National Institutes of Health (NIH) News Releases

NHLBI Stops Enrollment in Study on Resuscitation Methods for Cardiac Arrest

Fri, 06 Nov 09 12:31:00 EST

Enrollment has ended early in a large, multicenter clinical trial comparing two distinct resuscitation strategies delivered by emergency medical service (EMS) providers to increase blood flow during cardiac arrest. The study's independent monitoring board and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the lead sponsor of the study, stopped enrollment based on preliminary data suggesting that neither strategy significantly improved survival. One strategy compared different durations of manual cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) by EMS providers before they assessed whether defibrillation was needed, and the other strategy tested the potential benefits and risks of an investigational device to maintain pressure in the chest during CPR.

NIDA Launches New Substance Abuse Resources to Help Fill Gaps in Medical Education

Fri, 06 Nov 09 12:01:00 EST

The rigors of medical training sharpen a doctor's ability to diagnose and treat a wide variety of human afflictions. However, drug abuse and addiction are often insufficiently covered in medical school curricula, despite the fact that drug use affects a wide range of health conditions and drug abuse and addiction are themselves major public health issues.

Researchers Discover Mutations in Two Genes that Cause Early-Onset Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Thu, 05 Nov 09 10:15:00 EST

An international team including researchers with the National Institutes of Health has discovered that mutations in either of two related genes cause a severe and rare form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in young children.

What Can Prevent Walking Disability in Older People?

Wed, 04 Nov 09 15:45:00 EST

The National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health, today announced the award of $29.5 million in grant support over the next two years to determine whether a specific physical activity program can stave off disability in older people. The funding will begin the Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders — LIFE — trial, the largest ever undertaken to prevent mobility disability among older people who are at risk of losing their ability to walk and to live independently in the community. The grant is being awarded to the University of Florida’s Institute on Aging in Gainesville.

NIAID Announces New Human Immunology Research Awards to Help Fight Emerging Infectious Diseases

Wed, 04 Nov 09 14:45:00 EST

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded approximately $208 million to two programs that support research to better understand the human immune response to emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, including those that may be introduced into a community through acts of bioterrorism.

NIAID Awards Five-Year, $56 Million Contract to Continue Study of Asthma in Inner City Children

Wed, 04 Nov 09 11:55:00 EST

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, has renewed the contract to continue studying asthma in children living in lower-income, inner city environments. This five-year, $56 million award will support the Inner-City Asthma Consortium (ICAC), a nationwide clinical trials network to evaluate promising new therapies to reduce asthma severity and prevent disease, and to perform basic research to understand how these therapies work.

NIH Awards More than 50 Grants to Boost Search for Causes, Improve Treatments for Autism

Wed, 04 Nov 09 09:55:00 EST

The National Institutes of Health has awarded more than 50 autism research grants, totaling more than $65 million, which will be supported with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. These grants are the result of the largest funding opportunity for research on autism spectrum disorders (ASD) to date, announced in March 2009.

NIH-Supported Trial to Study Testosterone Therapy in Older Men

Mon, 02 Nov 09 14:55:00 EST

Low serum testosterone may contribute to a number of problems affecting older men, including decreased ability to walk, loss of muscle mass and strength, decreased vitality, decreased sexual function, impaired cognition, cardiovascular disease and anemia. While testosterone normally decreases with age, in some men, low levels of testosterone may contribute to these debilitating conditions. A new national clinical trial will test whether these conditions can be favorably affected by testosterone therapy.

Initial Results Show Pregnant Women Mount Strong Immune Response to One Dose of 2009 H1N1 Flu Vaccine

Mon, 02 Nov 09 13:05:00 EST

Healthy pregnant women mount a robust immune response following just one dose of 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine, according to initial results from an ongoing clinical trial sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health.

Survey: Awareness of COPD -- The Nation's Fourth Leading Cause Of Death -- Is Rising, But Understanding Is Still Low

Mon, 02 Nov 09 10:05:00 EST

Awareness of COPD -- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease -- continues to grow in the United States, according to national survey results released today by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health.

NIH Awards $27 Million in Recovery Act Funds to Enhance Scientist and Resource Networking

Mon, 02 Nov 09 09:25:00 EST

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) today announced awards that will harness the power of social networking to help scientists and students throughout the country accelerate biomedical research. The same principles and technology that enable teenagers to instantly share updates and pictures with their friends also can help researchers connect, collaborate and share resources better and faster on scientific advances. All software developed in this project will be freely available to biomedical institutions in the non-profit sector.

Clinical Tests Begin on Medication to Correct Fragile X Defect

Mon, 02 Nov 09 09:15:00 EST

NIH-supported scientists at Seaside Therapeutics in Cambridge, Mass., are beginning a clinical trial of a potential medication designed to correct a central neurochemical defect underlying Fragile X syndrome, the most common inherited cause of intellectual disability. There has to date been no medication that could alter the disorder's neurologic abnormalities. The study will evaluate safety, tolerability, and optimal dosage in healthy volunteers.

Researchers Develop Innovative Imaging System to Study Sudden Cardiac Arrest

Fri, 30 Oct 09 15:40:00 EDT

A research team at Vanderbilt University has developed an innovative optical system to simultaneously image electrical activity and metabolic properties in the same region of a heart, to study the complex mechanisms that lead to sudden cardiac arrest. Tested in animal models, the system could dramatically advance scientists' understanding of the relationship between metabolic disorders and heart rhythm disturbances in humans that can lead to cardiac arrest and death, and provide a platform for testing new treatments to prevent or stop potentially fatal irregular heartbeats, known as arrhythmias.

NIH Launches Multicenter Clinical Trial to Test Blood Pressure Strategy

Thu, 29 Oct 09 15:18:00 EDT

The National Institutes of Health is launching a large multicenter randomized clinical trial to determine whether maintaining blood pressure levels lower than current recommendations further reduces the risk of cardiovascular and kidney diseases, or age-related cognitive decline. Called the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT), the nine-year, $114 million study will be conducted in more than 80 clinical sites across the United States.

NIAID Scientists Propose New Explanation for Flu Virus Antigenic Drift

Thu, 29 Oct 09 14:03:00 EDT

Influenza viruses evade infection-fighting antibodies by constantly changing the shape of their major surface protein. This shape-shifting, called antigenic drift, is why influenza vaccines — which are designed to elicit antibodies matched to each year's circulating virus strains — must be reformulated annually. Now, researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, have proposed a new explanation for the evolutionary forces that drive antigenic drift. The findings in mice, using a strain of seasonal influenza virus first isolated in 1934, also suggest that antigenic drift might be slowed by increasing the number of children vaccinated against influenza.

Federal Stimulus Grant Supports Crucial Study of Anti-Nicotine Vaccine

Thu, 29 Oct 09 12:21:00 EDT

Efforts to develop a vaccine capable of preventing tobacco addiction got a $10-million shot in the arm in the form of an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant. The award to Nabi Biopharmaceuticals of Rockville, Md., was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health.

NIH Awards $75 Million for Research in Minority Institutions

Thu, 29 Oct 09 11:01:00 EDT

The National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), part of the National Institutes of Health, announced today that it will provide approximately $75 million over the next five years to support four institutions via NCRR's Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMIs) program. The RCMI program enhances research capacity and infrastructure in minority institutions. Three of the four institutions will receive funding through a new program, the RCMI Infrastructure for Clinical and Translational Research (RCTR). The fourth grant establishes a new RCMI center at Xavier University of Louisiana.

NIA Extends Research on Health, Economics of Older Americans

Thu, 29 Oct 09 09:11:00 EDT

The National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health, today announced the award of four grants totaling more than $19 million over the next two years to expand the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), the nation's premier long-term study and data resource on the combined health, economic, and social factors influencing the well-being of Americans over age 50.

A Decade Later, Lifestyle Changes or Metformin Still Lower Type 2 Diabetes Risk

Thu, 29 Oct 09 09:11:00 EDT

Intensive lifestyle changes aimed at modest weight loss reduced the rate of developing type 2 diabetes by 34 percent compared with placebo in people at high risk for the disease, researchers conclude based on 10 years of data. Participants randomly assigned to make lifestyle changes also had more favorable cardiovascular risk factors, including lower blood pressure and triglyceride levels, despite taking fewer drugs to control their heart disease risk, according to the study.

NCMHD Recovery Act Funds Support Obesity Disparities in the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Basin Jurisdiction

Wed, 28 Oct 09 16:11:00 EDT

The National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD), a part of the National Institutes of Health, awards a two-year planning grant totaling $600,000 to study obesity-related disparities among Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. This is a portion of the NIH $5 billion of Recovery funds announced by President Obama on September 30th.

NIH-Funded Researchers Transform Embryonic Stem Cells Into Human Germ Cells

Wed, 28 Oct 09 14:01:00 EDT

Researchers funded in part by the National Institutes of Health have discovered how to transform human embryonic stem cells into germ cells, the embryonic cells that ultimately give rise to sperm and eggs. The advance will allow researchers to observe human germ cells -- previously inaccessible -- in laboratory dishes.

NIEHS Awards Recovery Act Funds to Address Bisphenol A Research Gaps

Wed, 28 Oct 09 13:15:00 EDT

Researchers studying the health effects of the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) gathered in North Carolina to launch an integrated research initiative to produce data that will allow for a comprehensive assessment of its possible human health effects. Researchers who just received funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to study BPA were brought together to meet with scientists from academia and government already working on the compound. The meeting was held Oct. 6, 2009 at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).

Recovery Act Funds Expand Studies of Stem Cell Biology

Wed, 28 Oct 09 12:30:00 EDT

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), part of the National Institutes of Health, is using $5.4 million of Recovery Act funds to accelerate basic studies of induced pluripotent stem cells. These cells, abbreviated iPS, are reprogrammed from skin or other easily obtained adult cells and appear to be similar to stem cells derived from embryos.

New EUREKA Awards Fund Highly Innovative Research, Promise Big Payoffs

Wed, 28 Oct 09 12:30:00 EDT

The National Institutes of Health has awarded 56 grants of up to $67.4 million to support highly innovative research projects that promise big scientific payoffs. The new awards are part of the EUREKA (Exceptional, Unconventional Research Enabling Knowledge Acceleration) program, which helps scientists test new, unconventional ideas or tackle major methodological or technical challenges.

A Call to Copenhagen -- Health Effects of Climate Change

Tue, 27 Oct 09 15:05:00 EDT

Members of the press are invited to the unveiling and policy discussion of a major international study on the Public Health Impacts of Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions being published in Lancet, just in time for the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), one of the National Institutes of Health, is sponsoring the event which will feature speakers from around the world gathered in Washington, DC and at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine participating via live video conferencing.

NIH Director's Council of Public Representatives Welcomes Six New Members to the Next Meeting, October 30, 2009, in Bethesda, Md.

Mon, 26 Oct 09 09:45:00 EDT

The National Institutes of Health has selected six individuals to serve as members of the Director's Council of Public Representatives (COPR), the advisory committee to the NIH Director on issues important to the public.

Clinical Research Fellows Learn About Options and Opportunities

Mon, 26 Oct 09 09:15:00 EDT

More than 270 medical and dental students from 70 U.S. schools will be at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center next month for the seventh-annual Clinical Investigator Student Trainee Forum. The students, who represent the next generation of clinician-scientists, will have the opportunity to learn more about new medical research methods and technologies and to network with established clinical and translational researchers.

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