Drs. Vivian Bykerk, Lionel B. Ivashkiv, and Alessandra B. Pernis of the Division of Rheumatology will serve as key researchers in one of the 11 research groups across the United States that comprise the NIH Accelerating Medicines Partnership in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus (AMP RA/Lupus) Network. Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus, which can be devastating, are relatively common and severe autoimmune diseases.
Atrial high rate episodes have been associated with an increased risk of stroke, heart failure and death. The study, which officially began in July 2014, has already enrolled six subjects and has recruited multiple leading centers across the United States to participate.
COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases) are the fourth leading cause of mortality worldwide, and cigarette smoke is the major risk factor. Although the pathogenesis of COPD is not completely understood, it may involve aberrant inflammatory and cellular responses in the lung that are in response to cigarette smoke.
Dr. Kyu Rhee and colleagues have uncovered a link between the function of a well-known enzyme and the virulence of the TB bacterium. Their findings are helping to uncover why the TB bacterium is naturally resistant to antibiotic treatment, and they suggest a strategy that could make new and existing drugs more powerful in treating TB. TB is the world's leading bacterial cause of death.
The 23rd Annual Department of Medicine Awards were announced on June 17, 2014. This award is presented annually to members of the Weill Department of Medicine below the rank of professor who perform on outstanding levels in the areas of clinical and/or basic biomedical research. It is supported by the Michael Wolk Foundation.
Initiated in 2002, the Fellow Award in Research is presented annually to fellows within the Weill Department of Medicine who have presented outstanding research. This year's finalists were announced at the June 10 Medicine Grand Rounds (12th Annual).
Established in 1995, the David E. Rogers Memorial Research Award encourages medical residents to continue their investigative research in internal medicine. Each year, senior medical residents submit research abstracts, and four finalists are chosen to present their work during medical grand rounds.
The Suthanthiran Laboratory's innovative discovery to determine acute rejection in the kidney transplant (by measuring three genes in the urine), and ultimately reducing the need of a kidney transplant biopsy, was selected as one of Top 10 Outstanding Clinical Research Achievements in the U.S. by the Clinical Research Forum.
Dr. Henry W. Murray has been working on leishmaniasis, in the laboratory and clinically, for nearly 35 years. For 15 years he carried out clinical treatment trials research in visceral leishmaniasis ("kala-azar") India. The drug he and colleagues in India introduced and tested in the treatment of kala-azar, miltefosine, has been approved by the FDA as the first effective oral agent for leishmaniasis (visceral, cutaneous and mucosal infection).
Dr. Fernando Martinez has published new findings in The New England Journal of Medicine on N-acetylcysteine (NAC), a widely used antioxidant for treating deadly lung disease. Along with senior author Dr. Ganesh Raghu and other colleagues, the 264-patient study determined that there is no evidence that NAC slowed the progression of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) or improved lung function.
