Sleep Deprivation Influences Drug Use in Teens’ Social Networks

Recent studies have shown that behaviors such as happiness, obesity, smoking and altruism are “contagious” within adult social networks. In other words, your behavior not only influences your friends, but also their friends and so on. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego and Harvard University have taken this a step farther and found that the spread of one behavior in social networks influences the spread of another behavior, adolescent drug use.

View

EMBARGOED

A reporter's PressPass is required to access this story until the embargo expires on 3/21/2010 2:00 PM EDT

“Know Your Family’s Autoimmune Quotient (AQ)” Campaign Highlights National Autoimmune Diseases Awareness Month

In honor of the designation of March as National Autoimmune Disease Awareness Month by the U.S. Senate on March 4, 2010, the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA) wants to help you learn your family’s AQ. AQ is a play on IQ that stands for Autoimmune Quotient. It’s about knowing how likely you or a loved one is to develop an autoimmune disease, based on the prevalence of these diseases and your family history.

View

Treating Blood Infections Tops Annual Hospital Cost Increases

The hospital costs for treating septicemia increased by an average of nearly 12 percent each year from 1997 to 2007, increasing from $4.1 billion in 1997 to $12.3 billion in 2007.

View

Prepared Patient: On Your Own With Multiple Meds

Overwhelmed by the vials, bottles and inhalers bulging from your medicine cabinet ? Confused about which drug is which, or when to take what?

View

NCAA-Related Sports Medicine News Tips from Johns Hopkins Medicine

Listed in this article are story ideas from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine with a partial focus on the upcoming NCAA Basketball tournaments.

View

Re-Accreditation Confirms High Quality, Ethical Research at Baylor Research Institute

Officials announced today that Baylor Research Institute (BRI), part of the Baylor Health Care System, was recently re-accredited by the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP). The re-accreditation certifies that BRI maintains efficient systems for monitoring research participant safety and embraces ethical standards higher than required by law in order to protect human participants participating in BRI research programs.

View

Acne Drug Prevents HIV Breakout

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

View

Causes Found for Stiff Skin Conditions

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

View

EMBARGOED

A reporter's PressPass is required to access this story until the embargo expires on 3/23/2010 6:00 AM EDT