Curated News: Grant Funded News

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Unlike other back-saving devices, this one was tested with motion capture, force plates and electromyography.

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Cytokines might be the key to repairing diabetic nerve damage. Diabetes devastates nerve cells, which can lead to poor circulation, muscle weakness, blindness, and other side effects. The study showed diabetic mice can’t repair nerve cells after damage due to low levels of specific cytokines.

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Each cell in the body is made up of a number of tiny sealed membranous subunits called organelles, and they send things like lipids back and forth to allow the cell to function. A process called membrane tethering is responsible for bridging the gap between organelles, and now, Texas A&M researchers have discovered a way to manipulate this tethering. The study was the cover story in the journal Chemical Science.

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Researchers from the University of Chicago Medicine have received a five-year, $1.8 million grant, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health (OMH) to develop a program that could help improve diabetes care for low-income racial and ethnic minority patients.

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The delayed arrival of immune cells after cancer therapy is well documented and critical for responses to chemotherapy and radiation, yet the events underlying their induction remain poorly understood. Now, Penn researchers have discovered how DNA damage is a clarion call for the immune system.

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A new study led by Johns Hopkins researchers suggests that testing for the presence of orthostatic hypotension, a form of low blood pressure, be performed within one minute of standing after a person has been lying down. Current guidelines recommend taking the measurement three minutes after a person stands up.

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Press can register here to livestream this special session through Newswise Live on Monday, July 31 at 7:30 PM EDT. The winner of the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE competition will present DxtER—a real-life tricorder—at the 69th AACC Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo in San Diego. This special session will be the first time that the device is presented to researchers at a U.S. scientific conference.

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A brain penetrant drug — a small-molecule mimetic of BDNF, or brain derived neurotrophic factor — is able to improve brain performance in Rett syndrome mice — specifically synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus and object location memory. The hippocampus is involved in learning and memory.

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A research group led by Raimund Fromme has gained important new insights by resolving with near-atomic clarity, the very first core membrane protein structure in the simplest known photosynthetic bacterium, called Heliobacterium modesticaldum (Helios was the Greek sun god). By solving the heart of photosynthesis in this sun-loving, soil-dwelling bacterium, Fromme’s research team has gained a fundamental new understanding of the early evolution of photosynthesis, and how this vital process differs between plants systems.

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Researchers funded by NIH have developed an imaging method that reveals a much more diverse and flexible DNA-protein chromatin chain than previously thought. The result suggests a nimbler structure to regulate gene expression, and provide a mechanism for chemical modifications of DNA to be maintained as cells divide.

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Researchers at Jefferson’s Maternal Addiction Treatment Education & Research (MATER) program found significant improvement in the quality of parenting among mothers who participated in a trauma-informed, mindfulness-based parenting intervention while also in medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder. Results of the study, the first to scientifically test a mindfulness-based parenting intervention with this population, were published July 27 in the Journal of Addiction Medicine.

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Dosenbach, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of pediatric and developmental neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and colleagues used imaging techniques to collect a massive amount of data on individual brains. Their work led to 10 individual-specific connectomes — detailed maps of neural brain connections that reveal spatial and organizational variability in brain networks.

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Researchers at Michigan Medicine and in China showed that a type of bacterium is associated with the recurrence of colorectal cancer and poor outcomes. They found that Fusobacterium nucleatum in the gut can stop chemotherapy from causing a type of cancer cell death called apoptosis.

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KNF introduces the new solenoid-driven FL 10 diaphragm pump for OEM customers. With a nominal liquid flow rate of 100 mL/min, FL 10 features bi-directional flow-tightness without additional check valves, IP 65 protection, simple linear flow rate adjustment, a maintenance-free expected lifetime of 10,000h, and other key cost-saving attributes.

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Surgeons were able to identify and remove a greater number of cancerous nodules from lung cancer patients when combining intraoperative molecular imaging (IMI) – through the use of a contrast agent that makes tumor cells glow during surgery – with preoperative positron emission tomography (PET) scans. The study from the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania (ACC) is the first to show how effective the combination of IMI with the tumor-glowing agent can be when combined with traditional PET imaging.

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Diener Precision Pumps, the leading manufacturer of precision piston pumps and gear pumps has been Engineering Your Flow for Clinical Laboratory instruments since 1994. The company prides itself on its Global Engineering of Excellence based in Lodi, CA and its precision manufacturing facility located in Embrach, Swizterland. A perfect marriage of renowned Northern California innovative engineering with Swiss quality produced products.

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The study, conducted in mice, found that exposure to air pollution during the equivalent of the first or second trimester in humans was linked to more negative birth outcomes than exposure later in pregnancy.

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University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center researchers performed a population-level analysis of national surveys conducted from 2001 to 2015 and found that in the United States the smoking cessation rate increased for the first time in 15 years. The study suggests e-cigarettes helped users of the electronic devices to quit smoking traditional cigarettes

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Mouse models have advanced our understanding of immune function and disease in many ways but they have failed to account for the natural diversity in human immune responses. As a result, insights gained in the lab may be lost in translation. In their latest study, researchers at La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, developed a new approach to model human immune variation in the lab that overcomes the limitations of traditional mouse models.

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Audiologists, specialists in hearing disorders, from around the world will meet in Louisville to discuss benefits and pitfalls of using the internet for research and hearing health care (telehealth) for individuals with hearing impairment.

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On July 25, 2017, the National Science Foundation announced awards totaling $51 million to 17 projects that will develop and implement bold, new and potentially transformative models for graduate education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. A team of Wayne State University faculty were awarded a five-year, $2,999,976 grant for their project, “NRT: Transformative Research in Urban Sustainability Training (T-RUST).”

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Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine have found that stem cells in the brain’s hypothalamus govern how fast aging occurs in the body. The finding, made in mice, could lead to new strategies for warding off age-related diseases and extending lifespan. The paper was published online today in Nature.

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Cells within an injured mouse eye can be coaxed into regenerating neurons and those new neurons appear to integrate themselves into the eye’s circuitry, new research shows. The findings potentially open the door to new treatments for eye trauma and retinal disease. The study appears in the July 26 issue of Nature, and was funded in part by the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health.

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The National Institutes of Health is awarding a Kansas State University-led team of psychological sciences researchers with a prestigious five-year, $10.6 million Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence, or COBRE, grant.

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CUR announces the 12 higher education institutions selected for its Transformations Project (funded by the National Science Foundation)

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Aggressive combination treatments for high blood pressure that are intended to protect the kidneys may actually be damaging the organs.

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A pattern of escalating marijuana use in adolescents is linked to higher rates of depression and lower educational accomplishments in adulthood.

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A research team from the Schepens Eye Research Institute of Massachusetts Eye and Ear has successfully prevented mice from developing angiogenesis of the retina—the sensory tissue at the back of the eye—using gene-editing techniques with CRISPR-Cas9.

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A collaborative team of neuro-oncology surgeon/scientists has discovered a previously unidentified molecular mechanism that maintains glioma stem cells, and they have tested it as a potential therapeutic target in glioblastoma, using a small molecule inhibitor they designed and synthesized.

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The National Institutes of Health has awarded the University of North Carolina more than $5.6 million to test a therapeutic vaccine for HIV. The study's principal investigator says the goals are to redirect and strengthen the immune response to the virus.

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Vanderbilt University engineers find existing human protein is ideal carrier for powerful molecules that can signal tumors to self-destruct.

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In a paper published today in Scientific Reports, a team led by Adler Dillman, assistant professor of parasitology in UCR’s College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, has shown how nematodes use smell to seek out uninfected insects, which they then enter and kill. The findings support the group’s long-term goal of improving how gardeners and the agricultural industry use nematodes in biological pest management.

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Scientists have used data from the intergalactic medium — the vast, largely empty space between galaxies — to narrow down what dark matter could be.

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In a new study published today, Arizona State University-Banner Health neuroscientist Salvatore Oddo and his colleagues from Phoenix’s Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) — as well as the University of California, Irvine, and Mount Sinai in New York — have identified a new way for brain cells to become fated to die during Alzheimer’s diseases.

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Engineers at the University of Maryland have invented an entirely new kind of battery. It is bio-compatible, because it produces the same kind of electrical energy that the body uses: an ion current.

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With the help of a five-year, $1.8 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health, researchers at Wayne State University are using a new zebrafish animal model to better understand how V. cholerae acts as a human pathogen, enabling future research to identify new therapeutic treatments as well as targets for environmental remediation. The grant is entitled “Mechanisms for Vibrio cholerae colonization and pathogenesis in zebrafish.”

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In a new study, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing’s Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR), and the Rutgers University School of Nursing examined the factors influencing the likelihood of missed nursing care in the home care setting. Their findings indicate that home care nurses with poor work environments are more likely to miss required care.

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An international team of scientists has developed a method to rapidly produce specific human antibodies in the laboratory. The technique, which will be described in a paper to be published July 24 in The Journal of Experimental Medicine, could speed the production of antibodies to treat a wide range of diseases and facilitate the development of new vaccines.

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A team of Wayne State University researchers recently received a $1.9 million grant from the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health to better understand leukodystrophies (LD) and genetic Leukoencephalopathies (gLE), rare genetic disorders affecting the white matter – myelin – in the central nervous system. Patients diagnosed with a leukodystrophy experience a gradual decline in development, including a progressive loss in gait, body tone, vision, hearing, swallowing and/or ability to eat.

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It lives in boiling acid that dissolves flesh and bone. Now scientists have unlocked the secrets of the indestructible virus, potentially allowing them to harness its remarkable properties to create super-durable materials and better treat disease.

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Researchers have developed a technique that uses the vibration of chemical bonds to produce specific colors that allow them to simultaneously observe, in cells and tissues, as many as 24 interacting molecules--each with a distinct color.

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Northwestern University neuroscientists now can visualize how fruit flies sense and process humidity. The findings could one day help researchers better understand how the human brain simultaneously processes humidity and temperature and might influence how humans control for mosquitoes in cities and prevent mosquito-borne disease

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Johns Hopkins researchers who distributed a survey at a retreat and medical update for primary care physicians (PCPs) report that the vast majority of the 140 doctors who responded could not identify all 11 risk factors that experts say qualify patients for prediabetes screening. The survey, they say, is believed to be one of the first to formally test PCPs' knowledge of current professional guidelines for such screening.

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Discovery of a phosphorylation event outside of the cell offers new avenue for targeting chronic and pathologic pain, a new study reports

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Some middle schoolers spend their summers lounging poolside or visiting grandma. Others spend part of vacation building robots. During the Women in Robotics Summer Youth Program at Michigan Technological University this week, 23 girls will learn to program, wire, troubleshoot and construct two robots.

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A Wayne State University researcher recently received a $1.9 million grant from the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health for the project, “Role of AMP-Activated Protein Kinase in Bacterial Endophthalmitis.” Endophthalmitis is a severe inflammation of the interior of the eye caused by contaminating microorganisms that enter the eye following trauma or surgery, or that spread through the bloodstream from a distant infection site. Despite appropriate therapeutic intervention, bacterial endophthalmitis often results in vision loss and sometimes requires surgical removal of the eye.

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A University of Arkansas at Little Rock researcher is creating a virtual lab to address issues related to cloud-based computing environments and to help students practice networking and cyber defense skills. The program's modules will be part of a cybersecurity curriculum that will be available to the public.

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Injured people often interact with police and other law enforcement agents before and during their injury care, particularly when their injuries are due to violence or major motor vehicle crashes. Yet, there are no professional guidelines in trauma medicine or nursing that standardize when and how police interact with injured patients.

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Scientists at the University of Washington have discovered a simple way to raise the accuracy of diagnostic tests for medicine and common assays for laboratory research. By adding polydopamine — a material that was first isolated from shellfish — to these tests at a key step, the team could increase the sensitivity of these common bioassays by as many as 100 to 1,000 times.

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Emergency and urgent hospitalizations are associated with an increased rate of cognitive decline in older adults, report researchers at Rush University Medical Center. The results of their study suggest that hospitalization may be a more of a major risk factor for long-term cognitive decline in older adults than previously recognized.