A single blood test and basic information about a patient’s medical status can indicate which patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) are likely to benefit from a stem cell transplant, according to new research by scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
In a clinical trial, adults who consumed a diet rich in whole grains rather than refined grains had modest improvements in healthy gut microbiota and certain immune responses.
A new study suggests that substituting whole grains for refined grains in the diet increases metabolism and calorie losses during digestion.
American Diabetes Association awards Aleksandar Kostic, PhD, of Joslin Diabetes Center, $1.625M for the development of a novel experimental system designed to improve our understanding about how bacteria in the gut (the gut “microbiome”) may contribute to the autoimmune attack that leads to type 1 diabetes.
Babson Vice Provost for Global Entrepreneurial Leadership Candy Brush has been named a Justin G. Longenecker Fellow of the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
Using Harvard-developed technology, scientists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have catalogued more than 20,000 brain cells in one region of the mouse hypothalamus. The study, published in Nature Neuroscience, revealed some 50 distinct cell types, including a previously undescribed neuron type that may underlie some of the genetic risk of human obesity. This catalog of cell types marks the first time neuroscientists have established a comprehensive “parts list” for this area of the brain. The new information will allow researchers to establish which cells play what role in this region of the brain.
In the summer of 2015, a team at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School reported restoring rudimentary hearing in genetically deaf mice using gene therapy. Now the Boston Children’s research team reports restoring a much higher level of hearing — down to 25 decibels, the equivalent of a whisper — using an improved gene therapy vector developed at Massachusetts Eye and Ear. The new vector and the mouse studies are described in two back-to-back papers in Nature Biotechnology (published online February 6).
Sleep—one of the most basic, yet most mystifying processes of the human body—has confounded physicians, scientists and evolutionary biologists for centuries.
Researchers from the Schepens Eye Research Institute of Massachusetts Eye and Ear have shown that a slight increase in transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β), which is present in preclinical animal models with diabetic eye disease, protects retinal blood vessels from damage that commonly occurs in the early stages of the disease (known as diabetic retinopathy). Their findings, published in the American Journal of Pathology, may lead to targeted therapeutics that delay or prevent the development of the disease in patients.
Babson College Professor Heidi Neck has assumed the Presidency of the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship® (USASBE), the 34th person to hold the position.
Hillary Rodham Clinton ’69 will address the members of the Wellesley College Class of 2017 and an international audience of their family and friends at Wellesley’s 139th commencement exercises.
Oral administration of a cocktail of three viruses, all of which specifically kill cholera bacteria, protects against infection and prevents cholera-like symptoms in animal model experiments. The findings are the first to demonstrate the efficacy of a preventative, oral phage therapy.
First comprehensive analysis finds more than two dozen toxic highly fluorinated chemicals, including a phased-out substance.
• Harvard Medical School scientists and colleagues from the Massachusetts General Hospital have partly restored hearing in mice with a genetic form of deafness. • Scientists altered a common virus, enhancing its ability to enter hair cells in the inner ear that are critical for hearing and to deliver a missing gene essential for hearing and balance. • The new approach overcomes a longstanding barrier to gene therapy for inherited and acquired deafness.
A new study led by clinician-researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) has found that hospital-led interventions over a seven-year period were associated with a significant reduction in the hospital’s Cesarean delivery rate. During the intervention period, researchers found that the Cesarean rate for low-risk women having their first delivery decreased from 34.8 percent to 21.2 percent. The hospital’s overall Cesarean rate also declined from 40 percent to 29.1 percent over the same period.
Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute led a study that provides some of the strongest evidence to date that microorganisms living in the large intestine can serve as a link between diet and certain types of colorectal cancer.
Parkinson’s disease (PD) and other “synucleinopathies” are known to be linked to the misfolding of alpha-synuclein protein in neurons. Less clear is how this misfolding relates to the growing number of genes implicated in PD through analysis of human genetics. Researchers affiliated with Whitehead Institute and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) explain how they used a suite of novel biological and computational methods to shed light on the question.
Harvard Medical School’s Media Fellowship program, now entering its 20th year, is accepting applications for its spring 2017 sessions. The fellowships bring together top health and science journalists and preeminent researchers and physician-scientists for a weeklong educational immersion on the HMS campus in Boston.
For the first time, artificial intelligence has been used to discover the exact interventions needed to obtain a specific, previously unachievable result in vivo, providing new insight into the biophysics of cancer and raising broad implications for biomedicine.
In partnership with the Bay State Council of the Blind, Massachusetts Eye and Ear today announced the launch of a comprehensive initiative to ensure that persons with visual disabilities have full and equal opportunity to the best possible care.
Ten high school seniors from New York City have been awarded Posse Scholarships at Babson College. The group, selected to be part of Babson Posse 14, will serve as the institution’s newest cohort of youth leaders joining the Class of 2021 in the Fall of 2017.
A new laboratory model enables tests of how developing fetal mammary tissue is affected by exposure to estrogen and estrogen-like chemicals such as BPA. Previous animal model research has suggested changes in fetal mammary tissue may be linked to higher risk of breast cancer in adulthood.
Improving dietary resilience and better integration of nutrition in the health care system can promote healthy aging and may significantly reduce the financial and societal burden of the “silver tsunami.” Findings were published in Advances in Nutrition.
A clinical trial studying the use of Verapamil (a drug currently in use for cardiovascular disease and cluster headache) in alleviating chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) with nasal polyps revealed significant improvement in the symptoms of this subset of patients.
Tufts University engineers have invented a chip-sized, high-speed modulator that operates at terahertz (THz) frequencies and at room temperature at low voltages without consuming DC power. The discovery could help fill the “THz gap” that is limiting development of new and more powerful wireless devices that could transmit data at significantly higher speeds than currently possible.
Research from Tufts University used anonymous Facebook data from almost 17 million social connections in 55 countries to determine that the role of weak and strong ties in job searches is important around the world, but the value of a single strong tie is even more important for job seekers in countries with pronounced income inequality.
Nerve-damaging protein particles called prions have long been known to exist in mammals. Now, in a surprising discovery, investigators from Harvard Medical School report they have found evidence that bacteria can also make prions. Prions—self-propagating clumps of misfolded protein—have been identified as the cause of several rare but universally fatal neurodegenerative conditions, including bovine spongiform encephalopathy, popularly known as mad cow disease.
Alternative payment model boosts quality of care for low-income patients
In-vitro gametogenesis is an experimental technique that allows scientists to grow embryos in a lab by reprograming adult cells to become sperm and egg cells.
A new global study projects that a government-supported intervention to reduce national salt consumption by 10 percent over 10 years would be a highly cost-effective “best buy” for preventing cardiovascular disease across 183 countries worldwide.
Massachusetts Eye and Ear has launched a health blog to provide stories and insight from experts in otolaryngology (ear, nose, throat, head and neck care) and ophthalmology (eye care) to those interested in the hospital’s mission and areas of expertise. The online publication, named Focus, covers a range of topics in the form of expert commentary on common conditions, profiles of medical and research trainees, research findings and patient stories.
Twenty-eight students from UMass Boston begin a three-week program at Tufts University School of Medicine to gain an intensive introduction to life as a physician or scientist. The TUSM/UMass Boston Enrichment Program is one of several TUSM and Sackler School pipeline programs.
Participants in Joslin's Why WAIT (Weight Achievement and Intensive Management) program lost substantial amounts of weight, and even those who maintained relatively little loss of weight after five years demonstrated reduced risks of cardiovascular disease.
People with any form of diabetes are at greater risk of developing cardiovascular conditions than people without the disease. Moreover, if they undergo an operation to open up a clogged artery by inserting a “stent” surgical tube, the artery is much more likely to clog up again. However, researchers at Joslin Diabetes Centers now have uncovered an explanation for why these procedures often fail, which may lead toward better alternatives.
Researchers from Schepens Eye Research Institute of Massachusetts Eye and Ear have uncovered two factors responsible for the chronic, lifelong nature of autoimmune disorders, which tend to “flare up” intermittently in affected patients. These two factors are cell-signaling proteins called cytokines—specifically Interleukin-7 and -15 (IL-7 and IL-15)—that are secreted by cells of the immune system and help modulate memory Th17 cells, a subset of T cells which are known to contribute to autoimmune disorders. Until now, it was unclear how Th17 cells maintained memory; the study results show that IL-7 and IL-15 signal the Th17 cells to chronically reside in the body.
Whitehead Institute researchers provide insight into a specific gene pathway that appears to regulate the growth, structure, and organization of the human cortex. They also demonstrate that 3D human cerebral organoids can be effective in modeling the molecular, cellular, and anatomical processes of human brain development.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) instituted financial penalties against hospitals with high rates of readmissions for Medicare patients with certain health conditions. A new analysis led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Massachusetts General Hospital has found that the penalties levied under the law’s Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program were associated with reduced readmissions rates and that the poorest performing hospitals achieved the greatest reductions.
Tufts University engineers have created a new format of solids made from silk protein that can be preprogrammed with biological, chemical, or optical functions, such as mechanical components that change color with strain, deliver drugs, or respond to light.
The use of proteasome inhibitors to treat cancer has been greatly limited by the ability of cancer cells to develop resistance to these drugs. But Whitehead Institute researchers have found a mechanism underlying this resistance—a mechanism that naturally occurs in many diverse cancer types and that may expose vulnerabilities to drugs that spur the natural cell-death process.
Scientific research over the past decade has concentrated almost exclusively on the 2 percent of the genome’s protein coding regions, virtually ignoring the other 98 percent, a vast universe of non-coding genetic material previously dismissed as nothing more than ‘junk.’ Now, a team led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) reveals that one type — called long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) — may be critically important for controlling cellular components in a tissue-specific manner. Published online today in the journal Nature, the new research points to an lncRNA’s key role in helping control processes related to muscle regeneration and cancer.
Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute say they have discovered a potential explanation for why brain and heart tissues in very young children are more sensitive to collateral damage from cancer treatment than older individuals.
New research at Tufts University, in collaboration with MIT scientists, reveals the molecular composition of firefly "nuptial gifts", offering the first peek into the content of these special packages and shedding new light on post-mating sexual selection. The findings were published today in Scientific Reports.
A new study from BIDMC reveals the mystery of delusional misidentification syndromes (DMS), a group of rare disorders that causes patients to become convinced that a loved one has been replaced by an imposter. The investigators mapped brain injuries in 17 patients with DMS to determine origins of these disorders. Injuries were linked to areas in the brain associated with familiarity perception and belief evaluation, providing a neuro-anatomical mechanism underlying misidentification syndromes.
Targeting human genes required for HIV infection but not T cell survival may avoid inducing treatment resistance
Delivery of stem cells to damaged tooth roots using a collagen-derived biomaterial is effective at regenerating dental pulp-like tissue and shows promise as a potential therapy for restoring natural tooth function in a rodent model.
Investigators in veterinary and human medicine have uncovered long-term changes in the brains of adult female rats exposed to social stresses early in life, with the biggest impact on regions of the brain linked to social behavior, stress, emotion and depression. The findings will enable researchers to begin testing preventative measures and treatments for depression and anxiety.
A research team led by Robert Gerszten, MD, Chief of Cardiovascular Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and a Senior Associate Member of the Broad Institute, has received an award of more than $11 million as part of the Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity in Humans (MoTrPAC) consortium, a large-scale initiative of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate and map the molecular changes that occur in our bodies during and after exercise. This national research consortium seeks to advance our understanding of how physical activity improves and preserves health.
Two legends in the Tufts and dental medicine communities will be honored with Dean’s Medals from Tufts University School of Dental Medicine at a ceremony today. Dr. Hilde Tillman and Dr. Esther Wilkins have provided decades of service to the Tufts and dental medicine and education communities.
• Discovery offers new insight into regulation of water and food intake. • Neuroscientists recorded neuronal activity in real-time in awake mice when presented with food or water. • Researchers identified anticipatory changes in neuronal activity in the seconds prior to drinking.
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