A team of scientists have designed and tested a novel and promising therapeutic strategy for treating Lafora Disease (LD), a fatal form of childhood epilepsy. This new type of drug, known as an antibody-enzyme fusion, is a first-in-class therapy for LD and an example of precision medicine that has potential for treating other types of aggregate-based neurological diseases.
An estimated 21 million Americans struggle with substance use disorders each year. Unfortunately, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, only about 10 percent of those people are able to access treatment. Few regions have been hit harder by the drug epidemic than Kentucky and need increased access to evidence-based treatment for substance use disorders. The University of Kentucky Department of Psychiatry saw that need and developed a new clinic to better support patients.
Alzheimer's disease wreaks emotional havoc on patients, who are robbed of their memories, their dignity, and their lives. It’s financially devastating as well: care for Alzheimer's patients is predicted to top $1 trillion by about the time children born today are having children of their own.
From the time he was five years old, Scottie Day knew he was going to be a doctor.
"I don't remember what the drive was," said Day. "But I knew that's what I was going to do."
Day hails from Smilax, a small town in Eastern Kentucky which, according to Day, consists of "a post office and a grocery store." His father was a coal miner and his mother stayed home with Day and his brother.
America’s Essential Hospitals, a national trade association, has recognized UK HealthCare for its work to develop safer opioid usage practices within an academic health system.
America's Essential Hospitals, which represents 300 hospitals committed to caring for the vulnerable and keeping communities healthy, awarded UK HealthCare a 2019 Gage Award for Improving Quality. The association presented the award June 20, at its annual conference, in Miami.
Dr. Peter Blackburn, associate professor of ophthalmology and pediatrics in the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, has been presented with the Kentucky Academy of Eye Physicians and Surgeons’ (KAEPS) Ophthalmologist of the Year award.
The GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer (formerly known as Lung Cancer Alliance and the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation) is conducting a statewide education campaign in partnership with the University of Kentucky to bring lung cancer screening awareness to the thousands of Kentuckians at risk for the disease.
A new public health initiative supported by $11 million in funding from the National Cancer Institute aims to address the burden of cervical cancer incidence and mortality in Appalachia.
University of Kentucky College of Medicine Dean Robert S. DiPaola has been selected as a professional member on the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) beginning the 2019-2020 academic year.
"To be nominated and selected by a group of peers is an incredible honor,” said DiPaola. “More importantly, it is an honor to be part of a large team of faculty, staff and students at the UK College of Medicine making this a possibility."
What kind of medical education requires intense athletic and endurance training? Hiking Mount Everest. From April 23 to May 5, Dr. Kim Kaiser, assistant professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine and Family and Community Medicine in the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, received hands-on experience as part of the Mount Everest Base Camp Wilderness and Expedition Medicine Conference.
University of Kentucky researcher Yvonne Fondufe-Mittendorf affectionately describes the formation of her career as an “accident.”
Originally hailing from the Republic of Cameroon, Africa, Fondufe-Mittendorf had never even seen inside of a lab before moving to Germany to pursue an advanced degree. At the Georg-August Universitaet in Göttingen, she earned a doctorate in molecular genetics.
Just in case you’re thinking, ‘I have a really busy schedule,’ pause for a moment to consider just what University of Kentucky College of Medicine student Lee Kiefer has ‘on her plate.’
The University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center and Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) recently hosted their eighth annual “Meet the Researchers” Day. This event is a field trip given as a prize to two schools in the region who successfully raised more than $1,000 for the LLS’s Pennies for Patients campaign.
Since its inception in 1994, Kentucky Homeplace has linked thousands of rural Kentuckians with medical, social and environmental services they otherwise might have done without. To mark the program's 25th anniversary, a celebration is set for May 16 at the University of Kentucky Center of Excellence in Rural Health (CERH) in Hazard.
The University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center celebrated 10 years of Markey Research Day this past Tuesday. Sponsored by the Markey Cancer Foundation, Markey Research Day is an opportunity for researchers who study any aspect of cancer to share their work and receive feedback from colleagues across campus. Markey’s reach extends across 10 of UK’s 16 colleges, and the work on display at Research Day showcases the wide variety and diversity of perspectives that fall under the Markey umbrella.
This week, the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees approved 16 University Research Professorships for the 2019-20 academic year.
The purpose of the University Research Professorship program is to recognize and publicize research accomplishments of scholars across the full range of disciplines at UK. The award amount is $10,000 for one year, to be used to further the research, scholarship and creative endeavors of the awardee.
In the past, using the terms "Alzheimer’s disease" and "dementia" interchangeably was a generally accepted practice. Now there is rising appreciation that a variety of diseases and disease processes contribute to dementia.
According to Nina Silverberg, Ph.D., director of the Alzheimer's Disease Centers Program at National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of NIH, in the past many of the people who enrolled in clinical trials for Alzheimer's drugs likely did not have amyloid — the sticky substance that gums up neurons and interferes with thinking — in their brains.
The NIH Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) on Obesity and Cardiovascular Diseases, in collaboration with the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences (CCTS) announce the availability of limited funds to support pilot projects focused on research examining obesity-associated diseases. Emphasis for support will be placed on pilot projects that examine the relationship between obesity and cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, cancer, or neurodegenerative diseases. These pilot grants are intended to assist investigators new to this area of research
When Dr. Roger Humphries was among the first six people to complete an emergency medicine residency at UK HealthCare in 1996, seeing a patient who had overdosed on opioids was uncommon. Today, as the chair of the department, Humphries has implemented policies and programs to help address the needs of the 350 to 400 patients they see per day who are affected by complications related to opioid use disorder.
After being revived with Naloxone in the emergency room, patients immediately enter withdrawal. Cold chills, vomiting, diarrhea – “dope sickness” is what many call it. The feeling is hard to describe, but many people who’ve experienced it or witnessed it say it’s like the worst flu times 10.