Peer Review | The Division of Biological Sciences, University of Chicago

WINTER 2007 | VOLUME 5 | No. 1
BENCH & BEDSIDE

Scientists find lamprey a ‘living fossil’
Scientists from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and the University of Chicago have uncovered a remarkably well-preserved fossil lamprey from the Devonian period that reveals today’s lampreys as “living fossils” since they have remained largely unaltered for 360 million years.

Molecular medicine comes to the rescue
On Monday, Aug. 14, Lilly Jaffe, a six-year-old North Shore suburban girl who had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was one month old, checked into the Clinical Research Center at the University of Chicago Medical Center. On Friday, Aug. 18, she checked out, starting to make her own insulin, well on her way to insulin independence, and ready to get in a few days of beach time in Michigan before starting first grade.

Structure of enzyme offers treatment clues for diabetes, Alzheimer’s
Researchers from the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory have deciphered the three-dimensional structure of insulin-degrading enzyme, a promising target for new drugs because it breaks down not only insulin but also the amyloid-beta protein, which has been linked to the cognitive decline of Alzheimer’s disease.

Heat waves kill in areas without business to draw out elderly
Severe heat waves kill more people in neighborhoods where there are few inviting businesses to draw older people out of their apartments, new research suggests. A study of the 1995 heat wave in Chicago found higher-than-average mortality rates in areas where businesses were run-down, and dominated by liquor stores and bars.

Drug may help women stop smoking
Adding the opiate blocker naltrexone to the combination of behavioral therapy and nicotine patches boosted smoking cessation rates for women by almost 50 percent when assessed after eight weeks of treatment, but made no difference for men, report researchers from the University of Chicago in the October 2006 issue of the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research.

Brain-computer link lets paralyzed patients convert thoughts into actions
A multi-institutional team of researchers has found that people with long-standing, severe paralysis can generate signals in the area of the brain responsible for voluntary movement and these signals can be detected, recorded, routed out of the brain to a computer and converted into actions—enabling a paralyzed patient to perform basic tasks.

Researchers map out networks that determine cell fate
A two-step process appears to regulate cell fate decisions for many types of developing cells, according to researchers from the University of Chicago.

For super-obese patients, duodenal switch beats gastric bypass
In the first large, single-institution series directly comparing weight-loss outcomes in super-obese patients, researchers from the University of Chicago found that a newer operation, the duodenal switch, produced substantially better weight-loss outcomes than the standard operation, the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.

Novel technique used to remove tumor in infant’s liver
On June 28, infant Chloe Lobins received a liver resection—removal of part of the organ—and a new chance at life at the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital. Born prematurely and diagnosed with hepatoblastoma, Lobins is believed to be the smallest infant ever to undergo massive liver resection for a primary liver cancer.

Sleep study adds to links between sleep loss and diabetes
Short or poor quality sleep is associated with reduced control of blood-sugar levels in African Americans with diabetes, report researchers from the University of Chicago in the Sept. 18, 2006, issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

New study shows people sleep even less than they think: Whites, women and wealthy sleep longer, better
A study of the sleep characteristics of 669 middle-aged adults found that people sleep much less than they should, and even less than they think. Published in the July issue in the American Journal of Epidemiology, the study also found that blacks sleep less than whites, men sleep less than women, and the poor sleep less than the wealthy.

Small naps a big help for young docs on long shifts
The first study to assess the benefits of naps for medical residents during extended shifts found that creating protected times when interns could sleep during a night on-call significantly reduced fatigue.

Compliance with medications lowers healthcare costs
Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) who take medications as directed have decreased medical costs, researchers from the University of Chicago researchers report at the American College of Gastroenterology annual scientific meeting in Las Vegas.

Rare lung surgery at University of Chicago Medical Center gives patients fresh air
Imagine never being able to catch a good breath. Imagine that, no matter how hard you try, you always feel as if you’ve just run a marathon. Luella Pates doesn’t have to imagine. She remembers it. Because up until she underwent an uncommon surgery for emphysema last month, that was her life.

Anti-cancer drug shows early promise in pulmonary hypertension
A drug used to treat kidney cancer can prevent the development of pulmonary hypertension (high blood pressure in the lungs) in rodents, report researchers from the University of Chicago at the 2006 annual meeting of the American Heart Association.

Genetic study of Neanderthal DNA reveals early split between humans and Neanderthals
In the most thorough study to date of the Neanderthal genome, scientists suggest an early human-Neanderthal split. The two species have a common ancestry, say the authors, but do not share much else after evolving their separate ways. The study, published in this week’s issue of Science, also finds no evidence of genetic admixture between Neanderthals and humans.

Could Interbreeding Between Humans and Neanderthals Have Led to an Enhanced Human Brain?
Might mating between an ancient human and a Neanderthal—perhaps occurring in only a single instance—have introduced a gene variant into the human population that enhanced human brain function? That question is at the heart of a new study by researchers at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the University of Chicago.

Source: HHMI News: Top Stories

Stem cell expert to enhance pediatric hematology/oncology programs at the University of Chicago Medical Center
John Cunningham, MD, a leader in treating hemoglobinopathies and genetic blood disorders, has accepted a position with pediatric hematology/oncology and stem cell transplantation at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

University of Chicago Medical Center opens new state-of-the-art children’s emergency department
The City of Chicago’s newest and most advanced pediatric emergency department opens 8 a.m. on December 6, 2006, at the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital. The Comer Emergency Department contains the most up-to-date facilities for children with complex surgical and medical needs.

Complexity constrains evolution of human brain genes
Despite the explosive growth in size and complexity of the human brain, the pace of evolutionary change among the thousands of genes expressed in brain tissue has actually slowed since the split, millions of years ago, between human and chimpanzee.