Endocrinologists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have shown for the first time that brown fat can exert control over skeletal muscle function.
A new study finds that the class of neurons responsible for transmitting information from the inner ear to the brain is composed of three molecularly distinct subtypes. The findings could inform efforts to develop therapeutic strategies to treat or protect against hearing loss.
Studying lab animals and humans, researchers at Joslin Diabetes Center discovered that a protein called JNK helps to drive response to exercise. If JNK is activated during exercise, the researchers say, that stimulates skeletal muscle growth. If it’s not activated, muscles improve their adaptation for endurance and aerobic capacity.
Researchers have discovered a new, rare type of cell in the human airway. These cells appear to be the primary source of activity of the gene which causes cystic fibrosis.
• When opioids are prescribed following surgery, approximately four percent of the general patient population will continue using opioids for an extended time period
• Race and household income were not significant risk factors for prolonged opioid use
• Physicians’ prescribing practices may influence patient risk
• Patients in the worker’s compensation setting experienced the highest rates of prolonged opioid use
More than 60 years after the drug thalidomide caused birth defects in thousands of children whose mothers took the drug while pregnant, scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have solved a mystery that has lingered ever since the dangers of the drug first became apparent: how did the drug produce such severe fetal harm?
Ramnath Subbaraman, a Tufts University School of Medicine assistant professor of public health and community medicine, has been selected to receive a 2018 Clinical Scientist Development Award from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The award supports his research to improve tuberculosis care in India.
Parkinsonism – slowed movement, muscle rigidity and tremor – is a classic set of neurological symptoms most often seen in patients with Parkinson’s disease. Because neuron loss in the substantia nigra – a region of the brain associated with motor planning – is the hallmark characteristic of Parkinson’s disease, parkinsonism has long been thought to originate there. However, parkinsonism can occur in patients who have other conditions that leave the substantia nigra intact, making the true source of the suite of symptoms a mystery.
Researchers have developed magnetic elastomeric composites that move in different ways when exposed to light, raising the possibility that these materials could enable a wide range of products that perform simple to complex movements, from tiny engines and valves to solar arrays that bend toward the sunlight.
Researchers have long sought drugs that could help to prevent diabetic kidney disease (DKD), which afflicts about 40% of people with type 2 diabetes. Among the current contenders are a class of diabetes management drugs known as DPP-4 inhibitors. Scientists at Joslin Diabetes Center now have shown that in mouse models of diabetic kidney disease, the DPP-4 inhibitor linagliptin produces two signs of prevention against kidney damage.
Scientists at Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center (DF/BWCC) have identified biomarkers in melanoma that could help tailor immunotherapy treatments to maximize the benefits for patients while reducing the likelihood of severe side effects.
A pilot study led by researchers from Tufts University and conducted at the Somerville Council on Aging in Somerville, Mass., translated for the first time the physical activity benefits of the Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders study in a community setting.
New study reveals that a male fruit fly’s decision to court or ignore a female stems from the convergence of motivation, perception and chance that affects the balance of excitatory versus inhibitory signals in the brain to influence decision making. Findings may yield insights about addiction disorders, depression.
In a new study, a team led by clinician-researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) surveyed family members and patients with recent ICU experiences about their willingness to speak up about care concerns to medical providers.
A new study out of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center reveals that the preventability of readmissions changes over time: readmissions within the first week after discharge are often preventable by the hospital, whereas readmissions later are often related to patients’ difficultly accessing outpatient clinics.
Scientists have defined the structure and key features of a human immune-surveillance protein that guards against cancer and bacterial and viral infections
The identification of two human-specific variations in the protein closes a critical knowledge gap in immunology and cancer biology
The variations explain why the human protein is more precise and more selective than mammalian forms of the protein and why it targets certain types of DNA but ignores others
The findings can inform the design of more precisely targeted immune therapies against cancer and a range of immune-mediated diseases
The Bertarelli Foundation has announced that it is redoubling its investment in this area of research, with a gift of $6.35 million to Harvard Medical School (HMS) to build on the previous successes of the Bertarelli Program in Translational Neuroscience and Neuroengineering.
Researchers discover new clues about a recently identified blood cell condition known as clonal hematopoiesis, implicated in hematologic cancers, cardiovascular illness
Surprisingly, the study reveals that inherited genetic variants can drive the condition by fueling additional mutations later in life
The findings can help inform ways to gauge disease risk based on specific mutations, develop strategies to avert disease
Clonal hematopoiesis is estimated to affect more than 1 in 10 people older than 65
Barbara Kahn, MD, Vice Chair for Research Strategy in the Department of Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), will receive the 2019 FASEB Excellence in Science Award.
Study findings from a team of scientists led by George C. Tsokos, MD, Chief of the Division of Rheumatology at BIDMC, overturn conventional wisdom about kidney disease.
Research reveals dramatic geographic differences in end-of-life care spending across the United States.
Spending variations stemmed from doctors’ beliefs about end-of-life care and style of practice and from availability of health care services.
Patient beliefs and preferences did not contribute to spending differences.
Health care spending in the last month of life for patients with end-stage cancer in some regions is twice as high as that in other regions.
The additional spending is wasteful and possibly harmful.
Providing free fruits and vegetables and limiting sugary drinks in schools could have positive health effects in both the short- and long-term, finds a new Food-PRICE study led by researchers from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University.
In a new study, published July 6 in The Lancet, a team of researchers led by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center's Dan H. Barouch, MD, PhD, in collaboration with Janssen Vaccines & Prevention and other partners, evaluated a series of preventative HIV vaccine regimens in uninfected human volunteers in five countries. In a similarly designed study, Barouch and colleagues tested the same vaccine for its ability to protect rhesus monkeys challenged with an HIV-like virus from infection. The findings showed the vaccines induced robust and comparable immune responses in humans and monkeys and protected monkeys against acquisition of infection.
Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center have found that consuming a broth rich in umami—or savory taste—can cause subtle changes in the brain that promote healthy eating behaviors and food choices, especially in women at risk of obesity.
A “smart” bandage is designed to monitor the condition of chronic wounds and deliver drug treatments to improve chances of healing. While the bandages remain to be assessed in a clinical context, the research is aimed at transforming bandaging from a passive to an active treatment paradigm.
In this study, BIDMC researchers developed a means of tracking the activity of the far-reaching ends of retinal neurons (called boutons) as they deliver visual information to the thalamus, a brain region involved in image processing.
If you’ve ever had a migraine, you know it’s different from a typical tension headache. Check out these tips from neurologist Sait Ashina, MD, for avoiding common migraine triggers.
A new study finds that a mysterious component of the inner ear acts as a pressure-relief valve, formed by a thin barrier of cellular projections that opens and closes to regulate the release of inner ear fluid.
For the first time, scientists have directly visualized real-time structural changes in the surface protein of the influenza virus that may help the virus fuse with and enter target cells before hijacking them. Single molecules of the protein were found to stretch toward target cells, then refold and try again 5 to 10 times per second. The discovery may help develop more effective vaccines and better understand other viruses, including Ebola, HIV, and SARS.
In a new pilot study, a team led by researchers from Tufts University School of Medicine conducted the first full comparison of gonococcal gene expression and regulation in both men and women, identifying gender-specific signatures in infection and in antibiotic resistance genes.
Microbiologist Aimee Shen at Tufts University School of Medicine is one of 12 new recipients nationwide of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund 2018 Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease (PATH) award for her research on Clostridium difficile.
Olin and Emerson Colleges have joined forces to produce a groundbreaking one-day event—Remaking Education—designed to raise awareness of the need for change in education, and to inspire action among leaders in education, business, and the non-profit world. T
The 2018 Warren Alpert Foundation Prizehas been awarded to five scientists for transformative discoveries in the fields of genetics, physiology, pulmonology and pharmacology that have led to the development of life-altering precision-targeted treatments for the devastating multiorgan disease cystic fibrosis (CF).
Olin College and Aerodyne plan to install eight to twelve ARISense instruments around East Boston, at a fraction of the cost of a single EPA monitoring site.
Sara Hendren, an artist, designer and researcher-in-residence at Olin College has been awarded an Artist Fellowship in non-fiction writing from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Brooklyn-based artist and researcher Mimi Onuoha has been named the first “Creative-in-Reference” at Olin College, a position established as part of a multi-step $900,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation designed to better integrate the arts and humanities within a STEM education.
The Carey Institute for Global Good has named Sara Hendren a Logan Nonfiction Program Fellow. Hendren is a designer and researcher in residence at Olin College and is writing a book about the unexpected places where disability is at the heart of design, to be published by Riverhead Books
A group of national leaders in quality and safety, led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), has developed a consensus statement – a document developed by an independent panel of experts about a particular issue – intended to embrace an expanded definition of patient harm that includes non-physical harm, with the goal of improving the practice of respect across the continuum of care.
A research team at Massachusetts Eye and Ear has shown that microglia, the primary immune cells of the brain and retina, play a protective role in response to retinal detachment.