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Research Findings Open New Front in Fight against AIDS Virus
4/30/2008
A research group supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has uncovered a new route for attacking the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that may offer a way to circumvent problems with drug resistance.

Scientists Form International Cancer Genome Consortium
4/30/2008
'Cancer's complexity poses an enormous challenge. NIH is highly encouraged that the worldwide scientific community is joining to meet this challenge, and we are pleased to be a member of this ambitious international endeavor,' said Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., director of the National Institutes of Health, which is the U.S. research organization taking part in the ICGC.

Statement of B. F. (Lee) Hall, M.D., Ph.D., and Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health on World Malaria Day, April 25, 2008
4/25/2008
In recognition of World Malaria Day, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, released two documents that describe a set of actions -- national as well as international -- that lay the scientific foundation for continued public health advances in the struggle against malaria.

Human Brain Appears 'Hard-Wired' for Hierarchy
4/24/2008
Human imaging studies have for the first time identified brain circuitry associated with social status, according to researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) of the National Institutes of Health.

NIAID Describes Research Priorities to Fight Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis
4/23/2008
Tuberculosis (TB) has long been one of the world's great killers. Now, forms of drug-resistant TB-multidrug (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR)-are occurring at an ominous and accelerating rate. To help in the fight against drug-resistant TB, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, has formulated an MDR and XDR TB research agenda.

Mouse Studies Identify Gene that May Influence Metastasis Risk in Breast Cancer
4/23/2008
Researchers have identified a pattern of gene activity in mice that may help to predict individual risk for breast cancer metastasis and survival in humans. A single gene, called 'bromodomain 4 (Brd4)', regulates the expression of this pattern, also called a signature. The researchers found that one result of this 'Brd4' regulation is the suppression of tumor growth and metastasis in a mouse model of cancer. These findings, published by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), parts of the National Institutes of Health, appear in the April 29, 2008, issue of the 'Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences'.

Three New Members Named to NIH Advisory Committee on Research on Women's Health
4/19/2008
Three new members have been appointed to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Advisory Committee on Research on Women's Health (ACRWH), which held its semiannual meeting on March 17 in Bethesda, Maryland. The new members are: Linda C. Giudice, M.D., Ph.D., who is the Robert B. Jaffe, M.D., Endowed Professor and Chair of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco; Nancy H. Nielsen, M.D., Ph.D., who is the Senior Associate Dean, State University of New York at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and also the President-elect of the American Medical Association (AMA); and Debra Toney, Ph.D., R.N., who is the President of the National Black Nurses Association (NBNA) and the Administrator, Rainbow Medical Centers, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Mouse Studies Show Tumors Suppress Cells Responsible for Regulating the Immune System
4/19/2008
New research has shown that the function of a type of cell that helps modulate immune responses is impaired inside tumors in mice. Researchers also identified several factors that may contribute to an accumulation of these cells, called T regulatory cells (Tregs), within and around the tumor, which may be how they respond to their loss of functionality. The study, by scientists at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, appeared online April 18, 2008, in 'The Journal of Immunology'.

NIH Study Reveals Factors That Influence Premature Infant Survival, Disability
4/18/2008
Based on observations of more than 4,000 infants, researchers in an NIH newborn research network have identified several factors that influence an extremely low birth weight infant's chances for survival and disability.

Mark Your Calendars, APA Annual Meeting, May 3-8, 2008
4/17/2008
National Institute of Mental Health science track symposia, lectures, press conferences at the American Psychiatric Association 161st Annual Meeting.

We Can! Joins National Call for Reducing Screen Time During Turnoff Week
4/16/2008
Children and teens who spend more than a couple of hours a day on average in front of a TV, video, or computer screen, are more likely to be overweight than their peers who limit their screen time. We Can! (Ways to Enhance Children's Activity and Nutrition), a science-based national education program from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to help children ages 8-13 stay at a healthy weight, is working with the Center for Screen Time Awareness (CSTA) and other national and community organizations to raise public awareness about the negative impact of excessive screen time.

Launching a Global Alliance for Pharmacogenomics
4/15/2008
Leaders at the National Institutes of Health and the Center for Genomic Medicine in Japan have signed a letter of intent creating a Global Alliance for Pharmacogenomics.

NIH's National Library of Medicine Opens Exciting New Interactive Exhibition, 'Against the Odds: Making a Difference in Global Health'
4/15/2008
The National Library of Medicine, the world's largest medical library and a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will open a new interactive exhibition, 'Against the Odds: Making a Difference in Global Health'.

Brain Study May Lead to Improved Epilepsy Treatments
4/15/2008
Using a rodent model of epilepsy, researchers found one of the body’s own neurotransmitters released during seizures, glutamate, turns on a signaling pathway in the brain that increases production of a protein that could reduce medication entry into the brain. Researchers say this may explain why approximately 30 percent of patients with epilepsy do not respond to antiepileptic medications. The study, conducted by researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health, and the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy and Medical School, in collaboration with Heidrun Potschka’s laboratory at Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, Germany, is available online and will appear in the May 2008, issue of 'Molecular Pharmacology'.

Gene Linked to Inherited Blood Biomarker Associated with Asthma Risk
4/11/2008
Risk for developing asthma is linked to variants in a gene called CHI3L1, which can be measured by checking levels of an inherited blood protein regulated by that gene, according to new research sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health.

Aggressively Lowering Cholesterol and Blood Pressure May Reverse Atherosclerosis in Adults with Diabetes
4/9/2008
Aggressively lowering cholesterol and blood pressure levels below current targets in adults with type 2 diabetes may help to prevent -- and possibly reverse -- hardening of the arteries, according to new research supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health.

Excess Fat Around the Waist May Increase Death Risk For Women
4/8/2008
Women who carry excess fat around their waists were at greater risk of dying early from cancer or heart disease than were women with smaller waistlines, even if they were of normal weight, reported researchers from Harvard and the National Institutes of Health.

Online Video Program Trains Clinicians to Help Patients Who Drink Too Much
4/8/2008
A new, interactive video training program from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), demonstrates quick and effective strategies for screening patients for heavy drinking and helping them to cut down or quit.

Pediatricians Alerted to the Developmental Nature of Underage Drinking in Special Journal Supplement
4/8/2008
In a special supplement to Pediatrics, edited and sponsored by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), physicians will have access in one place to the reviews and analyses of current research on biological, behavioral, and environmental changes during childhood and adolescence that foster the initiation, maintenance, and acceleration of illegal use of alcohol by underage youth. This is a first time collection of where science is in our understanding of underage drinking as a developmental issue. NIAAA, one of the institutes of the National Institutes of Health, is committed to moving scientific discovery to strategic prevention and intervention strategies in order to decrease the toll that alcohol is taking on our youth -- and as these youth grow -- to our society.

GenBank Celebrates 25 Years of Service with Two-Day Conference; Leading Scientists Will Discuss the DNA Database at April 7-8 Meeting
4/5/2008
Established by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 1982, the database of nucleic acid sequences is one of the key tools that scientists use to conduct biomedical and biologic research. Since its creation, GenBank has grown at an exponential rate, doubling in size every 18 months. In celebration of this vital resource and its contribution to science over the last 25 years, the National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine (NLM), NIH, is holding a two-day conference on GenBank.

New Web Portal to Advance Wide Range of Protein Studies
4/4/2008
The Protein Structure Initiative (PSI), an effort supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has launched an online resource that will enable scientists from across biomedical disciplines to easily access a wealth of information about proteins and to speed discovery about these molecules.

NIDA Researchers Identify Genetic Variant Linked to Nicotine Addiction and Lung Cancer
4/3/2008
Scientists have identified a genetic variant that not only makes smokers more susceptible to nicotine addiction but also increases their risk of developing two smoking-related diseases, lung cancer and peripheral arterial disease. The research was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Scientists Find Genetic Factor in Stress Response Variability
4/3/2008
Inherited variations in the amount of an innate anxiety-reducing molecule help explain why some people can withstand stress better than others, according to a new study led by researchers at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Scientists Link Chromatin Changes with Alcohol Withdrawal Anxiety
4/3/2008
Changes to genetic material in the brain may help induce the anxiety that is characteristic of alcohol withdrawal, according to a new study conducted in rats and supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Kidney Disease Newest Offering on NIHSeniorHealth
4/3/2008
Information about the diagnosis and treatment of kidney disease has just been added to NIHSeniorHealth, the National Institutes of Health Web site designed especially for seniors.

NIH to Host Research Symposium on Clinical Applications of Stem Cell Therapies
4/2/2008
'Challenges and Promise of Cell-Based Therapies' is a one-day symposium to explore promising research in regenerative medicine using stem cells. The opening plenary session will feature an overview of hematopoietic stem cell therapy. This will be followed by four plenary sessions that will highlight cell-based therapies for the treatment of neurological, cardiac, musculoskeletal, and metabolic diseases and disorders. It will close with a presentation on induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and the issues that need to be addressed to enable their potential use in cell-based therapies.

Older Corneas Suitable for Transplantation, Study Shows
4/2/2008
The age pool of corneas for transplant should be expanded to include donors up to 75 years of age, based on findings from a study funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Corneal transplants using tissue from older donors have similar rates of survival to those using tissue from younger donors.

Automated External Defibrillators and CPR Are Equally Helpful for Sudden Cardiac Arrest in the Home
4/2/2008
The first study to explore the use of automated external defibrillator (AEDs) in the home has found that although the safe and easy-to-use devices are effective for certain types of cardiac arrest, they were underused. The Home Automated External Defibrillator Trial (HAT), a randomized international clinical trial, was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health.

Newly Awarded Autism Centers of Excellence to Further Autism Research
4/2/2008
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced on April 1, 2008, the latest recipients of the Autism Centers of Excellence (ACE) program. These grants will support studies covering a broad range of autism research areas, including early brain development and functioning, social interactions in infants, rare genetic variants and mutations, associations between autism-related genes and physical traits, possible environmental risk factors and biomarkers, and a potential new medication treatment.

NIH Research Suggests Stimulant Treatment for ADHD Does Not Contribute to Substance Abuse Later in Life
4/2/2008
Treating children as early as age six or seven with stimulants for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is not likely to increase risk of substance abuse as adults, according to two studies funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Major Collaboration Uncovers Surprising New Genetic Clues to Diabetes
4/1/2008
An international team that included scientists from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), today reported it has identified six more genetic variants involved in type 2 diabetes, boosting to 16 the total number of genetic risk factors associated with increased risk of the disease.

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