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In a study published in December 2010, in Hypertension, a journal of the American Heart Association, investigators have shown that early treatment with blood pressure-lowering medications provides a long-term benefit of reducing the risk of death from cardiovascular disease. The study was conducted by researchers from the Cardiovascular Institute of New Jersey (CVI) at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, in collaboration with researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and the University of Leuven, Belgium.

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A new physicians’ manual entitled Primary Care Procedures in Women’s Health, a publication that has received commendation in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association. The manual, which was released earlier this year, is co-edited by Cathryn B. Heath, MD, clinical associate professor of family medicine and community health at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Sandra M. Sulik, MD, MS, associate professor of family medicine, State University of New York (SUNY) Upstate Medical Center, Syracuse.

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The rate of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), a leading cause of infant mortality, declined in New Jersey by 45 percent between 2000 and 2006, the most recent year for which final SIDS data are available, report Barbara M. Ostfeld, PhD, and Thomas Hegyi, MD, professors in the Department of Pediatrics at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and program director and medical director, respectively, for the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Center of New Jersey.

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A new study by researchers at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School has found that women between the ages of 35 and 54 were more likely to die in hospitals following heart attacks than men of a similar age. This finding from a sample of more than 423,000 patients can be seen as surprising, given that women, on average, develop their first acute myocardial infarction -- or heart attack -- about 10 years later than men, and are overall less likely to develop myocardial infarction than are men.

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Two scientists from the Department of Biochemistry at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School have been elected to Fellowship in the American Academy of Microbiology (Academy). Céline Gélinas, PhD, professor of biochemistry, and Masayori Inouye, PhD, distinguished professor of biochemistry, join more than 75 Fellows who were elected this year through a highly selective peer-review process, based on their records of scientific achievement and original contributions that have advanced microbiology.

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An unprecedented research project into how to transform primary care practices into patient-centered medical homes has concluded with the release of a new eight-paper supplement to the May/June issue of Annals of Family Medicine.

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Two new advanced degree programs designed for college graduates who want to strengthen their training and education in biomedical science have been announced by the UMDNJ-Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

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Arnold B. Rabson, MD, professor of Molecular Genetics, Microbiology and Immunology, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Pediatrics at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, has been appointed as the second director of the Child Health Institute of New Jersey (CHINJ). Dr. Rabson has served as the interim director for CHINJ since 2007 and was previously deputy director of The Cancer Institute of New Jersey.

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Allergist Says Spring Weather, More Than Record-Setting Winter Precipitation, Determines Symptom Severity. With record-setting snowfall and wet weather in the region this winter, one question comes to mind for many as spring approaches: how bad will my allergies be?

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A new study shows that primary care physicians believe the barriers that put patients with uncontrolled diabetes at risk for cardiovascular disease as being patient-related or system-related. Published online today by the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine by researchers at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and colleagues at the University of Hawaii and University of Michigan, the research also reports that the physician participants commonly reported a high level of frustration at being unable to motivate patients with poor control or help patients to overcome the barriers that inhibit healthier lifestyles.

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Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) continues to be the third leading cause of infant death, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), despite a decline in SIDS that is associated with a rise in safe-sleep practices for newborns and infants. A new study by Barbara M. Ostfeld, PhD and Thomas Hegyi, MD, professors in the Department of Pediatrics at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, has identified that more than 96 percent of infants who died of SIDS were exposed to known risk factors, among them sleeping on their side or stomach, or exposure to tobacco smoke, and that 78 percent of SIDS cases contained multiple risk factors.

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Researchers at The Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital (BMSCH) at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) and UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (UMDNJ-RWJMS) have completed a study that pinpoints the period between 24 and 32 months of age as most effective time frame for parents to begin toilet training lessons with their children. Additionally, the study indicates that the timing appeared to matter more than the specific training method used.

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DNA replication is a basic function of living organisms, allowing cells to divide and multiply, all while maintaining the genetic code and proper function of the original cell. The process, or mechanism, by which this is accomplished presents many challenges as the double helical (coil-shaped) DNA divides into two strands that are duplicated by different methods, yet both strands complete the replication at the same time. New research by a team from UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in conjunction with the University of Illinois and published in the Dec. 17 issue of Nature, has addressed this fundamental problem. The study identifies three essential ways the synthesis of the two strands is coordinated by enzymes, settling scientific deliberations on how the two DNA strands are copied in the same time span.

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A leading expert in trauma and critical care surgery has joined UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) to head a newly assembled team of highly-skilled acute care surgeons. Vicente H. Gracias, MD, professor of surgery and chief of Trauma/Surgical Critical Care at the medical school, and director of the Level I Trauma Center at RWJUH, will lead a group that includes surgeons, nurses, case managers and staff specializing in trauma and critical care surgery.

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The division of addiction psychiatry at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School has championed efforts to reduce tobacco use among mental health patients, a group estimated to consume nearly half of all cigarettes in the United States. Those efforts have received national recognition by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), which granted a Silver Achievement Award to the CHOICES program today at a ceremony in New York City.

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Vikas Nanda, PhD, assistant professor of biochemistry and a member of the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, is one of this year’s recipients of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s New Innovator Award. Dr. Nanda will receive $1.5 million over five years to support his novel approach to creating a synthetic network of proteins resembling the extracellular matrix of mammalian cells.

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A team of researchers have identified elevated serum levels of the pesticide beta-hexachlorocyclohexane in patients with Parkinson's disease, indicating that exposure to a specific pesticide may contribute to the development of the disease.

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Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School jointly announce the successful implant of the AbioCor Total Replacement Heart, the world's first completely self-contained, fully implantable artificial heart, as well as the first internal artificial organ.

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Researchers at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School are a step closer to treating, and perhaps preventing, muscle damage caused by disease and aging. In their study, published in the June issue of Journal of Biological Chemistry, the scientists have linked the newly discovered protein MG53 to a pathway that repairs human muscle tissue along with the proteins caveolin-3 (Cav3) and dysferlin.

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Researchers at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School are one step closer to determining how human cells can be protected against the affects of age-related neurodegeneration including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. The findings, published this past month in Nature Neuroscience, link the oxidation of potassium channels, which control a variety of cell functions and are essential to neuronal function, to the loss of neuronal function in aging.

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Raymond Mirasol, a third-year student at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, has been accepted into the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) "“ National Institutes of Health (NIH) Research Scholars Program. He is one of 42 medical, dental and veterinary students chosen to participate in the year-long program at the NIH campus in Bethesda, Md., where he will have an opportunity to strengthen his scientific skills and prepare for a possible career in biomedical research.

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International research collaborators have identified a new family of proteins, TPC2 (two-pore channels), that facilitates calcium signaling from specialized subcellular organelles. The study, to be published April 22 in Nature, is the first to isolate TPC2 as a channel that binds to NAADP, a second-signaling messenger, resulting in the release of calcium from intracellular stores.

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A new advanced degree program designed for professionals who want to broaden their career opportunities in science and medicine has been announced by the UMDNJ-Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. The Master's in Clinical and Translational Science degree will be offered for the first time in September 2009, providing innovative training for doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dentists and research scientists, as well as others who want to learn the complexities of translational research, or how research is transformed into clinical diagnoses and treatments to improve patient care.

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Raymond Habas, PhD, associate professor of biochemistry at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School is one of this year's recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the U.S. government's most prestigious award for exceptional young researchers. The award was announced by the National Institutes of Health and presented at a ceremony at the White House with President George W. Bush on Friday, December 19.

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Researchers at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School have identified the protein MG53, as a key initiator of membrane repair in damaged tissue. The study, released today in Nature Cell Biology, is the first to specifically pinpoint a protein responsible for promoting cell repair.

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Researchers at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School have selected a high performance IBM computer to perform research they hope will one day lead to more effective treatment of medical conditions like infertility and thyroid problems.

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In a journal article released August 1 students and faculty at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School discuss the success of a service learning project created and operated by medical students in 2004 to address access to healthcare for New Brunswick's uninsured residents.

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Results of a new analysis of the Treating to New Targets (TNT) study show that intensive low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol-lowering in patients with stable coronary heart disease (CHD) whose systolic blood pressure was less than 140 mmHg reduced the risk of major cardiovascular events, including heart attack, stroke and resuscitated cardiac arrest, by 42 percent compared with less intensive LDL lowering and uncontrolled blood pressure of 140 mmHg or higher.

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Results of a new analysis of the Treating to New Targets (TNT) study show that intensive LDL cholesterol-lowering in patients with stable coronary heart disease whose systolic blood pressure was less than 140 mmHg reduced the risk of major cardiovascular events, by 42 percent.