Focus: Hidden - Massachusetts

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Was King Henry IV of France a feminist? Probably not. But new research by Professor Nicola Courtright aims to show how the art and architecture of his royal residences

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Wellesley, Mass. (January 3, 2017) — In January, Wellesley College will host several of the world’s most influential women, including Sally Yates, Wendy Sherman, Andrea Mitchell, Katharine H.S. Moon, and Madeleine Albright herself, as part of the Madeleine Korbel Albright Institute for Global Affairs ninth annual Wintersession, a three-week intensive program at Wellesley that educates the next generation of women leaders.

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A neurosurgical team at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University has successfully performed what is believed to be a first-of-its-kind brain surgery on a Northern fur seal named Ziggy Star in an attempt to address her worsening neurologic condition. Ziggy, an adult female, is recovering well at her permanent home at Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, Connecticut.

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Researchers reveal in detail how fertilization triggers destruction of a small number of proteins, which releases the “brakes” on an egg’s cell cycle. Simultaneously, vast quantities of proteins are rapidly secreted from the egg to help prevent fertilization by multiple sperm cells.

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Harvard Medical School will offer online education to doctors-in-the-making and practicing clinicians affiliated with a pediatric cancer hospital in Egypt, the 57357 Children’s Cancer Hospital in Cairo.

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Hearing loss is the most common form of sensory loss in humans, and almost half of cases have an underlying genetic cause.

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Awareness of open educational resources (OER) among U.S. higher education teaching faculty continues to improve, but still remains less than a majority, according to a new report from the Babson Survey Research Group (BSRG).

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New research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences indicates that lesions to brain areas in individuals exhibiting criminal behavior all fall within a particular brain network involved in moral decision-making.

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Tufts University School of Medicine opens new gross anatomy lab, introducing a modern, enlarged space for students to learn essential anatomical training. The lab’s opening celebration also launched the school’s 125th anniversary.

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From trial-ready registries to genotyping parties, the field has developed new techniques and meds to stem a tide of failed trials. Alzforum’s 13-part series sums up the state of the art as presented at a recent conference.

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Microscopes enhanced with artificial intelligence (AI) could help clinical microbiologists diagnose potentially deadly blood infections and improve patients’ odds of survival, according to microbiologists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC).

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The Distance Education State Almanac 2017, conducted by the Babson Survey Research Group and the Digital Learning Compass organization, reveals very different patterns of distance enrollments among the fifty states.

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Benefits of many cancer drug combinations are not due to drug synergy, but to “bet hedging.” Combinations give each patient multiple chances of responding to at least one drug, increasing survival within patient populations. Findings suggest new ways to improve the design of combination therapies.

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Rainy weather has long been blamed for achy joints and back pain. Past research has yielded mixed results. New analysis tracking visits to the doctor with daily rainfall found no relationship between the two.

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Youth turnout in yesterday’s special U.S. Senate election in Alabama is estimated to be 23 percent, according to youth vote experts from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning & Engagement (CIRCLE), the preeminent, non-partisan research center on youth engagement at Tufts University’s Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life. Young people were pivotal in tipping the scales for Democratic candidate Doug Jones.

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• Benjamin Ebert, MD, PhD, current chair of Medical Oncology, was presented with recognition at annual American Society of Hematology meeting • Ebert is notable for his leadership in describing the genomic landscape of adult myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS)

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• Azacitidine reverses resistance to SL-401 in AML and BPDCN cell lines, researchers find • Results prompt clinical trial of SL-401 and azacitidine in AML and MDS patients

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This past decade, Alzheimer’s science has undergone a paradigm shift toward the disease’s early, silent phase. For trials, this means change at every level: new participants, new screening tools, new outcome measurements. What’s the progress?

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Among younger patients newly diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), treatment with a combination of chemotherapy and a molecularly targeted drug significantly improves response over what is typically seen with chemotherapy alone, according to an investigator-initiated multi-center phase II clinical trial.

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Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have carried out the largest genomic analysis of patients with smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM), a precursor to full-blown blood cancer that doesn’t show outward symptoms.

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Although people with multiple myeloma usually respond well to treatment, the blood cancer generally keeps coming back. Following genetic changes in how the disease evolves over time will help to understand the disease and, eventually, deliver more effective treatments.

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• Clinical Activity in a Phase 1 Study of BLU-285, a Potent, Highly-Selective Inhibitor of KIT D816V in Advanced Systemic Mastocytosis • Study shows one of multiple ways in which novel targeted cancer therapies are now being deployed to improve outcomes and quality of life for patients with rare, advanced, or difficult-to-treat blood malignancies.

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Daily low doses of the immune signaling protein interleukin-2 (IL-2) can safely benefit patients who develop chronic graft-versus-host disease following stem cell transplants, including particular benefit in pediatric patients in one small study, report scientists from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

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Immunotherapy agents known as checkpoint inhibitors have shown considerable promise in patients with hematologic cancers who relapse after a transplant with donor stem cells. Preliminary results from the first clinical trial in these patients of one such agent – nivolumab – indicate that along with signs of effectiveness, it also produced significant side effects at the dose initially studied. The findings indicate a need for further clinical trials in this group before being considered for off-label use with these patients, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators report.

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Study in mice reveals a brain circuit that regulates social memory formation and recognition. Results shed light on brain’s ability to reconcile conflicting social stimuli, and shed light on anomalies in social behavior seen in neurodevelopmental, neurologic and psychiatric disorders

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The Sandy Hook school shooting five years ago prompted political response that led to significantly higher gun sales; and this resulted in greater numbers of accidental deaths by firearms – in both adults and children, according to a new study authored by two Wellesley professors

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A part of the John E. and Alice L. Butler Launch Pad, the undergraduate and graduate Hatcheries provide a vibrant atmosphere conducive to sharing ideas and information among student teams, faculty, executives-in-residence and visiting entrepreneurs.

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Like nomads who carry tokens of home on their travels, colorectal cancer cells that spread to other parts of the body appear to bring several of the species of bacteria that were their companions in the colon, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists report in a new study in the journal Science.

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Overcoming a major hurdle in microbiome research, scientists have developed a method to elucidate cause-effect relationships between gut bacteria and disease. The approach could help identify disease-modulating microbes and open doors to precision-targeted therapies derived from microbial molecules.

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Substitute, for-hire physicians commonly care for hospitalized patients when doctors are sick or away. Information about outcomes is largely lacking, but a new study brings some much-needed insight. Results show no differences in 30-day mortality rates among patients treated by temporary physicians.

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A team led by Tufts University biologists has successfully harnessed new technology to develop an approach that could allow for rapid and precise identification of the CGRs involved in disease, cancer and disorder development, which is critical for diagnosis and treatment. The results appeared this week in the December issue of Genome Research.

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Babson College is offering four-year, full-tuition Diversity Leadership Awards to public high school students in San Francisco, Miami, and Boston, as well as neighboring Lawrence, Massachusetts. Students receiving such scholarships demonstrate the greatest potential for leadership in creating a diverse community at Babson. In addition to its main campus located in Wellesley, Massachusetts, Babson has established education hubs in Boston, San Francisco, and Miami, which is why students from these communities are being offered this opportunity.

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Healthy adults mounted strong immune responses after receiving an investigational whole inactivated Zika virus vaccine, according to interim analyses of three Phase 1, placebo-controlled, double-blind trials conducted at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), and Saint Louis University School of Medicine. The findings were published today in The Lancet.

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Led by researchers in the Smith Center for Outcomes Research in Cardiology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), the large-scale analysis determined that 30 percent of readmissions following peripheral revascularization were related to complications associated with the procedure, while differences in hospital quality accounted only modestly for readmission risk.

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New study finds that death rates for those hospitalized for opioid-related conditions in the U.S. have quadrupled since 2000. Worst toll seen among patients who were low-income, white, under age 65 and on Medicare, and the severity of opioid misuse leading to hospitalization has increased.

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The Universal Genomics Instructor Handbook and Toolkit, a new, free educational resource designed to educate clinicians in all medical specialties in genomic medicine, is now available to improve physician genomic education worldwide. Developed by a team led by Richard L. Haspel, MD, PhD, Pathologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Associate Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School, the handbook and accompanying online toolkit were developed through funding from The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), one of the 27 institutes and centers at the National Institute of Health.

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Researchers at Tufts are examining the behavior of stem cells within the context of aging and loss of smell. In Cell Stem Cell, they report mechanisms to regenerate adult stem cells in mice to restore smell cells: it mimics induced pluripotency, but is simpler, involving only two Yamanaka factors.

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Cancer therapies including radiation and chemotherapy seek to treat the disease by killing tumor cells. Now a team including researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have shown that the dead and dying cancer cells generated by chemotherapy and targeted cancer therapy paradoxically trigger inflammation that promotes aggressive tumor growth. In a study published today in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, the team has illuminated the mechanism by which tumor cell death can drive primary tumor growth and metastasis.

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Head and neck tumors that contain cells undergoing a partial epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition — which transforms them from neatly organized blocks into irregular structures that extrude into the surrounding environment — are more likely to invade and spread to other parts of the body, according to a new study led by researchers from Mass. Eye and Ear, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

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BOSTON – (November 29, 2017) – Scientists at Joslin Diabetes Center have taken another step toward solving a long-standing puzzle about heart health in type 2 diabetes, with a finding that eventually may point towards more personalized patient care.People with type 2 diabetes, who are at least twice as likely to develop cardiovascular disease (CVD) as people without the condition, generally can reduce their risks by careful controlling their glycemic (blood glucose) levels.

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Xiaocheng Jiang, assistant professor of biomedical engineering in the School of Engineering at Tufts University, has been awarded an early-career award from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) for his work developing graphene-based microfluidics for ultra-high-resolution, dynamic bio-imaging.

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Allan Cohen, Babson College management professor, and David L. Bradford, Senior Lecturer on Organizational Behavior Emeritus at Stanford Graduate School of Business, have released the third edition of ‘Influence Without Authority.’

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Some individuals’ skin appears more youthful than their chronologic age. Although many people try to achieve this with creams, lotions, injections, and surgeries, new research published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology indicates that increased expression of certain genes may be the key to intrinsically younger looking — and younger behaving — skin.

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The first large Medicare pay-for-performance program for doctors and medical practices, which ran between 2013 and 2016, failed to deliver on its central promise to increase value of care for patients. The program may have also exacerbated health disparities by inadvertently shifting payments from physicians caring for sicker, poorer patients to those caring for healthier, richer ones. Important similarities between the failed pay-for-performance prototype and its successor suggest the latter may not be sound policy.

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Changing the prices of seven foods, including fruits, vegetables and sugar-sweetened beverages, could reduce annual deaths from stroke, diabetes and cardiovascular disease by 3-9 percent and address disparities in the United States.

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OpenNotes has reached a new milestone. More than 20 million patients can now read their notes securely online using patient portals.

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Babson College has been selected as a Davis School by the Davis United World College Scholars Program. International students that have completed their final years of high school at one of the 17 United World Colleges will be eligible for need-based scholarships to attend Babson as undergraduate students.

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Pier Paolo Pandolfi, MD, PhD, Director of the Cancer Center and Cancer Research Institute at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

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Babson College Entrepreneurship Division Chair Andrew Corbett has been named the Paul T. Babson Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies.

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Poor nutrition and lack of exercise lead to the increasing prevalence of obesity which, in turn, is the major predictor of diabetes and future risk of cardiovascular disease in western societies. Excess weight is also closely associated with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), the increasingly common and potentially serious sleep disorder that is often marked by loud snoring. OSA affects about 5 to 10 percent of children 8 to 11 years old. While evidence suggests that OSA appears to exacerbate obesity and its comorbidities such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, its effects on children have not yet been studied in detail.