A device that uses ultrasound to calm overactive nerves in the kidneys may be able to help some people get their blood pressure under control. A study led by researchers at Columbia University and Université de Paris, France, has found that the device consistently reduced daytime ambulatory blood pressure by an average of 8.5 points among middle-aged people with hypertension. Learn more.

 

Sachin Gupte, M.D., Ph.D., professor of pharmacology, received a $2,773,836, four-year grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop new personalized treatments to reduce vascular disease. “Vascular diseases continue to be a major cause of death in the U.S. and worldwide,” said Dr. Gupte. “The goal of our research is to develop new therapies for three human diseases – pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), PAH-induced heart failure and metabolic syndrome-associated coronary artery disease (MS-CAD).” Learn more.

 

An international trial led by Mount Sinai found that high-dose anticoagulation can reduce deaths by 30 percent and intubations by 25 percent in hospitalized COVID-19 patients who are not critically ill, when compared to the standard treatment, which is low-dose anticoagulation. The innovative FREEDOM trial was initiated and led by Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, President of Mount Sinai Heart and Physician-in-Chief of The Mount Sinai Hospital. Learn more.

 

People with pre-existing diabetes who are sickened by COVID-19 are known to experience particularly severe symptoms compared with non-diabetic individuals. A study published online on February 27 in eBioMedicine suggests that even in patients with no prior history of diabetes or pre-diabetes, COVID-19 illness is associated with a greater risk for developing new-onset type 2 diabetes compared with being sickened by influenza. Learn more.

 

Mount Sinai Health System and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center researchers have developed a new drug delivery approach that uses nanoparticles to enable more effective and targeted delivery of anti-cancer drugs to treat brain tumors in children. Learn more.

 

When older adults with cancer take multiple medications — including ordinary drugs like blood pressure pills, supplements, or antacids — it can result in more toxic chemotherapy side effects and even a need to stop cancer treatment, according to new research at the Wilmot Cancer Institute. Learn more.

 

For the past few decades, Dr. Iwao Ojima has been working in his Stony Brook University Department of Chemistry Laboratory and through the Institute of Chemical Biology & Drug Discovery (ICB&DD) to develop next-generation anti-cancer agents. One of these agents – a second-generation taxane conjugate in a nanoemulsion formulation (called NE-DHA-SBT-1214) – has shown great promise against solid tumors – particularly against colorectal cancer. Learn more.

 

The number of specialized immune cells available for fighting skin cancer doubled when a new treatment blocked their escape from melanoma tumors, experiments in mice and human cells show. Researchers at NYU Langone Health and its Perlmutter Cancer Center who led the study found that combining a chemical blocker of immune cell exit with another drug type, an immunotherapy, stopped melanoma tumor enlargement in more than half of mice tested. Learn more.

 

A study by Albany Medical Center urologists, published in JAMA Surgery, concluded that patients who had major abdominal/pelvic surgery rarely needed prescription opioid medications to control their pain after they were discharged from the hospital. Further, no adverse effects were seen regarding complications or recovery in patients who did not take opioid pain medications after their surgery. Learn more.

 

Compared with men, women continue to have a roughly 30-40 percent higher risk of dying following coronary artery bypass surgery, according to a large study led by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. The analysis showed that, without adjusting for differences in age and other health factors that influence risk, the female bypass patients had a 2.8 percent rate of death during or soon after surgery, compared with 1.7 percent for male patients, a nearly 50 percent difference that only dropped 10-20 percent after accounting for these factors. Learn more.

 

Emotional facial expressions convey a wealth of non-verbal information, including an individual’s mood, state of mind and intention, making them critically important for social communication.While viewing emotional expressions evokes an enhanced neural response in the amygdala and throughout the visual cortex, including the primary visual cortex (V1), the effect of facial valence (emotional content of the face) in V1 is surprising as the early visual cortex is not typically thought to process emotional aspects from stimuli. Learn more.

 

A study reveals a previously unknown way in which cannabidiol (CBD), a substance found in cannabis, reduces seizures in many treatment-resistant forms of pediatric epilepsy. Led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, the new study found that CBD blocked signals carried by a molecule called lysophosphatidylinositol (LPI). Learn more.

 

Upstate Medical University Professor Roger Wong was worried that his father kept waking up in the middle of the night. His father had just turned 65 and Wong wanted to know how his sleep disturbances could impact his cognitive health as he aged. Not finding a clear answer in any existing literature, Wong decided to study the issue himself. Learn more.

 

New research from the College of Osteopathic Medicine could help explain how the sense of smell is impacted in individuals with autism. Individuals with autism have an “insistence on sameness,” and often avoid unfamiliar elements, including new smells and foods, which can impact their quality of life. While many studies have focused on the behavioral features of autism, additional research is needed to help explain its sensory aspects. Learn more.

 

A study led by a University at Buffalo physician has found that people experiencing a miscarriage in states with restrictive abortion policies may be less likely to receive optimal care than those in states with supportive abortion policies. Published online in November in Women’s Health Issues, the research was conducted prior to the Supreme Court’s decision last June to overturn Roe v. Wade. Learn more.

 

A United States Food and Drug Administration mandate to limit the dosage of acetaminophen in pills that combine acetaminophen and opioid medications is significantly associated with subsequent reductions in serious liver injury, according to a study led by investigators at the University of Alabama and Weill Cornell Medicine. The federal mandate was announced in 2011 and implemented in 2014. The results were reported March 7 in the medical journal JAMA. Learn more.

 

Imagine waking up one day and finding that you are suddenly having difficulty swallowing, walking and talking. You start experiencing involuntary muscle contractions called dystonias. Then imagine that these symptoms do not go away. Learn more.

 

Diabetes is one of the most common medical complications in pregnancy with gestational diabetes impacting an estimated 2 to 10 percent of pregnancies in the United States. Poor glycemic control increases the risk of congenital malformation, pregnancy loss, and perinatal morbidity and mortality. Studies have demonstrated that optimal glycemic control during pregnancy can reduce these complications, but pregnant patients are faced with the challenges of attaining proficiency in diabetes surveillance and management in a very short time frame. Learn more.

 

Newborn screening began in the United States in the 1960s with just one condition: phenylketonuria (PKU). Blood spots are collected from every newborn baby 24 hours after birth and analyzed to detect the preventable disease. With early detection and proper treatment, irreversible brain damage caused by PKU can be prevented. Learn more.

 

Neighborhood redevelopment, which transforms low-income neighborhoods through rezoning, new construction and renovation, can lead to health benefits, such as greater access to fresh produce, improved housing, and more green spaces. But these advantages may not extend to all area residents. More information is needed about the impact of redevelopment, also known as urban renewal, on health, particularly if it contributes to inequities among middle-aged and older adults. Learn more.

 

Lynne E. Maquat, PhD, the founding director of the Center for RNA Biology at the University of Rochester, has been awarded the 2023 Gruber Genetics Prize for her discovery of nonsense-mediated mRNA decay or NMD in humans. The Gruber International Prize Program, administered by Yale University, honors scientists from around the world whose groundbreaking work leads to fundamental shifts in knowledge and benefits mankind. Learn more.