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:
The act of cooking offers the chance to unwind and create something special, whether you’re planning to feed a crowd or just yourself. And while you may have noticed feeling good after whipping up that perfect pie or braise, there’s actually a lot of scientific data to suggest that cooking can have a positive impact on mental health.
One meta-analysis (a report of pre-existing research) from the National Institutes of Health looked at 11 studies and found that “cooking interventions” — encouraging people to follow certain recipes or giving people cooking classes — can improve a person’s mental well-being. It specifically found that people who participated in cooking interventions reported having better self-esteem and quality of life, as well as a more positive emotional state after the fact. Another study even discovered that baking can help raise a person’s confidence level.
Summer research program provides hands-on laboratory experience
Undergraduate students will learn lab work and science leadership skills with mentors from the National Institutes of Health as one of 17 facilities taking part in the Amgen Scholars Program to prepare students for careers in science. Beginning in 2015, NIH will participate as a host institution, appointing candidates who meet both the NIH and Amgen Scholars requirements. This is the first year that NIH will participate in the program in which scholars will spend the summer at NIH’s main campus in Bethesda, Maryland, working with leading scientists. The program is made possible by an $850,000 grant to the Foundation for the NIH from the Amgen Foundation, Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Twelve months following inpatient psychiatric treatment is high-risk period-NIH funded study
U.S. Army soldiers hospitalized with a psychiatric disorder have a significantly elevated suicide risk in the year following discharge from the hospital, according to research from the Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers (Army STARRS External Web Site Policy). The yearly suicide rate for this group, 263.9 per 100,000 soldiers, was far higher than the rate of 18.5 suicides per 100,000 in the Regular Army for the same study period, the study found.
A genetically diverse mouse model is able to predict the range of response to chemical exposures that might be observed in human populations, researchers from the National Institutes of Health have found. Like humans, each Diversity Outbred mouse is genetically unique, and the extent of genetic variability among these mice is similar to the genetic variation seen among humans.
NIH statement from Dr. Griffin P. Rodgers, Director, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
More than 29 million Americans have diabetes, and about 86 million more are on the verge of the disease. People with diabetes are nearly two times more likely than people without diabetes to die from heart disease, and are also at greater risk for kidney, eye and nerve diseases, among other painful and costly complications.
This year, in observance of National Diabetes Month, including World Diabetes Day on Nov. 14, The National Institutes of Health asks people to take to heart the lessons learned from our research. Type 2 diabetes can be delayed or prevented, and both types 1 and 2 diabetes can be managed to prevent complications.
The National Institutes of Health has launched a clinical trial to assess the effects of aspirin and cholesterol-lowering drugs, or statins, on preventing cardiovascular disease in people with long-term HIV infections. This group, which includes people on antiretroviral therapy (ART) as well as “elite controllers” who can limit the virus without ART, have a higher risk of developing heart disease and stroke compared to the general population. The study is funded by NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
The NIH Clinical Center has discharged Ms. Nina Pham, the Texas nurse who was admitted on Thursday, October 16, with Ebola virus disease, after confirming that she is now free of the virus. It is critical to remember that people who have survived Ebola are not contagious and can no longer spread disease. We would not be releasing Ms. Pham if we were not completely confident in the knowledge that she has fully recovered, is virus free and poses no public health threat. The healthcare team at the NIH is pleased to have had the opportunity to provide care to Ms. Pham and guide her recovery. We extend our best wishes to her as she continues to regain her strength and return to normal life.
Human testing of a second investigational Ebola vaccine candidate is under way at the National Institutes of Health’s Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
Researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) are conducting the early phase trial to evaluate the vaccine, called VSV-ZEBOV, for safety and its ability to generate an immune system response in healthy adults who are given two intramuscular doses, called a prime-boost strategy. The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) is simultaneously testing the vaccine candidate as a single dose at its Clinical Trials Center in Silver Spring, Maryland.
The NIH has received countless inquiries and expressions of support for Ms. Nina Pham, the Texas nurse who was admitted to the NIH Clinical Center Special Clinical Studies Unit on Thursday, October 16, with Ebola virus disease. The NIH Clinical Center staff has shared the general sentiments with her and Ms. Pham has expressed her gratitude for everyone’s concerns and well wishes. Ms. Pham’s clinical status has been upgraded from fair to good. No additional details are available at this time.
Mitochondrial oscillations have quietly bewildered scientists for more than 40 years. Now, a team of scientists at National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) has imaged mitochondria for the first time oscillating in a live animal, in this case, the salivary glands of laboratory rats. The report, published online today in the journal Cell Reports, shows the oscillations occur spontaneously and often in the rodent cells, which leads the researchers to believe the oscillations almost surely also occur in human cells.
A drug being studied as a fast-acting mood-lifter restored pleasure-seeking behavior independent of — and ahead of — its other antidepressant effects, in a National Institutes of Health trial. Within 40 minutes after a single infusion of ketamine, treatment-resistant depressed bipolar disorder patients experienced a reversal of a key symptom — loss of interest in pleasurable activities — which lasted up to 14 days. Brain scans traced the agent’s action to boosted activity in areas at the front and deep in the right hemisphere of the brain.
