Vanderbilt University Medical Center

May 18 has been designated HIV Vaccine Awareness Day, a day to educate Americans about the need for a vaccine to prevent HIV.

A common ingredient in over-the-counter decongestants -- pseudoephedrine -- may increase blood pressure and the risk of life-threatening or disabling strokes in susceptible patients, researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have reported.

Doctors at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital have found a whole new use for the popular erectile dysfunction drug Viagra. Sildenafil, as it is called by its more anonymous chemical name, may have the power to save babies.

By all accounts, Don Matl was not expected to survive his second bout with melanoma in 1998. He was given less than a 5 percent chance. But he lived.Another recurrence in 2001 yielded a similar inference ó but again he persevered. Now Matl knows why he beat the odds.

Vaccines, drugs, diagnostic devices and medical surveillance are all crucial tools in the fight against bioterrorism and emerging infectious disease, but experts say they are not enough, and Congress has asked a group of national experts in the field, which includes the National Center for Emergency Preparedness (NCEP), housed at the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, to target new ways to increase the level of personnel preparedness.

Vanderbilt Medical Center will expand its LifeFlight helicopter air ambulance program by adding a base in Lebanon, Tennessee, and purchasing three new state-of-the-art helicopters at a cost of $5.4 million each.

Soccer World sporting goods specialty shop has chosen Vanderbilt Children's Hospital as a beneficiary of Soccer World Super Clasico (SWSC), the first major international soccer match to be held in Tennessee. Vanderbilt Children's CEO, Jim Shmerling, joined representatives of Soccer World, the two participants, the LA Galaxy and the UAG Tecos, and Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell Tuesday at the Coliseum to make the announcement.