can prevent the excruciatingly painful kidney stones that the diet can sometimes cause if they take a daily supplement of potassium citrate the day they start the diet, according to research from Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Daily_Potassium_Citrate_Wards_Off_Kidney_Stones_in_Seizure_Patients_On_High-Fat_Diet.aspx http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Daily_Potassium_Citrate_Wards_Off_Kidney_Stones_in_Seizure_Patients_On_High-Fat_Diet.aspx Johns Hopkins Co-Sponsors 2009 World Stem Cell Summit- 7/20/09 Hopkins Medicine is co-sponsoring the 2009 World Stem Cell Summit to be held in Baltimore this September. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_20_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_20_09.html Johns Hopkins Faculty Members Awarded 2009 White House Early Career Awards- 7/17/09 Pablo A. Celnik, M.D., an assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation and neurology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Thao (Vicky) Nguyen, 32, assistant professor of mechanical engineering in the Whiting School of Engineering at The Johns Hopkins University, are among the 100 winners of this year’s Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_17_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_17_09.html Johns Hopkins School of Medicine to Offer New Degree Program in Informatics- 7/16/09 A new, intensive, one-year master’s degree program designed to prepare graduates for informatics leadership positions in clinical, public health and scientific settings will be offered beginning in September by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) approved the new program in June. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_16a_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_16a_09.html The Johns Hopkins Hospital Tops U.S. News & World Report "Honor Roll" 19th Year in a Row- 7/16/09 The Johns Hopkins Hospital has once again, for the 19th consecutive time, earned the top spot in U.S. News & World Report's annual rankings of more than 4,800 American hospitals, placing first in three medical specialties and in the top 16 in 13 others. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_16_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_16_09.html Johns Hopkins Physicians to Present a Continuing Medical Education Course at St. Matthew’s University School of Medicine - 7/16/09 Johns Hopkins Medicine International (JHI) and St. Matthew’s University (SMU), Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, will present a wide-ranging series of continuing medical education (CME) lectures focusing on new advances in treatment of arthritis and brain tumors, and other topics for local health care professionals and medical students on July 17, 2009. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_16b_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_16b_09.html Hopkins Surgeon Earns Award for Lifetime Achievement in Pancreatic Cancer Treatment- 7/15/09 Surgeon John L. Cameron, M.D., for 19 years the surgeon in chief at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, is among the 2009 recipients of the Hope Funds Awards of Excellence in cancer research. He is being honored for decades of work refining the Whipple procedure, one of the most common surgical treatments for pancreatic cancer, work that has helped reduce postsurgery death rates from 25 percent to less than 5 percent. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_15a_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_15a_09.html Researchers ID Brain-Protecting Protein- 7/15/09 Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered a novel protein that can protect brain cells by interrupting a naturally occurring “stress cascade” resulting in cell death. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_15_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_15_09.html Hopkins Scientist is 2009's Outstanding Woman Veterinarian- 7/9/09 A Johns Hopkins veterinarian whose vocation is HIV research and avocation is the care of dog “athletes” has been named the 2009 Outstanding Woman Veterinarian of the Year by the Association for Women Veterinarians Foundation. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_10_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_10_09.html Ethicists Urge Inclusion of Pregnant Women in Federal Child-Health Study - 7/9/09 A team of ethicists from Johns Hopkins, Duke and Georgetown universities is urging organizers of a recently begun $3 billion decades-long study of children’s health to immediately add provisions to look at the health and medical profiles of the children’s mothers during their pregnancies. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_09_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_09_09.html Johns Hopkins Leads First 16-Patient, Multicenter "Domino Donor" Kidney Transplant - 7/7/09 Surgical teams at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City and Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit successfully completed the first eight-way, multihospital, domino kidney transplant. The transplant involved eight donors — 3 men and 5 women along with eight organ recipients — 3 men and 5 women. “All Johns Hopkins patients are in good condition and are recovering as anticipated,” according to Robert A. Montgomery, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Johns Hopkins Comprehensive Transplant Center. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_07_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_07_09.html Wrong Dose of Heart Meds Too Frequent in Children- 7/7/09 Infants and young children treated with heart drugs get the wrong dose or end up on the wrong end of medication errors more often than older children, according to research led by the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center to be published July 6 in Pediatrics. http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Wrong_Dose_Of_Heart_Meds_Too_Frequent_In_Children.aspx http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Wrong_Dose_Of_Heart_Meds_Too_Frequent_In_Children.aspx Bioethicists Lead Call for Public Debates on Future Uses of Stem Cells - 7/2/09 More than 40 scientists, bioethicists, lawyers and science journal editors are calling on their colleagues, policy makers and the public to begin developing guidelines for the research and reproductive use of stem cell-derived eggs and sperm, even though such use may be a decade or more away. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_03_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_03_09.html Suburban Hospital Healthcare System Joins Johns Hopkins Medicine- 7/2/09 Ahead of schedule, officials of Suburban Hospital Healthcare System (SHHS) and The Johns Hopkins Health System Corporation completed and signed documents on June 30, 2009, officially integrating the Montgomery County-based SHHS into the Johns Hopkins Health System (JHHS). http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_02_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/07_02_09.html Predicting the Return of Prostate Cancer: New Johns Hopkins Study Betters the Odds of Success- 7/1/09 Cancer experts at Johns Hopkins say a study tracking 774 prostate cancer patients for a median of eight years has shown that a three-way combination of measurements has the best chance yet of predicting disease metastasis. http://www.hopkinskimmelcancercenter.org/index.cfm/cID/1684/mpage/item.cfm/itemID/1086 http://www.hopkinskimmelcancercenter.org/index.cfm/cID/1684/mpage/item.cfm/itemID/1086 Fighting Tuberculosis with Anti-Inflammatory Drugs Shown Possible in Animal Studies- 6/29/09 Tuberculosis (TB) experts at Johns Hopkins have evidence from a four-year series of experiments in mice that anti-inflammatory drugs could eventually prove effective in treating the highly contagious lung disease, adding to current antibiotic therapies. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/06_29_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/06_29_09.html Insect Venom Shots Work for Severe "Local" Sting Reactions, Too- 6/29/09 The same bee and other insect venom shots that doctors use to prevent deadly systemic reactions to insect stings can also tone down large local allergic reactions that, while not dangerous, can be painful and inconvenient, a Johns Hopkins study shows. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/06_29a_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/06_29a_09.html Crunching the (Sometimes Surprising) Numbers on Hormone-Related Disease- 6/29/09 A dogged review of the medical literature has produced what is believed to be the nation’s first comprehensive estimate of the extent of dozens of endocrine disorders in the United States. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/06_29b_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/06_29b_09.html Johns Hopkins Researchers Edit Genes in Human Stem Cells- 6/18/09 Researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine have successfully edited the genome of human- induced pluripotent stem cells, making possible the future development of patient-specific stem cell therapies. Reporting this week in Cell Stem Cell, the team altered a gene responsible for causing the rare blood disease paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, or PNH, establishing for the first time a useful system to learn more about the disease. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/06_18_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/06_18_09.html Johns Hopkins Scientists Out a Gene for Gout- 6/18/09 Having partnered last year with an international team that surveyed the genomes of 12,000 individuals to find a genetic cause for gout, Johns Hopkins scientists now have shown that the malfunctioning gene they helped uncover can lead to high concentrations of blood urate that forms crystals in joint tissue, causing inflammation and pain — the hallmark of this disease. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/06_18a_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/06_18a_09.html HIV Antibody Tests Unreliable For Early Infections In Teens- 6/17/09 A previously healthy teenager shows up at the doctor’s office with a sore throat, fever, aches and general malaise. Routine blood tests are normal, an HIV test comes back negative, and the pediatrician sends the patient home with a diagnosis of acute viral infection. http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/HIV-Antibody-Tests-Unreliable-For-Early-Infections-In-Teens.aspx http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/HIV-Antibody-Tests-Unreliable-For-Early-Infections-In-Teens.aspx Hopkins Children’s On USN&WR List of Best Children’s Hospitals- 6/17/09 Johns Hopkins Children’s Center is among the top ten children’s hospitals in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings of American children’s hospitals. This year, the 2009 America's Best Children's Hospitals included an “Honor Roll” of 10 pediatric hospitals in no particular order that ranked in all 10 specialties. Hopkins Children’s is among the ten best. http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Hopkins_Childrens_On_USNWR_List_of_Best_Childrens_Hospitals.aspx http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Hopkins_Childrens_On_USNWR_List_of_Best_Childrens_Hospitals.aspx Roux-en-Y Weight Loss Surgery Raises Kidney Stone Risk- 6/17/09 The most popular type of gastric bypass surgery appears to nearly double the chance that a patient will develop kidney stones, despite earlier assumptions that it would not, Johns Hopkins doctors report in a new study. The overall risk, however, remains fairly small at about 8 percent. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/06_17_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/06_17_09.html Lost Molecule is Lethal for Liver Cancer Cells in Mice- 6/11/09 Scientists at Johns Hopkins have discovered a potential strategy for cancer therapy by focusing on what’s missing in tumors. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/06_11_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/06_11_09.html Johns Hopkins Neuroscientists Watch Memories Form in Real Time- 6/10/09 Our ability to form long-term memories depends on cells in the brain making strong connections with each other. Yet while it’s not well understood how those connections are made, lost or changed, the process is known to involve the movement of the AMPA receptor protein to and from those neuronal connections. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/06_10_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/06_10_09.html Johns Hopkins Holds Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony for New Wilmer Eye Institute Building- 6/8/09 The Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins will celebrate the end of construction of the new Wilmer building at The Johns Hopkins Hospital with a one-hour ceremony and ribbon cutting, starting at 11 a.m., on Wednesday, June 10. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/06_08_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/06_08_09.html Johns Hopkins Medicine Retains Consulting Group to Help Develop Advanced Health Care Services for Government Agencies- 6/5/09 Johns Hopkins HealthCare LLC (JHHC), the managed care arm of Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM), has signed an agreement with The Winkenwerder Company LLC for strategic consulting services, a move designed to build on and expand Johns Hopkins’ longstanding relationships with government health agencies. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/06_05_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/06_05_09.html Mystery Solved: Johns Hopkins Scientists Say Tiny Protein-Activator Responsible for Brain Cell Damage in Huntington Disease- 6/4/09 Johns Hopkins brain scientists have figured out why a faulty protein accumulates in cells everywhere in the bodies of people with Huntington’s disease (HD), but only kills cells in the part of the brain that controls movement, causing negligible damage to tissues elsewhere. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/06_04_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/06_04_09.html Children of Adults with Anxiety Disorder May Need Help Too- 6/1/09 In what is believed to be the first U.S. study designed to prevent anxiety disorders in the children of anxious parents, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center have found that a family-based program reduced symptoms and the risk of developing an anxiety disorder among these children. http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Children_of_Adults_with_Anxiety_Disorder_May_Need_Help_Too.aspx http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Children_of_Adults_with_Anxiety_Disorder_May_Need_Help_Too.aspx Film Chronicle of Cody Unser's 9-Year Struggle with Paralyzing Transverse Myelitis Premieres June 2- 5/29/09 A documentary history of long-time Johns Hopkins patient Cody Unser, the daughter and granddaughter of Indy 500 car racing greats, will premiere at a benefit June 2 at the Hershey Theater in Hershey, Pa. The event is hosted by Mario Andretti and his wife Dee Ann. Andretti is the only driver to win the Indianapolis 500, the Daytona 500 and the Formula One World Championship. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/05_29_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/05_29_09.html Johns Hopkins Transplant Surgery Team Holds Successful Fundraiser- 5/29/09 An evening of opera music featuring Metropolitan opera star Denyce Graves was held recently to raise funds to benefit organ transplant surgery research and care at Johns Hopkins. The event, titled “Let the Music Move You,” was attended by 70 guests at Graves’ home in Bethesda, Md. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/05_27_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/05_27_09.html The Johns Hopkins Hospital Named to International List of Most Ethical Organizations- 5/28/09 The Ethisphere Institute, a New York-based think-tank established to advance best practices in business ethics and corporate social responsibility, has named The Johns Hopkins Hospital to its 2009 list of the business world’s most ethical companies and institutions. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/05_28_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/05_28_09.html TV Industry Foundation Picks Hopkins Scientists for Cancer Research "Dream Teams"- 5/27/09 A TV industry- and celebrity-driven cancer research project has chosen scientists at Johns Hopkins for two of five multi-institutional “dream teams” financed by “Stand Up to Cancer “ grants totaling more than $6 million. http://www.hopkinskimmelcancercenter.org/index.cfm/cID/1684/mpage/item.cfm/itemID/1073 http://www.hopkinskimmelcancercenter.org/index.cfm/cID/1684/mpage/item.cfm/itemID/1073 Survey Suggests Higher Risk of Falls Due to Dizziness in Middle-Aged and Older Americans- 5/25/09 A full third of American adults, 69 million men and women over age 40, are up to 12 times more likely to have a serious fall because they have some form of inner-ear dysfunction that throws them off balance and makes them dizzy, according to Johns Hopkins experts. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/05_25_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/05_25_09.html Johns Hopkins Patient Safety Program Receives Healthcare Informatics Magazine's 2009 Innovator Award- 5/20/09 Johns Hopkins Medicine’s patient safety program has earned second place in Healthcare Informatics magazine’s eighth annual Innovator Awards. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/05_21_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/05_21_09.html High School Athletes Offered Free Screening for Risk of Dangerous Heart Abnormalities - 5/20/09 For the second year in a row, volunteer heart disease experts from Johns Hopkins will staff and run Maryland’s only screening program to detect early signs of life-threatening heart abnormalities, including hypertrophic cardiomyopathies, in student athletes. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/05_20a_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/05_20a_09.html Heart Surgeon Denton A. Cooley to Speak at Johns Hopkins Univ. School of Medicine Convocation - 5/19/09 Denton A. Cooley, M.D., an American pioneer in heart surgery, will be the guest speaker at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine’s 114th convocation on Friday, May 22, 2009 at 10:30 a.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/05_19_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/05_19_09.html Science Writers’ Symposium - 5/20/09 “Ever Wonder What Gets Your Senses Revving?” http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/05_20_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/05_20_09.html Mock CPR Drills in Kids Show Many Residents Fail In Key Skills - 5/18/09 Research from the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center exposes alarming gaps in training hospital residents in “first response” emergency treatment of staged cardiorespiratory arrests in children, while at the same time offering a potent recipe for fixing the problem. http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Mock_CPR_Drills_in_Kids_Show_Many-Residents-Fail-In-Key-Skills.aspx http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Mock_CPR_Drills_in_Kids_Show_Many-Residents-Fail-In-Key-Skills.aspx New Lead on Malaria Treatment - 5/15/09 Approximately 350 million to 500 million cases of malaria are diagnosed each year mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. While medications to prevent and treat malaria do exist, the demand for new treatments is on the rise, in part, because malaria parasites have developed a resistance to existing medications. Now, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have discovered one way to stop malaria parasite growth, and this new finding could guide the development of new malaria treatments. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/05_15_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/05_15_09.html Old Diabetes Drug Teaches Experts New Tricks - 5/14/09 Research from the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center reveals that the drug most commonly used in type 2 diabetics who don’t need insulin works on a much more basic level than once thought, treating persistently elevated blood sugar — the hallmark of type 2 diabetes — by regulating the genes that control its production. http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Old__Diabetes_Drug_Teaches_Experts_New_Tricks.aspx http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Old__Diabetes_Drug_Teaches_Experts_New_Tricks.aspx In Retinal Disease, Sight May Depend on Second Sites - 5/12/09 If two people have the same genetic disease, why would one person go blind in childhood but the other later in life or not at all? For a group of genetic diseases — so-called ciliary diseases that include Bardet-Biedl syndrome, Meckel-Gruber syndrome, and Joubert syndrome — the answer lies in one gene that is already linked to two of these diseases and also seems to increase the risk of progressive blindness in patients with other ciliary diseases. The findings are published online this week at Nature Genetics. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/05_12_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/05_12_09.html New Genes Implicated in High Blood Pressure- 5/10/09 Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, along with an international team of collaborators, have identified common genetic changes associated with blood pressure and hypertension. The study, reporting online next week in Nature Genetics, breaks new ground in understanding blood pressure regulation and may lead to advances in hypertension therapy. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/05_10_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/05_10_09.html New Evidence Ties Gene To Alzheimer's- 5/6/09 Of dozens of candidates potentially involved in increasing a person’s risk for the most common type of Alzheimer’s disease that affects more than 5 million Americans over the age of 65, one gene that keeps grabbing Johns Hopkins researchers’ attention makes a protein called neuroglobin. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/05_06_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/05_06_09.html Johns Hopkins News Tips from the Annual Meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies- 5/5/09 News Tips from the 2009 Annual Meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/05_05_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/05_05_09.html Johns Hopkins' Young Engineers Receive Industry Support- 5/4/09 Metal detectors for removing surgical screws, intensive care walkers and radiological markers for locating tumors—what will they think of next? http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/05_04_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/05_04_09.html When Cells Reach Out and Touch- 5/1/09 MicroRNAs are single-stranded snippets that, not long ago, were given short shrift as genetic junk. Now that studies have shown they regulate genes involved in normal functioning as well as diseases such as cancer, everyone wants to know: What regulates microRNAs? http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/05_01a_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/05_01a_09.html Chemical Found in Medical Devices Impairs Heart Function- 5/1/09 Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have found that a chemical commonly used in the production of such medical plastic devices as intravenous (IV) bags and catheters can impair heart function in rats. Reporting online this week in the American Journal of Physiology, these new findings suggest a possible new reason for some of the common side effects—loss of taste, short term memory loss--of medical procedures that require blood to be circulated through plastic tubing outside the body, such as heart bypass surgery or kidney dialysis. These new findings also have strong implications for the future of medical plastics manufacturing. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/05_01_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/05_01_09.html Folic Acid May Help Treat Allergies, Asthma- 4/30/09 Folic acid, or vitamin B9, essential for red blood cell health and long known to reduce the risk of spinal birth defects, may also suppress allergic reactions and lessen the severity of allergy and asthma symptoms, according to new research from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center. http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Folic-Acid-May-Help-Treat-Allergies-Asthma.aspx http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Folic-Acid-May-Help-Treat-Allergies-Asthma.aspx Statement from Johns Hopkins About Swine Flu Safety- 4/28/09 As always, Johns Hopkins' first priority is the safety and care of patients, visitors, employees and students. Experts and officials at Johns Hopkins Medicine are working closely with federal, state and local public health offices during this rapidly changing public health problem. The Johns Hopkins Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response (CEPAR) has plans for emerging infections. These plans are being implemented as needed, and JHM will take all required steps to help assure your safety. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/04_28_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/04_28_09.html Suburban Hospital Healthcare System to Join Johns Hopkins Medicine- 4/24/09 In a move to build on longstanding ties and to address growing regional interest in more efficient, integrated regional health care services for patients, officials of Suburban Hospital Healthcare System (SHHS) and The Johns Hopkins Health System Corporation have formally agreed to integrate SHHS into the Johns Hopkins Health System (JHHS). http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/04_24_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/04_24_09.html Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Ranked #2 in Nation- 4/23/09 Once again, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has retained its top-tier ranking in U.S. News & World Report’s edition on the best graduate schools in the nation. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/04_23_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/04_23_09.html Double-Lung Transplants Work Better Than Single for Long-Term Survival- 4/22/09 Having both lungs replaced instead of just one is the single most important feature determining who lives longest after having a lung transplant, more than doubling an organ recipient’s chances of extending their life by over a decade, a study by a team of transplant surgeons at Johns Hopkins shows. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/04_22_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/04_22_09.html Former NIH Director Elias Zerhouni Rejoins Johns Hopkins Medicine as Senior Advisor- 4/20/09 It’s a homecoming, of sorts. Elias Zerhouni, M.D., director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from 2002 to 2008 and former Johns Hopkins Medicine executive vice dean, returns to Hopkins May 1, 2009, as a senior advisor to Johns Hopkins Medicine. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/04_20_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/04_20_09.html Evidence Grows That Maternal Immune Response During Pregnancy A Key Factor In Some Autism- 4/16/09 New studies in pregnant mice using antibodies against fetal brains made by the mothers of autistic children show that immune cells can cross the placenta and trigger neurobehavioral changes similar to autism in the mouse pups. http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Evidence_Grows_That_Maternal_Immune_Response_During_Pregnancy_Key_Factor_In_Some_Autism.aspx http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Evidence_Grows_That_Maternal_Immune_Response_During_Pregnancy_Key_Factor_In_Some_Autism.aspx Autopsy Study Links Prostate Cancer to Singe Rogue Cell- 4/16/09 One cell…one initial set of genetic changes – that’s all it takes to begin a series of events that lead to metastatic cancer. Now, Johns Hopkins experts have tracked how the cancer process began in 33 men with prostate cancer who died of the disease. Culling information from autopsies, their study points to a set of genetic defects in a single cell that are different for each person’s cancer. http://www.hopkinskimmelcancercenter.org/index.cfm/cID/1684/mpage/item.cfm/itemID/1057 http://www.hopkinskimmelcancercenter.org/index.cfm/cID/1684/mpage/item.cfm/itemID/1057 Johns Hopkins Researchers at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology- 4/13/09 TIPS: CHIPPING AWAY AT PROTEINS, THE PROMISE OF CHEMICAL RESCUE, HOW CELLS FOLLOW THEIR "NOSE" http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/04_18_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/04_18_09.html In the ICU, Use of Benzodiazepines, Other Factors May Predict Severity of Post-Stay Depression- 4/10/09 Psychiatrists and critical care specialists at Johns Hopkins have begun to tease out what there is about a stay in an intensive care unit (ICU) that leads so many patients to report depression after they go home. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/04_10_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/04_10_09.html Johns Hopkins Honors Young Investigators- 4/9/09 Johns Hopkins School of Medicine will honor 18 young researchers who have gone above and beyond in their search for answers. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/YID.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/YID.html Physician Alert: Stop Commonly Prescribing Stomach-Upset Drugs for Asthmatics without Serious Heartburn- 4/8/09 Lung experts from Johns Hopkins and elsewhere are calling on physicians to suspend the routine use of potent heartburn medications in asthmatics solely to temper recurrent attacks of wheezing, coughing and breathlessness. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/04_09_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/04_09_09.html New Common Pathway in Neurodegenerative Disease is a Possible Door to a Point of No Return- 4/8/09 A just-out study suggests that what keeps chronic nervous system diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s and ALS going — until they overcome the internal protective mechanisms a body can throw at them — may largely come down to poor conversational skills. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/04_08_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/04_08_09.html New JHM Policies Tighten Rules on Industry Interactions- 4/8/09 Johns Hopkins Medicine has adopted a new policy that significantly limits interactions with industry while ensuring effective, principled and appropriate partnerships with drug and medical device makers. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/04_07_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/04_07_09.html Compendium of Pancreatic Cancer Biomarkers Established as Strategic Approach to Early-Detection Research- 4/6/09 A cancer scientist from Johns Hopkins has convinced an international group of colleagues to delay their race to find new cancer biomarkers and instead begin a 7,000-hour slog through a compendium of 50,000 scientific articles already published to assemble, decode and analyze the molecules that might herald the furtive presence of pancreatic cancer. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/04_06a_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/04_06a_09.html Gusty Germs Succumb to Baby Broccoli- 4/6/09 A small, pilot study in 50 people in Japan suggests that eating two and a half ounces of broccoli sprouts daily for two months may confer some protection against a rampant stomach bug that causes gastritis, ulcers and even stomach cancer. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/04_06_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/04_06_09.html ABC Documentary "Hopkins" Wins Prestigious Peabody Award- 4/2/09 “Hopkins,” the seven-part ABC network news documentary filmed entirely at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and aired in late summer of 2008, is among the 2008 winners of the 68th Annual Peabody Awards for electronic media. Winners, chosen by the Peabody board, were named in a ceremony on April 1 by The University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/04_03_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/04_03_09.html Hopkins Ranks Among Best Hospitals in AARP Physician Survey- 4/2/09 A new survey of U.S. physicians commissioned by AARP ranks The Johns Hopkins Hospital among the “most frequently recommended” medical centers for heart disease, cancer, “mystery diagnoses,” neurosurgery and ophthalmology. Results of the survey, conducted by Consumers’ Checkbook, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit research organization, are published in AARP magazine’s May/June issue. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/04_02_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/04_02_09.html Johns Hopkins' Young Engineers Receive Industry Support- 4/1/09 Metal detectors for removing surgical screws, intensive care walkers and radiological markers for locating tumors, what will they think of next? http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/04_01_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/04_01_09.html Serious Vision Problems in Urban Preschoolers Rare But Not That Rare- 4/1/09 In what is believed to be the first comprehensive eye disease study among urban pre-schoolers, Johns Hopkins investigators report that while vision problems are rare, they are more common than once thought. Also, they say, a small group of children with easily treatable visions problems go untreated, while others get treatments they don’t need. http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/serious-vision-problems-in-urban-preschoolers-rare.aspx http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/serious-vision-problems-in-urban-preschoolers-rare.aspx Johns Hopkins Appoints New Clinical Director of Cardiology- 3/31/09 Physician-science investigator Edward Kasper, M.D., an expert in chronic heart failure and the heart transplantation that often results from the disease, has been named the new clinical director of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine’s Division of Cardiology and co-director of the School’s Heart and Vascular Institute. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/03_31_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/03_31_09.html Three Johns Hopkins Researchers Named Howard Hughes Medical Institute Early Career Scientists- 3/26/09 Three researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have been named early career scientists by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). Xinzhong Dong, Ph.D., Joshua Mendell, M.D., Ph.D., and Sinisa Urban, Ph.D., all will remain faculty at Hopkins but also become employees of HHMI, which will provide research funding and salary for the next six years. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/03_26_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/03_26_09.html Genetic Changes Outside Nuclear DNA Suspected to Trigger More Than Half of All Cancers- 3/24/09 A buildup of chemical bonds on certain cancer-promoting genes, a process known as hypermethylation, is widely known to render cells cancerous by disrupting biological brakes on runaway growth. Now, Johns Hopkins scientists say the reverse process — demethylation — which wipes off those chemical bonds may also trigger more than half of all cancers. http://www.hopkinskimmelcancercenter.org/index.cfm/cID/1684/mpage/item.cfm/itemID/1048 http://www.hopkinskimmelcancercenter.org/index.cfm/cID/1684/mpage/item.cfm/itemID/1048 Safe Driving Education Should Be Part of Routine Teen Physicals, Hopkins Children’s Experts Say- 3/24/09 The “are you driving yet?” talk should become part of every pediatrician’s regular physical exam for teenagers, Hopkins Children’s experts say. Pediatrician Letitia Dzirasa, M.D., notes that car accidents kill more 15- to -20-year-olds than any disease, so teenage driving should be considered a risky behavior, in need of as much attention as unprotected sex or underage drinking. http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/safe-driving-education-should-be-part-of-routine-teen-physicals.aspx http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/safe-driving-education-should-be-part-of-routine-teen-physicals.aspx Starve a Yeast, Sweeten Its Lifespan- 3/23/09 Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered a new energy-making biochemical twist in determining the lifespan of yeast cells, one so valuable to longevity that it is likely to also functions in humans. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/03_24_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/03_24_09.html Hopkins Scientists ID 10 Genes Associated with a Risk Factor for Sudden Cardiac Death- 3/22/09 That an abnormality in his heart’s electrical system had managed to stay on the Q.T. — until it proved lethal — is characteristic of sudden cardiac death, which annually claims more than a quarter million Americans. A dearth of discernable symptoms and lack of detectable molecules circulating in the blood makes the prediction of sudden cardiac death largely dependent on genetic risk factors. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/03_22_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/03_22_09.html Traditional "Match Day" at Johns Hopkins March 19- 3/18/09 Although the majority of the nation’s fourth-year medical students can go online to find out which residencies are theirs, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine class of ’09 will continue the school’s annual ritual of gathering and opening official letters in the presence of classmates, professors and loved ones. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/03_18a_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/03_18a_09.html 6.5 Million More Patients Might Benefit from Statins to Prevent Heart Attacks, Strokes- 3/18/09 Millions more patients could benefit from taking statins, drugs typically used to prevent heart attacks and strokes, than current prescribing guidelines suggest, Johns Hopkins doctors report in a new study. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/03_18_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/03_18_09.html Johns Hopkins Medicine International Launches New Cardiac Surgery Collaboration in Italy - 3/16/09 Two of the world’s leading experts in cardiac surgery will be in Pavia, Italy, tomorrow to attend the signing ceremony of a three-year collaboration agreement between Johns Hopkins Medicine International and San Matteo Hospital. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/03_16_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/03_16_09.html Lengthy "Daisy Chain" Transplants Possible from One Altruistic Donor Kidney - 3/11/09 A new variation in kidney paired donation (KPD) — pioneered and developed at Johns Hopkins — could theoretically generate an endless number of transplants, researchers report. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/03_11a_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/03_11a_09.html Jeremy Nathans Awarded Prestigious Scolnick Prize - 3/11/09 Jeremy Nathans, M.D., Ph.D., professor of molecular biology and genetics, neuroscience and ophthalmology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, has been awarded the sixth annual Edward M. Scolnick Prize in Neuroscience by the McGovern Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Scolnick Prize is awarded each year to recognize an individual who has made outstanding advances in the field of neuroscience http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/03_11_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/03_11_09.html Diagnostic Errors: The New Focus of Patient Safety Experts - 3/11/09 Johns Hopkins patient safety experts say it’s high time for diagnostic errors to get the same attention from medical institutions and caregivers as drug-prescribing errors, wrong-site surgeries and hospital-acquired infections. Diagnostic misadventures represent a potentially much larger source of preventable health problems and deaths than many of the more popular targets of safety reform, they say in a commentary in the March 11 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/03_10a_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/03_10a_09.html Seaweed and Fireflies Brew May Guide Stem Cell Treatment for Peripheral Artery Disease - 3/10/09 An unlikely brew of seaweed and glow-in-the-dark biochemical agents may hold the key to the safe use of transplanted stem cells to treat patients with severe peripheral arterial disease (PAD), according to a team of veterinarians, basic scientists and interventional radiologists at Johns Hopkins. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/03_10_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/03_10_09.html The Difference Between Eye Cells Is... SUMO? - 3/9/09 Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Washington University School of Medicine have identified a key to eye development — a protein that regulates how the light-sensing nerve cells in the retina form. While still far from the clinic, the latest results, published in the Jan. 29 issue of Neuron, could help scientists better understand how nerve cells develop. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/03_09_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/03_09_09.html "Personalized" Genome Sequencing Finds Disease-Causing Genes - 3/5/09 Scientists at the Sol Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Research Center at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have used "personalized genome" sequencing on an individual with a hereditary form of pancreatic cancer to locate a mutation in a gene called PALB2 that is responsible for initiating the disease. The discovery marks their first use of a genome scanning system to uncover suspect mutations in normal inherited genes. http://www.hopkinskimmelcancercenter.org/index.cfm/cID/1684/mpage/item.cfm/itemID/1042 http://www.hopkinskimmelcancercenter.org/index.cfm/cID/1684/mpage/item.cfm/itemID/1042 Joint Commission International Accredits Johns Hopkins-Affiliated Clemenceau Medical Center in Lebanon - 3/3/09 The Clemenceau Medical Center (CMC) in Beirut, Lebanon, has been awarded the official accreditation of the Joint Commission International (JCI). CMC is one of only two medical centers in Lebanon to hold JCI accreditation. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/03_03_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/03_03_09.html Johns Hopkins Safety Team Works to Eliminate Bloodstream Infections in the Nation and the World - 2/25/09 A widely heralded Johns Hopkins safety initiative to reduce bloodstream infections in intensive care units (ICUs) was implemented in 30 states starting Feb. 1 and could save an estimated $3 billion dollars and 30,000 lives annually. In addition, the program has been launched in Spain and will begin in the United Kingdom starting in April. Pilot programs are also under discussion with health care leaders in Peru and Chile. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/02_25_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/02_25_09.html Prostate Specific Antigen Testing May be Unnecessary for Some Older Men - 2/20/09 Certain men age 75 to 80 are unlikely to benefit from routine prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing, according to a Johns Hopkins study published in the April 2009 issue of The Journal of Urology. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/02_20_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/02_20_09.html Two Gene Mutations Linked to Most Common Brain Cancers - 2/19/09 Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and Duke University Medical Center have linked mutations in two genes, IDH1 and IDH2, to nearly three-quarters of several of the most common types of brain cancers known as gliomas. Among the findings: people with certain tumors that carry these genetic alterations appear to survive at least twice as long as those without them. http://www.hopkinskimmelcancercenter.org/index.cfm/cID/1684/mpage/item.cfm/itemID/1033 http://www.hopkinskimmelcancercenter.org/index.cfm/cID/1684/mpage/item.cfm/itemID/1033 Clot-Buster Boosts Survival, Decreases Disability for Deadly Subset of Stroke - 2/19/09 New results from a multicenter study led by Johns Hopkins show that patients who got an experimental clot-busting treatment for a particularly lethal form of stroke were not only dramatically more likely to survive but also continued to shed lingering disabilities six months later. The findings, announced at the International Stroke Conference in San Diego on Feb. 19, are likely to build support for the use of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) in patients with intracranial hemorrhage, a treatment-resistant form of stroke marked by brain bleeding. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/02_19_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/02_19_09.html Researchers Explore New Driver of Transplant Rejection: Platelets - 2/17/09 Platelets, tiny and relatively uncharted tenants of the bloodstream known mostly for their role in blood clotting, turn out to also rally sustained immune system inflammatory responses that play a critical role in organ transplant rejection, according to a new report from Johns Hopkins scientists. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/02_17_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/02_17_09.html Johns Hopkins Leads First 12-Patient, Multicenter “Domino Donor” Kidney Transplant - 2/17/09 Surgical teams at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis and Integris Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City successfully completed Saturday the first six-way, multihospital, domino kidney transplant. All six donors — one man and five women, and six organ recipients – four men and two woman — are in good condition, according to Robert Montgomery, M.D., Ph.D., chief transplant surgeon at Johns Hopkins. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/02_16_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/02_16_09.html What's Feeding Cancer Cells? - 2/15/09 Cancer cells need a lot of nutrients to multiply and survive. While much is understood about how cancer cells use blood sugar to make energy, not much is known about how they get other nutrients. Now, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have discovered how the Myc cancer-promoting gene uses microRNAs to control the use of glutamine, a major energy source. The results, which shed light on a new angle of cancer that might help scientists figure out a way to stop the disease, appear Feb. 15 online at Nature. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/02_15_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/02_15_09.html The Genome's Traveling Salesmen: Tips on Newsmakers at AAAS - 2/14/09 Transposons — the traveling salesmen of the genome composed of DNA sequences with no fixed address — are the focus of a symposium at the annual meeting of the AAAS led by experts from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/02_14_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/02_14_09.html New Johns Hopkins Imaging Center to Widen Windows on the Brain - 2/9/09 It’s a classic academic mismatch: Researchers aren’t able to make use of seminal improvements in technology—often from colleagues just across the street—either because they don’t know about them or because gaining familiarity makes unrealistic demands on their time. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/02_09_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/02_09_09.html Volunteer Work in Grade Schools Produce Persistent Health Benefit for Older Black Women - 2/9/09 A Johns Hopkins study reveals that older black women who spend time with young children in the classroom are not only more active than similar women who don’t volunteer, but seem to stay active. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/02_09a_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/02_09a_09.html Drug Therapy Reduces HIV Transmission in Couples Regardless of Condom Use or Safe-Sex Practices - 2/9/09 Antiretroviral drug therapy in an HIV-positive man or women can alone help prevent the transmission of HIV to an uninfected partner, regardless of counseling, the patient’s use of condoms or other safe-sex practices, AIDS experts at Johns Hopkins report. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/02_09b_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/02_09b_09.html Viral-Load Testing: A Better Way to Predict Anti-HIV, Drug-Treatment Failures in Africa- 2/8/09 Johns Hopkins and Ugandan scientists say counting the number of HIV viruses in the blood rather than relying solely on counting the number of circulating HIV-fighting CD4 immune system cells is a far better way to uncover early signs that antiretroviral drugs are losing their punch, and to signal the need to get patients on more potent treatments to keep the disease in check. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/02_08_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/02_08_09.html Johns Hopkins Offers Free Software Tool for Large-Scale Disaster “Surge” Planning - 2/4/09 A team of Johns Hopkins experts is offering a free, Web-based tool it developed that calculates and predicts in advance the impact on individual hospitals of a flu epidemic, bioterrorist attack, flood or plane crash, accounting for such elements as numbers of victims, germ-carrying wind patterns, available medical resources, bacterial incubation periods and bomb size. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/02_04_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/02_04_09.html Johns Hopkins Researchers Discover New Schizophrenia Gene- 2/3/09 Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine are one gene closer to understanding schizophrenia and related disorders. Reporting in the Jan. 9 issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics, the team describes how a variation in the neuregulin 3 gene influences delusions associated with schizophrenia. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/02_03_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/02_03_09.html Hopkins Transplant Surgeons Remove Healthy Kidney Through Donor's Vagina- 2/2/09 In what is believed to be a first-ever procedure, surgeons at Johns Hopkins have successfully removed a healthy donor kidney through a small incision in the back of the donor’s vagina. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/02_02_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/02_02_09.html Johns Hopkins Appoints New Director of Cardiology- 2/2/09 Physician-scientist Gordon Tomaselli, M.D., an expert on sudden cardiac death and heart rhythm disturbances, has been named the new director of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine’s Division of Cardiology and co-director of the School’s Heart and Vascular Institute. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/02_02a_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/02_02a_09.html Study Confirms Persistence of Diversity Problems in Academic Medicine- 1/30/09 A survey study believed to be one of the first efforts to put hard numbers around long-held beliefs about diversity in medical school faculties has affirmed that awareness and sensitivity to racial and ethnic diversity are believed by most faculty to be poor and even poorer among faculty who are members of underrepresented minorities. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_30a_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_30a_09.html Teaching an Old Drug New Tricks- 1/30/09 A century-old drug that failed in its original intent to treat tuberculosis but has worked well as an antileprosy medicine now holds new promise as a potential therapy for multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_30_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_30_09.html Johns Hopkins Medicine International Appoints New CEO at Al Corniche - 1/29/09 Johns Hopkins Medicine International (JHI), the international arm of Johns Hopkins Medicine, has appointed Ronald S. Lavater chief executive officer of Al Corniche Hospital (Abu Dhabi, UAE), which handles more than 12,000 births and 216,000 outpatient visits a year. Al Corniche Hospital is a Joint Commission International (JCI)-accredited health care facility owned by the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA). http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_29_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_29_09.html Lung Transplants: Doing More is Better and Safer, a Johns Hopkins Study Suggests- 1/27/09 Transplant surgeons at Johns Hopkins have evidence that hospitals performing at least 20 lung transplant procedures a year, on average, have the best overall patient survival rates and lowest number of deaths from the complex surgery. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_27_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_27_09.html Statewide Study Confirms "Paperless" Hospitals are Better for Patients- 1/26/09 Results from a large-scale Johns Hopkins study of more than 40 hospitals and 160,000 patients show that when health information technologies replace paper forms and handwritten notes, both hospitals and patients benefit strongly. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_26_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_26_09.html How Chemotherapy Drugs Block Blood Vessel Growth, Slow Cancer Spread- 1/22/09 Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have discovered how a whole class of commonly used chemotherapy drugs can block cancer growth. Their findings, reported online this week at the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition, suggest that a subgroup of cancer patients might particularly benefit from these drugs. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_22_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_22_09.html Surviving Dance Club Music (Noise) with Hearing Intact- 1/20/09 By tweaking a system in the ear that limits how much sound is heard, a global team of researchers has discovered one alteration that shows that the ability of the ear to turn itself down contributes to protecting against permanent hearing loss. The report appears this week in PLoS Biology. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_20_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_20_09.html Kidney Transplant Survival can be Long-Term for People with HIV- 1/19/09 A Johns Hopkins study finds that HIV-positive kidney transplant recipients could have the same one-year survival rates for themselves and their donor organs as those without HIV, provided certain risk factors for transplant failure are recognized and tightly managed. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_19_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_19_09.html Large DNA Stretches, Not Single Genes, Shut Off As Cells Mature- 1/18/09 Experiments at Johns Hopkins have found that the gradual maturing of embryonic cells into cells as varied as brain, liver and immune system cells is apparently due to the shut off of several genes at once rather than in individual smatterings as previous studies have implied. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_18a_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_18a_09.html Gene Switch Sites Found Mainly on "Shores," Not Just "Islands" of the Human Genome- 1/18/09 Scientists who study how human chemistry can permanently turn off genes have typically focused on small islands of DNA believed to contain most of the chemical alterations involved in those switches. But after an epic tour of so-called DNA methylation sites across the human genome in normal and cancer cells, Johns Hopkins scientists have found that the vast majority of the sites aren’t grouped in those islands at all, but on nearby regions that they’ve named “shores.” http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_18_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_18_09.html Johns Hopkins Medicine International Signs Management Agreement with Panama’s Hospital Punta Pacífica- 1/14/09 Johns Hopkins Medicine International (JHI)—the Baltimore, Maryland, USA-based international arm of Johns Hopkins Medicine—and Hospital Punta Pacífica (HPP) in Panama City, Panama, have entered into a seven-year agreement that gives JHI complete managerial oversight of the 75-bed hospital. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_14_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_14_09.html Older Women Less Likely than Men to be Listed for Kidney Transplants- 1/12/09 A Johns Hopkins transplant surgeon has found strong evidence that women over 45 are significantly less likely to be placed on a kidney transplant list than their equivalent male counterparts, even though women who receive a transplant stand an equal chance of survival. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_12_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_12_09.html Growth of New Brain Cells Requires 'Epigenetic' Switch- 1/8/09 New cells are born every day in the brain’s hippocampus, but what controls this birth has remained a mystery. Reporting in the January 1 issue of Science, neuroscientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have discovered that the birth of new cells, which depends on brain activity, also depends on a protein that is involved in changing epigenetic marks in the cell’s genetic material. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_08_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_08_09.html Lost in Translation- 1/7/09 The enzyme machine that translates a cell’s DNA code into the proteins of life is nothing if not an editorial perfectionist. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_07_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_07_09.html Four, Three, Two, One... Pterosaurs Have Lift Off!- 1/6/09 Pterosaurs have long suffered an identity crisis. Pop culture heedlessly — and wrongly — lumps these extinct flying lizards in with dinosaurs. Even paleontologists assumed that because the creatures flew, they were birdlike in many ways, such as using only two legs to take flight. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_06_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_06_09.html New Hope for Cancer Comes Straight from the Heart- 1/5/09 Digitalis-based drugs like digoxin have been used for centuries to treat patients with irregular heart rhythms and heart failure and are still in use today. In the Dec. 16 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine now report that this same class of drugs may hold new promise as a treatment for cancer. This finding emerged through a search for existing drugs that might slow or stop cancer progression. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_05a_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_05a_09.html Viagra's Other Talents: To Help a 'Signaling' Protein Shield the Heart from High Blood Pressure Damage- 1/5/09 Johns Hopkins and other researchers report what is believed to be the first direct evidence in lab animals that the erectile dysfunction drug sildenafil amplifies the effects of a heart-protective protein. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_05_09.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2009/01_05_09.html Viagra's Other Talents: To Help a 'Signaling' Protein Shield the Heart from High Blood Pressure Damage- 1/5/09 Babies born to HIV-positive mothers and given the antiretroviral drug nevirapine through the first six weeks of life to prevent infection via breast-feeding are at high risk for developing drug-resistant HIV if they get infected anyway, a team of researchers report. But the investigators highlight the proven superiority of the six-week regimen in preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission in breast-fed infants. http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Prolonged-Nevirapine-in-Breast-Fed-Babies-Prevents-HIV-Infection-But-Leads-To-Drug-Resistant-HIV.aspx http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Prolonged-Nevirapine-in-Breast-Fed-Babies-Prevents-HIV-Infection-But-Leads-To-Drug-Resistant-HIV.aspx Bright Lights, Not-So-Big Pupils- 12/31/08 A team of Johns Hopkins neuroscientists has worked out how some newly discovered light sensors in the eye detect light and communicate with the brain. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2008/12_31a_08.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2008/12_31a_08.html Why Prostate Cancer Patients Fail Hormone Deprivation Therapy- 12/31/08 The hormone deprivation therapy that prostate cancer patients often take gives them only a temporary fix, with tumors usually regaining their hold within a couple of years. Now, researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered critical differences in the hormone receptors on prostate cancer cells in patients who no longer respond to this therapy. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2008/12_31_08.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2008/12_31_08.html Johns Hopkins Scientists Pull Protein's Tail to Curtail Cancer- 12/30/08 When researchers look inside human cancer cells for the whereabouts of an important tumor-suppressor, they often catch the protein playing hooky, lolling around in cellular broth instead of muscling its way out to the cells’ membranes and foiling cancer growth. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2008/12_30_08.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2008/12_30_08.html Little Progress Made in Patient Safety in Spite of Institute of Medicine Call to Action- 12/23/08 Despite increased emphasis on patient safety, little progress has been made in making hospitals safer, says Johns Hopkins critical care specialist Peter Pronovost, M.D., Ph.D., in an article in the Dec. 24 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2008/12_23_08.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2008/12_23_08.html JHM Information on Uncompensated Care- 12/21/08 The information on this page is provided by Johns Hopkins Medicine in response to an article on hospitals and uncompensated care published in The Baltimore Sun’s December 21, 2008 edition. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/mediaII/uncompensated_care_info/index.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/mediaII/uncompensated_care_info/index.html Five Johns Hopkins University Researchers Named 2008 AAAS Fellows- 12/18/08 Five Johns Hopkins University researchers have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science by their peers. Jonathan Bagger, Ted Dawson, Barbara Landau, Jun Liu and Jeremy Nathans are among 486 new fellows around the world. Election as a fellow honors their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. http://www.jhu.edu/news_info/news/home08/dec08/aaas.html http://www.jhu.edu/news_info/news/home08/dec08/aaas.html Mouse Studies Suggest "Toxic" Carbon Monoxide May Prevent Brain Damage After Stroke- 12/15/08 Researchers at Johns Hopkins have shown that brain damage was reduced by as much as 62.2 percent in mice who inhale low amounts of carbon monoxide after an induced stroke. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2008/12_15_08.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2008/12_15_08.html Johns Hopkins Immunologists Awarded $10M NIH Grant- 12/15/08 Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have been awarded a $10.3 million grant—the largest basic immunology grant ever received by Hopkins—from the National Institutes of Health to dissect the human immune system. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2008/12_16_08.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2008/12_16_08.html Clues About Controlling Cholesterol Rise from Yeast Studies- 12/2/08 Having discovered how a lowly, single-celled fungus regulates its version of cholesterol, Johns Hopkins researchers are gaining new insight about the target and action of cholesterol-lowering drugs taken daily by millions of people to stave off heart attacks and strokes. Their work appears in the December issue of Cell Metabolism. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2008/12_02_08.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2008/12_02_08.html Study Unmasks How Ovarian Tumors Evade Immune System- 12/1/08 Scientists at Johns Hopkins have determined how the characteristic shedding of fatty substances, or lipids, by ovarian tumors allows the cancer to evade the body’s immune system, leaving the disease to spread unchecked. Ovarian cancer is considered to be one of the most aggressive malignancies, killing more than 70 percent of diagnosed women within five years, including an estimated 15,000 this year. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2008/12_01_08.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2008/12_01_08.html Fruit Fly Discovery Generates Buzz About Brain-Damaging Disorder in Children- 11/26/08 Johns Hopkins researchers have used fruit flies to gain new insights into a brain-damaging disorder afflicting children. Their work?suggests a possible therapy for the disease, for which there is currently no treatment. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2008/11_26_08.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2008/11_26_08.html Johns Hopkins World AIDS Day Events- 11/26/08 Faculty, staff and patients at The Johns Hopkins Hospital will mark World AIDS Day with several events designed to highlight the need for continued community leadership in Baltimore to deal with the city’s soaring HIV rate. More than 16,000 Baltimoreans are infected with HIV, earning the city the dubious distinction of having the nation’s second highest rate of infection. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2008/11_26a_08.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2008/11_26a_08.html Study Supports Value of Advanced CT Scans to Check for Clogged Arteries - 11/26/08 In a development that researchers say is likely to quell concerns about the value of costly computed tomography (CT) scans to diagnose coronary artery blockages, an international team led by researchers at Johns Hopkins reports solid evidence that the newer, more powerful 64-CT scans can easily and correctly identify people with major blood vessel disease and is nearly as accurate as invasive coronary angiography. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2008/11_26b_08.html http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2008/11_26b_08.html Inhaled Corticosteroids Raise Pneumonia Risk for Lung Disease Sufferers- 11/25/08 Lung disease experts at Johns HopkinsHTTP/1.1 200 OK Set-Cookie: Hopkins_Med=r2959856871; path=/; expires=Fri, 1 Jan 2010 01:01:50 GMT Connection: close Date: Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:28:32 GMT Server: Microsoft-IIS/6.0 X-Powered-By: ASP.NET Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8 Biomedical Cores of the Diabetes Research and Training Center
 
 
 
 
 
Small Font Regular Font Large Font
Print This Page
 
Home > Diabetes Research and Training Center > Biomedical Cores at DRTC

DRTC: Biomedical Cores

The Baltimore DRTC will consist of six core laboratories:

CELL BIOLOGY CORE

Mehboob Hussain, MD - Director
Susan Fried, PhD – Co-Director

The Cell Biology Core will serve as a resource for basic and clinical investigators to study the cellular and molecular pathogenesis of type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus as related to changes in the endocrine pancreas, adipose, hepatic, and skeletal muscle tissue.

Cell Biology Core objectives:

• Maintain stocks of cultured pancreatic endocrine islet, adipocyte, muscle and hepatocyte cell lines and advice and training in their utility for diabetes research
• Provide users with training in preparation of primary islet, adipocytes, muscle and hepatocytes from human subjects and experimental models of diabetes and their use for analysis of insulin secretion, action and metabolism
• Provide access to and training in histological immuno-histochemical and microscopic methods for analysis of primary cells and cell lines relevant to diabetes research

Services to be offered:

General methods
• Provide users with basic training in cell culture methods
• Maintain cultured cell lines needed by users and develop optimized methods when needed for new projects
• Provide users with advice, training and optimized protocols for transfection and siRNA

Islet cell biology
• Provide mouse and rat pancreatic islets from normal and experimental animals.
• Provide training in isolation and culture of pancreatic islets from rodents.
• Maintain cell lines, such as INS-1, INS-1- 832/13, MIN6, betaTC-3, betaTC-6, alphaTC-6, HIT-T15
• Provide service and training in methods for studying insulin synthesis and secretion using
perifused islet and beta cells

Adipose cell biology
• Provide cultures of 3T3-L1 cells and frozen low passage cells
• Provide advice and training in primary culture of rat and human preadipocytes
• Provide training in primary culture of rat and human adipocytes
• Provide training in organ culture of rodent and human adipose tissue
• Provide training in isolation and analysis of adipocyte metabolic (lipolysis, lipogenesis) and
secretory/endocrine function
• Provide measurements of fat cell size and number and advice and training in adipose
morphology methods

Hepatocvte and muscle cell biology
• Maintain stocks of HepG2, FAO, AML12 and C2C12 cells for distribution and advice on their use for studies of insulin action and lipid metabolism
• Provide low passage primary cultures of human vastus lateralis muscle and training in methods of culture
• Set up methods for the isolation and culture of hepatocytes from rodents and human samples
• Immunohistochemistry
• Provide service and training in methods for immuno-histochemical analysis of liver, muscle and adipose tissue
• Provide service and training in methods for immuno-histochemical analysis of islets and insulinsecreting cells

Return to top


INTEGRATED PHYSIOLOGY CORE

Andrew Wolfe, PhD - Director
Gabriele Ronnett, PhD - Co-Director

The Integrated Physiology Core will offer to provide service and expertise for a variety of metabolic and endocrine assays, physiological paradigms and monitoring to center investigators. The overall goal in providing this service is to facilitate and enhance studies that seek to understand the physiological consequences of cellular and molecular changes incurred with diabetes and its attendant disorders.

The Integrated Physiology Core objectives:

• Enhance the cost effectiveness of a variety of metabolic and hormone assay for center investigators
• Make available assay procedures that would be impractical or not feasible for center investigators to perform in their own laboratory
• Develop new techniques or protocols to enhance the projects of center investigators
• Function seamlessly with the Transgenics/ES Core in the analysis of newly developed animal models
• Coordinate with the Cell Biology Core for ligand assay purposes

The Core will perform and will give access to and/or train and assist investigators with the following procedures:

• Assays of mouse physiology and behavior
• Ligand assay measurements of hormones and metabolic substrates
• Assessments of glucose
• Animal imaging of body composition and substrate use

Return to top


TRANSGENIC/EMBRYONIC STEM CELL CORE

Frederic Wondisford, MD - Director
Sally Radovick, MD - Co-Director

The aim of the Transgenic/ES Cell Core will be to accelerate research programs that depend on the development of genetically altered mouse models, including transgenics, knock-outs, knock-ins, and inducible knock-outs. The goal of the Transgenic/ES Cell core is to enable Baltimore DRTC investigators to efficiently generate genetically altered mice including transgenic, knock-out or knock-in mouse models.

The Transgenic/ES Cell Core objectives:

• Provide advice and guidance in the use of transgenic, knock-out and knock-in mice for diabetes and diabetes-related research
• Generate transgenic mouse strains
• Generate gene knock-out and knock-in mouse strains
• Provide embryo freezing and storage capabilities for Investigators

Return to top


GENETICS CORE

Braxton Mitchell, PhD - Director
Da-Wei Gong, MD, PhD - Co-Director
Kristi Silver, MD – Co-Director

The purpose of the Genetics Core will be to provide services and support for basic science and clinical investigators that will enhance our understanding of the molecular and genetic basis of diabetes and its complications. A greater mechanistic understanding will lead to more effective prevention and treatment of diabetes. To this end, the objective of the Genetics Core is to provide services in the areas of molecular genetics, functional genomics, viral vectors, and genetic epidemiology services.

The Genetics Core service areas:

• Molecular genetics
• Functional genomics
• Viral vectors
• Genetic epidemiology

Return to top


CLINICAL INVESTIGATION CORE

Andrew Goldberg, MD - Director
Alan Shuldiner, MD - Director

The DRTC Clinical Investigation Core (CIC) will serve as the central resource to facilitate the conduct of clinical investigation in diabetes and predisposing associated conditions. It will offer a wide range of state-of-the-art diabetes- and obesity-, and CVD-related clinical research tests and assessments, as well as diet, exercise, and pharmacological interventions to probe mechanisms of disease. CIC leaders will provide consultation and training to DRTC investigators and guidance/mentoring for young investigators in the design and implementation of clinical investigative approaches in T2DM.

Clinical Investigation Core objectives:

• Offer standardized state-of-the-art assessments of glucose and fat metabolism, insulin sensitivity, p-cell function, body composition/fat distribution, energy homeostasis, cardiovascular, and functional capacity
• Perform DRTC-investigator initiated intervention studies, including diet/weight loss (WL), exercise, and pharmacological
• Provide consultation and guidance to investigators in the application of clinical physiology, body composition, and metabolic measurements
• Engage basic science DRTC investigators in multidisciplinary patient-oriented research
• Engage investigators outside the field of diabetes in interdisciplinary research
• provide an educational resource for all DRTC investigators, and training opportunities for junior faculty, fellows and students
• Develop a DRTC Research Subject Registry with the Control and Prevention Core
• Maintain a tissue bank consisting of DNA, RNA, leukocytes, body fluids, and fat and muscle tissue from well-characterized subjects

Return to top 


PREVENTION & CONTROL CORE

Frederick Brancati, MD, MHS - Director
Christopher Saudek, MD - Co-Director

The over-arching mission of the Prevention & Control Core is to understand and reduce health disparities in type 2 diabetes and its complications by facilitating research in the following areas: (1) epidemiology, (2) health services research; (3) outcomes research; and (4) real-world trials of primary and secondary prevention.

Service areas have been organized among the following five sub-cores:

• Biostatistics
• Data Management & Analyses
• Cognition & Behavior
• Recruitment & Retention
• Informatics

Visit the Prevention & Control Core Website for more detailed information about Core objectives and available services.

The Prevention & Control Core has developed a service request process that can be accessed here or by contacting Frederick Brancati at 410-955-9843.

Return to top

Return to DRTC home

Quick Links
RSS Feeds Podcasts

About John Hopkins - Find Out More

Out-of-State and International Patients - Find Out More

 
For Employees | Legal Disclaimer | Site Map
The Johns Hopkins Hospital Recent Recognitions
  |  ANCC Magnet Recognition
 
 
 
 

© The Johns Hopkins University, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, and Johns Hopkins Health System, All rights reserved.

About Johns Hopkins Medicine | Patient Care | Education | Research | Health Information Library
Get Directions | Contact Us | Request an Appointment | Refer a Patient | Find a Doctor | Media Inquiries