Johns Hopkins Medicine News

Even though hundreds of thousands more people finished grueling 26.2 mile marathons in the United States in 2009 compared to a decade earlier, a runner’s risk of dying during or soon after the race has remained very low — about .75 per 100,000, new Johns Hopkins research suggests. Men, however, were twice as likely to die as women.

Babies born to women with sensitivity to gluten appear to be at increased risk for certain psychiatric disorders later in life, according to research by scientists at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore.

On Friday, May 18, more than 750 Baltimore City students won’t be in science class at school. Instead, the throng of 5th to 12th graders will be immersed in a daylong program at the nation’s leading hospital designed to inspire them to pursue careers in health and science.

Having a fat head may not be a bad thing, according to new findings at The Johns Hopkins University. As reported in the February 9 issue of Neuron, Hopkins researchers have made a significant discovery as to how adding fat molecules to proteins can influence the brain circuitry controlling cognitive function, including learning and memory.

Paul Englund, a professor emeritus of biological chemistry, and Rachel Green and Se-Jin Lee, both professors of molecular biology and genetics, were among 82 scientists inducted April 28 into the National Academy of Sciences for their distinguished research achievements.

A study on a handful of people with suspected mild Alzheimer’s disease (AD) suggests that a device that sends continuous electrical impulses to specific “memory” regions of the brain appears to increase neuronal activity. Results of the study using deep brain stimulation, a therapy already used in some patients with Parkinson’s disease and depression, may offer hope for at least some with AD, an intractable disease with no cure.

Repairing DNA breaks can save a cell’s life—but shutting off the repair machinery can be just as critical. How cells accomplish this feat was unknown. However, new research by Johns Hopkins scientists, published in the February 22 issue of Nature, suggests that shutting down the repair machinery relies heavily on the same molecule used to start repair in the first place.

With summer just around the corner, pediatricians at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center are sounding the alarm on a disturbing trend: A growing number of teenagers and young adults diagnosed with skin cancer.