Health and Medicine

A receptor in the brain that regulates appetite and body weight has now been found in L cells, key regulatory cells in the gut, providing the pharmaceutical industry with a novel drug target for both obesity and diabetes, a Vanderbilt University-led research team reported this week.

Vanderbilt researchers will play a key role in the second phase of the federal "tissue chip for drug screening" program.

Martin Blakely, M.D., M.S., has been awarded a $3 million federal grant for a multi-center, multi-disciplinary study to examine the safety outcomes of early versus later inguinal hernia repair for premature infants.

In recent years the federal government has used financial incentives and penalties to promote use of electronic health records (EHR), but in these regulations the issue of EHR data interoperability — that is, data standardization — has been left largely unresolved, dimming prospects for data exchange, population health surveillance and systematic improvement across health networks.

For singers who suddenly can’t hit their high notes or call center workers who develop pain while speaking, physical therapy may offer new treatment solutions.

A new mouse model offers insight into the signaling pathways that control oral cancers – and a platform for testing anticancer therapeutics.