Recent recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) advising elimination of routine prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening for prostate cancer in healthy men are likely to encounter serious pushback from primary care physicians, according to results of a survey by Johns Hopkins investigators.

Johns Hopkins researchers say a program they developed that uses personal advocates and community networks to find organ donors for friends and loved ones who need kidney transplants resulted in success for nearly half of the participants in its trial run.

Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered a protein that appears to play an important regulatory role in deciding whether stem cells differentiate into the cells that make up the brain, as well as countless other tissues. This finding, published in the April Developmental Cell, could eventually shed light on developmental disorders as well as a variety of conditions that involve the generation of new neurons into adulthood, including depression, stroke, and posttraumatic stress disorder.

New nerve cells formed in a select part of the brain could hold considerable sway over how much you eat and consequently weigh, new animal research by Johns Hopkins scientists suggests in a study published in the May issue of Nature Neuroscience.

Mark E. Molliver, M.D., a professor emeritus of neuroscience and neurology in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine whose discoveries had a significant impact on analyzing the structure of the brain and its response to drugs; and whose skills as an influential teacher became legendary over a nearly half-century career, died on May 10 at The Johns Hopkins Hospital of complications following cardiac arrest. He was 75.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), long the master reference work in psychiatry, is seriously flawed and needs radical change from its current “field guide” form, according to an essay by two Johns Hopkins psychiatrists published in the May 17 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Even though hundreds of thousands more people finished grueling 26.2 mile marathons in the United States in 2009 compared to a decade earlier, a runner’s risk of dying during or soon after the race has remained very low — about .75 per 100,000, new Johns Hopkins research suggests. Men, however, were twice as likely to die as women.

On Friday, May 18, more than 750 Baltimore City students won’t be in science class at school. Instead, the throng of 5^th to 12^th graders will be immersed in a daylong program at the nation’s leading hospital designed to inspire them to pursue careers in health and science

Babies born to women with sensitivity to gluten appear to be at increased risk for certain psychiatric disorders later in life, according to research by scientists at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore.

For more information: http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Maternal-Antibodies-to-Gluten-Linked-to-Schizophrenia-Risk-in-Children.aspx

Paul Englund, a professor emeritus of biological chemistry, and Rachel Green and Se-Jin Lee, both professors of molecular biology and genetics, were among 82 scientists inducted April 28 into the National Academy of Sciences for their distinguished research achievements.

For additional information:
http://gazette.jhu.edu/2012/05/07/jhu-researchers-elected-to-national-academy-of-sciences/

Having a fat head may not be a bad thing, according to new findings at The Johns Hopkins University. As reported in the February 9 issue of Neuron, Hopkins researchers have made a significant discovery as to how adding fat molecules to proteins can influence the brain circuitry controlling cognitive function, including learning and memory.

Repairing DNA breaks can save a cell’s life—but shutting off the repair machinery can be just as critical. How cells accomplish this feat was unknown. However, new research by Johns Hopkins scientists, published in the February 22 issue of Nature, suggests that shutting down the repair machinery relies heavily on the same molecule used to start repair in the first place

A study on a handful of people with suspected mild Alzheimer’s disease (AD) suggests that a device that sends continuous electrical impulses to specific “memory” regions of the brain appears to increase neuronal activity. Results of the study using deep brain stimulation, a therapy already used in some patients with Parkinson’s disease and depression, may offer hope for at least some with AD, an intractable disease with no cure.

Eric B. Bass, M.D., M.P.H., a professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, has been chosen to lead the nearly 3,400-member Society of General Internal Medicine.

Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered that a protein that transports sodium, potassium and chloride may hold clues to how glioblastoma, the most common and deadliest type of brain cancer, moves and invades nearby healthy brain tissue.

Years of planning, construction and designing every detail of a magnificent, 1.6-million-square-foot hospital building finally came to fruition on May 1 when The Johns Hopkins Hospital officially opened the new facility. A carefully choreographed move of several hundred patients from the original Johns Hopkins Hospital into The Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children’s Center and the Sheikh Zayed Tower took place on April 29 and 30, right before the official opening.

Stephanie Reel, Johns Hopkins University Vice Provost and Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Information Technologies and Vice President and CIO of Information Services for Johns Hopkins Medicine, has been inducted into CIO Magazine’s CIO Hall of Fame. According to the magazine, this honor is bestowed on a select group of established IT executives and visionaries who have had a significant impact on the field of IT.

When Harvard University friends Sheryl Sandberg and Andrew M. Cameron, M.D., Ph.D., met up at their 20^th college reunion last spring, they got to talking. Sandberg knew that Cameron, a transplant surgeon at Johns Hopkins, was passionate about solving the perennial problem of transplantation: the critical shortage of donated organs in the United States. And he knew that Sandberg, as chief operating officer of Facebook, had a way of easily reaching hundreds of millions of people.

A team of researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the National Human Genome Research Institute has evaluated the whole genomic sequence of stem cells derived from human bone marrow cells—so-called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells—and found that relatively few genetic changes occur during stem cell conversion by an improved method. The findings, reported in the March issue of Cell Stem Cell, the official journal of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), will be presented at the annual ISSCR meeting in June.

Chronic pain sufferers who learn to dwell less on their ailments may sleep better and experience less day-to-day pain, according to results of research conducted on 214 people with chronic face and jaw pain.

Peter Pronovost, M.D., Ph.D., F.C.C.M., a world-renowned patient safety champion who’s devoted his career to making hospitals and health care safer for patients by reducing medical errors and avoidable harm, is the recipient of two national honors. 

Johns Hopkins and Yale scientists have found that melanoma cells use a cloaking protein to hide from immune cells poised to attack the cancer.  Nearly 40 percent of their sampling of melanoma tissues contained the B7-H1 protein, also called PD-L1, and scientists say it could be used as a target for new therapies.

Citing the lack of clear guidelines for ordering blood transfusions during surgery, Johns Hopkins researchers say a new study confirms there is still wide variation in the use of transfusions and frequent use of transfused blood in patients who don’t need it.

For the thousands of sick and injured patients expected to need care each month at The Johns Hopkins Hospital’s new adult and pediatric emergency rooms — set to open at 7 a.m. April 29 in the Sheikh Zayed Tower and The Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children’s Center on Orleans Street — the experience promises to be nothing like that of previous generations, hospital officials say.

A seminar and workshops on the latest research advances and treatments for a heart condition known as ARVD—one of the leading causes of sudden death among teenagers, young adults and young athletes. More than 200 patients and their family members from 25 states across the U.S. and Canada will attend.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have identified a gene that modifies the risk of newborns with cystic fibrosis (CF) developing neonatal intestinal obstruction, a potentially lethal complication of CF. Their findings, which appeared online March 15 in PlosGenetics, along with the findings of their Toronto-based colleagues, published April 1 in Nature Genetics, may lead to a better understanding of how the intestines work and pave the way for identifying genes involved in secondary complications of other disorders.

A team of scientists from Johns Hopkins and elsewhere have developed nano-devices that successfully cross the brain-blood barrier and deliver a drug that tames brain-damaging inflammation in rabbits with cerebral palsy.

For more information:
https://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Nano-Devices-that-Cross-Blood-Brain-Barrier-Open-Door-to-Treatment-of-Cerebral-Palsy.aspx

A yeast geneticist and an economist at The Johns Hopkins University are among 220 “thinkers and doers” in the 2012 class of new fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the academy announced.

For more information: http://releases.jhu.edu/2012/04/19/american-academy-of-arts-and-sciences/

Patients with heart and vascular disease will be cared for in spacious, state-of-the-art private rooms when Johns Hopkins opens its new hospital building to the first patients on April 29. The Johns Hopkins Heart and Vascular Institute occupies a major part of the 1.6 million-square-foot facility, which has 560 all-private patient rooms with private baths and 33 expansive operating rooms.

A new type of anti-epilepsy medication that selectively targets proteins in the brain that control excitability may significantly reduce seizure frequency in people whose recurrent seizures have been resistant to even the latest medications, new Johns Hopkins-led research suggests.

Taking large doses of vitamin C may moderately reduce blood pressure, according to an analysis of years of research by Johns Hopkins scientists. But the researchers stopped short of suggesting people load up on supplements.

Seriously injured trauma patients transported to hospitals by helicopter are 16 percent more likely to survive than similarly injured patients brought in by ground ambulance, new Johns Hopkins research shows.

Despite the great promise that injecting a new type of anti-inflammatory pain medicine into the spine could relieve the severe leg and lower back pain of sciatica, a Johns Hopkins-led study has found that the current standard of care with steroid injections still does better.

A gathering of high-profile dignitaries will be among more than 1,000 people on hand to take part in the dedication of The Johns Hopkins Hospital’s new $1.1 billion, state-of-the-art facility. The ceremony marks completion of one of the nation’s largest hospital construction projects, which features the Sheikh Zayed Cardiovascular and Critical Care Tower and The Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children’s Center.

Today President Obama announced his intention to appoint Carol Greider, Ph.D., the Daniel Nathans Professor and Director of Molecular Biology and Genetics in the Johns Hopkins Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences, to the Committee on the National Medal of Science.

JWriting the first commentary for a new feature in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), called Viewpoint, Johns Hopkins cardiologists make the case for why a 55-year-old man with a 10 percent estimated risk of heart attack over the next 10 years should be offered statin medication. They were invited to debate a professor who argues against prescribing statins for “primary” prevention—for those who have not had a cardiovascular event, such as a heart attack—even though they may be considered at “intermediate” risk because of elevated cholesterol or other factors. Readers are then invited to vote on which viewpoint they endorse.

Based on their clinical experience and observations, a team of Johns Hopkins physicians and psychologists say that more than one-third of the patients admitted to The Johns Hopkins Hospital’s inpatient epilepsy monitoring unit for treatment of intractable seizures have been discovered to have stress-triggered symptoms rather than a true seizure disorder.

Richard “Chip” O. Davis, Ph.D., has been appointed president of Sibley Memorial Hospital, a member of Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM). Davis currently serves as vice president for patient safety and executive director for ambulatory services at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

The relative risk of blood loss during corrective spine surgery in children appears linked to the underlying condition causing the spinal deformity, according to a new study from Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.

For additional information:

http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Risk-of-Blood-Loss-in-Childhood-Back-Surgery-Varies-with-Cause-of-Spine-Deformity.aspx

A new study by Johns Hopkins researchers shows that obese white women may be less likely than normal-weight counterparts and African-Americans of any weight or gender to seek potentially lifesaving colon cancer screening tests.

An international scholarship program for medical students from outside the United States to study at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine is the institution’s latest initiative aimed at nurturing the next generation of health care leaders. Johns Hopkins Medicine International (JHI), the global arm of the Baltimore, Maryland-based Johns Hopkins Medicine, is sponsoring this program. It will provide financial assistance to aspiring young medical students who were accepted at the school of medicine in Baltimore on the same basis as their peers from the United States but who are unable to acquire additional financial aid for their studies.

A team of scientists led by Johns Hopkins researchers have found that more than four in 10 people considered at high risk for hereditary pancreatic cancer have small pancreatic lesions long before they have any symptoms of the deadly disease.

Timothy M. Pawlik, M.D., M.P.H., head of the Johns Hopkins Liver Tumor Center, has been appointed the new director of surgical oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Pawlik succeeds Richard Schulick, M.D., who is leaving Hopkins to head the surgery department at the University of Colorado. 

In addition, the Hopkins Department of Surgery has created two new sections within the department: the hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery section, and the gastrointestinal oncology, breast, melanoma, sarcoma and endocrine section. Hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgeon Christopher L. Wolfgang, M.D., Ph.D., will lead the hepatobiliary unit while Nita Ahuja, M.D., a surgical oncologist with expertise in sarcomas and colorectal cancers, will lead the gastrointestinal oncology, breast, melanoma, sarcoma and endocrine section.

These news tips are based on abstracts and presentations by Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists scheduled to present their work at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2012, March 31 – April 4, in Chicago, Il.

With sharp declines in the cost of whole genome sequencing, the day of accurately deciphering disease risk based on an individual’s genome may seem at hand.  But a study involving data of thousands of identical twins by Johns Hopkins investigators finds that genomic fortune-telling fails to provide informative guidance to most people about their risk for most common diseases, and warns against complacency born of negative genome test results.

Experimenting with cells in culture, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have breathed possible new life into two drugs once considered too toxic for human cancer treatment.  The drugs, azacitidine (AZA) and decitabine (DAC), are epigenetic-targeted drugs and work to correct cancer-causing alterations that modify DNA.

Carefully adjusting mechanical ventilator settings in the intensive care unit to pump smaller breaths into very sick lungs can reduce the chances of dying by as much as 8 percent, according to a study by critical care experts at Johns Hopkins. Study participants were evaluated for two years after their acute lung injury.

Working with genetically engineered mice and the genomes of thousands of people with schizophrenia, researchers at Johns Hopkins say they now better understand how both nature and nurture can affect one’s risks for schizophrenia and abnormal brain development in general.

Patients who have non-emergency angioplasty to open blocked heart vessels have no greater risk of death or complications when they have the procedure at hospitals without cardiac surgery backup. That is the conclusion of a national a study to assess the safety and effectiveness of such procedures at community hospitals.

A $25 million gift has enabled Johns Hopkins to establish a new center to develop novel therapies for the neurodegenerative disease known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Lou Gehrig’s disease, or ALS. Much of the center’s research will focus on using stem cells individually derived from ALS patients to develop new model systems to investigate how nerve cells degenerate, as tools to screen new drug therapies, and to develop stem cell therapies as transplants to potentially slow or reverse the disease.

Johns Hopkins surgeons have established a facial transplantation team and are in the process of obtaining approval from the University’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) of their protocol to perform the complicated procedure.

Baseball shoulder, gymnast wrist, runner’s knee. These are just a few of the labels sports medicine specialists use to describe the increasing number of repetitive-use injuries they see in young children.

For additional information:
https://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Hopkins-Childrens-Pediatricians-Sound-Alarm-On-Overuse-Sports-Injuries.aspx

Patrick C. Walsh, M.D., a renowned Johns Hopkins urologist who pioneered work in the understanding and treatment of prostate cancer, was honored with the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ prestigious Francis Amory Prize on March 14. Given by the Academy since 1940, the prize recognizes major advances in reproductive biology and medical care.

The Johns Hopkins Go Team, a rapid medical response group, has agreed to provide volunteer physicians, nurses and other experts to staff medical stations at the Sun Trust Rock ‘n’ Roll USA Marathon in Washington, D.C., on March 17. Approximately 8,000 runners are expected.

Only 21 states require public reporting of hospital data on surgical site infections and, even when disclosure is mandated, the information is often not easily accessible to patients who could use it to make decisions about their medical care, according to new Johns Hopkins research.

After years of studying, soul-searching about what type of doctor they want to be, and applying to numerous residency programs, 110 graduating Johns Hopkins medical students — and thousands of others across the nation — will find out precisely at noon on March 16 where they will begin their medical careers.

Patient safety at hospitals across the Emirate of Abu Dhabi is the key component of a two-year agreement between Johns Hopkins Medicine International (JHI), on behalf of Johns Hopkins’ Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality in Baltimore, Md., USA, and Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA). The contract was signed on Jan. 26, 2012, by Mohamed Hamad Al Hameli, SEHA’s chief, support services, and Steven J. Thompson, chief executive officer of Johns Hopkins Medicine International.

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine regained its number two spot in the 2013 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s Best Graduate Schools, sharing the position with The University of Pennsylvania among U.S. medical schools, in addition to receiving top-tier rankings in the medical specialty areas below.

The most current and comprehensive study in almost a decade of people with diabetes and the health care services they receive in Trinidad and Tobago has been completed by a team of experts from the Trinidad and Tobago Health Sciences Initiative’s (TTHSI) Diabetes Outreach Program. The survey focused on the South-West region.

Overweight people who shed pounds, especially belly fat, can improve the function of their blood vessels no matter whether they are on a low-carb or a low-fat diet, according to a study being presented by Johns Hopkins researchers at an American Heart Association scientific meeting in San Diego on March 13 that is focused on cardiovascular disease prevention.

Pamela A. Lipsett, M.D., M.H.P.E., the first female professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, is the 2012 recipient of the American Medical Women’s Association’s (AMWA) Women in Science Award, the organization announced this week.

AIDS experts at Johns Hopkins say they are surprised and dismayed by results of their latest multicenter study showing that the yearly number of new cases of HIV infection among black women in Baltimore and other cities is five times higher than previously thought. The data show that infection rates for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, among this population are much higher than the overall incidence rates in the United States for African-American adolescents and African-American women.

Johns Hopkins scientists have published laboratory data refuting studies that suggest blood vessels that form within brain cancers are largely made up of cancer cells.  The theory of cancer-based blood vessels calls into question the use and value of anticancer drugs that target these blood vessels, including bevacizumab (Avastin).

Using human immune system cells in the lab, AIDS experts at Johns Hopkins have figured out a way to kill off latent forms of HIV that hide in infected T cells long after antiretroviral therapy has successfully stalled viral replication to undetectable levels in blood tests.

A newly released mobile app designed to educate medical students, physicians and health care workers around the globe on how to care for burn victims is one of a fast-growing number of medical apps being developed at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Frederick L. Brancati, M.D., M.H.S., professor of medicine and epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and director of Hopkins’ division of general internal medicine, was named Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine by the Johns Hopkins University Board of Trustees.

The 23^nd annual MIX 106.5 Radiothon benefitting Johns Hopkins Children’s Center raised nearly $866,000 during its three-day broadcast last week, bringing the total raised to date to more than $15 million. The numbers were unveiled Monday morning on the MIX 106.5 Morning Show with DJs Jojo Girard and Reagan Warfield.

Studying tiny bits of genetic material that control protein formation in the brain, Johns Hopkins scientists say they have new clues to how memories are made and how drugs might someday be used to stop disruptions in the process that lead to mental illness and brain wasting diseases.

Leading AIDS experts at Johns Hopkins and other institutions around the world have issued new guidelines to promote entry into and retention in HIV care, as well as adherence to HIV treatment, drawn from the results of 325 studies conducted with tens of thousands of people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

The latest advances in urology, including the most effective techniques for removing kidney stones, headline a series of events that began on Feb. 27 and continue through March 3, 2012, at Fundación Santa Fe de Bogotá (FSFB), Colombia’s premier health care facility as part of a collaboration between FSFB and Baltimore, USA-based Johns Hopkins Medicine. The week-long series of lectures and presentations will feature talks by Brian Matlaga, M.D., associate professor, James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Baltimore.

Researchers, led by scientists from Johns Hopkins, have found five previously unknown gene mutations believed to be associated with elevated blood platelet counts in African-Americans, findings they say could someday lead to the development of new drugs to help prevent coronary artery disease.

Paul J. Scheel, Jr., M.D., M.B.A., associate professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, will be named the inaugural Ronald R. Peterson Professor in Nephrology at the School of Medicine during a dedication ceremony on Thursday, March 1.

Heart transplant patients who receive new organs before the age of 55 and get them at hospitals that perform at least nine heart transplants a year are significantly more likely than other people to survive at least 10 years after their operations, new Johns Hopkins research suggests.

New Johns Hopkins research suggests that providing housing contingent on drug abstinence to inner-city opioid abusers leaving a detoxification program significantly increases their chances of remaining drug-free six months later.

Hearing loss has been linked with a variety of medical, social and cognitive ills, including dementia. However, a new study led by a Johns Hopkins researcher suggests that hearing loss may also be a risk factor for another huge public health problem: falls.

Johns Hopkins and National Taiwan University researchers have discovered more details about how an energy sensing “thermostat” protein determines whether cells will store or use their energy reserves. In a report in the Feb. 9 edition of Nature, the researchers showed that a chemical modification on the thermostat protein changes how it’s controlled. Without the modification, cells use stored energy, and with it, they default to stockpiling resources.

Using a mathematical formula that carefully measures the degree to which HIV infection of immune system cells is stalled by antiretroviral therapy, AIDS experts at Johns Hopkins have calculated precisely how well dozens of such anti-HIV drugs work, alone or in any of 857 likely combinations, in suppressing the virus. Results of the team’s latest research reveal how some combinations work better than others at impeding viral replication, and keeping the disease in check.

The Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems (MIEMSS), an independent state agency responsible for overseeing and coordinating all emergency medical services throughout the state, has re-designated The Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) as a Level IIIC Perinatal Referral Center for Maryland. This is the 11th time JHH has earned the certification.

Menopausal women with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) who don’t consume enough of the essential nutrient choline appear to be at higher risk for liver scarring, according to research led by scientists at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.

For additional information, visit:
http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Choline-Poor-Diet-in-Older-Women-Linked-to-Worse-Damage-from-Fatty-Liver-Disease.aspx

Using precise information about an individual’s genetic makeup is becoming increasingly routine for developing tailored treatments for breast, lung, colon and other cancers. But techniques used to identify meaningful gene mutations depend on analyzing sequences of both normal and mutant DNA in tumor samples, a process that can yield ambiguous results. Now, a team of Johns Hopkins researchers says it has developed an easy-to-use online computer software application that can clear up any confusion faster and cheaper than other methods currently used to do the job.

Though an estimated 26.7 million Americans age 50 and older have hearing loss, only about one in seven uses a hearing aid, according to a new study led by Johns Hopkins researchers.

David W. Eisele, M.D., has been appointed the new director of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and the Andelot Professor of Laryngology and Otology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He will begin his tenure on March 1, 2012.

Johns Hopkins neurologists report success with a new means of getting rid of potentially lethal blood clots in the brain safely without cutting through easily damaged brain tissue or removing large pieces of skull. The minimally invasive treatment, they report, increased the number of patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) who could function independently by 10 to 15 percent six months following the procedure.

Cell biologists at Johns Hopkins have identified key steps in how certain molecules alter a cell’s skeletal shape and drive the cell’s movement. Results of their research, published in the December 13 issue of Science Signaling, have implications for figuring out what triggers the metastatic spread of cancer cells and wound-healing.

After a leadership tenure of fifteen years, Gary A. Carnes will be retiring as president and CEO of All Children’s Hospital, with an anticipated effective date of February 29, 2012.

Additional information:
http://www.allkids.org/body.cfm?xyzpdqabc=0&id=396&action=detail&ref=814

TV crime shows like Bones and CSI are quick to explain each death by showing highly detailed scans and video images of victims’ insides. Traditional autopsies, if shown at all, are at best in supporting roles to the high-tech equipment, and usually gloss over the sometimes physically grueling tasks of sawing through skin and bone.

As part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Joining Forces initiative, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine is teaming up with the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) to create a new generation of doctors, medical schools and research facilities that will make sure our military veterans and their families receive the care worthy of their service. Recognizing veterans and their families’ sacrifice and commitment, Johns Hopkins has pledged to mobilize its uniquely integrated missions in education, research and clinical care to train the nation’s physicians to meet veterans and their families’ unique health care needs, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Thousands more American senior citizens with kidney disease are good candidates for transplants and could get them if physicians would get past outdated medical biases and put them on transplant waiting lists, according to a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers.

After a 20-year quest to find a genetic driver for prostate cancer that strikes men at younger ages and runs in families, researchers have identified a rare, inherited mutation linked to a significantly higher risk of the disease.

Neuroscientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have discovered how the sense of touch is wired in the skin and nervous system. The new findings, published Dec. 22 in Cell, open new doors for understanding how the brain collects and processes information from hairy skin.

Cancer cells have been long known to have a “sweet tooth,” using vast amounts of glucose for energy and for building blocks for cell replication.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have shown that DNA changes in a gene that drives the growth of a form of lung cancer can make the cancer’s cells resistant to cancer drugs. The findings show that some classes of drugs won’t work, and certain types of so-called kinase inhibitors like erlotinib—may be the most effective at treating non-small cell lung cancers with those DNA changes.

Building on the success of recent Hopkins research showing obese participants were able to lose significant weight and keep it off for two years using telephone coaching and a specially designed website, Johns Hopkins Medicine is collaborating with Healthways to help bring the innovative weight-loss program to many more who could benefit from it.

Monitoring Internet search traffic about influenza may prove to be a better way for hospital emergency rooms to prepare for a surge in sick patients compared to waiting for outdated government flu case reports. A report on the value of the Internet search tool for emergency departments, studied by a team of researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine over a 21-month period, is published in the January 9 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.

The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), a private, nonprofit organization that accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations, has recognized all five of Johns Hopkins Community Physicians’ (JHCP) sites that applied for Patient-Centered Medical Home program recognition. JHCP facilities in Canton Crossing, Hagerstown, Montgomery, Water’s Edge and the Wyman Park Internal Medicine offices were acknowledged for excellent patient-centered care and for achieving high marks in the program.

Five Johns Hopkins students have been selected as finalists in a competition to find new ways to cure metastatic cancer. The five, whose ideas were chosen from among 44 presentations, will compete on January 13, 2012, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., for the top prize of $20,000 and a chance to pursue their research proposals.

Although more patients with abdominal gunshot and stab wounds can successfully forego emergency “exploratory” surgery and its potential complications, new Johns Hopkins research suggests that choosing the wrong patients for this “watchful waiting” approach substantially increases their risk of death from these injuries.

Johns Hopkins Technology Transfer announced today that it has granted a license for the Artificial IMmune (AIM) nanotechnology to NexImmune, a start-up company formed in part by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine faculty members who are also involved in the development of the technology. AIM, which involves engineering artificial cells to stimulate specific immune responses, represents a potentially important advance in the development of immunotherapies for a variety of cancers and other diseases.

Gregg L. Semenza, M.D., Ph.D., the C. Michael Armstrong Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins is one of two recipients of this year’s Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award, given by the American Society for Clinical Investigation for their “contributions to the molecular understanding of cellular oxygen sensing and cellular adaptation to hypoxia.” Semenza and his co-recipient, William G. Kaelin Jr., M.D., of Harvard Medical School, will share the $10,000 honorarium and present the Korsmeyer Lecture at the 2012 ASCI/AAP Meeting, April 27 to 29, in Chicago, Illinois.

New research by Johns Hopkins scientists suggests that vitamin D, long known to be important for bone health and in recent years also for heart protection, may stop conferring cardiovascular benefits and could actually cause harm as levels in the blood rise above the low end of what is considered normal.

Working with mice, scientists at Johns Hopkins have successfully used a commonly prescribed blood pressure medicine, losartan (Cozaar), to prevent almost all of the lung damage caused from two months of exposure to cigarette smoke. The treatment specifically targeted lung tissue breakdown, airway wall thickening, inflammation and lung over-expansion.