Researchers have learned that in youth with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the brain matures in a normal pattern—it’s just delayed in some regions.

Growing Out of ADHD

Researchers have learned that in youth with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the brain matures in a normal pattern—it’s just delayed in some regions for 3 years on average, compared to youth without the disorder. This finding, reported by NIMH researchers and published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was possible thanks to a new image analysis technique that allowed scientists to pinpoint the thickening and thinning of thousands of cortex sites in hundreds of children and teens. Leaders of the study said it should be reassuring news to families of children with ADHD and could help explain why many youngsters eventually seem to grow out of the disorder.

Being Aware of Chronic Kidney Disease

Though a growing number of Americans have chronic kidney disease, most remain unaware of it, according to a new study funded by NIH and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The new report raises the previous estimate of 20 million people with the disease in 1994 to 26 million people, or about 13 percent of the U.S. population. Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, conducted by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, researchers found that only 11.6 percent of men and 5.5 percent of women with moderate (stage 3) kidney disease were aware they had it. Awareness was highest among people with severe (stage 4) kidney disease, but still, only 42 percent of this group knew they had the condition. This lack of awareness hampers efforts to prevent irreversible kidney failure requiring dialysis or a transplant, researchers said. If the disease is found early, much can be done to prevent kidney failure.

Gauging Ovarian Cancer Aggressiveness

The elevated levels of certain proteins typically associated with keeping cancer cells alive may correspond with improved patient survival in ovarian cancer. An international scientific team led by researchers at NCI found that these proteins— all members of cellular networks that regulate programmed cell death, or apoptosis, and responses to stress—together form a prognostic protein signature that provides key information about the tumor. If additional research verifies these findings, published in Clinical Cancer Research, clinicians may be able to use this protein signature to gauge the aggressiveness of a woman’s ovarian tumor at the time of diagnosis and to identify patients who could benefit from various therapies. This year in the U.S. an estimated 22,430 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Because there are few therapeutic options available to women with the disease, any research leading to therapeutic targets would be a great advance.

A Reason for Community-Associated MRSA Severity

NIAID scientists have identified a key factor in the severity of community-associated methicillin- resistant staph infections, or CA-MRSA. According to a study published online in Nature Medicine, proteins in drug-resistant strains of the Staphylococcus aureus bacterium attract and then destroy protective human white blood cells, a process that ensures the bacterium’s survival while also causing severe disease. S. aureus disease is a global public health concern because some strains, including CA-MRSA, have developed resistance to antibiotics. The study’s scientists hope to use this finding to advance the development of new treatments.— compiled by Sarah Schmelling