Research advances from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Intramural Research Program (IRP) often make headlines. Read the news releases that describe our most recent findings:
BETHESDA, Md. (AP) — Sam Srisatta, a 20-year-old Florida college student, spent a month living inside a government hospital here last fall, playing video games and allowing scientists to document every morsel of food that went into his mouth.
From big bowls of salad to platters of meatballs and spaghetti sauce, Srisatta noshed his way through a nutrition study aimed at understanding the health effects of ultraprocessed foods, the controversial fare that now accounts for more than 70% of the U.S. food supply. He allowed The Associated Press to tag along for a day.
“Today my lunch was chicken nuggets, some chips, some ketchup,” said Srisatta, one of three dozen participants paid $5,000 each to devote 28 days of their lives to science. “It was pretty fulfilling.”
Examining exactly what made those nuggets so satisfying is the goal of the widely anticipated research led by National Institutes of Health nutrition researcher Kevin Hall.
“What we hope to do is figure out what those mechanisms are so that we can better understand that process,” Hall said.
The NIH Clinical Center, the clinical research hospital at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., is the 2011 recipient of the Lasker~Bloomberg Public Service Award. The award will be presented in ceremonies on Sept. 23 by the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation, which has recognized outstanding advances in medical research each year since 1945, in New York City. The award honors the Clinical Center for serving as a model institution that has transformed scientific advances into innovative therapies and provided high-quality care to patients.
Two doses of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine Cervarix were as effective as the current standard three-dose regimen after four years of follow-up, according to researchers from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and their colleagues. The results of the study, based on data from a community-based clinical trial of Cervarix in Costa Rica, appeared online Sept.9, 2011, in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Gene therapy plus an injection of copper dramatically improved survival in mice with a condition that mimics the often fatal childhood disorder Menkes disease, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health.
A new Medical Research Scholars Program for medical and dental students will begin in September 2012 in Bethesda, Md., the National Institutes of Health has announced. The program will offer research experiences with intramural investigators from across NIH in basic science laboratories, and in clinical and translational research conducted at the NIH Clinical Center, the world's largest hospital dedicated to patient-oriented research.
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have created a mathematical model—and an accompanying online weight simulation tool—of what happens when people of varying weights, diets and exercise habits try to change their weight. The findings challenge the commonly held belief that eating 3,500 fewer calories—or burning them off exercising—will always result in a pound of weight loss.
National Institutes of Health researchers have found that Parkin, an important protein linked with some cases of early-onset Parkinson’s disease, regulates how cells in our bodies take up and process dietary fats.
A new atlas of gene expression in the mouse brain provides insight into how genes work in the outer part of the brain called the cerebral cortex. In humans, the cerebral cortex is the largest part of the brain, and the region responsible for memory, sensory perception and language.
Researchers have reported that obese male mice treated with a synthetic compound called SRT1720 were healthier and lived longer compared to non-treated obese mice. The experimental compound was found to improve the function of the liver, pancreas and heart in mice.
Current cigarette smokers have a higher risk of bladder cancer than previously reported, and the risk in women is now comparable to that in men, according to a study by scientists from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health. The report was published on Aug. 16, 2011, in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
A study using mice provides insight into how a specific receptor subtype in the brain could play a role in increasing a person’s risk for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The research, conducted by the Intramural Research Program (IRP) at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, could also help explain how stimulants work to treat symptoms of ADHD.
