Focus: Hidden - North Carolina

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Does eating too much sugar cause type 2 diabetes? The answer may not be simple, but a study published Sept. 26 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation adds to growing research linking excessive sugar consumption -- specifically the sugar fructose -- to a rise in metabolic disease worldwide. The study, conducted in mice and corroborated in human liver samples, unveils a metabolic process that could upend previous ideas about how the body becomes resistant to insulin and eventually develops diabetes.

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People under the age of 30 account for the majority of new HIV infections in the United States. This age group is also more likely than adults to own a smartphone. Recognizing adolescents’ connection with mobile technology, a research team at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, along with colleagues at Emory University, has secured $18 million in funding over the next five years from the National Institutes of Health to form the UNC/Emory Center for Innovative Technology or iTech.

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Researchers from North Carolina State University and Samsung Electronics have found a way to boost the speed of computer applications by more than 9 percent. The improvement results from techniques that allow computer processors to retrieve data more efficiently.

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Researchers at the UNC School of Medicine announced the first evidence that stabilizing a protein called SOD1 can help reverse protein clumping in the types of neurons affected by the fatal neurodegenerative condition Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

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Supported by a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant worth a projected $3.3 million over five years, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center investigators have expanded their research into the cumulative effects of head impacts in young football players to the high school level.

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The Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI) has been named the coordinating center as part of a $157-million federal initiative involved in studying how environmental factors affect childhood health.

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Wake Forest University communication and debate experts offer insights into the upcoming presidential debates between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

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In 2012, UNC Hospitals launched an initiative aimed at reducing the time it takes hospital staff to recognize when a patient is having a STEMI (ST elevation myocardial infarction) heart attack – the sudden and complete blockage of a heart artery – and to begin appropriate treatment. Now, encouraging results from that effort have been published as a research letter in JAMA Cardiology.

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While searching for a non-invasive way to detect prostate cancer cells circulating in blood, Duke Cancer Institute researchers have identified some blood markers associated with tumor resistance to two common hormone therapies.

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An analysis of the quality of life of several thousand breast cancer survivors in North Carolina found differences in how black and white women functioned and felt physically and spiritually during treatment and two years after diagnosis.

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UNC School of Medicine scientists discover that a pair of large enzyme complexes attack each other in turn to form a molecular switch, which is essential for cell division.

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Researchers at NC State University have developed new, nonlinear, chaos-based integrated circuits that enable computer chips to perform multiple functions with fewer transistors.

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For patients whose hearing is considered “too good” for traditional cochlear implants, but whose hearing loss is too advanced to benefit from hearing aids, there hasn’t been a device to meet their needs.

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Cognitive function improves with aerobic exercise, but not for people exposed to high levels of mercury before birth, according to research funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health. Adults with high prenatal exposure to methylmercury, which mainly comes from maternal consumption of fish with high mercury levels, did not experience the faster cognitive processing and better short term memory benefits of exercise that were seen in those with low prenatal methylmercury exposures.

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The National Science Foundation has awarded a $4 million grant to UNC Charlotte researchers to develop a multidisciplinary research program called Virtual Information Fabric Infrastructure (VIFI) that will create new ways to manage, use and share Big Data and analytic results

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Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a new type of inverter device with greater efficiency in a smaller, lighter package – which will improve the fuel-efficiency and range of hybrid and electric vehicles.

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Traditional age-based grade levels may be hampering the progress of millions of K-12 students in the United States and should be a target for reform, according to a new study co-authored by a UNC Charlotte education professor.

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Patients suffering from noninfectious uveitis, a group of diseases that causes eye inflammation, can get effective treatment from a corticosteroid alternative that has previously been approved for treatment of arthritis and Crohn’s disease, according to a study led by a Duke Health researcher.

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Researchers at Duke Health have identified a new mechanism of aspirin’s action that appears to explain the drug’s diverse benefits.

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Researchers at the University of North Carolina (UNC) and the University of Minnesota (UMN) have been awarded a $4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to launch the Baby Connectome Project (BCP). The BCP aims to provide scientists with unprecedented information about how the human brain develops from birth through early childhood and will uncover factors contributing to healthy brain development.

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Steering new college students into remedial classes can boost a poorly prepared student’s chances of success, but doesn’t appear to benefit students with a stronger academic background, RTI International researchers have found.

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The dreaded finger exam to check for prostate cancer used to be a mainstay of check-ups for older men. With its value now in question, some doctors share the risks and benefits with their patients and let them decide. So, should they or shouldn’t they? Research suggests that in most cases, it is time to abandon the test, says Wake Forest Baptist urologist Ryan Terlecki, M.D., “The evidence suggests that in most cases, it is time to abandon the digital rectal exam (DRE),” said Ryan Terlecki, M.D., a

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University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers, by tracking a molecular marker that has been shown to increase in white blood cells as people age, have uncovered clues that suggest that stem cell transplant is linked to a marked increase in the “molecular age” of these immune cells in a group of patients with blood cancer.

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Scientists discovered that the major developmental function of heterochromatin – a form of tight DNA packaging found in chromosomes – is likely the suppression of virus-like DNA elements known as transposons, which can copy and paste themselves throughout the genome, potentially causing diseases.

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Gastric bypass surgery is more effective for weight loss and long-term weight maintenance than are other surgical procedures and non-surgical treatment, according to a study led by researchers at Duke Health and the Durham VA Medical Center.

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Heart abnormalities linked to immersion pulmonary edema were present in a greater-than-expected proportion of triathletes who died during the competition’s swim portion, according to a study led by researchers at Duke Health.

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A post-marketing safety study mandated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has shown that a combination drug therapy for the treatment of asthma is safe and effective.

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A new quality improvement initiative that aims to create effective solutions in optimizing adult vaccination rates was announced today. The program, the Adult Immunization Project, is a collaboration among the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI), Duke Primary Care, Pfizer, and Premier. Researchers will jointly work to develop evidence-based interventions to support indicated adult vaccination practices among providers in the Duke Health system

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Since the isolation of morphine from opium in the 19th century, scientists have hoped to find a potent opioid analgesic that isn’t addictive and doesn’t cause respiratory arrest with increased doses.

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday issued an advisory that all U.S. blood banks screen donated blood for Zika virus.

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In a paper published online by the Journal of the American Medical Association, UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center physician-researchers raised concerns that there are inconsistencies between the five reference guides, or compendia, that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services uses to determine which drugs it will reimburse for off-label uses in cancer care.

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University of North Carolina LIneberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers say the finding of a high prevalence of financial relationships among authors who helped develop a leading set of cancer care guidelines in the United States lays the foundation for future studies looking at whether payments influenced clinical practice or guideline recommendations.

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Jason Katz, MD, MHS, associate professor of medicine at UNC School of Medicine and medical director of the cardiac intensive care unit, was the lead author of a recently published manuscript that examined the early growth and maturation of critical care cardiology, and the challenges and uncertainties that threaten to stymie the growth of this fledgling discipline.

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UNC School of Medicine scientists mapped out a serotonin-driven anxiety brain circuit that may explain the acute anxiety side effect of antidepressant use.

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With publications in prestigious medical journals and multimillion dollar federal grants, UNC faculty have shown they are committed to moving the fields of HIV prevention, treatment and cure research forward.

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CHAPEL HILL, NC –UNC School of Medicine’s Anne Lyerly is addressing the urgent need for effective HIV prevention and treatment for the estimated 1.5 million women worldwide with HIV who give birth each year. Lyerly, associate director of the UNC Center for Bioethics and associate professor of social medicine at the UNC School of Medicine, is also an obstetrician/gynecologist who studies ethically complex clinical and policy issues related to women’s reproductive health.

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Molecules that scavenge debris from dying cells appear to halt the cycle of chronic inflammation in lupus, while also enhancing the body’s ability to combat flu, according to Duke Health studies in mice.

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Surgeons operating on patients with advanced thyroid cancer are often conflicted when deciding how many lymph nodes they should remove to reduce the patient’s risk of recurrence.

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UNC Lineberger researcher Carey Anders, MD, wants to understand why some breast cancer metastasize to the brain, and what drives them. She recently was awarded a three-year, $450,000 grant to study genetic features of breast cancer brain metastases to try to answer those questions.

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Eight people who have spent years paralyzed from spinal cord injuries have regained partial sensation and muscle control in their lower limbs after training with brain-controlled robotics, according to a study published Aug. 11 in Scientific Reports.

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Researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have successfully tested a prototype conducted electrical weapon (CEW) capable of recording a subject’s heart rate and rhythm while still delivering incapacitating electrical charges.

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UNC Charlotte and the Belk College of Business will pioneer the first Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) program in the Carolinas. Led by Professor and Addison H. and Gertrude C. Reese Endowed Chair Franz Kellermanns, the DBA program is a professional doctoral degree taught in an executive format. The Belk College program will enroll its first class in the fall of 2017 and will be exclusively attended by 20 doctoral candidates all with a master’s degree and more than five years of business experience.

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In the search for new ways to attack recurrent prostate cancer, researchers at Duke Health report that a novel compound appears to have a unique way of blocking testosterone from fueling the tumors in mice.

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Warfarin prescribed to prevent strokes in atrial fibrillation may not adequately control blood clotting over the long-term, even when patients have been historically stable on the drug, according to a study from the Duke Clinical Research Institute.

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UNC Charlotte's College of Computing and Informatics (CCI) has established the Women In Computing initiative, designed to address the lack of women in the information technology workforce.

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Duke Health-led researchers have discovered new information about the signaling mechanism of cells that could one day help guide development of more specific drug therapies.

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There is a high rate of prescription pain reliever abuse in Europe, largely accounted by opioids, according to the first comparative study of prescription drug abuse in the European Union, which was conducted by researchers at RTI International and published in BMC Psychiatry.