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Research Reveals How Aging Cells Can Be an Underlying Cause of Kidney Damage
A study in mice by researchers at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center has found that stress and tissue damage initiated by angiotensin II, a molecule that is known to increase blood pressure and stiffening in the linings of blood vessels, leads to cellular senescence, a process by which a cell ages and permanently stops dividing but does not die. Importantly, when the researchers eliminated senescent cells from the mice, tissues returned to a normal state in spite of a continued infusion of angiotensin II.
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Reducing your risk of cognitive disease: A $12M research study, 60 years in the making
A McCourt researcher has dedicated her career to aging research and a decades-old study, revealing a non-medical intervention that proves resilient against dementia.
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Trial Stopped Early: Giving Immunotherapy Before Targeted Rx Improves Survival in Advanced Melanoma
More people with advanced melanoma survive for two years or more when they receive a combination of two immunotherapy drugs given before a combination of two targeted therapies, if needed, compared to people who start treatment with targeted therapies. The finding comes from a clinical trial that was stopped early because definitive results became apparent sooner than expected. It provides strong evidence for how best to treat patients with melanoma that has a specific mutation: Immunotherapy is the better initial approach even for people whose tumors have a mutation that could be treated by targeted therapies.
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Vascular Defects Appear to Underlie the Progression of Parkinson’s Disease
In an unexpected discovery, Georgetown University Medical Center researchers have identified what appears to be a significant vascular defect in patients with moderately severe Parkinson’s disease. The finding could help explain an earlier outcome of the same study, in which the drug nilotinib was able to halt motor and nonmotor (cognition and quality of life) decline in the long term.
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Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Program Extends Values-Based Education Across United States
When Dr. Kelly Thompson-Brazill first joined Georgetown’s faculty five years ago, she attended a simulation exercise and debriefing session for students in the Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Program at the School of Nursing & Health Studies.
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Critical Period After Stroke Study (CPASS): A Phase II Clinical Trial Testing an Optimal Time for Motor Recovery After Stroke in Humans
A phase II randomized clinical trial found that the optimal period for intensive rehabilitation of arm and hand use after a stroke should begin 60 to 90 days after the event. The study, conducted by Georgetown University and MedStar National Rehabilitation Network (NRH) researchers, was published September 20, 2021, in PNAS (Critical Period After Stroke Study (CPASS): A Phase II Clinical Trial Testing an Optimal Time for Motor Recovery After Stroke in Humans).
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Insights Into How a Stroke Affects Reading Could Help With Rehabilitation
Georgetown University researchers, looking at the ability of people to sound out words after a stroke, found that knowing which region of the brain was impacted by the stroke could have important implications for helping target rehabilitation efforts.
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Key Mental Abilities Can Actually Improve During Aging
It’s long been believed that advancing age leads to broad declines in our mental abilities. Now, new research from Georgetown University Medical Center offers surprisingly good news by countering this view.
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Renowned Georgetown Cancer and Aging Researcher Receives Top Honor in Her Field
The American Society of Preventive Oncology selected Jeanne Mandelblatt, MD, MPH, to receive the 2020 Joseph F. Fraumeni Jr. Distinguished Achievement Award, its top honor.
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