Focus: Hidden - Maryland

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According to a new study in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, Chinook winds can precede large shifts in wind power output from wind farms -- a challenge for companies seeking to provide a constant stream of green energy to consumers. By establishing a connection between local meteorological events and power grid output, the researchers hope that they may ultimately help grid operators more accurately predict fluctuations in flow and manage the grid accordingly.

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An international team of scientists has designed and tested a magnetic shield that is the first to achieve an extremely low magnetic field over a large volume. The device provides more than 10 times better magnetic shielding than previous state-of-the art shields. The record-setting performance makes it possible for scientists to measure certain properties of fundamental particles at higher levels of precision -- which in turn could reveal previously hidden physics and set parameters in the search for new particles.

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The American College of Gastroenterology today announced that two nationally recognized gastroenterologists will take the helm of The American Journal of Gastroenterology as Co-Editors-in-Chief, guiding the nation’s leading clinical gastroenterology publication. Brian E. Lacy, MD, PhD, FACG, of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, and Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS, FACG, of Cedars-Sinai Heath System, were selected as a team because of their complementary strengths and depth of experience. They assume their new joint roles in January.

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The Genetics Society of America (GSA) is pleased to name the recipients of the GSA Undergraduate Travel Awards for summer 2015. These students will use the funds from this award to travel to the 20th International C. elegans Meeting, where they will present their research findings.

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National Institutes of Health director Dr. Francis Collins will deliver the Presidential lecture during the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) annual Research Days symposium, May 12-13. More than 300 basic and clinical scientists and students will also present their scholarly works during the two-day event held on the university’s Bethesda, Md., campus.

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Physicians treating hospitalized patients for conditions unrelated to the kidneys should pay close attention to common blood and urine tests for kidney function in order to prevent incidental injury to the organs that help cleanse the body of toxins, new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health-led research suggests.

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Army Col. (Dr.) Shad Deering will be the next chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU), according to announcement today by School of Medicine dean Arthur L. Kellermann, MD, MPH.

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Recent reports on undergraduate education have emphasized the crucial role of authentic research experiences. A genomics research article published in the May issue of G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics allowed 940 undergraduate students not only to engage in original scholarship, but also to be authors on a peer-reviewed scientific paper. The research, on the evolution of an unusual chromosome in fruit flies, was powered by the contributions of students at 63 higher education institutions across the US, coordinated by the Genomics Education Partnership (GEP).

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Adolescent female military dependents may be at higher risk than civilians for eating disorders and associated problems, according to a study released today in the online version of the International Journal of Eating Disorders. The study, “Comparison of Overweight and Obese Military-Dependent and Civilian Adolescent Girls with Loss-of-Control Eating,” gives insight into the additional vulnerabilities of adolescent female military dependents and shows that they reported more disordered eating and depression than civilians.

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Childhood exposure to ionizing radiation increases lifetime malignancy risk, but a team of researchers has found that with just a little bit of education, the risk can be significantly reduced. Currently, up to 40% of computed tomography, or CT, scans are ordered (for everyone) unnecessarily. The study, “Point-of-care estimated radiation exposure and imaging guidelines can reduce pediatric radiation burden,” appears in the May 8, 2015, issue of the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.

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Op-Ed: Nurses put own fears aside and step forward, knowing they are not alone

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On May 7, researchers are reporting a case study in which viable Ebola virus was present in the eye’s aqueous humor — the clear fluid in the front of the eye, between the lens and the cornea — 10 weeks after the virus was no longer detectable in the patient’s blood.

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Amy J. Bastian, Ph.D., a neuroscientist who serves as Director of Kennedy Krieger’s Motion Analysis Lab, has been chosen as the Institute’s first Chief Science Officer. Bastian is charged with identifying new directions and opportunities to facilitate the next generation of the Institute’s groundbreaking scientific efforts to find preventions and cures for disorders of the developing brain, spinal cord and musculoskeletal system.

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Researchers have developed a drug-releasing implant that controls pain and inflammation, eliminating the need for eye drops following cataract surgery. The research is being presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) this week in Denver, Colo.

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Scientists using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have discovered that the immense halo of gas enveloping the Andromeda galaxy, our nearest massive galactic neighbor, is about six times larger and 1,000 times more massive than previously measured.

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Doctors have developed a new treatment capable of halting the progression of keratoconus, a progressive eye disease that manifests in teenagers. The research is being presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) this week in Denver, Colo.

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Just like cameras with an autostabilization feature, our eyes execute an imperceptible reflex that prevents our vision from blurring when we are in motion. But before the reflex can work, the axons of specialized nerve cells must find their way from the retina to the correct part of the brain. New research describes how those axons accomplish this feat.

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New paper and flexible polymer substrates were combined with special sensing devices for rapid and accurate detection of HIV and other pathogens for point-of-care medicine in remote areas, where there is minimal diagnostic infrastructure and a lack of trained medical technicians.

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Researchers are studying ways to get a snapshot of all the genetic material that a single retina cell uses to make proteins, revealing the health of that eye cell. The research is being presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) this week in Denver, Colo.

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An FDA-approved oral medication, 4-phenylbutyrate (PBA), has been found to prevent vision loss in mice with Leber’s congenital amaurosis (LCA). The research is being presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) this week in Denver, Colo.

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Researchers have developed a mobile app to quickly and conveniently evaluate people for strabismus, a condition involving misalignment of the eyes. The research is being presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) this week in Denver, Colo.

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New study finds that omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil can slow or reverse nerve damage from diabetes

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The tenth oldest college in the nation names its first female president in its 233 years.

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Preterm babies with retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) treated using bevacizumab, a growth inhibitor, have been found to have lower motor scores than babies treated with traditional laser ablation. The research is being presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) this week in Denver, Colo.

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Nurses trained to deliver eye injections for patients with the wet form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) administered the treatments as safely and effectively as doctors, according to a new study. The research is being presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) this week in Denver, Colo.

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Researchers have developed a new computer model to describe how cholesterol deposits, known as drusen, behave in the retina in the dry form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The research is being presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) this week in Denver, Colo.

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Scientists have found that baicalein significantly lowers eye pressure and may act as an all-natural treatment for glaucoma. The research is being presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) this week in Denver, Colo.

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About one in nine people globally still suffer from hunger with the majority of the hungry living in Africa and Asia. The world’s forests have great potential to improve their nutrition and ensure their livelihoods. In fact, forests and forestry are essential to achieve food security as the limits of boosting agricultural production are becoming increasingly clear.

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A multidisciplinary team of Johns Hopkins researchers have developed two new strategies to treat depression in young people using the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class of medications. These strategies, published May 5 in the journal Translational Psychiatry, incorporate a new understanding of how to mitigate the risk of suicide while on SSRI treatment.

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In a synergy between the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes, and the giant W. M. Keck Observatory, astronomers have set a new distance record to the farthest redshift-confirmed galaxy. It is so far away the light we receive left the galaxy over 13 billion years ago, and it is just arriving now. The new observations underline the very exciting discoveries that NASA's James Webb Space Telescope will enable when it is launched in 2018.

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Scientists have produced crude 3D tissue structures from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells under current good manufacturing practices (cGMP), an important step for eventual large-scale use in human patients. The research is being presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) this week in Denver, Colo.

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Scientists at Johns Hopkins say they’ve discovered a cause-and-effect link between chronic high blood sugar and disruption of mitochondria, the powerhouses that create the metabolic energy that runs living cells. The discovery, reported online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on April 27, sheds light on a long-hidden connection and, they say, could eventually lead to new ways of preventing and treating diabetes.

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The onion, a humble root vegetable, is proving its strength outside the culinary world -- in an artificial muscle created from onion cells. Unlike previous artificial muscles, this one, created by researchers from National Taiwan University, can either expand or contract to bend in different directions depending on the driving voltage applied. The finding is published this week in the journal Applied Physics Letters.

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Conventional semiconductor detectors made from germanium and silicon are standard equipment in nuclear physics, but are less useful in many emerging applications because they require low temperatures to operate. In recent years, scientists have been seeking new semiconductor materials to develop high-performance radiation detectors that can operate at room temperature, and now researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory think they have a good candidate material: a compound called thallium sulfide iodide.

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In a paper appearing this week in the Journal of Applied Physics, a team of researchers at Georgia Tech Research Institute and Honeywell International have demonstrated a new device that allows more electrodes to be placed on a chip -- an important step that could help increase qubit densities and bring us one step closer to a quantum computer that can simulate molecules or perform other algorithms of interest.

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L-DOPA, a routine drug taken by patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease, has been found to delay the onset of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The research is being presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) this week in Denver, Colo.

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Although the human ability to write evolved from our ability to speak, writing and talking are now such independent systems in the brain that someone who can’t write a grammatically correct sentence may be able say it aloud flawlessly.

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SILVER SPRING, MD, April 29, 2015 – The Medical Surveillance Monthly Report (MSMR) marked its 20th anniversary this month with the publication of its annual issue examining several healthcare burden measures to quantify the impacts of various illnesses and injuries among members of the U.S. Armed Forces and beneficiaries of the Military Health System (MHS).

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Researchers have identified a new target for stopping the progressive death of cells in the eye that leads to vision loss in glaucoma. The research is being presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) this week in Denver, Colo.

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Researchers have found that blocking the connections between cells in the retina can prevent toxins in one cell from spreading – and killing – its neighbors. The research is being presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) this week in Denver, Col

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Paving the way for drug discovery efforts, researchers have found a target that – when inhibited – reduces inflammation associated with vision loss in patients with diabetic retinopathy (DR). The research is being presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) this week in Denver, Colo.

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A new study found that eye drops were just as effective as eye injections for treating the wet form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The research is being presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) this week in Denver, Colo.

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Scientists have identified new biomarkers that could distinguish Sjögren’s Syndrome (SS) from other autoimmune diseases in days or weeks, improving on a current time to diagnosis of four-plus years. The research is being presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) this week in Denver, Colo

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A new study finds that when cells in the eye do not have enough oxygen, they improperly sort proteins, an issue that has been implicated in age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and Alzheimer’s disease. The research is being presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) this week in Denver, Colo.

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Uninsured people don’t have any more difficulty getting appointments with primary care doctors than those with insurance, but they get them at prices that are likely unaffordable to a typical uninsured person, according to new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health-led research.

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Researchers found that 70% of patients received a dose of hydroxychloroquine that exceeded safety guidelines, and can potentially cause vision loss, in an inner city hospital. The research is being presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) this week in Denver, Colo.

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Indiana Senator Joe Donnelly introduced legislation recently to improve mental health services for veterans, and is citing a program that uses content developed at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) and speakers from the University’s Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP) as the model for future endeavors.

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The world’s first human clinical trials for a treatment against Hendra virus, a rare but deadly viral disease, have just begun in Australia, using a human monoclonal antibody discovered by Federal scientists at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Bethesda, Md.

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Scientists suggest exosomes released by the eye help speed up the drainage of fluid — offering another avenue to treat glaucoma. The research is being presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) this week in Denver, Colo.