Category: Divisions
On new lab chip, heart cells display a behavior-guiding ‘nanosense’
December 14, 2009
Johns Hopkins biomedical engineers, working with colleagues in Korea, have produced a laboratory chip with nanoscopic grooves and ridges capable of growing cardiac tissue that more closely resembles natural heart muscle. Surprisingly, heart cells cultured in this way used a “nanosense” to collect instructions for growth and function solely from the physical patterns on the nanotextured chip and did not require any special chemical cues to steer the tissue development in distinct ways. The scientists say this tool could be used to design new therapies or diagnostic tests for cardiac disease.
Niacin offers no additional benefits to statin therapy in seniors
December 14, 2009
The routine prescription of extended-release niacin (1,500 milligrams daily), a B vitamin, in combination with traditional cholesterol-lowering therapy offers no extra benefit in correcting arterial narrowing and diminishing plaque buildup in seniors who already have coronary artery disease, a new vascular imaging study from Johns Hopkins experts shows.
Gene therapy, stem cells save limb damaged by low blood flow
December 14, 2009
Blood vessel blockage, a common condition in old age or diabetes, leads to low blood flow and results in low oxygen, which can kill cells and tissues. Such blockages can require amputation of limbs. Now, using mice as their model, researchers at Johns Hopkins have developed therapies that increase blood flow, improve movement and decrease tissue death and the need for amputation. The findings, published online this month in the early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, hold promise for developing clinical therapies.
Med students regularly stuck by needles, fail to report injuries
December 14, 2009
Medical students are commonly stuck by needles—putting them at risk of contracting potentially dangerous blood-borne diseases—and many of them fail to report the injuries to hospital authorities, according to a Johns Hopkins study published in the December issue of the journal Academic Medicine.
First reported cases of Tamiflu-resistant H1N1 treated at JHH
December 7, 2009
Flu experts at The Johns Hopkins Hospital have received confirmation from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene that two recently treated patients with 2009 H1N1 flu, both since discharged, had drug-resistant forms of the virus.
Share Our Strength founder to give Carey School lecture
December 7, 2009
Philanthropist and social change pioneer Bill Shore is the featured speaker for the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School’s annual H. Melvin Brown Lecture, to be held at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 9, in Mason Hall on the Homewood campus.
Exploring schizophrenia at the molecular level
December 7, 2009
About 1 percent of the population is affected by schizophrenia, a severe form of mental illness that has proven difficult to study and treat, according to Russell Margolis, director of the Johns Hopkins Schizophrenia Program.
Migraine raises risk of common stroke in women
December 7, 2009
Pooling results from 21 studies involving 622,381 men and women, researchers at Johns Hopkins have affirmed that migraine headaches are associated with more than twofold higher chances of the most common kind of stroke: those occurring when blood supply to the brain is suddenly cut off by the buildup of plaque or a blood clot.
A cell’s ‘cap’ of bundled fibers could yield clues to disease
December 7, 2009
It turns out that wearing a cap is good for you, at least if you are a mammal cell.
Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Engineering in Oncology Center have shown that in healthy cells, a bundled “cap” of filaments holds the cell’s nucleus—its genetic storehouse—in its proper place. Understanding this cap’s influence on cell and nuclear shape, the researchers said, could provide clues to the diagnosis and treatment of diseases such as cancer, muscular dystrophy and the age-accelerating condition known as progeria.
Educational home visits can improve asthma in children
December 7, 2009
A few home visits by a health care specialist to educate children with asthma about basic strategies for earlier symptom recognition and improving medication use can lead to fewer flare-ups and less-frequent trips to the emergency room, according to research from the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center published in the December issue of Pediatrics.