Featured series 
Tag: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
-
Campus & Community
BIDMC geneticist Rinn named to Popular Science’s ‘Brilliant 10’
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center geneticist John Rinn, whose research has helped uncover a new class of RNA, has been named to this year’s “Brilliant 10” list of top young scientists by Popular Science magazine.
-
Campus & Community
Results of AIDS vaccine trial ‘weak’ in second analysis
In an editorial accompanying the journal paper, Dr. Raphael Dolin of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston said the overall findings were nonetheless “of potentially great importance to the field of HIV research” because they might yield information about the kinds of immune responses necessary to provide protection against the virus….
-
Health
Drug for MS reactivates virus causing deadly brain disease
The virus responsible for progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), a rare brain disease that typically affects AIDS patients and other individuals with compromised immune systems, has been found to be reactivated in multiple sclerosis patients being treated with natalizumab (Tysabri). The findings by Harvard researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and collaborators at Johns…
-
Health
Low-carb diets linked to atherosclerosis and impaired blood vessel growth
Even as low-carbohydrate/high-protein diets have proven successful at helping individuals rapidly lose weight, little is known about the diets’ long-term effects on vascular health. Now, a study led by team of Harvard researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) provides some of the first data on this subject, demonstrating that mice placed on a…
-
Health
Fragile period of childhood brain development could underlie epilepsy
A form of partial epilepsy associated with auditory and other sensory hallucinations has been linked to the disruption of brain development during early childhood, according to a study led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). Described in today’s advance online edition of Nature Medicine, these new findings provide the first genetic link…
-
Health
When physicians share notes with their patients
Patients across the country are voicing a growing desire for greater engagement in, and control over, their own medical care. A new study led by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) will examine the impact of adding a new layer of openness to a traditionally one-sided element of the doctor-patient relationship – the notes from…
-
Health
Shining light on leptin’s role in brain
In investigating the complex neurocircuitry behind weight gain and glucose control, scientists have known that the hormone leptin plays a key role in the process. But within the myriad twists and turns of the brain’s intricate landscape, the exact pathways that the hormone travels to exert its influence have remained a mystery. Now, a study…
-
Health
Glutamine supplements show promise in treating stomach ulcers
Nearly 20 years ago, it was discovered that bacteria known as Helicobacter pylori were responsible for stomach ulcers. Since then, antibiotics have become the primary therapy used to combat the H. pylori infection, which affects approximately 6 percent of the world population and is also a primary cause of stomach cancer. But today the bacteria…
-
Health
Common virus could cause high blood pressure
A new study suggests for the first time that cytomegalovirus (CMV), a common viral infection affecting between 60 percent and 99 percent of adults worldwide, is a cause of high blood pressure, a leading risk factor for heart disease, stroke, and kidney disease. The study, led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC)…
-
Science & Tech
Dinosaur protein preserved over time
Ancient protein dating back 80 million years to the Cretaceous geologic period has been preserved in bone fragments and soft tissues of a type of duck-billed dinosaur, according to a study in the May 1 issue of Science. Led by scientists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and North Carolina State University (NCSU), the…
-
Health
Eating fatty fish once a week reduces men’s risk of heart failure
Eating salmon or other fatty fish just once a week helped reduce men’s risk of heart failure, a recent study shows, adding to growing evidence that omega-3 fatty acids are of benefit to cardiac health.
-
Campus & Community
Morris Simon
Morris Simon, MB, BCH, died suddenly and unexpectedly on January 17, 2005, one day after his 79th birthday. At the time of his death he was professor emeritus at Harvard Medical School and working regularly in the Department of Radiology at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, as he had for almost a half century.
-
Health
Waist size predictor of heart failure in men and women
Adding to the growing evidence that a person’s waist size is an important indicator of heart health, a study led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) has found that larger waist circumference is associated with increased risk of heart failure in middle-aged and older populations of men and women.
-
Science & Tech
Link found between religious belief, intensive medical care at end of life
In a new study of terminally ill cancer patients, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute found that those who draw on religion to cope with their illness are more likely to receive intensive, life-prolonging medical care as death approaches — treatment that often entails a lower quality of life in patients’ final days. Previous research showed…
-
Health
Higher temperatures lead to more severe headaches
Although large numbers of headache sufferers, particularly individuals who struggle with migraines, attribute their pain to the weather, there has been little scientific evidence to back up their assertions. Now, a study of more than 7,000 patients, led by Harvard researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), provides some of the first large-scale data…
-
Science & Tech
Researchers find potential cause of heart risks for shift workers
Harvard researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and colleagues have identified the potential cause of the increased risk for cardiovascular and metabolic disease in shift workers. The researchers found that misalignment between the internal biological clock and the sleep/wake and fasting/feeding cycles, known as circadian misalignment, resulted in hormonal and metabolic changes that, if…
-
Health
Doctors override most electronic medication safety alerts
Computer-based systems that allow clinicians to prescribe drugs electronically are designed to automatically warn of potential medication errors, but a new study reveals clinicians often override the alerts and rely instead on their own judgment. The study, led by investigators at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), suggests that most clinicians…
-
Health
Scientists uncover new class of mammalian genes with key functions
A research team at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has uncovered a vast new class of previously unrecognized mammalian genes that do not encode proteins, but instead function as long RNA molecules. Their findings, presented in the Feb. 1 advance online issue of the journal Nature, demonstrate…
-
Science & Tech
A protein found to restore blood glucose in type 1 diabetes model
A protein made by the liver in response to inflammation and used to treat patients suffering from a genetic form of emphysema has been shown to restore blood glucose levels in a mouse model of type 1 diabetes mellitus, according to a new study led by Harvard Medical School (HMS) researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess…
-
Health
Researchers find sleep selectively preserves emotional memories
As poets, songwriters and authors have described, our memories range from misty water-colored recollections to vividly detailed images of the times of our lives. Now, a study led by Harvard researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Boston College offers new insights into the specific components of emotional memories, suggesting that sleep plays…
-
Health
Middle Eastern families yield intriguing clues to autism
Research involving large Middle Eastern families, sophisticated genetic analysis and groundbreaking neuroscience has implicated a half-dozen new genes in autism. More importantly, it strongly supports the emerging idea that autism stems from disruptions in the brain’s ability to form new connections in response to experience – consistent with autism’s onset during the first year of…
-
Nation & World
Training a physician’s eye on policy
Three years into his medical school career, Joe Ladapo had a revelation, but it wasn’t in a medical class, it was in economics.
-
Health
NIH awards Harvard Medical School $117.5 million, five-year grant for patient-centered research
The National Institutes of Health today announced that Harvard Medical School (HMS) will receive $117.5 million over the next five years for the establishment of a Clinical and Translational Science Center (CTSC) that will transform patient-oriented, laboratory-to-bedside research at HMS and its affiliated hospitals. Harvard University, HMS, and a number of the affiliated hospitals are…
-
Health
Molecular analysis confirms T. Rex’s evolutionary link to birds
Putting more meat on the theory that dinosaurs’ closest living relatives are modern-day birds, molecular analysis of a shred of 68-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex protein — along with that of 21 modern species — confirms that dinosaurs share common ancestry with chickens, ostriches, and to a lesser extent, alligators. The work, published this week in the…
-
Health
Slow reading in dyslexia tied to disorganized brain tracts
Dyslexia marked by poor reading fluency — slow and choppy reading — may be caused by disorganized, meandering tracts of nerve fibers in the brain, according to researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), and the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) at the time the work was done. Their study,…
-
Health
Gene responsible for statin-induced muscle pain identified
Statins, the popular class of drugs used to lower cholesterol, are among the most commonly prescribed medications in developed countries. But for some patients, accompanying side effects of muscle weakness and pain become chronic problems and, in rare cases, can escalate to debilitating and even life-threatening damage. Now a study led by investigators at Beth…
-
Campus & Community
Research finds mutation that causes Noonan syndrome
Scientists have discovered that mutations in a gene known as SOS1 account for many cases of Noonan syndrome (NS), a common childhood genetic disorder that occurs in one in 1,000 to 2,500 live births. NS is characterized by short stature, facial abnormalities, and learning disabilities, as well as heart problems and predisposition to leukemia. Led…
-
Campus & Community
Dietary supplements can cause harmful reactions with prescription medicines
More than one of every five people who take prescription drugs also use dietary supplements, like ginseng and gingko, without telling their doctors. Such combinations may lead to harmful results, such as interfering with the action of prescription medications taken for conditions ranging from insomnia to heart disease, cancer, and arthritis. “Amid increasing numbers of…