A survey conducted by Johns Hopkins faculty found strong support among their peers for working more closely with the minority, inner-city community that surrounds the institution. Overall, 91 percent of faculty responders said closer ties make research more relevant to those it ultimately serves, and 87 percent said it improves the quality of research.
 

A study among almost 50,000 people worldwide has identified DNA sequence variations linked with the heart’s electrical rhythm in several surprising regions among 22 locations across the human genome. The variants were found by an international consortium, including Johns Hopkins researchers, and reported Nov. 14 in the Nature Genetics advance online publication.

Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have deciphered the genetic code for medulloblastoma, the most common pediatric brain cancer and a leading killer of children with cancer.  The genetic "map" is believed to be the first reported of a pediatric cancer genome and is published online in the Dec. 16 issue of Science Express.

In a proof of principal study in mice, scientists at Johns Hopkins and the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) have shown that a set of genetic instructions encased in a nanoparticle can be used as an “ignition switch” to rev up gene activity that aids cancer detection and treatment.

The production of a particular cluster of genetic snippets known as microRNAs is dramatically reduced in human pancreatic tumor cells compared to healthy tissue, the researchers report in a study published Dec. 15 in Genes and Development. When the team restored this tiny regulator, called miR-143/145, back to normal levels in human pancreatic cancer cells, those cells lost their ability to form tumors.

JOHNS HOPKINS RESEARCHERS AT AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CELL BIOLOGY ANNUAL

A gene target for drug resistance, a triple-drug cocktail for triple negative breast cancer, and patients’ risk for carpal tunnel syndrome are among study highlights scheduled to be presented by Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists during the 33rd Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held Dec. 8-12.

Johns Hopkins scientists have identified a previously unrecognized step in the activation of infection-fighting white blood cells, the main immunity troops in the body’s war on bacteria, viruses and foreign proteins

Using a new gene sequencing method, a team of researchers led by scientists from Johns Hopkins and the National Institutes of Health has discovered a gene that appears to cause some instances of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The finding could lead to novel ways to treat the more common form of this fatal neurodegenerative disease, which kills the vast majority of the nearly 6,000 Americans diagnosed with ALS every year.

Shootings like the one in which a gunman shot a doctor and killed a patient at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in September are “exceedingly rare,” but the rate of other assaults on workers in U.S. health care settings is four times higher than other workplaces, conclude two Johns Hopkins emergency physicians after reviewing workplace violence in health settings.

In what is believed to be the first controlled human study of the effects of salvinorin A, the active ingredient in Salvia divinorum, a controversial new hallucinogen featured widely on You Tube and other internet sites, Johns Hopkins researchers report that the effects are surprisingly strong, brief, and intensely disorienting, but without apparent short-term adverse effects in healthy people.

Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered how statins, the most commonly prescribed class of medication in the United States, appear to trigger a rare but serious autoimmune muscle disease in a small portion of the 30 million Americans who take the cholesterol-lowering drugs.

According to the critical care experts at The Johns Hopkins Hospital who treated him, Allen Bagents, 24, of Arlington, Va., is the least likely person anyone ever expects to get sick, let alone suffer a six-week, potentially fatal bout with the swine flu, better known as H1N1 influenza. 

A myriad of inputs that report on a body’s health bombard pancreatic beta cells continuously, and these cells must consider all signals and “decide” when and how much insulin to release to maintain balance in blood sugar, for example. Reporting in Nature Chemical Biology last month, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have teased out how these cells interpret incoming signals and find that three proteins relay signals similar to an electrical circuit.

Male mice born with a genetic mutation that’s believed to make humans more susceptible to schizophrenia develop behaviors that mimic other major psychiatric illnesses when their mothers are exposed to an assault to the immune system while pregnant, according to new Johns Hopkins research.

A prescribed set of hospital-wide patient-safety programs can lead to rapid improvements in the “culture of safety” even in a large, complex, academic medical center, according to a new study by safety experts at Johns Hopkins.

Using a widely heralded Johns Hopkins checklist and other patient-safety tools, intensive care units across the state of Michigan reduced the rate of potentially lethal bloodstream infections to near zero

W. P. Andrew Lee, M.D., a Pennsylvania hand surgeon heralded for his successful hand transplants and breakthrough research on overcoming rejection in composite tissue grafting, has been named the chair of the newly formed Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. 

HIV infected patients whose treatment is delayed not only become sicker than those treated earlier, but also require tens of thousands of dollars more in care over the first several years of their treatment.

Johns Hopkins Children’s Center scientists have discovered that high blood levels of a protein commonly found in the central nervous system can predict brain injury and death in critically ill children on a form of life support called extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation or ECMO.

For additional information:

http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Protein-Found-to-Predict-Brain-Injury-in-Children-on-ECMO-Life-Support.aspx 

Scientists at Johns Hopkins have identified a compound that could be used to starve cancers of their sugar-based building blocks. The compound, called a glutaminase inhibitor, has been tested on laboratory-cultured, sugar-hungry brain cancer cells and, the scientists say, may have the potential to be used for many types of primary brain tumors.

Johns Hopkins scientists report success in significantly lowering levels of both fat mass and blood sugar in mice treated with a chemical compound designed to disrupt production of a hormone known to stimulate weight gain in humans.  

Rolling back suggestions from previous studies, a Johns Hopkins study of 950 healthy men and women has shown that taking daily doses of a cholesterol-lowering statin medication to protect coronary arteries and ward off heart attack or stroke may not be needed for everyone.

By tracking the fate of a group of immature cells that persist in the adult brain and spinal cord, Johns Hopkins researchers discovered in mice that these cells undergo dramatic changes in ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Heart imaging specialists at Johns Hopkins have shown that a combination of CT scans that measure how much blood is flowing through the heart and the amount of plaque in surrounding arteries are just as good as tests that are less safe, more complex and more time-consuming to detect coronary artery disease and its severity.

A Johns Hopkins researcher who designed a programmable, vibrating wristband to treat neurological motor disorders was awarded $50,000 last week to help in her quest to develop the product for market.

Johns Hopkins Medicine is sponsoring a community forum to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the discovery of the Sickle Cell Disease. An inherited blood disorder that’s often marked by very painful episodes, sickle cell disease is the most common genetic condition affecting African-Americans in the United States. 

In remarks prepared for the American Heart Association’s golden anniversary celebration of CPR, a Johns Hopkins cardiologist who learned the life-saving technique as a medical student 46 years ago from one of CPR’s pioneers suggests the future of the technique is as bright as its past.

Low levels of vitamin D, the essential nutrient obtained from milk, fortified cereals and exposure to sunlight, doubles the risk of stroke in whites, but not in blacks, according to a new report by researchers at Johns Hopkins.

Heart experts at Johns Hopkins say that physicians might be drawing conclusions too soon about irreversible brain damage in patients surviving cardiac arrest whose bodies were for a day initially chilled into a calming coma.

Some 30 Johns Hopkins cardiologists, nurses, technical staff and administrative volunteers have for the first time partnered with Baltimore City Public Schools to screen for early signs of heart disease in as many as 2,000 high-school-bound Baltimore-area students.

Children with hepatitis C fare decidedly better with a supercharged combination of two antiviral drugs than with the usual and standard single-drug regimen, according to research led by investigators at the Johns Hopkins Children Center.

For additional information: http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Antiviral-Cocktail-Better-than-Single-Drug-for-Children-with-Hepatitis-C.aspx

High cholesterol levels in middle age do not appear to increase women’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia later in life, new Johns Hopkins-led research finds, despite a body of scientific evidence long suggesting a link between the two.

Physicians, nurses and other health care providers can have some of the most up-to-date information on the growing diabetes epidemic at their fingertips, thanks to the release of a new Johns Hopkins guide to the disease now available on all smart phone devices.

By tracking the flow of information in a cell preparing to split, Johns Hopkins scientists have identified a protein mechanism that coordinates and regulates the dynamics of shape change necessary for division of a single cell into two daughter cells.

For the 15th straight year, the National Research Corporation (NRC) has given The Johns Hopkins Hospital its Consumer Choice Award for the Baltimore region. For 2010-2011, 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.

In a move to address a growing need for integrated regional health care services for patients, officials of Sibley Memorial Hospital and The Johns Hopkins Health System Corporation have completed and signed documents on November 1, 2010, officially integrating the Washington, D.C.,-based Sibley Hospital into the Johns Hopkins Health System (JHHS).

The Johns Hopkins University, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins Medicine International (JHI), the international arm of Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, USA, and Academic Medical Centre Sdn Bhd, subsidiary of Chase Perdana Sdn Bhd, a Kuala Lumpur-based private development corporation, and an associate company of Turiya Sdn Bhd, have signed an agreement to help Malaysia develop its first fully integrated private four-year graduate medical school and teaching hospital. The agreement was signed on November 2, 2010, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, University of Helsinki and Stanford University have developed a technique to keep normal and cancerous prostate tissue removed during surgery alive and functioning normally in the laboratory for up to a week.

Scientists at Johns Hopkins have taken a less-is-more approach to designing effective drug treatments that are precisely tailored to disease-causing pathogens, such as viruses and bacteria, and cancer cells, any of which can trigger the body’s immune system defenses. 

Just as with everyone else perhaps, the more hours surgeons work, and the more nights they spend on call each week, the more likely they are to face burn-out, depression, dissatisfaction with their careers and serious work-home conflicts, according to a major new study led by Johns Hopkins and Mayo Clinic researchers

Researchers working with mice have discovered that by removing a protein from the region of the brain responsible for recalling fear, they can permanently delete traumatic memories. Their report on a molecular means of erasing fear memories in rodents appears this week in Science Express.

Each time you check out your groceries at your local Safeway supermarket, you have a chance to help women in the fight against breast cancer. 

During October, Safeway customers in Baltimore and throughout Maryland can donate $1 or more, which will be added to their order at checkout stands, as part of Safeway’s annual campaign to support breast cancer research at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center.

Pancreatic cancer develops and spreads much more slowly than scientists have thought, according to new research from Johns Hopkins investigators. The finding indicates that there is a potentially broad window for diagnosis and prevention of the disease.

John Groopman, Ph.D., associate director of cancer prevention and control at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and the Anna M. Baetjer Professor and Chair of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, is the recipient of the Award for Excellence in Cancer Prevention Research from the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and the Prevent Cancer Foundation. 

Knowledge gaps and fear — some of it unjustified — are common among the caregivers of children with a drug-resistant staph bacterium known as MRSA, according to the results of a small study from the Johns Hopkins Children Center. These caregivers thirst for timely, detailed and simple information, the researchers add.

Read more: http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Fears-Common-Among-Parents-of-Children-with-Drug-Resistant-Bacteria.aspx

Mild constipation in children is fairly common, but gastroenterologists at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center have been seeing what they believe is the start of a troubling trend: more children with more serious and chronic bouts of the condition. Experts attribute the problem to lack of physical activity, inadequate water intake and fiber-poor diets.

Read more: http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Plugged-Up-Doctors-See-Signs-of-Worsening-Constipation-in-Children.aspx

Women who have been severely injured are 14 percent more likely to survive than similarly injured men, according to a new Johns Hopkins study, a difference researchers believe may be due to the negative impact of male sex hormones on a traumatized immune system.

Persistently high blood pressure, or hypertension, may spell worse heart trouble for black children under the age of 13 than for other children of the same ages, according to research led by scientists at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and published in the November issue of Pediatrics.

Read more: http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/High-Blood-Pressure-May-Take-Greater-Toll-on-Youngest-Black-Children-s-Hearts.aspx

An estimated 2.5 percent of Americans — 7.5 million people — have at least one food allergy and young black children with asthma appear to be at the highest risk, according to findings from what is believed to be the largest food allergy study to date. The research was conducted by investigators at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.

Read more: http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Nearly-3-of-100-Americans-Have-a-Food-Allergy.aspx

When cells make the proteins that carry out virtually every function of life, it’s vital that the right things happen at the right times, and — maybe more importantly — that wrong things are stopped from happening at the wrong times.

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has been awarded a $3.84 million federal grant to support the creation of the Osler Urban Health Residency Track (UHRT), which will bolster the institution’s mission to produce primary care physician leaders versed in the medical and social issues that afflict the underserved of Baltimore City. 

Four Johns Hopkins University faculty members have been elected into the prestigious National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine (IOM). This honor was bestowed upon Benjamin S. Carson Sr., M.D., Carol Greider, Ph.D., Roger A. Johns, M.D., M.H.S., and Jeremy Sugarman, M.D., M.P.H., M.A.

Using a computer program, researchers from Johns Hopkins have predicted which changes in the DNA code may cause pancreatic cells to become cancerous and deadly. The investigators say the findings could lead to more focused studies on better ways to treat the disease, which has only a 5 percent survival rate five years after diagnosis. 

Christopher Dyer Saudek, M.D., founder and director of the Johns Hopkins Comprehensive Diabetes Center, a pioneer in the development of implantable insulin pumps, and a tireless physician who was ever available to his patients, died Wednesday after a battle with metastatic melanoma. He was 68.

The public is invited to join renowned brain researchers, artists, musicians, architects, educators, historians and curators for a series of conversations about the creative process and the basic science underlying aesthetics and beauty.

In research that may surprise off-road riding enthusiasts and safety experts, a Johns Hopkins team has found that crashes involving ATVs — four-wheeled all-terrain vehicles — are significantly more dangerous than crashes involving two-wheeled off-road motorcycles, such as those used in extreme sports like Motocross.

Scientists from Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and Morgan State University have received a $ 3.2 million National Institutes of Health grant designed to promote racial, ethnic and socio-economic diversity in reproductive science research.

Read more:

http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/seeking-minority-scientists-to-study-reproductive-health.aspx 

As the song says, a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, and now researchers at Johns Hopkins have found that the sights and sounds of chirping birds, ribbiting frogs and water trickling downstream can ease the substantial pain of bone marrow extraction in one of five people who must endure it.

A dramatic increase in the use of medical imaging in emergency departments when seeing patients with injuries hasn’t paid off with an equal rise in diagnosing life-threatening conditions or follow-up hospital admissions, a team of Johns Hopkins researchers concludes in a study to be published in the October 6 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

After an international search, Vered Stearns, M.D., has been named Co-Director of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center’s Breast Cancer Program.

In response to the national attention on venereal-disease experiments in Guatemala led by a U.S. government physician in the 1940s, bioethicist and social justice scholar Ruth R. Faden says the episode was profoundly and egregiously unethical.

Read more:  

http://www.bioethicsinstitute.org

A protein that pumps calcium out of cells also moonlights as a signal to get massive quantities of the stuff to flow in, according to Johns Hopkins scientists. Their discovery of this surprisingly opposite function, reported Oct. 1 in Cell, highlights the link between calcium and cancer and holds the promise of a new therapeutic target for certain breast cancers.

Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered that the over-activation of a single protein may shut down the brain-protecting effects of a molecule and facilitate the most common form of Parkinson’s disease. The finding of this mechanism could lead to important new targets for drugs already known to inhibit it, thus controlling symptoms of the disorder, which affects about 1 million older Americans.

Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered a way to turn off the immune system’s allergic reaction to certain food proteins in mice, a discovery that could have implications for the millions of people who suffer severe reactions to foods, such as peanuts and milk.

A CT scan can mean the difference between an accurate and a wrong diagnosis, timely and delayed treatment and, in some cases, life and death. But because CT scans and other tests that use X-ray technology expose the body to often large doses of radiation, their unnecessary, repeated and excessive use may increase cancer risk, especially in children.

With the flu season looming and health officials calling for across-the-board immunization, some parents may wonder just how safe the egg-based flu vaccine is for children with allergies.

African-American victims of motorcycle crashes were 1.5 times more likely to die from their injuries than similarly injured whites, even though many more of the African-American victims were wearing helmets at the time of injury, according to a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers

The growing use of rapid response teams dispatched by hospitals to evaluate patients whose conditions have suddenly deteriorated may be masking systemic problems in how hospitals care for their sickest patients, says a prominent Johns Hopkins patient safety expert.

Bedwetting perennially drives parents to the pediatric urology clinic at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, but September — and the start of the school year — always brings a predictable uptick in visits, according to pediatric urologist Ming-Hsien Wang, M.D. 

We are deeply appreciative of the outpouring of support and concern for us during this difficult time.  We are especially grateful to everyone at Johns Hopkins who worked to make David’s recovery possible.  Now it is important that  our time and energy be focused on David’s recovery.  David is in good condition and continuing to recover more and more every day.  We are asking the media to please respect our privacy during this time of healing.  Thanks for your understanding.

The signature dome of The Johns Hopkins Hospital will be lit blue in honor of prostate cancer awareness week, starting at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 21, and will remain so throughout the nighttime hours until Saturday, Sept. 25 (a still photo is attached from a test performed last week after 9 p.m.) 

Updated Sept. 17, 1:30 p.m.- At approximately 11:11 a.m. on Thursday, September 16, The Johns Hopkins Hospital alerted Baltimore City police that a visitor who was a resident of Virginia shot and wounded a Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine faculty physician on the eighth floor of The Johns Hopkins Hospital’s Nelson Building. Police responded within minutes, and the individual was isolated and contained by police. No other patients, visitors or employees were in harm’s way at that point. Sometime during his containment, the individual fatally shot himself and, tragically, his mother, who was a patient on the unit. 

Johns Hopkins scientists who specialize in unconventional hunts for genetic information outside nuclear DNA sequences have bagged a weighty quarry — 13 genes linked to human body mass. The experiments screened the so-called epigenome for key information that cells remember other than the DNA code itself and may have serious implications for preventing and treating obesity, the investigators say.

Long-term exposure to a common stress hormone may leave a lasting mark on the genome and influence how genes that control mood and behavior are expressed, a mouse study led by Johns Hopkins researchers suggests. The finding, published in the September issue of Endocrinology, could eventually lead to new ways to explain and treat depression, bipolar disorder, and other mental illnesses.

September 19-25 is National Prostate Cancer Awareness Week. If you are planning a story on prostate cancer, a disease that’s diagnosed in more than 200,000 American men each year, please consider calling on experts from the Johns Hopkins Brady Urological Institute. With a variety of experts whose work truly follows the “bench to bedside” model of clinical research — focusing on developing innovative new treatments as well as basic research to better understand this common and sometimes deadly disease — the Brady Institute can provide you with unique sources who can answer your questions about prostate cancer.

In common with professional singers, teachers returning to the nation’s classrooms this month are good candidates for severe voice problems, and Johns Hopkins throat specialists have some tips for them – and anyone whose job demands a lot of loud vocalization. 

Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have identified two genes whose mutations appear to be linked to ovarian clear cell carcinoma, one of the most aggressive forms of ovarian cancer. Clear cell carcinoma is generally resistant to standard therapy.

Johns Hopkins researchers have determined why certain stem cells are able to stay stem cells.

Uninsured minority pedestrians hit by cars are at a significantly higher risk of death than their insured white counterparts, even if the injuries sustained are similar, new research from Johns Hopkins suggests.

Intensively treating hypertension in some African Americans with kidney disease by pushing blood pressure well below the current recommended goal may significantly decrease the number who lose kidney function and require dialysis, suggests a Johns Hopkins-led study publishing in the New England Journal of Medicine Thursday.

A new study suggests yet another reason for Americans to abandon their current fatty diets in favor of one rich in fruits and vegetables and low in saturated fat. Choosing these healthier options appears to significantly reduce the long-term risk of heart disease in patients with mildly elevated blood pressure, particularly African Americans.

Johns Hopkins researchers working on mice have discovered a protein that is a major target of a gene that, when mutated in humans, causes tumors to develop on nerves associated with hearing, as well as cataracts in the eyes. 

A hunt throughout the human genome for variants associated with common late-onset Parkinson's disease has revealed a new genetic link that implicates the immune system and offers new targets for drug development.

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 2010, now in its 43^rd 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 – and eco-friendly – shoppers.

Fire up the citronella-scented tiki torches, and slather on the DEET:  Everybody knows these simple precautions repel insects, notably mosquitoes, whose bites not only itch and irritate, but also transmit diseases such as West Nile virus, malaria and dengue.    

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have shown that using specific drugs can protect nerve cells in mice from the lethal effects of Parkinson’s disease. The researchers’ findings are published in the August 22 issue of Nature Medicine.

Results of a large national study show that nearly three-quarters of obese patients with type 2 diabetes who undergo weight-loss surgery are able to stop insulin and other antidiabetes drugs within six months.

Having charted the occurrence of a common chemical change that takes place while stem cells decide their fates and progress from precursor to progeny, a Johns Hopkins-led team of scientists has produced the first-ever epigenetic landscape map for tissue differentiation.

Building on a tool that they developed in yeast four years ago, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine scanned the human genome and discovered what they believe is the reason people have such a variety of physical traits and disease risks.

The Johns Hopkins Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR), in collaboration with Anne Arundel Health System (AAHS) and the Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC), has established a new network of academic and community-based clinical researchers, the Johns Hopkins Clinical Research Network (JHCRN). The JHCRN, which will provide new opportunities for research collaborations, is designed to accelerate the transfer of new diagnostic, treatment, and disease-prevention advances from the research arena to patient care.

A leading expert in cardiopulmonary resuscitation says two new studies from U.S. and European researchers support the case for dropping mouth-to-mouth, or rescue breathing by bystanders and using “hands-only” chest compressions during the life-saving practice, better known as CPR.

Michelangelo, the 16th century master painter and accomplished anatomist, appears to have hidden an image of the brainstem and spinal cord in a depiction of God in the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling, a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers reports. These findings by a neurosurgeon and a medical illustrator, published in the May Neurosurgery, may explain long controversial and unusual features of one of the frescoes’ figures.

Men who develop prostate cancer, especially the more aggressive and dangerous forms that spread throughout the body, tend to retain denser bones as they age than men who stay free of the disease, suggests new research from Johns Hopkins and the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health.

A Johns Hopkins scientist who proposes to design and create an all-new series of novel drugs is one of 17 winners of a special grant known as a Director’s Pioneer Award from the National Institutes of Health.

In the coming weeks, most back-to-school stories will focus on parents and schools helping kids make the transition from the liberal summer vacation schedule to a more regimented one and offering ways on how students can reach their full academic potential.  Seldom do any of these stories focus on something just as important:  the teachers.  

A new study by Johns Hopkins researchers has found that insulin, the sugar-regulating hormone, is required for normal bone development and that it may provide a link between bone health and metabolic disease, such as diabetes.

Hopkins scientists who have spent years killing off brain cells to figure out why and how they die now say their investigations have also shed light on how the brain defends itself.

Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM) and All Children’s Hospital & Health System (ACH) of St. Petersburg, Fla., have signed a letter of intent to integrate. After appropriate due diligence is completed sometime later this year, ACH will join the Johns Hopkins Health System (JHHS) as a fully integrated member of JHM.

Once more — and for the 20th year in a row — The Johns Hopkins Hospital has taken the top spot in U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings of American hospitals, placing first in five medical specialties and in the top five in 10 others.

In health care reform discussions, talk inevitably turns to making hospitals and physicians accountable for patient outcomes. But in a commentary being published in the July 14 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, Johns Hopkins patient safety expert Peter Pronovost, M.D., Ph.D., argues that the health care industry doesn’t yet have measurable, achievable and routine ways to prevent patient harm — and that, in many cases, there are too many barriers in the way to attain them.

A Johns Hopkins review of nearly 150 randomized controlled trials on children — all published in well-regarded medical journals — reveals that 40 to 60 percent of the studies either failed to take steps to minimize risk for bias or to at least properly describe those measures.

By inspecting the sequence of all 3 billion “letters” that make up the genome of a single person affected with a rare, inherited disorder, a Johns Hopkins and Duke University team ferreted out the single genetic mutation that accounts for the disease.

Amid growing concerns about clinical trials for drugs that have been approved by the F.D.A. but are later linked to serious health risks, an independent committee at the Institute of Medicine led by two professors from Johns Hopkins University has developed a conceptual framework to guide the agency through the tough decision of ordering such controversial “post-market” drug-safety trials.

Having discovered a dramatic increase of an easy-to-detect enzyme in the red blood cells of people with diabetes and prediabetes, Johns Hopkins scientists say the discovery could lead to a simple, routine test for detecting the subtle onset of the disease, before symptoms or complications occur and in time to reverse its course.

Patients with a certain type of scleroderma may get cancer and scleroderma simultaneously, Johns Hopkins researchers have found, suggesting that in some diseases, autoimmunity and cancer may be linked.

Swim Across America (SAA), the national non-profit organization dedicated to raising money and awareness for cancer research, prevention and treatment through swimming-related events around the country, held its first swims in the Baltimore-area on Sunday, September 19 at 8 AM with an open water swim starting from the Waltjen Shedlick Farm in Gibson Island Harbor and a pool swim at the Meadowbrook Aquatic and Fitness Center in Mount Washington. 

Only a small fraction of transplant centers nationwide are willing to accept and transplant deceased-donor kidneys that they perceive as less than perfect, leading to lengthy, organ-damaging delays as officials use a one-by-one approach to find a willing taker. Now, Johns Hopkins researchers have designed a formula they say can predict which donor kidneys are most likely to be caught in that process, a method that could potentially stop thousands of usable kidneys each year from being discarded because it took too long for them to be transplanted. Previous studies have shown such kidneys can extend the life of certain dialysis patients, if allocated and transplanted in a timely manner.

A gene that encodes a protein responsible for determining whether certain immune cells live or die shows subtle differences in some people with asthma, a team led by Johns Hopkins researchers reports in the June European Journal of Human Genetics.

Depression and lack of social support appear to precipitate suicidal thoughts and behavior in some college students, according to research from Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, the University of Maryland and other institutions.

Becker's Hospital Review magazine has selected The Johns Hopkins Hospital as one of the “30 Best Hospitals in America.”  The award is based on reputation among M.D.-specialists, hospital mortality-index data, patient safety scores and a group of other care-related factors, such as nurse staffing and available technology.

A trial of a novel radioactive compound readily and safely distinguished the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients from healthy volunteers on brain scans and opens the doors to making such imaging available beyond facilities that can manufacture their own radioactive compounds. The results, reported by a Johns Hopkins team in the June Journal of Nuclear Medicine, could lead to better ways to distinguish Alzheimer’s from other types of dementia, track disease progression and develop new therapeutics to fight the memory-ravaging disease.

In what is believed to be the largest review of the human genetic code to determine why some people's blood platelets are more likely to clump faster than others, scientists at Johns Hopkins and in Boston have found a septet of overactive genes, which they say likely control that bodily function.

Edward Miller, Dean and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine, shared his concerns regarding a critical aspect of the new health care law: a massive increase of 32 million newly insured individuals, including 16 million new Medicaid beneficiaries. 

A lawyer and researcher at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics says a new legal and ethical framework needs to be placed around the donation and banking of human biological material, one that would more clearly define the terms of the material’s use — and address donor expectations before research begins.
 

Scientists at Johns Hopkins report using a laser beam to activate a protein that makes a cluster of fruit fly cells act like a school of fish turning in social unison, following the lead of the one stimulated with light. 

More than 150 volunteers and hospital employees will take part in a mock disaster drill on Wednesday, June 16, at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. The drill will test whether Emergency Department doctors, nurses and other staff are ready for a real calamity in Baltimore.

Pediatricians whose patients undergo “routine” brain MRIs need a plan to deal with findings that commonly reveal unexpected-but-benign anomalies that are unlikely to cause any problem, reports a research team led by Johns Hopkins Children’s Center investigators.
http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Brain-MRI-in-Children-Incidental-Findings-Yield-Disclosure-Dilemmas-for-Doctors.aspx

June 11, 2010 - Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center has been awarded the largest gift for pancreas cancer research in its history. The award was made possible by Albert P. “Skip” Viragh, Jr., a mutual fund leader, and a pancreas cancer patient treated at Johns Hopkins.  He died of the disease at age 62.

In an effort to ignite a passion for science and engineering in middle and high school students, Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa has been chosen by the USA Science & Engineering Festival as part of a group of 50 scientists who will speak at Washington, D.C.-area schools this fall. Quinones-Hinojosa, M.D., an associate professor of neurosurgery and oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and his colleagues in this so-called “Nifty Fifty” were selected from hundreds of applicants for their differing fields, talents, divergent backgrounds and ages, and ability to convey the importance of science to our nation’s future.

Made popular for its ability to smooth wrinkles when injected into the face, Botox — a toxin known to weaken or paralyze certain nerves and muscles — may have another use that goes beyond the cosmetic. 

Call for Submissions Guitar Art Benefit Showcase & Auction Daniel Stuelpnagel, Curator

The Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center continues for the 11th year with Paul Reed Smith Guitars for a national charity weekend October 2-4th to benefit the Living with Cancer Resource Program at Johns Hopkins.  The Johns Hopkins’ Living with Cancer Resource Program offers patients, families and caregivers a variety of support groups, educational workshops and programs designed to teach patients and their families how to manage the realities of cancer - free of charge.

Surgeons at Johns Hopkins have safely and effectively operated inside the brains of a dozen patients by making a small entry incision through the natural creases of an eyelid to reach the skull and deep brain.

African Americans with incomes below the poverty line have a significantly higher risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) than higher-income African-Americans or whites of any socioeconomic status, research led by scientists at Johns Hopkins and the National Institute on Aging shows.

These news tips are based on abstracts and presentations by Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, June 4-8, in Chicago.

The Lieber Institute for Brain Development, a neuroscience research institute dedicated to developing novel treatments, diagnostic tests, and insights into disorders  arising from abnormalities in brain development, has announced that it will establish a permanent research facility at the Science + Technology Park at Johns Hopkins, next to the Johns Hopkins East Baltimore medical campus. 
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2010/06_07_10.html

Becker’s Hospital Review and Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) magazines have named The Johns Hopkins Hospital as one of the 100 best places to work in health care in the United States for 2010.

A Johns Hopkins and Japanese research team has generated the first comprehensive genetic “parts” list of a mouse hypothalamus, an enigmatic region of the brain — roughly cherry-sized, in humans — that controls hunger, thirst, fatigue, body temperature, wake-sleep cycles and links the central nervous system to control of hormone levels.

Transplant surgeons at Johns Hopkins who have reviewed the medical records of more than 20,000 heart transplant patients say that it is not simply racial differences, but rather flaws in the health care system, along with type of insurance and education levels, in addition to biological factors, that are likely the causes of disproportionately worse outcomes after heart transplantation in African Americans.

Exposure to the common virus that causes cold sores may be partially responsible for shrinking regions of the brain and the loss of concentration skills, memory, coordinated movement and dexterity widely seen in patients with schizophrenia, according to research led by Johns Hopkins scientists.

Edward Miller, Johns Hopkins Medicine dean and CEO, will share his concerns regarding a critical aspect of the new health care law: A massive increase of 32 million newly insured individuals, which includes 16 million new Medicaid beneficiaries, and its ramifications on an ever-strained health care workforce.

In a move to address growing interest in more efficient, integrated regional health care services for patients, officials of Sibley Memorial Hospital and The Johns Hopkins Health System Corporation have announced their intention to enter into discussions regarding the integration of Sibley Hospital into the Johns Hopkins Health System (JHHS).

Ezekiel J. Emanuel, M.D., Ph.D., a leading health policy advisor in the Obama administration, will address graduates at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine’s 115th convocation on Thursday, May 27, 2010 at 2:30 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore.

Lloyd Minor, M.D., an expert in balance and inner-ear disorders, and Johns Hopkins University’s provost and senior vice president of academic affairs, has been awarded the Prosper Ménière Society’s 2010 gold medal. The award is for Minor’s contributions to understanding the scientific basis of Ménière’s disease, named for the French scientist who pegged its hallmark symptoms of recurring dizziness and “constant ringing noise in the head,” or so-called tinnitus, to dysfunction in the inner ear.

The high-fat ketogenic diet can dramatically reduce or completely eliminate debilitating seizures in most children with infantile spasms, whose seizures persist despite medication, according to a Johns Hopkins Children’s Center study published online April 30 in the journal Epilepsia.

Johns Hopkins Medicine and the University of Maryland Medical Center have joined forces to expand regional access to their prominent radiation oncology programs, and to provide cancer patients with state-of-the-art, comprehensive outpatient radiation therapy services at a conveniently located community practice in Howard County.

A consortium of five Baltimore hospitals, led by the Johns Hopkins Department of Emergency Medicine, has acquired and donated to Baltimore city new wireless technology able to transmit electrocardiograms from the field over the Internet to hospital-based medical specialists.

Johns Hopkins Medicine presents a continuing medical education program on an evidence-based perspective of traumatic brain injury in professional football for National Football League (NFL) physicians and trainers, NFL players, and Department of Defense clinicians and researchers.

A simple, 10-minute “frailty” test administered to older patients before they undergo surgery can predict with great certainty their risk for complications, how long they will stay in the hospital and — most strikingly — whether they are likely to end up in a nursing home afterward, new research from Johns Hopkins suggests.

Johns Hopkins cardiac surgeons — none who are involved in the care of ABC ‘s Barbara Walters — are prepared to give background to reporters or comment on diseased aortic valves and aortic valve replacement surgery, performed at a rate of more than one a week at Johns Hopkins for many years.

Husbands or wives who care for spouses with dementia are six times more likely to develop the memory-impairing condition than those whose spouses don’t have it, according to results of a 12-year study led by Johns Hopkins, Utah State University, and Duke University. The increased risk that the researchers saw among caregivers was on par with the power of a gene variant known to increase susceptibility to Alzheimer’s disease, they report in the May Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered that a compound in dark chocolate may protect the brain after a stroke by increasing cellular signals already known to shield nerve cells from damage.

Nancy L. Craig, Ph.D., a professor of molecular biology and genetics, and King-Wai Yau, Ph.D., a professor of neuroscience and ophthalmology, both in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, are among 72 scientists nationwide newly elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences, an honorary society that advises the government on scientific matters.

Lung researchers at Johns Hopkins have identified a possible protein trigger responsible for sarcoidosis, a potentially fatal inflammatory disease marked by tiny clumps of inflammatory cells that each year leave deep, grainy scars on the lungs, lymph nodes, skin and almost all major organs in hundreds of thousands of Americans.

A national network of cancer researchers have identified a common set of molecular changes in some forms of the deadly brain tumor glioma that indicate a patient is likely to have a more favorable outcome.

IPhone, iPad and Motorola Droid users can now, with the touch of a button, instantly access the Johns Hopkins Technology Transfer office. The new, free app allows anyone to easily connect to the office, which operates as the licensing arm for technologies developed by Hopkins faculty and staff and links entrepreneurs and investors with cutting-edge advances in science.

Grover M. Hutchins, M.D., a world-renowned pathologist who practiced at Johns Hopkins Medicine for more than 50 years, died Wednesday while traveling in Africa, from head injuries sustained from a fall. Hutchins, 77, and his wife, Loretta, both of Baltimore, were on a cruise around the world.

Harold Lehmann, M.D., Ph.D, F.A.C.M.I., F.A.A.P., associate professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and director of training and research for the Johns Hopkins Division of Health Sciences Informatics, has been awarded a $3.75 million grant to develop post-baccalaureate and masters-level health IT workforce-training programs at the Johns Hopkins Schools of Medicine, Public Health and Nursing.

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) are establishing a collaborative program to advance the development and use of stem cells in therapies for a wide range of diseases, the organizations announced today. The program will train researchers to use stem cells and foster joint research projects.

A Johns Hopkins team has identified a protein in sensory cells on the "tongues" of fruit flies.

The standard practice of cooling and then rewarming a patient to prevent organ damage.

A deeply moving video that follows pediatric patient Steven McDonough.

Johns Hopkins researchers discover pathway in mice for resveratrol's apparent protective effect.

Inpatient mortality rates, used by organizations to issue ?report cards? on the quality of individual U.S. hospitals, are a poor gauge of how well hospitals actually perform.

Two genetics researchers from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have been awarded prestigious honorary Doctor of Medicine degrees by European scientific institutions.

Second annual Mismatch speed-dating event for entrepreneurs. More than a dozen entrepreneurs and an equal number of Johns Hopkins scientists will meet, in rapid succession, to find good matches of mutual interest in the realm of technology transfer.

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine will hold its 24th Annual Mood Disorders Research and Education Symposium on April 20, focusing on joint efforts between researchers and clinicians to study and treat depression and bipolar disease.

Guide to News from Johns Hopkins Scientists at the American Association for Cancer Research Meeting

As many as 8 million adults in the United States who have undiagnosed or early-stage hypertension may also have kidney disease, putting them at higher-risk of what may be preventable kidney failure, new research led by Johns Hopkins suggests

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has retained a top-tier ranking among the nation?s best medical schools, as reported in the U.S. News& World Report's 2011 edition of America's Best Graduate Schools.

Using a method they developed to watch moment to moment as they move a molecule to precise sites inside live human cells, Johns Hopkins scientists are closer to understanding why and how a protein at one location may signal division and growth, and the same protein at another location, death.

Despite national guidelines aimed at improving sexual health services for teenagers, most sexually active boys even those who report high-risk sexual behaviors still get too little counseling about HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) during their visits to the doctor, according to a study led by researchers at Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

New technique using tissue from those below-the-waist "love handles" improves cosmetic breast reconstruction in slim, athletic cancer patients without adequate fat sources elsewhere, a small Johns Hopkins study has found. The method also turns out to be less complicated than other options for surgeons as well, the research shows.

Obese women who have bariatric surgery before getting pregnant are at significantly lower risk for developing dangerous hypertensive disorders during pregnancy than those who don't, according to a study of medical insurance records by Johns Hopkins experts.

Premature babies born with severe forms of the potentially blinding eye condition retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) should be treated promptly after diagnosis because they continue to benefit from early therapy well into their preschool years, according to a nationwide study conducted at Johns Hopkins Children?s Center and 25 other pediatric hospitals.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has chosen Johns Hopkins Children's Center neonatologist Christoph Lehmann, M.D., to lead its new medical informatics branch.

The Johns Hopkins Hospital will launch a campaign on Monday, April 12 to encourage healthier eating among patients, visitors and staff  Meatless Monday.

Nicholas J. Fortuin, M.D., one of Johns Hopkins Medicine's most dedicated and admired clinical cardiologists, teachers and institutional leaders, died unexpectedly near Owings Mills Sunday while biking, his favorite sport and pastime. The cause of death was not known, but it is likely he suffered a heart attack, colleagues say.

A new report from critical care experts at Johns Hopkins shows that use of prescription sedatives goes down by half so that mild exercise programs can be introduced to the care of critically ill patients in the intensive care unit (ICU). Curtailing use of the drowsiness-inducing medications not only allows patients to exercise, which is known to reduce muscle weakness linked to long periods of bed rest, but also reduces bouts of delirium and hallucinations and speeds up ICU recovery times by as much as two to three days, the paper concludes.

Gregg Semenza, M.D., Ph.D., director of the vascular program at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Cell Engineering and a member of the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, is one of seven recipients of the 2010 Canada Gairdner Awards. Canada's only international science prizes, they are among the world's most prestigious medical research awards.

Thomas Kensler, Ph.D., professor in the Environmental Health Sciences and a renowned cancer researcher at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, received the 16th annual American Association for Cancer Research-American Cancer Society Award for Research Excellence in Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention.

More than half of donor kidneys in the United State infected with hepatitis C are thrown away, despite the need among hepatitis C patients who may die waiting for an infection-free organ, Johns Hopkins research suggests.

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 2010 list of the world's most ethical companies and institutions.

Congenital stationary night blindness, an inherited condition that affects one's ability to see in the dark, is caused by a mutation in a calcium channel protein that shuttles calcium into and out of cells. Now, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have teased apart the molecular mechanism behind this mutation, uncovering a more general principle of how cells control calcium levels. The discovery, published in the Feb. 18 issue of Nature, could have implications for several other conditions, including neurodegenerative diseases such as schizophrenia and Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases.

People with diabetes who undergo cancer surgery are more likely to die in the month following their operations than those who have cancer but not diabetes, an analysis by Johns Hopkins researchers suggests.

Once considered a hospital anomaly, community-acquired infections with drug-resistant strains of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus now turn up regularly among children hospitalized in the intensive-care unit, according to research from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

A protein discovered in fruit fly eyes has brought a Johns Hopkins team closer to understanding how the human heart and other organs automatically "right size" themselves, a piece of information that may hold clues to controlling cancer.

Henry M. Seidel, M.D., professor emeritus of pediatrics and a former dean of students at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and a master educator who shepherded generations of Hopkins medical students through their training, died at his home in Columbia, Md., on March 24. He was 87 and died of complications from lymphoma.

From the first tip-off during March Madness to the championship's final buzzer, and with start of the 2010 Major League Baseball season, on Sunday, April 4, thousands of people will relentlessly scream and shout, placing tremendous strain on their voices. While no one is recommending complete silence, the constant pressure on the vocal cords can cause great damage.

Suspecting that a particular protein in tuberculosis was likely to be vital to the bacteria's survival, Johns Hopkins scientists screened 175,000 small chemical compounds and identified a potent class of compounds that selectively slows down this protein's activity and, in a test tube, blocks TB growth, demonstrating that the protein is indeed a vulnerable target.

Florence Sabin, the famed pathologist, became the first woman given the title of full professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1917. The second female professor wasn?t named until more than 40 years later. And when Janice Clements, Ph.D., was promoted in 1990, she was only the 24th woman in the nearly 100-year history of the medical school to make full professor.

Surgeons at The Johns Hopkins Hospital have successfully completed their 100th kidney swap, a procedure popularized here to enlarge the pool of kidneys available for donation and provide organs to patients who might have died waiting for them.

Hot dogs, those ubiquitous and savory symbols of the American diet, have caught the attention of pediatricians at Johns Hopkins Children's Center and elsewhere for a decidedly unappetizing reason they are a choking hazard for young children.

Information falsely attributed to Johns Hopkins called, "CANCER UPDATE FROM JOHNS HOPKINS" describes properties of cancer cells and suggests ways of preventing cancer.  Johns Hopkins did not publish the information, which often is an email attachment, nor do we endorse its contents.

Two-time breast cancer survivor and Johns Hopkins administrator, Lillie Shockney, RN, BS, MAS was inducted into the 25th Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame by the Maryland Commission for Women, during a ceremony on March 18.

Listed below are story ideas from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine with a partial focus on the upcoming NCAA basketball tournaments. To pursue any of these, please contact John M. Lazarou,
410-502-8902 or [email protected]

Hugs, high fives, cheers and a few tears will abound when the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine's seniors find out which hospital residency programs they will enter after graduation this spring. The fourth-year students will gather for this annual, invitation-only celebration on the medical campus, where they'll open official letters in the presence of classmates, professors and loved ones.

Johns Hopkins scientists have found that a safe and inexpensive antibiotic in use since the 1970s for treating acne effectively targets infected immune cells in which HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, lies dormant and prevents them from reactivating and replicating.

By studying the genetics of a rare inherited disorder called stiff skin syndrome, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have learned more about scleroderma, a condition affecting about one in 5,000 people that leads to hardening of the skin as well as other debilitating and often life-threatening problems. The findings, which appear this week in Science Translational Medicine, open doors to testing new treatments.

African-American, Hispanic, and economically disadvantaged patients with brain tumors are significantly less likely to be referred to high-volume hospitals that specialize in neurosurgery than other patients of similar age, the same gender, and with similar comorbidities, according to new research by Johns Hopkins doctors. The finding, published in the March Archives of Surgery, suggests a scenario in direct contrast to recommendations from federal health care agencies encouraging better access and quality of health care for people of all races.

Hospitals may reduce the risk of life-threatening bloodstream infections in newborns with peripherally inserted central venous catheters by replacing the device every 30 days or so, according to a new Johns Hopkins Children's Center study.

Arnall Patz, director emeritus of the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins; a pivotal figure in the history of ophthalmology; and the recipient of both a Presidential Medal of Freedom and an Albert Lasker Award, often called the ?American Nobel,? for his groundbreaking research into the causes and prevention of blindness, died on March 10.

Johns Hopkins University's newly formed Brain Science Institute's NeuroTranslational Program has entered into a licensing agreement with pharmaceutical company Eisai Inc. to discover and develop small molecule glutamate carboxypeptidase II (GCPII) inhibitors.

In an essay published in this week's issue of theJournal of the American Medical Association, a Johns Hopkins emergency physician outlines how he and other physicians who worked in Haiti after the earthquake had to make emotionally difficult ethical decisions daily in the face of a crushing wave of patients and inadequate medical resources.

People whose "bad" cholesterol and risk of future heart disease stay too high despite cholesterol-lowering statin therapy can safely lower it by adding a drug that mimics the action of thyroid hormone. In a report published in the Mar. 11, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, Johns Hopkins and Swedish researchers say an experimental drug called eprotirome lowered cholesterol up to 32 percent in those already on statins, an effect equal to that expected from doubling the statin drug doses, without harmful side effects.

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has been awarded a $9.7 million federal grant to study ways to improve cardiovascular outcomes among African-American patients and to understand and reduce racial and ethnic disparities in blood pressure management in Baltimore.

In a landmark study of more than 80,000 live kidney donors from across the United States, Johns Hopkins researchers have found the procedure carries very little medical risk and that, in the long term, people who donate one of their kidneys are likely to live just as long as those who have two healthy ones.

The Johns Hopkins Hospital has again received the 2010 American Alliance of Healthcare Providers' (AAHCP) American Hospital of Choice Award. Johns Hopkins has been selected for this award seven times since the award's inception in 2002.

Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists have found a set of "master switches" that keep adult blood-forming stem cells in their primitive state.  Unlocking the switches' code may one day enable scientists to grow new blood cells for transplant into patients with cancer and other bone marrow disorders.

In reports of two new studies, researchers led by Johns Hopkins say they have identified the mechanisms rooted in two anatomical brain abnormalities that may explain the onset of schizophrenia and the reason symptoms don't develop until young adulthood.

Working with mice, Johns Hopkins scientists who tested drugs intended to halt growth of brain cancer stem cells – a small population of cells within tumors that perpetuate cancer growth – conclude that blocking these cells may be somewhat effective, but more than one targeted drug attack may be needed to get the job done.

Wider adoption of the practice of recycling medical equipment, including laparoscopic ports and durable cutting tools typically tossed out after a single use, could save hospitals hundreds of millions of dollars annually and curb trash at medical centers, the second-largest waste producers in the United States after the food industry.

Barton Childs, M.D., professor emeritus of pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and a legendary geneticist and teacher who influenced the practice of generations of physicians and shaped their understanding of inherited disease, died Feb. 18 at The Johns Hopkins Hospital after a short illness. He was 93.

Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have used data from the whole genome sequencing of cancer patients to develop individualized blood tests they believe can help physicians tailor patients' treatments. The genome-based blood tests, believed to be the first of their kind, may be used to monitor tumor levels after therapy and determine cancer recurrence.

Obesity in general nearly doubles the risk of developing kidney stones, but the degree of obesity doesn't appear to increase or decrease the risk one way or the other, a new study from Johns Hopkins shows.

If bad bacteria lurk in your system, chances are they will bump into the immune system's protective cells whose job is gobbling germs. The catch is that these do-gooders, known as macrophages, ingest and destroy only those infectious invaders that they can securely hook and reel in.

Current and former patients treated with the high-fat ketogenic diet to control multiple, daily and severe seizures can be reassured by the news that not only is the diet effective, but it also appears to have no long-lasting side effects, say scientists at Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

Research by Johns Hopkins sensory biologists studying fruit flies, has revealed a critical step in fly vision. Humans with problems in this same step suffer retinal dystrophies, which manifest as visual defects ranging from mild visual impairments to complete blindness. The article, published Jan. 26 in Current Biology paves the way for using the fruit fly to screen for therapies to treat human retinal degeneration.

In the wake of Johns Hopkins' success in virtually eliminating intensive-care unit bloodstream infections via a simple five-step checklist, the safety scientist who developed and popularized the tool warns medical colleagues that they are no panacea.

One-third of people over the age of 65 wait longer than necessary for lifesaving, new kidneys because their doctors fail to put them in a queue for organs unsuitable to transplant in younger patients but well-suited to seniors, research from Johns Hopkins suggests

A group of Johns Hopkins physicians and nurses will leave Baltimore Sunday to assist Haiti earthquake victims undergoing treatment onboard the USNS Comfort, stationed off the Haitian coast.

A campaign that makes seasonal flu vaccinations for hospital staff free, convenient, ubiquitous and hard to ignore succeeds fairly well in moving care providers closer to a state of "herd" immunity and protecting patients from possible infection transmitted by health care workers, according to results of a survey at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Diana Pillas, longtime coordinator-counselor of the Pediatric Epilepsy Center at Johns Hopkins Children's Center, died Saturday, Feb. 6, of breast cancer. Pillas, 69, continued to work until the week before her death.

Using an elaborate sleuthing system they developed to probe how cells manage their own division, Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered that common but hard-to-see sugar switches are partly in control.

Praised for her work, closing the racial gap in health care, Lisa Cooper, M.D., M.P.H., a professor of general internal medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, has been named one of "100 History Makers in the Making" by msnbc.com.

The state of Michigan, which used a five-step checklist developed at Johns Hopkins to virtually eliminate bloodstream infections in its hospitals' intensive care units, has been able to keep the number of these common, costly and potentially lethal infections near zero even three years after first adopting the standardized procedures. A report on the work is being published in the February 20 issue of BMJ (British Medical Journal).

Physicians in training and bioethicists at Johns Hopkins have created an easy-to-remember checklist to help medical students and clinicians quickly assess a patient's decision-making capacity in an emergency.

Cardiologists and heart imaging specialists at 15 medical centers in eight countries, and led by researchers at Johns Hopkins, have enrolled the first dozen patients in a year-long investigation to learn whether the subtle squeezing of blood flow through the inner layers of the heart is better than traditional SPECT nuclear imaging tests and other diagnostic radiology procedures for accurately tracking the earliest signs of coronary artery clogs.

Young children of Hispanic mothers whose dominant language is Spanish spend less time in front of the TV than children whose mothers speak mostly English, according to research led by investigators at Johns Hopkins Children?s Center and published in the February issue of Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine.

In a new book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Crown Books), Rebecca Skloot tells of the origin of the first "immortal" human cell culture line. So-called HeLa cells, taken from a cervical cancer patient, Mrs. Henrietta Lacks, at Johns Hopkins 60 years ago -- were grown in a laboratory at Johns Hopkins and distributed widely and freely for scientific research purposes thereafter. The novel cells were -- and are -- a biomedical marvel, multiplying and surviving in an unprecedented way. HeLa cells have enabled scientists worldwide to study cancer and other diseases, to observe and test human cells as never before, and to do so in a standardized way across thousands of laboratories.

Johns Hopkins scientists believe they may have figured out how genetic snippets called microRNAs are able to shut down the production of some proteins.

National home care and health care leaders kicked off an 18-month national home-health quality-improvement campaign this month at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) headquarters. Registration to participate opened to all home health agencies on January 21.

Challenging prevailing wisdom that only children with end-stage kidney disease suffer physical, social, emotional and educational setbacks from their disease, research led by Johns Hopkins Children's Center shows that even mild to moderate kidney disease may seriously diminish a child's quality of life.

The Johns Hopkins Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response (CEPAR) will deploy a group of Johns Hopkins physicians, nurses and other experts Wednesday to Haiti to help that nation?s injured and suffering. A second group will leave Feb. 4.

People profoundly deficient in human growth hormone (HGH) due to a genetic mutation appear to live just as long as people who make normal amounts of the hormone, a new study shows. The findings suggest that HGH may not be the ?fountain of youth? that some researchers have suggested.

Considered a dermatological nuisance that was long gone, skin irritations caused by toilet seats appear to be making a comeback in pediatricians' offices, according to research led by Johns Hopkins Children's Center investigator Bernard Cohen, M.D.

Many pediatricians score high on screening their patients for developmental delays, but barely make a passing grade in referring children with suspected delays for further testing or treatment, according to a study from Johns Hopkins Children's Center and other institutions to appear in the February issue of Pediatrics.

The most common reasons for medical evacuation of military personnel from war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan in recent years have been fractures, tendonitis and other musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders, not combat injuries, according to results of a Johns Hopkins study published January 22 in The Lancet.

The American Nurses Association (ANA), the largest nursing organization in the United States, has recognized The Johns Hopkins Hospital for consistently yielding outstanding patient outcomes that are tied directly to the high quality of nursing care. Other hospitals receiving the award include:

Michael Pena has joined the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics to serve as its communications specialist and media-relations representative.

Several Johns Hopkins Medicine physicians are now in Haiti and helping to serve that battered nation's injured and suffering. These volunteers range from emergency physicians to a pulmonary specialist. More Hopkins medical experts are hoping to go to Haiti to help the nation recover in the near future.

A common complication following surgery in elderly patients is postoperative delirium, a state of confusion that can lead to long-term health problems and cause some elderly patients to complain that they "never felt the same" again after an operation. But a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers suggests that simply limiting the depth of sedation during procedures could safely cut the risk of postoperative delirium by 50 percent.

A multidisciplinary research team at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has been awarded $8 million in funding by the National Institutes of Mental Health to develop methods to rid the body of HIV.

Acknowledging that the idea of rationing health care, particularly at the end of life, may incite too much vitriol to get much rational consideration, a Johns Hopkins emeritus professor of neurology called for the start of a discussion anyway, with an opinion piece featured in this month's issue of the Journal of Medical Ethics.

To this day, it still shocks former Dunbar High School basketball coach Bob Wade when he thinks back to June 1993, when he first heard that his star former student, 27-year-old Reggie Lewis, 6'7" and 195 pounds, the top scorer and center for the Boston Celtics, had suddenly collapsed and died during basketball shoot-around.

The latest findings on women's health issues and new advances in preventing, detecting and treating diseases in women will be presented Thursday, Jan. 21, at Palm Beach?s third annual "A Woman's Journey" symposium sponsored by Johns Hopkins Medicine. The one-day conference, at the Palm Beach County Convention Center, begins at 9:00 a.m. and concludes at 2 p.m.

The latest findings on women's health and new advances in preventing, detecting and treating diseases that affect women will be presented Friday, Jan. 22, at Naples' first annual A Woman's Journey program sponsored by Johns Hopkins Medicine. The one-day conference, at the Naples Yacht Club, begins at 9:45 a.m. and concludes at 11:30 a.m.

To arrange for a phone or broadcast interview with one of these experts, please contact Mark Guidera, communications manager with Johns Hopkins Marketing & Communications: 443-898-2320. Attention TV media: Johns Hopkins has a VYVX line in our live-remote studio available to uplink interviews with our experts.

Immobilizing the spines of shooting and stabbing victims before they are taken to the hospital ? standard procedure in Maryland and some other parts of the country ? appears to double the risk of death compared to transporting patients to a trauma center without this time-consuming, on-scene medical intervention, according to a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers.

Analyzing physicians’ practice patterns may hold valuable clues about how to curb the nation’s rising health care costs, according to a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

The Wilmer Eye Institute of Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore (USA) announced today that it will collaborate in research, education and patient care with the King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia).

JOHNS HOPKINS RESEARCHERS SAY VACCINE APPEARS TO “MOP UP” LEUKEMIA CELLS GLEEVEC LEAVES BEHIND

A team of Johns Hopkins and other researchers have found in animal experiments that an antidepressant developed over 40 years ago can blunt and even reverse the muscle enlargement and weakened pumping function associated with heart failure.

Scientists have long eyed mutations in a gene known as DISC1 as a possible contributor to schizophrenia and mood disorders, including depression and bipolar disorder. Now, new research led by Johns Hopkins researchers suggests that perturbing this gene during prenatal periods, postnatal periods or both may have different effects in mice, leading to separate types of brain alterations and behaviors with resemblance to schizophrenia or mood disorders.

Lessons learned from the first 13 children at Johns Hopkins Children?s Center to become critically ill from the H1N1 virus show that although all patients survived, serious complications developed quickly, unpredictably, with great variations from patient to patient and with serious need for vigilant monitoring and quick treatment adjustments.

Cigarette smoking is a well-known risk factor for type 2 diabetes, but new research from Johns Hopkins suggests that quitting the habit may actually raise diabetes risk in the short term.

A drug already used to treat symptoms of epilepsy has potential to slow the muscle weakening that comes with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), scientists report after completing a Phase II clinical trial?an early, small-scale test to show if the drug works and continues to be safe.