Focus: Hidden - Chicago Metro

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A team of national laboratory and university researchers led by the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Argonne National Laboratory is growing large test plots of switchgrass crops with the farmer in mind. For the first time, researchers have mixed different genetic varieties of switchgrass on production-size plots, hypothesizing this could increase yield by extending the growing season, varying the size of the switchgrass plants to produce a fuller crop and potentially reducing the crop’s vulnerability to weather fluctuations. A seven-year study showed the switchgrass variety mixture was, most consistently, the highest yielding crop, as measured by the harvested dry weight from each plot.

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Northwestern University alumnus Seth Meyers, the host of NBC’s “Late Night” talk show and one of the nation’s best-known comedians, is among the five distinguished individuals who will be recognized with honorary degrees at the University’s 158th commencement ceremony at 9:30 a.m. Friday, June 17. Meyers will deliver the commencement address to the Class of 2016.

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The planned Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment will require 70,000 tons of liquid argon, making it the largest experiment of its kind — 100 times larger than the liquid-argon particle detectors that came before it. Before building this unprecedented machine, scientists understandably want to make sure it’s going to work. That’s why members of the international DUNE collaboration recently began taking data using a test version of their detector.

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Epigenetic age is a new way to measure your biological age. When your biological (epigenetic) age is older than your chronological age, you are at increased risk for getting and dying of cancer, reports a new study. And the bigger the difference between the two ages, the higher your risk of dying of cancer. The research could be used to develop an early detection blood test for cancer.

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The American Pain Society has released a new evidence-based clinical practice guideline, appearing in The Journal of Pain, with 32 recommendations to help clinicians achieve optimal pain management following surgery. According to numerous studies, the majority of surgical patients receive inadequate pain relief, which can heighten the risk for prolonged post-surgical pain, mood disorders and physical impairment.

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Published online in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology on Feb. 17, the American Academy of Dermatology’s new “Guidelines of care for the management of acne vulgaris" cover acne treatment recommendations for both adolescents and adults.

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What makes the electrified hum of a lightsaber?Academy Award-winning sound designer Gary Rydstrom, who worked on “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” explains the mysterious sound behind a Jedi’s trusty weapon in the new Northwestern University SoundTank podcast series.

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In one of the first reproductive studies to focus on young men and fatherhood, researchers at Northwestern Medicine found that an adolescent male’s attitude toward risky sex, pregnancy and birth control can predict whether or not he will end up living with his future offspring.

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In recognition and support of the nation’s nearly 6,000 student registered nurse anesthetists, Medtronic is donating two enhanced direct laryngoscopes to each of the 115 accredited nurse anesthesia educational programs.

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Delirium, muscle weakness and other neurological complications of sepsis often are overlooked and poorly understood, according to a study published in the journal Current Neurology and Neurosciences Reports.

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Northwestern University researchers have taken CSI to a new level: employing science to investigate details of the materials and methods used by Roman-Egyptian artists to paint mummy portraits more than 2,000 years ago. Clues about the paintings’ underlying surface shapes and colors provide very strong evidence as to how many of the portraits and panel paintings were made. The researchers concluded that three of the paintings likely came from the same workshop and may have been painted by the same hand.

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Scientists at the University of Washington are using Mira to virtually design unique, artificial peptides, or short proteins. Peptides have the best properties of two different classes of medical drugs today and could enable future, peptide-based medicines with few side effects. As researchers begin to develop new peptides, they are optimizing their in-house software to test thousands of potential peptide structure designs in tandem, requiring a state-of-the-art supercomputer.

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Scientists at the University of Washington are using Mira to virtually design unique, artificial peptides, or short proteins. Peptides have the best properties of two different classes of medical drugs today and could enable future, peptide-based medicines with few side effects. As researchers begin to develop new peptides, they are optimizing their in-house software to test thousands of potential peptide structure designs in tandem, requiring a state-of-the-art supercomputer.

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Peter Butler, who is Rush University Medical Center’s president, will retire from the position at the end of June. Michael J. Dandorph, who is currently Rush’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, will succeed Butler as president and chief operating officer of Rush University Medical Center, effective July 1.

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Modern men increasingly value brains over beauty when choosing long-term mates.

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An international team of researchers led by X-ray scientist Christoph Bostedt of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and Tais Gorkhover of DOE’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory used two special lasers to observe the dynamics of a small sample of xenon as it was heated to a plasma.

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Using an advanced technology available nowhere else in the U.S., Rush has begun a retrospective study to analyze joint implants that fail in the hope of improving future implants and preventing or decreasing the incidence of joint replacement failure.

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The first study to examine the severity of LGBT bullying and its impact on mental health over time found that the majority of LGBT teens are seeing a decline in bullying but about a third are still being severely victimized. This harassment and assault is leading to lasting mental health problems including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

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Playing off the emotions of music, scientists will help deepen understanding about climate change at Northwestern University. The program features a group of musician-scientists who will perform in a string quartet followed by a panel discussion on how music can help explain climate change.

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The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) and Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ: PINC), a leading health care improvement company, have announced the results of the first iteration of the Perioperative Surgical Home (PSH) learning collaborative.

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A new study shows immunotherapy (allergy shots) in older patients reduced allergy symptoms by 55 percent after three years of therapy, and decreased the amount of medication needed for relief of symptoms by 64 percent.

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Patients with complete unilateral and bilateral cleft lip and palate (U/BCLP) who were treated with nasoalveolar molding (NAM) required fewer surgeries and a reduction in overall healthcare costs compared to similar patients who did not have NAM treatment, according to a study in The Journal of Craniofacial Surgery, authored by Parit A. Patel, MD, Loyola University Health System.

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In a finding that could lead to new drugs to treat heart failure, researchers have uncovered the molecular mechanism that regulates how the heart pumps blood. The finding is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The key molecular player in this mechanism is a giant protein called titin, according to a study led by senior author Pieter de Tombe, PhD of Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. The study was published Feb. 8, 2016 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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AANS announces Kathleen Craig as new Executive Director for the association.

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Loyola University Health System (LUHS) now offers a multidisciplinary digestive health program to treat digestive tract and related medical conditions. Bipan Chand, MD, FACS, FASGE, FASMBS, and Neil Gupta, MD, MPH, are co-directors of the new program.

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Internationally known thoracic surgeon Wickii Vigneswaran, MD, MBA, has joined Loyola University Health System as division director of Thoracic Surgery.

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For 26 years, the classic neurology textbook Bradley’s Neurology in Clinical Practice has been an essential resource for practicing neurologists and trainees. Through seven editions, many of the nation’s leading neuroscientists have written chapters with the most up-to-date information on a wide range of neurological topics.

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Exposure to specific antibiotics is linked to the development of certain strains of antibiotic-resistant C. difficile, one of the fastest growing bacteria superbugs, according to a new study published by Stuart Johnson, MD, of Loyola University Health System (LUHS), Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine (SSOM) and the Hines VA Medical Hospital.

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New research may allow new, more effective and safer pain medications to reach patients who suffer from chronic pain sooner.

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Students from South Dakota colleges get the chance to study physics at the Sanford Underground Research Facility, which doubles as essentially the first college campus located a mile underground.

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The widespread belief that radiation from X rays, CT scans and other medical imaging can cause cancer is based on an unproven, decades-old theoretical model, according to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Oncology.

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The R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, Maryland highlights the importance of trauma center physician anesthesiologists.

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People who have self-reported penicillin allergy may have a three times greater chance of suffering from chronic hives. And people who have chronic hives tend to self-report penicillin allergy at a three times greater rate than the general population. Authors of a new study think it's not coincidence.

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A new study suggests that significant improvements could be made in the scoring system physicians use to estimate the stage (severity) of mesothelioma, an aggressive and deadly cancer.

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A new landmark national study showed allowing surgical residents the flexibility to work longer hours in order to stay with their patients through the end of an operation or stabilize them during a critical event did not pose a greater risk to patients. The study also found surgical residents reported no worsening in their overall well-being and personal safety when working longer hours.

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A study lead by researchers from Rush University Medical Center has provided the first report on the relationship of brain concentrations of mercury to brain neuropathology and diseases associated with dementia. Study results were published in the Feb. 2 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

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Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist Goldie Brangman recalls the operation that saved Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s life after a mentally unstable woman stabbed him with a letter opener as he autographed copies of his first book in September 1958.

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Hepatitis C in Ghana is NOT spread through drug-related equipment but largely through tribal and traditional customs, according to a PLOS ONE study co-authored by Jennifer Layden, MD, Ph.D, infectious disease Loyola University Health System.

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For patients having surgery, working closely with a physician anesthesiologist is an important part of making sure the experience is as safe and comfortable as possible. This is especially true when the patient is an older adult or child.

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Almost every particle has an antimatter counterpart: a particle with the same mass but opposite charge, among other qualities. But certain characteristics of neutrinos and antineutrinos make scientists wonder: Are they one and the same? Are neutrinos their own antiparticles?

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Imagine a polymer with removable parts that can deliver something to the environment and then be chemically regenerated to function again. Or a polymer that can contract and expand the way muscles do. These functions require polymers with both rigid and soft nano-sized compartments with extremely different properties. Northwestern University researchers have developed a hybrid polymer of this type that might one day be used in artificial muscles; for delivery of drugs or biomolecules; in self-repairing materials; and for replaceable energy sources.

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New research on opioid prescribing in Washington State reports that a health plan initiative to change shared expectations of physicians regarding clinically appropriate drug levels for long-term management of chronic pain achieved significantly greater reductions in opioid dosing. The study appears in The Journal of Pain, the peer reviewed publication of the American Pain Society.

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Using observations by the Hubble Space Telescope, an international research team, including astronomers from the Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics and Northwestern University, has for the first time found young populations of stars within globular clusters that have apparently developed courtesy of star-forming gas flowing in from outside of the clusters themselves. This method stands in contrast to the conventional idea of the clusters’ initial stars shedding gas as they age in order to spark future rounds of star birth.

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Scientists found HIV is still replicating in lymphoid tissue, even when it is undetectable in the blood of patients on antiretroviral drugs. The findings provide a critical new perspective on how HIV persists in the body despite potent antiretroviral therapy. They also offer a path to a cure and show the importance delivering drugs at effective concentrations where the virus continues to replicate in the patients.

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“Jets” formed after shock waves passed through cerium metal provided the yield stress of cerium in its post-shock state, indicating the stress that would cause it to become permanently deformed.

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Joshua Lee, MD, has joined Loyola University Health System as vice president and chief health information officer. He is also an associate professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Internal Medicine at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.