The severe respiratory virus called MERS only recently arrived on American shores, carried here by two travelers from the Middle East. But for two years, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have been studying the virus, and they recently discovered a way to combat the deadly pathogen by blocking its ability to enter and infect cells. Wayne Marasco, professor of medicine at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, led the research.
Researchers and private companies are refining the technology for analyzing DNA and building curated databases that will provide a reliable reference for understanding the connections between rare mutations and disease. Research by Robert C. Green, associate professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Heidi Rehm, associate professor of pathology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital; and David Altshuler, professor of genetics at Massachusetts General Hospital, is cited.
A patient who was born deaf has become the youngest infant in the United State to receive an Auditory Brain Stem Implant. Daniel Lee, associate professor of otology, and a team from Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary performed the auditory brain stem implant. The child’s care is in collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital.
Researchers have found that getting less-than-recommended amounts of sleep was associated with a higher BMI and higher amounts of overall and midsection fat. Elsie Taveras, associate professor of population medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital for Children, is the lead author of the study.
John J. Ratey, associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, was a guest on Here and Now to discuss the importance of walking.
An algorithm can pick out biologically and clinically meaningful variants from whole-exome sequences of tumors. Eliezer Van Allen, instructor in medicine at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, is the lead author of the study.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is the first private hospital system to give patients electronic access to therapy notes written by their psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers. Michael Kahn, assistant professor of psychiatry, authored an article about the program. Tom Delbanco, the Richard A. and Florence Koplow-James L. Tullis Professor of General Medicine and Primary Care, and leader of OpenNotes, is also quoted.
New NIH policies will insist that medical research include male and female genders in proposals for medical research grants. Paula Johnson, professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is quoted.
People who turn to the Internet or iPhone apps for help in controlling their blood pressure may be led astray in some cases, two preliminary studies suggest. Nilay Kumar, instructor in medicine at Cambridge Health Alliance, is the lead researcher of one of the studies.
