Category: Divisions
JHU partners with Coursera to offer free online classes
July 23, 2012
The Johns Hopkins University announced last week that it has joined Coursera, an upstart education venture formed to offer high-quality college-level university courses online for free, creating new opportunities for learning worldwide. Johns Hopkins is one 17 top-tier institutions, including Princeton University, Stanford University, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan, that have […]
Myanmar health leaders take Johns Hopkins bioethics lessons home
July 23, 2012
The impact of intensive summer bioethics courses extends around the globe as health leaders from Myanmar take their lessons home. Myaing Myaing Nyunt, an assistant professor of clinical pharmacology and international health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, has long been interested in developing bioethics training in her native Myanmar. When she […]
Drug from Mediterranean weed kills tumor cells in mice
July 23, 2012
Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, working with Danish researchers, have developed a novel anti-cancer drug designed to travel—undetected by normal cells—through the bloodstream until activated by specific cancer proteins. The drug, made from a weedlike plant, has been shown to destroy cancers and their direct blood supplies, acting like a “molecular grenade” […]
Newer technology to control blood sugar works better
July 23, 2012
Newer technologies designed to help people with type 1 diabetes monitor their blood sugar levels daily work better than traditional methods and require fewer painful needle sticks, new Johns Hopkins research suggests. The research findings, published online in the July 10 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, suggest that even though these diabetic control […]
Lax gun laws could let high-risk individuals purchase firearms
July 23, 2012
Sixty percent of people incarcerated for gun crimes in the 13 U.S. states with the most lax standards for legal firearm ownership were not legally prohibited from possessing firearms when they committed the crimes that led to their incarceration. According to the study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 31 […]
Nanoscale scaffolds, stem cells show promise in cartilage repair
July 23, 2012
Johns Hopkins tissue engineers have used tiny artificial fiber scaffolds thousands of times smaller than a human hair to help coax stem cells into developing into cartilage, the shock-absorbing lining of elbows and knees that often wears thin from injury or age. Reporting online June 4 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, […]
Contraceptive use averts 272,000 maternal deaths
July 23, 2012
Contraceptive use likely prevents more than 272,000 maternal deaths from childbirth each year, according to a new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Researchers further estimate that satisfying the global unmet need for contraception could reduce maternal deaths an additional 30 percent. Their findings were published July 10 […]
How exercise may improve heart function in diabetics
July 23, 2012
A detailed study of heart muscle function in mice has uncovered evidence to explain why exercise is beneficial for heart function in type 2 diabetes. The research team, led by scientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, found that greater amounts of fatty acids used by the heart during stressful conditions such as exercise […]
Cancer and injuries more likely in people with serious mental illness
July 23, 2012
People with serious mental illness—schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and disabling depression—are 2.6 times more likely to develop cancer than the general population, new Johns Hopkins research suggests. The study’s findings, published this month in the journal Psychiatric Services, raise questions about whether patients burdened with serious mental illness are receiving appropriate cancer screenings and preventive care […]
Johns Hopkins program enables those with dementia to ‘age in place’
July 23, 2012
A Johns Hopkins research program that brought resources and counselors to elderly Baltimore residents with memory disorders such as dementia significantly increased the chance they could continue to live successfully at home, a preference for most of them. As part of the 18-month Maximizing Independence at Home (MIND) trial, a dementia care coordinator came into the […]