Health And Medicine

Smoking is deleterious to health, but smokers who prefer menthol cigarettes to nonmenthol can breathe a sigh of relief…for now. Read More

Collybolide – a natural product isolated from a mushroom – is a promising candidate for the development of non-addictive pain medicines. Read More

It is widely assumed that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are insensitive to pain due to the wide prevalence of self-injurious behaviors. A new study at Vanderbilt University Medical Center suggests that this may not be true. Read More

COX-2 inhibitors – used clinically to reduce inflammation and pain – may find new applications for treating PTSD and other stress-related psychiatric disorders like major depression. Read More

How about shrink wrapping your hand to have an MRI? Or having a light in a cast to help heal diabetic foot ulcers? These are just some of the devices developed by Vanderbilt engineering students for Design Day 2016. Read More

The primary method used to test compounds for anti-cancer activity in cells is flawed, Vanderbilt University researchers reported May 2 in Nature Methods. Read More

Less than a week has passed since the reorganization that separated Vanderbilt University from Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) became effective April 29, but early signs are very positive, Jeff Balser, M.D., Ph.D., president and CEO of VUMC and dean of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, said Tuesday during his Spring Faculty Meeting and Awards Program. Read More

The true incidence of hazing in youth sports is unknown because victims don’t report the mistreatment or fail to recognize it as hazing, according to a review of scientific literature on the subject by a team of Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) researchers. Read More

Anesthesiology resident Loren Smith, M.D., Ph.D., recently received two national research awards: the Margaret Wood Resident Research Award, from the Association of University Anesthesiologists (AUA); and the 2016 Young Investigator Award, from the Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists (SOCCA). Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have discovered that activation of a certain signaling pathway protects brain cancers from targeted therapies, suggesting that using therapeutics that block both pathways may be a promising treatment. Read More

A newly discovered mechanism that helps cancer cells avoid destruction by immune system cells may improve immunotherapies. Read More

A genetic mutation that promotes cancer development blocks the normal sorting of a protein called “Argonaute 2.” Read More

Higher genomic levels of African ancestry are associated with an increased risk for Alzheimer’s disease, a consortium of investigators reported recently in Alzheimer’s & Dementia. Read More

Researchers at Columbia and Vanderbilt universities have made an important discovery in mice that has implications for understanding the gastrointestinal (GI) problems experienced by some children with autism. Read More

Jesse Ehrenfeld, M.D., MPH, associate professor of Anesthesiology, Biomedical Informatics, Surgery and Health Policy, has been named director of education research for the Office of Health Sciences Education. Read More

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common smoking-related lung illness and the third leading cause of death in the United States. Scientists have long believed that inhaling toxic gases and particles from tobacco smoke causes inflammation of the small airways in the lungs, leading to the development of COPD. Read More

An expert in the dynamic behavior of the microtubule cytoskeleton at Vanderbilt University is among 15 scientists in the chemical and biological sciences nationwide who have been named 2016 Searle Scholars. Read More

A targeted therapy for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), the most aggressive form of breast cancer, has shown potential promise in a recently published study. TNBC is the only type of breast cancer for which there are no currently approved targeted therapies. Read More

The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (VKC) is one of a select group of sites selected to launch SPARK, an online research initiative designed to become the largest autism study ever undertaken in the United States. Read More

Disrespectful and unsafe behavior by physicians and advanced practice medical professionals can undermine health care teams, but research shows that often a simple conversation to make an individual aware of their action can promote self-reflection and change. Read More