Category: School of Medicine
JHM researchers unravel clues to infertility in obese women
September 13, 2010
Obese women have a well-known risk for infertility, but a new Johns Hopkins Children’s Center study has unraveled what investigators here believe is the mechanism that accounts for the risk. The research, conducted in mice and published online Sept. 8 in the journal Cell Metabolism, shows that the pituitary gland actively responds to chronically high […]
Study: New Parkinson’s gene is linked to immune system
September 7, 2010
A hunt throughout the human genome for variants associated with common late-onset Parkinson’s disease has revealed a new genetic link that implicates the immune system and offers new targets for drug development. The long-term study involved a global consortium, including Johns Hopkins researchers from the Center for Inherited Disease Research, who performed genomewide association studies […]
Lower blood pressure may preserve kidney function in some
September 7, 2010
Intensively treating hypertension in some African-Americans with kidney disease by pushing blood pressure well below the current recommended goal may significantly decrease the number who lose kidney function and require dialysis, suggests a Johns Hopkins–led study published Sept. 2 in the New England Journal of Medicine. “This is not a panacea. We have a lot […]
Berman Institute scholar calls for regulation of genetic tests
September 7, 2010
An opinion piece by a legal scholar from the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics in the Aug. 12 issue of Nature calls for the Food and Drug Administration to regulate all health-related genetic tests—whether available directly to consumers or through a health care provider—using an approach that imposes requirements proportionate to a test’s level […]
A promising target for treatment of Parkinson’s
August 30, 2010
Researchers at Johns Hopkins have shown that using specific drugs can protect nerve cells in mice from the lethal effects of Parkinson’s disease. The researchers’ findings are published in the Aug. 22 issue of Nature Medicine. The newly discovered drugs block a protein that, when altered in people, leads to Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s disease causes […]
Johns Hopkins establishes new clinical research network
August 16, 2010
The Johns Hopkins Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, in collaboration with Anne Arundel Health System and the Greater Baltimore Medical Center, has established a new network of academic and community-based clinical researchers, the Johns Hopkins Clinical Research Network. The JHCRN, which will provide new opportunities for research collaborations, is designed to accelerate the transfer […]
Youth exposure to alcohol ads in magazines is declining
August 16, 2010
Youth exposure to alcohol advertising in magazines declined by 48 percent between 2001 and 2008, according to a new study by the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Although 325 alcohol brands advertised in magazines in 2008, just 16 accounted for half the advertising placed in […]
Kimmel Center receives $20 mill for pancreas cancer research, care
June 21, 2010
Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center has been awarded the largest gift for pancreas cancer research in its history. The $20 million award was made possible by Albert P. “Skip” Viragh Jr., a mutual fund leader and a pancreas cancer patient treated at Johns Hopkins. He died of the disease at age 62. The funds formally […]
Study: ‘Frailty’ test predicts surgical outcomes in older patients
May 24, 2010
A simple 10-minute “frailty” test administered to older patients before they undergo surgery can predict with great certainty their risk for complications, how long they will stay in the hospital and—most strikingly—whether they are likely to end up in a nursing home afterward, new research from Johns Hopkins suggests. “There’s been this hunger to have some […]
Scientists ID potential trigger in lung disease sarcoidosis
May 24, 2010
Lung researchers at Johns Hopkins have identified a possible protein trigger responsible for sarcoidosis, a potentially fatal inflammatory disease marked by tiny clumps of inflammatory cells that each year leave deep, grainy scars on the lungs, lymph nodes, skin and almost all major organs in hundreds of thousands of Americans. The disorder, whose cause has […]