PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

BU researcher awarded $3.7 million to study how endothelial cell health impacts disease

2023-10-06
(Press-News.org) (Boston)—Naomi Hamburg, MD, the Joseph A. Vita Professor of Medicine at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, has been awarded a five-year, $3.7 million grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute for her research study, “Endothelial Cell Health Across the Spectrum of Cardiometabolic Disease.”

 

Cardiometabolic diseases are a group of common but often preventable conditions including heart attack, stroke, diabetes, insulin resistance and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. The escalating prevalence of cardiometabolic risk factors including obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) presents a critical cardiovascular challenge. Individuals with cardiometabolic disease harbor greater risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) including accelerated vascular aging and premature blood vessel blockages. Importantly, changes in the endothelial cells that line blood vessels predate the development of clinical CVD. Endothelial cell health is a window into early heart disease risk. Getting a glimpse into endothelial cells from people has potential to help create new treatments to protect blood vessel health.

 

“Experimental studies and our prior work link altered metabolism to organelle (subcellular structure that has one or more specific jobs to perform in the cell) stress including mitochondrial dysfunction and stress. In this proposal, we hypothesize that organelle stress induced by cardiometabolic traits drives vascular dysfunction and promotes CVD,” explains Hamburg who also is chief of the vascular biology section and interim director of the Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute at the school.

 

This study will leverage a unique and highly experienced multidisciplinary team of investigators with expertise in obesity-related cardiovascular disease, endothelial biology, population science, translational patient-oriented research, multi-omics and bioinformatics to study endothelial cell health at an unprecedented scale. Using resources from the Framingham Heart Study, Hamburg and her team will investigate the association of T2DM and cardiometabolic traits with endothelial cells (EC) phenotype including organelle stress and nitric oxide.

 

Hamburg, also a cardiologist and vascular medicine specialist at Boston Medical Center, is a recognized expert in the field of vascular medicine and the clinical translation of vascular biology. Her research work, which seeks to understand approaches to restore vascular health in patients with cardiometabolic disorders and peripheral artery disease, and to evaluate the impact of novel tobacco products and long COVID has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health and other foundations for the past 15 years. She has developed highly innovative approaches to study endothelial cells from patients to dissect the mechanisms of disease and identify new targets for heart disease therapies.

 

Hamburg has held multiple leadership positions in the field of Vascular Medicine including the chair of the Peripheral Vascular Disease Council of the American Heart Association, and as a board member of the Society of Vascular Medicine, American Society of Echocardiography and Vascular Testing Division of the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission. She co-chaired the Advanced Training Statement on Vascular Medicine from the American College of Cardiology and the Society of Vascular Medicine.

 

She has authored more than 150 scientific papers in the peer-reviewed literature and has served on guideline writing committees. She is a past associate editor of the journal Vascular Medicine and current associate editor for Circulation Research. Hamburg is passionate about improving the care of vascular diseases and mentoring scientists and physicians.

 

END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Autoimmune and autoinflammatory connective tissue disorders following COVID-19

2023-10-06
About The Study: COVID-19 was associated with a substantial risk for autoimmune and autoinflammatory connective tissue disorders in this retrospective cohort study, indicating that long-term management of patients with COVID-19 should include evaluation for such disorders.  Authors: Solam Lee, M.D., Ph.D., of Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine in Wonju, Republic of Korea, is the corresponding author.   To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website ...

Cancer research: Metabolite drives tumor development

Cancer research: Metabolite drives tumor development
2023-10-06
Cancer cells are chameleons. They completely change their metabolism to grow continuously. University of Basel scientists have discovered that high levels of the amino acid arginine drive metabolic reprogramming to promote tumor growth. This study suggests new avenues to improve liver cancer treatment. The liver is a vital organ with many important functions in the body. It metabolizes nutrients, stores energy, regulates the blood sugar level and plays a crucial role in detoxifying and removing harmful components and drugs. Liver cancer is one of the world’s most lethal types of cancer. Conditions that cause liver cancer include obesity, excessive ...

Patterns in physician burnout

2023-10-06
About The Study: The findings of this survey study involving 1,373 physicians and three survey periods suggest that the physician burnout rate in the U.S. is increasing. This pattern represents a potential threat to the ability of the health care system to care for patients and needs urgent solutions.  Authors: Marcus V. Ortega, M.D., of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, is the corresponding author.   To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.36745) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including ...

Rise in overdose deaths increasingly affects those with lower educational attainment, RAND study finds

2023-10-06
Drug overdose deaths increased sharply among Americans without a college education and nearly doubled over a three-year period among those who don’t have a high school diploma, according to a new RAND Corporation study. The findings further highlight a potential association between the rise in drug overdose deaths and barriers to education access, a social determinant of health.     Lower educational attainment has been one of the socioeconomic factors historically associated with drug use and overdose deaths, but the emergence of fentanyl in street drugs and the rise of the COVID-19 ...

Deciphering the intensity of past ocean currents

Deciphering the intensity of past ocean currents
2023-10-06
Details of past climate conditions are revealed to researchers not only by sediment samples from the ocean floor, but also by the surface of the seafloor, which is exposed to currents that are constantly altering it. Deposits shaped by near-bottom currents are called contourites. These sediment deposits contain information about past ocean conditions as well as clues to climate. Contourites are often found on continental slopes or around deep-sea mountains. But they can be found in any environment where strong currents occur near the seafloor. The mechanisms that control them are not yet well understood. ...

How bacteria can organize themselves

How bacteria can organize themselves
2023-10-06
In a recent study, scientists from the department Living Matter Physics at MPI-DS developed a model describing communication pathways in bacterial populations. Bacteria show an overall organizational pattern by sensing the concentration of chemicals in their environment and adapting their motion. The structure only becomes visible on a higher level “We modeled the non-reciprocal interaction between two bacterial species”, first author Yu Duan explains. “This means that species A is chasing species B, whereas B is aiming to repel from A”, he continues. The researchers found, that just this chase-and-avoid interaction is sufficient to form a structural pattern. The ...

Pulsars may make dark matter glow

2023-10-06
The central question in the ongoing hunt for dark matter is: what is it made of? One possible answer is that dark matter consists of particles known as axions. A team of astrophysicists, led by researchers from the universities of Amsterdam and Princeton, has now shown that if dark matter consists of axions, it may reveal itself in the form of a subtle additional glow coming from pulsating stars. Dark matter may be the most sought-for constituent of our universe. Surprisingly, this mysterious form of matter, ...

Researchers create a neural network for genomics—one that explains how it achieves accurate predictions

2023-10-06
A team of New York University computer scientists has created a neural network that can explain how it reaches its predictions. The work reveals what accounts for the functionality of neural networks—the engines that drive artificial intelligence and machine learning—thereby illuminating a process that has largely been concealed from users.  The breakthrough centers on a specific usage of neural networks that has become popular in recent years—tackling challenging biological questions. Among these are examinations of the intricacies of ...

Astronomers discover first step toward planet formation

Astronomers discover first step toward planet formation
2023-10-06
Astronomers have gotten very good at spotting the signs of planet formation around stars. But for a complete understanding of planet formation, we also need to study examples where planet formation has not yet started. Looking for something and not finding it can be even more difficult than finding it sometimes, but new detailed observations of the young star DG Taurus show that it has a smooth protoplanetary disk without signs of planet formation. This successful non-detection of planet formation may indicate ...

Faster growth of the placenta is linked to increased risk of preeclampsia

2023-10-06
Research sheds light on how genetics influences the growth of the placenta and reveals a link to increased risk of disease in the mother. The placenta is an organ which grows in the womb alongside the foetus, which is attached to it by the umbilical cord. It is the only organ that contain tissue from both mother and child. The placenta provides oxygen and nutrients to the growing foetus and removes waste as the baby develops. A poorly functioning placenta is associated with pregnancy complications, and later risk of disease in the child. Despite its key role, little is yet known ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Are lifetimes of big appliances really shrinking?

Pink skies

Monkeys are world’s best yodellers - new research

Key differences between visual- and memory-led Alzheimer’s discovered

% weight loss targets in obesity management – is this the wrong objective?

An app can change how you see yourself at work

NYC speed cameras take six months to change driver behavior, effects vary by neighborhood, new study reveals

New research shows that propaganda is on the rise in China

Even the richest Americans face shorter lifespans than their European counterparts, study finds

Novel genes linked to rare childhood diarrhea

New computer model reveals how Bronze Age Scandinavians could have crossed the sea

Novel point-of-care technology delivers accurate HIV results in minutes

Researchers reveal key brain differences to explain why Ritalin helps improve focus in some more than others

Study finds nearly five-fold increase in hospitalizations for common cause of stroke

Study reveals how alcohol abuse damages cognition

Medicinal cannabis is linked to long-term benefits in health-related quality of life

Microplastics detected in cat placentas and fetuses during early pregnancy

Ancient amphibians as big as alligators died in mass mortality event in Triassic Wyoming

Scientists uncover the first clear evidence of air sacs in the fossilized bones of alvarezsaurian dinosaurs: the "hollow bones" which help modern day birds to fly

Alcohol makes male flies sexy

TB patients globally often incur "catastrophic costs" of up to $11,329 USD, despite many countries offering free treatment, with predominant drivers of cost being hospitalization and loss of income

Study links teen girls’ screen time to sleep disruptions and depression

Scientists unveil starfish-inspired wearable tech for heart monitoring

Footprints reveal prehistoric Scottish lagoons were stomping grounds for giant Jurassic dinosaurs

AI effectively predicts dementia risk in American Indian/Alaska Native elders

First guideline on newborn screening for cystic fibrosis calls for changes in practice to improve outcomes

Existing international law can help secure peace and security in outer space, study shows

Pinning down the process of West Nile virus transmission

UTA-backed research tackles health challenges across ages

In pancreatic cancer, a race against time

[Press-News.org] BU researcher awarded $3.7 million to study how endothelial cell health impacts disease