The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai announced the appointment of two new Laureates as part of its Biomedical Laureates Program, building on an institutional commitment to broadening diversity and mentorship opportunities. The announcement follows the launch of the program in June. “Our commitment to diversity enhances our capacity to conduct academic research for the good of all people, to seek answers through the lens of different experience, and the ability to translate that research into innovative, effective therapeutic solutions to complex medical issues,” said Eric J. Nestler, MD, PhD, Nash Family Professor of Neuroscience, Director of The Friedman Brain Institute, and Dean for Academic and Scientific Affairs of Icahn Mount Sinai, and Chief Scientific Officer of the Mount Sinai Health System. Learn more.

 

Less than two months after the first breakthrough surgery, NYU Langone Health has performed its second successful investigational xenotransplantation procedure using a genetically engineered pig kidney. This second surgery is a sign of continued progress toward a potential alternative supply of life-saving organs. Learn more.

 

Columbia researchers found that babies born during the pandemic’s first year scored slightly lower on a developmental screening test of social and motor skills at 6 months—regardless of whether their mothers had COVID during pregnancy—compared to babies born just before the pandemic. The study, which included 255 babies born at NewYork-Presbyterian’s Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital and Allen Hospital between March and December 2020, was published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. Learn more.

 

During the current surge of COVID-19 cases in Western New York, a dedicated team of University at Buffalo scientists has been busy sequencing and analyzing as many as 1,000 viral samples every week. “We have been keeping an eye out for delta, which was accounting for 99% of what we’ve been seeing, and of course the omicron variant,” says Jennifer Surtees, PhD, associate professor of biochemistry in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB. “We’re really interested to see how the omicron variant relates to delta. Can they coexist or will one dominate the other?” Learn more.

 

Entering a third year of the COVID-19 pandemic and the latest infection surge nationwide comes with many challenges. One of those is for a continued adequate supply of masks, including the often used N95 respirator masks for healthcare and other settings. A study led by Stony Brook University researchers discovered that a readily available method using dry ovens can be used to disinfect N95s for reuse, in settings where new masks may not be available. Their findings are published in PLOS ONE. Learn more.

 

A large, multicenter clinical trial of adults hospitalized with COVID-19 across the United States suggests that convalescent plasma may be a safe and readily available treatment option at the beginning of a pandemic wave when other therapies are not yet available. Results of the randomized, double blinded, placebo controlled trial, co-led by Liise-anne Pirofski, M.D., and Hyunah Yoon, M.D., at Einstein and Mila Ortigoza, M.D., Ph.D., at NYU Langone, were published online on December 13 in JAMA Internal Medicine. Learn more.

 

A new study from Columbia researchers, in collaboration with scientists at the University of Hong Kong, adds more evidence that the omicron variant can evade the immune protection conferred by vaccines and natural infection and suggests the need for new vaccines and treatments that anticipate how the virus may soon evolve. The findings were published Dec. 23 in the journal Nature by David Ho, MD, director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center and the Clyde’56 and Helen Wu Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Learn more.

 

The 16th COVID-19 Symposium, presented by New York Medical College (NYMC) and Touro College and University System (TCUS) on December 16, 2021, offered an opportunity to not only look ahead at the challenges presented by the pandemic, but to look back and appreciate the progress and knowledge that has been attained in the two years since the initial reports of the infectious disease in China first appeared. During the online symposium, NYMC and TCUS faculty and staff discussed the emerging Omicron variant, new potential treatments and a look at what a return to an in-person work environment could entail. Learn more.

 

Wilmot Cancer Institute researchers are a step closer to understanding the complex gene interactions that cause a cell to become malignant. In a new Cell Reports study published, the group used network modeling to hone in on a set of such interactions that are critical to malignancy, and likely to be fertile ground for broad cancer therapies. Discrete genetic mutations that can be targeted by drugs have only been identified for a small fraction of cancer types. But those mutations rely on a downstream network of non-mutated genes in order to cause cancer. Learn more.

 

Mount Sinai scientists have discovered a neural mechanism that is believed to support advanced cognitive abilities such as planning and problem-solving. It does so by distributing information from single neurons to larger populations of neurons in the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain that temporarily stores and manipulates information. It is well established that humans can only hold a limited amount of information in mind at a time, and that they enlist different cognitive strategies, like organizing information into lists or groups, to overcome these constraints. Learn more.

 

Multiple changes in brain cells during the first month of embryonic development may contribute to schizophrenia later in life, according to a new study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The researchers, whose study was published in Molecular Psychiatry on Nov. 17, used stem cells collected from patients with schizophrenia and people without the disease to grow 3-dimensional “mini-brains” or organoids in the laboratory. By comparing the development of both sets of organoids, they discovered that a reduced expression of two genes in the cells stymies early development and causes a shortage of brain cells in organoids grown from patient stem cells. Learn more.

 

Esther Sabban, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, at New York Medical College (NYMC), has spent decades researching the mechanisms of stress and stress-related neuropsychiatric disorders with the goal of both reducing their prevalence and providing new avenues of treatment. Most recently, Dr. Sabban’s research has focused on the use of neuropeptide Y (NPY), an endogenous peptide produced in the brain, to counter Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) associated behavioral and biochemical impairments, as well as sex differences in stress response with promising results. Learn more.

 

A type of blood thinner may be more effective than aspirin at reducing the risk of recurrent stroke in a subset of stroke patients who experience problems with their hearts’ left ventricle, according to a new study led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The findings challenge a previous assumption that anticoagulant drugs are no better than aspirin in reducing the risk of future strokes for patients who have experienced strokes of undetermined source. Learn more.

 

A new study found that changes in specific genes may contribute each year to the roughly 400 sudden unexplained deaths in children (SUDC) aged 1 year and older—and separately from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Children younger than 1 year old who die suddenly are diagnosed with SIDS, and older children with SUDC. But the conditions likely have many factors in common, say the study authors. Learn more.

 

Albert Einstein College of Medicine researchers and their colleagues have found a key cause of severe kidney complications that affects many lupus patients and are now conducting a clinical trial to evaluate a promising treatment aimed at preventing those complications. Learn more.

 

People with seasonal affective disorder have sought relief through bright lights during the dark days of winter. Could light therapy help those who are hospitalized with nonseasonal unipolar depression? Unipolar or major depression involves persistent sadness and negative emotions, as opposed to bipolar depression, which includes periods of mania. Not much research exists on this topic, so a team from Upstate’s departments of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and public health and preventive medicine decided to find out. Learn more.

 

An analysis of data from 16 U.S. states suggests that the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic saw increases in wine and spirit sales, accompanied by notable changes in the relationship between alcohol sales and people’s visits to businesses that sell alcohol. University at Buffalo researchers Yingjie Hu, Brian M. Quigley and Dane Taylor present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on Dec. 17 The team notes that trends varied by state. Learn more.

 

Many cannabis e-cigarettes or vapes fail to accurately list contents on their labels, according to two researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Of the 27 products tested from 10 brands, none had accurate labeling regarding Delta-8 THC, a synthetic form of the psychoactive component of cannabis, and many contained cutting agents or synthetic byproducts that were not listed on the label. Because these products contain cannabis-derived from hemp, they are legal under federal law and widely available in brick and mortar vape shops and online. Learn more.

 

Peter Gordon, MD, Albany Med emergency department physician, has been named an Unsung Hero by the New York chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians (NYACEP). The honor recognizes emergency physicians who go above and beyond to provide exemplary care to their patients and share their knowledge and experience with young clinicians. Learn more.

 

Stony Brook University Hospital has received the American Heart Association’s Gold Plus Get With The Guidelines®– Heart Failure Quality Achievement Award. The Gold Plus award, which Stony Brook has received for the third consecutive year, recognizes the hospital’s commitment to ensuring heart failure patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines grounded in the latest scientific evidence. The goal is speeding recovery and reducing hospital readmissions for heart failure patients. Learn more.

 

How do you treat a disease where the cause is unknown and each patient’s symptoms are unique? CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta talks to pain expert Dr. Carmen Green about what causes chronic pain, how it can be treated, and which patients are more likely to get care. Plus, meet a man who feels no pain and a woman who figured out how to cope with hers. Learn more.

 

New York Institute of Technology’s Center for Esports Medicine has partnered with the global esports organization Fnatic for a research collaboration that will explore how compression sleeves impact the body and possibly aid in gaming performance. Findings could inform the development of future Fnatic products. While compression wear is commonly worn by traditional athletes looking to improve performance and facilitate muscle recovery, gamers may also reap these benefits. However, existing research has not explored compression wear’s effects in esports athletes. Learn more.