UNC School of Medicine’s Donald Pathman, MD, MPH, found that most healthcare providers experienced either mild or intense levels of moral distress during the first year of the pandemic due to issues related to patient care and their workplaces.
UNC School of Medicine scientists discovered that a molecule called EdU, which is commonly used in laboratory experiments to label DNA, is in fact recognized by human cells as DNA damage, triggering a runaway process of DNA repair that is eventually fatal to affected cells, including cancer cells.
Scientists at the UNC School of Medicine have mapped the surface of the cortex of the young human brain with unprecedented resolution, revealing the development of key functional regions from two months before birth to two years after.
Research in animal models showed the potential of delivering a TB drug with one injection that lasts at least four months, in lieu of the current standard treatment requiring constant adherence to a daily drug regimen.
UNC School of Medicine researchers report that common genetic variations in one serotonin receptor could be a reason why people with psychiatric conditions, such as depression, respond differently to psychedelic treatments.
Results from the largest prospective study of its kind indicate that in the initial days and weeks after experiencing trauma, individuals facing potentially threatening situations who had less activity in their hippocampus developed more severe posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms.
UNC scientists conducted a study to image the neural activity analogues to cognitive flexibility and discover differences in the brain activity of children with ADHD and those without.
UNC School of Medicine researchers are beginning to parse the underlying genetic differences in people who abuse substances. The more they learn, the better chance they will be able to create therapies to help the millions of people who struggle with addiction.
Users of fourth-generation nicotine-salt-containing devices, such as Juul and disposable devices, display a unique mix of cellular biomarkers indicative of immune suppression.
UNC School of Medicine scientists discovered that hepatitis A viral replication requires specific interactions between a human protein and a group of enzymes, and they used a molecule to stop replication at this key interactive step, making it impossible for the virus to infect liver cells.
A study published in JAMA Pediatrics shows how frequently childcare insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic occurred and the effect it had on parental job loss.
A case report published in the New England Journal of Medicine provides evidence that enterovirus D68 directly infects spinal cord neurons and that a corresponding robust immune response is present – a direct causation to the polio-like paralyzing illness, acute flaccid myelitis (AFM). Matthew Vogt, MD, PhD, assistant professor of pediatrics and microbiology & immunology at the UNC School of Medicine is the lead author of the study.
For the first time, scientists have found that brain differences in the visual brain systems of infants who later are diagnosed with autism are associated with inherited genetic factors.
Clinical scientists used machine learning models to explore de-identified electronic health record data in the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C) to help discern characteristics of people with long COVID and factors that may help identify such patients using data from medical records.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare organizations, leaders, researchers, and practitioners have attempted on the fly to deal with the inherent stresses, strains, and struggles related to an unprecedented healthcare crisis in modern times.
UNC-Chapel Hill scientists boosted electrical activity between cells in the hypothalamus and the hippocampus to create new neurons – an important process called neurogenesis -- in animal models.
For the first time, UNC-Chapel Hill scientists have measured the concentration of a biomarker of the commonly used fungicide azoxystrobin in the urine of pregnant women and children. They also documented maternal transfer of the chemical to mouse embryos and weaning-age mice.
University of North Carolina School of Medicine scientists, who report their results in the journal eLife, devised an experimental, gene-therapy-like technique to restore the normal activity of the gene deficient in people with Pitt-Hopkins syndrome.
In the ultimate use of telemedicine, Stephan Moll, MD, worked with NASA to treat a U.S. astronaut’s blood clot during a mission on the International Space Station. That led to a study on how blood flows in zero gravity, and if astronauts are at greater risk of developing blood clots in space.
This research in mice provides evidence for how dynamics in the default mode network of the brain are altered by activating the locus coeruleus region – a small nucleus in the brainstem that releases norepinephrine. It also suggests new targets for treatment to restore DMN function.
UNC-Chapel Hill, Princeton, and Boston Children’s Hospital researchers show how three transcription factors inside the embryonic heart recruit the protein subunit CHD4 for their role known roles in heart health and disease.
Establishing accurate gestational age with ultrasound early is essential to delivering high-quality care. Yet, the high cost for equipment and the need for trained sonographers limits its use in low-resource settings. A new study introduces a novel opportunity to democratize obstetric ultrasound.
A study published in Molecular Psychiatry is the first to look at multiple levels of biology within women with postpartum depression (PPD) to see how women with the condition differ from those without it.
This research illustrates the importance of a well-known cytokine called interleukin-13 in protecting cells against SARS-CoV-2, which helps explain the mystery of why people with allergic asthma fair better against COVID despite having a chronic lung condition.
Scientists have known the amygdala is abnormally large in school-age children with autism, but now, for the first time, researchers from the Infant Brain Imaging Study (IBIS) Network, used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to demonstrate that the amygdala grows too rapidly in infancy.
This fall UNC Health is implementing a new software called Oncology Clinical Pathways that will facilitate a common high quality, evidence-based care standard across the entire UNC Health system of hospitals in North Carolina, ensuring that each patient receives the most up-to-date course of recommended cancer treatment.
For the first time, scientists used entire human GI tracts from three organ donors to show how cell types differ across all regions of the intestines, to shed light on cellular functions, and to show gene expression differences between these cells and between individuals.
In a recent article in the official journal of the U.S. Surgeon General, Public Health Reports, UNC Family Medicine's Donald Pathman, MD, MPH, UNC Social Medicine’s Jeffrey Sonis, MD, MPH, and colleagues assess how the pandemic has affected clinicians in outpatient, safety-net practices.
Deleting VE-cadherin from the lymphatic vessels in newborn and adult lab mice caused the lymphatic vessels in the heart to regress and eventually disappear. This discovery could have important implications for immune function related to the heart.
Scientists created a way to identify the best combinations of chemical building blocks to serve as seeds that can grow into a hierarchy of molecules with the best predicted ability to bind to the receptor targets. This allowed them to test 11 billion compounds, the largest drug screen to date.
The Coronavirus Variant Sequencing (CORVASEQ) Surveillance Program, led by a team of UNC researchers, has detected the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant in North Carolina. Together, members of the program have sequenced more than 10,000 samples from COVID-19 positive patients to track the spread and development of the virus across the state.
Scientists demonstrated that rare variants in the ANK2 gene, consistently found in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), can alter architecture and organization of neurons, potentially contributing to autism
The U.S. Department of Defense is funding the first human trial of a device to speed up and enhance the natural system of brain cleansing that occurs when we sleep.
Scientists publish encouraging early tests of a gene therapy strategy against Angelman syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disorder that features poor muscle control and balance, hard-to-treat epilepsy, and intellectual disabilities.
Scientists can now pinpoint and track proteins that are in a desired shape in real time inside living cells. The scientists demonstrated the technique in, essentially, movies that track the active version of an important signaling protein – a molecule, in this case, important for cell growth.
A study published in Annals of Internal Medicine shows that participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by older adults dually enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid is associated with fewer hospital visits and lower healthcare costs. But millions of Americans do not take advantage of the program.
The COVID-19 pandemic has turned an existing child and adolescent behavioral health crisis into an overwhelming epidemic affecting families across the nation, and especially in North Carolina. To address this urgent need, leaders in the UNC Department of Psychiatry are leading a pilot program funded in part by a $1.97 million grant from the SECU Foundation to the UNC Health Foundation.
This research, published in Nature Microbiology, showed that two genetic mutations to the parasite Plasmodium falciparum -- the most common cause of malaria cases and deaths -- allow it to escape detection from rapid tests.
A newly developed immunotherapy that simultaneously uses modified immune-fighting cells to home in on and attack two antigens, or foreign substances, on cancer cells was highly effective in mice implanted with human neuroblastoma tissue.
This discovery, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), suggest that MUC5AC could become a target of better therapeutics to untangle the super thick and sticky mucus that plays a role in health problems for millions of people suffering from pulmonary conditions.
A new study out in the Clinical Infectious Diseases journal demonstrates how quickly COVID-19 can spread through a household, and provides insight into how and why communities of color have suffered disproportionately from the pandemic.
Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill studied the effects of SuperSNAP, which is run through Reinvestment Partners out of Durham, NC, to see if the additional funds translated into the purchase of more healthful foods, setting the stage for better health outcomes.
Brenna Maddox, PhD, assistant professor in the UNC Department of Psychiatry and an implementation scientist for the UNC TEACCH Autism Program, is co-leading a national study funded by a $9-million award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) that will compare the effectiveness of two suicide prevention interventions for autistic individuals.
A $10-million award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) will allow researchers from the UNC School of Medicine, Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC), and community partners to address a growing problem in the world of maternal healthcare.
The NIH funded academic institutions to design programs for professional development, but because doctoral training is lengthy and requires focused attention on research, some researchers feared students participating in additional training activities might diminish their research productivity or delay graduation. Researchers found this was not true.
Migraine is one of the largest causes of disability in the world. Existing treatments are often not enough to offer full relief for patients. A new study published in The BMJ demonstrates an additional option patients can use in their effort to experience fewer migraines and headaches – a change in diet.
UNC School of Medicine scientists have demonstrated that variants in the SPTBN1 gene can alter neuronal architecture, dramatically affecting their function and leading to a rare, newly defined neurodevelopmental syndrome in children.
UNC-Chapel Hill scientists investigated blood samples from children enrolled in a dengue vaccine trial to identify the specific kinds of antibody responses that correlate with protection against dengue virus disease.
For the first, time UNC School of Medicine scientist Katie Baldwin, PhD, and colleagues revealed a central role of the glial protein hepaCAM in building the brain and affecting brain function early in life.
Diabetes is one of the comorbidities most strongly associated with severe COVID-19 in the US, and data from early in the pandemic suggested individuals with type 2 diabetes faced twice the risk of death from COVID-19 and a greater risk of requiring hospitalization and intensive care. A new study shows best treatment options.
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