Curated News: National Institutes of Health (NIH)

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Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have invented a new way to map specific DNA markings called 5-methylcytosine (5mC) which regulate gene expression and have key roles in health and disease. The innovative technique allows for scientists to profile DNA using very small samples and without damaging the sample which means it can potentially be used in liquid biopsies (testing for cancer markers in the bloodstream) and early cancer detection.

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New research is bolstering scientific understanding behind why some people are more prone to allergies than others. Researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania identified how genetic differences that alter a specific protein called ETS1 can affect our body's response to allergies. They found that small changes in ETS1 in an animal model can lead to an increased likelihood for allergic reactions that cause inflammation. The findings were published recently in Immunity.

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Some pulmonary embolism patients may be hospitalized unnecessarily due to CT imaging results rather than clinical risk factors, a study finds. Roughly half of the low risk patients had CT imaging features that physicians consider “concerning”, and these patients fared just as well in the hospital as those whose CT scans showed no concerning findings.

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In prior studies, explained senior author Dr. Rachel Issaka, transportation was cited as one of the main barriers to completing a colonoscopy. Issaka directs the UW Medicine/Fred Hutch Population Health Colorectal Cancer Screening Program and is an assistant professor of medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

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Researchers from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have engineered stable, universal MHC-I molecules that can be produced rapidly at scale, allowing researchers not only to develop vaccines and immunotherapies more quickly but also to identify molecules that can work broadly across the population. The findings were published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Repeat treatment with corticosteroid injections improved vision in people with persistent or recurrent uveitis-related macular edema better than two other therapies, according to results from a clinical trial funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI).

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Repeat treatment with corticosteroid injections improved vision in people with persistent or recurrent uveitis-related macular edema better than two other therapies, according to results from a clinical trial funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI).

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Challenging the assumption that short stature negatively impacts children and adolescents’ self-esteem, a new study by researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) has found that in otherwise healthy short youth, quality of life and self-esteem are associated with coping skills and how supported they feel and not the degree of their short stature. The findings were published in The Journal of Pediatrics.

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A new study by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center highlights novel insights into the evolution of multiple myeloma from precursor disease, which may help better identify patients likely to progress and develop new interventions

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A new study in mice, led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, explains how prostate cancer senses a drop in testosterone levels due to common anti-hormone therapy and then begins making cholesterol — a necessary precursor to testosterone — to generate its own testosterone to fuel tumor growth. The study also points to a possible drug combination that may stop the cancer from feeding its own growth.

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This study is expected to generate critical evidence about the rise and expansion of drug-resistant parasites in Ethiopia. Results will help policymakers and advance malaria elimination efforts in Ethiopia and beyond.

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Researchers from The University of Texas at El Paso’s School of Pharmacy will explore the viability of a new treatment for vascular dementia, thanks to a $2.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

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Biologists have identified a previously unknown way that our immune system detects viruses. The immune protein CARD8 acts as a trip wire to detect a range of viruses, including the virus that causes COVID. They also found that CARD8 functions differently among species and varies between humans.

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Recent scientific discoveries have shown that Neanderthal genes comprise some 1 to 4% of the genome of present-day humans whose ancestors migrated out of Africa, but the question remained open on how much those genes are still actively influencing human traits — until now.

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An electron microscopy study revealed key details of actin filaments, which are essential structural elements of cells and muscles

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Historically, scientists have studied how cells develop and give rise to specialized cells, such as heart, liver, or skin cells, by examining specific proteins.

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A research team at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine compiled and analyzed statistics from federal cancer research funding sources and found that funds tend to be allocated more heavily toward cancers that occur more often in non-Hispanic white people than in other racial and ethnic groups.

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Matthew Lew, an associate professor of electrical and systems engineering at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, has received a five-year $2 million Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support his ongoing work to improve microscopic imaging techniques.

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An automated, bilingual, computerized alcohol screening and intervention health tool is effective in reducing alcohol use among Latino emergency department patients in the U.S., according to a study led by the University of California, Irvine. “This is the first bilingual, large-scale, emergency department-based, randomized clinical trial of its kind in the country focused on English- and Spanish-speaking Latino participants,” said lead author Dr.

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Tufts Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) has received a $78.4 million Clinical and Translational Science Award from the NIH, the fourth consecutive grant since its founding in 2008. The grant provides federal funding over the next seven years to support research services, resources, and educational programs, and local, regional, and national initiatives. The award was announced by Tufts University and Tufts Medicine on June 7.

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A new study has uncovered evidence of a “coupling” mechanism between the malaria parasite and its human host, which could one day lead to new treatments for a disease that claims the life of a child under age 5 every minute.

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The quality of care for nursing home residents with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias is best when they are in the majority, but most facilities also accommodate a heterogeneous population, where specialized staff training is limited, according to a study led by the University of California, Irvine.

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Research shows that the natural peptide, called drosocin, protects fruit flies from bacterial infections by binding to ribosomes in bacteria. Once bound, drosocin prevents the ribosome from making new proteins.

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Therapeutic nanocarriers engineered from adult skin cells can curb inflammation and tissue injury in damaged mouse lungs, new research shows, hinting at the promise of a treatment for lungs severely injured by infection or trauma.

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Scientists from the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have developed a new method to bioprint miniature tumor organoids that are designed to mimic the function and architecture of real tumors. The improved process allows researchers to use an advanced imaging method to study and analyze individual organoids in great detail, which can help researchers identify personalized treatments for people with rare or hard-to-treat cancers.

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A new intervention developed by a team of researchers and led by Guillermo “Willy” Prado, professor of nursing and health studies at the University of Miami, aims to curb devastating mental health trends and drug use among Hispanic youth who identify as sexual minorities.

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Patients infected with beta and delta COVID-19 variants, and those who required hospital stays for COVID-19 infection, were more likely to experience heart issues associated with long COVID, according to a recent study published in the European Heart Journal – Cardiovascular Imaging. Patients recovering from the omicron variant were least likely to have microvascular involvement. The study also found that microvascular dysfunction started to be seen less often after nine months to one year following infection suggesting that this type of abnormality may be reversible.

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Johns Hopkins scientists have developed a method involving artificial intelligence to visualize and track changes in the strength of synapses — the connection points through which nerve cells in the brain communicate — in live animals. The technique, described in Nature Methods, should lead, the scientists say, to a better understanding of how such connections in human brains change with learning, aging, injury and disease.

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According to the federal government’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, nearly 3 million people worldwide — with almost a third in the United States — are living with multiple sclerosis (MS), a disabling neurological disease in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks nerves feeding information to the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord). Although rarely fatal, MS can lead to long-term disabilities, and impair movement, muscle control, vision and cognition.

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Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital found key “on” switch, NLRP12, for innate immune cell death in diseases that cause red blood cells to rupture, which can lead to inflammation and multi-organ failure.

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Tumors are composed of rapidly multiplying cancer cells. Understanding which biochemical processes fuel their relentless growth can provide hints at therapeutic targets. Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis have developed a technology to study tumor growth in another dimension — literally. The scientists established a new method to watch what nutrients are used at which rates spatially throughout a tissue.

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Scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology show that T cells can recognize several different viral targets, called "antigens," shared between most coronaviruses, including common cold coronaviruses and SARS-CoV-2. They also looked more in-depth at what fragments of these antigens, called “epitopes,” are recognized and how conserved they are across different coronaviruses.

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Ongoing research at UT Southwestern Medical Center exploring the ability of human heart cells to regenerate after a heart attack or other cardiovascular event will be accelerated by a new award from the National Institutes of Health.

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Social media study found a steady increase in expressions of loneliness and depression as the pandemic continued

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Leveraging the HEALing Communities Study infrastructure, researchers are testing whether there is an association between fentanyl test strip use and overdose risk reduction behaviors among people who use drugs over a 28-day observation period. The Stay Safe Study will be in Kentucky, Ohio and New York.

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New research has unlocked insights into how “good fat” tissue could potentially be harnessed to combat obesity and remove glucose from the blood, helping to control diabetes. Published today in Science Advances, the work is a collaboration between researchers with the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and University of Cambridge, Free University of Brussels and University of East Anglia.

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Every 40 seconds, someone in the United States has a stroke. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that totals about 795,000 strokes each year. More than 80 percent of stroke survivors experience gait challenges, often relating to a loss of control over ankle movement. As survivors progress into the chronic stage of stroke, most continue to walk slower and less efficiently.

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Study suggests person-to-person transmission may not be the dominant mode of infection for an aggressive lung pathogen. Findings shed light on the behavior and mutation tendencies of a little-known microbe. The results should ease fears that the lung bacterium poses a grave threat for spread between individuals with compromised lung function who are waiting for lung transplants.

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Todo lo que los médicos e investigadores saben acerca de la medicina, desde qué medicamentos recetar hasta cómo realizar las cirugías, se basa en la investigación. Pero durante décadas, la mayor parte de este trabajo ha dejado de lado a las participantes femeninas.

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New UCLA-led research suggests that patient mortality rates, readmissions, length of stay, and health care spending were virtually identical for elderly hospitalized patients who were treated by physicians with Doctor of Medicine (MD) or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) degrees.

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A new study led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, published today in Nature Medicine, provides a deeper understanding of the vast diversity of T cell states as well as their relationships and roles within the complex tumor microenvironment, bringing a fresh perspective to understanding immunotherapy efficacy in cancer.