This month BioVU logged in its 150,000th unique genetic sample. It is now the world’s largest collection of human DNA linked to searchable, electronic health information, said Dan Roden, M.D., assistant vice chancellor for Personalized Medicine at Vanderbilt and BioVU’s principal investigator.
The 2012 Vanderbilt Prize in Biomedical Science has been awarded to Yale University professor Joan Steitz, Ph.D., whose pioneering work has helped reveal and clarify the complexities of RNA and the roles that RNA molecules play in health and disease.
Pregnant women who have had prior preterm births may avoid a subsequent early birth if given progestogens, which are natural or synthetic forms of progesterone, a female hormone that naturally increases during pregnancy, a Vanderbilt analysis shows.
A study led by investigators from Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC), Nashville, Tenn., finds that black men with prostate cancer receive lower quality surgical care than white men. The racial differences persist even when controlling for factors such as the year of surgery, age, comorbidities and insurance status.
A new tool to observe cell behavior has revealed surprising clues about how cancer cells respond to therapy, and may offer a way to further refine personalized cancer treatments. The approach, developed by investigators at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, shows that erlotinib — a targeted therapy that acts on a growth factor receptor mutated in some lung, brain and other cancers — doesn’t simply kill tumor cells as was previously assumed. The drug also causes some tumor cells to go into a non-dividing (quiescent) state or to slow down their rate of division.
Vanderbilt University has signed on for a statewide project to increase exclusive breast-feeding in hospitals and delivery centers. The Tennessee Initiative for Perinatal Quality Care (TIPQC) kicked off the project recently at Vanderbilt University Medical Center with 16 hospital teams from around the state.
A type I diabetes prevention study that is part of the TrialNet program at Vanderbilt is now enrolling children as young as 8 years old, following an FDA decision allowing the drug Teplizumab (anti-CD3) to be used in younger children.
Vanderbilt researchers have been selected to receive a national grant as part of a push to gauge the coming impact of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The Vanderbilt University Medical Center team is producing a tool that will predict and map hot spots where shortages for primary care providers are likely to occur as millions of Americans become insured in 2014.
High consumption of vitamin E either from diet or vitamin supplements may lower the risk of liver cancer, according to a study published July 17 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
The Vanderbilt Sports Concussion Center is now offering pre-concussion baseline testing to all community recreational athletes in advance of many high-impact seasonal sports resuming this fall.
The Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute (VHVI) now offers a minimally invasive, catheter-based approach to dissolving pulmonary embolism, a potentially life-threatening blood clot that form elsewhere in the body and travels into the lungs.
Obesity increases the risk of acute kidney injury (AKI) following cardiac surgery, according to a Vanderbilt study published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. Considered common after cardiac surgery, AKI represents a fivefold increase in mortality risk within 30 days after the procedure and is associated with longer hospital stays and a range of complications.
It took less than 10 minutes today for temperatures to rise from 79 to a blazing 113 degrees inside a parked SUV on the plaza at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center are leading an international clinical trial to examine the functional benefits of a combined therapy to treat acute ischemic stroke, a type of stroke where a blood clot becomes lodged in an artery within the brain, reducing blood flow and depriving brain cells of oxygen. Eighty-seven percent of strokes are ischemic.
A study led by Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) investigators has identified a gene expression pattern that may explain why chemotherapy prior to surgery isn’t effective against some tumors and suggests new therapy options for patients with specific subtypes of breast cancer.
Hannah Andrews, 23, who has suffered from severe asthma since she was a child, is breathing easier now thanks to a new procedure offered at Vanderbilt known as bronchial thermoplasty.
A Vanderbilt expert on health policy and economics says that many people who get subsidized private health insurance under the Affordable Care Act in 2014 could face confusing changes in eligibility and cost sharing, and some will be required to pay the government back after the first year of participation. John Graves, Ph.D., assistant professor of Preventive Medicine and member of the Institute for Medicine and Public Health and the Center for Health Services Research, performed simulations that show the current tools in the law to assess income will need to be improved to reduce errors.
Many all-terrain vehicle (ATV) trails officially open over Memorial Day weekend. Doctors with the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt are urging both adults and children to stay safe this riding season. Already this week in Middle Tennessee there have been multiple ATV accidents resulting in injuries and death.
Nurses at Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Level-1 Trauma Center are taking a pledge to raise awareness of the dangers associated with distracted driving. These caregivers, who treat hundreds of seriously injured patients each year due to distracted driving, want to see an end to behind-the-wheel activities taking attention away from the road.
New mom Windy Hill, 38, of Kingsport, Tenn., was given the ultimate Mother’s Day gift a little early after she was wheeled into the operating room at Vanderbilt University Hospital on April 20 to receive a mechanical pump to aid her failing heart and save her life.
Wrist, hand and finger trauma are the most common injuries presenting to emergency departments nationwide, yet only 7 percent of Tennessee hospitals have a hand specialist on call 24/7 to treat these patients, according to a Vanderbilt study published online today in the Annals of Plastic Surgery.
Removing a child’s ruptured appendix sooner rather than later significantly lowers hospital costs and charges, according to a recently published study. An estimated $10,000 in hospital charges was saved when pediatric general surgeons removed the ruptured appendix within the first 24 hours, compared to the alternative treatment, called an interval appendectomy, which involved removing the appendix six-eight weeks later.
April is Child Abuse Prevention Month and experts at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt are urging all individuals to be able to recognize the signs and symptoms of child abuse, and to be aware that reporting suspected incidents of child abuse is the law in Tennessee and many other states.
The need to swab the noses of pregnant women and newborns for the presence of MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) may be unfounded, according to a Vanderbilt study now available online and published in the May issue of Pediatrics. The study’s senior author, Buddy Creech, M.D., MPH, assistant professor of Pediatrics, said it is often feared that mothers carrying MRSA may risk transmitting an infection to their newborn babies, but Vanderbilt Pediatric Infectious Diseases researchers found that babies rarely became ill from MRSA infections, despite frequently carrying the germ.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center is one of approximately 20 centers in a nationwide clinical study investigating the use of deep brain stimulation (DBS) as an intervention for patients with major depression. BROADEN™ (BROdmann Area 25 DEep brain Neuromodulation) is the first randomized clinical research study to investigate DBS as an intervention for patients diagnosed with unipolar major depressive disorder (excluding bipolar disorder) who have not improved after multiple treatments.
Mutations in hundreds of genes involved in wiring the brain may contribute to the development of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). That is one of the rather daunting conclusions of a paper published in the current issue of the journal Nature by a multi-institutional team that included researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
A study by Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center and Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention investigators reveals that breast cancer survivors who eat more cruciferous vegetables may have improved survival. The study of women in China was presented by postdoctoral fellow Sarah J. Nechuta, Ph.D., M.P.H., at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting in Chicago, Ill.
Higher-spending hospitals do have better outcomes for their emergency patients, including fewer deaths, according to a Vanderbilt study released as a working paper through the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center researchers have identified a new population of intestinal stem cells that may hold clues to the origin of colorectal cancer. This new stem cell population, reported March 30 in the journal Cell, appears to be relatively quiescent (inactive) – in contrast to the recent discovery of intestinal stem cells that multiply rapidly – and is marked by a protein, Lrig1, that may act as a “brake” on cell growth and proliferation.
With the proliferation of smart phones, portable gaming systems and media players, more children—especially teenagers—are listening to ear buds and headphones at dangerously high volume levels. Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt is offering tips to parents and teenagers to help prevent long-term hearing loss.
Every year more children are suffering life-threatening injuries caused by furniture and television tip-overs. Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt is asking parents to implement a few extra safety measures to keep their children safe around the house.
The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center has created a resource with Autism Speaks to help improve sleep for children and teens affected by autism spectrum disorders. This new toolkit, titled “Sleep Strategies for Children with Autism: A Parent’s Guide,” offers strategies to help families whose children with autism have difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep through the night.
Investigators from Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) and 12 other centers in the United States and Australia have found that a new drug for patients with metastatic melanoma nearly doubled median overall survival.
Being involved in a healthy, loving relationship is good for the heart, says Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute cardiologist Julie Damp, M.D. “There are a couple of different theories behind why that might be,” Damp said. People who are married or who are in close, healthy relationships tend to be less likely to smoke, are more physically active and are more likely to have a well-developed social structure, she said. They are also more likely to have lower levels of stress and anxiety in their day-to-day lives.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers estimate that U.S. orthopaedic surgeons create approximately $2 billion per year in unnecessary health care costs associated with orthopaedic care due to the practice of defensive medicine. Defensive medicine is the practice of ordering additional but unnecessary tests and diagnostic procedures that may later help exonerate physicians from accusations of malpractice. However, these additional costs result in no significant benefit to patients’ care.
Women who eat at least three servings of fish per week have a reduced risk of developing some types of colon polyps according to a new study by Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center investigators. The research, led by first author Harvey Murff, M.D., M.P.H., associate professor of Medicine, was published online in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The size of a man’s prostate gland may help predict the severity of cancer, with a smaller prostate being more likely to harbor serious disease.
The Vanderbilt Center for Surgical Weight Loss is developing an online education seminar for prospective patients to take in the privacy of their own homes. Just as it was difficult a few years back for doctors to talk to their patients about the dangers of smoking, discussing a patient’s weight can be equally difficult, according to Ronald Clements, M.D., director of the Vanderbilt Center for Surgical Weight Loss and professor of Surgery. The interactive seminar opens the door to that conversation, while providing a means for the surgeons to assess each patient’s general understanding of obesity and its treatments even before their first appointment.
With the countdown to 2012 just around the corner, Vanderbilt’s Emergency Department is bracing for what is likely to be one of the busiest weekends of the year. Alcohol-related injuries and deaths typically spike on New Year’s Eve, causing physicians and staff to prepare for an influx of patients requiring help after overconsumption.
Statins, traditionally known as cholesterol-lowering drugs, may reduce mortality among patients hospitalized with influenza, according to a new study released online by The Journal of Infectious Diseases. It is the first published observational study to evaluate the relationship between statin use and mortality in hospitalized patients with laboratory-confirmed influenza virus infection, according to Vanderbilt’s William Schaffner, M.D., professor and chair of Preventive Medicine.
Fourteen members of Vanderbilt University’s faculty have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) this year. This is the largest number of Vanderbilt fellows to be elected in a single year on record.
A large, retrospective study of the children of childhood cancer survivors who were treated with radiation therapy and/or some forms of chemotherapy found that the offspring do not have an increased risk for birth defects compared to children of cancer survivors who did not receive such treatments. The findings provide reassurance that increased risks of birth defects are unlikely for the children of childhood cancers survivors and can help guide family planning choices for those survivors.
The Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery announced today that new drug candidates for schizophrenia generated from its ongoing collaboration with Janssen Pharmaceutica, NV, are now entering the stage of preparation for first-in-human clinical testing.
“This is a major step forward in the evaluation of this approach as a potential treatment for major psychiatric diseases. It could lead to a fundamental advance in the treatment of schizophrenia,” said P. Jeffrey Conn, Ph.D., co-director of the Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery
Research, led by Timothy Sterling, M.D., professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has led to an important change in CDC recommendations in the regimen for prevention of the centuries-old scourge, tuberculosis (TB). Sterling’s work is published in the Dec. 8 New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
Recreational use of Ecstasy – the illegal “rave” drug that produces feelings of euphoria and emotional warmth – is associated with chronic changes in the human brain, Vanderbilt University investigators have discovered. The findings, reported online Dec. 5 in the Archives of General Psychiatry, add to the growing evidence that Ecstasy produces long-lasting serotonin neurotoxicity in humans, said Ronald Cowan, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of Psychiatry.
Alcoholic brains can perform a simple finger-tapping exercise as well as their sober counterparts but their brain must work a lot harder to do it, according to a Vanderbilt study released today by the journal, Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.
Mothers struggling to breastfeed are benefiting from a simple outpatient procedure to fix an easily missed ‘tongue-tie’ condition that could be preventing their newborns from feeding properly.
Sharing of electronic health information across every major emergency department in the Memphis, Tenn., area resulted in reduced hospital admissions, reduced radiology tests and an annual cost savings of nearly $2 million, according to a Vanderbilt study released today by the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) medications do not increase the risk for heart disease or heart attack in children and young adults, according to a Vanderbilt study of 1.2 million patients taking drugs including Ritalin, Adderall, Concerta and Strattera between 1998 and 2005. The study, published online today by the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) and authored by William Cooper, M.D., MPH, a Vanderbilt Professor of Pediatrics and Preventive Medicine, is the largest ever to examine potential risks posed by drugs to treat ADHD.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center doctors announced today they will begin screening patients who take commonly prescribed statin drugs for a rare genetic variation that can increase risks for side effects from these drugs such as muscle aches, kidney damage and even death.
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