• An Earth-like planet is likely forming 424 light-years away in a star system called HD 113766, according to Dr. Carey Lisse of the JHU Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, MD., who is reporting the findings of astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Scientists have discovered a huge belt of warm dust--enough to build a Mars-size planet or larger--swirling around a distant star that is just slightly more massive than our sun. The dust belt, suspected to be clumping together into planets, is located in the middle of the system's terrestrial habitable zone (like our Earth is to the sun's), a region around a star where liquid water could exist on any rocky planets that might form.

• Researchers at the Department of Psychiatry at JHU have found that high-normal uric acid levels may cause barely detectable mini strokes that potentially contribute to mental decline in aging adults. In a study published in the October 2nd issue of Neurology lead author David Schretlen, Ph.D, linked UA levels to high volumes of so-called white matter hyperintensities or small dead areas of the brain that occur when brain cells are deprived of oxygen. Although the role of uric acid is best known in gout where a buildup of the fatty acid creates pain and disability in feet and toes, according to Schretlen, it plays contradictory roles in the brain including that of a powerful antioxidant that might protect against Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases while being a risk factor for stroke.

• Daily TV viewing for two or more hours during early childhood can lead to behavioral problems and poor social skills, according to a study of children 2.5 to 5.5 years of age that was conducted by researchers at the JA Bloomberg School of Public Health. In a study published in the October 2007 issue of Pediatrics comes the recommendation that children under age 2 watch no television while children age 2 and older be limited to no more than two hours of daily viewing. Moreover, heavy TV viewing that decreased over time was not associated with behavior or social problems. The study also found that having a TV set in the child's bedroom at 5.5 years of age, like 41% of the children studied, was associated with behavioral problems, poor social skills and poor sleep.

• A popular prostate cancer treatment called androgen deprivation therapy may encourage prostate cancer cells to produce nestin, a protein that makes them more likely to spread throughout the body, a study by David Berman, an assistant professor of pathology, urology and oncology at the JHU School of Medicine and his colleagues suggests. But they admit that their discovery is far too preliminary for prostate cancer patients or physicians to stop using it.

• Researchers at the JH Malaria Research Institute have identified a sugar in mosquitoes, chondroitin sulfate, that allows the malaria causing parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, to attach itself to the mosquito's gut. Invasion of the midgut cell layer is an essential stage in the parasite's lifecycle and in the transmission of malaria from mosquitoes to humans. According to Rhoel R. Dinglasan, Ph.D., MPH and lead author of the study, "It appears as if the parasite's use of sugars as a strategy for cell invasion of tissues is similar in both man and mosquito. This may be an Achilles' heel for the parasite, opening up the possibility of developing a vaccine that works against all stages of the parasite's lifecycle."

• Nearly 30 years after Nobel laureate Linus Pauling controversially suggested that vitamin C supplements can prevent cancer, a team of JH scientists have shown that in mice at least vitamin C and potentially other antioxidants indeed can inhibit the growth of some tumors just not in the manner suggested by years of investigation. The conventional wisdom of how antioxidants such as vitamin C help prevent cancer growth is that they grab up volatile oxygen free radical molecules and prevent the damage they are known to do to our delicate DNA. The Hopkins study, led by Chi Dang, M.D., Ph.D., professor of medicine and oncology and JH Family Professor in Oncology Research, unexpectedly found that the antioxidants' actual role may be to destabilize a tumor's ability to grow under oxygen-starved conditions. Their work is detailed the September edition of Cancer Cell.

• Father-son team of JU student Shaw-Wei David Tsen and Arizona State University laser expert Kong-Thon Tsen working from separate laboratory benches has discovered a new use for lasers: zapping viruses--eventually including HIV and hepatitus C--out of blood. The technique, which holds promise for disinfecting blood for transfusions, uses a low-power laser beam with a pulse lasting just fractions of a second. This would replace current techniques using UV irradiation and radioisotopes that can leave a trail of mutated or damaged blood components.

• In a series of laboratory and animal experiments JH scientists discovered an experimental anti-cancer drug, cyclopamine made from corn lilies, kills brain tumor stem cells. However, they must determine whether the drug can effectively and safely be delivered to the whole body or must go into the brain, and what adverse impact on normal stem cells the treatment might cause. More than 10,000 Americans die annually from glioblastomas in the brain. Radiation is the standard therapy for the disease, and several years ago, the US Food and Drug Administration approved adding the drug temozolomide to radiotherapy because the combination provided a small survival increase.

• An investigation into the causes of an outbreak of Norwalk virus at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, one of at least 24 reported at Maryland hospitals during the first half of 2004, has led to procedures for preventing further outbreaks in hospitals. Norwalk virus is highly contagious because only small amounts, as few as 10-100 viral particles, can lead to infection. It is spread or passed from person to person through fecal matter when people fail to wash their hands properly after using the bathroom and when people touch or share handling of the same objects such as doorknobs.

• Inspired by the device used to find lost coins in the sand, JH undergraduates have invented a small handheld metal detector to help doctors locate hidden orthopedic screws that need to be removed from patients' bodies. The device emits a tone that rises in pitch as the surgeon moves closer to the metal screw. It also serves as a surgical tool to guide the removal of the hardware. Surgeons found the need for such a device to avoid expensive, time-consuming and more invasive surgical procedures to locate small, sometimes isolated screws.

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