The National Institutes of Health today announced awards to support an initiative to understand how genetic variation may control gene activity and its relationship to disease. Launched as a pilot phase, the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project will create a resource researchers can use to study inherited susceptibility to illness and will establish a tissue bank … Read more
The National Institutes of Health intends to invest approximately $60 million over the next five years in the NIH Director’s Early Independence Award (EIA) program to help junior investigators leapfrog over traditional post-doctoral training and move into independent academic positions at U.S. institutions, directly upon completion of their graduate research degrees.
A 1-minute video showing computer screensavers next to videos of dancing children may prove to be a simple, inexpensive screening tool for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in toddlers. According to an NIMH-funded study, infants as young as 14 months old who had autism spent more time looking at the moving shapes than social images, in … Read more
As Leilani told us (en español aqui) back in April, a Puerto Rican law declared all birth certificates issued in the U.S. territory before July 1, 2010 invalid. Last week, the deadline was moved from September 30 to October 30, 2010 by their governor. The new law was enacted to strengthen the issuance and use … Read more
The National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will begin a year-long commemoration of nursing science’s contributions to solving some of America’s most important health challenges at the “Bringing Science to Life” scientific symposium.
Home, it’s more than brick-and-mortar, wood, or even blocks of ice shaped in a dome! Home is your place, your retreat from the world, your sanctuary for the soul. For me, home is all of those things and toilets to clean, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Everyone should have an opportunity to … Read more
Nine health research centers have received funds to develop ways to reduce the time it takes for clinical research to become treatments for patients. The funds were awarded as part of the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) program which is led by the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), part of the National Institutes … Read more
Investigators have made a major advance in treating people with a severe form of vasculitis, anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis, a rare but devastating disease of blood vessels. In a six-month study, a new treatment strategy provided the same benefits as the current standard of care used for more than 40 years but required less … Read more
National Institutes of Health researchers and grantees have found that gene variants in APOL1, more common in African Americans, come with both health risk and reward, as reported in the July 15 online issue of Science.
The National Institutes of Health, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Wellcome Trust, a global charity based in London, today announced a partnership to support population-based genetic studies in Africa of common, non-communicable disorders such as heart disease and cancer, as well as communicable diseases such as malaria. … Read more
It’s late at night, the TV’s on and you see a commercial. It tells you that if you just buy this wonderful book, you’ll learn the secrets to get free money from the government to pay your credit card bills, renovate your home, and start a business! It sounds so wonderful, but is it too … Read more
In people with longstanding type 2 diabetes who are at high risk for heart attack and stroke, lowering blood sugar to near-normal levels did not delay the combined risk of diabetic damage to kidneys, eyes, or nerves, but did delay several other signs of diabetic damage, a study has found. The intensive glucose treatment was … Read more
Recently the Oprah Winfrey show featured a multiple part series on debt called Debt Diet. The series emphasizes how Americans are drowning in debt and not saving enough. The show offers an action plan to help families get out of debt. The series follows three families as they wrangle with trying to implement the step … Read more
Scientists from across the nation will gather June 3-4 to discuss what is known about sickle cell trait and the potential health implications related to this genetic blood condition. “Framing the Research Agenda for Sickle Cell Trait” will examine the ethical, legal, social, and public health impacts of the blood condition.
Volunteers are being sought for a clinical study examining the subtle changes that may take place in the brains of older people many years before overt symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease appear. Researchers are looking for people with the very earliest complaints of memory problems that affect their daily activities. The study will follow participants over … Read more
With the rapid and continuous advances in biotechnology, scientists are better able to see inside the nucleus of a cell to unlock the secrets of its genetic material. However, what happens outside of the nucleus has, in many ways, remained a mystery. Now, researchers with the National Institutes of Health are closer to understanding how … Read more
In a major study, investigators have compared how individuals with Parkinson’s disease respond to deep brain stimulation (DBS) at two different sites in the brain. Contrary to current belief, patients who received DBS at either site in the brain experienced comparable benefits for the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s.