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Released: 22-Jan-2019 11:30 AM EST
Is A Continuous Glucose Monitor Right for You?
Joslin Diabetes Center

Every person with diabetes knows that they can make themselves crazy self-testing their blood glucose levels. Continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) are an important tool that can make daily diabetes management a lot easier.

Released: 18-Jan-2019 12:20 PM EST
Boston Medical Center

A new paper published in Pediatrics links successful implementation of Baby-Friendly™ practices in the southern U.S. with increases in breastfeeding rates and improved, evidence-based care. The changes were especially positive for African-American women.

Released: 18-Jan-2019 4:05 AM EST
Math Professor & Probability Scholar on the Odds of Winning When Buying a Square at a Super Bowl Party
Academy Communications

Aaron Montgomery of Baldwin Wallace University offers insights on probability and placing a friendly bet at the office Super Bowl pool

Released: 17-Jan-2019 11:40 AM EST
Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Boston, MA -- Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of death in the U.S., and African Americans are disproportionately affected. Prior studies have investigated how limited access to material resources due to financial hardship may influence health, but the association between that stress caused by financial hardship and coronary heart disease in African Americans has not previously been examined.

Released: 17-Jan-2019 11:25 AM EST
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Emperor penguin chicks hatch into one of Earth's most inhospitable places--the frozen world of Antarctica. Childhood in this environment is harsh and lasts only about five months, when their formerly doting parents leave the fledglings to fend for themselves.

Released: 16-Jan-2019 11:05 AM EST
Massachusetts Eye and Ear appoints Chief Medical Officer, Chief of Anesthesia
Massachusetts Eye and Ear

Following a nationwide search, Mass. Eye and Ear named Aalok Agarwala, MD, MBA, as Chief Medical Officer, and Kathrin Bourdeu, MD, PhD, as Chief of Anesthesia.

Released: 16-Jan-2019 10:15 AM EST
Olin College Announces Call for Participation in Tenth Session of the Collaboratory Summer Institute
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

In June 2019, Olin College will host the tenth session of the Collaboratory Summer Institute: Designing Student-Centered Learning Experiences. This weeklong interactive workshop provides institutional teams of educators with the opportunity to conceive and catalyze change in their classrooms and their institutions. Summer Institute (SI) is specifically for teams of faculty, staff and administrators interested in working together on an existing or new educational innovation project.

Released: 15-Jan-2019 12:50 PM EST
Fever alters immune cells so they can better reach infections
Cell Press

Fever is known to help power up our immune cells, and scientists in Shanghai have new evidence explaining how. They found in mice that fever alters surface proteins on immune cells like lymphocytes to make them better able to travel via blood vessels to reach the site of infection. Their work appears on January 15 in the journal Immunity.

Released: 15-Jan-2019 12:40 PM EST
JAMA report outlines recommendations for evaluation and management of penicillin allergy
Massachusetts General Hospital

While more than 32 million individuals in the U.S. have a documented penicillin allergy in their medical record, studies have shown that more 95 percent actually can be treated safely with this class of antibiotics, improving treatment outcomes and reducing the risk of infection with dangerous resistant pathogens such as Clostridium difficile (C. difficile). A review article in the January 15 issue of JAMA recommends best practices for evaluation of reported penicillin allergies and provides clinicians with guidance and tools to help determine appropriate procedures based on the severity of previously reported reactions.

10-Jan-2019 11:00 AM EST
Zip Code or Genetic Code?
Harvard Medical School

• Analysis of insurance records of more than 56,000 twin pairs assesses the influence of genes and environment in 560 diseases • Going beyond the usual one-disease-at-a-time approach, the new method analyzes heritable and environmental factors across hundreds of common conditions • Insights can propel genetic and epidemiological research for a range of diseases, inform clinical decisions, health policy

Released: 11-Jan-2019 3:05 PM EST
Renowned Energy Scientist Amory Lovins will be Olin College's Commencement Speaker
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

Amory B. Lovins, co-founder and chief scientist at Rocky Mountain Institute and a world-renowned energy innovator and consultant, will be the featured speaker at Olin College’s fourteenth Commencement exercises on May 19.

Released: 11-Jan-2019 3:05 PM EST
Olin College Student Team Finalists in Disney Imagineering Contest
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

Olin students Eric Miller, Miranda McMillen and Benjamin Ziemann have been named finalists in the 28th Walt Disney Imagineering Imaginations Design Competition.

Released: 11-Jan-2019 2:05 PM EST
Siddhartan Govindasamy Leading Innovative Workshop at JK Lakshmipat University
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Siddhartan Govindasamy, together with colleagues from JK Lakshmipat University (JKLU) in Jaipur, India, is running an innovative workshop focused on experiential and project-based learning.

Released: 10-Jan-2019 2:05 PM EST
Racial inequality in the deployment of rooftop solar energy in the U.S.
Tufts University

Although the popularity of rooftop solar panels has skyrocketed because of their benefits to consumers and the environment, the deployment has predominantly occurred in white neighborhoods, even after controlling for household income and home ownership, according to a study by researchers from Tufts University and the University of California, Berkeley, published today in the journal Nature Sustainability.

9-Jan-2019 3:30 PM EST
The Pressure’s Off
Harvard Medical School

• Scientists reveal activated structure of a receptor critical for blood pressure, salt homeostasis • Receptor is a target for drugs widely used to treat hypertension

Released: 9-Jan-2019 1:05 PM EST
Albright Institute at Wellesley College Brings Together Experts to Discuss New Challenges to Democracy: Authoritarianism and New Technologies
Wellesley College

Wellesley College’s Madeleine Korbel Albright Institute for Global Affairs is hosting some of the world’s most influential thinkers—including Samantha Power, Cass Sunstein, Judy Woodruff, John Podesta, Bill Reilly, and Madeleine Albright herself—at its 10th annual three-week Wintersession program, part of the Institute’s broader efforts to educate the next generation of women leaders.

Released: 9-Jan-2019 1:05 PM EST
Protecting the Heart from Cancer Treatments
Beth Israel Lahey Health

BIDMC cardiologists Aarti Asnani, MD, Loryn Feinberg, MD, and James Chang, MD, help cancer patients monitor and prevent cardiac complications.

Released: 9-Jan-2019 12:05 PM EST
Fad Diets: A Dietitian’s Perspective
Beth Israel Lahey Health

Danelle Olson, RD, LDN, CNSC, a registered dietitian in the Weight Loss Surgery Center at BIDMC, explains the problems with fad diets.

8-Jan-2019 8:00 AM EST
Brain Plasticity Restored in Adult Mice Through Targeting Specific Nerve Cell Connections
Tufts University

Research in mice finds a new molecular mechanism that is essential for maturation of brain function and may be used to restore plasticity in aged brains. This work targets for the first time a specific molecule acting on a single type of neuronal connection to modulate brain function. Findings may advance treatment of human diseases such as autism.

Released: 8-Jan-2019 9:50 AM EST
A Beginner's Guide to Exercise
Beth Israel Lahey Health

Linda Trainor, RN, BSN, who works in the Weight Loss Surgery Center at BIDMC, shares tips for adding exercise into your daily life.

Released: 7-Jan-2019 9:45 AM EST
Personalized vaccine to be tested for the first time in patients with kidney cancer
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

By pairing a novel personalized cancer vaccine with a more established immunotherapy drug that is administered to patients in an innovative fashion, scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute are testing a first-of-its-kind strategy aimed at improving outcomes for kidney cancer patients who are at high risk of recurrence following surgery.

Released: 4-Jan-2019 12:20 PM EST
Historical cooling periods are still playing out in the deep Pacific
Harvard School of Engineering & Applied Sciences

The ocean has a long memory. When the water in today's deep Pacific Ocean last saw sunlight, Charlemagne was the Holy Roman Emperor, the Song Dynasty ruled China and Oxford University had just held its very first class. During that time, between the 9th and 12th centuries, the earth's climate was generally warmer before the cold of the Little Ice Age settled in around the 16th century. Now, ocean surface temperatures are back on the rise but the question is, do the deepest parts of the ocean know that?

Released: 2-Jan-2019 2:05 PM EST
Study details development of functional skills in persons with Down syndrome
Massachusetts General Hospital

When expectant parents learn their child will be born with Down syndrome, they invariably have questions about what this diagnosis will mean for their son or daughter and for the rest of their family.

Released: 21-Dec-2018 4:05 PM EST
Study Examines Primary Drivers of Increased Hospitalizations of Homeless Individuals
Beth Israel Lahey Health

A new study led by investigators from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Brigham and Women’s Hospital examines patterns, causes and outcomes of acute hospitalizations between 2007 and 2013 for homeless individuals and non-homeless control groups in three populous and diverse U.S. states: Florida, California and Massachusetts.

Released: 21-Dec-2018 11:05 AM EST
Why Cardiologists Prescribe Exercise
Beth Israel Lahey Health

BIDMC Cardiologist Jeremy Robbins, MD, explains how exercise is good for your heart and how exercise affects each individual.

Released: 21-Dec-2018 11:05 AM EST
Study Finds Implementation of the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program Associated With Increase in Patient-Level Mortality
Beth Israel Lahey Health

A policy designed to reduce hospital readmissions through financial penalties was associated with a significant increase in post-discharge mortality for patients with heart failure and pneumonia, according to a large-scale study by researchers at BIDMC.

Released: 20-Dec-2018 5:05 PM EST
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novelist Jennifer Egan to Headline Amherst College Litfest 2019, February 27–March 2
Amherst College

Amherst College will host LitFest 2019 celebrating fiction, nonfiction, poetry and spoken-word performance on Feb. 27-March 2. The festival will feature readings, conversations and book signings with writers Jennifer Egan, Elizabeth Kolbert, Charles C. Mann, Jamel Brinkley and Brandon Hobson.

Released: 20-Dec-2018 11:15 AM EST
Cost to Walk Away From Facebook for a Year? More Than $1,000, New Study Finds
Tufts University

Using a series of auctions in which people were paid to close their accounts for as little as one day or as long as one year, a new study finds that Facebook users would require an average of more than $1,000 to deactivate their account for one year.

   
Released: 19-Dec-2018 4:35 PM EST
Decarbonizing Health Care
Harvard Medical School

Recognizing the threat that climate change poses to both human health and the health care system itself, Harvard Medical School and its affiliated hospitals and clinical institutes have committed to extensively decarbonize their operations.

Released: 19-Dec-2018 3:20 PM EST
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Sea levels are rising globally from ocean warming and melting of land ice, but the seas aren't rising at the same rate everywhere. Sea levels have risen significantly faster in some U.S. East Coast regions compared to others. A new study led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) reveals why.

Released: 19-Dec-2018 2:55 PM EST
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

In humans, different social groups, cities, or regions often have distinct accents and dialects. Those vocal traits are not unique to us, however. A new study from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has found that short-finned pilot whales living off the coast of Hawai'i have their own sorts of vocal dialects, a discovery that may help researchers understand the whales' complex social structure. The study was published on Dec. 14, 2018, in the journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

19-Dec-2018 11:00 AM EST
Neoantigen vaccine spurs immune response in glioblastoma
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

In a report published in Nature, however, scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute say they have shown that a personalized ‘neoantigen’ vaccine can spur a response against glioblastoma, with immune T-cells generated by the vaccine migrating into the brain tumor, creating a ‘hotter,’ inflamed environment around the cancer cells.

Released: 18-Dec-2018 1:00 PM EST
James Terwilliger named as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

New Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer named at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Released: 18-Dec-2018 11:55 AM EST
Widespread, occasional use of antibiotics in US linked with resistance
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

The increasing prevalence of antibiotic resistance in the U.S. appears more closely linked with their occasional use by many people than by their repeated use among smaller numbers of people, according to a large new study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

17-Dec-2018 2:05 PM EST
Prostate cancer scoring method may underestimate mortality risk in black men
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Black men diagnosed with prostate cancer classified as low risk may actually have a more aggressive form of the disease that is more likely to be fatal than in nonblack men placed in the same prognostic category, a new study suggests.

Released: 17-Dec-2018 4:05 PM EST
Who’s at Risk for Placenta Disorders?
Beth Israel Lahey Health

Scott Shainker, DO, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center discusses placenta disorders and who is at risk

13-Dec-2018 8:05 AM EST
Front and center: food labels have effects on consumption and product formulation
Tufts University

A new Food-PRICE systematic review and meta-analysis led by researchers at Tufts assessed the effectiveness of food package and menu labeling in interventional studies and found that these approaches can impact consumer and industry behavior for some targets, but not others.

Released: 14-Dec-2018 3:05 PM EST
BIDMC’s Research & Health News Digest: December 2018 Edition
Beth Israel Lahey Health

A monthly roundup of research briefs showcasing recent scientific advances led by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center faculty.

Released: 14-Dec-2018 11:25 AM EST
Hospitalizations for homeless individuals are on the rise
Brigham and Women’s Hospital

A homeless individual is one who lacks fixed and reliable housing, and it is estimated that 553,000 people fit that description on any given night in the United States. A new retrospective cohort study by investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center examines patterns, causes and outcomes of acute hospitalizations between 2007 and 2013 for homeless individuals and non-homeless control groups in three populous and diverse U.S. states: Florida, California and Massachusetts. Data suggest a rise in acute hospital use among homeless individuals for mental illness and substance use disorder. The results were published in the journal Medical Care on Dec. 11.

Released: 14-Dec-2018 11:10 AM EST
A Painless Adhesive
Harvard School of Engineering & Applied Sciences

Researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and Xi’an Jiaotong University in China have developed a new type of adhesive that can strongly adhere wet materials — such as hydrogel and living tissue — and be easily detached with a specific frequency of light.

Released: 14-Dec-2018 11:05 AM EST
Reconcilable Differences: Wiring Diagram of the Brain Provides a Clearer Picture of Brain Scan Data
Beth Israel Lahey Health

In a study published in the journal BRAIN, neuroscientists led by Michael D. Fox, MD, PhD, of BIDMC used data from the human brain connectome – a publicly available “wiring diagram” of the human brain based on data from thousands of healthy human volunteers – to reassess the findings from neuroimaging studies of patients with Alzheimer’s disease.

Released: 13-Dec-2018 11:40 AM EST
Coral larvae use sound to find a home on the reef
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Choosing a place to call home is one of the most consequential choices a coral can make. In the animal's larval stage, it floats freely in the ocean--but once it settles down, it anchors itself permanently to the rocky substrate of a reef, and remains stuck there for the rest of its life. Exactly how these larvae choose a specific place to live, however, is largely unclear.

Released: 13-Dec-2018 11:15 AM EST
The “Greying” of T Cells
Harvard Medical School

Research in mouse cells identifies defective metabolic pathway in aging immune T cells. The pathway is critical for switching T cells from dormancy into illness-fighting mode. In experiments, researchers restored lagging T-cell function by adding small-molecule compounds. Findings suggest possible mechanism behind weakened immunity common in the elderly.

10-Dec-2018 9:45 AM EST
Large Restaurant Portions a Global Problem, Study Finds
Tufts University

A multi-country study finds that large portion sizes in fast food and full service restaurants is not a problem unique to the U.S. The researchers found that 94 percent of full service meals and 72 percent of fast food meals studied in five countries contained 600 calories or more.

Released: 12-Dec-2018 6:00 PM EST
Researchers identify pathway that drives sustained pain following injury
Harvard Medical School

Research in mice identifies a set of neurons responsible for sustained pain and resulting pain-coping behaviors. Findings point to the existence of separate neural pathways that regulate threat avoidance versus injury mitigation Existence of separate pathways may account for failure to develop effective pain medications Study can inform new ways to gauge the efficacy of candidate pain therapies by assessing behaviors stemming from different pathways

Released: 12-Dec-2018 4:05 PM EST
Loss of Tight Junction Protein Promotes Development of Precancerous Cells
Beth Israel Lahey Health

BIDMC researchers demonstrated that the lack of claudin 18 prompts the development of precancerous, abnormal cells and polyps in the engineered mouse model.

12-Dec-2018 2:05 PM EST
UK General Practitioners Skeptical That Artificial Intelligence Could Replace Them
Beth Israel Lahey Health

In a UK-wide survey published in the journal PLOS ONE, researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), and colleagues investigated primary care physicians’ views on AI’s looming impact on health professions.

   
Released: 6-Dec-2018 12:45 PM EST
An ancient strain of plague may have led to the decline of Neolithic Europeans
Cell Press

A team of researchers from France, Sweden, and Denmark have identified a new strain of Yersinia pestis, the bacteria that causes plague, in DNA extracted from 5,000-year-old human remains. Their analyses, publishing December 6 in the journal Cell, suggest that this strain is the closest ever identified to the genetic origin of plague.

Released: 4-Dec-2018 1:45 PM EST
A Missed Opportunity
Harvard Medical School

New study shows low use of telehealth services for substance use disorder. More than 20 million Americans have substance use disorders related to alcohol, opioids and other drugs. Less than one in five receive treatment for substance use disorder, in part because of lack of providers, especially in rural areas. Telehealth—which allows clinicians to evaluate and treat patients via video conferencing—could help fill this unmet need, but increasing use must overcome regulatory barriers and target rural areas.

Released: 4-Dec-2018 9:05 AM EST
Study Evaluates Efficacy and Safety of Pancreatic Cancer Treatment in Complex Patient Care Cases
Beth Israel Lahey Health

In a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Manuel Hidalgo, MD, PhD, and colleagues conducted a phase I/II trial designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of nab-paclitaxel given in combination with gemcitabine in patients with pancreatic cancer and reduced health status. The team – based at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncologicas (Spanish National Cancer Center), where Hidalgo previously served as Director of the Clinical Research Program and Vice Director of Translational Research – reported that the combination of therapies significantly improved survival even in less robust patients with metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) compared to gemcitabine alone.



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