Health and Medicine

The study team included, from left, David McIlroy, MD, Matthew Shotwell, PhD, Cassandra Hennessy, MS, and Frederic (Josh) Billings IV, MD. (photo by Donn Jones)

Study links excess oxygen during anesthesia to risk of organ injury

Nov. 30, 2022—A Vanderbilt study found that higher levels of excess oxygen given to patients under general anesthesia add risk of injury to the kidneys, lungs and heart.

TEE tool at Vanderbilt used to monitor patients before and after surgery

Risk score for muscular dystrophy

Nov. 22, 2022—An imaging-based risk score can identify patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy who are at greater risk of early mortality, allowing more intensive treatment and potentially prolonging life.

Suicide notes

Nov. 21, 2022—Natural language processing of notes in electronic health records can identify suicidal behavior and could be used to directly improve real-time risk prediction algorithms.

Surgery for hereditary breast cancer

Nov. 17, 2022—Similar rates of bilateral mastectomy in women with inherited mutations in high- and moderate-penetrance genes raises concerns about possible overtreatment of some patients, Vanderbilt researchers report.

A marker for mortality

Nov. 17, 2022—A urine biomarker of inflammation was associated with increased mortality and multiple lifestyle factors, suggesting that modifications could help reduce premature mortality.

Highly multiplexed, untargeted MALDI imaging mass spectrometry data reveal the localization of various lipids and metabolites to specific functional regions of the nephron, the kidney's filtering unit (right).

Grants spur efforts to create molecular ‘atlases’ of organs

Nov. 17, 2022—Vanderbilt researchers have received three grants totaling $13.6 million from the National Institutes of Health to develop molecular “atlases” of the brain, kidney, eye and other tissues.

Study supports removing race from estimate of kidney function

Nov. 17, 2022—An in-depth analysis by Vanderbilt investigators of published research studies supports removing race from the calculation of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) — an assessment of kidney function.

Several from VUMC among most highly cited researchers

Nov. 17, 2022—Nine current faculty members of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine have made this year’s list of scientists whose papers have been cited most frequently by other researchers.

Cardiac antigen identified as mechanism for heart complication with immunotherapy-related myocarditis

Nov. 16, 2022—Researchers from from Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center have identified the mechanism for the deadly heart inflammation myocarditis.

Jacek Hawiger, MD, PhD, third from right, with study team members, from left, Katherine Gibson-Corley, DVM, PhD, Yan Liu, MD, Jozef Zienkiewicz, PhD, Huan Qiao, MD, PhD, and Ruth Ann Veach.

Hawiger still blazing a trail in inflammation research

Nov. 10, 2022—Vanderbilt research describes a new investigational peptide drug that can penetrate immune and nonimmune cells, and block inflammatory signaling in a preclinical model of atopic dermatitis — eczema.

The clinical trial group includes, from left, Gordon Bernard, MD, Katherine Cahill, MD, Kevin Niswender, MD, PhD, Pingsheng Wu, PhD, and R. Stokes Peebles, MD.

Clinical trial at VUMC tests novel treatment for asthma

Nov. 10, 2022—VUMC has begun enrolling patients with asthma in a clinical trial of a novel treatment: a medication approved to treat diabetes and obesity.

Alzheimer’s risk factor and cognition

Nov. 8, 2022—Vanderbilt researchers found that a protein with roles in innate immunity worsens memory at baseline in carriers of APOE-e4, the strongest genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, further implicating neuroinflammation in cognitive decline.