Focus: Hidden - North Carolina

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Computer model shows what happens at the molecular level during severe allergic reactions to abacavir, a common HIV drug

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In an MRI study, researchers found that many toddlers diagnosed with autism at age 2 had a substantially greater amount of extra-axial cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) at six and 12 months of age, before diagnosis is possible. Researchers also linked increased severity of symptoms to increased CSF.

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The national and state economies will continue the slow growth pattern in 2017 that has continued for the past seven-plus years, but North Carolina will need to focus on productivity growth this year, said UNC Charlotte economist John Connaughton. Connaughton emphasized during his quarterly talk that productivity growth should be the focus of the state in 2017.

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Through a new study awarded by Parent Teacher Home Visits (PTHV), a national nonprofit, education researchers from RTI International will study how home visits affect teachers’ perceptions of their students’ families, and how these perceptions may inform how they teach.

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Nationwide, the student population at for-profit schools includes higher percentages of women, African-Americans, older students, Pell grant and loan recipients, and members of the military than public or nonprofit institutions

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Ohio’s 2014 Medicaid expansion improved health and financial benefits for hundreds of thousands of low-income Ohioans, according to an assessment supported by RTI International.

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A miniaturized pacemaker that doesn’t have any wires and a coronary stent that gradually dissolves in the body – both approved by Food and Drug Administration within the past year – are being put to good use by heart and vascular specialists.

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It may seem obvious, but the key to confirming whether someone is suffering from a cold or flu virus might lie at the misery’s source -- the inflamed passages of the nose and throat. Duke Health scientists have identified a group of proteins that, when detected in specific quantities in the mucous, are 86 percent accurate in confirming the infection is from a cold or flu virus, according to a small, proof-of-concept trial published online in the journal EBioMedicine.

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UNC scientists found that as mice learn to associate a particular sound with a rewarding sugary drink, one set of prefrontal neurons becomes more active and promotes reward-seeking behavior while other prefrontal neurons are silenced, and those neurons act like a brake on reward-seeking.

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UNC Lineberger researchers and colleagues report in the journal Clinical Cancer Research that a measure of muscle mass and muscle quality developed at UNC could potentially help doctors better identify patients at high risk for toxic side effects that could require hospitalizations.

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The sounds that fill hospital rooms can take on a discordant tone, as life-sustaining equipment beeps, hisses and blares. Chapel Hill nonprofit DooR to DooR breaks through the noise, bringing to health care settings the sounds of a different healing sort, as documented in the new film “The Acoustics of Care.”With this documentary, UNC Charlotte researcher Margaret Quinlan and colleagues profile DooR to DooR, founded by Joy Javits to bring performing, literary and visual artists to health care settings. The film shows how the arts can introduce more soothing sounds and sights into health care settings to facilitate healing.

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Pot brownies may be a thing of the past as there are new edible marijuana products, or edibles, on the market, including chocolates, candies, and cookies. These products are legally sold in Colorado and Washington, and according to a new study conducted by RTI International, changes to their labels are needed to ensure people know what they are consuming and that they are safely consuming the products.

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The MRI-guided laser ablation method is far less invasive and time-consuming than conventional surgery and has produced good results for people with medial temporal lobe epilepsy.

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The UNC AARP Sprint aims to find digital health solutions to the challenge of: How can wearables be used to seamlessly galvanize the 50+ population to take the right medications as prescribed?

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Scientists have struggled to trace the specific biology behind diabetes-associated heart disease risk or find ways to intervene. Now, UNC researchers have hunted down a possible culprit – a protein called IRS-1, which is crucial for the smooth muscle cells that make up veins and arteries.

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The health of fish and aquatic insects could be significantly affected by withdrawals of fresh water from the rivers and streams across North Carolina according to a new scientific assessment.

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Listen up ladies. Women simply don’t metabolize alcohol in the same way as men. It’s called the telescoping effect.

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A UNC-Chapel Hill researcher has published a study in Lancet Oncology online that identifies sentinel-lymph-node mapping as a safer and less-invasive method of staging endometrial cancer that is equally as accurate as the more traditional lymphadenectomy.

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On Friday, Feb. 17, Wake Forest held a dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony for Maya Angelou Hall, a residence hall named for poet, author, professor and civil rights activist Maya Angelou.

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Babies born at just 22 to 24 weeks of pregnancy continue to have sobering outlooks -- only about 1 in 3 survive. But according to a new study led by Duke Health and appearing Feb. 16 in the New England Journal of Medicine, those rates are showing small but measurable improvement. Compared to extremely preterm babies born a decade earlier, the study found a larger percentage are developing into toddlers without signs of moderate or severe cognitive and motor delay.

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The 2017 UNC Charlotte Veterans' Health Conference will emphasize biopsychosocial issues related to reintegration, including physical health challenges faced by this population and access to and use of services among veterans, service members and their families, including potential strategies for supporting reintegration to their life roles in the community.

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Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in infants with older siblings with autism, researchers from around the country were able to correctly predict 80 percent of those infants who would later meet criteria for autism at two years of age.

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The notion that having a drink can cure a hangover has been around since the 16th century. That doesn't mean it's true.

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Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center today announced Julie Ann Freischlag, (pronounced FRY-shlog), M.D., as its new chief executive officer (CEO). Freischlag joins the medical center on May 1 and succeeds CEO John D. McConnell, M.D., who last year announced that he would transition to a new position at the Medical Center, after leading it since 2008.

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When it comes to what certain foods can do to or for you, it’s probably best to take motherly advice, familiar sayings and other bits of conventional wisdom with a grain of salt.

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As state and federal lawyers argue over President Donald Trump's travel and refugee ban, Wake Forest University experts are available to discuss a wide range of social and political issues facing families seeking U.S. citizenship.

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The loss of motor function and mental acuity associated with Huntington’s disease might be treatable by restoring a cellular quality control process, which Duke Health researchers have identified as a key factor in the degenerative illness.

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If the last blast of winter has you longing for sun-soaked beaches in tropical locales, be sure to stop at the drug store for sunscreen and insect repellant before leaving for spring vacation.

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North Carolina could lose several NCAA championship events if legislation limiting protections for the LGBT community isn't repealed. Absent a full repeal of HB2, championships may be pulled through 2022.

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The Community College Research Center (CCRC) at Teachers College, Columbia University, and MDRC, an independent research organization, are conducting a study of technology-mediated advising at UNC Charlotte, Montgomery County Community College in Pennsylvania and at California State University, Fresno.

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Wake Forest University Vice President for Campus Life Penny Rue has been chosen for the most distinguished volunteer leadership role in her field – Board Chair-elect of NASPA, the leading association for student affairs professionals.

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Researchers have developed a Bitcoin-compatible system that could make it significantly more difficult for observers to identify or track the parties involved in any given Bitcoin transaction.

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Day in and day out, the DNA in our cells is damaged for a variety of reasons, and thus DNA-repair systems are fundamental to the maintenance of life. Now UNC scientists have confirmed and clarified key molecular details of one of these repair systems, known as nucleotide excision repair.

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UNC Charlotte has a robust history of regional engagement that supports economic development, community engagement, innovation and entrepreneurship. In recognition of this strong commitment, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) has designated UNC Charlotte an Innovation and Economic Prosperity University.

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Researchers at the UNC School of Medicine believe they have isolated a protein that, when missing or depleted, can cause airway constriction, production of mucus, chest tightness, and difficulty breathing for the 334 million people worldwide who suffer from asthma.

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A new study highlights an unexpected challenge for those who have made a new year’s resolution to lose weight: the people around you may sabotage your efforts. The study also uncovered strategies that people use to navigate interpersonal challenges related to losing weight and keeping it off.

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Wake Forest University has appointed alumnus and former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official Stan Meiburg (’75) as director of graduate programs in sustainability. Meiburg served as Acting Deputy Administrator for the EPA from 2014 to 2017, capping a 39-year career with the agency.

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A routine blood test that measures kidney function can be a valuable predictor of short-term outcomes for stroke patients, according to a study led by a neurologist at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

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UNC Medical Center is the first in the Mid Atlantic U.S. to treat patients with the EnSite Precision™ cardiac mapping system, a next-generation platform designed to provide automation, flexibility and accuracy for diagnostic mapping used in ablation procedures to treat patients with abnormal heart rhythms (cardiac arrhythmias). UNC Medical Center was among the first sites in the United States to utilize this technology, which recently received FDA clearance.

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The ancient impulse to procreate is necessary for survival and must be hardwired into our brains. Now scientists from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine have discovered an important clue about the neurons involved in that wiring.

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Journalists, researchers, policymakers, and the public looking to gain new insights about the use of marijuana can now turn to CannabisConvo.

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UNC School of Medicine researchers crystalized the structure of LSD attached to a human serotonin receptor of a brain cell, and they may have discovered why an “acid trip” lasts so long.

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After decades investigating a rare, life-threatening condition that cripples the muscles, Duke Health researchers have developed a gene therapy they hope could enhance or even replace the only FDA-approved treatment currently available to patients. The therapy uses a modified virus to deliver a gene to the liver where it produces GAA, an enzyme missing in people with Pompe disease.

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After surgery to remove a cancerous tumor – even if the surgery is considered “successful” – it’s nearly impossible to ensure that all microtumors have been removed from the surgical site. Cancer recurrence is always a major concern. Meanwhile, tiny blood cells called platelets rush in to start the post-surgical healing process. What if those platelets could carry anti-cancer drugs to wipe out those microtumors? UNC and NC State scientists have developed a way to do just that, and they have shown success in animal studies, published today in Nature Biomedical Engineering.

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The UNC School of Medicine has awarded the 17th Perl-UNC Neuroscience Prize to David Anderson, PhD, the Seymour Benzer Professor of Biology at the California Institute of Technology for “his discovery of neural circuit mechanisms controlling emotional behaviors.”

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A new program offering free elective genetic testing for newborns, developed at RTI International, will become available to North Carolina parents starting in 2018, thanks to a grant from the National Institutes of Health.

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Wake Forest University has appointed Olga Pierrakos as founding chair of the Department of Engineering, one of Wake Downtown’s new anchoring academic programs, which will begin offering classes this fall.

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Universities across the U.S. have developed programs to attract women and under-represented minorities to the STEM disciplines. So why aren’t such efforts translating into more of these students majoring in science, technology, engineering and math and continuing on to a career in research or academia?