Focus: Hidden - Maryland

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An international group of researchers, led by Ronna Hertzano, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Anatomy and Neurobiology, at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), and Michael Bowl, Ph.D., Programme Leader Track Scientist, Mammalian Genetics Unit, MRC Harwell Institute, UK, have identified the gene that acts as a key regulator for special cells needed in hearing.

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Researchers are exploring how irregular filling mechanics may contribute to defects in developing fetal hearts because inefficient filling leads to energy losses that alter the heart’s structure and performance, and studying how filling mechanics and flow structure change over the course of gestation. During the American Physical Society’s Division of Fluid Dynamics 71st Annual Meeting, Nov. 18-20, they will discuss the team’s findings on human fetal cardiac flow measurements collected from normal and abnormal fetal echocardiogram exams.

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In aquaponics, the hydroponic crops use the nutrients from fish waste as fertilizer while the fish benefit from the plants’ nutrient uptake capability to improve water quality. The treated water is then recirculated to the plant grow beds and fish culture tanks via a pipe system. Researchers at the University of New Hampshire, who are studying ways to improve water flow for more efficient aquaponic systems, will present their work at the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics 71st Annual Meeting, Nov. 18-20.

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Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers report that a program designed to enhance self-care and lead to more seamless management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in adults successfully reduced rates of emergency room visits and hospitalization, and the burdensome symptoms and limitations caused by the condition.

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Ever watch aquatic animals jump out of the water and wonder how they manage to do it in such a streamlined and graceful way? Researchers who specialize in water entry and exit in nature had the same question. During the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics 71st Annual Meeting, Nov. 18-20, they will present their work designing a robotic system inspired by jumping copepods and frogs to illuminate some of the fluid dynamics at play when aquatic animals jump.

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As professional divers complete what’s known as a rip dive, their hands remove water in front of the body, creating a cavity that reduces the initial impact force. The rest of the body is aligned to shoot through the same cavity created by the hands. Using the hands to create cavities in the water's surface is similar to the concept behind the fluid-structure studies that researchers at Utah State University are conducting using spheres. They’ll present their work at the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics 71st Annual Meeting, Nov. 18-20.

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Wok tossing is essential for making a good fried rice -- or so claim a group of researchers presenting new work at the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics 71st Annual Meeting, Nov. 18-20. The researchers became interested in the physics of cooking and, seeking to satiate their curiosity, they focused on stir-fry, which lies at the heart of Chinese cuisine. The team set out to isolate the key elements of this venerable cooking technique.

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For the past 17 years, most scientists around the globe have been using the nucleic acid sequence, or genome, an assembly of DNA information, from primarily a single individual as a kind of “baseline” reference and human species representation for comparing genetic variety among groups of people.

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Some animals explore, interpret and understand the world with such sensitivity in their noses that people have enlisted canines to help solve crime and detect cancer on the breath. Scientists at Georgia Tech are now homing in on the secrets behind animals’ super sniffers to develop an artificial chemical sensor that could be used for a variety of tasks, from food safety to national security. Thomas Spencer will present the group’s latest design for an electronic nose that concentrates odors for improved chemical sensing at the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics 71st Annual Meeting, Nov. 18-20.

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Physiatrists and pain management experts call for an expansion of the national focus beyond safer opioid prescribing and addiction management to include a functional approach to both the diagnosis and treatment of pain. A report recently published in the American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (AJPM&R) calls for a comprehensive national strategy to include physical medicine: the expert diagnosis of musculoskeletal and other acute and chronic pain conditions, increased attention to non-pharmacological rehabilitation-based treatments, enhanced funding of pain research that includes functional outcomes, and an expansion in graduate medical education targeted to physiatry.

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Motivated by observations of desert flora and fauna, researchers in Arizona began experimenting in the laboratory to characterize cactuses' microscopic 3D epidermal structure at dry and wet times of the year. They apply the lessons in wettability -- the study of how droplets interact with solids -- to engineering surfaces for industrial applications, and will present the discoveries from this Sonoran wettability research at the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics 71st Annual Meeting, Nov. 18-20.

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It’s a common scenario in many emergency rooms: A man with a long history of homelessness and schizophrenia reports hallucinations and thoughts of suicide. Should the medical team admit him for hospitalization or treat him with antipsychotic drugs and release him from the ER? Lessons learned from this experience are the focus of the first article in a series of case studies that begins Nov. 15 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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Urinating into a cup may be a medical necessity at times, but it's often uncomfortable, embarrassing and messy -- especially for women. But what if there were a way to comfortably provide a sample without the splashback? Researchers have created a set of experiments using an anatomically correct female urethra that produced a jet of water with a pressure and flow equivalent to a human bladder. During the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics 71st Annual Meeting, Nov. 18-20, they’ll describe the findings and potential implications.

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Nature is full of examples of large-scale collective behavior; humans also exhibit this behavior, most notably in pelotons, the mass of riders in bicycle races. Using aerial video footage of bicycle races, researchers analyzed peloton motion to determine what causes changes in the group’s large-scale collective behavior and found that riders move through the peloton in a manner similar to circulation in a fluid. During the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics 71st Annual Meeting, Nov. 18-20, they will describe their work on collective behavior in pelotons.

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An unexpected twist from fastball can make the difference in winning or losing the World Series. However, “some explanations regarding the different pitches are flat-out wrong,” said Barton Smith, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Utah State University who considers himself a big fan of the game. He and Nazmus Sakib are conducting experiments to explain how baseballs move. Sakib and Smith will present their findings at the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics 71st Annual Meeting, Nov. 18-20.

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Marvel comics superheroes Ant-Man and the Wasp possess the ability to temporarily shrink down to the size of insects, while retaining the mass and strength of their normal human bodies. But a new study suggests that, when bug-sized, Ant-Man and the Wasp would face serious challenges, including oxygen deprivation. Those challenges, along with their solution-microfluidic technologies, will be described at the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics 71st Annual Meeting, Nov. 18-20.

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Wombats are central to a biological mystery in the animal kingdom: How do they produce cube-shaped poop? Patricia Yang at Georgia Tech set out to investigate. Yang studies the hydrodynamics of fluids, including blood, processed food and urine, in the bodies of animals. She was curious how the differences in wombats’ digestive processes and soft tissue structures might explain their oddly shaped scat. During the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics 71st Annual Meeting, Nov. 18-20, Yang will explain findings from dissecting the alimentary systems of wombats.

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A new study designed to reach hospitalized patients at risk shows that a “real-time” educational conversation, video or leaflet can lower the missed dose rates of drugs that can prevent potentially lethal blood clots in their veins.

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November 16 marks the premiere of a unique film and musical experience inspired by the Hubble Space Telescope’s famous Deep Field image. It represents a first-of-its-kind collaboration between Grammy award-winning American composer and conductor Eric Whitacre, producers Music Productions, multi award-winning artists 59 Productions, and the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI). Deep Field: The Impossible Magnitude of our Universe features a variety of Hubble’s stunning imagery and includes 11 computer-generated visualizations of far-flung galaxies, nebulas, and star clusters developed by STScI. The film is available on YouTube and will be shared with the world through screenings and live performances around the globe.

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Cutting back considerably on high-calorie foods, even full meals, in the days or weeks before Thanksgiving in anticipation of pigging out on turkey, sweet potato pie and other traditional dishes on the big day is a common pre-holiday diet plan.

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Astronomers may have finally uncovered the long-sought progenitor to a specific type of exploding star by sifting through NASA Hubble Space Telescope archival data. The supernova, called a Type Ic, is thought to detonate after its massive star has shed or been stripped of its outer layers of hydrogen and helium.

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Dry Eye Syndrome Slows Reading Rate, Study Suggests 11/15/2018 AddThis Sharing Buttons Share to Facebook Share to TwitterShare to EmailShare to PrintShare to More Slow reading rate and significantly disrupt day to day tasks that require visual concentration for long periods of time . Johns Hopkins researchers report that chronic dry eye, a condition in which natural tears fail to adequately lubricate the eyes, can slow reading rate and significantly disrupt day to day tasks that require visual concentration for long periods of time. Credit: iStock Johns Hopkins researchers report that chronic dry eye, a condition in which natural tears fail to adequately lubricate the eyes, can slow reading rate and significantly disrupt day to day tasks that require visual concentration for long periods of time.

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With U.S. life expectancy now on the decline for two consecutive years, the Bloomberg American Health Initiative is releasing a supplement to Public Health Reports, the scholarly journal of the U.S. Surgeon General. The supplement includes a series of special articles addressing five of the most complex and urgent health challenges facing the United States, specifically: addiction and overdose, violence, obesity and the food system, environmental challenges, and risks to adolescent health.

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In a new $5.5 million center that spans engineering and cardiology specialties at Johns Hopkins, experts aim to improve the diagnosis and treatment of heart rhythm disorders that affect millions of people by leveraging innovations in cardiac imaging, computer simulations and data science.

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Hot water treatment may help improve inflammation and blood sugar (glucose) levels in people who are unable to exercise, according to a new study. The findings are published ahead of print in the Journal of Applied Physiology.

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Women in Ethiopia, Nigeria and Uganda are often pressured by family and through societal expectations to have more children, but commonly resort to covert or indirect means of contraception to maintain some reproductive autonomy. This is a central finding from a cross-country study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

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At the fifth International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP) in Kigali, Rwanda, taking place Nov. 12 to 15, 2018, there will be four new research findings presented. The 2018 ICFP is co-hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health, which is based at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Rwanda.

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By combining two imaging modalities—adaptive optics and angiography—investigators at the National Eye Institute (NEI) can see live neurons, epithelial cells, and blood vessels deep in the eye’s light-sensing retina. Resolving these tissues and cells in the outermost region of the retina in such unprecedented detail promises to transform the detection and treatment of diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness among the elderly.

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A South American tribe living in near-total isolation with no Western dietary influences showed no increase in average blood pressure from age one to age 60, according to a study led by researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. In comparison, a nearby tribe whose diet includes some processed foods and salt did show higher blood pressure into late middle age.

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Young stars, like young children, are messy eaters, swallowing most of the material falling onto them but spitting the rest out. The gas a newborn star fails to eat gets ejected outward at supersonic speeds, creating shock waves that heat the interstellar medium and cause it to glow in infrared light. NASA’s Webb telescope will examine stellar outflows and shocks to learn more about how stars like our sun form.

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The inaugural Bloomberg American Health Summit in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 29-30, 2018, will bring together innovators and policymakers from around the country who are creatively working to address some of the toughest challenges facing public health in the United States, including the opioid epidemic and gun violence.

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Three presentations to be given at the American Public Health Meeting Nov. 12-12 in San Diego.

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Hopkins Nursing excellence across the Johns Hopkins Health System was once again celebrated at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing (JHSON) seventh annual Evening with the Stars, November 10.

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Zebrafish eye injected with retinoblastoma tumor cells (green) form a mass in areas close to the injection site. A few of these tumor cells move outside the eye. Credit: Johns Hopkins Medicine By comparing genetic sequences in the eye tumors of children whose cancers spread with tumors that didn’t spread, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers report new evidence that a domino effect in cells is responsible for the cancer spreading. Their experiments suggest that blocking part of the chain of events — which they successfully accomplished in zebra fish and human cells — stops the growth and spread of the eye tumor cells.

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Experimenting with lab-grown brain cancer cells, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers have added to evidence that a shortage of specific tiny molecules that silence certain genes is linked to the development and growth of pediatric brain tumors known as low-grade gliomas.

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The 2018 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions

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2018 Cholesterol Guidelines for Heart Health Announced 11/10/2018 AddThis Sharing Buttons Share to Facebook Share to TwitterShare to EmailShare to PrintShare to More . A working group composed of two Johns Hopkins Medicine physicians and their American Heart Association colleagues has released updated clinician guidelines on managing cholesterol as a way to minimize risk for heart attack, stroke and death.

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Vincent Ho, M.D., professor chair of the Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) and chief of Radiology Services at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC), has been named as The Geneva Foundation’s Researcher of the Year.

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A critical concern for commercial farmers is to have good and synchronized tree growth. The problem in mild winter climates is that plants do not receive enough chilling, and growth resumption becomes spread out with some buds even failing to grow. Now scientists from Jazan University have discovered an effective new way to control the dormancy of grapes and other fruiting plants, by using high-tech plasmas to wake them from their winter's slumber. They will present the work next week at the APS 71st Annual Gaseous Electronics Conference and 60th Annual meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics, Nov. 5-9.

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Longitudinal study of claims data shows that older adults with untreated hearing loss generated an average of 46 percent more in total health care costs over 10 years versus those who don’t have hearing loss

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Scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine say they have identified what may be an ancient light-sensing mechanism in modern mouse retinal cells.

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The American Physical Society’s Division of Fluid Dynamics 71st Annual Meeting will take place Nov. 18-20 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia. It will be one of the largest conferences in fluid dynamics this year, with more than 3,000 attendees expected from around the world. Journalists are invited to attend the meeting for free. Press registration may be obtained by emailing the American Institute of Physics' Media Line at [email protected].

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Beatboxing is a musical art form in which performers use their vocal tract to create percussive sounds, and a team of researchers is using real-time MRI to study the production of beatboxing sounds. Timothy Greer will describe their work showing how real-time MRI can characterize different beatboxing styles and how video signal processing can demystify the mechanics of artistic style. Greer will present the study at the Acoustical Society of America's 176th Meeting, Nov. 5-9.

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Deep inside the dusty, messy cores of merging galaxies are pairs of black holes feasting on material and moving closer to coalescence. Near-infrared images by the Hubble and Keck telescopes are giving astronomers their best glimpse yet of this process.

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Few things can delight an adult more easily than the uninhibited, effervescent laughter of a baby. Yet baby laughter, a new study shows, differs from adult laughter in a key way: Babies laugh as they both exhale and inhale, in a manner that is remarkably similar to nonhuman primates. The research will be described by Disa Sauter during a talk at the Acoustical Society of America's 176th Meeting, Nov. 5-9.

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Experimenting with mice, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers have added to evidence that a hormone best known for helping regulate hunger and body weight might also ease breathing problems experienced during sleep more effectively when given through the nose.