Tuesday, October 08, 2019
Experimental Growth Factor Shows Promise for Preventing Progression of Knee Osteoarthritis, Study Finds
More than 10 percent of Americans over age 60 experience knee pain related to osteoarthritis, the most common disease of the knee joint. Osteoarthritis of the knee causes pain, activity limitation, physical disability, reduced health-related quality of life and excess mortality compared with the general population. The pain is usually treated with over-the-counter pain relievers, anti-inflammatory drugs, local steroid injections and sometimes surgery. There are currently no drugs approved to treat the underlying cause of the condition, which results from the breakdown of joint cartilage covering the long bones due to increasing age, injury/overuse, obesity, genetics and/or local inflammation. A new experimental growth factor therapy, however, appears to prevent a worsening of osteoarthritis by increasing the thickness of cartilage in the knee joint and preventing further loss, according to results from an early clinical trial that were published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Friday, October 04, 2019
Institute of Human Virology Hosts 21st Annual International Meeting of Top Scientists on Ending the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in America and the Intersection of Opioid Use Disorder
The Institute of Human Virology (IHV) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine commenced IHV2019 held Thursday, October 3 through Friday, October 4 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland. This year “Progress in HIV/AIDS: Challenges in 2020” opened with highlights about the recent plan for "Ending the HIV Epidemic by 2030” with expert opinions by ADM Brett Giroir, MD, Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Friday, October 04, 2019
Dr. Thomas S. Monahan III, University of Maryland School of Medicine Surgeon who Worked with the Needy, Dies
Dr. Thomas S. Monahan III, an academic vascular surgeon at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and a vascular surgeon at the University of Maryland Medical Center who worked tirelessly to bring surgical care to the poor, incarcerated, veterans, uninsured and the mostly forgotten, died Sept. 12 from heart failure at his Baltimore home. He was 44.
Wednesday, October 02, 2019
UM School of Medicine Scientist Tests New CDC Measures to Control Nursing Home Infections
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than two million people are infected with antibiotic-resistant organisms, resulting in approximately 23,000 deaths annually. Many of these infections spread in nursing homes and long-term rehabilitation facilities, and the CDC issued new guidance in July on the use of personal protective equipment (masks, gowns) by healthcare providers to protect patients in these facilities from acquiring and spreading antibiotic-resistant germs to others. The guidance recommends that workers be required to don a gown and gloves during high-contact activities like wound care, bathing, assisting with toileting, adjusting invasive devices like urinary catheters, or changing dirty bed linens.
Tuesday, October 01, 2019
UM School of Medicine Scientist Receives Prestigious NIH Director's New Innovator Award
Alexandros Poulopoulos, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), has received the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s New Innovator Award. The award provides $2.3 million to support an “exceptionally creative early career investigator” as part of The High-Risk, High-Reward Research Program of the NIH Common Fund. The award is reserved for scientists at the beginning of their independent research careers, before receiving other research program funding from the NIH.
Monday, September 30, 2019
Brain & Behavior Research Foundation Announces Dr. William T. Carpenter, Jr. as the Recipient of the 2019 Pardes Humanitarian Prize in Mental Health
The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation today announced that William T. Carpenter, Jr., M.D., Professor of Psychiatry and Pharmacology at Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, the University of Maryland School of Medicine, is the recipient of the 2019 Pardes Humanitarian Prize in Mental Health. The award will be presented on Friday, November 1, in New York City.
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
UM School of Medicine Scientist Receives NIH Award to Study Heart Disease Related to Down Syndrome
The National Institutes of Health announced today that Zhe Han, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), will be awarded a supplemental funding of $772,500 to the ongoing $1.75 million NIH-funded project in Dr. Han’s lab for studying genes involved in Congenital Heart Disease. This supplemental fund will support the research to identify the genetic causes of Congenital Heart Disease that occur in half of all patients with Down syndrome. The goal is to identify genes associated with Down syndrome congenital heart disease and to study the molecular mechanism underlying the cardiac defects. This can potentially lead to better treatments for these heart abnormalities which are a major cause of mortality in those with Down syndrome.
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Dr. Tracy Bale Elected President of the International Brain Research Organization
Tracy L. Bale, PhD, Professor of Pharmacology and Director of the Center for Epigentic Research in Child Health & Brain Development has been elected President of the International Brain Research Organization.
Friday, September 20, 2019
UM School of Medicine's Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health Receives NIH Contract of up to More than $200 Million for Influenza Research
Kathleen Neuzil, MD, MPH, Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics and Director of the Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health (CVD) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) and Dean E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, announced that CVD has been awarded a contract from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), with total funding up to more than $200 million over seven years if all contract options are exercised.
Thursday, September 19, 2019
The Reading on the Brain Program Teaches Baltimore City Elementary Students About the Brain-Building Power of Reading
A giant mural with images depicting reading and the brain was unveiled during a ribbon cutting ceremony at Baltimore's Callaway Elementary School. It was part of Reading on the Brain, a University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) program to teach young students about the importance of reading and how reading can stimulate brain development and inspire future success.