Focus: Hidden - Maryland

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Sorry, new parents -- even though your infants appreciate your coos, they prefer to hear sounds from their peers -- other babies. Even at the pre-babbling stage, infants recognize vowel-like sounds, but they tend to dwell on these sounds when from the mouths of babes. At the 175th ASA Meeting, researchers will present from a new line of research focusing on one aspect of infant speech development: how babies perceive speech with infant vocal properties.

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New technologies for mobile devices may use ultrasonic sound waves, and these devices have varying effects on different subsets of the population. Regulation of these technologies is in many ways “the wild west,” according to Timothy Leighton, who wrote a guide for moving forward in today’s new world of ultrasonic exposure. He will describe his work uncovering the strange history and uncertain future of the use of ultrasonic sound waves during the 175th ASA Meeting.

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The University of Maryland School of Medicine held the ceremonial opening of the Fannie Angelos Cellular Therapeutics Laboratory, a state-of-the-art facility that will allow scientists to create the next generation of cancer cures — cells that help a patient’s immune system attack and eliminate cancer.

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Scientists have for the first time found evidence that a microbe in the human gut is associated with protection from typhoid fever infection. If the research is borne out, it could offer an exciting new way to reduce these infections.

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Bioengineers have developed micro-technologies that capture extracellular vesicles (EVs) released by brain tumors. The vesicles carry samples of the mutated genetic material and proteins causing malignancy that researchers can analyze to optimize precision cancer treatment.

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Nancy Schoenborn, M.D., assistant professor in the Department of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and colleagues went straight to the source and conducted three qualitative studies that put older adults at the forefront in order to gain a better understanding of if, and how, they prefer to discuss various health topics.

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Many Airbnb venues in the United States fail to provide the critical carbon monoxide and fire safety protections that are legally required of hotels and motels, suggests new research from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

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Using both ears to hear increases speech recognition and improves sound localization. Ruth Litovsky, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, wants to bring this advantage to people who use cochlear implants. During the 175th ASA Meeting, Litovsky will present data showing a new technique that synchronizes the cochlear signals that stimulate the brain in a way that is similar to people who can hear normally.

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Fossil primates provide important clues about human evolution, but the sounds they made and the soft tissue involved in making those sounds weren’t preserved. So chimpanzees can provide important points of comparison for inferring the sorts of sounds our early ancestors may have made. During the 175th ASA Meeting, Michael Wilson, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota, will present his group’s work searching for similarities between the vocal communications of chimpanzees and humans.

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Humans communicate their intentions, feelings and desires verbally, so voice disorders can have devastating personal and professional consequences. A perceived voice abnormality may lead to a negative assessment of the speaker’s intelligence, health and personality. During the 175th ASA Meeting, researchers will describe their work on voice perception and what it means for a voice to sound “normal.”

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Beta peptides have become a key tool in building more robust biomaterials. These synthetic molecules mimic the structure of small proteins, but they are protected against processes that degrade natural peptides. A new study has expanded what we can do with these crafty peptides. Published in APL Bioengineering, the researchers show that molecules that have previously posed challenges to bioengineers can now be used to make new kinds of biomaterials.

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Economic tumult in the early 2000s persuaded many young people to keep living with their parents, but the reasons why differ starkly by race, a study concludes.

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Scientists at the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) have combined two different microscope technologies to create sharper images of rapidly moving processes inside a cell.

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While it is obvious that things like boats can be heard by marine life under the water, what about human activities like swimming, canoeing and scuba diving? During the 175th ASA Meeting, Christine Erbe, director of the Centre for Marine Science & Technology at Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia, will describe her work exploring the impact of man-made underwater noise on marine life.

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To make open offices less noisy, researchers are creating small “acoustic islands” using high-back chairs and retroreflective ceilings to direct sound to help you hear your own conversations -- not others’ -- better. During the 175th ASA Meeting, Manuj Yadav, at the University of Sydney, will present his and his colleagues’ work toward solutions to the speech distraction problem in open-plan offices.

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A new Johns Hopkins Medicine analysis of national trauma data shows that trauma patients were four times more likely to die from gunshot wounds and nearly nine times more likely to die from stab wounds before getting to a trauma center in 2014, compared with rates in 2007.

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Johns Hopkins School of Nursing Professor Cheryl Dennison Himmelfarb has been named the inaugural Sarah E. Allison Professor for Research and Self-Care.

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Saladin may not be well known in the West, but even 800 years after his death, he remains famous in the Middle East. During his illustrious life, he successfully led armies against the invading Crusaders and conquered several kingdoms. But his death remains a mystery. Now an expert disease detective has a new theory about what may have killed him.

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Researchers at the National Eye Institute have discovered cellular mechanisms that help the 13-lined ground squirrel survive hibernation. Their findings could be a step toward extending storage of human donor tissues awaiting transplantation and protecting traumatic brain injury patients who undergo induced hypothermia. NEI is part of the National Institutes of Health. The findings were published in the May 3 issue of Cell.

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Conventional memory devices use transistors and rely on electric fields to store and read out information. An alternative approach uses magnetic fields, and a promising version relies on the magnetoelectric effect which allows an electric field to switch the magnetic properties of the devices. Existing devices, however, tend to require large magnetic and electric fields. One potential solution is a new switching element made from chromia. The researchers report their findings in Applied Physics Letters.

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Sympathetic nerve activity to skeletal muscle blood vessels—a function of the nervous system that helps regulate blood pressure—increases during physiological and mental stress in people with chronic anxiety, a new study finds.

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Renowned New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof will speak on May 3 at the Peabody Library in Baltimore on the need to build a fairer society.

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A recent study shows that a new eye drop may be a potentially effective treatment for seasonal eye allergies, a condition affecting millions of people worldwide. The findings will be presented at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) in Honolulu, Hawaii, Sunday, April 29 – Thursday, May 3

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An experienced leader in Navy Medicine, Navy Capt. (Dr.) John Gilstad, is the new director of the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.

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Fundamental researchers have proposed a novel two-part system for separating impurities from natural gas in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy. Natural gas primarily contains methane, but impurities in the gaseous mixture need to be removed before the methane can be put into the pipeline. The newly proposed purification system combines two separation methods and, in principle, promises to improve performance, reduce costs and diminish ecological side effects compared to benchmark technologies.

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The E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation of Philadelphia has given $6 million to the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing (JHSON) to fund the expansion of its current Anne M. Pinkard building.

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The spring 2018 issue of Changing Business, the twice-yearly magazine showcasing faculty research from the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, is now available online and in print.

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In studies with monkeys, Johns Hopkins researchers report that they have uncovered significant new details about how the cerebellum — the “learning machine” of the mammalian brain — makes predictions and learns from its mistakes, helping us execute complex motor actions such as accurately shooting a basketball into a net or focusing your eyes on an object across the room.

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When it comes to health care, effective leadership can be a matter of life and death. Every decision made – whether business or health-related – must consider human cost.

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Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, MD, has been ranked as one of the top 500 midsize employers (1,000-5,000 employees) in the United States for 2018 by Forbes magazine.

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An international team of astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have detected helium in the atmosphere of the exoplanet WASP-107b. This is the first time this element has been detected in the atmosphere of a planet outside the solar system. The discovery demonstrates the ability to use infrared spectra to study exoplanet extended atmospheres.

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Some potentially toxic chemicals in water may be created, ironically, during the water treatment process itself.

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The findings of two new studies may help advance the diagnosis and treatment of eye cancers. The research is being presented at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) in Honolulu, Hawaii, Sunday, April 29 – Thursday, May 3.

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Two new research studies demonstrate that imaging technologies can help to diagnose and detect the progression of glaucoma, one of the leading causes of blindness in the U.S. When diagnosed early, vision loss from glaucoma can be slowed or prevented. The two studies are being presented at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) in Honolulu, Hawaii, Sunday, April 29 – Thursday, May 3.

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Academic institutions have been slow to adhere to new, stricter requirements by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) for clinical trial registration and reporting, according to a study led by researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

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Researchers from around the world are sharing the latest high-tech advances in research to treat, diagnose and prevent diseases causing vision loss. The new findings demonstrate the impact of technology on vision and on vision science. The five studies will be presented in a news conference — virtually and onsite — at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Tuesday, May 1 at 9am.

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An undergraduate student design team is developing a walking system designed to get pediatric ICU patients up and moving as quickly as possible.

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When people sweat, they unknowingly release a wide range of chemicals that can noninvasively inform clinicians on anything from stress hormone levels to glucose. An international team of researchers recently developed a new membrane that mitigates both issues that arise from direct dermal contact and sweat dilution for sweat biosensors. As discussed in Biomicrofluidics, the membrane performs hundreds of times better than other methods and holds up to repeated use.

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When a new park is built, a tax is instituted on fast food or a ban put in place against soft drinks in a school, public health researchers must often rely on “after the fact” observational studies to evaluate the impact of such efforts on rates of obesity in a particular population and try to clearly identify and measure the factors that worked or didn’t.

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Oncology nurses at Johns Hopkins Hospital learn to treat chemotherapy medications, like their patients, with extreme care

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In an archived webcast, University of Kentucky genomicist Jeramiah Smith describes the sea lamprey’s innovative strategy for avoiding cancer: shedding 20 percent of its genome following development. He also talks with NIGMS director Jon Lorsch about the challenges faced by early career scientists.

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In a new study, vision researchers found that certain types of lightbulbs and reading at different times of the day may contribute to nearsightedness, a condition clinically referred to as myopia. In another study, scientists found that a common food flavoring may offer new treatment options for reducing nearsightedness. The findings from the three new studies are being presented at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) in Honolulu, Hawaii, Sunday, April 29 – Thursday, May 3.

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The Catholic Business Network of Baltimore (CBNB) has announced that Sister Helen Amos, RSM, Executive Chair, Mercy Health Services, Mercy Medical Center, Baltimore, MD, is the recipient of the 2018 CBNB Catholic Business Leadership Award.

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While the vast majority of organelles in a cell are insulated by membranes, scientists are finding more and more membrane-less organelles that form as liquid droplets nested inside of each other.

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Researchers recently identified a new “selfish” gene, wtf4, that encodes a toxin and an antitoxin in an effort to ensure the gene’s own transmission by killing off reproductive cells lacking the gene.

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A new study led by Johns Hopkins researchers adds to growing evidence that patients underuse nonopioid pain relievers to supplement opioid pain management after spine and joint surgery.

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Three new studies demonstrate research findings that could offer novel treatments for vision and eye conditions. The studies will be presented at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) in Honolulu, Hawaii, from Sunday, April 29 – Thursday, May 3.

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Two new studies demonstrate potential future opportunities to use genetic information to treat vision conditions. The new studies are being presented at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) in Honolulu, Hawaii, Sunday, April 29 – Thursday, May 3.

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The American Physiological Society has named Scott Steen, CAE, FASAE, as its new executive director, starting on July 16. A veteran association management professional, Steen was selected following an executive search to replace APS’ long-serving executive director, Martin Frank, PhD.

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Twenty-three non-commissioned officers from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps have been given the opportunity to follow their dreams of becoming physicians thanks to the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences’ (USU) Enlisted to Medical Degree Preparatory Program, or EMDP2.