Category: School of Medicine
Human growth hormone: Not a life extender after all?
February 8, 2010
People profoundly deficient in human growth hormone due to a genetic mutation appear to live just as long as people who make normal amounts of the hormone, a new study shows. The findings suggest that HGH may not be the “fountain of youth” that some researchers have suggested. “Without HGH, these people still live long, […]
Johns Hopkins disaster team’s first group deploys to Haiti
February 1, 2010
The Johns Hopkins Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response has deployed its first group of Johns Hopkins physicians, nurses and other experts to Haiti to help that nation’s injured and suffering. A second group will leave on Thursday. The medical experts serve on the Johns Hopkins Go Team, which has approximately 185 members who […]
Cardiologist tracks biomarkers for an elusive killer: IPH
February 1, 2010
Johns Hopkins Children’s Center cardiologist Allen Everett recently won more than $460,000 in stimulus grant funding to identify the biomarkers of idiopathic pulmonary hypertension, or IPH, a progressive and highly lethal condition in children and adults marked by persistently elevated pressure in the artery that carries blood from the heart to the lungs. Biomarkers—biological “byproducts” […]
Old antidepressant offers promise in treating heart failure
February 1, 2010
A team of researchers from Johns Hopkins and elsewhere have found in animal experiments that an antidepressant developed more than 40 years ago can blunt and even reverse the muscle enlargement and weakened pumping function associated with heart failure. In a report published in the Jan. 8 edition of Circulation Research, U.S. and Italian heart experts […]
DID U TK UR MEDS? Texting can improve care of patients
February 1, 2010
From a lethal distraction for drivers to dehumanizing personal interactions, text messaging has gotten a bum rap lately. But for doctors treating patients with chronic diseases, text messaging can be an invaluable tool, according to Johns Hopkins Children’s Center pediatrician Delphine Robotham. “For better or worse, this technology is here,” she said, “and sending a […]
Guided Care participants rate quality of health care higher
February 1, 2010
Chronically ill older adults who are closely supported by a nurse-physician primary care team are twice as likely to rate their health care as high-quality than those who receive usual care, according to a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The research, published online in the latest edition of […]
Kids with suspected development problems may not get referrals
February 1, 2010
Many pediatricians score high on screening their patients for developmental delays but barely make a passing grade in referring children with suspected delays for further testing or treatment, according to a study from Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and other institutions to appear in the February issue of Pediatrics. Because screening is effective only if followed […]
Kidney donor study: How do African-Americans access health info online?
February 1, 2010
Laura Taylor, an assistant professor in the School of Nursing’s Department of Health Systems and Outcomes, is studying how living-kidney donors and caregivers gain support in the organ donation process. The $450,000 two-year grant she received from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Nursing Research will expand Taylor’s Living Donor Information Network for […]
JH researchers awarded $8 mill to develop method to rid body of HIV
January 25, 2010
A multidisciplinary research team at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine has been awarded $8 million in funding by the National Institute of Mental Health to develop methods to rid the body of HIV.
Who gets expensive cancer drugs? A tale of two nations
January 25, 2010
The well-worn notion that patients in the United States have unfettered access to the most expensive cancer drugs while the United Kingdom’s nationalized health care system regularly denies access to some high-cost treatments needs rethinking, a team of bioethicists and health policy experts says in a report out Dec. 14. Delving into the question of […]