Health and Medicine

September 30, 2015

Theatre program benefits children with autism: study

Children with autism who participated in a 10-week, 40-hour, theatre-based program showed significant differences in social ability compared to a group of children with autism who did not participate, according to a Vanderbilt study published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

By Craig Boerner
hamburger and fries
September 24, 2015

Study tracks brain’s trigger for overeating high-fat food

Disruptions in a specific signaling pathway in the brain can cause overeating of high-fat food, researchers at Vanderbilt University have found.

By Bill Snyder
September 24, 2015

Survivors of Ebola outbreak take part in VUMC vaccine study

Two survivors of a 2014 Ebola outbreak in Nigeria visited Vanderbilt University Medical Center last week to share their experiences and participate in a study aimed at finding ways to treat the often-fatal infection.

By Bill Snyder
September 23, 2015

Data diving for health

To most effectively use electronic health records for research, investigators should query multiple components of the record to identify patients with specific diseases.

By VUMC News and Communications
September 22, 2015

Keep your coat on, virus!

A compound acting on serotonin receptors delays a critical step during reovirus cell entry, reducing viral infectivity.

By Sanjay Mishra
September 18, 2015

Nerve cell remodelers

Vanderbilt investigators have defined a gene expression program that controls the timing of synaptic remodeling – a process that is critical to brain development, learning and memory.

By Leigh MacMillan
September 17, 2015

Heart repair factor

A signaling factor called Wnt10b is a novel target for optimizing cardiac repair after a heart attack.
By Yan Su
September 17, 2015

Study shows lower systolic BP targets reduce death risk

The initial results of a landmark clinical trial sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) indicate lowering systolic blood pressure below a commonly recommended target significantly reduces rates of cardiovascular events and lowers risk of death in a group of adults 50 years and older.
By Kathy Whitney
September 17, 2015

Vanderbilt Kennedy Center to continue as national Developmental Disabilities Research Center

The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (VKC) has been awarded a $6.5 million, five-year grant to continue as a national Eunice Kennedy Shriver Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (IDDRC).
By VUMC News and Communications
September 10, 2015

Grants spur effort to add genetic data to EMR

Vanderbilt University researchers have received two major federal grants — totaling $7.6 million over four years — to support groundbreaking research aimed at making genetic information a routine part of patients’ electronic medical records.
By Bill Snyder
September 10, 2015

Diabetes trial targets body’s ability to produce insulin

Kiersten Eaddy had long looked forward to her high school graduation day and joining her classmates to celebrate the accomplishment.
By VUMC News and Communications
September 10, 2015

Initiative seeks to bolster ‘rediscovery research’

The Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (VICTR) is partnering with a public charity, Cures Within Reach, to encourage “rediscovery research,” the “repurposing” of already approved medical treatments to other conditions or diseases for which there are no “universally” effective therapies.
By Bill Snyder
September 10, 2015

Gifford, Bell land development awards in aging research

Two faculty members of the Vanderbilt Memory and Alzheimer’s Center are among a handful of 2015 scholars for the Paul B. Beeson Career Development Awards in Aging Research Program.
By Tom Wilemon