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:
A new scientific review suggests that federal and state policies aimed at curbing inappropriate prescribing of opioids have not directly led to the recent increases in heroin use across the nation. Researchers conducting an analysis of the relationship between prescription opioid and heroin abuse found that the transition to heroin use occurred before many policies, including public education efforts, prescription drug monitoring programs, increased enforcement and regulatory actions, and abuse-deterrent formulations, were enacted.
NIH researchers suggest substituting vegetables, whole grain for potatoes
Women who eat more potatoes before pregnancy may have higher rates of gestational diabetes—the form that occurs during pregnancy—compared to women who consume fewer potatoes, suggests a National Institutes of Health (NIH) study. The researchers propose that substituting potatoes with other vegetables, legumes or whole grains may help lower gestational diabetes risk. The findings appear in The BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal).
NIH study finds no reason for delaying pregnancy attempts after a loss without complications.
Couples who attempt to conceive within three months after losing an early pregnancy, defined as less than 20 weeks gestation, have the same chances, if not greater, of achieving a live birth than those who wait for three months or more, according to a National Institutes of Health study.
This finding, published today in Obstetrics & Gynecology, questions traditional advice that couples should wait at least three months after a loss before attempting a new pregnancy. The World Health Organization, for example, recommends waiting a minimum of six months between a pregnancy loss and a subsequent attempt.
Our eyes are especially demanding when it comes to energy: Along with our brain, they require a substantial amount of power to keep them functioning and healthy. Now a new study by the National Eye Institute suggests that because of their high-energy demands, our eyes function at high efficiency and with little reserve capacity, which scientists say may explain why they become vulnerable to degenerative diseases.
Better understanding of how cells in the eye become susceptible to degenerative diseases may point to biomarkers that could be used to identify people at risk, and also to develop potential therapies, said the study’s lead author, Anand Swaroop, Ph.D., chief of NEI’s Neurobiology-Neurodegeneration and Repair Laboratory.
NIMH researchers have boosted the staying power of a social memory at least 80-fold by stimulating a circuit they discovered in mouse brain. A male mouse that would normally forget a female mouse it had just met within an hour instead remembered it at least a week later! Researchers precisely tweaked the circuit by genetically priming it to respond to pulses of light –a cutting edge technique called optogenetics. The study is the first to enhance social memory by stimulating a specific circuit.
New Findings Inform New WHO Treatment Guidelines that Reinstate Former First-Line Therapy
New findings from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), confirm dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine, the first-line treatment for Plasmodium falciparum malaria infection in Cambodia, has failed in certain provinces due to parasite resistance to artemisinin and piperaquine. Dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine is an artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) for malaria that combines potent, fast-acting artemisinin with a long-acting partner drug, piperaquine. Resistance to artemisinin in parts of Southeast Asia is well-documented, but until now only a few studies have presented clear evidence of piperaquine resistance. Additional study findings suggest that artesunate, a form of artemisinin, plus mefloquine, a different long-acting partner drug, should be the first-line ACT in areas where dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine treatment has failed, the study authors note.
NIH researchers find no risk by age 3 from in vitro fertilization, other widespread treatments
Children conceived via infertility treatments are no more likely to have a developmental delay than children conceived without such treatments, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health, the New York State Department of Health and other institutions. The findings, published online in JAMA Pediatrics, may help to allay longstanding concerns that conception after infertility treatment could affect the embryo at a sensitive stage and result in lifelong disability.
The authors found no differences in developmental assessment scores of more than 1,800 children born to women who became pregnant after receiving infertility treatment and those of more than 4,000 children born to women who did not undergo such treatment.
Scientists have discovered a method for genome-wide detection of DNA regulatory sites by using single cells instead of millions of cells, which have been needed in older techniques. DNA regulatory sites help control gene expression — that is, the different types of proteins a cell makes. Gene expression, in turn, controls much of the character and activities of the cell — both normal and pathobiological processes.
The new technique, described in a recent article in Nature, helps scientists target specific regions called DNase I hypersensitive sites (DHSs), key genomic regulatory elements where chromatin — the complexes of DNA and proteins constituting chromosomes — is no longer condensed. In DHSs, chromatin is more extended and the enzyme DNase I can be used to essentially break open, or cleave, the DNA molecule exposing its regulatory regions.
Small NIH Trial Provides Foundation for Further Studies of Antibody-Based Therapy
A single infusion of a powerful antibody called VRC01 can suppress the level of HIV in the blood of infected people who are not taking antiretroviral therapy (ART), scientists at the National Institutes of Health report in a paper published today. The researchers also found that giving HIV-infected people VRC01 antibodies by infusing them into a vein or under the skin is safe and well tolerated, and the antibodies remain in the blood for an extended period.
The Phase 1 clinical trial conducted by scientists at the Vaccine Research Center of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) involved 23 HIV-infected people, 15 of whom were taking ART and eight of whom were not. The individuals on ART received two infusions of VRC01 28 days apart, and those not on ART received one antibody infusion. The investigators assessed whether the antibody infusions were safe and whether they reduced the amount of HIV in blood plasma (the viral load) or within blood cells.
As we age, proteins in the lenses of our eyes start misbehaving: They unfold and congregate in clusters that block, scatter and distort light as it passes through the lens. A cloudy area, or cataract, forms. In a new study, scientists found that throughout our lifetime, levels of a key protein decline, and may be an early warning sign of a developing cataract. The study, conducted by scientists at the National Eye Institute and the Wilmer Eye Institute of Johns Hopkins Hospital and published online in Ophthalmology, suggests that there is a window before cataracts develop when there may be time to intervene and prevent them.
While cataract surgery is an effective treatment, its cost and the lack of well-trained surgeons limit its availability in many parts of the world, making cataracts the leading cause of blindness.
