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:
Whether you’re shedding pounds with the help of effective new medicines, slimming down after weight loss surgery or cutting calories and adding exercise, there will come a day when the numbers on the scale stop going down, and you hit the dreaded weight loss plateau.
In a recent study, Kevin Hall, a researcher at the National Institutes of Health who specializes in measuring metabolism and weight change, looked at when weight loss typically stops depending on the method people were using todrop pounds. He broke down the plateau into mathematical models using data from high-quality clinical trials of different ways to lose weight to understand why people stop losing when they do. The study published Monday in the journal Obesity.
A new study shows that it is possible to use an imaging technique called cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to view, in near-atomic detail, the architecture of a metabolic enzyme bound to a drug that blocks its activity. This advance provides a new path for solving molecular structures that may revolutionize drug development, noted the researchers.
A new breed of lab animals, dubbed “glowing head mice,” may do a better job than conventional mice in predicting the success of experimental cancer drugs—while also helping to meet an urgent need for more realistic preclinical animal models.
Scientists at the National Institutes of Health have solved a long-standing mystery about the origin of one of the cell types that make up the ovary. The team also discovered how ovarian cells share information during development of an ovarian follicle, which holds the maturing egg. Researchers believe this new information on basic ovarian biology will help them better understand the cause of ovarian disorders, such as premature ovarian failure and polycystic ovarian syndrome, conditions that both result in hormone imbalances and infertility in women.
BRAIN Initiative yields chemical-genetic tool with push-pull capabilities
Neuroscientists have perfected a chemical-genetic remote control for brain circuitry and behavior. This evolving technology can now sequentially switch the same neurons — and the behaviors they mediate — on-and-off in mice, say researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health. Such bidirectional control is pivotal for decoding the brain workings of complex behaviors. The findings are the first to be published from the first wave of NIH grants awarded last fall under the BRAIN Initiative.
The National Institutes of Health has selected 55 talented and diverse students, representing 37 U.S.-accredited universities, for the fourth class of its Medical Research Scholars Program (MRSP), its largest class to date.
A yearlong residential program, the MRSP introduces medical, dental and veterinary students to cutting-edge research, part of NIH's goal of training the next generation of clinician-scientists and biomedical researchers. The program places creative, research-oriented students in NIH laboratories and clinics, including within the NIH Clinical Center, to conduct basic, clinical or translational research in areas that match their career interests and research goals.
Researchers recommend screening for people with family history
Heredity accounts for up to 35 percent of small intestinal carcinoid, a rare digestive cancer, according to findings from a team at the National Institutes of Health. The researchers examined families with a history of the disease. Because the disease has long been considered randomly occurring rather than inherited, people with a family history are not typically screened. Results were published recently in Gastroenterology.
The American healthcare worker admitted to the NIH Clinical Center on March 13 with Ebola virus disease was discharged today in good condition after having been successfully treated at the NIH Clinical Center Special Clinical Studies Unit. The individual is no longer contagious to the community. At the request of the patient, no further information is being provided.
NIH study suggests alternative drug to treat virus
An over-the-counter drug indicated to treat allergy symptoms limited hepatitis C virus activity in infected mice, according to a National Institutes of Health study. The results suggest that the drug, chlorcyclizine HCl (CCZ), potentially could be used to treat the virus in people. Results were published April 8 in Science Translational Medicine.
The status of the patient with Ebola virus disease being treated at the NIH Clinical Center has improved from fair to good condition. No additional details about the patient are being shared at this time.
Measurement of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in blood can be used to detect disease recurrence in patients with a curable form of cancer known as diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). In most patients, measurement of ctDNA enabled detection of microscopic disease before it could be seen on computerized tomography (CT) scans, which is the current standard for disease assessment. Monitoring for recurrence by testing blood samples may reduce the need for multiple CT scans that increase a patient’s exposure to radiation and add to health care costs. Advances in the ability to monitor for disease recurrence earlier may also improve the ability of physicians to successfully treat the disease at the time recurrence is diagnosed. This research was conducted by investigators at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and appeared April 2, 2015, in Lancet Oncology.
