Aliquots - Research Briefs

July 20, 2023

Rare case: brain injury stirs creativity, synesthesia

Vanderbilt researchers report on a musician who acquired synesthesia — a merging of sensations — and improved creativity following a traumatic brain injury.

By Paul Govern
July 7, 2023

Novel treatments for fake patients

A customizable framework uses simulated patients to distinguish effects of a new treatment from “learning effects” for clinicians; it should help identify training opportunities and hasten treatment improvements.

By Paul Govern
June 27, 2023

Rare disorder sheds light on dysbindin function

A case study of a rare disorder uncovers roles for the protein dysbindin in the adaptive immune response and suggests that mutations may underlie some cases of very early onset inflammatory bowel disease.

By Sarah E. Glass
June 26, 2023

Magnesium deficiency and blood pressure

Dietary magnesium depletion in a mouse model activated inflammatory pathways and molecules that promote hypertension, suggesting that increased magnesium consumption may be beneficial for reducing the prevalence of hypertension.

By Leigh MacMillan
June 22, 2023

Pathways to a healthy liver

Hepatic stellate cells maintain liver mass and function; the signaling factors they use could be exploited therapeutically to promote liver regeneration and inhibit cancerous proliferation, Vanderbilt researchers suggest.

By Bill Snyder
June 22, 2023

Mosaicism and genetic disease

Genetic mosaicism — when the body’s cells do not all have the same genetic makeup — could generate variants previously thought to be spontaneous in genetic disease, and detecting parental mosaicism could clarify recurrence risk for future children.

By Leigh MacMillan
June 13, 2023

Maternal diet influences postnatal diabetes risk

Studies in a primate animal model suggest that islet hyperfunction — which in humans is associated with increased fat mass and Type 2 diabetes — is programmed in offspring by a maternal Western-style diet during pregnancy.
By Bill Snyder
June 12, 2023

Images predict functional decline

MRI brain scans at baseline for study participants 60 and older — who were free of clinical dementia at study entry — predicted a decline in independent function five years later.
By Paul Govern
June 8, 2023

Targeting calcium handling in A-fib

The drug ent-verticilide reduced A-fib incidence and duration in an animal model, suggesting it may be a viable therapeutic option.
By Leigh MacMillan
June 8, 2023

An image of cancer treatment response

An MRI method developed by Vanderbilt researchers uses imaging data to derive cell size and could be added to clinical practice for better monitoring of breast cancer treatment response.
By Sarah E. Glass
May 23, 2023

Treating kidney injury before it happens

Pretreatment of an animal model with a novel compound called PHAD reduced kidney injury, suggesting it may be a good candidate for preventing kidney injury in surgical patients.
By Sarah E. Glass
May 22, 2023

Neurofluid flow and Alzheimer’s disease

Vanderbilt researchers used novel MRI methods to noninvasively quantify measures of neurofluid circulation and found that hypertrophy of a site of cerebrospinal fluid egress may be related to amyloid-beta retention in Alzheimer’s disease.
By Leigh MacMillan
May 18, 2023

A critical skin enzyme

Detailed studies of the enzymatic properties of PNPLA1 support the requirement for this protein in skin barrier formation.
By Leigh MacMillan
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