What drives brain changes in macular degeneration?
MIT study sheds light on underlying neural mechanism
Cathryn M. Delude, McGovern Institute
In macular degeneration, the most common form of adult blindness, patients progressively lose vision in the center of their visual field, thereby depriving the corresponding part of the visual cortex of input. Previously, researchers discovered that the deprived neurons begin responding to visual input from another spot on the retina -- evidence of plasticity in the adult cortex.
Chronic infection may add to developing-world deaths
MIT study points to hidden threat stalking many diarrhea patients
David Chandler, MIT News Office
Worldwide, nearly 2 million people per year die from diarrhea, the vast majority of them in poor countries in Africa and Asia. The disease accounts for 18 percent of all deaths among children -- and yet is almost always preventable with proper treatment. Now, new research from MIT indicates that underlying, low-level undiagnosed infection may greatly add to the severity of a significant number of these cases. This realization could lead to changes in health-care strategies to address the problem.
Mending broken hearts with tissue engineering
New scaffold approach could also aid engineering of other tissues
Elizabeth A. Thomson, News Office
Broken hearts could one day be mended using a novel scaffold developed by MIT researchers and colleagues.
The idea is that living heart cells or stem cells seeded onto such a scaffold would develop into a patch of cardiac tissue that could be used to treat congenital heart defects, or aid the recovery of tissue damaged by a heart attack. The biodegradable scaffold would be gradually absorbed into the body, leaving behind new tissue.
Early Pandemic Flu Wave May Protect Against Worse One Later
Evidence Shows Spring Outbreak in 1918 May Have Immunized Against Deadlier Second Wave
New evidence about the worldwide influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 indicates that getting the flu early protected many people against a second deadlier wave, an article co-authored by an NIH epidemiologist concludes.
Fructose hampers hormone that controls appetite, UF study finds
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Could all those years chewing candy and slurping sugary sodas come back to haunt you? Perhaps. A new University of Florida study in rats shows that a fructose-filled diet blocks the appetite-controlling hormone leptin from doing its job, setting the body up for future obesity.
This is your brain on adolescence
MRI studies of teenage brain show why kids act before they think
By Rachel Tompa, Media Relations
BERKELEY — Every parent of a teenager is familiar with the special behavior that puberty seems to induce – mood swings, slammed doors, rash decisions. Parents often blame such erratic temperament on surging adolescent hormones, but it turns out that the brain has something to do with it, too.
'Fishapod' reveals origins of head and neck structures of first land animals
Newly exposed parts of Tiktaalik roseae--the intermediate fossil between fish and the first animals to walk out of water onto land 375 million years ago--are revealing how this major evolutionary event happened. A new study, published this week in Nature, provides a detailed look at the internal head skeleton of Tiktaalik roseae and reveals a key intermediate step in the transformation of the skull that accompanied the shift to life on land by our distant ancestors.
UCLA study finds that searching the Internet increases brain function
By Rachel Champeau
Functional MRI brain scans show how searching the Internet dramatically
engages brain neural networks (in red). The image on the left displays brain
activity while reading a book; the image on the right displays activity while
engaging in an Internet search.
More Effective Treatment Identified for Common Childhood Vision Disorder
Scientists have found a more effective treatment for a common childhood eye muscle coordination problem called convergence insufficiency (CI). For words on a page to appear in focus a child's eyes must turn inward, or converge. In CI, the eyes do not converge easily, and as a result, additional muscular effort must be used to make the eyes turn in.
DRINKING ALCOHOL ASSOCIATED WITH SMALLER BRAIN VOLUME
CHICAGO— The more alcohol an individual drinks, the smaller his or her total brain volume, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Digital zebrafish embryo provides the first complete developmental blueprint of a vertebrate
New Google Earth™-like model allows zooming in on the development of zebrafish
The montage shows the zebrafish digital embryo [left halves,
colors encode movement directions of cells] and the microscopy
data [right halves] at different time points in zebrafish development.
Children with Cystic Fibrosis Not Well Covered By Guidelines for Vitamin D Needs Hopkins Children’s experts call for higher doses to address deficiencies
Existing recommendations for treating vitamin D deficiency in children with cystic fibrosis (CF) are too low to cover the serious need, leaving most at high risk for bone loss and rickets, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.
Compassion Meditation May Improve Physical and Emotional Responses to Psychological Stress
Data from a new study suggests that individuals who engage in compassion meditation may benefit by reductions in inflammatory and behavioral responses to stress that have been linked to depression and a number of medical illnesses. The study's findings are published online at www.sciencedirect.com and in the medical journal Psychoneuroendocrinology.
END-OF-LIFE DISCUSSIONS WITH PHYSICIANS MAY HAVE BENEFITS FOR PATIENTS AND CAREGIVERS
CHICAGO—Terminally ill patients who had end-of-life discussions with physicians were not more likely to experience emotional distress, received less aggressive medical care in their final week of life and had a better quality of life near death, compared to patients who did not have these discussions, according to a study in the October 8 issue of JAMA.
SIMPLER DIAGNOSTIC METHOD MAY BE AS EFFECTIVE AT DETECTING BLOOD CLOT IN THE LEG
CHICAGO—A comparison of two diagnostic methods used to detect deep vein thrombosis (DVT; a blood clot in a deep vein in the leg or thigh) of the lower extremities indicates that a simpler method, with wider availability, has rates of DVT detection that are equivalent to a more complex method, according to a study in the October 8 issue JAMA.
GET MOVING: JOHNS HOPKINS RESEARCH SHOWS EARLY MOBILITY BETTER THAN BED REST FOR ICU PATIENTS
A critical care specialist at Johns Hopkins who has reviewed recent studies of intensive care unit (ICU) patients and data from The Johns Hopkins Hospital concludes that the routine use of deep sedation and bed rest in ICU patients may be causing unnecessary and long-term physical impairment and poor quality of life after hospital discharge.
INDIVIDUALS WITH SOCIAL PHOBIA SEE THEMSELVES DIFFERENTLY
MRI Reveals Altered Brain Response to Negative Comments
CHICAGO—Magnetic resonance brain imaging reveals that patients with generalized social phobia respond differently than others to negative comments about themselves, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Steroid Treatment Offers No Benefit In Preemies, Hopkins Children’s Study Suggests
Results of a multicenter study led by Johns Hopkins Children’s Center challenge the longstanding practice of treating premature babies with hydrocortisone, a steroid believed to fight inflammation and prevent lung disease. The researchers found that such treatment offers little or no benefit and that low cortisol levels are not even necessarily harmful. High cortisol levels, on the other hand, appeared to increase the risk of dangerous bleeding in the brain and require that babies be monitored aggressively to ward off life-threatening complications, according to the study published in the October issue of Pediatrics.
New prenatal test for Down syndrome less risky than amniocentesis, Stanford/Packard scientists say
BY ERIN DIGITALE
STANFORD, Calif. — Pregnant women worried about their babies’ genetic health face a tough decision: get prenatal gene testing and risk miscarriage, or skip the tests and miss the chance to learn of genetic defects before birth.
