NEWS STORIES IN THIS ISSUE: - Case Study Suggests Young People Susceptible to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome After COVID-19 - Johns Hopkins Patient Breathes Easier After Nearly Yearlong Battle Following COVID-19 - COVID-19 Vaccine Approved for Kids 12 and Up – What to Expect
In research made possible when COVID-19 sidelined other research projects, scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine meticulously counted brain cells in fruit flies and three species of mosquitos, revealing a number that would surprise many people outside the science world.
Clinicians and scientists have long observed that cells in overstressed hearts have high levels of the simple sugar O-GlcNAc modifying thousands of proteins within cells. Now, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine have found evidence in mouse experiments that these excess sugars could well be a cause, not merely a consequence or marker of heart failure.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johns Hopkins Medicine Media Relations is focused on disseminating current, accurate and useful information to the public via the media. As part of that effort, we are distributing our “COVID-19 Tip Sheet: Story Ideas from Johns Hopkins” every other Wednesday.
How Can Scientists Predict a COVID-19 Outbreak? There's an App for that; Johns Hopkins Medicine Collaborates with the City and Faith Organizations to Offer Guidance on Safely Reopening Houses of Worship; Johns Hopkins Hospital Patient ‘Grateful to Still Be Alive’ After Two-Month Hospitalization with COVID-19; “12 Things You Need To Know” Infographic...
In a study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers show that although two doses of a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes COVID 19 — confers some protection for people who have received solid organ transplants, it’s still not enough to enable them to dispense with masks, physical distancing and other safety measures.
Next-generation gene sequencing (NGS) technologies —in which millions of DNA molecules are simultaneously but individually analyzed— theoretically provides researchers and clinicians the ability to noninvasively identify mutations in the blood stream. Identifying such mutations enables earlier diagnosis of cancer and can inform treatment decisions. Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers developed a new technology to overcome the inefficiencies and high error rates common among next-generation sequencing techniques that have previously limited their clinical application.
Screening for even mild depressive symptoms before hip fracture repair may be helpful in predicting which patients are at higher risk of developing delirium after emergency surgery, according to results of a new study by researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine. The researchers say their findings also add to evidence that symptoms of depression and postoperative delirium may be an early indicator of Alzheimer’s disease, although those findings were not conclusive.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johns Hopkins Medicine Media Relations is focused on disseminating current, accurate and useful information to the public via the media. As part of that effort, we are distributing our “COVID-19 Tip Sheet: Story Ideas from Johns Hopkins” every other Wednesday.
NEWS STORIES IN THIS ISSUE: PREGNANT AFTER THE FIRST DOSE OF COVID-19 VACCINE — NOW WHAT? STUDY SHOWS VACCINES MAY PROTECT AGAINST NEW COVID-19 STRAINS … AND MAYBE THE COMMON COLD EXPANDED DASHBOARD TOOL RANKS ACCESSIBILITY OF STATE VACCINE WEBSITES
The outcome of the highly sensitive trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the death of George Floyd can cause many different emotions for people. Last May, Floyd’s death sparked a societal reckoning that prompted protests against racial injustice and police brutality. Demonstrations also took place following the jury’s decision on April 20. How can adults cope with their emotions following the verdict as well as help their children cope?
Using a widely known field of mathematics designed mainly to study how digital and other forms of information are measured, stored and shared, scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine and Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center say they have uncovered a likely key genetic culprit in the development of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johns Hopkins Medicine Media Relations is focused on disseminating current, accurate and useful information to the public via the media. As part of that effort, we are distributing our “COVID-19 Tip Sheet: Story Ideas from Johns Hopkins” every other Wednesday.
A new study led by researchers at Johns Hopkins and the University of Pennsylvania uses computer modeling to suggest that eviction bans authorized during the COVID-19 pandemic reduced the infection rate and not only protected those who would have lost their housing but also entire communities from the spread of infections.
In a series of experiments that began with amoebas — single-celled organisms that extend podlike appendages to move around — Johns Hopkins Medicine scientists say they have identified a genetic pathway that could be activated to help sweep out mucus from the lungs of people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease a widespread lung ailment.
In a medical records study covering thousands of children, a U.S.-Canadian team led by researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine concludes that while surgery to correct congenital heart disease (CHD) within 10 years after birth may restore young hearts to healthy function, it also may be associated with an increased risk of hypertension — high blood pressure — within a few months or years after surgery.
Thanks to a gift from the Merkin Family Foundation, Johns Hopkins Medicine today announced plans for a new virtual center to study peripheral neuropathy, a debilitating nerve disorder that affects some 20 million people in the United States. The gift will also fund the development of innovative nerve regenerative therapies to combat the disorder.
New medicines for people who have diabetes seem to pop up all the time. Drugs that help the body break down carbohydrates, drugs that increase excretion of glucose in the urine, drugs that help muscles respond to insulin and drugs that stimulate the pancreas to produce it — the list of pharmaceutical options to treat diabetes gets longer and longer.
Coping with childhood anxiety amid returning to the classroom; new global tracker measures pandemic's impact on education worldwide; Covid-19 drives innovation and evolution in patient care...
Donation to support clinical scientists with precision medicine and vision researchPhilip Van Horn Gerdine. Credit: Pierce Harman Photography
Researchers at the Bloomberg Kimmel Institute for Caner Immunotherapy at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have developed DeepTCR, a software package that employs deep-learning algorithms to analyze T-cell receptor (TCR) sequencing data. T-cell receptors are found on the surface of immune T cells. These receptors bind to certain antigens, or proteins, found on abnormal cells, such as cancer cells and cells infected with a virus or bacteria, to guide the T cells to attack and destroy the affected cells.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johns Hopkins Medicine Media Relations is focused on disseminating current, accurate and useful information to the public via the media. As part of that effort, we are distributing our “COVID-19 Tip Sheet: Story Ideas from Johns Hopkins” every other Wednesday.
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center used machine learning techniques to detect mutational signatures in cancer patients. Their algorithm outperformed the current standard of analysis and revealed new mutational signatures associated with obesity, which is believed by cancer prevention experts to be becoming the most significant lifestyle factor contributing to cancer in the U.S. and most of the Western world.
Working with fruit flies, scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine say they have identified a new molecular pathway that helps steer moving cells in specific directions. The set of interconnected proteins and enzymes in the pathway act as steering and rudder components that drive cells toward an “intended” rather than random destination, they say.
One year ago, then 65-year-old Miriam Clark developed a fever, lost her appetite and had no energy. She and her daughter, Tye Clark, the administrative services manager of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Division of Hospital Medicine, never could have imagined what they would end up going through before Miriam was diagnosed with COVID-19. Looking back on the year, the mother and daughter duo are thankful and now even have reason to celebrate.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johns Hopkins Medicine Media Relations is focused on disseminating current, accurate and useful information to the public via the media. As part of that effort, we are distributing our “COVID-19 Tip Sheet: Story Ideas from Johns Hopkins” every other Wednesday.
Researchers developed a prototype for a new cancer immunotherapy that uses engineered T cells to target a genetic alteration common among all cancers. The approach, which stimulates an immune response against cells that are missing one gene copy, called loss of heterozygosity (LOH), was developed by researchers at the Ludwig Center, Lustgarten Laboratory and the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center.
Since its opening in January 2016, the Johns Hopkins Capacity Command Center has helped the Johns Hopkins Health System manage hospital operations — notably the flow of patients. So when the COVID-19 pandemic and the first people with the illness came to the hospital, the capacity command center was ready to manage the influx of patients.
Cancer researcher Andrew Ewald, Ph.D., has been appointed director of the Department of Cell Biology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He will take over the position from Peter Devreotes, Ph.D., who will remain on the faculty at Johns Hopkins. Ewald joined the medical school faculty in 2008 as an assistant professor in the Department of Cell Biology. His research focuses on how basic cellular processes, such as cell-to-cell connections and migration, contribute to cancer progression. He is known for his discoveries of the mechanisms by which breast cancer cells leave the primary tumor and spread through the body during metastasis.
Physicians understand frailty as a dysregulation among multiple systems in the body that make it less resilient and unable to recover completely when faced with a physical challenge such as injury or illness. “Defining frailty on a scientific level, however, has been a challenging task,” explains Ravi Varadhan, Ph.D., associate professor of oncology in the Division of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johns Hopkins Medicine Media Relations is focused on disseminating current, accurate and useful information to the public via the media. As part of that effort, we are distributing our “COVID-19 Tip Sheet: Story Ideas from Johns Hopkins” every other Wednesday.
Thanks to generous donations from listeners, the 32nd annual Mix 106.5 Radiothon last week raised $1,328,335.32 for Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. The final total was announced on Mix 106.5 on Monday, March 1. Since the first radiothon in 1990, more than $25 million has been raised for the Children’s Center.
Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center study co-author Bert Vogelstein, M.D., will present the related talk “Targeting genetic alterations in cancers with immunotherapeutic agents” at 11 a.m., March 1, at the Advances in Genome Biology and Technology (AGBT) conference. More information can be found at: https://www.agbt.org/events/general-meeting/agenda/. NOTE: AGBT provides complimentary press registration to staff and working freelance journalists who wish to cover the meeting. https://www.agbt.org/media/guidelines/
Medical researchers have long understood that a pregnant mother’s diet has a profound impact on her developing fetus’s immune system and that babies — especially those born prematurely — who are fed breast milk have a more robust ability to fight disease, suggesting that even after childbirth, a mother’s diet matters. However, the biological mechanisms underlying these connections have remained unclear.
Reports on variants of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 have swept the news over the past few months, but what exactly is a virus variant?
The 32nd annual Mix 106.5 Radiothon benefiting Johns Hopkins Children’s Center kicks off this week. The Children’s Center’s largest fundraising event of the year will air on the Baltimore radio station Thursday, Feb. 25, and Friday, Feb. 26, from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day.*
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johns Hopkins Medicine Media Relations is focused on disseminating current, accurate and useful information to the public via the media. As part of that effort, we are distributing our “COVID-19 Tip Sheet: Story Ideas from Johns Hopkins” every other Wednesday.
Scientists have yet to answer the age-old question of whether or how sound shapes the minds of fetuses in the womb, and expectant mothers often wonder about the benefits of such activities as playing music during pregnancy. Now, in experiments in newborn mice, scientists at Johns Hopkins report that sounds appear to change “wiring” patterns in areas of the brain that process sound earlier than scientists assumed and even before the ear canal opens.
Working with fish, birds and mice, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers report new evidence that some animals’ natural capacity to regrow neurons is not missing, but is instead inactivated in mammals. Specifically, the researchers found that some genetic pathways that allow many fish and other cold-blooded animals to repair specialized eye neurons after injury remain present in mammals as well, but are turned off, blocking regeneration and healing.
A commercially available genomic test may help oncologists better determine which patients with recurrent prostate cancer may benefit from hormone therapy, according to new research from the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and 15 other medical centers.
Getting around without the need to concentrate on every step is something most of us can take for granted because our inner ears drive reflexes that make maintaining balance automatic. However, for about 1.8 million adults worldwide with bilateral vestibular hypofunction (BVH) — loss of the inner ears’ sense of balance — walking requires constant attention to avoid a fall. Now, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers have shown that they can facilitate walking, relieve dizziness and improve quality of life in patients with BVH by surgically implanting a stimulator that electrically bypasses malfunctioning areas of the inner ear and partially restores the sensation of balance.
In the age of COVID-19, decisions that affect our day-to-day lives are influenced by analyzing numbers and data. For example, the COVID-19 positivity rate (the percentage of people who test positive for the virus out of the total number tested) influence whether or not businesses may open to the public, or, if schools should offer virtual, hybrid or in-class learning. Data are critical for strategizing, planning and implementing the policies and procedures needed to respond to the crisis and keep people safe.
In a new perspective piece published in the Feb. 5 issue of Science, pharmacologist Namandje Bumpus, Ph.D. — who recently became the first African American woman to head a Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine department, and is the only African American woman leading a pharmacology department in the country — outlines the molecular origins for differences in how well certain drugs work among distinct populations. She also lays out a four-part plan to improve the equity of drug development.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johns Hopkins Medicine Media Relations is focused on disseminating current, accurate and useful information to the public via the media. As part of that effort, we are distributing our “COVID-19 Tip Sheet: Story Ideas from Johns Hopkins” every other Tuesday.
Vaccines take time to work. After getting a COVID-19 vaccine, it takes a while for the immune system to fully respond and provide protection from the virus. For the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines, it takes up to two weeks after the second shot to become appropriately protected.
A Woman’s Journey will host a 90-minute virtual event, “COVID-19: One Year Later,” during which Johns Hopkins Medicine experts will address important issues related to COVID-19 such as new and available treatments and vaccine safety and efficacy. Registrants will learn about the continued urgency of public health measures to mitigate the pandemic despite the introduction of vaccines, what distinguishes the leading vaccine contenders in their methodology, safety and effectiveness, and symptoms and insights surrounding lingering deficits in physical function, mental health and cognition among COVID-19 survivors.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johns Hopkins Medicine Media Relations is focused on disseminating current, accurate and useful information to the public via the media. As part of that effort, we are distributing our “COVID-19 Tip Sheet: Story Ideas from Johns Hopkins” every other Tuesday.
In a series of experiments with laboratory-cultured bacteria, Johns Hopkins scientists have found evidence that there is a second role for the widely used gene-cutting system CRISPR-Cas9 — as a genetic dimmer switch for CRISPR-Cas9 genes. Its role of dialing down or dimming CRISPR-Cas9 activity may help scientists develop new ways to genetically engineer cells for research purposes.
A wide breadth of behaviors surrounding oral sex may affect the risk of oral HPV infection and of a virus-associated head and neck cancer that can be spread through this route, a new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center suggests. These findings add nuance to the connection between oral sex and oropharyngeal cancer — tumors that occur in the mouth and throat — and could help inform research and public health efforts aimed at preventing this disease.
In experiments in mouse tissues and human cells, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers say they have found that removing a membrane that lines the back of the eye may improve the success rate for regrowing nerve cells damaged by blinding diseases. The findings are specifically aimed at discovering new ways to reverse vision loss caused by glaucoma and other diseases that affect the optic nerve, the information highway from the eye to the brain.
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