Research

Efforts by the federal government to control the nation’s spiraling budget deficit, including sequestration that took effect on March 1, have created the potential for significant impact to Medicare’s long-standing support for graduate medical education and could limit the ability of the nation’s academic medical centers to care for patients and train the next generation of physicians, says Donald Brady, senior associate dean of Graduate Medical Education for Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Read More

Vanderbilt research shows that human antibodies to the natural strain of H5N1 also protected against a dangerous lab-created airborne strain developed several years ago by scientists in the Netherlands and at the University of Wisconsin. Read More

Prescribing “atypical” antipsychotic medications to children and young adults with behavioral problems or mood disorders may put them at unnecessary risk for type 2 diabetes, a Vanderbilt University Medical Center study shows. Read More

A new Peabody study found that early spatial ability – the skill required to mentally manipulate 2D and 3D objects – predicts the development of new knowledge, and especially innovation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) domains, above and beyond more traditional measures of mathematical and verbal ability. Read More

In an era of stagnating government support for academic science, officials at many top research universities are looking to private philanthropy and increased efficiencies to maintain their elite status. Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos is quoted. Read More

Vanderbilt nephrologist, Thomas Golper, M.D., professor of Medicine in Nephrology and Hypertension, is leading an effort to form a research consortium with a goal of improving care for kidney failure patients who receive a form of home dialysis. Read More

A team of Vanderbilt researchers has provided important validation of maps of the brain at rest that may offer insights into changes in the brain that occur in neurological and psychiatric diseases. Read More

While physicians and nurse practitioners agree on general principles, survey reveals differences on specific policies (Vanderbilt University) Primary care physicians and nurse practitioners significantly disagree on some proposed changes to the scope of nurse practitioners’ responsibilities, according to a New England Journal of Medicine study released… Read More

...first-of-its-kind research by Vanderbilt professor of law and economics Joni Hersch shows that female graduates of elite undergraduate universities are working much fewer hours than their counterparts from less selective institutions. Read More

This past fall, 150 sixth graders at Cameron College Prep middle school completed a violence prevention program that was the end result of an idea formed years before in a Vanderbilt University Medical Center operating room. Read More

A rare genetic variant that occurs more commonly in families of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) may be a key to better understanding this common and potentially life threatening condition, Vanderbilt University researchers reported this week. Read More

"Our scientists and engineers are making discoveries today that will lead to unimaginable technological breakthroughs tomorrow in medicine, energy and technology. Without long-term sustained federal investments in science and engineering research, these discoveries simply will not be made," write Chancellor Zeppos and University of Tennessee president Joseph Di Pietro in The Tennessean. Read More

"Beyond the damaging effects on the health of our people, disrupting the nation’s biomedical science infrastructure puts our economic future at risk," writes Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs Jeff Balser in The Tennessean. Read More

A gene associated with long life participates in the normal regulation of bone remodeling and may have a role in bone loss associated with aging. Read More

Antioxidants promote cell growth in a mouse model of prostate cancer, Vanderbilt researchers report in the journal PLoS ONE. The findings provide insight into the recent controversy regarding antioxidants and prostate cancer prevention. Read More

Vanderbilt University scientists are cheering this year’s Nobel Prize in Medicine for recognizing the discovery that mature cells can be “reprogrammed” into other cell types — a finding which they said has electrified their work. Read More

Women who experience early menopause are more likely to have a heart attack or stroke than women whose menopause occurs at a later age, according to a new study by Melissa Wellons, M.D., assistant professor of Medicine in the Vanderbilt Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism. Read More

Three Vanderbilt University Medical Center faculty members have been awarded grants from the American Health Assistance Foundation to support their research on glaucoma and macular degeneration — the two leading causes of irreversible blindness in the world. Read More

Amory Cox, a Pharmacy Practice resident, is making her second visit to the Biostatistics Clinic, a free, 75- minute research help session offered daily by the Department of Biostatistics. Read More

This week on VUCast: They won our hearts. Now, learn how one champion is winning his fight with diabetes. Some Vanderbilt classes are soon coming to a computer near you. And, Popeye was right. Researchers give new meaning to the term spinach power. [vucastblurb]… Read More