Vaccines that prevent infection by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, are being rolled out around the world. Below are five things about vaccine science of which you may be unaware. Additionally, here is a video about how vaccines are determined safe.
Blowing air from a fan into the face of patients with advanced cancer experiencing breathlessness, and other nonpharmacologic interventions, may offer symptom relief, according to new research directed by Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center investigators. On the other hand, the investigators found medications, such as opioids, had limited impact in improving breathlessness.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johns Hopkins Medicine Media Relations is focused on disseminating current, accurate and useful information to the public via the media. As part of that effort, we are distributing our “COVID-19 Tip Sheet: Story Ideas from Johns Hopkins” every other Tuesday.
A new study by Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers of adults hospitalized for the eating disorder anorexia nervosa has strengthened the case for promoting rapid weight gain as part of overall efforts for a comprehensive treatment plan. The study findings, after analyzing data regarding 149 adult inpatients with anorexia nervosa in the Johns Hopkins Eating Disorders Program, stand in contrast to long held beliefs that patients would not tolerate a faster weight gain plan because it would be too traumatic.
More than a dozen drugs are known to treat symptoms such as hallucinations, erratic behaviors, disordered thinking and emotional extremes associated with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other severe mental illnesses. But, drug treatments specifically able to target the learning, memory and concentration problems that may accompany such disorders remain elusive.
Johns Hopkins Medicine, together with 100 of the nation’s other top health care systems, representing thousands of hospitals in communities across the U.S., have come together with an urgent plea for all Americans: mask up, because wearing a face mask is one of the best ways to slow the surging COVID-19 pandemic.
Stephen Baylin, M.D., the Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor for Cancer Research, professor of oncology and medicine, and co-director of the Cancer Genetics and Epigenetics Program at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, has been elected by his peers as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), an international nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing science, engineering and innovation. Baylin was among 489 AAAS members and four from Johns Hopkins who were selected for their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications, according to the organization.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johns Hopkins Medicine Media Relations is focused on disseminating current, accurate and useful information to the public via the media. As part of that effort, we are distributing our “COVID-19 Tip Sheet: Story Ideas from Johns Hopkins” every other Tuesday.
Johns Hopkins Medicine, together with 100 of the nation’s top health care systems, representing thousands of hospitals in communities across the U.S., have come together with an urgent plea for all Americans — mask up, because wearing a face mask is one of the best ways to slow the surging COVID-19 pandemic.
For many of us, this year’s holiday season may look different, and many are asking how we can enjoy the fellowship of the season while keeping ourselves, our loved ones and our communities safe from COVID-19.
We use recycled products every day. Money, for example, goes on a circular journey from our hands to banks and back again. Once paper money is too worn to be used, banks send it to be destroyed. A similar microscopic waste system is present in our brains, in which nervous system cells called neurons trade chemical messengers and remove the carriers they travel in when they become defective.
People who experience a crisis related to their behavioral health are often met by teams poorly equipped to respond to their disease, including police or emergency room teams. Now, Johns Hopkins Medicine and 14 other hospitals across Maryland have received $45 million in funding to start an initiative aimed at reducing unnecessary emergency department use and police interactions for substance use and mental health crises.
The Maryland state agency dedicated to containing the state’s health care costs has awarded Baltimore’s two academic medical centers $43 million over five years to take on the type 2 diabetes epidemic as part of a statewide population health initiative.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johns Hopkins Medicine Media Relations is focused on disseminating current, accurate and useful information to the public via the media. As part of that effort, we are distributing our “COVID-19 Tip Sheet: Story Ideas from Johns Hopkins” every other Tuesday.
More than 34 million people in the U.S, or 10.5% of the population, have diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And as many as 7 million more Americans have the disease and don’t know it. Diabetes is the seventh-leading cause of death in the country..
In a small study of adults with major depression, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers report that two doses of the psychedelic substance psilocybin, given with supportive psychotherapy, produced rapid and large reductions in depressive symptoms, with most participants showing improvement and half of study participants achieving remission through the four-week follow-up.
Inspired by a parasitic worm that digs its sharp teeth into its host’s intestines, Johns Hopkins researchers have designed tiny, star-shaped microdevices that can latch onto intestinal mucosa and release drugs into the body.
Age may cause identical cancer cells with the same mutations to behave differently. In animal and laboratory models of melanoma cells, age was a primary factor in treatment response.
Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers report that new experiments with genetically engineered mice have found clear connections among a range of autism types and abnormalities in brain cells whose chemical output forges platonic (non-sexual) feelings of love and sociability.
In a new medical records analysis of racial disparities in end-of-life care, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine and three collaborating institutions report that Black patients voluntarily seek substantially more intensive treatment, such as mechanical ventilation, gastronomy tube insertion, hemodialysis, CPR and multiple emergency room visits in the last six months of life, while white patients more often choose hospice services.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johns Hopkins Medicine Media Relations is focused on disseminating current, accurate and useful information to the public via the media. As part of that effort, we are distributing our “COVID-19 Tip Sheet: Story Ideas from Johns Hopkins” every other Tuesday.
The inflammasome—a protein signaling network that is activated to rid the body of virus or bacteria-infected cells—may play an important role in triggering an immune response to cancer and causing an existing class of drugs to work better against cancers.
Since its inception in 1995, the mission for A Woman’s Journey has remained the same: to empower women to make the right health care decisions for their families and themselves.
Johns Hopkins Medicine has launched a new Spanish-language COVID-19 resources portal. This one-stop shop for information in Spanish offers COVID-19 testing sites, information about telemedicine and communicating with health care providers, social distancing tips and resources for children, among other helpful links. The mobile-friendly portal serves community members, patients, faculty and staff members as well as students who need COVID-19 resources and information in Spanish.
Four members of Johns Hopkins Medicine have been elected to the National Academy of Medicine. The announcement of 100 new members was made today in conjunction with the academy’s annual meeting, held virtually this year.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johns Hopkins Medicine Media Relations is focused on disseminating current, accurate and useful information to the public via the media. As part of that effort, we are distributing our “COVID-19 Tip Sheet: Story Ideas from Johns Hopkins” every other Tuesday.
A team of Johns Hopkins neurosurgeons and biomedical engineers has received $13.48 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop implantable ultrasound and other devices that could revolutionize care for people suffering from spinal cord injuries. The results could benefit thousands of U.S. service members and civilians who sustain spinal cord injuries every year.
While the world waits eagerly for a safe and effective vaccine to prevent infections from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus behind the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers also are focusing on better understanding how SARS-CoV-2 attacks the body in the search for other means of stopping its devastating impact. The key to one possibility — blocking a protein that enables the virus to turn the immune system against healthy cells — has been identified in a recent study by a team of Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers.
As we celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15, Johns Hopkins Medicine has launched a new Spanish-language COVID-19 resources portal. This one-stop shop for information in Spanish offers COVID-19 testing sites, information about telemedicine and communicating with health care providers, social distancing tips and resources for children, among other helpful links. The mobile-friendly portal serves community members, patients, faculty and staff members and students who need COVID-19 resources and information in Spanish.
Johns Hopkins Medicine biomedical engineering student Christopher Shallal developed an initiative to keep health care teams safe by galvanizing community members to use 3D printers to make face shields. His mentors on the project were Elizabeth Logsdon, Ph.D., and Warren Grayson, Ph.D.
Recreational use of the illicit drug methamphetamine has long been associated with increases in overall impatient and risky behavior. Now, a new study by Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers affirms that meth use increases not only sexual desire but also, specifically and measurably, the risk of casual sex without a condom for those who have an increase in sexual desire.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johns Hopkins Medicine Media Relations is focused on disseminating current, accurate and useful information to the public via the media. As part of that effort, we are distributing our “COVID-19 Tip Sheet: Story Ideas from Johns Hopkins” every other Tuesday.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues with no end in sight, the annual flu season emerges once again. Cases of the flu have already begun to surface around the nation, and there are some reports of co-infection with COVID-19. Johns Hopkins Medicine experts say now is the time to take action to fight against the flu. Doctors recommend that everyone age 6 months and older get the flu vaccine each year to prevent infection from the virus or reduce the severity of the illness.
Using a combination of demographic and clinical data gathered from seven weeks of COVID-19 patient care early in the coronavirus pandemic, Johns Hopkins researchers today published a “prediction model” they say can help other hospitals care for COVID-19 patients — and make important decisions about planning and resource allocations.
During the lockdown with COVID-19 restrictions in place, an interactive gaming room built to accelerate stroke patient recovery in The Johns Hopkins Hospital wasn’t getting much use. The therapists and neurologists running the gaming room decided to make the room available to staff treating COVID-19 patients to allow them to decompress.
A new Johns Hopkins Medicine study adds to evidence that the earlier parents, educators and health care workers have age-appropriate and frank discussions about safe sex, the better will be their — and their partners’ — long-term sexual health and development. Specifically, the research concludes, these early interventions can lead to fewer unintended pregnancies.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johns Hopkins Medicine Media Relations is focused on disseminating current, accurate and useful information to the public via the media. As part of that effort, we are distributing our “COVID-19 Tip Sheet: Story Ideas from Johns Hopkins” every other Tuesday.
In honor of Gynecologic Cancer Awareness Month, the Johns Hopkins Medicine Kelly Gynecologic Oncology Service is hosting a series of 60-minute webinars during which top experts will address important issues related to gynecologic cancers and survivorship.
Scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine and the University of Oxford say they have found a new way to kill some multiplying human breast cancer cells by selectively attacking the core of their cell division machinery. The technique, so far tested only on lab-grown and patient-derived cancer cells, could advance efforts to find drugs that kill breast cancer cells in a subset of patients, and leave healthy cells unharmed.
Front-line Worker Story: Ebony Hunter — Teamwork Will Get Us Through
It seems there will never be enough “thank-you’s” for the incredible doctors, nurses, technicians and support staff members who are working around the clock to help patients who have COVID-19, the dangerous coronavirus disease. Their dedication, determination and spirit enable Johns Hopkins to deliver the promise of medicine.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact the world in sometimes devastating and unexpected ways, a more well-known illness — the flu — will make its annual debut in the coming weeks. Flu activity tends to increase in October and can run as late as May. It’s too soon to tell how flu season will definitively affect the current pandemic. However, Johns Hopkins Medicine experts say prevention will be key in reducing the spread of both illnesses, including getting an annual flu vaccine, washing hands, wearing a face mask or covering, and maintaining proper physical distancing.
For patients who receive a heart transplant in the near future, the old adage, “Good things come in small packages,” may become words to live by. In a recent study, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) demonstrated in mice that they can easily deliver a promising anti-rejection drug directly to the area surrounding a grafted heart by packaging it within a tiny three-dimensional, protein gel cocoon known as a hydrogel. Best of all, the researchers say that the release of the drug is spread out over time, making it highly regulatable and eliminating the need for daily medication to keep rejection in check.
Researchers have long sought to explain precisely how the most common genetic mutation linked to both amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia causes the death of nerve cells.
Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers have added to evidence that a gene responsible for turning off a cell’s natural “suicide” signals may also be the culprit in making breast cancer and melanoma cells resistant to therapies that use the immune system to fight cancer. A summary of the research, conducted with mice and human cells, appeared Aug. 25 in Cell Reports.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johns Hopkins Medicine Media Relations is focused on disseminating current, accurate and useful information to the public via the media. As part of that effort, we are distributing our “COVID-19 Tip Sheet: Story Ideas from Johns Hopkins” every other Tuesday.
In laboratory studies, Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and Johns Hopkins University researchers observed a key step in how cancer cells may spread from a primary tumor to a distant site within the body, a process known as metastasis.
Scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine using MRI scans and computer modeling say they have further pinpointed areas of the human brain that regulate efforts to deal with fatigue.
The findings, they say, could advance the development of behavioral and other strategies that increase physical performance in healthy people, and also illuminate the neural mechanisms that contribute to fatigue in people with depression, multiple sclerosis and stroke.
As COVID-19 continues to impact the world, health care professionals are finding more patients who were diagnosed with the illness but still are dealing with symptoms long after the initial infection has gone. This condition is sometimes referred to as “long COVID.”
Scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine, experimenting with a small number of human cell samples, report that the “hook” of cells used by SARS-CoV-2 to latch onto and infect cells is up to 700 times more prevalent in the olfactory supporting cells lining the inside of the upper part of the nose than in the lining cells of the rest of the nose and windpipe that leads to the lungs. These supporting cells are necessary for the function/development of odor-sensing cells. The findings, from a preliminary study of cells lining both the nose and trachea, could advance the search for the best target for topical or local antiviral drugs to treat COVID-19, and offers further clues into why people with the virus sometimes lose their sense of smell.