Category: School of Medicine
Biomarkers predict who may need prostate treatment
April 26, 2010
A blood test for certain forms of prostate specific antigen, or PSA, and measurement of DNA content in biopsy tissue accurately predict which men with potentially nonlethal prostate cancers may eventually need treatment, say Johns Hopkins scientists. “Our goal is to develop new biomarkers to select the right patients for the right therapy and know when […]
Social vs. dependent drinking: Is the difference in the brain?
April 19, 2010
Why some people can enjoy a glass of wine with dinner or a few beers at a ballgame with no ill effects and others escalate their drinking and become dependent remains one of medicine’s baffling mysteries and a major public health concern. Using a $1 million stimulus-funded grant from the National Institutes of Health, a […]
Diabetes raises risk of death in cancer-surgery patients
April 19, 2010
People with diabetes who undergo cancer surgery are more likely to die in the month following their operations than those who have cancer but not diabetes, an analysis by Hopkins researchers suggests. The study, published in the April issue of the journal Diabetes Care, finds that newly diagnosed cancer patients—particularly those with colorectal or esophageal […]
Millions with ‘silent’ hypertension may have kidney disease
April 19, 2010
As many as 8 million adults in the United States who have undiagnosed or early-stage hypertension may also have kidney disease, putting them at higher risk for what may be preventable kidney failure, new research led by Johns Hopkins suggests. The researchers found that 27.5 percent of those with diagnosed hypertension also had kidney disease, […]
Gregg Semenza named Canada Gairdner Award winner
April 12, 2010
Gregg Semenza, director of the Vascular Biology program at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Cell Engineering and a member of the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, is one of seven recipients of the 2010 Canada Gairdner Awards. Canada’s only international science prizes, they are among the world’s most prestigious medical research awards. The awards, each […]
Microbes-testing method is invention of the year
April 12, 2010
Amethod to quickly determine whether potentially harmful microbes are resistant to certain drugs has been named the year’s top invention at the Applied Physics Laboratory. The winner was chosen from the 118 inventions reported by 218 APL staff members and collaborators in 2009. An independent panel of 30 representatives from industry, the high-tech sector and […]
More benefits are found from mild exercise in critically ill
April 12, 2010
A new report from critical care experts at Johns Hopkins shows that physicians can cut back by half their use of prescription sedatives so that critically ill patients can be alert and awake to exercise more. Curtailing use of the drowsiness-inducing medications not only allows patients in the intensive care unit to participate in mild […]
Donor kidneys from hepatitis C patients needlessly denied
April 12, 2010
More than half of donor kidneys in the United States infected with hepatitis C are thrown away despite the need among hepatitis C patients who may die waiting for an infection-free organ, Johns Hopkins research suggests. In a study of national data published online in the American Journal of Transplantation, the researchers say that while […]
Study: Some groups with brain tumors less likely to get referrals
April 5, 2010
African-American, Hispanic and economically disadvantaged patients with brain tumors are significantly less likely to be referred to high-volume hospitals that specialize in neurosurgery than other patients of similar age, the same gender and with similar co-morbidities, according to new research by Johns Hopkins doctors. The finding, published in the March Archives of Surgery, suggests a […]
Hormone mimic lowers ‘bad’ cholesterol in statin users
March 29, 2010
People whose “bad” cholesterol and risk of future heart disease stay too high despite cholesterol-lowering statin therapy can safely lower it by adding a drug that mimics the action of thyroid hormone. In a report published in the March 11 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers at Johns Hopkins and in Sweden […]