Children whose caregivers misuse alcohol or use, produce or distribute drugs face an increased risk of medical and behavioral problems. According to a new clinical report by experts at Beth Israel Medical Center (BIDMC) and Boston Children’s Hospital, pediatricians hold the unique position to assess risk and intervene to protect children. The report is available online today and will appear in the August print edition of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Association of Pediatrics.
As the author of the recently published Populism’s Power: Radical Grassroots Democracy in America, Wellesley College's Laura Grattan can articulate how intensified appeals to "rule by the people"—from Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders—have transformed our political landscape and what it means for the future.
Whitehead Institute scientists have created a checklist that defines the “naive” state of cultured human embryonic stem cells (ESCs). Such cells provide a better model of early human embryogenesis than conventional ESCs in later stages of development.
Eating less may help us lead longer, healthier lives, according to new results from a large, multicenter study led by Tufts researchers. The paper reveals that a 25 percent reduction in calories can significantly lower markers of chronic inflammation without negatively impacting other parts of the immune system.
The recent emergence of bacterial infections that are resistant to many existing antibiotics is driving an urgent need for tools to quickly identify the small number of therapies that are still effective for individual patients. Currently, multi-drug resistant bacteria often must be sent to specialized laboratories for analysis, leading to several days of delay before results can guide therapy. Now investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have developed a simple and versatile method using inkjet printing technology to test such bacteria for susceptibility to antibiotics in a clinical setting. The method, already available online, is described in the September issue of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.
We can thank neurons in the brain’s cerebral cortex for the rich representation of the world we “see.” In response to sensory stimuli—sights, sounds, tastes, smells, touch—neurons fire electrical spikes that collectively make up our brain’s model of the world. Get more HMS news here To help construct that world, individual neurons are so specialized that they fire in response to specific external inputs.
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute study published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that using repeated doses of an immunotherapy drug can restore a complete remission for some relapsed stem cell transplant recipients.
A study by researchers at Tufts University School of Medicine found that on average offensive linemen from a Division III college football conference weighed 38 percent more in 2014 than they did in 1956, while the average male’s weight over the same time increased only 12 percent.
Seventeen college students from across the country are at Tufts University’s Boston campus for ten weeks to experience life in a lab. The Building Diversity in Biomedical Sciences program provides research and career training to students typically under-represented in biomedical sciences.
Neurodegenerative disease researchers in the U.K. fear the Brexit will curtail their access to EU funds and complicate international collaborations. Analysts agree that a U.K. exit is likely to harm big science across the continent.
Noninvasive electrical brain stimulation offers hope as a potential new tool to ease the symptoms of certain diseases and mental illnesses. But neuroscientists from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) are warning against self-administered brain stimulation by so-called “do-it-yourself” (DIY) users. Their “Open Letter” appears in the July 7 issue of Annals of Neurology.
Investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have identified a developmental cause of adult-onset cardiac hypertrophy, a dangerous thickening of the heart muscle that can lead to heart failure and death. Reported online in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, the new findings could lead to targeted therapies for this condition.
Neurons in the brain that control hunger are regulated by AMPK, a protein activated during fasting, report researchers from Tufts University. The study sheds light on the biological mechanisms that regulate feeding behavior, and serves as a potential model for the broad study of synapse formation.
A study published today in the Journal of Neuroscience led by Yongjie Yang of Tufts University School of Medicine identifies an astroglial trigger mechanism as contributing to symptoms of fragile X syndrome in mice.
A new risk calculator can predict an individual’s risk of developing psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia, according to a new study published today in The American Journal of Psychiatry. The research involved collaborators from nine sites, including Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), and may help researchers test treatments to prevent onset of full psychosis.
Psychosis is characterized by hallucinations and delusions. The new calculator assesses an individual’s risk of developing psychosis after experiencing early warning signs of schizophrenia, such as hearing voices.
“Until now, clinicians could give patients only a rough estimate of how their condition might progress—that some 15 to 25 percent of people who have experienced early warning symptoms will go on to develop a more serious disorder,” said Larry J. Seidman, PhD, a psychologist at BIDMC and Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School.
In addition to stressful life events, trauma and family history
Tufts scientists have identified factors linked to why individual mycobacteria of the same genetic background can respond differently to antibiotics. The findings shed light on the complexity of antibiotic tolerance and may improve the future design of drug regimens.
The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, officially becomes part of Tufts University's School of Arts and Sciences on July 1, 2016. Now named the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, the school is extraordinary in being both part of a major research university and affiliated with a world-class museum.
The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, officially becomes part of Tufts University's School of Arts and Sciences on July 1, 2016. Now named the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, the school is extraordinary in being both part of a major research university and affiliated with a world-class museum.
Investigators at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in collaboration with scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have identified a natural molecular pathway that enables cells to burn off calories as heat rather than store them as fat. This raises the possibility of a new approach to treating and preventing obesity, diabetes, and other obesity-linked metabolic disorders including cancer.
An epidemiological study analyzing the association of butter consumption with chronic disease and mortality finds that butter was only weakly associated with total mortality, not associated with heart disease, and slightly inversely associated (protective) with diabetes.
Researchers at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine and the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts, led by Jonathan Garlick, have established for the first time that skin cells from diabetic foot ulcers can be reprogrammed to acquire properties of embryonic-like cells.
A research team led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Seoul National University has developed a new electric mesh device that can be wrapped around the heart to deliver electrical impulses and improve cardiac function in experimental models of heart failure. The study points to a potential new way of improving heart function and treating dangerous arrhythmias by compensating for damaged cardiac muscle and enabling healthy heart muscle to work more efficiently.
The rapid development of a safe and effective vaccine to prevent the Zika virus (ZIKV) is a global priority, as infection in pregnant women has been shown to lead to fetal microcephaly and other major birth defects. The World Health Organization declared the Zika virus epidemic a global public health emergency on February 1, 2016.
A global consortium of researchers banded together to conduct an epidemiological study analyzing specific omega-3 fatty acid biomarkers and heart disease. They found that blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids from seafood and plant-based foods are associated with a lower risk of fatal heart attack.
Early studies have suggested that paying doctors bonuses for meeting targets for certain health care measures would lead to improved health outcomes for patients, but the findings were not repeated in later, more rigorous studies, according to new research. In a paper published June 23 in Preventing Chronic Disease, Stephen Soumerai, Harvard Medical School professor of population medicine at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, and Huseyin Naci at the London School of Economics analyzed the latest results.
Most pregnant women with well-controlled diabetes give birth to healthy children. But their babies run much higher risks of birth defects than babies born to women without diabetes, because very early in embryonic development, the babies are exposed to higher levels of glucose in maternal blood.
Prominent health policy and public health researcher, Catherine M. DesRoches, DrPH, is joining the growing OpenNotes team and the Harvard Medical School faculty. As Executive Director, DesRoches will lead the OpenNotes movement toward national adoption of the practice of providing patients with ready and secure access to a fully transparent medical record, including the clinician’s medical notes.
The mitochondria within a cell are small structures that play an outsized role. They convert oxygen and simple sugars into ATP, the cell’s source of energy, actions essential to metabolic pathways and a cell’s very survival. “Given the importance of mitochondria in human health, it is important to understand the mechanisms underlying their ability to cope with protein-folding stress.
The Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems (AMDIS) and OpenNotes have announced a partnership to advance transparency in health care and enhance patient and clinician communication by inviting patients to read and engage with the contents of their medical records.
Researchers at Joslin Diabetes Center have announced the results of a study that may change how nutrition therapy is delivered to overweight and obese patients with type 2 diabetes.
Nearly 2 million people in the United States are addicted to prescription opioids, and millions more feel the pain, including their families, friends and clinicians. How did we get here? “When we look back in 20 years I want us to say, ‘This is when the country woke up, when we as clinicians decided to step up in our role as leaders, as advocates, to create a foundation for better health.
In an effort to address widespread concerns related to testosterone deficiency (TD) and its treatment with testosterone therapy, a group of international experts has developed a set of resolutions and conclusions to provide clarity for physicians and patients. At a consensus conference held in Prague, Czech Republic last fall, the experts debated nine resolutions, with unanimous approval. The details of the conference were published today in a Mayo Clinic Proceedings report.
Researchers find cytoreductive nephrectomy may offer an overall survival benefit to patients with metastatic kidney cancer who are treated with targeted therapies
Using tiny, alpaca-derived, single-domain antibody fragments, Whitehead Institute scientists have developed a method to perturb cellular processes in mammalian cells, allowing them to tease apart the roles that individual proteins play in these pathways. With improved knowledge of protein activity, scientists can better understand not only basic biology but also how disease corrupts cellular function and identify potential therapeutics to rectify these aberrations.
With $42 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health, scientists from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) will lead a five-year research initiative to advance efforts to cure and prevent HIV/AIDS. Dan Barouch, MD, PhD, Director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at BIDMC, and Louis Picker, MD, Assistant Director of the OHSU Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute, will lead a consortium of researchers from across the country exploring the mechanisms behind promising new HIV vaccine candidates and potential cure strategies.
Pathologists have been largely diagnosing disease the same way for the past 100 years, by manually reviewing images under a microscope. But new work suggests that computers can help doctors improve accuracy and significantly change the way cancer and other diseases are diagnosed.
Artist’s representation of how the silver nanoparticles are made. Animation: Rick Groleau Synthetic biologists at Harvard Medical School and Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering have devised a new, more environmentally sustainable way to produce antimicrobial silver nanoparticles at the mesoscale using biological rather than inorganic chemical methods.
Louis R. Pasquale, M.D., Director of the Glaucoma Service at Massachusetts Eye and Ear and a Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, is one of three vision researchers to be appointed to the National Advisory Eye Council (NAEC) of the National Eye Institute (NEI) this year. The NAEC provides guidance on research, training and other NEI programs.
The early years of medical training can be stressful, even traumatic at times, as students and residents directly confront the mortality of their patients and the enormity of their responsibility as physicians. Students report feeling overwhelmed, professors note that exceptional students feel unsure of themselves, and residency managers note high levels of burnout and depression.
Nearly 15 percent of opioid-naïve patients hospitalized under Medicare are discharged with a new prescription for opioids, according to a study published today in JAMA Internal Medicine. Among those patients who received a prescription, 40 percent were still taking opioids 90 days after discharge. The rate of prescription varied almost twofold between hospitals, with some hospitals discharging as many as 20 percent of patients with a prescription for opioids.
Tufts University microbiologist Cecilia A. Silva-Valenzuela, Ph.D., has been named one of ten Latin American Fellows in the Biomedical Sciences by The Pew Charitable Trusts. Working in Andy Camilli’s lab, she is studying the use of phages to help stop the spread of cholera.
Male fruit flies with high levels of dopamine in P1 neurons readily court female flies, but males whose dopamine has dropped after a few matings lose interest. Video: Stephen Zhang Male fruit flies have a mating drive, and its rise and fall is controlled by dopamine levels in one area of the brain, a team of Harvard Medical School neurobiologists has found.
Joslin Diabetes Center, a research and clinical affiliate of Harvard Medical School, today announced a newly signed collaboration with Sanofi (EURONEXT: SAN and NYSE: SNY) which extends their ongoing collaboration in exploring novel targets for treatment of diabetes.
The New England Aquarium is celebrating the launch of its new Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life in Boston, a scientific institute focusing on fisheries conservation and aquaculture solutions, marine mammal research and conservation, habitat and ecosystem health, and marine animal health – a major new initiative for the Aquarium.
Although more than five decades have passed since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was enacted, income inequity remains. Black workers in the U.S. continue to earn less than white workers. And according to a new study by researchers at Harvard Medical School and the University of Southern California, this inequity also holds true for black and white male physicians, despite the fact that they have the same high levels of education and do the same work.
Nursing homes care for increasing numbers of people with dementia, yet many lack access to geriatric psychiatrists, behavioral neurologists and other specialists who can help manage dementia care. Consequently, nursing home staff may resort to physical restraints or antipsychotic medications to manage behavioral challenges. A new study led by BIDMC has found that use of video consultations between nursing home staff and hospital clinical experts was associated with significant reductions in the use of physical restraints and antipsychotic medication among dementia patients.
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