For the next two years, 120 Division I Rice University athletes will be part of a concussion study with Houston Methodist researchers to identify reliable and novel concussion biomarkers in their gut microbiomes in ways that standard brain imaging cannot.
When second-year neurology resident Dr. Keelie Denson asked her ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) patients what they found most lacking in ALS care, the answer was easy for Angela Amar. She and her three children, now adults, had been caring for her husband Robert for more than 14 years.
Early-stage cervical cancer patients see better survival and decreased recurrence rates after open radical hysterectomy than minimally invasive laparoscopic approaches, according to a 5-year study led by Houston Methodist researchers and published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
A team led by a Houston Methodist physician established a hypothesis that the microenvironments of tumors in the pancreatic head versus the body and tail, particularly the immunotherapy receptors found on each section of the pancreas, differ. This could impact the way cancer of the pancreas is treated.
CEPI to provide up to $4.98 USD million to Houston Methodist Research Institute-led consortium to use artificial intelligence for design of vaccines to fight diseases with pandemic potential. The project will support a consortium, led by HMRI, to design potential antigenic targets for up to 10 priority virus families with epidemic or pandemic potential. Laboratory-based tests will then be used to verify antigen designs for possible further development.
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.
A recent Houston Methodist study may offer some guidance on when certain populations should get their next booster. A research team of computational medicine and data scientists from the Houston Methodist Research Institute predicted the immune response to COVID-19 vaccines with a math model they developed, and also found that current CDC dosing intervals may require customization to protect all individuals alike.
Houston Methodist nanomedicine researchers have found a way to tame pancreatic cancer - one of the most aggressive and difficult to treat cancers - by delivering immunotherapy directly into the tumor with a device that is smaller than a grain of rice.
Houston Methodist scientists reversed infertility in sterile mice by reducing HDL cholesterol with a bacterial protein in a promising development that shows further evidence linking high cholesterol to female infertility. The researchers worked with a protein called serum opacity factor that lowered cholesterol levels by over 40% in three hours.
Patient Chris DeHart had a massive meningioma that required 9 surgeries and 3 surgical specialties to remove. He relied on a Houston Methodist 'dream team' of surgeons to solve his case.
Removing ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) patients’ own dysfunctional cells, fixing them, then putting them back in patients’ bodies is a safe, well tolerated process that has been shown to slow or halt disease progression in a small number of patients, according to a study by the Houston Methodist Research Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital
By using artificial intelligence, Houston Methodist researchers are able to predict hospitalization outcomes of geriatric patients with dementia on the first or second day of hospital admission. This early assessment of outcomes means more timely interventions, better care coordination, more judicious resource allocation, focused care management and timely treatment for these more vulnerable, high-risk patients. The study is available online in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Translational Research and Clinical Interventions, a journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.
Two Houston Methodist cancer researchers have been awarded a half million dollars in funding from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) to further research two of the most lethal, difficult-to-treat cancers that all-too-often have poor prognoses -- triple-negative breast cancer and multiple myeloma.
Texas already has a moderately high rate of flu cases in September. This doesn’t look good for flu season, which was uncharacteristically low last year because of masks and people isolating. Houston Methodist experts are encouraging the community to get the flu shot early. Experts say cases aren't usually seen this high until December, which is when the season usually peaks.