medical research

• Politics

Former UMMS board member had multiple undisclosed hospital deals; employees felt 'pressured' to push software

A former University of Maryland Medical System board member says he's seen for the first time a system letter urging nursing facilities to buy his software.

By Kevin Rector

Jun 12, 2019

• From the Community:

How To Promote Good Gut Health and Habits To Avoid

The complexity and design of the gut, as well as the important role it plays on the general health of the human body, is a topic that has garnered much interest within the medical community. This has led to a great deal of research being conducted about this vital organ. A number of studies have shown clear links between gut health and autoimmune diseases, the immune system, skin conditions, endocrine disorders, cancer, mood, and mental health. The human gut houses over 100 trillion bacteria and a person is said to have around 300 to 500 species of different bacteria inside ...

• Health

How to protect your mental health from social media: Tips from an expert

So how can people reap the benefits of social media without letting it harm their mental health?

• Opinion

Regulation needed in 'anything goes' CBD environment

My career and my experience as a patient have given me a unique perspective as to how cannabis-derived products, like cannabidiol (CBD), should be regulated.

• Health

Opioid users in Baltimore and elsewhere say they would use designated sites to consume drugs

A study found opioid users in Baltimore and other cities largely support creation of so-called safe consumption sites to prevent overdose.

By Meredith Cohn

Jun 5, 2019

• Health

When are cookies or brownies not 'food'? When they've got marijuana in them, Maryland regulators say

Maryland's Medical Cannabis Commission is starting to draft  the rules to govern the sale and use of marijuana edibles such as cookies and brownies.

By Doug Donovan

Jun 5, 2019

• Health

Baltimore firm raises $110 million to bring Johns Hopkins' cancer-detecting blood test to market

A newly formed Baltimore company has raised $100 million to develop Johns Hopkins researchers' cancer-detecting blood test.

By Lorraine Mirabella

May 30, 2019

• Opinion

Alcohol: a deadly drug marketed to kids

Despite evidence showing no safe level of alcohol, we appear to have doubled down on drinking in America, targeting not just adults with it, but children.

• Commentary

Pyatt: Picking the right medications a bit like throwing darts

Taking medications is not always pleasant and generally involves side effects, again kind of like throwing darts.

• Health

Men have biological clocks, too. Should they stop the tick-tock by banking sperm?

The quality of sperm declines with age, so men who plan to delay fatherhood should be counseled to consider sperm banking before age 35, Rutgers University

• Health

Johns Hopkins Hospital sues patients, many low income, for medical debt

John Hopkins Hospital has filed more than 2,400 lawsuits in Maryland courts since 2009, seeking to collect medical debt from its patients, many low income.

• Opinion

Why I give to Baltimore's beggars

Inevitably, at any major intersection across Baltimore, a person weaves among the stopped, temporarily captive vehicles, seeking money. Does giving it help?

• Health

To prevent dementia, exercise and ditch the vitamin pills, new guidelines say

Many health conditions and behaviors affect the odds of developing dementia, but research suggests that a third of cases are preventable.

• Health

Inside Baltimore's Orthodox Jewish community, battle pits leaders vs. anti-vaxxers in fight against measles

Baltimore's Jewish Orthodox community had been fighting for four years to mitigate anti-vaxxers' influence on the community. Now there's added urgency.

• Health

Women underreport snoring, study finds

New research shows that snoring is not the sole domain of men.

• Opinion

Europe's answer to depression: doctor-assisted suicide

ave you heard about the new cure being touted for so-called “treatment resistant” depression? This new intervention is available in the Netherlands and Belgium, and it's 100 percent effective in ending depressive symptoms, for good. The remedy I’m talking about is doctor-assisted suicide.

• Health

Obesity now associated with at least 13 types of cancer

Smoking has been the No. 1 preventable cause of cancer for decades, but obesity is poised to take the top spot.

• Maryland

Blubaugh: Cellphone ban should extend past school hours

Steven Johnson, who led a presentation about the possible revisions, said, in part, that students are “not always great with the appropriate use of technology.” Few would argue with that. But what if even the appropriate use of smartphones is bad for kids?

• Maryland

After measles case reported in Pikesville, Carroll County residents urged to be wary

A case of measles has been confirmed in Maryland, and the Maryland Department of Health has issued a warning for those who might have been exposed to the infectious respiratory disease.

• Entertainment

Peabody's first 'sensory friendly concert' shows how arts venues make space for people on the autism spectrum

This is a concert that is open to the public and that will mix performers with autism with performers without it. The audience also will include folks with autism who might jump up and down in front of the stage, or actually climb the stage and put their hands on a cello.

By Mary Carole McCauley

Apr 11, 2019

• Health

Hopkins staffers support push from people living with incurable cancers urging more research

"It's really about time that happened," said Dr. Elizabeth Jaffee, deputy director of Johns Hopkins University's Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center. Patients should be asked what side effects and risks they'll accept, "not just treated as research subjects," she said.

• Politics

Maryland legislature approves bill to expand use of medicines for addiction treatment in jails

Maryland is poised to embark on a pilot program that would bring addiction treatment with opioid replacement medications into state prisons, where their use has been barred for years. Support to alter the policy was buttressed by success the medications have had stemming overdose deaths elsewhere.

By Doug Donovan

Apr 6, 2019

• Maryland

Reilly: Ratio of school psychologists to students needs a boost in Maryland

School psychologists are an integral part of a public school system. However, the majority of Maryland counties do not adhere to the National Association of School Psychologists’ recommended ratio of no more than 500 to 700 students per school psychologist.

• Health

‘Even one cigarette’ in pregnancy can raise risk of baby’s death, study finds

The risk of sudden unexpected infant death (SUID) increases with every cigarette smoked during pregnancy, according to a new study.

• Opinion

Background checks for long gun sales would reduce suicides in Md.

While dramatic mass killings in Maryland, including the slaughter of children and members of the press, have led to proposed legislation that would require background checks on long gun sales, the law would also reduce firearm suicides, which constitute two-thirds of all gun deaths.

• Opinion

How can we treat pregnant inmates humanely when we don't even keep track of them?

New research by Johns Hopkins Medicine could help improve the care of pregnant women in prison.

• Health

Johns Hopkins surgeons perform world's first kidney transplant from living donor with HIV

Surgeons in Baltimore have performed what's thought to be the world's first kidney transplant from a living donor with HIV, a milestone for patients with the AIDS virus who need a new organ. If other donors with HIV come forward, it could free up space on the transplant waiting list for everyone.

• Health

Supplemental steroids, testosterone may lower men's sperm counts

Men who abuse hormones such as testosterone or steroids for bodybuilding can have declines in sperm and testosterone production, researchers say.

• Opinion

Supporting public defenders supports substance use treatment

Among all the actors in the justice system, criminal defense attorneys are best situated to implement drug screenings and treatment referrals and to usher a case toward one of the approximately 3,000 Drug Treatment Courts — collaborative programs of judicially-supervised treatment — in the U.S.

• Health

Recipe for a healthy heart may include more breakfast, less TV

Want a healthier heart? Get at least a fifth of your daily calories from your breakfast and stop watching so much TV.

• Maryland

UM Capital Region Health updates Laurel City Council on hospital

UM Capital Region Health officials provided updates on new programs being implemented, behavioral health, campus development and community outreach efforts at Laurel Regional Hospital at the March 11 City Council meeting.

By Jess Nocera

Mar 20, 2019

• Maryland

Three Bel Air friends riding cross country to raise money for St. Jude children's hospital

On Wednesday, the members of the “3 Amigos” cycling team — Bel Air residents and friends Larry Friedman, Jeff Springer and Tony Yoor — will dip the rear wheels of their bikes in the Pacific Ocean before setting off on a cross-country ride to raise money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

By David Anderson

Mar 19, 2019

• Health

New Baltimore-based health initiative aims to close disparities in research, treatment of brain disorders

A Baltimore-based research institute that focuses on brain disorders has partnered with a prominent local African American clergy group to establish the nation’s first research outfit aimed at closing long-standing disparities in research and in treatment, the groups announced Monday.

By Meredith Cohn

Mar 18, 2019

• Obituaries

Dr. Paul Talalay, Johns Hopkins molecular pharmacologist who made broccoli famous as a cancer fighter, dies

Dr. Paul Talalay, a noted molecular pharmacologist who headed a Johns Hopkins School of Medicine research team that found a chemical in broccoli that boosted the cancer-fighting abilities of humans and animal cells, died Sunday of heart failure at his Roland Park home. He was 95.

By Frederick N. Rasmussen

Mar 13, 2019

• Maryland

'Reasonable' access? Fees for Sykesville police reports steepest in state

The flat fee for accident or incident reports in Sykesville — $25 for a report regardless of the number of pages — was the steepest among more than three dozen departments reviewed in a Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association project.

• Maryland

Carroll County overdose numbers decrease in February

Drug and alcohol overdoses in Carroll County were down in February when compared with January and when compared with a year prior, during February 2018.

• Health

Federal opioid task force visits Johns Hopkins to learn about stemming epidemic

A newly formed group of freshmen U.S. lawmakers make their first site visit to Johns Hopkins to learn about addiction and methods to tackle the opioid epidemic.

By Meredith Cohn

Mar 5, 2019

• Maryland

St. Baldrick's event raises $150,000 for childhood cancer research

Participants in the annual St. Baldrick's event in Rosedale in Baltimore County get beards and heads shaved in a fundraiser for pediatric cancer research.

By Christina Tkacik

Mar 3, 2019

• Opinion

The House is finally poised to expand gun background checks. The GOP Senate and president? That's a different story.

Universal background check for all gun sales - the bipartisan gun violence legislation that is embarrassingly overdue.

• Maryland

'We're fighting for our kids': Catonsville mother works to expand insurance coverage for pediatric neurological disease

"Lives just come to a halt. Parents can’t function, a class can’t function, siblings can’t function,” said Dr. Susan Schulman, a pediatrician who specializes in PANDAS.

By Cody Boteler

Feb 25, 2019

• Mental Health Research

Baltimore schools draft policy to protect transgender students — a step beyond most Maryland schools

While many districts say they follow Maryland's guidance around these issues, advocates say Baltimore would join only Frederick County in having a specific, progressive policy to address students who identify as transgender.

By Talia Richman

Feb 22, 2019

• News

Baltimore man convicted in 2017 shooting barrage headed to prison after jury finds him sane

A Northwest Baltimore man is headed for prison — not a mental hospital — after jurors found him sane while he drove through the city blasting an assault rifle from his Lexus.

By Tim Prudente

Feb 21, 2019

• Opinion

Maryland can stop overdoses by allowing safe consumption sites

As the fatal overdoses continue rise, Maryland lawmakers are trying again to pass legislation to create safe sites where people could use drugs under the watch of a medical professional.

• Opinion

We must strictly regulate gene-editing now, before it becomes the norm

Gene editing may soon become a risk-free or low-risk procedure for individual patients. Ethical arguments may not be able to withstand the pressures of the public health need coupled with attaining advantages that money can buy.

• Obituaries

Dr. Theodore Bayless, Hopkins physician who studied lactose intolerance, dies

Theodore Bayless was a Johns Hopkins professor and physician whose research of lactose intolerance led to the innovations in the treatment of that disorder.

By Christina Tkacik

Feb 17, 2019

• Obituaries

Dr. Paul Englund, Johns Hopkins scientist and teacher, dies

Dr. Paul Theodore Englund, a Johns Hopkins teacher and scientist who studied African sleeping sickness, died of Parkinson’s disease Jan. 12 at age 80.

By Jacques Kelly

Feb 15, 2019