Medical centers that elect to keep psychiatric files private and separate from the rest of a person’s medical record may be doing their patients a disservice, a Johns Hopkins study concludes.

Infection control experts at The Johns Hopkins Hospital have found that a combination of robot-like devices that disperse a bleaching agent into the air and then detoxify the disinfecting chemical are highly effective at killing and preventing the spread of multiple-drug-resistant bacteria, or so-called hospital superbugs.

Using two successive pairs of specialized CT scans, a team of Johns Hopkins and Dutch radiologists has produced real-time images of liver tumors dying from direct injection of anticancer drugs into the tumors and their surrounding blood vessels.

As anyone familiar with the X-Men knows, mutants can be either very good or very bad — or somewhere in between. The same appears true within cancer cells, which may harbor hundreds of mutations that set them apart from other cells in the body; the scientific challenge has been to figure out which mutations are culprits and which are innocent bystanders. Now, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine have devised a novel approach to sorting them out: they generated random mutations in a gene associated with lymphoma, tested the proteins produced by the genes to see how they performed, and generated a catalog of mutants with cancer-causing potential.

A Maryland corporation established to help accelerate the commercialization of new technologies has awarded nearly $300,000 to three Johns Hopkins-related projects that hold promise for ushering new medical devices to the marketplace.

The Johns Hopkins Heart and Vascular Institute will hold the very popular “Heartfest” on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013.

A new drug for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) marked by a specific type of genetic mutation has shown surprising promise in a Phase II clinical trial.  In more than a third of participants, the leukemia was completely cleared from the bone marrow, and as a result, many of these patients were able to undergo potentially curative bone marrow transplants, according to investigators at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and nine other academic medical centers around the world. Many of the participants who did well with the new drug, quizartinib or AC220, had failed to respond to prior therapies.

Johns Hopkins researchers have developed a new way of looking at standard MRI scans that more accurately measures damage to the blood-brain barrier in stroke victims, a process they hope will lead to safer, more individualized treatment of blood clots in the brain and better outcomes.

Johns Hopkins scientists have created stunning images of the branching patterns of individual sensory nerve cells. Their report, published online in the journal eLife on Dec. 18, details the arrangement of these branches in skin from the backs of mice. The branching patterns define ten distinct groups that, the researchers say, likely correspond to differences in what the nerves do and could hold clues for pain management and other areas of neurological study.

Working with mice, Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered that a particular protein helps nerve cells extend themselves along the spinal cord during mammalian development. Their results shed light on the subset of muscular dystrophies that result from mutations in the gene that holds the code for the protein, called dystroglycan, and also show how the nerve and muscle failings of the degenerative diseases are related.

Despite earlier signs that a less-invasive surgery is safer and better than “open” operations to repair potentially lethal abdominal aortic aneurysms, a study led by a Johns Hopkins professor shows survival rates after four years are similar for both procedures.

In the aftermath of the horrendous school shooting in Newtown, Conn., many parents and caregivers may wonder how, or even whether, to discuss such a traumatic event with their children.

Three Johns Hopkins researchers have been elected by their peers as fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine's Linzhao Cheng, Ph.D., of the Department of Hematology; Svetlana Lutsenko, Ph.D., of the Department of Physiology; and Duojia Pan, Ph.D., of the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics are among 701 new fellows from around the world. AAAS fellows are honored for their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.

Gene E. Green, M.D., has been appointed president of Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, a member of Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM). He will succeed Brian Gragnolati, who will now transition full time into his role of senior vice president for the Johns Hopkins Health System, where he oversees the Community Division, which includes Suburban, Sibley Memorial and Howard County General hospitals.

A team of researchers at Johns Hopkins’ Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality has been tapped to provide scientific guidance to The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit known for publishing report cards detailing how hospitals perform in key quality and safety measures.

Children with persistent and drug-resistant seizures treated with the high-fat, low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet may get an added benefit from periodic fasting, according to a small Johns Hopkins Children’s Center study.

Johns Hopkins scientists have found a surprising mechanism that gives male sex hormones like testosterone control over the gender-specific absence or presence of mammary gland nerves that sense the amount of milk available in breast milk ducts.

Working with mice, Johns Hopkins researchers have shed light on the activity of a protein pair found in cells that form the walls of blood vessels in the brain and retina, experiments that could lead to therapeutic control of the blood-brain barrier and of blood vessel growth in the eye.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine in November surgically implanted a pacemaker-like device into the brain of a patient in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, one of the first such operations in the United States.

Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute will be moving its Odenton office to the new medical complex known as Odenton Gateway and will start seeing patients at its new location starting on Monday, Dec. 10.

Johns Hopkins researchers have used a small synthetic molecule to stimulate cells to move and change shape, bypassing the cells’ usual way of sensing and responding to their environment. The experiment pioneers a new tool for studying cell movement, a phenomenon involved in everything from development to immunity to the spread of cancer.

A new survey shows that about one in four physicians uses social media daily or multiple times a day to scan or explore medical information, and 14 percent use social media each day to contribute new information, according to an oncologist at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center.

Johns Hopkins experts are recommending early post-surgical assessment - preferably within 24 hours - for trouble chewing and swallowing food, or speaking normally, among patients who have had benign tumors removed from the base of the brain.

In a genome sequencing study of 74 neuroblastoma tumors in children, scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) found that patients with changes in two genes, ARID1A and ARID1B, survive only a quarter as long as patients without the changes. The discovery could eventually lead to early identification of patients with aggressive neuroblastomas who may need additional treatments.

Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have combined the ability to detect cancer DNA in the blood with genome sequencing technology in a test that could be used to screen for cancers, monitor cancer patients for recurrence and find residual cancer left after surgery.

A small molecule known to regulate white blood cells has a surprising second role in protecting brain cells from the deleterious effects of stroke, Johns Hopkins researchers report. The molecule, microRNA-223, affects how cells respond to the temporary loss of blood supply brought on by stroke — and thus the cells’ likelihood of suffering permanent damage.

New Johns Hopkins research showing a more than four-fold increase in the incidence of breast cancer in women with neurofibromatosis-1 (NF1).

In a commentary to be published in the Dec. 12 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association, two Johns Hopkins faculty members predict an ever-diminishing role for government and drug company funding of basic biomedical research and suggest scientists look to "innovative" kinds of private investment for future resources.

Johns Hopkins researchers report concrete steps in the use of human stem cells to test how diseased cells respond to drugs. Their success highlights a pathway toward faster, cheaper drug development for some genetic illnesses, as well as the ability to pre-test a therapy’s safety and effectiveness on cultured clones of a patient’s own cells.

Johns Hopkins researchers have uncovered a protein “partner” commonly used by breast cancer cells to unlock genes needed for spreading the disease around the body. A report on the discovery, published November 5 on the website of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, details how some tumors get the tools they need to metastasize.

Uninsured patients who undergo surgery to remove a brain tumor could be twice as likely to die in the hospital as those who have the same operation but are privately insured, new Johns Hopkins research suggests.

Johns Hopkins researchers report the successful use of a form of MRI to identify what appears to be a key biochemical marker for cognitive impairment in the brains of people with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Robert Cotter, an acclaimed Johns Hopkins pharmacologist and molecular scientist, died on November 12 of an apparent heart attack at his home.  He was 69. Cotter’s pioneering work in mass spectrometry led to its development as one of science’s most potent laboratory tools for analyzing both chemical and biological entities — as well as a device for deciphering the contents of dirt samples on Mars.

Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered a new mode of action for enzymes immersed in cellular membranes. Their experiments suggest that instead of recognizing and clipping proteins based on sequences of amino acids, these proteases’ location within membranes gives them the unique ability to recognize and cut proteins with unstable structures.

Once again, the Johns Hopkins Home Care Group has earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® for accreditation by demonstrating compliance with The Joint Commission’s national standards for health care quality and safety in home care. The accreditation award recognizes Johns Hopkins Home Care Group’s dedication to continuous compliance with The Joint Commission’s state of the art standards.

As the use of Twitter and other social media by physicians and patients rises, more and more physicians seem to forget to do what many consider crucial for building doctor-patient trust: disclose potential conflicts of interest.

The use of helmets by skiers and snowboarders decreases the risk and severity of head injuries and saves lives, new Johns Hopkins-led research suggests.

Using a technique performed at Johns Hopkins but rarely elsewhere, imaging specialists and surgeons have successfully used precision, image-guided technology to glue shut a tangle of abnormal blood vessel growths in a 43-year-old woman’s upper lip, face and nose.

Using stem cells to repair damaged heart muscle in patients with chronic heart failure is safe and beneficial, whether the cells come from patients’ own bone marrow or from a healthy volunteer, according to a preliminary study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

Storing music and photos on distant computers via “cloud” technology is nothing new. But Johns Hopkins researchers are now using this tactic to collect detailed information from thousands of cancer cell samples. The goal is to help doctors make better predictions about how a patient’s illness will progress and what type of treatment will be most effective.

Weight loss, whether it’s from dietary changes alone or from diet combined with exercise, can help improve the quality of sleep among people who are overweight or obese, according to a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers.

A study by researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine shows that when overweight or obese people lose weight, whether through a low-carb or low-fat diet, they can have a significant reduction in inflammation throughout their body.

Research by Johns Hopkins cardiologists suggests that electrocardiograms (ECGs) may have a greater and more profound future role in predicting the risk of death from any cause, not just heart problems.

Using advanced microscopes equipped with tissue-penetrating laser light, cancer imaging experts at Johns Hopkins have developed a promising new way to accurately analyze the distinctive patterns of ultra-thin collagen fibers in breast tumor tissue samples and to help tell if the cancer has spread.

Parents with social anxiety disorder are more likely than parents with other forms of anxiety to engage in behaviors that put their children at high risk for developing angst of their own, according to a small study of parent-child pairs conducted at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.

Johns Hopkins researchers have succeeded in teaching computers how to identify commonalities in DNA sequences known to regulate gene activity, and to then use those commonalities to predict other regulatory regions throughout the genome. The tool is expected to help scientists better understand disease risk and cell development.

Results of a Johns Hopkins study suggest that individuals with schizophrenia are significantly more likely to live longer if they take their antipsychotic drugs on schedule, avoid extremely high doses and also regularly see a mental health professional.

Completing the first phase of the 1000 Genomes Project, a multinational team of scientists reports that they have sampled a total of 1092 individuals from 14 different populations and sequenced their full genomes. The researchers described the feat as a collegial effort to equip biologists and physicians with information that can be used to understand the normal range of human genetic variants so that a patient’s disease genome can be interpreted in a broader context.

People who undergo repeated surgeries to remove glioblastomas may survive longer than those who have just a one-time operation, new Johns Hopkins research suggests.

Web-based program will be a resource for men who opt for proactive surveillance

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have figured out the three-dimensional shape of the protein responsible for creating unique bonds within the cell wall of the bacteria that cause tuberculosis. The bonds make the bacteria resistant to currently available drug therapies, contributing to the alarming rise of these super-bacteria throughout the world.

In an editorial appearing in the October 25 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, medical oncologists at Johns Hopkins and Brigham and Women's hospitals provide a four-point plan for integrating palliative care discussions throughout the treatment of patients with terminal illnesses. They write that better planning and communication may improve symptoms, stress, and survival time, as well as lower health care costs at the end of life.

It is the first electronic medical record (EMR) system developed by students for use by free clinics that cannot afford a commercial EMR system. 

A new study from Johns Hopkins researchers suggests that the lethal spread of breast cancer is as dependent on a tumor’s protein-rich environment as on genetic changes inside tumor cells.

The program is also recognized as a Center of Excellence

Echoing the race to put a man on the moon, a group of prominent donors today asked leaders of the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute to accept $2 million in gold bullion, and award it to the person, team or enterprise that does the most to end blindness by the year 2020.

--Quick, cheap retina scan can predict brain damage caused by multiple sclerosis

--‘Extremely high risk’ of return requires focus on outpatient management, researchers say

Two pre-eminent researchers from Johns Hopkins were recognized today for outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service with election to membership in the Institute of Medicine, one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine.

--ECRI Institute names The Johns Hopkins Hospital winner of the 2012 Health Devices Achievement Award

--Johns Hopkins researchers find computerized checklist better at finding best preventive strategy

A simple six-question quiz, typically used to assess disabilities in the elderly, could help doctors determine which kidney dialysis patients of any age are at the greatest risk of death, new Johns Hopkins research suggests.

After screening more than 2,300 drugs for their ability to halt the growth of breast cancer cells, Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered that the anti-HIV drug nelfinavir slows the progress of HER2-positive tumor cells, even if they are resistant to other breast cancer drugs.

Johns Hopkins Medicine International (JHI) and India-based Bharat Family Clinic Pvt. Ltd. (BFC) have signed a first-of-its-kind agreement to establish a large network of outpatient primary care clinics across India.

A former Johns Hopkins patient and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) survivor will open Johns Hopkins’ 18^th annual A Woman’s Journey symposium by sharing her poignant story of living well with one of the most common and disabling lung diseases. 

The advanced neovascular, or “wet,” form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), left untreated, is the most common cause of vision loss among the elderly and a leading reason for their loss of driving privileges. But results of a new study, published in the online version of the journal Ophthalmology, suggest that monthly injections of ranibizumab improve eye chart test results required for a driver’s license, build driver confidence and keep those with AMD driving longer.

Low blood levels of vitamin D are associated with an increased number of brain lesions and signs of a more active disease state in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), a new study finds, suggesting a potential link between intake of the vitamin and the risk of longer-term disability from the autoimmune disorder.

Working with mice, Johns Hopkins researchers say they have developed a gene-based therapy to stop the rodent equivalent of the autoimmune disease myasthenia gravis by specifically targeting the destructive immune response the disorder triggers in the body. 

Working with mice, Johns Hopkins researchers have solved a key part of a muscle regeneration mystery plaguing scientists for years, adding strong support to the theory that muscle mass can be built without a complete, fully functional supply of muscle stem cells.

The way the body metabolizes a commonly prescribed anti-retroviral drug that is used long term by patients infected with HIV may contribute to cognitive impairment by damaging nerve cells, a new Johns Hopkins research suggests.

For two decades, scientists have known the biochemical factors that trigger penile erection, but not what’s needed to maintain one. Now an article by Johns Hopkins researchers, scheduled to be published this week by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), uncovers the biochemical chain of events involved in that process. The information, they say, may lead to new therapies to help men who have erectile dysfunction.

In a series of a half-dozen operations spanning 20 months, surgeons at Johns Hopkins have successfully reconstructed the entire ear and part of the skull of a 42-year-old woman from Bel Air, Md.

While shootings in U.S. hospitals typically generate widespread media publicity, the likelihood of being shot in a hospital is less than the chance of getting struck by lightning, according to Johns Hopkins research.

In a preliminary clinical trial, investigators at Johns Hopkins have shown that even partially-matched bone marrow transplants can eliminate sickle cell disease in some patients, ridding them of painful and debilitating symptoms, and the need for a lifetime of pain medications and blood transfusions.  The researchers say the use of such marrow could potentially help make bone marrow transplants accessible to a majority of sickle cell patients who need them.

Women who go into early menopause are twice as likely to suffer from coronary heart disease and stroke, new Johns Hopkins-led research suggests.

In the first clinical trial to demonstrate an effective treatment for constant, disabling cough among people with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine found that taking thalidomide significantly reduced the cough and improved quality of life. Results of their study are published in the Annals of Internal Medicine on Sept. 18, 2012, in an article titled “Thalidomide for the Treatment of Cough in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis.”

Johns Hopkins scientists report what is believed to be the first evidence that complex, reversible behavioral patterns in bees – and presumably other animals – are linked to reversible chemical tags on genes.

Potentially worrisome weight gains following tonsillectomy occur mostly in children under the age of 6, not in older children, a study by Johns Hopkins experts in otolaryngology- head and neck surgery shows.

The brain is a notoriously difficult organ to treat, but Johns Hopkins researchers report they are one step closer to having a drug-delivery system flexible enough to overcome some key challenges posed by brain cancer and perhaps other maladies affecting that organ.

The invasion of cancer cells into the lymph vessels that connect the breast to surrounding lymph nodes is the first step leading to the metastasis, or spread, of cancer throughout the body. Metastasis is the primary cause of breast cancer deaths. Surprisingly little is known about the control of this process and how it might be interrupted to prolong the lives of women with breast cancer. In a study to be reported Sept. 10 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Online Early Edition, researchers at Johns Hopkins describe their discovery of how a protein responsible for cell survival in low oxygen can trigger the spread of cancer cells into the lymphatic system in a mouse model of breast cancer.

People with hearing aids or cochlear implants who visit the audiology clinic and Listening Center at Johns Hopkins can expect much clearer and enhanced sound the next time they check-in at the reception desk, their numbers are called over the public speaker system, or are given directions to clinic examination rooms.

A team of scientists from Johns Hopkins and other institutions report that restoring tiny, hair-like structures to defective cells in the olfactory system of mice is enough to restore a lost sense of smell. The results of the experiments were published online this week in Nature Medicine, and are believed to represent the first successful application of gene therapy to restore this function in live mammals.

Scientists have completed a comprehensive map of genetic mutations linked to an aggressive and lethal type of lung cancer.  Among the errors found in small cell lung cancers, the team of scientists, including those at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, found an alteration in a gene called SOX2 associated with early embryonic development.

Computer model should help develop better anti-HIV drug combination therapies

Rats born to mothers fed high-fat diets but who get normal levels of fat in their diets right after birth avoid obesity and its related disorders as adults, according to new Johns Hopkins research. Meanwhile, rat babies exposed to a normal-fat diet in the womb but nursed by rat mothers on high-fat diets become obese by the time they are weaned.

The Johns Hopkins Cardiac Rehabilitation Program at Green Spring Station has received national certification from the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation, a designation that recognizes excellent care and the most advanced practices in cardiac rehabilitation. The certification, which is for three years, followed an intensive process of collecting and analyzing data on a wide range of patient outcomes and demonstrating the program’s adherence to the most current standards and guidelines.

Johns Hopkins’ Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality has received an $8.9 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the first award given as part of an ambitious new $500 million, 10-year program designed to eliminate all preventable harms that patients experience in the hospital.

An ultra-fast, 320-detector computed tomography (CT) scanner can accurately sort out which people with chest pain need – or don’t need – an invasive procedure such as cardiac angioplasty or bypass surgery to restore blood flow to the heart, according to an international study. Results of the study, which involved 381 patients at 16 hospitals in eight countries, are scheduled to be presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Munich, Germany, on August 28.

Armstrong Institute Researchers Discover Missed Medical Conditions in More than One in Four Critically Ill Adults

Their findings may eventually be used to predict which cancers are likely to return

Johns Hopkins scientists have developed a reliable method to turn the clock back on blood cells, restoring them to a primitive stem cell state from which they can then develop into any other type of cell in the body.

A team of disease experts and health economists at Johns Hopkins warns that steadily declining rates of U.S. infant male circumcision could add more than $4.4 billion in avoidable health care costs if rates over the next decade drop to levels now seen in Europe.

Two Johns Hopkins scientists are among the first recipients of grants geared to answer “Provocative Questions” in cancer research, a new project funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  Cynthia Sears, M.D., and Peter Searson, Ph.D., will receive more than $500,000 combined in the first of five years of funding.

The Johns Hopkins University’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) has formally approved plans submitted by Johns Hopkins Medicine’s Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery to begin performing facial transplants. The approval, granted in late July, allows the hospital’s facial transplantation team to begin accepting patients for this surgery – for the very first time.

A large-scale review of national patient records reveals that although survival rates are the same, the cost of treating trauma patients in the western United States is 33 percent higher than the bill for treating similarly injured patients in the Northeast. Overall, treatment costs were lower in the Northeast than anywhere in the United States.

Experimenting with human prostate cancer cells and mice, cancer imaging experts at Johns Hopkins say they have developed a method for finding and killing malignant cells while sparing healthy ones.

Working with mice, Johns Hopkins researchers say they have figured out how stem cells found in a part of the brain responsible for learning, memory and mood regulation decide to remain dormant or create new brain cells. Apparently, the stem cells “listen in” on the chemical communication among nearby neurons to get an idea about what is stressing the system and when they need to act.

The Johns Hopkins Center for Inherited Disease Research (CIDR) program contract, which receives up to $101 million in research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the genetic contribution to human diseases, has been renewed for another five years.

A Johns Hopkins review of more than 38,000 patient records finds that older adults who sustain substantial head trauma over a weekend are significantly more likely to die from their injuries than those similarly hurt and hospitalized Monday through Friday, even if their injuries are less severe and they have fewer other illnesses than their weekday counterparts.

A study of more than 500 patients admitted to, and discharged from, a big-city medical center suggests that nurse-pharmacist teams trained to track down discrepancies between lists of drugs patients are taking at home and those they are scheduled to take in the hospital might substantially reduce such potentially harmful conflicts.

All Children’s Hospital, a member of Johns Hopkins Medicine, has received approval to establish a new pediatric residency program on the St. Petersburg FL-based hospital campus. The first class of resident physicians will enter the program in July 2014.

Johns Hopkins scientists have decoded for the first time the “stability blueprint” of an enzyme that resides in a cell’s membrane, mapping which parts of the enzyme are important for its shape and function. These studies, published in advance online on June 14 in Structure and on July 15 in Nature Chemical Biology, could eventually lead to the development of drugs to treat malaria and other parasitic diseases. 

A patient safety team including researchers in the Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality reported a one-third cut in the rate of costly and potentially lethal surgical site infections (SSIs) following colorectal operations after requiring use of a simple safety checklist and urging caregivers to speak up if they see potentially unsafe practices.

Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered a new drug that may be useful in treating a heart rhythm condition called long QT syndrome. The study was published online on June 28 in the Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Jonathan Ellen, M.D., professor of pediatrics and vice chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, has been appointed president of All Children’s Hospital. In his new role, he will also serve as president of the All Children’s Hospital Foundation and chairman of the All Children’s Health System Board, which oversees the All Children’s Hospital Specialty Physicians Group and other entities. Prior to his appointment as president, Ellen served as interim president of the pediatric hospital, and before that he served as the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine vice dean for All Children’s Hospital and as All Children’s Hospital’s physician in chief. Before joining All Children’s Hospital, Ellen was the director of the Department of Pediatrics and Neonatology at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.

With the summer drawing to an end and the school year around the corner, pediatric eye specialists at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and The Wilmer Eye Institute are sounding the alarm on a preventable yet all too common occurrence — sports-related eye injuries.

Additional information: https://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Protective-Eyewear-Can-Ward-Off-Injuries-in-Young-Athletes.aspx

Johns Hopkins heart specialists will screen young athletes for heart problems that can cause sudden death. The screenings will take place at the National Junior Olympic Track & Field Championships at Morgan State University in Baltimore.

Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered a "scaffolding" protein that holds together multiple elements in a complex system responsible for regulating pain, mental illnesses and other complex neurological problems.

With the 2012 Summer Olympics taking place July 27 to Aug. 12, the competition for athletic supremacy will be high and carry with it high rates of injury among the world's most elite athletes.

On Sunday October 14th, Paul Reed Smith Guitars will again host the acclaimed "One Night One Show One Cause" concert featuring JOURNEY at the Modell Center for the Performing Arts at the Lyric Opera House in downtown Baltimore, Maryland.  The concert benefits the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center.

Tens of thousands of Americans taking potent antiretroviral therapies, or ART, to keep their HIV disease in check may not have as much control over the viral infection as previous estimates have suggested, according to results of a study by AIDS experts at Johns Hopkins and the University of Pennsylvania.

People with serious mental illness —schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and disabling depression — are 2.6 times more likely to develop cancer than the general population, new Johns Hopkins research suggests.

A Johns Hopkins research program that brought resources and counselors to elderly Baltimore residents with memory disorders such as dementia significantly increased the chance they could continue to live successfully at home, a preference for most of them.

Giving children with egg allergies increasingly higher doses of the very food they are allergic to can eliminate or ease reactions in most of them, according to results from a federally funded study conducted at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and four other U.S. institutions.

For additional information: https://www.hopkinschildrens.org

Since its founding, The Johns Hopkins Hospital has broken new ground, led the field in medicine and made history in countless ways. Just one of the hospital’s many historic achievements is that it was consecutively ranked #1 in the nation for 21 years out of the 23 in which U.S. News & World Report has held its annual rankings of U.S. hospitals. This year, the hospital is again ranked #1 nationally in five specialties, and it is ranked #2 overall in the nation.

Johns Hopkins tissue engineers have used tiny, artificial fiber scaffolds thousands of times smaller than a human hair to help coax stem cells into developing into cartilage, the shock-absorbing lining of elbows and knees that often wears thin from injury or age.

Johns Hopkins researchers say they have discovered a cause-and-effect relationship between two well-established biological risk factors for schizophrenia previously believed to be independent of one another.

A detailed study of heart muscle function in mice has uncovered evidence to explain why exercise is beneficial for heart function in type 2 diabetes. The research team, led by scientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, found that greater amounts of fatty acids used by the heart during stressful conditions like exercise can counteract the detrimental effects of excess glucose and improve the diabetic heart’s pumping ability in several ways. The findings also shed light on the complex chain of events that lead to diabetic cardiomyopathy, a form of heart failure that is a life-threatening complication of type 2 diabetes.

Using adult stem cells, Johns Hopkins researchers and a consortium of colleagues nationwide say they have generated the type of human neuron specifically damaged by Parkinson’s disease (PD) and used various drugs to stop the damage.

It is a cellular component so scarce, some scientists even doubted its existence, and many others gave up searching for its molecular structure. Now a team led by researchers at Johns Hopkins has defined the protein structural composition of mitoKATP, a potassium channel in the mitochondria of the heart and other organs that is known to protect against tissue damage due to a heart attack or stroke. Importantly, the newly found channel strongly improves heart cell survival, demonstrating an essential life-saving role.

John Ogunkeye has been named executive director of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Clinical Practice Association, or CPA, which represents the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine's 1,700-member physician practice group. In addition to serving as the CPA's chief administrative officer, Ogunkeye will serve as vice president and chief administrative officer of the Office of Johns Hopkins Physicians.

Scientists have long known that the body rids itself of excess copper and various other minerals by collecting them in the liver and excreting them through the liver’s bile. However, a new study led by Johns Hopkins researchers and published June 22 in PLoS One suggests that when this route is impaired there’s another exit route just for copper: A molecule sequesters only that mineral and routes it from the body through urine.

Johns Hopkins researchers say they have discovered that the central nervous system’s oligodendroglia cells, long believed to simply insulate nerves as they “fire” signals, are unexpectedly also vital to the survival of neurons. Damage to these insulators appears to contribute to brain injury in neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease for the Yankee baseball great who died from the disease.

Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, working with Danish researchers, have developed a novel anticancer drug designed to travel -- undetected by normal cells -- through the bloodstream until activated by specific cancer proteins. The drug, made from a weedlike plant, has been shown to destroy cancers and their direct blood supplies, acting like a “molecular grenade,” and sparing healthy blood vessels and tissues.

Newer technologies designed to help people with type 1 diabetes monitor their blood sugar levels daily work better than traditional methods and require fewer painful needle sticks, new Johns Hopkins research suggests.

A Johns Hopkins Children’s Center study of patients who received liver transplants from living donors has found that better outcomes need not come with a heftier price tag.

For additional information: https://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Improved-Outcomes-in-Pediatric-Liver-Transplants-Dont-Have-To-Mean-Higher-Cost.aspx

A Johns Hopkins expert in the drug treatment of HIV disease and AIDS is spearheading an international effort to radically shift the manufacturing and prescribing of combination therapies widely credited in the last decade for keeping the disease in check for 8 million of the 34 million infected people worldwide.

The vast majority of cells that appear to be on a one-way track to death after exposure to toxins can bounce back completely after those toxins are removed, Johns Hopkins scientists report in a new study. The finding, published in the June 15 issue of Molecular Biology of the Cell, is not only a testament to the indomitable cellular spirit, but could also offer some practical insight on how to save dying tissues after heart attacks or strokes as well as prevent cancer in cells transiently exposed to toxins.

Despite advances in the understanding and treatment of pediatric pain, many hospitalized children continue to experience serious pain, according to a Johns Hopkins Children’s Center study published online ahead of print in the journal Pain Management Nursing.

For more information: https://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Persistent-Pain-Still-Common-in-Hospitalized-Children.aspx

Johns Hopkins researchers say they have demonstrated for the first time, in animals, that nanoparticles can slip through mucus to deliver drugs directly to tissue surfaces in need of protection.

Johns Hopkins researchers, working with an international consortium, say they have generated stem cells from skin cells from a person with a severe, early-onset form of Huntington’s disease (HD), and turned them into neurons that degenerate just like those affected by the fatal inherited disorder.

Using a new tool allowing proteins in a living cell to be manipulated in real time, researchers at Johns Hopkins have stumbled across the answer to a longstanding debate about where and how a certain protein is turned on in the cell. Reporting in the February 2012 issue of Nature Chemical Biology, scientists show that protein kinase A is also activated in the nucleus rather than inside the cell’s body, a challenge to traditional beliefs.

Studies on some 55 U.S. men and women with potentially deadly liver or pancreatic cancers show that specialized MRI scans can tell within a month whether highly toxic chemotherapy is working and killing tumor cells long before tumors actually shrink – or fail to shrink.

Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered that a single protein molecule may hold the key to turning cardiac stem cells into blood vessels or muscle tissue, a finding that may lead to better ways to treat heart attack patients.

The Johns Hopkins University (JHU), America’s first research university, in Baltimore, Md., USA, and the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI), a mobile and information technology development leader based in Berlin, Germany, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly research the innovative medical applications of integrated optical sensors: small, highly sensitive devices with disease-recognition capabilities.

For additional information:
http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Antibacterials-in-Personal-Care-Products-Linked-to-Allergy-Risk-in-Children.aspx

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins Health System (together known as Johns Hopkins Medicine, or JHM), has been awarded a $19.9 million grant by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), over a three-year period, to improve the quality and efficiency of health care delivered to JHM patients.

Jeanne M. Clark, M.D., M.P.H., is the inaugural recipient of the Frederick Brancati M.D. Endowed Professorship in Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

For additional information:
http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Hip-And-Thigh-Fractures-Heal-Fine-With-Single-Leg-Casts.aspx

Johns Hopkins researchers say they have discovered one of the most important cellular mechanisms driving the growth and progression of meningioma, the most common form of brain and spinal cord tumor. A report on the discovery, published in the journal Molecular Cancer Research, could lead the way to the discovery of better drugs to attack these crippling tumors, the scientists say.

Targeted cancer cell therapies using man-made proteins dramatically shrink many tumors in the first few months of treatment, but new research from Johns Hopkins scientists finds why the cells all too often become resistant, the treatment stops working, and the disease returns.

Studying how nerve cells send and receive messages, Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered new ways that genetic mutations can disrupt functions in neurons and lead to neurodegenerative disease, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

HospitalExecNews has named The Johns Hopkins Hospital one of the “25 Best Hospitals to Work for in the U.S.”

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has announced receipt of a five-year, $27 million gift earmarked to fast-track the development of therapies to treat tumors associated with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), a common and often debilitating neurogenetic disorder that causes tumors called plexiform neurofibromas to grow on nerves anywhere in the body.

Internationally-recognized leukemia and infectious diseases expert Gerald P. Bodey, M.D., professor emeritus of infectious diseases at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, will receive a 2012 Distinguished Alumnus Award for scientific achievement from the Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association.

Cancer biology and hematology-oncology expert Chi Van Dang, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, will receive a 2012 Distinguished Alumnus Award for scientific achievement from the Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association.

Johns Hopkins experts in the prevention and treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis are calling for increased screening and more rapid testing of the 9 million people worldwide estimated to be infected each year with TB and now at risk for this form of the highly contagious lung disease.

In an era of soft drink bans and restrictions on junk food ads, students at the Johns Hopkins University schools of medicine and nursing are recommending a different approach to aid the more than 170 million Americans who are overweight or obese. By publicly committing to basic tenets of healthy living — regular exercise, eating a balanced diet and managing stress — future nurses and physicians are challenging peers and practicing medical professionals to model healthy behaviors for their patients.

Using a Johns Hopkins-developed program that allows medical professionals to provide acute hospital-level care within a patient's home, a New Mexico health system was able to reduce costs by roughly

It's well known that a relatively small percentage of chronically ill patients accounts for a disproportionate amount of health care dollars. Now, a multicenter study led by Johns Hopkins researcher Bruce Leff, M.D., might provide insights into how to cut Medicare costs while improving health care for older adults suffering from chronic health conditions.

Two clinical trials led by Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers in collaboration with other medical centers, testing experimental drugs aimed at restoring the immune system’s ability to spot and attack cancer, have shown promising early results in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer, melanoma, and kidney cancer.  More than 500 patients were treated in the studies of two drugs that target the same immune-suppressive pathway, and the investigators say there is enough evidence to support wider testing in larger groups of patients.

The Johns Hopkins Alumni Association has bestowed its Knowledge for the World Award to Richard Bransford, M.D., a 1967 graduate of The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Four generations of the Flexner family, starting with Abraham Flexner, M.D., who in 1886 earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Johns Hopkins University’s Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, and continuing on to his great-great nephew Charles Flexner, M.D., who graduated from Johns Hopkins’ School of Medicine in 1982, will be honored with the 2012 Heritage Award from the University’s Alumni Association. The award recognizes the Flexner family’s longstanding commitment to medical education, which includes six graduates of Johns Hopkins’ School of Medicine, Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. The award will be presented to Charles Flexner, on behalf of the entire Flexner family, at the Johns Hopkins Medical & Surgical Association’s next biennial meeting in June 2013.

Internationally known AIDS researcher James E.K. Hildreth, M.D., Ph.D., will receive a 2012 Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association Knowledge for the World Award, an honor given to alumni who have brought credit to the university and their profession in the international arena through their professional achievements or humanitarian service.

Physician-scientist Gary S. Firestein, M.D., an internationally renowned authority on rheumatoid arthritis, will receive a 2012 Distinguished Alumnus Award for scientific achievement from the Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association. Firestein, a graduate of Johns Hopkins’ School of Medicine (Class of ’80) is currently dean and associate vice chancellor of translational medicine at University of California San Diego (UCSD); he was previously UCSD’s chief of the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology. Firestein will receive his Johns Hopkins award along with two other distinguished recipients, Chi Van Dang, M.D., Ph.D. (Class of ’82), and Gerald P. Bodey, M.D. (Class of ’60), at the Johns Hopkins Medical & Surgical Association’s next biennial meeting in June 2013

The Johns Hopkins Alumni Association has bestowed its Woodrow Wilson Award to Harry Hull, M.D., a 1973 graduate of The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

This year the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund awarded 29 of 40 grants to Johns Hopkins researchers for the study of stem cell metabolism and regulation, the creation of new cell models for human diseases such as schizophrenia and Rett syndrome, which previously could be studied only in animals, and the development of new potential therapies.

Johns Hopkins scientists have engineered cells that behave like AND and OR Boolean logic gates, producing an output based on one or more unique inputs. This feat, published in the May issue of Nature Chemical Biology, could eventually help researchers create computers that use cells as tiny circuits.

A protein produced by the central nervous system’s support cells seems to play two opposing roles in protecting nerve cells from damage, an animal study by Johns Hopkins researchers suggests: Decreasing its activity seems to trigger support cells to gear up their protective powers, but increasing its activity appears to be key to actually use those powers to defend cells from harm.

People with a past history of just a single skin infection may be three times more likely to develop a painful, costly — and potentially deadly — surgical site infection (SSI) when they have an operation, according to new Johns Hopkins research.

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.

Children with pelvic and thigh fractures develop dangerous blood clots so rarely that anti-clotting therapy should be given only to those with underlying conditions that increase clotting risk, according to a study from Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.

For additional information:
http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Study-Anti-Clotting-Drugs-Rarely-Needed-in-Children-with-Big-Bone-Fractures.aspx

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 Institute 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 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.

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.