NIH Archives
Treating kidney injury before it happens
May. 23, 2023—Pretreatment of an animal model with a novel compound called PHAD reduced kidney injury, suggesting it may be a good candidate for preventing kidney injury in surgical patients.
Neurofluid flow and Alzheimer’s disease
May. 22, 2023—Vanderbilt researchers used novel MRI methods to noninvasively quantify measures of neurofluid circulation and found that hypertrophy of a site of cerebrospinal fluid egress may be related to amyloid-beta retention in Alzheimer’s disease.
A critical skin enzyme
May. 18, 2023—Detailed studies of the enzymatic properties of PNPLA1 support the requirement for this protein in skin barrier formation.
Billing codes aid lupus diagnosis
May. 18, 2023—Vanderbilt researchers used billing codes in electronic health records to develop a “phenotype risk score” that identified established and undiagnosed people with lupus.
Neural networks probe proteins
May. 9, 2023—A machine learning method based on neural networks outperformed a mutational scanning model at identifying disease-causing mutations in an Alzheimer’s disease protein, suggesting the method could be useful for facilitating therapeutic design.
Improved imaging for kidney disease
May. 8, 2023—Vanderbilt researchers identified optimal MRI parameters for estimating the severity of polycystic kidney disease, a common inherited disorder that can lead to end-stage renal failure.
Tracking lung macrophages
May. 4, 2023—A new technique will allow researchers to track subsets of immune cells that patrol and defend the lungs, to better understand the roles of these cells during lung inflammation, infection and injury.
Better adenoma detection
May. 4, 2023—Fluorescent nanoparticles clearly identified colonic adenomas — precursors to colorectal cancer — in mice, and the formulation should translate to clinical use in humans.
COVID alters respiratory microbiota
Apr. 25, 2023—COVID-19 infection alters the microbes of the upper respiratory tract for at least several weeks, and such disturbances could impact disease severity and be targets for therapeutic interventions.
Novel drugs have potential for treating tuberculosis
Apr. 24, 2023—Drug-resistant tuberculosis is on the rise, and novel antibacterial drugs called SPTs have potential for treating the deadly lung infection.
Overactive bladder and anxiety
Apr. 20, 2023—Anxiety and psychological stress impact hypersensitivity mechanisms in women that could contribute to overactive bladder — a frequent and sudden urge to urinate that is difficult to control.
Genetics and chronic pain
Apr. 20, 2023—Polygenic risk scores — scores that reflect the influence of common genetic variants — could be used to predict the likelihood of developing chronic overlapping pain conditions and guide biomarker and targeted prevention efforts.