Medical News &Science News

Medical News Thirdhand Smoke Affects Weight, Blood Cell Development in Mice A new Berkeley Lab-led study found that the sticky residue left behind by tobacco smoke led to changes in weight and blood cell count in mice. These latest findings add to a growing body of evidence that thirdhand smoke exposure may be harmful. – Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Scientific Reports, Feb. 3, 2017 Embargo expired on 03-Feb-2017 at 05:00 ET Monoclonal Antibody Given to Preterm Babies May Reduce Wheeze Later Preterm babies given the monoclonal antibody palivizumab to prevent respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) also appear less likely to develop recurrent wheeze, at least until the age of six, according to new research published online, ahead of print in th... – American Thoracic Society (ATS) American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine Embargo expired on 03-Feb-2017 at 00:15 ET Sleep Deprivation Handicaps the Brain's Ability to Form New Memories, Study in Mice Shows Studying mice, scientists at Johns Hopkins have fortified evidence that a key purpose of sleep is to recalibrate the brain cells responsible for learning and memory so the animals can "solidify" lessons learned and use them when they awaken -- in the... – Johns Hopkins Medicine Science; S10OD021844, 5P50MH100024 Embargo expired on 02-Feb-2017 at 14:00 ET Skin Sodium Content Linked to Heart Problems in Patients with Kidney Disease • Elevated sodium content in the skin correlates closely with left ventricular hypertrophy in patients with chronic kidney disease. – American Society of Nephrology (ASN) doi: 10.1681/ASN.2016060662 Embargo expired on 02-Feb-2017 at 17:00 ET UW Sleep Research High-Resolution Images Show How the Brain Resets During Sleep Striking electron microscope pictures from inside the brains of mice suggest what happens in our own brain every day: Our synapses – the junctions between nerve cells - grow strong and large during the stimulation of daytime, then shrink by nearly ... – University of Wisconsin-Madison Science Embargo expired on 02-Feb-2017 at 14:00 ET Under and Misuse of Hormone Therapy Decreasing, but Still High A nationwide cancer registry of almost one million patients treated for hormone-sensitive breast cancer shows that one out of six women who should have received post-surgical treatment known as adjuvant endocrine therapy did not get this recommended ... – University of Chicago Medical Center JAMA Oncology, Feb. 2, 2017 Embargo expired on 02-Feb-2017 at 11:00 ET UW Scientists Find Key Cues to Regulate Bone-Building Cells The prospect of regenerating bone lost to cancer or trauma is a step closer to the clinic as University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists have identified two proteins found in bone marrow as key regulators of the master cells responsible for making new... – University of Wisconsin-Madison Stem Cell Reports Feb. 2 2017 Embargo expired on 02-Feb-2017 at 12:00 ET New Zika Vaccine Candidate Protects Mice and Monkeys with a Single Dose A new Zika vaccine candidate has the potential to protect against the virus with a single dose, according to a research team led by scientists from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. As reported in Nature this week, pr... – Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania UC6-AI058607; U19AI057229; T32 AI007632-14; R01-AI050484; R01-AI124429 ; R01-AI084860 Embargo expired on 02-Feb-2017 at 11:00 ET Mount Sinai Neurobiologist Illuminates the Underexplored Potential of Cannabis to Address Opioid Addiction A number of animal studies and a small human pilot study have revealed that cannabinoids, extracts of cannabis legally sold as medical marijuana, could reduce cravings and ease withdrawal symptoms in heroin users. – Mount Sinai Health System Embargo expired on 02-Feb-2017 at 12:00 ET Simple Ways to Beat Weight Gain, Breeder Develops Genetic Path to Tastier Tomatoes, Dietitian Talks Solving the Over-Consumption of Sugary Drinks in the U.S., and More in the Food Science News Source Click here to go to the Food Science News Source – Newswise VIDEO AVAILABLE: Science of the Super Bowl LI Newswise Live Expert Panel Event ON-DEMAND VIDEO NOW AVAILABLE: Thursday, February 2 at 2 pm ET, featuring a panel of experts that will scientifically analyze the various aspects of this major pop culture event. – Newswise Who Is Responsible for the Health of NFL Players, Why, and What Can Be Done to Promote Player Health? A groundbreaking report out of Harvard University explores who is responsible for the health of NFL players, why, and what ca be done to promote player health. The authors of the report are available for interviews. – Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) UAB Study Shows Children and Parents Over-Report Leukemia Medication Adherence New research from UAB suggests that young patients with acute lymphocytic leukemia, or ALL — the most common type of pediatric cancer — and their parents are likely to report to their physician that they took more of their anti-cancer medication ... – University of Alabama at Birmingham Blood Research Connects Overeating During National Events to Medical Problems People who overeat during national holidays and national sporting events – like this weekend’s Super Bowl – are 10 times more likely to need emergency medical attention for food obstruction than any at other time of the year, according to a new... – University of Florida Growth Factor Shown to Protect the Retina in Early Stage Diabetes Researchers from the Schepens Eye Research Institute of Massachusetts Eye and Ear have shown that a slight increase in transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β), which is present in preclinical animal models with diabetic eye disease, protects retinal... – Massachusetts Eye and Ear American Journal of Pathology Mayo Clinic Researchers Find Association Between Therapy for Autoimmune Disease and Bone Marrow Disorders Mayo Clinic researchers have found that azathioprine, a drug commonly used to treat autoimmune disease, may increase the risk of myeloid neoplasms. Myeloid neoplasms include a spectrum of potentially life-threatening bone marrow disorders, such as my... – Mayo Clinic Giant Study Finds Rare, but Influential, Genetic Changes Related to Height International study of more than 750,000 people probes deeper into height than ever before – Boston Children's Hospital Nature Volunteering Eases Veterans' Transition to Civilian Life Led by a Saint Louis University researcher, the first peer-reviewed and published national study of civic service among U.S. vets who served in Iraq and/or Afghanistan found volunteering improved their health and social life. – Saint Louis University Medical Center Psychiatry Research, Feb 2017 The Best Treatment for Laryngeal Cancer? This Approach Helps Decide After a decade of using a novel approach to select patients for laryngeal cancer treatment, researchers are reporting "exceptional" survival rates nearing 80 percent, even for the most advanced patients. – Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan JAMA Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery; CA097248 ; CA046592 Yale Scientists Identify Key Defect in Brain Tumor Cells In a new study, Yale Cancer Center researchers identified a novel genetic defect that prevents brain tumor cells from repairing damaged DNA. – Yale Cancer Center Research Connects Overeating During National Sporting Events to Medical Problems People who overeat during national holidays and national sporting events – like this weekend’s Super Bowl – are 10 times more likely to need emergency medical attention for food obstruction than any at other time of the year, according to a new... – University of Florida Gastroenterology Report Researchers Find Unhealthy Gut Microbes a Cause of Hypertension Researchers have found that the microorganisms residing in the intestines (microbiota) play a role in the development of high blood pressure in rats. The study is published in Physiological Genomics. It was chosen as an APS select article for Februar... – American Physiological Society (APS) TSRI Chemists Unveil Versatile New Method for Making Chiral Drug Molecules Chemists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have invented a new technique for constructing chiral drug molecules. – Scripps Research Institute 2R01GM084019 Study Points to a Universal Immune Mechanism as a Regulator of Sleep Sleep—one of the most basic, yet most mystifying processes of the human body—has confounded physicians, scientists and evolutionary biologists for centuries. – Harvard Medical School Brain Plasticity: How Adult-Born Neurons Get Wired-in Does the brain create additional synapses from the cortical neurons to the new granule cells, or do some cortical neurons transfer connections from mature granule cells to the new granule cells? Researchers have found that the connections are transfe... – University of Alabama at Birmingham NS098553; NS064025; NS065920 ; NS047466 Drug Discovery Researchers Awarded Grant to Refine Malaria Drug A research team from the Virginia Tech Center for Drug Discovery has received a $431,126 two-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to make improved versions of a promising compound called MMV008138, or 8138 for short. – Virginia Tech Interview with a Scientist: Thomas O’Halloran, Metal Maestro In a video interview, Thomas O’Halloran discusses the roles of metals in the body with a focus on how zinc regulates egg cell maturation and fertilization. – NIH, National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Houston Methodist Hospital Offers the World’s Smallest Pacemaker A pacemaker the size of a nickel can now be implanted in patients. – Houston Methodist Wanted: Self-Driving Cells to Pursue Deadly Bacteria Researchers are setting out to design and test troops of self-directed microscopic warriors that can locate and neutralize dangerous strains of bacteria. – Johns Hopkins University The Medical Minute: Minimally Invasive Treatments for Structural Heart Disease Although blockages in the arteries of the heart, also known as coronary artery disease, are the best known, there are many other diseases that may involve the actual structures inside the heart. – Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center Grocery Shop Like a Cardiologist It's Heart Month. See how cardiologist Susan Smyth tackles her grocery list to maximize heart health. – University of Kentucky Peak of Flu Season Starts This Month – Are You Ready? [Video] In a season of a serious flu, UCLA's Dr. Dennis Woo explains why it's not too late to get the vaccine. Expert Available – University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Health Sciences Clear Communication Can Make Doctor Visits Successful for Children with Autism Doctor visits can be a challenge for patients with autism, their families and health care providers. Kristin Sohl, associate professor of child health at the University of Missouri, offers several steps providers and families can take to make medical... Expert Available – University of Missouri Health Ebola Grant Expanded From $12 Million to $24 Million Supplemental funding will allow three partner institutions to perform additional site visits, conduct more education and training courses, as well as build a special pathogens research network. – University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) UVA, CHKD Form Regional Collaborative for Cardiac Care University of Virginia Children's Hospital and Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters have appointed Dr. Jay Gangemi as surgical director of the new regional collaborative for cardiac care at Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters. The ... – University of Virginia Health System 2018 and 2019 Van Wagenen Fellows Announced Fellowship Awardees Announced for the William P. Van Wagenen Fellowship for the next two years. – American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) Child Health Institute of New Jersey Awarded $5 Million Grant From the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation The Child Health Institute of New Jersey has been awarded a $5 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which will expand and enhance its core mission to improve children’s health through the scientific study of pediatric illnesses, i... – Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Case Western Reserve Appoints Bernard Boulanger, MD, as Senior Associate Dean for the Metrohealth System Case Western Reserve School of Medicine has appointed Bernard Boulanger, MD, MBA, as senior associate dean for The MetroHealth System. In his new role, effective March 1, Dr. Boulanger will oversee the planning, assessment, and implementation of the ... – Case Western Reserve University Johns Hopkins Medicine Alliance for Patients Announces Renewed Participation in Medicare Program The Johns Hopkins Medicine Alliance for Patients (JMAP), the Accountable Care Organization (ACO) of Johns Hopkins Medicine, announces that it has been selected by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to renew its participation in the Medica... – Johns Hopkins Medicine UC San Diego Researcher to Study Most Effective Treatment for Kawasaki Disease Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego and Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at University of California Davis have received a $2 million grant from the Patient-Centered Outcomes R... – University of California San Diego Health Sciences Tween Clothing Retailer Justice’s National Holiday Fundraising Campaign Raises More Than $1 Million for Nationwide Children’s Hospital Tween clothing retailer, Justice presented Nationwide Children’s Hospital officials with a check totaling $1,472,837. The amount represented the total dollars raised during Justice’s national holiday campaign that benefited The Research Institute... – Nationwide Children's Hospital Mayo Clinic Names Dr. Karl Nath Editor-in-Chief of Medical Journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings Mayo Clinic has named Karl Nath, M.B.,Ch.B., editor-in-chief of its peer-reviewed medical journal, Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Dr. Nath succeeds William Lanier, M.D., who has served as editor-in-chief since 1999 and is retiring from the role. Proceeding... – Mayo Clinic The Brain Injury Research Center at Mount Sinai Appoints New Director Clinical neuropsychologist Kristen Dams-O’Connor, PhD, has been named Director of The Brain Injury Research Center (BIRC) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS) – Mount Sinai Health System Seattle Children’s Sets GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title for DNA Experiment at Groundbreaking for New Research Building Seattle Children’s Research Institute succeeded in a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS attempt for most people conducting a DNA isolation experiment simultaneously. – Seattle Children's Hospital Science News Story Tips from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, February 2017 Vacuum insulation panels prove cost-effective solution for DOD; ORNL noise filter puts end to unwanted EMI; NYC focus of ORNL green commuting study; ORNL process speeds battery production process; ORNL study sheds new light on traditional welding tec... – Oak Ridge National Laboratory Lab Specializes in Analyzing Brittle Portion of Polar Ice Cores Tiny air bubbles compressed within a polar ice core make some sections brittle to the touch, but one ice core lab knows how to handle this delicate part of the chemical analysis, thus making the dating of the entire ice core possible. – South Dakota State University Climate of Past, 12, 7690786, doi10:5194; Naure, 50, 661-665, doi:10.1038; Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 118, 7459-7466, doi:10.1002; , Environmental Science and Technology, 40, 6764-6769, doi:10.1021... SLAC Study Helps Explain Why Uranium Persists in Groundwater at Former Mining Sites A recent study led by scientists at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory helps describe how uranium cycles through the environment at former uranium mining sites and why it can be difficult to remove. – SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory Bone et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 09 January 2017 (doi: 10.1073/pnas.1611918114) Supercomputing, Experiment Combine for First Look at Magnetism of Real Nanoparticle Researchers working with magnetic nanoparticles approached computational scientists at DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory to help solve a unique problem: to model magnetism at the atomic level using experimental data from a real nanoparticle. – Oak Ridge National Laboratory Sandia Battling Corrosion to Keep Solar Panels Humming Sandia National Laboratories researchers study corrosion to help industry develop longer-lasting photovoltaic panels and increase reliability. – Sandia National Laboratories SDSC’s ‘Comet’ Supercomputer Surpasses ‘10,000 Users’ Milestone Comet, the petascale supercomputer at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), an Organized Research Unit of UC San Diego, has easily surpassed its target of serving at least 10,000 researchers across a diverse range of science disciplines, from as... – University of California San Diego ACI 1341698 UAH, HudsonAlpha Team as Part of National $31.5 Million Genetics Effort Research by The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) and HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology will help scientists can better understand how our cells work. The research is part of a four-year, $31.5 million National Institutes of Health (NIH... – University of Alabama Huntsville Researchers Trying to Get Handle on Campus Pigeon Population The Natural Resources Management and Biological Sciences Departments are collaborating with the Operations Division to devise a humane method of studying and mitigating the bird’s numbers and effects on facilities. – Texas Tech University Wichita State Joins NASA's Advanced Composites Consortium Wichita State University's National Institute for Aviation Research has joined NASA's Advanced Composite Consortium (ACC), a public-private partnership focused on advancing knowledge about composite materials and improving the performance of future a... – Wichita State University NYU’s Panozzo Wins NSF CAREER Award New York University Professor Daniele Panozzo has won a 2017 Faculty Early Career Development award from the National Science Foundation. – New York University National Science Foundation Berkeley Lab Gets $4.6M in Functional Genomics Catalog Project Berkeley Lab is set to receive nearly $4.6 million over four years as part of an ongoing, federally funded project to create a comprehensive catalog for fundamental genomics research. This latest expansion of the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE)... – Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 1UM1HG009421-01 Ourmazd to Join Advisory Committee of U.S. Department of Energy Abbas Ourmazd, a UWM distinguished professor of physics, has been appointed to serve on the Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (BESAC) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). – University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Lifestyle & Social Sciences America's Biggest Secret or Life in a Culture of Pay Secrecy? My eight-year-old daughter received the classic Hasbro Game of Life as a holiday gift this past year. What caught my attention right away while playing the game with her were the salaries. – American Sociological Association (ASA) ASA Section on Economy, Work, and Inequality, August 2016 WIU's LaFrance Releases New Policing Book Western Illinois University Associate Professor of Political Science Casey LaFrance has released a timely book examining decision making by police officers. – Western Illinois University To Lose Weight, and Keep It Off, Be Prepared to Navigate Interpersonal Challenges A new study highlights an unexpected challenge for those who have made a new year’s resolution to lose weight: the people around you may sabotage your efforts. The study also uncovered strategies that people use to navigate interpersonal challenges... – North Carolina State University Health Communication, Feb-2017 Book by MSU Researcher Focuses on K-12 Education Issues An award-winning Mississippi State education faculty member is the author of a new guide for all involved in the kindergarten-high school learning process. – Mississippi State University The Secret Behind Darden Capital Management’s Success Beating Benchmark Returns A feature on UVA Darden School of Business' Capital Management, the club and class that gives students the ability to manage part of the endowment, and shows great results. – University of Virginia Darden School Foundation Economic Sabotage Found in New Examination of Nixon Tapes University of Delaware economics professors Burton Abrams and James Butkiewicz recently took another listen to recordings Richard Nixon made while in the White House. They emerged with evidence that Nixon knew his 1971 New Economic Policy was dangero... – University of Delaware Faculty Experts Available to Discuss Abraham Lincoln Legacy as Birthday Nears To mark Abraham Lincoln’s birthday Feb. 12 – he was born in 1809 in Kentucky – DePaul University experts are available to discuss the 16th president’s depiction in photography and art, and his relevance in modern times. Expert Available – DePaul University Wake Forest University Names Former EPA Official to Lead Graduate Programs in Sustainability Wake Forest University has appointed alumnus and former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official Stan Meiburg (’75) as director of graduate programs in sustainability. Meiburg served as Acting Deputy Administrator for the EPA from 2014 to 201... – Wake Forest University UC Irvine Cross-Campus Collaboration Delivers New Certificate Program Aimed at Arts and Creative Professionals UC Irvine’s top ranking Paul Merage School of Business and national leader Claire Trevor School of the Arts unveiled today the brainchild of their collaborative efforts – The Certificate in Arts Management Program. Grounded in foundational busine... – University of California, Irvine, The Paul Merage School of Business Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama to Speak at UC San Diego Commencement The University of California San Diego, one of the top 15 research universities in the world and recognized for its contributions to the public good, in partnership with The Friends of the Dalai Lama Foundation, founded by Ven. Lama Tenzin Dhonden th... – University of California San Diego