Flu Season Returns Amid COVID-19 Pandemic: Johns Hopkins Medicine Experts Available
Johns Hopkins MedicineFlu Season Returns Amid COVID-19 Pandemic: Johns Hopkins Medicine Experts Available
Flu Season Returns Amid COVID-19 Pandemic: Johns Hopkins Medicine Experts Available
Hopkins Med News Update
In a study with mice reported today in the journal Science Translational Medicine, a Johns Hopkins Medicine research team has provided what may be the most definitive view to date of the biological process leading to necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a dangerous inflammatory disease that can destroy a premature infant’s intestinal lining and causes death in up to a third of the cases.
Data collected from a group of 200 heart attack survivors using a smartphone app designed to navigate the recovery process, such as medication management and lifestyle changes, showed that app users experienced hospital readmission within the first 30 days of discharge at half the rate of a comparable group given standard aftercare without the app.
In human cancer cell and mouse studies, researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine have found that a set of proteins work in tandem to build supply lines that deliver oxygen and nutrients to tumors, enabling them to survive and grow. The protein twosome, PADI4 and HIF-1, ramp up their activity under low-oxygen conditions that are typically found in a fast-growing tumor, allowing it to build new blood vessels that feed the cancer’s growth.
A large international collaboration led by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center has identified promising new targets for pancreatic cancer treatment and early diagnosis after examining various aspects of these tumors’ genes and proteins.
Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers report that food science principles have helped them determine how unusual droplets within cells stay organized and avoid dissolving into the rest of the cell’s gelatinous interior.
Cancer-fighting immune cells in patients with lung cancer whose tumors do not respond to immunotherapies appear to be running on a different “program” that makes them less effective than immune cells in patients whose cancers respond to these immune treatments, suggests a new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy.
Hopkins Med News Update
According to a Johns Hopkins Medicine study published today in JAMA Pediatrics, exposure to police — even in instances in which the officers are providing assistance — may be detrimental to the health and well-being of Black youth, especially males, and can be associated with poor mental health, substance use, risky sexual behaviors and impaired safety.
A retrospective analysis of large datasets of biomarkers from tumors and healthy tissue by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center Convergence Institute suggests that older cancer patients could benefit as much as younger patients from cancer immunotherapies.
An analysis of more than 20,000 individual medical records suggests that a form of heart valve disease thought to be relatively benign during pregnancy may put women at risk for serious bleeding, high blood pressure, organ damage and other complications during childbirth, according to research from Johns Hopkins Medicine.
News stories in this issue
A novel laboratory test in development by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center may be used to help quickly distinguish breast cancer from benign disease. The breast cancer detection assay (BCDA) examines cells from enlarged lymph nodes in the armpit adjacent to a breast and finds chemical markers that indicate metastatic breast cancer or a benign condition, such as an infection.
A novel artificial intelligence blood testing technology developed by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center was found to detect over 90% of lung cancers in samples from nearly 800 individuals with and without cancer.
Combining a histone deacetylase inhibitor drug with immunotherapy agents is safe, and may benefit some patients with advanced cancers that have not responded to traditional therapy, according to results of a phase 1 clinical trial led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and several other centers including University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Yale Cancer Center and City of Hope in Los Angeles, which participated in study enrollment, and the University of Southern California and University College Cork in Ireland, which collaborated on analysis of the data.
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Johns Hopkins Medicine has launched an online education toolkit that houses printable materials about COVID-19. The toolkit is intended to improve access for communities that traditionally have challenges accessing health information.
Researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine say they have added to evidence that a protein called CaMKII improves strength, endurance, muscle health and fitness in young animals. Their experiments working with mice and fruit flies, however, found that the gene for CaMKII also contributes to an evolutionary tradeoff: increased susceptibility to age-associated diseases, frailty and mortality.
As the third-most lethal cancer in the United States, with only a 1% five-year survival rate for people with its most aggressive form, pancreatic cancer has long been a target of researchers who search for ways to slow or stop its growth and spread. Now, a team of Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers have found that an anti-parasitic drug prevents pancreatic cancer’s initiation, progression and metastasis in genetically engineered mice.
Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers, in collaboration with national and international researchers, have identified a genetic mutation in a small number of children with a rare type of inflammatory bowel disease. The discovery of the mutation, which weakens the activity of a protein linked to how the immune system fights viruses in the gut, may help researchers pinpoint the cause of more common bowel diseases, investigators say.
A combination of the kinase-inhibitor drug cabozantinib and the immunotherapy drug nivolumab can make curative surgery possible in some liver cancer patients who would normally not be considered surgery candidates.
NEWS STORIES IN THIS ISSUE: -Study: Race and Ethnicity May Impact Prevalence and Treatment of Heart Valve Dysfunction -Johns Hopkins Medicine Suggests Eliminating Nerve Cell Protein May Stop ALS, Dementia -Researchers Tell Doctors to Avoid Routine Urinary Tests for Older Patients with Delirium -Johns Hopkins Medicine Researchers Show How Air Pollution May Cause Chronic Sinusitis -Researchers ID Location on Brain Protein Linked to Parkinson’s Disease Development -COVID-19 News: The Return of Onsite Schooling — and How to Keep Your Kids Safe from COVID
Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers say they have added to evidence that the compound farnesol, found naturally in herbs, and berries and other fruits, prevents and reverses brain damage linked to Parkinson’s disease in mouse studies.
NEWS STORIES IN THIS ISSUE: - Johns Hopkins Medicine Celebrates Its Contributions to Keto Therapy as Diet Turns 100 - COVID-19 News: Can Dietary Supplements Help the Immune System Fight Coronavirus Infection? - Johns Hopkins Medicine Helps Develop Physician Training to Prevent Gun Injuries, Deaths - COVID-19 News: Study Says Pandemic Impaired Reporting of Infectious Diseases - Johns Hopkins Medicine Helps Create Treatment Guide for Neurodegenerative Disorders - Johns Hopkins Pediatrics Says, ‘Get Kids Required Vaccines Before Going Back to School’
Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine have shown that a type of echocardiogram, a common test to evaluate whether a person’s heart is pumping properly, may be useful in predicting which patients with COVID-19 are most at risk of developing atrial fibrillation — an irregular heartbeat that can increase a person’s risk for heart failure and stroke, among other heart issues. The new findings, published online May 30 in the Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography, also suggest that patients with COVID-19 who go on to develop atrial fibrillation more commonly have elevated levels of heart-related proteins called troponin and NT-proBNP in blood test samples.
In what turned out to be one of the most important accidents of all time, Scottish bacteriologist Alexander Fleming returned to his laboratory after a vacation in 1928 to find a clear zone surrounding a piece of mold that had infiltrated a petri dish full of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), a common skin bacterium he was growing.
In a new study on mice, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers report that using MRI scans to measure blood volume in the brain can serve as a noninvasive way to potentially track the progress of gene editing therapies for early-stage Huntington’s disease, a neurodegenerative disorder that attacks brain cells. The researchers say that by identifying and treating the mutation known to cause Huntington’s disease with this type of gene therapy, before a patient starts showing symptoms, it may slow progression of the disease.
Structural biologist Cynthia Wolberger, Ph.D., has been appointed director of the Department of Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The first woman to lead the department, she will take over the director position from Mario Amzel, Ph.D., who is stepping down after 15 years of leading the department during his more than 50-year career at Johns Hopkins.
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 Wednesday.
According to researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Rice University in Houston, silicone breast implants with a smoother surface design have less risk of producing inflammation and other immune system reactions than those with more roughly textured coatings. Results of the experiments using mice, rabbits and samples of human breast tissue advance knowledge of how the body responds to such implants, providing new information to physicians and affirming the benefits of certain smoother surfaces, the researchers say.
In a retrospective study believed to be one of the largest of its kind, researchers say they have successfully charted the health risks, growth patterns, and medical and surgical outcomes of 1,374 people with the most common form of dwarfism, called achondroplasia, seen over a 60-year period at four academic medical centers, including Johns Hopkins Medicine. The findings, according to the researchers, not only affirm some long-standing views and trends in the care of those with the condition, but also offer a standardized baseline, a blueprint investigators hope will serve to speed diagnosis and improve patients’ quality of life and health.
In a bid to find or refine laboratory research models for cancer that better compare with what happens in living people, Johns Hopkins Medicine scientists report they have developed a new computer-based technique showing that human cancer cells grown in culture dishes are the least genetically similar to their human sources.
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Intentionally integrating health and education in a large school setting pays off by facilitating and enhancing health and academic growth, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers with the Rales Center for the Integration of Health and Education at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.
In a study published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers say they believe that, for the first time, there is evidence to show that three doses of vaccine increase antibody levels against SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes COVID 19 — more than the standard two-dose regimen for people who have received solid organ transplants.
Pairing sky-mapping algorithms with advanced immunofluorescence imaging of cancer biopsies, researchers at The Mark Foundation Center for Advanced Genomics and Imaging at Johns Hopkins University and the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy developed a robust platform to guide immunotherapy by predicting which cancers will respond to specific therapies targeting the immune system.
NEWS STORIES IN THIS ISSUE: - Study Says Failure to Rid Amyloid Beta Protein from Brain May Lead to Alzheimer’s Disease - Johns Hopkins Medicine Team Discovers Novel Mediator of Once Mysterious Chronic Itch - Study Suggests Molecular Changes in Tissue Microenvironment May Promote Colorectal Cancer - Researchers ID Anti-Inflammatory Proteins as Therapy Targets for Nasal and Sinus Problem - Johns Hopkins Children’s Center Receives NIH Award to Study Dangerous Pediatric Disease
NEWS STORIES IN THIS ISSUE: -Physician and Musician: Johns Hopkins Doctor Brings Passion for Music to Medicine During Pandemic -Rapid, At-Home Blood Test Could Confirm COVID-19 Vaccination in Minutes -What to Expect and Prepare for As You Return to Regular Health Care Appointments -Study Suggests Sudden Hearing Loss Not Associated with COVID-19 Vaccination -Vaccination May Not Rid COVID-19 Risk for Those with Rheumatic, Musculoskeletal Diseases
A treatment regimen for patients with advanced melanoma that combines the immunotherapy agents relatlimab (anti-LAG-3) and nivolumab (anti-PD-1) delayed time to cancer progression significantly more than nivolumab alone, according to results of a study to be presented June 6 at the 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting.
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 Wednesday.
Two experimental drug approaches that target vulnerabilities in cancer cell metabolism may extend survival and enhance the effectiveness of standard chemotherapies for a highly aggressive type of pediatric brain cancer.
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In research made possible when COVID-19 sidelined other research projects, scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine meticulously counted brain cells in fruit flies and three species of mosquitos, revealing a number that would surprise many people outside the science world.
Clinicians and scientists have long observed that cells in overstressed hearts have high levels of the simple sugar O-GlcNAc modifying thousands of proteins within cells. Now, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine have found evidence in mouse experiments that these excess sugars could well be a cause, not merely a consequence or marker of heart failure.
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 Wednesday.
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In a study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers show that although two doses of a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes COVID 19 — confers some protection for people who have received solid organ transplants, it’s still not enough to enable them to dispense with masks, physical distancing and other safety measures.
Next-generation gene sequencing (NGS) technologies —in which millions of DNA molecules are simultaneously but individually analyzed— theoretically provides researchers and clinicians the ability to noninvasively identify mutations in the blood stream. Identifying such mutations enables earlier diagnosis of cancer and can inform treatment decisions. Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers developed a new technology to overcome the inefficiencies and high error rates common among next-generation sequencing techniques that have previously limited their clinical application.
Screening for even mild depressive symptoms before hip fracture repair may be helpful in predicting which patients are at higher risk of developing delirium after emergency surgery, according to results of a new study by researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine. The researchers say their findings also add to evidence that symptoms of depression and postoperative delirium may be an early indicator of Alzheimer’s disease, although those findings were not conclusive.