Health And Medicine

New gene expression atlas created for roundworms provides a basis for establishing roles for individual genes in the development of specific cell types. Read More

Researchers have identified a new candidate gene for the most common form of glaucoma, which runs in families. The findings offer novel insights into glaucoma pathology and could lead to targeted treatment strategies. Read More

Support and treatment, not punishment, are needed to help the 10 to 20 percent of U.S. nurses and nursing students who may have problems with substance abuse and addiction. Read More

New research about the link between body weight and mortality among Asians, which has not been studied in the past, finds being severely underweight poses a serious threat for this population and that preventing obesity is the top priority moving forward. Read More

The protein matriptase "cuts" a key component of the prostate tissue barrier and may be involved in prostrate cancer progression, new research finds. Read More

Less than a third of surgeons who advance to senior ranks in the U.S. are women, and it's not because they're less qualified or less productive than their male counterparts, new research finds. Read More

A new mouse model offers the ability to better test how selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) work and could lead to the development of new classes of anti-depressants. Read More

The protein Nodal has been found to hold the keys to vertebrate asymmetry. Read More

Cell surface molecules called integrins have been found to play an important role when cancer metastasizes. Read More

Modifying a form of RNAs may improve their efficacy for research and medical uses. Read More

Results of a landmark, seven-year National Institutes of Health-funded trial, Management of Myelomeningocele Study (MOMS), demonstrate clear benefit for babies who undergo fetal surgery to treat spina bifida, the most common birth defect in the central nervous system. Read More

(iStock photo) Vanderbilt University Medical Center is participating in a multi-site, national study to identify the role nurses play in improving outcomes among heart failure patients. Nancy Wells (Vanderbilt) “Heart failure is being recognized as a huge issue in elderly and middle-aged people, and it has a profound effect on… Read More

The Vanderbilt MRI Labs Physics / Imaging Department (Anne Rayner / Vanderbilt) Serotonin – a chemical that has roles in multiple brain functions, including mood, sleep and cognition – is manufactured by clusters of brainstem neurons gathered in the raphé nuclei. A reliable, non-invasive imaging method for assessing raphé neuron… Read More

The industrial chemical BPA is found in commercial products, such as plastic water bottles. (iStock Photo) The safety of industrial chemicals bisphenol A (BPA) and alkylphenols, which are used in commercial products like plastics, has recently been called into question. Exposure to these chemicals is typically measured… Read More

Tina Hartert, M.D., MPH, left, Kathryn Miller, M.D., MPH, and Yarris Muhammed are on the team studying the links between rhinoviruses and bronchiolitis. (Mary Donaldson / Vanderbilt) An infant’s risk of developing bronchiolitis caused by human rhinoviruses (HRV), aka the common cold, is linked to whether the mother has allergies… Read More

(Photo credit: iStock photo) In the battle of the bulge, one important battalion is a set of brain cells expressing the melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R). Via signals from the fat-derived hormone leptin, these neurons regulate feeding behavior and fat metabolism in an attempt to regulate body weight. But how leptin influences… Read More

Volunteer Becky Clark reads to a student at the Mama Lere Hearing School at Vanderbilt (Anne Rayner / Vanderbilt) OPTION Schools Inc., in collaboration with the Vanderbilt Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, is conducting a study looking at how children who are deaf or hard of hearing… Read More

Peter Hedera, M.D. Hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP), a group of progressive neurodegenerative disorders that impairs the ability to walk, can be caused by mutations in more than 40 different genes. Despite this genetic heterogeneity, the pathologic features – degeneration of long axons in the spinal cord – are relatively uniform,… Read More

Every few months, chemist Brian Bachmann sheds his white lab coat, collects his flashlight, helmet, surgical gloves and knotted rope, puts on old clothes and hiking boots and heads to a nearby cave. Bachmann, an assistant professor of chemistry at Vanderbilt, has combined his industrial experience in… Read More

Jonathan Haines and his colleagues at Vanderbilt are part of a global collaboration to discover and map all genes relating to Alzheimer's disease. (Daniel Dubois / Vanderbilt University) Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and across the globe, announced today a multi-national collaboration to discover and map all genes relating… Read More