PLOS ONE (journal)

March 20, 2026

Study shows AI-assisted risk model for lung nodules is cost-effective

Risk prediction software using artificial intelligence can help determine whether pulmonary nodules detected during lung cancer screening need to be biopsied.

By Tom Wilemon
July 19, 2023

Study highlights consequences of chronic benzodiazepine use

The lived experience of colleagues who took benzodiazepines and experienced distressing effects inspired a recent study that found the depressant is linked to nervous system injury and negative life effects during and after use.

By Danny Bonvissuto
July 13, 2023

Female health care workers more likely to leave profession during pandemic: HERO registry study

Vanderbilt research finds that female health care workers were more likely to leave or intend to leave the profession compared to male health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

By Leigh MacMillan
Team members involved in the study include, from left, Melissa Hilmes, MD, Daniel Moore, MD, PhD, Alvin Powers, MD, Jon Williams, PhD, and Jack Virostko, PhD. (photo by Jessica Kimber)
August 27, 2021

Study proves standardized protocol can support reliable MRI use for multisite pancreatic research

Researchers with the Vanderbilt Diabetes Research and Training Center (DRTC) at Vanderbilt University Medical Center led a multisite study which has demonstrated that, when controlled and standardized, quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the pancreas is highly reproducible when using different MRI hardware and software at different geographic locations.

By Jill Clendening
The study team includes, from left, Douglas Heimburger, MD, MS, Kondwelani Mateyo, MBChB, MMed, Justin Banerdt, MD, MPH, and E. Wesley Ely, MD.
April 22, 2021

Vanderbilt, Zambia researchers identify predictive factors of delirium in Sub-Saharan Africa

Severity of illness, history of stroke, and being divorced or widowed were independently predictive of delirium in hospitalized patients in Zambia, according to a study published in PLOS ONE.

By Holly Fletcher
February 11, 2021

Vanderbilt, Zambia researchers find delirium in hospitalized patients linked to mortality, disability in Sub-Saharan Africa

Delirium, a form of acute brain dysfunction, is widespread in critically ill patients in lower resourced hospitals, and the duration of delirium predicted both mortality and disability at six months after discharge, according to a study published in PLOS ONE.

By Holly Fletcher
November 16, 2020

Imaging “biomarker” for Alzheimer’s disease progression

Changes in connectivity in the brain’s white matter may be a novel neuroimaging biomarker for assessing Alzheimer’s disease progression.
By Bill Snyder
September 17, 2020

HIV prevention medication not being prescribed routinely: study

Only about 54% of medical practitioners surveyed say they have prescribed pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, to HIV-vulnerable patients, according to a new study by a Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigator.
By Jake Lowary
March 19, 2020

Race, hormones and diabetes risk

Variation in the levels of hormones called natriuretic peptides may contribute to racial differences in susceptibility to diabetes, suggesting that this hormone system may be a target for reducing risk of the disease.
By VUMC News and Communications
July 30, 2019

Intestinal immune cell interactions

Understanding the roles of various immune cells that reside in the gut lining could shed light on inflammatory bowel diseases.
By Leigh MacMillan
July 16, 2019

A critical factor for wound healing

Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center scientists have discovered a role for a tumor suppressor protein in skin wound healing.
By Anivarya Kumar
April 11, 2019

Pathways of radiosensitization

Austin Kirschner and colleagues demonstrate how a hormone therapy for prostate cancer improves radiation’s tumor-killing power.
By Leigh MacMillan
April 11, 2019

The arrestin-GPCR connection

Understanding details of how arrestins deactivate signaling by G-protein coupled receptors is key to the design of new therapeutics aimed at these cellular "inboxes" that are targeted by up to half of all pharmaceuticals.
By Sanjay Mishra