VICTR - CRC: The Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research - Clinical Research Center
National Institutes of Health (NIH) News Releases
News Releases from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Racial Disparities in Breast Cancer Mortality Are Not Driven by Estrogen Receptor Status AloneBlack women who are diagnosed with breast cancer have a higher probability of dying from the disease than white women, regardless of their estrogen receptor status, according to research from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health. Differences in breast cancer mortality may reflect racial differences in access and response to innovative breast cancer treatments, as well as other biological and non-biological factors, according to the report. In addition, the researchers found that differences in outcomes in the first few years post-diagnosis make up nearly all of the disparity. These results were published online June 22, 2009 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. |
Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder Share Genetic RootsA trio of genome-wide studies -- collectively the largest to date -- have pinpointed a vast array of genetic variation that cumulatively may account for at least one third of the genetic risk for schizophrenia. One of the studies traced schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, in part, to the same chromosomal neighborhoods. |
Imaging Technique Allows Researchers to Monitor Protein Changes in Mouse TumorsA new imaging technique can monitor, in living mice, the HER2 protein found in above-normal amounts in many cases of breast cancer as well as some ovarian, prostate and lung cancers. This new approach, once validated in mice and pending further experiments, could provide a real-time noninvasive method for identifying tumors in humans who express HER2 and who would be candidates for targeted therapy directed against this protein. It may also provide real-time information that will help clinicians optimize treatment for individual patients. The study, published in the July 2009 issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine, was conducted by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, both parts of the National Institutes of Health. |
Dynasty: Influenza Virus in 1918 and TodayThe influenza virus that wreaked worldwide havoc in 1918-1919 founded a viral dynasty that persists to this day, according to scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. In an article published online on June 29 by the New England Journal of Medicine, authors Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., Jeffery K. Taubenberger, M.D., Ph.D., and David M. Morens, M.D., argue that we have lived in an influenza pandemic era since 1918, and they describe how the novel 2009 H1N1 virus now circling the globe is yet another manifestation of this enduring viral family. |
Gene Expression Findings a Step Toward Better Classification and Treatment of Juvenile ArthritisScientists have discovered gene expression differences that could lead to better ways to classify, predict outcome, and treat juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). Eventually such findings could enable doctors to target more aggressive treatment to children at risk of more severe arthritis, while those likely to have milder disease could be spared the stronger treatments that carry a greater risk of side effects. The researchers were supported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), a part of the National Institutes of Health. |
Second Gene Linked to Familial Testicular CancerSpecific variations or mutations in a particular can gene raise a man's risk of familial, or inherited, testicular germ-cell cancer, the most common form of this disease, according to new research by scientists at the National Institutes of Health. This is only the second gene to be identified that affects the risk of familial testicular cancer, and the first gene in a key biochemical pathway. The study appeared online June 23, 2009, in Cancer Research. |
New Biomarker Method Could Increase the Number of Diagnostic Tests for CancerA team of researchers has demonstrated that a new method for detecting and quantifying protein biomarkers in body fluids may ultimately make it possible to screen multiple biomarkers in hundreds of patient samples, thus ensuring that only the strongest biomarker candidates will advance down the development pipeline. The researchers have developed a method with the potential to increase accuracy in detecting real cancer biomarkers that is highly reproducible across laboratories and a variety of instruments so that cancer can be caught in its earliest stages. |
Gregory G. Germino, M.D., Named Deputy Director of NIH's National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney DiseasesGregory G. Germino, M.D., a world-renowned expert in inherited kidney disease, has been appointed as deputy director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health, NIDDK Director Griffin P. Rodgers, M.D., has announced. |
Researchers Identify a Novel Mechanism that Could be Targeted to Prevent Cancer SpreadResearchers have discovered a key to the function of a specific protein that helps control the levels of other critical proteins within cells, including a protein that suppresses the spread of cancer. The new information about the mechanism of action of the protein, called gp78, may enable researchers to explore new types of therapies to prevent the spread of cancer. The study, by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, was published in the June 26, 2009, issue of Molecular Cell. |
Migraines with Aura in Middle Age Associated with Late-Life Brain LesionsWomen who suffer from migraine headaches in middle age accompanied by neurological aura (visual disturbances, dizziness or numbness that can precede migraines) are more likely to have damage to brain tissue in the cerebellum later in life, according to a study by researchers at the National Institute on Aging (NIA) of the National Institutes of Health, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and the Icelandic Heart Association in Reykjavik. Researchers noted that many people have these types of "silent" brain lesions, but their effect on physical and cognitive function in older people is not well studied. |
United States and the Republic of Chile Partner to Battle CancerA new alliance between the United States National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Chile, aims to accelerate progress against cancer in Hispanic populations in the United States and Latin America. |
Statement of Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, on National HIV Testing Day, June 27, 2009The importance of National HIV Testing Day becomes clear when one recognizes that an estimated one-fifth of all Americans infected with HIV do not know they are infected. Among Americans who have been tested for the virus, more than one-third of those who learned they are infected became aware of their status less than a year before being diagnosed with AIDS -- long after the optimal time to begin antiretroviral therapy. |
NIH Expands Human Microbiome Project; Funds Sequencing Centers and Disease ProjectsThe Human Microbiome Project has awarded more than $42 million to expand its exploration of how the trillions of microscopic organisms that live in or on our bodies affect our health, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced today. |