With the Zika virus emerging as a public health concern worldwide, experts at Johns Hopkins Medicine are closely monitoring the spread of the mosquito-borne illness and offering useful information to help prevent transmission. To this end, a Zika virus website was created to provide up-to-date information, answers to common questions, and videos and additional resources in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

A so-called meta-analysis of reports on more than 4,000 patients suggests that almost one in three people discharged from hospital intensive care units (ICUs) has clinically important and persistent symptoms of depression, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine. In some patients, the symptoms can last for a year or more, and they are notably more likely in people with a history of psychological distress before an ICU stay, the investigators say.

A diet rich in fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy and reduced in fats and saturated fats (the DASH diet), designed decades ago to reduce high blood pressure, also appears to significantly lower uric acid, the causative agent of gout. Further, the effect was so strong in some participants that it was nearly comparable to that achieved with drugs specifically prescribed to treat gout, a new study led by Johns Hopkins researchers shows.

A cache of exquisitely preserved bones, found in a coal mine in the state of Gujarat, India, appear to be the most primitive primate bones yet discovered, according to an analysis led by researchers from The Johns Hopkins University and Des Moines University. Their assessment of the bones, belonging to ancient, rat-sized, tree-dwelling primates, bolsters the controversial idea that primates native to what is now India played an important role in the very early evolution of primates, mammals that include humans, apes and monkeys. 

Johns Hopkins researchers say they have identified a new disease gene that, when mutated, appears to increase the risk in a small number of people of developing emphysema and a lung-scarring condition known as pulmonary fibrosis.

For patients with the most common type of noninvasive breast cancer, routine testing for estrogen and progesterone receptors in tissue taken at the first “needle” biopsy is both unnecessary and wasteful, according to results of a study led by Johns Hopkins pathologists.

After fully sequencing the latent HIV “provirus” genomes from 19 people being treated for HIV, scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine report that even in patients who start treatment very early, the only widely available method to measure the reservoir of dormant HIV in patients is mostly counting defective viruses that won’t cause harm, rather than those that can spring back into action and keep infections going.

Our experts are available to comment on the science behind the Olympic games — from infectious diseases like Zika, to sports injuries, to the neuroscience of choking under pressure — we’ve got you covered! #TeamUSA

Eliminating racial disparities in the outcomes of programs to control blood pressure can be accomplished with a few one-on-one coaching sessions delivered by health professionals —but not if the program requires people to get to a clinic, according to results of a new Johns Hopkins Medicine study.

With the lazy days of summer ending, the new school year is right around the corner. A new year brings some new challenges, whether it be dealing with anxiety, sporting injuries or how to keep lunch interesting yet nutritious. Our experts are here to make the transition from summer to classroom a little easier.

Out of nearly 5,000 hospitals reviewed, The Johns Hopkins Hospital ranked #1 in Maryland and #4 in the nation in the U.S. News & World Report annual Best Hospitals list. 

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center say they have developed a system that uses transformed human stem cells to speed up screening of existing drugs that might work against rare brain and other cancers.

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation has named two Johns Hopkins trainees winners of the Damon Runyon-Sohn Pediatric Fellowship Award and another the Damon Runyon Fellowship Award. The recipients will receive a four-year award for a total of $248,000. 

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine report they have identified a biochemical pathway linking oxidative stress and the amino acid cysteine in Huntington’s disease. The findings, described in last week’s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provide a mechanism through which oxidative stress specifically damages nerve cells in Huntington’s disease, an inherited and fatal neurodegenerative disorder.

The Maryland-based health care informatics company CTIS and its founders, Raj and Bharti Shah, have collaborated with the Johns Hopkins Center for Clinical Global Health Education and Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Government Medical College to equip and dispatch a custom-designed mobile health care services van in the state of Maharashtra in India. 

In research using patient medical records, investigators from Johns Hopkins and Sheppard Pratt Health System report that people with serious mental disorders who were hospitalized for mania were more likely to be on antibiotics to treat active infections than a group of people without a mental disorder.

Artifact Health Inc., a leading innovator in physician-centric clinical documentation improvement (CDI) solutions, today announced a collaboration with Johns Hopkins Medicine to bring to market a cloud-based mobile application for physicians that leverages the expertise of CDI specialists and medical coders to capture a more complete picture of a patient’s health.

A recent study by researchers at Johns Hopkins concludes that a substantial number of people with a history of the most frequent kind of nonmelanoma skin cancers still get sunburned at the same rate as those without previous history, probably because they are not using sun-protective methods the right way or  in the right amounts.

We have all had those mornings and nights: the ones where you wake up feeling groggy and completely unrested, or where you toss and turn relentlessly. Have you ever wondered if there were things you could do to limit these feelings? Our experts have some tips and guidelines on getting your most restful sleep and waking up rejuvenated.

Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and University of Melbourne report they have used a genetic test that spots bits of cancer-related DNA circulating in the blood to accurately predict the likelihood of the disease’s return in some — but not all — of a small group of patients with early-stage colon cancer.