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NEWS:
NIH Holds COVID-19 Vaccine Kick-off Event
The National Institutes of Health held a livestreamed COVID-19 vaccination event to kick-off NIH’s vaccination efforts for its employees on the front line of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Six healthcare workers from the NIH Clinical Center received the Moderna OVID-19 vaccine, known as mRNA-1273, kicking off a live event during which U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex M. Azar II, NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., and NIH Office of Research Services Director Colleen A. McGowan will give brief remarks and also be vaccinated.
Following the event, additional healthcare workers from the NIH Clinical Center will receive the vaccine from the agency’s first shipment of 100 doses. NIH expects a sizeable shipment from the State of Maryland next week for its tier 1 front li
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Long Term Care Industry Applauds CDC Panel For Making Residents And Staff The Highest Priority For Vaccine Distribution
The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL), representing more than 14,000 nursing homes and assisted living communities across the country that provide care to approximately five million people each year, released the following statement in response to the decision by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), a panel of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to include long term care residents and staff, including nursing homes and assisted living communities, for the first round “1a” of vaccine distribution.
The following statement is attributable to Mark Parkinson, president and CEO of AHCA/NCAL:
“On behalf of our long term industry, we applaud the ACIP for prioritizing our residents and caregivers for the first distribution of the COVID vaccine.”
“More than 100,000 long term care residents have died from t
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Study Finds Obesity Contributes to 40% Mortality Gap Between Black and White Women with Early Breast Cancer
In an analysis of women with early breast cancer, Black women had higher rates of obesity and other health conditions that can affect survival, compared with white women. The findings are published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society (ACS).
Obesity is a known risk factor for various cancers, and its rise over the past few decades has contributed to a rise in breast cancer rates that is greater in Black women than white women. At the same time, as breast cancer mortality rates have declined, the decline has been less pronounced in Black women, producing a 40% mortality gap.
To investigate further, Kirsten Nyrop, PhD, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her colleagues analyzed information concerning 548 patients treated at their hospital for early breast cancer. The team found that 62% of Black patients and 33% of white pat
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$5.5 Million NIH Grant Supports New Tests To Diagnose Dementias Earlier And Easier
With a $5.5 million, five-year award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), researchers at Case Western Reserve University will seek to further develop new diagnostic tests for dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinson’s disease dementia—together the second-most-common dementias after Alzheimer’s disease.
Establishing quick and reliable testing methods for these neurological conditions—using tissue samples from non-traditional sources, such as skin, nasal mucosa, or the colon—could eventually allow doctors to diagnose patients earlier and more easily.
Researchers will use real-time quaking-induced conversion (RT-QuIC)—a relatively-new technology originally developed at NIH’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories—to hone the identification of the telltale protein deposits of these brain diseases, in areas of the body outside of the brain.
The results could eventually help doctors track the
