Curated News: Grant Funded News

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The incidence of heart disease is on the rise, and new therapeutic strategies are needed.

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A National Institutes of Health-supported nationwide clinical trial will test a novel approach to combat hearing loss in children infected by a relatively unknown virus, cytomegalovirus (CMV). The University of Utah Health-led study will determine whether antiviral therapy can halt progressive hearing loss in children with a confirmed CMV infection. CMV is the leading non-genetic cause of hearing loss, contributing from 6 to 30 percent of childhood cases.

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Nisanne Ghonemi's research seeks to address a universal problem in kidney transplant surgery that can result in failure of the organ graft. Her research will explore the use of a class of drugs known as prostacyclins to reduce ischemia-reperfusion injury to a transplanted kidney from a deceased patient that can result in failure of the organ graft.

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Prior to cell division, chromosomes are seemingly a jumbled mess. Researchers have long assumed that genes become “silent” during cell division, not being transcribed into proteins or regulatory molecules. This has left open the question of how genes get properly re-activated after cell division. Now, researchers have found that gene expression actually continues during cell replication.

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Researchers at Duke Cancer Institute have not only untangled an unusual wiring system that cancer cells use for carbohydrate metabolism, but also identified a natural compound that appears to selectively shut down this system in laboratory studies.

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A new chemical principle discovered by scientists at Indiana University has the potential to revolutionize the creation of specially engineered molecules whose uses include the reduction of nuclear waste and the extraction of chemical pollutants from water and soil.

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The Keck School of Medicine of USC launches a new study investigating a vaccine and oral medication to stop Alzheimer’s years before it begins

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A “look back” analysis of more than 600 major colorectal surgeries using a “checklist” tool has added further evidence that racial and socioeconomic disparities may occur during many specific stages of surgical care, particularly in pain management.

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A new nationwide study finds that the U.S. made little progress from 2000 to 2010 in reducing relative disparities between people of color and whites in exposure to harmful air pollution emitted by cars, trucks and other combustion sources. While absolute differences in exposure to the air pollutant dropped noticeably for all populations, the gap between pollution levels to which white people and people of color were exposed narrowed only a little.

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Use of MDMA or “Molly” is common in the electronic dance music scene, but research is showing that many Molly users are using other drugs unknowingly.

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An electronic alert system helps clinicians quickly do a bedside assessment to identify children with severe sepsis in an emergency department. Researchers from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia report on their efforts to rapidly recognize this life-threatening condition.

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Researchers at University of Utah Health clarified a molecular pathway responsible for the formation of cleft palate and identified a new treatment to reverse this defect in mouse pups in-utero.

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The Keck School of Medicine of USC is one of three institutions to share a highly competitive Cyber-Physical Systems Frontier grant to develop a brain-computer interface to restore walking and lower extremity sensation for people with paraplegia

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A woman’s choice of surgeon plays a significant role in whether she’s likely to receive contralateral prophylactic mastectomy, an increasingly popular aggressive breast cancer surgery.

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A University of Arkansas at Little Rock professor is making strides toward developing an effective cancer treatment without the severe side effects of traditional therapies. Dr. Darin Jones, UA Little Rock associate professor of chemistry, envisions a day when patients can battle cancer without chemotherapy side effects such as hair loss, muscle atrophy, and compromised immune systems.

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Detecting cancer could be as easy as a home pregnancy test. Platinum-coated gold nanoparticles developed by Michigan Technological University researchers could make cheap and simple test strip detection a reality.

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Large boils, acid-like facial wounds, death by maiming of viscera. Leishmania parasites inflict suffering that is the stuff of parables. They're the second-deadliest parasites after malaria, and global warming is pushing them north. Can this new experimental vaccine someday stop them?

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A new study from Roswell Park Cancer Institute reports that women with breast cancer who took multivitamin supplements were less likely to develop chemotherapy-induced neuropathy.

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New research led by a team from Roswell Park Cancer Institute and published in the journal Nature Methods reports the development of the first tool for detecting changes in GTP levels in living cells.

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The simple new technique could offer vastly superior predictions of disease severity in a huge range of conditions with a genetic component, including Alzheimer’s, autism, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, schizophrenia and depression.

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Saint Louis University scientist Mee-Ngan F. Yap, Ph.D.,has uncovered the way a bacterial ribosome moves from an inactive to an active form, and how that "wake up call" is key to its survival.

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Researchers examined differences in the number, location, and magnitude of head impacts sustained by young athletes during various youth football practice drills. Such information could lead to recommendations for football practices, including modification of some high-intensity drills in order to reduce players’ exposure to head impacts and, consequently, lessen the risks of injury.

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A new tool has been developed to help clinicians identify trustworthy, relevant, and useful practice guidelines. The related study and a corresponding editorial is published today in Annals of Family Medicine.

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Oncology researchers studying high-risk children’s cancers have identified a protein that offers a likely target for immunotherapy--harnessing the immune system in medical treatments. In cell cultures and animal models, a potent drug attached to an antibody selectively zeroes in on cancer cells without harming healthy cells.

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Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have found a new approach to the “reprogramming” of ordinary adult cells into stem cells.

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Frontotemporal degeneration (FTD) is a progressive neurodegenerative condition that is present in tens of thousands of Americans, but is often difficult to diagnose accurately. Now in a study published this week online ahead of print in Neurology, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have found evidence that a simple eye exam and retinal imaging test may help improve that accuracy.

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Sweet taste receptor, known as T1R, can be activated by certain amino acids secreted by bacteria. Researchers took cells from rhinosinusitis patients and isolated the various communities of bacteria that were present. They found cultures of Staphylococcus bacteria produced two D-amino acids called D-Phe and D-Leu, both of which activate T1R sweet receptors and block the release of antimicrobial peptides.

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Kurt Lu, MD, assistant professor of dermatology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, has received a five year, $3.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to expand countermeasures against chemical threats, including mustard gas and mustard-related compounds. The molecular action of mustard on DNA leads to strand breaks and eventual cell death. The goal of the grant is to augment the body’s immune system after exposure, reducing skin swelling and pain as well as enhancing tissue repair.

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Details of lung cell molecular pathways that promote or inhibit tissue regeneration were reported by Penn researchers. Their aim is to find new ways to treat lung disorders.

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Each cell in the average human body contains 23 pairs of chromosomes, with four telomeres on each pair. Telomeres cover the end of the chromosome, protecting it from deterioration or fusion with adjacent chromosomes. While there is a length range for classifying a healthy telomere, researchers found, for the first time ever, that people with heart failure have shorter telomeres within the cells that make up the heart muscle (known as cardiomyocytes). A team of researchers from Penn Medicine, in collaboration with the University of Connecticut, published their findings today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, building on a methods paper which was published recently in Nature Protocols.

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Squid ink could make getting checked for gum disease at the dentist less tedious and even painless. By combining squid ink with light and ultrasound, a team led by engineers at the University of California San Diego has developed a new dental imaging method to examine a patient’s gums that is non-invasive, more comprehensive and more accurate than today's periodontal exam.

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Researchers in Germany have demonstrated that hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplants can be improved by treatments that temporarily prevent the stem cells from dying. The approach, which is described in a paper to be published September 7 in The Journal of Experimental Medicine, could allow those in need of such transplants, including leukemia and lymphoma patients, to be treated with fewer donor stem cells while limiting potential adverse side effects.

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Wistar scientists have described a correlation between a key melanoma signaling pathway and a novel class of drugs being tested in the clinic as adjuvant therapy for advanced melanoma, providing useful information for a more effective use of this type of treatment.

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A form of the fatty acid-derived bioactive molecule called lipoxin improved heart function after a heart attack, as the lipoxin prompted early activation of the resolving phase of the immune response in mice without altering the acute phase.

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Researchers interested in the evolution of multicellular life were looking for bacteria that stimulate Salpingoeca rosetta, single-cell saltwater dwellers that are the closest living relatives of animals, to form the rosette-shaped colonies that give them their name. But one bacterium had quite a different stimulating effect: It motivated S. rosetta to have sex.

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Martha Sajatovic, MD, Professor of Psychiatry and of Neurology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Willard Brown Chair in Neurological Outcomes Research and Director of the Neurological and Behavioral Outcomes Research Center at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, is the recent recipient of two major research grants.

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The United States’ National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) Professor of Life Sciences Michael Hadjiargyrou, Ph.D., a multi-year grant to study a newly discovered musculoskeletal specific gene, Mustn1, and to determine its role in cartilage regeneration and skeletal repair. Hadjiargyrou’s research will also begin to elucidate a new and as yet uncharacterized protein family important for cartilage and bone biology.

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Could fear and hope hold the key to building support for public climate change policies? News articles that stir these emotions could influence support for regulations meant to curb climate change, according to a new study published in the journal Risk Analysis: An International Journal.

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Researchers at the Bluestone Center for Clinical Research at NYU Dentistry have identified a novel molecular mechanism which explains why dark-skinned and light-skinned people respond differently to heat and mechanical stimulation.

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After a spinal cord injury, a significant amount of secondary nerve damage is caused by inflammation and internal scarring that inhibits the ability of the nervous system to repair itself.

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For more than a century, the link between thyroid hormone and red blood cell production has remained elusive. Now, Whitehead scientists have teased about the mechanism that connects them, which could help scientists identify new therapies for specific types of anemia.

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Humans, like other animals, become more sensitive to cold with age. Now, scientists from University of Utah Health report that delivering a single dose of a nutritional supplement called L-carnitine to older mice restores a youthful ability to adapt to the cold. After treatment, they tolerate chilly conditions that would ordinarily trigger hypothermia. As reported online in Cell Metabolism, the supplement works by boosting levels of a newly discovered fuel source for brown fat, or “good fat”.

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An experimental imaging tool that uses a targeted fluorescent dye successfully lit up the benign brain tumors of patients during removal surgery, allowing surgeons to identify tumor tissue, a new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania shows. The tumors, known as pituitary adenomas, are the third most common brain tumor, and very rarely turn cancerous, but can cause blindness, hormonal disorders, and in some cases, gigantism.

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Recent outbreaks of Zika virus have revealed that the virus causes brain defects in unborn children. But in a study to be published September 5 in The Journal of Experimental Medicine, researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of California, San Diego report that the virus could eventually be used to target and kill cancer cells in the brain.

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While Zika virus causes devastating damage to the brains of developing fetuses, it one day may be an effective treatment for glioblastoma, a deadly form of brain cancer. New research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of California San Diego School of Medicine shows that the virus kills brain cancer stem cells, the kind of cells most resistant to standard treatments.

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Johns Hopkins scientists say they have developed a blood test that spots tumor-specific DNA and protein biomarkers for early-stage pancreatic cancer.

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DHS S&T awarded $5.6 million in Scientific Leadership Award grants to five Minority Serving Institutions to develop course content and engage students and faculty in research relevant to the nation’s complex homeland security challenges

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A new clinical trial is testing whether a common genetic mutation makes Parkinson’s Disease patients more likely to suffer cognitive decline after deep brain stimulation surgery. This information would neurologists identify the best candidates for this procedure, and should perform that procedure differently based on that genetic information

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Sleep apnea, left untreated for even a few days, can increase blood sugar and fat levels, stress hormones and blood pressure, according to a new study of sleeping subjects. A report of the study’s findings, published in the August issue of The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, adds further support for the consistent use of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), a machine that increases air pressure in the throat to keep the airway open during sleep.

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In new research published in the journal Cancer Research, a team from Roswell Park has shown that "beta blocker" drugs appear to be an effective means of reducing beta-2 receptor signaling and, in the process, may improve the efficacy of checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy