Curated News: National Institutes of Health (NIH)

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A study on the effectiveness of multiple treatments, including laboratory-made antibodies, at preventing mild COVID-19 from advancing to severe illness in the outpatient setting is underway by researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). The clinical trial is enrolling patients at Harris Health System’s Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital.

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NIH has awarded seven contracts to companies and academic institutions to develop digital health solutions that help address the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys, Fondazione Santa Lucia IRCCS, and Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Rome have shown that pharmacological (drug) correction of the content of extracellular vesicles released within dystrophic muscles can restore their ability to regenerate muscle and prevent muscle scarring. The study, published in EMBO Reports, reveals a promising new therapeutic approach for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), an incurable muscle-wasting condition.

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Botox injections to manage jaw and facial pain do not result in clinically significant changes in jaw bone when used short term and in low doses, according to researchers at NYU College of Dentistry. However, they found evidence of bone loss when higher doses were used.

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Scientists announced today that they have isolated the smallest biological molecule to date that completely and specifically neutralizes the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which is the cause of COVID-19.

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Researchers have demonstrated that a new x-ray microscopy technique could help accelerate efforts to map neural circuits and ultimately the brain itself.

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UC San Diego researchers demonstrate that one dose of their version of CRISR gene editing can chew up toxic RNA and almost completely reverse symptoms in a mouse model of myotonic dystrophy, a type of adult-onset muscular dystrophy.

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Newly published research has reversed our understanding of an aspect of kidney tumor growth. Researchers at Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah discovered that two key proteins have opposite roles than what was previously believed.

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Luis M. Tuesta, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, has been awarded the Avenir Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health, to study the epigenetic mechanisms of microglial activation and their role in shaping the behavioral course of opioid use disorder.

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Scientists at the College of Veterinary Medicine have collaborated on a study that pinpoints which specific genes drive – or delay – High-grade serious ovarian carcinoma.

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St. Jude researchers showed that an inherited variant of the GATA3 gene is tied to minimal residual disease levels and response to therapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

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The $1 million Magee Prize will support a collaborative team whose groundbreaking research in reproductive sciences and women’s health could improve lives globally.

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In a new study published in Annals of Internal Medicine and presented at the virtual American Heart Association’s Hypertension 2020 Scientific Sessions, researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) found that treatment for lower high blood pressure did not increase – and may have in fact decreased – the risk of developing orthostatic hypotension. The authors conclude that orthostatic hypotension, prior to or in the setting of more intensive blood pressure treatment, should not be considered a reason to stop or reduce treatment for hypertension.

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After nearly 15 years on an upward trend, awareness among Americans about their high blood pressure and rates of blood pressure control are now on the decline. many groups, including older adults and Black adults, are less likely than they were in earlier years to control their blood pressure.

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Scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine and the University of Oxford say they have found a new way to kill some multiplying human breast cancer cells by selectively attacking the core of their cell division machinery. The technique, so far tested only on lab-grown and patient-derived cancer cells, could advance efforts to find drugs that kill breast cancer cells in a subset of patients, and leave healthy cells unharmed.

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Infants and young children have brains with a superpower, of sorts, say Georgetown University Medical Center neuroscientists. Whereas adults process most discrete neural tasks in specific areas in one or the other of their brain’s two hemispheres, youngsters use both the right and left hemispheres to do the same task. The finding suggests a possible reason why children appear to recover from neural injury much easier than adults.

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DALLAS – Sept. 7, 2020 – Like wrenches made of Legos, SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complexes tighten or loosen DNA in our cells to control how genes are turned on and made into proteins. When assembled correctly, these complexes play a crucial role in the development of normal tissues, and when broken, they can lead to the development of cancer. These complexes are commonly disrupted by mutations in the genes that encode them – but how this leads to cancer is poorly understood.

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UC San Diego researchers report that a class of drugs used for a broad array of conditions, from allergies and colds to hypertension and urinary incontinence, may be associated with an increased risk of cognitive decline, particularly in older adults at greater risk for Alzheimer’s disease.

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Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have developed a unique method for precisely controlling the deposition of hydrogel, which is made of water-soluble polymers commonly used to support cells in experiments or for therapeutic purposes. The researchers noticed that their technique – which allows for the encapsulation of a single cell within a minute hydrogel droplet – can be used to coax bone marrow stem cells into specialized cells.

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With six mutations in genes associated with hearing, naked mole-rats can barely hear the constant squeaking they use to communicate with one another. This hearing loss, which is strange for such social, vocal animals, is an adaptive, beneficial trait, according to new findings published in the journal Current Biology.

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Now, new Cornell research has developed potential roadmaps for how the virus infects these other organs and identifies what molecular factors could help facilitate or restrict infection.

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Researchers created a system that uses CRISPR in a new way. Rather than acting on the genome to create permanent change, their system briefly suppresses genes specific to adenovirus antibody production, just long enough for the virus to deliver its gene therapy cargo unimpeded.

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A new technology that uses a protein’s structure to predict the inner wiring that controls the protein’s function and dynamics is now available for scientists to utilize. The tool, developed by researchers at Penn State, may be useful for protein engineering and drug design.

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Two UC San Diego School of Medicine-led analyses report that e-cigarettes are not effective in helping adults to quit smoking.

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NIH today announced $129.3 million in scale-up and manufacturing support for a new set of COVID-19 testing technologies as part of its RADx initiative. NIH is awarding contracts to nine companies for technologies that include portable point-of-care tests for immediate results and high-throughput laboratories that can return results within 24 hours.

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A new University of Kentucky College of Medicine study provides insight into how a protein called angiotensinogen contributes to blood pressure regulation and atherosclerosis.

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If cancer is a series of puzzles, a new study pieces together how several of those puzzles connect to form a bigger picture. A connection between three separate puzzles suggests targeting the amino acid methionine transporter in tumor cells could make immunotherapy effective against more cancers.

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A new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis identifies a specific gene’s previously unknown role in fertility. When the gene is missing in fruit flies, roundworms, zebrafish and mice, the animals are infertile or lose their fertility unusually early but appear otherwise healthy. Analyzing genetic data in people, the researchers found an association between mutations in this gene and early menopause.

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Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and University of Missouri developed a new microgel drug delivery method that could extend the effectiveness of pancreatic islet transplantations — from several years to possibly the entire lifespan of a recipient.

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Researchers from the University of Minnesota, with support from Medtronic, have developed a groundbreaking process for multi-material 3D printing of lifelike models of the heart’s aortic valve and the surrounding structures that mimic the exact look and feel of a real patient. These patient-specific organ models, which include 3D-printed soft sensor arrays integrated into the structure, are fabricated using specialized inks and a customized 3D printing process. Such models can be used in preparation for minimally invasive procedures to improve outcomes in thousands of patients worldwide.

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Why are men at greater risk than women for more severe symptoms and worse outcomes from COVID-19 regardless of age?

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An artificial pancreas originally developed at the University of Virginia Center for Diabetes Technology safely and effectively manages blood sugar levels in children ages 6 to 13 with type 1 diabetes, a national clinical trial has found.

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Molecules known as tRNAs are often overlooked in studies of disease processes. Researchers have now found that a mutation in a tRNA gene called n-Tr20—expressed only in the brain—can disrupt the landscape of entire cells, leading to chain reactions that alter brain function and behavior.

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Hispanic/Latinx adults who are exposed to smoke from burning wood, vehicle exhaust, pesticides or metals at workplaces are more likely to have abnormalities of the heart structure and function that could lead to cardiovascular disease, according to new research published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open access journal of the American Heart Association.

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A potential therapy for obesity would transplant HUMBLE (human brown-like) fat cells, human white fat cells that have been genetically modified using CRISPR to become similar to heat-generating brown fat cells.

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A team of researchers have combined clinical information with large-scale genomic data to successfully link characteristic presentations of childhood epilepsies with specific genetic variants.

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A team of scientists , using experimental research, has concluded that our cognitive limitations lead to probability distortions and to subsequent errors in decision-making.

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Single-cell analysis, done in three colon cancer cell lines, is believed to be the first to profile transcriptome-level changes in response to DNA damage across individual cells.

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Getting more sleep, and establishing a regular sleep schedule, is a common recommendation for maintaining and improving health, including for people with Type 1 diabetes. Short sleep patterns may affect how the body uses insulin, and irregular sleep schedules can affect glucose through changes in one's circadian rhythm or biological clock.

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DALLAS – Aug. 25, 2020 – Breastfeeding secures delivery of sugar and fat for milk production by changing the insulin sensitivity of organs that supply or demand these nutrients, a new study led by UT Southwestern scientists suggests. The findings, published in this month’s print issue of Diabetes, could explain how different tissues cooperate to start and maintain lactation and offer strategies to help improve breastfeeding success for mothers who have insufficient milk production.

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University of Chicago Medicine investigators have found a new way to slow the metastasis of colon cancer: by treating it with a small molecule that essentially locks up cancer cells' ability to change shape and move throughout the body.

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Each person’s gut virus composition is as unique as a fingerprint, according to the first study to assemble a comprehensive database of viral populations in the human digestive system.

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DALLAS – Aug. 24, 2020 – The immune protein STING has long been noted for helping protect against viruses and tumors by signaling a well-known immune molecule. Now, UT Southwestern scientists have revealed that STING also activates a separate pathway, one that directly kills tumor-fighting immune cells. Among other implications, the finding could lead to development of longer-lasting immunotherapies to fight cancer.

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Scientists have developed an injectable drug that blocks HIV from entering cells. They say the new drug potentially offers long-lasting protection from the infection with fewer side effects.

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Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) has been awarded a one-year, $34-million grant by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Health, to conduct a nationwide study of “convalescent plasma” as a treatment for COVID-19.

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Women are underrepresented in academic surgery, but women surgeons are earning a disproportionate share of research grants from the National Institutes of Health, a new study has found.

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The American Cleaning Institute launched a partnership with the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Eye Institute (NEI) as part of the Packets Up! campaign to help educate families on the simple steps to prevent accidental eye exposures among children in the laundry room.

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A study of more than 300,000 couples in Sweden finds marriage to a spouse who grew up exposed to parental alcohol misuse increases a person’s likelihood of developing a drinking problem.

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The National Institute on Aging has awarded a grant to researchers at New York University College of Dentistry to explore age-related, chronic low-grade inflammation and changes in the gut microbiome.

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Air pollution is the world’s leading environmental risk factor, and causes more than nine million deaths per year. New research published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation shows air pollution may play a role in the development of cardiometabolic diseases, such as diabetes. Importantly, the effects were reversible with cessation of exposure.