The Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and more than 70 National Cancer Center-designated cancer centers across the country endorsed the goal of eliminating cancers caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV) with the use of gender-neutral HPV vaccination and evidence-based cancer screening in an open letter to patients and medical providers.

Yesterday the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, the American Academy of Pain Medicine and the American Society of Anesthesiologists published new consensus guidelines on the use of IV ketamine infusions for chronic and acute pain management. The new guidelines were published in Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine.

Results of a large-scale study suggest that the oral diabetes drug metformin is safe for most diabetics who also have chronic kidney disease (CKD). The study of more than 150,000 adults by Johns Hopkins Medicine investigators found that metformin’s association with the development of a life-threatening condition called lactic acidosis was seen only among patients with severely decreased kidney function.

Agricultural antibiotics are responsible for roughly 20 percent of resistant infections in humans according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, however, its urgency as a public health concern has been understated. Martin Makary, M.D., M.P.H., a professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, insists that doctors start leading the way for antibiotic-free foods in the same way they advocate for smoking cessation.

The 16 awardees from The Johns Hopkins University — representing research ranging from basic sciences to clinical sciences — are among 25 scientists who will share the $7.1 million award approved by The Maryland Stem Cell Research Commission.

Scientists report they have uncovered a previously overlooked connection between neurons in two distinct areas of the mammalian brain. The neurons, they say, control the sense of touch, and their experiments in mice offer insights into mapping brain circuitry that is responsible for normal and abnormal perception and movements linked to touch.

In an analysis of data collected from more than 2,800 women after menopause, Johns Hopkins researchers report new evidence that a higher proportion of male to female sex hormones was associated with a significant increased relative cardiovascular disease risk.

A study of more than 7,000 low-income, urban mothers enrolled in the Boston Birth Cohort found that fewer than 5 percent of them started folic acid supplementation and used it almost daily before pregnancy, a widely recommended public health measure designed to prevent potentially crippling birth defects.

A project in the radiation oncology outpatient unit at Johns Hopkins Hospital showed an improvement in clinician’s comfort level in responding to urgent patient care situations after a department-wide exercise focused on recognizing the signs when a patient’s condition was declining during their appointments.

A small study of adults with the most common form of pancreatic cancer adds to evidence that patients with BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations long linked to a high risk of breast cancer have poorer overall survival rates than those without the mutations.

C. Scott Hultman, M.D., M.B.A., F.A.C.S., has joined the Department of Plastic Surgery as the new director of the Johns Hopkins Burn Center. He also will join the faculty at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine as a professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery.

Scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine and the National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan say they have found a fast way to manipulate a cell’s cilia, the tiny, fingerlike protrusions that “feel” and sense their microscopic environment. The experiments, performed in mouse cells, may advance scientists’ efforts to not only understand how the nanosized antennae work, but also how to repair them.

The Johns Hopkins University announces that IP Group has funded the creation of Lorem Therapeutics as part of an ongoing collaboration between the university and the intellectual property commercialization company to explore, identify and commercialize technologies. Lorem will be focused on developing early-stage therapeutics, bridging the gap from drug discovery to investigative new drug (IND) status, specifically novel small molecule prodrugs for cancer indications.

By analyzing reported physical activity levels over time in more than 11,000 American adults, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers conclude that increasing physical activity to recommended levels over as few as six years in middle age is associated with a significantly decreased risk of heart failure, a condition that affects an estimated 5 million to 6 million Americans.

The High Value Practice Academic Alliance (HVPAA), led by Johns Hopkins Medicine, has collaborated with the Health Research and Educational Trust (HRET), the research, education and implementation science affiliate of the American Hospital Association (AHA), to host and direct the HVPAA’s annual High Value Health Care Conference on Sept. 21-23 at the Baltimore Convention Center.