Curated News: Grant Funded News

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Results suggest some forms of PD are an autoimmune disease triggered years before noticeable symptoms

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It is well understood that urban black males are at a disproportionately high risk of poor health outcomes. But little is known about how the neighborhood environments where these men live contribute to their health.

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In a study published in Scientific Reports, first author Yamicia D. Connor, MD, PhD, a resident in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), and colleagues, reveal that unlike non-metastatic cells, breast metastatic cells have the ability to change shape, flattening to more effectively cross the endothelium and into the blood stream.

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Researchers have created a new type of tiny 3D-printed robot that moves by harnessing vibration from piezoelectric actuators, ultrasound sources or even tiny speakers. Swarms of these “micro-bristle-bots” might work together to sense environmental changes, move materials – or perhaps one day repair injuries inside the human body.

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The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California San Diego, has been awarded a five-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) valued $10 million to deploy Expanse, a new supercomputer designed to advance research that is increasingly dependent upon heterogeneous and distributed resources.

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Death rates from sepsis fell faster in New York than expected – and faster than in peer states – following the introduction of the nation’s first state-mandated sepsis regulation.

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A new biomedical research study finds a transcription factor called Slug contributes to breast cell fitness by promoting efficient repair of DNA damage. The absence of Slug leads to unresolved DNA damage and accelerated aging of breast cells.

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A highly competitive $4.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) will support Keck School of Medicine of USC efforts to recruit patients from underrepresented populations into cardiac surgery clinical trials.

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Even after nearly a decade of strict HIV treatment, cells sheltering the virus could be found in the cerebrospinal fluid of half of participants in a national clinical trial of people living with HIV. Moreover, those participants had higher likelihood of cognitive deficits.

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A new study, led by researchers from the University of California, Irvine (UCI), uncovers the long-sought-after, three-dimensional structure of a toxin primarily responsible for devastating Clostridium difficile infection (CDI).

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A discovery about HIV published in Nature Immunology paves the way to new therapies that might complement antiretroviral therapy.

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Researchers have developed a significantly improved delivery mechanism for the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing method in the liver. The delivery uses biodegradable synthetic lipid nanoparticles that carry the molecular editing tools into cells to precisely alter their genetic code with as much as 90 percent efficiency.

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Riley Tedrow, PhD, a medical entomologist at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, has uncovered new findings about malaria transmission in Madagascar. In a recent study published in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, he also describes real-world application of an effective mosquito surveillance strategy using low cost traps and a recently reported tool that simultaneously tests each mosquito for its species, what it fed on, and the presence of malaria parasites.

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Treating metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab after they’ve completed locally ablative therapy almost tripled the median progression-free survival compared to the historical average.

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UK team believes their approach is a valuable step forward that will improve understanding of drug-use decisions and advance the development of improved treatments.

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Efforts by the FDA and some cities to limit the availability and appeal of e-cigarettes to young users could drive some existing users to smoke more tobacco cigarettes to get their fix, according to new research from Duke Health.

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When multidisciplinary health care teams were engaged in caring for patients suffering from refractory cardiogenic shock, a severe condition that can occur after a heart attack, the likelihood of survival increased significantly, by approximately 50 percent. The study was published online in the July issue of Circulation.

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First national study shows cutting residents’ training hours has not resulted in lower performance for new doctors Resident training was capped at 80 hours per week in 2003, down from 100+ hours, a controversial move that left many worried Despite worries, reduced hours did not change 30-day patient mortality, readmissions or spending

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New study analyzed 2 million birth records and 3,000 cancer registry records and found that children born to obese mothers were 57% more likely to develop cancer, independent of other factors. This finding offers a rare opportunity for childhood cancer prevention.

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Case Western Reserve University faculty members have received a two-year grant to provide regulatory recommendations for gene-editing research conducted in non-traditional settings. The aim of this $160,000 grant from the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health is to protect the public while encouraging creativity and innovation that could benefit many people.

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CT scans of the lungs of smokers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease — when analyzed by a mathematical function called airway fractal dimension — can estimate increased risk of death for a group of people who are not otherwise identified as high-risk by conventional tests.

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The National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded a $4.23 million grant to establish the Cleveland Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.

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Researchers have shown the key role that a protein called Ran plays in the mobility of ovarian cancer cells: they demonstrated these cells cannot migrate from cancerous sites without the help of Ran.

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Patients with sickle cell disease experience severe organ damage leading to early death. An international clinical trial funded by the NIH will test whether red cell exchange, which replaces sicked red blood cells with normal ones could prevent or reverse organ damage and prolong life.

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Rising temperatures in the tundra of the Earth’s northern latitudes could affect microbial communities in ways likely to increase their production of greenhouse gases methane and carbon dioxide, a new study of experimentally warmed Alaskan soil suggests.

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Instability hidden within Antarctic ice is likely to accelerate its flow into the ocean and push sea level up at a more rapid pace than previously expected. Even if images of vanishing Arctic ice and mountain glaciers are jarring, their potential contributions to sea level rise are nowhere near Antarctica’s.

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By dispensing a year's worth of birth control pills up front, the VA could prevent 583 unintended pregnancies and save $2M per year on health care costs each year.

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Public perceptions about how scientific evidence supporting the HPV vaccine is portrayed in society and media may influence whether individuals support public health measures to increase HPV vaccination.

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By energizing precursor molecules using a tiny, high-energy supersonic jet of inert gas, researchers have dramatically accelerated the fabrication of nanometer scale structures. The rapid additive manufacturing technique also allows them to produce structures with high aspect ratios. Now, a theory developed to describe the technique could lead to new applications for additive nanomanufacturing and new nanoscale materials.

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A small chemical change – shifting the position of two hydrogen atoms – makes the difference between mice that are healthy and mice with insulin resistance and fatty liver, major risk factors for diabetes and heart disease. Making the change prevented the onset of these symptoms in mice fed a high-fat diet and reversed prediabetes in obese mice. The finding highlights the role of ceramides in metabolic health and pinpoints a “druggable” target that could be used to develop new therapies for metabolic disorders.

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Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Rush University in Chicago have found a compound that promotes a vigorous immune assault on pancreatic cancer. The findings, in mice, suggest a way to improve immunotherapy for the deadly disease in patients.

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In a study published online today in Nature, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine describe the first complete wiring diagram of the nervous system of an animal, the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans, used by scientists worldwide as a model organism. The study includes adults of both sexes and reveals substantial differences between them.

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The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Translational Research Institute announced today it will receive five years of federal funding totaling $24.2 million to accelerate research that addresses Arkansas’ biggest health challenges. The Translational Research Institute helps researchers turn their ideas and findings into new medical treatments and other health interventions. Its focus is on rural Arkansas populations, where health and health care disparities persist. A major emphasis of the award is research partnerships with Arkansas communities to ensure that research supported by the institute aligns with the priorities and needs of Arkansans.

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Scientists have used an optimized version of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing system to prevent hearing loss in so-called Beethoven mice, which carry a genetic mutation that causes profound hearing loss in humans and mice alike The new gene-editing system successfully identified a single misspelled “letter” in the defective copy of a hearing gene and disabled the aberrant copy, sparing the healthy one DNA analyses and follow-up tests in treated animals showed no detectable off-target effects Results offer proof of principle for using the same gene-editing technique in more than 20 percent of dominantly inherited human genetic diseases

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Over the past decades, the idea that all adults should get regularly screened for cancer — with mammograms, colonoscopies and prostate specific antigen blood tests — has been conveyed to the public time after time. But current clinical guidelines recommend against screening many older adults, such as those with less than 10 years’ life expectancy. For doctors, talking to a patient about the idea that they’ve “aged out” of cancer screening can be a challenging conversation.

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One in 10 people with dilated cardiomyopathy were born with a mutation in the TTN gene, but – until now – it has been unclear whether everyone with these mutations will inevitably develop the condition. Researchers found that 95 percent of patients who had the genetic mutations did not have heart disease.

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Research from the McKelvey School of Engineering suggests that without considering certain factors, researchers may overestimate how fast calcium carbonate forms in saline environments.

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A new study shows that after several years of rapid improvements in hospital readmissions, the federal readmission penalty program may be spinning its wheels more than it’s slowing the spinning of the revolving hospital door. The findings come from an analysis of data from nearly 2.5 million Medicare patients who had hip or knee replacement surgery before and after readmission penalties affecting these operations were announced.

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Researchers have identified a new pathway that can cause cancer to grow too quickly and die from the stress.

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Researchers at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock have developed a new and inexpensive method to fabricate thin film electrode materials for supercapacitors that produce higher power at a lower cost. 

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A team of researchers found that DNA damaged by the widely used chemotherapy drug cisplatin is almost fully repaired in noncancerous tissue within two days. These results could inform the timing of chemotherapy strategies and improve their efficacy.

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Cyclophosphamide, a mainstay of chemotherapy for many cancers, acts as both chemotherapy and immunotherapy at high doses, study finds

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Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have used X-ray computed tomography (CT) to visualize in real time how cracks form near the edges of the interfaces between materials in solid-state batteries. The findings could help researchers find ways to improve the energy storage devices.

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Chemists at UC San Diego present a promising method for easing the synthesis and evaluation of the algorithms, chemistry and technology needed to predict the bound poses of ligands within a targeted protein—a necessity for the design of new drug therapies.

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Until now, researchers believed recurrent mutations (hotspot mutations) in cancer tumors were the important mutations (driver mutations) that promoted cancer progression. A new University of California, Irvine-led study indicates this is not always true.

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Capacitors, given their high energy output and recharging speed, could play a major role in powering the machines of the future, from electric cars to cell phones. However, the biggest hurdle for capacitors as energy storage devices is that they store much less energy than a similar-sized battery. Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology are tackling that problem by using supercomputers and machine learning techniques to ultimately find ways to build more capable capacitors.

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When people suffer from both HIV and TB, it creates “one of the biggest health problems in the world,” according to Texas Biomed Assistant Professor Smita Kulkarni, Ph.D. Now, the National Institutes of Health is funding a two-year study by Texas Biomed scientists developing a lab model that mimics the early stages of the co-infection of these two diseases.

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St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists have discovered a pathway that functions like a car wash to prevent the buildup of a toxic protein associated with Alzheimer’s disease. The report appeared online today in the journal Cell.

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Introducing a default physician order — a “nudge” — into electronic health records (EHRs) cut the use of unnecessary daily imaging in half during palliative radiation therapy sessions for patients with advanced cancer

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In a pilot study of 14 older adults with mild cognitive problems suggestive of early Alzheimer’s disease, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers report that a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet may improve brain function and memory.