AMSNY’s Chief Operating Officer, Jonathan Teyan and Weill Cornell Medicine researcher Todd Evans, spoke with Crain’s New York Business about the importance of stem cell research and the impacts of funding cuts. Learn more.

 

Patients with gynecologic cancers who have Medicaid coverage are more likely to feel increased financial distress, anxiety about their cancer and increased general anxiety during the pandemic if their annual income is less than $40,000, according to a new study from Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The study’s findings, published April 26 in Cancer, suggest that physicians should ask these women more about the challenges they face in completing their treatments and link them with additional services, such as mental health support, social work services and transportation assistance, if necessary.Learn more.

 

A new study is drawing the most detailed picture yet of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the lung, revealing mechanisms that result in lethal COVID-19, and may explain long-term complications and show how COVID-19 differs from other infectious diseases. Led by researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, the study found that in patients who died of the infection, COVID-19 unleashed a detrimental trifecta of runaway inflammation, direct destruction and impaired regeneration of lung cells involved in gas exchange, and accelerated lung scarring. Learn more.

 

A national study with the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine to see how effective it is against preventing spread of the disease to others is underway and will involve hundreds of Stony Brook University students. Twenty university campuses nationwide, including Stony Brook University, are involved in the Covid-19 Prevention Network (CoVPN) study. Learn more.

 

The University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) and Rochester Regional Health (RRH) are at the forefront of COVID research again as they join national studies to test a vaccine for the new, more transmissible South African variant of the coronavirus. The new vaccine, produced by Pfizer and BioNTech, is a slight twist on the companies’ highly effective existing COVID vaccine. Learn more.

 

Women who receive COVID-19 mRNA vaccines produced by Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna while in their third trimester of pregnancy generate a strong immune response and pass protective antibodies through umbilical cord blood to their babies, according to a study conducted by Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian researchers, published April 28 in Obstetrics & Gynecology. Learn more.

 

In the race to get Long Island vaccinated against COVID-19, Stony Brook University hit a major vaccine milestone, celebrating its 200,000th shot. The mark was reached at the state-run mass vaccination site established by Governor Cuomo, located in the Innovation & Discovery Building (IDC) in the University’s Research and Development (R&D) Park. Stony Brook’s IDC Point of Distribution (POD) has been up-and-running since January 18. In total, Stony Brook Medicine (SBM) has administered 350,000 vaccines at PODs all across Long Island. Learn more.

 

IAnxiety, depression, health disparities and a full panoply of related issues caused by COVID-19 took center stage at Touro College Research Day Thursday in a special presentation titled, “The Pandemic Mental Health Tsunami.” Touro College Distinguished Research Speaker Dr. Jeffrey Gardere, a clinical psychologist and professor of behavioral medicine at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in Harlem, shared how COVID-19 has wreaked havoc throughout communities – in schools, healthcare, the workforce, and beyond – with effects expected to be long-lasting. Learn more.

 

The first personalized cancer vaccine administered to patients prior to evidence of spread but after surgery or a stem cell transplant, was shown to be safe, well tolerated, and potentially beneficial in preventing disease recurrence in a phase 1 clinical trial at The Tisch Cancer Institute of the Mount Sinai Health System. The results of the trial were presented virtually, in April, at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting and generated excitement among attendees. Learn more.

 

Researchers have found a long-sought enzyme that prevents cancer by enabling the breakdown of proteins that drive cell growth, and that causes cancer when disabled. Published online in Nature on April 14, the new study revolves around the ability of each human cell to divide in two, with this process repeating itself until a single cell (the fertilized egg) becomes a body with trillions of cells. Learn more.

 

A national, University at Buffalo-led study on genes in pediatric cardiomyopathy demonstrates strong evidence for routine genetic screening in children with the disease. The study, published April 28 in the Journal of the American Heart Association, revealed wide variation in screening, with some centers conducting routine genetic testing and others conducting none. Learn more.

 

New research led by NYU Grossman School of Medicine and Moi University School of Medicine in Kenya found that addressing and incorporating social determinants of health—such as poverty and social isolation—in the clinical management of blood pressure in Kenya can improve outcomes for patients who have diabetes or hypertension. Learn more.

 

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine have designed an experimental drug that reversed key symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease in mice. The drug works by reinvigorating a cellular cleaning mechanism that gets rid of unwanted proteins by digesting and recycling them. The study was published online in the journal Cell. Learn more.

 

Upstate Medical University is seeking patients with moderate to severe Alzheimer’s disease to participate in a new clinical trial to test how a well-established blood pressure medication may help some patients. The joint study is called PEACE-AD, which stands for Prazosin for Disruptive Agitation in Alzheimer’s Disease. Prazosin has been used for several decades to treat high blood pressure, but may be able to help Alzheimer’s patients who have disruptive behavior due to the disease. Learn more.

 

A patient’s electronic health record typically contains a trove of information that can be used to help predict and manage their future health needs. But much of that information is often composed of unstructured or fragmented data that first must be translated into language that physicians are able to understand. Learn more.

 

Two Upstate Medical University professors and researchers are involved in an international, multi-site study taking a closer look at the connections between Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and cardiometabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes.Learn more.

 

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine have developed a topical drug that regenerates and restores the function of erectile nerves damaged by radical prostatectomy, the most common treatment for localized prostate cancer. The drug was tested in rats, and the findings were published online in JCI Insight. Learn more.

 

Testicular torsion is one of the most common pediatric urologic emergencies, accounting for 10 to 15 percent of acute scrotal disease in males under the age of 18 years. Traditionally, surgeons have used a 6-hour window to determine whether a testicle can be successfully salvaged. However, new research by New York Medical College students and faculty found the window of opportunity for a testicular salvage rate of more than 90 percent following testicular torsion extends far beyond the currently accepted six hours, even up to 24 hours. Learn more.

 

The class of ‘99 CUNY School of Medicine alumni Dr. Jameela Yusuff has been appointed by SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University as the first woman Chief Medical Officer at the University Hospital of Brooklyn. Learn more.

 

Stacey E. Rosen, MD, FACC, FACP, FAHA, senior vice president, Katz Institute for Women’s Health, Partners Council Professor of Women’s Health, and professor of cardiology at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, was named the American Heart Association’s (AHA) 2021 Physician of the Year. Learn more.

 

CUNY School of Medicine Assistant Medical Professor, Tashuna Albritton was one of the co-publishers of an interdisciplinary intersectionality study highlighting that stereotypes are a central basis for intersectional oppression, and psychologists are increasingly incorporating intersectional theory into stereotypes research. Learn more.

 

Lynne Maquat, Ph.D., the founding director of the Center for RNA Biology at the University of Rochester, has been awarded the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize for her pivotal discoveries in the field of RNA biology. She shares the prize with fellow RNA biologist Joan Steitz, Ph.D., Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale School of Medicine. Learn more.

 

Alzheimer’s disease leads to progressive loss of brain function and there is currently no effective treatment. Patients with diabetes are at higher risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers at New York Medical College (NYMC) and Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) are collaborating to study the link between obesity, diabetes, heart disease and brain dysfunction that could lead to earlier interventions and new treatment options for Alzheimer’s disease. Learn more.

 

Two University at Buffalo drug development and discovery projects have received investments from the Empire Discovery Institute. One project focuses on an immunotherapy platform — developed by UB pharmacy researcher Sathy Balu-Iyer and his team — that could benefit patients who are receiving gene therapy for a variety of diseases. The other will seek to design a therapy for multiple sclerosis (MS) that leverages a novel drug target discovered by a team led by UB medical researcher M. Laura Feltri. Learn more.

 

Free onsite vision screening and eye exams are now being offered to residents age 40 and older at some New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) complexes in Washington Heights and East Harlem as part of a study by researchers in the Department of Ophthalmology at Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Learn more.