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.
New report outlines initiative goals, budget, and timeline
A federal report calls for $4.5 billion in funding for brain research over the next 12 years. The long-term scientific vision of the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative was presented today to National Institutes of Health Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., by his Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD). Dr. Collins accepted the recommendations, calling the report bold and game changing.
Stunning scientific images of blood, brain, bacteria, viruses and more, enlarged by as much as 50,000 times, are on display in an exhibit called “Life: Magnified,” on view through November 2014 at Washington Dulles International Airport’s Gateway Gallery. The gallery, en route to Concourse C, is in a two-level walkway through which about 2.5 million passengers pass each year.
Comprehensive review published in the New England Journal of Medicine also discusses why risks are greatest for teen users
The current state of science on the adverse health effects of marijuana use links the drug to several significant adverse effects including addiction, a review reports. The article, published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, is authored by scientists from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health.
NIH preclinical study suggests higher risk of death is associated with warmer brain temperature
A moderate dose of MDMA, commonly known as Ecstasy or Molly, that is typically nonfatal in cool, quiet environments can be lethal in rats exposed to conditions that mimic the hot, crowded, social settings where the drug is often used by people, a study finds. Scientists have identified the therapeutically-relevant cooling mechanism to enable effective interventions when faced with MDMA-induced hyperthermia. The study, publishing tomorrow in the Journal of Neuroscience, was conducted by researchers at the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s Intramural Research Program (NIDA IRP). NIDA is a part of the National Institutes of Health.
Finding offers insight into how sensory cells find their position
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have uncovered a molecule in an animal model that acts as a key player in establishing the organization of the auditory system. The molecule, a protein known as Bmp7, is produced during embryonic development and acts to help sensory cells find their ultimate position on the tonotopic map, which is the fundamental principle of organization in the auditory system. The tonotopic map groups sensory cells by the sound frequencies that stimulate them. The study is the first to identify one of the molecular mechanisms that determines position.
Couples with highest cholesterol took longest to achieve pregnancy
High cholesterol levels may impair fertility in couples trying to achieve a pregnancy, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health, the University at Buffalo (New York), and Emory University in Atlanta.
The National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) announced the appointment of three new members to the National Advisory Council for Nursing Research (NACNR), the institute's principal advisory board. Members of the council are drawn from the scientific and lay communities, embodying a diverse perspective from the fields of nursing, public and health policy, law, and economics. NINR, a component of the National Institutes of Health, is the primary federal agency for the support of nursing research.
May is Asthma Awareness Month, and the National Institutes of Health emphasizes the scientific progress being made in asthma research, from basic science, such as how lung cells work, to clinical trials on current and future treatments for the disease. NIH-led research includes studies of environmental factors, how the body’s own defense system plays a role, and the microbiome — all the microbial organisms that live in and on the human body.
A new method for using immunotherapy to specifically attack tumor cells that have mutations unique to a patient’s cancer has been developed by scientists at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health. The researchers demonstrated that the human immune system can mount a response against mutant proteins expressed by cancers that arise in epithelial cells which can line the internal and external surfaces (such as the skin) of the body. These cells give rise to many types of common cancers, such as those that develop in the digestive tract, lung, pancreas, bladder and other areas of the body.
NIH study indicates hormone may provide treatment for social disorders
The hormone oxytocin appears to increase social behaviors in newborn rhesus monkeys, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health, the University of Parma in Italy, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The findings indicate that oxytocin is a promising candidate for new treatments for developmental disorders affecting social skills and bonding.
