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Exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke -- even before conception -- appears to have a lingering impact that can later impair the brain development of a fetus, researchers at Duke Health report. Using rats in experiments carefully designed to mimic the second-hand smoke exposures that humans encounter, the researchers found that the chemical components of tobacco smoke affect fetal brain development throughout pregnancy. 

Jerry J. Tulis, Ph.D., 86, associate professor emeritus of community and family medicine, passed away Dec. 24. A funeral mass was held Dec. 30 in Greenville, N.C.

Duke Health researchers have identified a drug-like small molecule that, in animal experiments, appears to be an effective treatment for a genetic disorder called Prader-Willi syndrome. Prader-Willi syndrome is characterized by poor feeding, growth and weak muscles in infancy, followed by excessive eating, obesity and behavioral problems in childhood. It occurs in about one of every 15,000 births and has no cure.

Breast cancer cells that carry a certain gene mutation can be induced to die using a combination of an existing targeted therapy along with an investigational molecule tested by Duke Cancer Institute researchers. When used together in preclinical experiments, the drugs shut down two of the key survival strategies these types of cancer cells use to evade treatment.   

Two Duke Health research teams will participate in a new, $170 million national initiative to delve into the intricacies of how exercise improves health and prevents disease. Combined, funding for the two projects the Duke teams will be involved in could total as much as $11 million over six years. The National Institutes of Health has announced the grants as part of its Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity in Humans project. 

Duke University researchers have identified a common mechanism underlying separate forms of dystonia, a family of brain disorders that cause involuntary, debilitating and often painful movements, including twists and turns of different parts of the body. Described online Dec. 8 in the journal Neuron, the research has also led to the development of a new cell-based screening test that is being deployed on a large scale to identify new drug candidates to treat dystonia.

The American Society for Microbiology (ASM) has selected David Martinez from the Department of  Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at Duke University as a 2016-2019 award recipient of the ASM Robert D. Watkins Graduate Research Fellowship. 

Duke University scientists have caught the first glimpse of molecules shuttling along a sort of highway running the length of neural stem cells, which are crucial to the development of new neurons. This new view has given them an intriguing clue that a protein deficient in Fragile X syndrome, an autism-related disorder that causes intellectual disability, is responsible for moving at least some of this molecular cargo up and down the stem cells. The findings appear online Dec. 1 in Current Biology.

Three members of the Duke University faculty have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). They are among 391 new fellows this year and are being recognized for their efforts toward advancing scientifically or socially distinguished science. They are:

Although both group and individual therapy can ease post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in active-duty military service members, individual therapy relieved PTSD symptoms better and quicker, according to a study led by a Duke University School of Medicine researcher.