Health And Medicine

Vanderbilt University Medical Center has received a $9.4 million grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) to test the effectiveness of a transdermal nicotine patch in improving memory loss in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a precursor to Alzheimer’s disease. Read More

Nearly half of all patients with malignant melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer, have a mutation in the BRAF gene found in their tumors. Mutations in the BRAF gene turn on a cancer growth switch known as the MAP kinase pathway. Read More

While 12 million Americans are enrolled in health care networks through the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) insurance marketplace, a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) raises concerns about patient access to specialists within these insurance plans. Read More

Walter Chazin, Ph.D., director of the Vanderbilt Center for Structural Biology, is a recipient of a 2016 Fellow of the Biophysical Society award. Read More

Data in sports concussion studies will continue to be disputed as long as the injuries are diagnosed by differing standards instead of universal guidelines, a Vanderbilt investigator concludes in a recent review. Read More

Eighteen departments and agencies of the federal government have joined to propose revised regulations for scientific research involving human subjects. Read More

A team of Vanderbilt University Medical Center scientists are closer to understanding why COX-2 inhibitors — drugs that relieve arthritis pain and inflammation without the gastrointestinal side effects of other painkillers — cause heart problems in some patients. Now Read More

Despite benefiting from dramatic improvements in movement after deep brain stimulation surgery, patients with Parkinson’s disease can be inadequately served when physicians and researchers focus only on its motor manifestations, says a Vanderbilt neurosurgeon. Read More

A new marker could be useful for diagnosing and treating neuroendocrine tumors of the small intestines. Read More

A “bundle” of electronically implemented care guidelines reduced intensive care unit patient complications related to mechanical ventilation. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers could be one step closer to finding a way to fight the deadly Ebola virus – thanks to two Ebola victims from Nigeria, who faced death and survived. Vanderbilt researchers developed a unique method of isolating potent Ebola-fighting antibodies from survivors’ blood and they believe these newest… Read More

Drugs that inhibit the Wnt signaling pathway can regenerate injured skin and may be useful in treating fibromatosis, degenerative joint disease and cancer. Read More

The irregular heart rhythm atrial fibrillation increases the risk of death in patients in the intensive care unit. Read More

Vanderbilt University School of Nursing (VUSN) has been awarded a four-year $660,633 grant from the National Institute of Health’s National Institute on Aging to study how psychophysical responses to acute experimental thermal pain differ between older adults with and without Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Read More

Another non-opioid option besides nerve blocks works better for patients recovering from knee replacement surgery, according to a study by Andrew Shinar, M.D., associate professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation. Read More

Vanderbilt University has been awarded a major federal grant — $16 million over four years — to coordinate AIDS education and training efforts in Tennessee and seven other southeastern states. Read More

Buddy Creech, M.D., MPH, associate professor of Pediatrics, has been named director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Research Program (VVRP) in the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. Read More

For more than twenty years, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center’s (VICC) primary source of outside funding has been provided by the National Institutes of Health. But in breast cancer, Susan G. Komen, a nonprofit dedicated to breast cancer research and community services, has been a significant sponsor of research and patient care support. Read More

The first study to suggest that major depressive disorder (MDD) is an independent risk factor for heart failure in HIV-positive adults has been published in Circulation. Read More

Lymphedema patients saw a nearly 80 percent reduction in cellulitis episodes by using an advanced pneumatic compression device at home, according to a study in JAMA Dermatology co-authored by Vanderbilt University School of Nursing’s Sheila Ridner, Ph.D., and University of Minnesota School of Public Health Associate Professor Pinar Karaca-Mandic, Ph.D. Read More