What do 16,000 Band-Aids, 72 bottles of hand gel, 36 flat sheets, 30 trashcans, two wheelchairs, one crash cart and a 140-foot by 40-foot tent signal?

Adam Esbenshade, M.D., MSCI, assistant professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, has been awarded a $50,000 Hyundai Hope on Wheels Impact Award. Esbenshade plans to use data to create a risk prediction model to predict blood stream infections in pediatric cancer patients.

Past research has proven that palliative care — specialized medical care focused on pain and symptom management as well as psychosocial interventions to improve quality of life — benefits patients with malignant diseases such as aggressive cancers. Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) health care providers are now studying whether palliative care can also benefit those with advanced liver disease, a diagnosis that precedes either a life-saving liver transplant or death.

Vanderbilt investigators have discovered that oxidative damage may play an important role in the development of a rare cholesterol synthesis disease and in the behavioral changes of autism spectrum disorders.

Vanderbilt researchers have found that red blood cell membrane fatty acid content is associated with risk of having colorectal adenomas, with omega-6 fatty acids increasing and omega-3 fatty acids decreasing risk.

Assessing brain functional and structural connectivity in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy may be a useful way to identify the best candidates for surgical treatment.