Arterial stiffening linked to Alzheimer’s disease

A research team from Vanderbilt University Medical Center reports in Neurology that greater stiffening of the aorta, the main artery in the human body, is associated in older adults with increased Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology as reflected in a range of neurochemical indicators measured in cerebrospinal fluid.

Delirium and mortality reexamined

A multicenter study of ICU patients found that in the hospital, delirium was associated with a nearly three-fold increase in risk of death the following day, but after discharge there was no association between delirium and mortality.

Dexmedetomidine and delirium

The sedative dexmedetomidine, when administered during or after heart surgery, is associated with postoperative delirium and adverse outcomes.

Drug allergy labels in medical records power searches for gene-drug associations

New neurodegeneration culprit

A young woman with a puzzling neurological illness and novel genetic variant pointed investigators to a role for dysregulated protein kinase D1 in neurodegeneration.

Award recognizes hands-on contributions to health IT at VUMC

Chetan Aher, MD, assistant professor of Surgery, and Wael Alrifai, MD, assistant professor of Pediatrics and Biomedical Informatics, are the inaugural winners of the Physician Builder Award, sponsored by the Vanderbilt Clinical Informatics Center (VCLIC). They received trophies made from Lego building blocks and gift certificates.