Curated News: National Institutes of Health (NIH)

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Cognitive therapy, depression drugs are found to relieve night sweats, hot flashes and also help with sleep.

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The benefits of fetal surgery to repair spina bifida, a procedure pioneered at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) in 1997, continue through school age, a National Institutes of Health (NIH) study reports today in the journal Pediatrics.

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Researchers have solved the long-standing mystery of how adrenaline regulates a key class of membrane proteins that are responsible for initiating the contraction of heart cells. The findings provide a mechanistic description of how adrenaline stimulates the heart and present new targets for cardiovascular drug discovery, including the potential development of alternative therapeutics to beta-blockers.

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Researchers have identified a novel cellular entry factor for adeno-associated virus vector (AAV) types—the most commonly used viral vectors for in vivo gene therapy.

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New basic science and clinical research identifies TAU, the same protein studied in the development of Alzheimer’s, as a biomarker for glioma development.

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Osteoarthritis affects 240 million people worldwide and is one of the most common causes of disability in both humans and animals. Currently, no therapeutics exist to prevent this disease, but recent multidisciplinary research at Cornell reveals that the application of a proprietary peptide known as SS-31 may protect cartilage from the injury that leads to arthritis.

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It would be the first treatment for "dry" age-related macular degeneration and could significantly improve treatment for wet AMD.

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As controversy swirls around the vaping industry, a team of Cornell researchers has set out to help regulators identify the most effective health warnings to include in advertisements for electronic cigarettes.

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Overweight and obese vitamin D-deficient children who took a relatively high dose of vitamin D every day for six months had lower blood pressure and improved insulin sensitivity than their peers who took a lower dose, according to the results of a new clinical trial.

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A variety of existing drugs for treating conditions such as diabetes, inflammation, alcohol abuse, and arthritis in dogs can also kill cancer cells in the lab, according to a study by scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

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Mice given a new drug targeting a key gene involved in lipid and glucose metabolism could tolerate a high-fat diet regimen (composed of 60% fat from lard) without developing significant liver damage, becoming obese, or disrupting their body’s glucose balance.

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The lungs and placentas of fetuses in the womb — as young as 11 weeks after conception — already show a bacterial microbiome signature, which suggests that bacteria may colonize the lungs well before birth. How the microbes or microbial products reach those organs before birth is not known.

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A woman's supply of eggs is finite, so it is crucial that the quality of their genetic material is ensured.

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When University of California, Irvine neurobiologist Carey Y.L. Huh, Ph.D., set her sights on discovering more about amblyopia, she brought personal insight to her quest. As a child, Huh was diagnosed with the condition, which is often called “lazy eye.” he and her colleagues have just found that amblyopia originates in an earlier stage of the visual pathway than was previously thought. Their research, which raises the possibility of new treatment approaches, appears in the Journal of Neuroscience.

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Two different UC San Diego research teams identified the same molecule — αvβ5 integrin — as Zika virus’ key to brain cell entry. They found ways to take advantage of the integrin to both block Zika virus from infecting cells and turn it into something good: a way to shrink brain cancer stem cells.

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Researchers at DePaul University and Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago will examine potential connections between chronic fatigue and mono in college students under a new five-year study funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, one of the National Institutes of Health.

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Less physical activity for infants below one year of age may lead to more fat accumulation which in turn may predispose them to obesity later in life, suggests a study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

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Wayne State University received a two-year, $725,000 R01 grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering of the National Institutes of Health for the development of a novel point-of-care 3D neonatal photoacoustic tomography (3D-nPAT) to improve the detection and measurement of hypoxic-ischemic in neonates without the need for sedation, radiation or radionuclides.

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Preclinical research has revealed a key missing piece of the Alzheimer’s disease puzzle. That allowed proof-of-concept experiments — using an existing drug — that dramatically reduced Alzheimer’s pathology and symptoms in mouse models, potentially offering an immediate treatment for this disease.

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Researchers at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have developed an integrated genomic approach that potentially could help physicians predict which patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer will respond to therapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors.

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Using novel imaging technologies, researchers produce first whole-brain atlas at single-cell resolution, revealing how alcohol addiction and abstinence remodel neural physiology and function in mice.

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Researchers at UT Southwestern have uncovered evidence that the higher prevalence of “malignant” enlargement of the heart among blacks contributes to the higher incidence of heart failure in this population.

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University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers report that patients with prostate cancer assigned to eat seven or more servings of vegetables and fruits daily saw no extra protection from the increased consumption of micronutrients, running contrary to current thought.

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Adverse outcomes from childhood exposures to lead and mercury are on the decline in the United States, likely due to decades of restrictions on the use of heavy metals, a new study finds.

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A new Cleveland Clinic study has uncovered a genetic anomaly associated with poor response to a common asthma treatment. The findings, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed that asthmatic patients with the gene variant are less likely to respond to glucocorticoids and often develop severe asthma.

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University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers identified how THC from marijuana accelerates cancer growth in patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive head and neck cancer.

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An international research team has discovered a new genetic syndrome caused by mutation of a single gene and named it CATIFA, an acronym for its core symptoms: cleft palate, cataracts, tooth abnormality, intellectual disability, facial dysmorphism and ADHD. The investigators report in Nature Medicine that the new disease is caused by a defect in collagen secretion.

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Nematodes are tiny, ubiquitous roundworms that infect plant roots, causing more than $100 billion in crop damage worldwide each year.

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Researchers have devised a straightforward technique for building a laboratory device known as an electroporator – which applies a jolt of electricity to temporarily open cell walls – from inexpensive components, including a piezoelectric crystal taken from a butane lighter.

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UC San Diego School of Medicine researchers have discovered how a new immune system works to protect bacteria from phages, viruses that infect bacteria — new information that could be leveraged to improve treatment of multidrug-resistant bacterial infections by refining phage therapy.

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Very little information is known about the molecular development of leptomeningeal melanoma metastases (LMM), making it difficult to develop effective therapies. Researchers in Moffitt Cancer Center’s Donald A. Adam Melanoma and Skin Cancer Center of Excellence and the Department of Neuro-Oncology sought to change this by performing an extensive analysis of the molecular characteristics of the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with LMM. Their findings were published in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

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Weight loss in obese patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) appears to improve sleep apnea primarily by reducing tongue fat, according to new research published online in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

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Nearly half of the disparity in later-stage diagnosis was mediated by being uninsured or underinsured, according to a new study conducted at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Boston Medical Center/Boston University School of Medicine.

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A protein newly identified as important in type 1 diabetes can delay onset of the disease in diabetic mice, providing a new target for prevention and treatment in people, according to research led by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Indiana University School of Medicine.

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UT Southwestern researchers find that humans and mice with pancreatitis are deficient in a stress hormone called FGF21.

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-Newborn mice derive protective antibodies from their mothers’ microbiota -Antibodies derived from mothers’ microbiota ward off both localized and widespread systemic infections by the bacterium E. coli -Study points to the role of maternal microbes in offspring protection and neonatal immunity -Findings can inform development of microbe-based therapies against infectious diarrhea in infants

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After decades of effort, scientists use induced pluripotent stem cells to model human spine development Findings provide proof of existence of a segmentation clock in humans guiding spine formation Work sets stage for better understanding of musculoskeletal and metabolic disorders, including congenital scoliosis, muscular dystrophy and type 2 diabetes

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– New technology employing single cell genome sequencing of the parasite that causes malaria has yielded some surprising results and helps pave the way for possible new intervention strategies for this deadly infectious disease, according to Texas Biomedical Research Institute Assistant Professor Ian Cheeseman, Ph.D.

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The quest to conquer cancer is motivating a team of researchers at the University of Oklahoma to develop a 3D scanner capable of guiding the radiation treatment, dispensing just the right amount of radiation to just the precise location, making real-time adjustments as treatment is delivered.

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Johns Hopkins researchers report that a type of biodegradable, lab-engineered nanoparticle they fashioned can successfully deliver a “suicide gene” to pediatric brain tumor cells implanted in the brains of mice. The poly(beta-amino ester) nanoparticles, known as PBAEs, were part of a treatment that also used a drug to kill the cells and prolong the test animals’ survival.

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Study shows protein inhibitor as potential treatment approach for common mutations found in non-Hodgkin lymphomas. Findings may create immunotherapy options for lymphomas caused by CREBBP mutations.

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A Cornell study provides important new insights into a common and deadly type of gastric cancer.

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A multi-center team of researchers led by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) has discovered a genetic signature that could help distinguish an adult-onset form of diabetes sharing many type 1 diabetes (T1D) characteristics from pediatric-onset T1D, opening the door to potentially more straightforward diagnostic tests for the adult condition and improving responses by ensuring patients receive the most appropriate treatment.

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Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys have identified a new way to boost the immune system’s ability to fight cancer. The study used a mouse model to identify the importance of the Siah2 protein in the control of immune cells called T regulatory cells (Tregs), which limit the effectiveness of currently used immunotherapies. The research, which offers a new avenue to pursue immunotherapy in cases where the treatment fails, was published today in Nature Communications.

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In Southern states that expanded their Medicaid programs under the Affordable Care Act, adults experienced lower rates of decline in both physical and mental health, according to research published this month in the journal Health Affairs.

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Proof-of-concept research points to wearable temperature monitors’ potential to offer low-cost, non-invasive way to detect GVHD, a dangerous bone-marrow transplant complication.

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Boston, MA -- Chemical compounds found in skin creams and other personal care products can cause an allergic reaction in the skin, a common condition known as allergic contact dermatitis (ACD).

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Gebärmutterkrebs ist die häufigste bösartige gynäkologische Tumorform in den USA und die vierthäufigste Krebsart bei Frauen. Darüber hinaus steigt die Fallzahl von Gebärmutterkrebs in der westlichen Welt, was auf Veränderungen von Umweltfaktoren wie Ernährung, Lebensstil und vaginalem Mikrobiom als treibende Auslöser hindeutet.

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Le cancer de l’endomètre représente la tumeur maligne gynécologique la plus fréquente aux États-Unis et le quatrième cancer le plus fréquent chez les femmes. De plus, les taux d'incidence du cancer de l'endomètre sont à la hausse dans le monde occidental, ce qui suggère que les modifications des facteurs environnementaux tels que l'alimentation, le mode de vie et le microbiome vaginal peuvent s’avérer être des facteurs importants dans son origine.

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University of Kentucky research to examine and improve women’s sleep habits sheds light on insomnia among middle-aged women in Appalachian Kentucky. It also highlights a promising non-pharmaceutical intervention that could help them get a good night’s rest.