national institutes of health

• Howard County

Ellicott City

Ellicott City briefs

• Howard County

Wii bowling at the Bain Center

Scrabble at the Bain Center perfect way for seniors to scrabble their brains.

• Howard County

Ellicott City

Ellicott City briefs

• Harford

Havre de Grace High Hall of Fame names four inductees for 2013

Mark P. Becker, Bert J. Hash Jr., Robert "Bobby" Parker and Clark Turner have been announced as the Class of 2013 of the Havre de Grace High School Hall of Fame.

• Obituaries

Dr. Theodore H. Kaiser, pediatrician and psychiatrist

Dr. Theodore H. Kaiser, a pediatrician and psychiatrist was the founder and director of the Division of Child Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, died Aug. 5 of a heart attack while vacationing in Bethany Beach, Del. The Pikesville resident was 86.

• Obituaries

Shirley B. Howard, fundraiser

Shirley B. Howard, a former local TV personality who with her late husband founded the Children's Cancer Foundation and proceeded to raise millions of dollars, died Wednesday from respiratory failure at her Pikesville home. She was 88.

• Health

Hopkins, U-Md. await word on grant funding key in medical treatment discoveries

Johns Hopkins and University of Maryland officials are awaiting word on a key NIH grant program, Clinical and Translational Science Awards, that is facing a budget squeeze.

• Family

Child researchers seek low-income subjects

It's not so much racial, or even ethnic, diversity that many child development labs need to improve upon these days — it's socioeconomic.

• Opinion

An immortal contribution

It's time the family of Henrietta Lacks was recognized for her contribution to medical science

• Health

Lacks' family to have say in use of her genetic material

Henrietta Lacks had no say when Johns Hopkins doctors used her cells 60 years ago in research that led to groundbreaking medical advances, but now her descendants will.

• Opinion

Funding NIH behavioral research is a waste of money

Funding NIH behavioral research is a waste of money

• Obituaries

Susa Kessler

Susa Kessler, a retired World Bank analyst who had fled Nazi Germany as a child, died of breast cancer complications Tuesday at Gilchrist Hospice Care. The Canton resident was 88.

• Opinion

Pain of sequestration is real

Despite claims to the contrary, meat-cleaver approach to budget cutting is hurting plenty of Marylanders

• Opinion

Are tax cuts in Maryland's future?

Maryland politicians say they want lower taxes, and the corporate tax rate is the best place to start

• Harford

Running to beat rare form of cancer in Bel Air

A group of runners traveling across the country to raise money to fight sarcoma stopped in Bel Air Monday, to meet a woman who recently lost her husband to the rare form of cancer and visit a local running supply store during their journey from San Francisco to Ocean City.

• Opinion

Budget cuts and the politics of research

Eric Cantor is making a mistake in attempting to cut funds for behavioral and social science research.

• Jobs and Workplace

Defense employees frustrated by furloughs

Mary Theresa Nipwoda, a lab technician at Aberdeen Proving Ground, did what she could to prepare for the 20-percent pay cut she knew was coming this week.

• Health

Federal medical research cuts decried at Hopkins

The head of the nation's medical research agency and leaders of Johns Hopkins hospital and medical school warned Monday that progress in fighting diseases could be slowed, jobs lost and scientists driven overseas unless across-the-board federal funding cuts are reversed.

• Howard County

Trials and tribulations of slaves come to life [Commentary]

There are no known photos of James Too, but here I am talking with him about his life as a slave in Maryland, and later in Texas, when he was a young man.

• Health

Sales of crib bumpers prohibited in Maryland

A ban on decorative bumpers that line a baby's crib goes into effect in Maryland Friday.

• Obituaries

Dr. Henry V. "Harry" Chase

• Science

Ban on patenting DNA cheers researchers

Researchers and patients hail a Supreme Court ruling that human genes cannot be patented. The case involved a company that had a monopoly on testing for the hereditary breast cancer gene.

• Obituaries

Dr. Frederick L. Brancati, expert on diabetes

Dr. Frederick L. Brancati, an internationally known expert on the epidemiology and prevention of type 2 diabetes, died Tuesday from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, at his Lutherville home. He was 53.

• Health

University of Maryland School of Medicine aims to raise $500 million

The University of Maryland School of Medicine announced this week a $500 million fundraising goal – the institution's largest campaign ever.

• Crime

Federal workers relieved by limits on online disclosures

Details of financial transactions by members of Congress and thousands of high-level federal workers were supposed to be posted online last month for anyone in the world to see — a key step, supporters of the move said, toward greater transparency in government.

• Obituaries

William H. Hoffman, engineer

William H. Hoffman, a retired Food and Drug Administration official, died Monday from septic shock following kidney transplant surgery at the University of Maryland Medical Center. He was 81.

• National Government

Budget cuts slow federal hiring in Md.

Hiring for federal jobs in Maryland has fallen 30 percent since 2008, and for the first time in years is being outpaced by the number of employees retiring or resigning — a trend that has raised concerns among some about the government's ability to deliver services in the future.

• Opinion

The red herring of human gene patents

The Supreme Court should find a way to uphold the status quo on gene patents.

• Health

Sinai to research new drug to prevent blood clots, heart attacks in stent patients

A Sinai Hospital cardiologist is launching a clinical trial of a type of coronary artery disease drug not yet tested in humans, building on a history at the Baltimore hospital of research to develop more effective treatments to prevent blood clotting.

• Obituaries

Dr. Paul Lietman

Dr. Paul S. Lietman, a retired Johns Hopkins professor of medicine, pharmacology, molecular sciences and pediatrics, died of congestive heart failure.

• Howard County

Family of four, mother of two hit the lottery at Housing Fair

The round of applause made 10-month-old Tafsir Islam cry in the arms of his aunt, Sanjida Islam, but they could have been tears of joy. Just seconds before, his parents had won the opportunity to purchase a new three-bedroom townhouse at a below market rate in Ellicott City.

• Science

Cardin pledges to press for sequestration alternative in town hall meetings

Sen. Ben Cardin lamented snowballing damage from federal budget cuts in town hall meetings with federal workers and small business leaders Friday, pledging to work toward an alternative budget solution by October.

• Health

Section of brick facade falls off troubled NIH building in Baltimore

A large section of brick fell seven stories from the face of a National Institutes of Health building on the campus of Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center on Tuesday, and officials at the federal agency are still trying to find out why.

• Opinion

Less testing on animals, better science

Not only is chemical and medical testing on animals cruel but it is often less effective than the alternatives.

• Education

SPARK fires up physical activity at Annapolis elementary school

At Germantown Elementary School in Annapolis, students receive physical education once a week. Officially, that is.

• Fires

Federal firefighters push for shift-swap flexibility

When city or county firefighters have a family obligation pop up on a workday, their solution is familiar to most shift workers: They find a colleague willing to trade hours. But for the roughly 10,000 firefighters employed by the federal government, the ability to swap shifts is limited.

• Opinion

A smart investment

President Obama's ambitious new research initiative could transform our understanding of how the brain works

• Obituaries

Richard R. Rubin, Hopkins psychologist

Dr. Richard R. Rubin, a Johns Hopkins psychologist who counseled children and adults to cope with the emotional component of diabetes, died of prostate cancer complications March 25 at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. The Monkton resident was 69.

• Health

Obama initiative aims to unravel mysteries of human brain

The White House unveiled a sweeping new initiative Tuesday to map the individual cells and circuits that make up the human brain, a project that will give scientists a better understanding of how a healthy brain works and how to devise better treatments for injuries and diseases of the brain.

• Unemployment and Layoffs

Agencies in Maryland dodge furloughs — for now

One month after across-the-board federal spending cuts known as sequestration began there are signs the impact on the economy — even in a state such as Maryland with strong ties to the federal government — might not be as severe as initially feared.

• Opinion

Sickening cuts to NIH

We will all suffer when the sequester leads to pulling the plug on promising medical research

• Opinion

The greatest and most immediate threat to humanity is the rapid emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria

We are at the crossroads and we are the architects of our own microbial sorrows.

• Science

Federal government cuts travel costs; scientists warn of collaboration lost

Florence P. Haseltine knows the power of scientists meeting face to face. The former researcher at the National Institutes of Health notes a list of milestones achieved through networking and collaboration at conferences.

• Opinion

Stopping the spread of deadly bacteria in nursing homes

Stopping the spread of deadly bacteria in nursing homes

• Politics and Government

Some in Laurel facing sequestration with optimism, others brace for trickle-down effect

Laurel City Council President Frederick Smalls is hoping for a best-case scenario with the sequestration. "I don't think we'll see any immediate or long-term impact from this or that Congress will let it (sequestration) have a real negative impact," Smalls said. However, not everyone in Laurel is as optimistic as Smalls. Laurel Board of Trade Chairman Matthew Coates said many local businesses could be hurt, including local cleaning companies, office suppliers, printers and others that do work

• Opinion

Nightmare bacteria

The emergence of increasingly common strains of drug-resistant bacteria requires immediate action by hospitals to prevent them from spreading.

• Maryland

Developers express interest in FBI headquarters

General Services Administration officials said Wednesday they received nearly three dozen responses to a request for ideas for a new FBI headquarters, a potentially lucrative development that Maryland leaders hope to bring to Prince George's County.

• Music

Hopkins scientist finds link between neurobiology of music, language

Researcher Charles Limb tracked the areas of the brain that light up and shut off when jazz pianists are improvising

• Health

Sequestration will hit health care in Maryland

Maryland health industry could get hard hit by federal budget cuts. The cuts could have widespread implications, compromising treatment of the state's youngest residents and pinching some of the area's largest health care employers.

• Crime

Is STOCK Act government transparency or invasion of privacy?

Some federal workers are fighting the STOCK Act, saying it invades their privacy and will leave them vulnerable to identity thieves, blackmailers and kidnappers.