Veterans Affairs News and Research

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Combat-related PTSD associated with longer-term physical, emotional and cognitive symptoms

Combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms appear to be associated with longer-term physical (headache, tinnitus), emotional (irritability) and cognitive (diminished concentration or memory) symptoms, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Conversely, concussion/mild traumatic brain injuries (MTBI) do not appear to have long-term negative effects on troops.

4 Jan 2011

Deceptive food labels lead to increased risk of deadly diseases

Did you know that when you pick up a product promoted as trans fat free, you may still be ingesting a significant amount of this potentially harmful substance? An article by Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine student Eric Brandt, published in the January/February 2011 issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion, reveals that misleading labeling practices can result in medically significant intake of harmful trans fat, despite what you read on Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved labels.

3 Jan 2011

NEI awards Case Western Reserve $10M for study of retinal diseases

The Departments of Pharmacology and Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have been awarded a $10.1 million grant from the National Eye Institute (NEI) to research and develop new treatments for diseases of the retina, a leading cause of blindness.

29 Dec 2010

Study shows vegetarian diet lowers blood, urine phosphorous levels

Phosphorous levels plummet in kidney disease patients who stick to a vegetarian diet, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology. The results suggest that eating vegetables rather than meat can help kidney disease patients avoid accumulating toxic levels of this mineral in their bodies.

24 Dec 2010

Top ten advances in cardiovascular, stroke research in 2010

Research on reducing risks, improving medical treatment and improving lifestyle behaviors to fight the battle against heart disease and stroke are among the key scientific findings that make up this year's top cardiovascular and stroke research recognized by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.

22 Dec 2010

AIDS patients with serum biomarkers are predisposed to immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome

A study in this week's PLoS Medicine suggests that AIDS patients with cryptococcal meningitis who start HIV therapy are predisposed to immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome - an exaggerated inflammatory immune response that kills up to one-third of affected people - if they have biomarkers in their blood showing evidence of a damaged immune system that is not capable of clearing the fungal infection.

22 Dec 2010

Military health: Philanthropy, not the Pentagon, leads to quality care for brain-injured soldiers

To see what cognitive therapy looked like, ProPublica and NPR spent several days with McKinney and fellow soldiers and veterans at Project Share, a charity to help brain-damaged soldiers. (This article is part of an ongoing investigation.) The program is based out of the Shepherd Center for Brain and Spinal Cord Injury in Atlanta, a nationally recognized hospital for head injuries (Miller and Zwerdling, 12/21).

22 Dec 2010

Nanosphere's Verisens cTnI assay measures low levels of troponin I in patients with heart failure

A clinical study released online by the European Journal of Heart Failure, a publication of the European Society of Cardiology, demonstrates the value of using Nanosphere's Verisens cTnI assay to detect very low levels of troponin I in hospitalized patients with heart failure.

20 Dec 2010

Combination therapy improves survival rates in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer

A combination therapy for treating cancer discovered at the University of Colorado Cancer Center showed improved survival rates in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to results from a double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 2 trial run by Syndax Pharmaceuticals.

16 Dec 2010

Tort reform legislation has not reduced physician concerns about malpractice lawsuits: Study

Physicians' fears of being sued for malpractice are out of proportion to their actual risk of being sued, according to a recent study by a University of Iowa researcher and colleagues.

16 Dec 2010

MedVirginia becomes first community HIE to connect with Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record

MedVirginia announced today that it has achieved another significant milestone: becoming the first community health information exchange (HIE) to connect with the Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record (VLER). VLER is a collaboration between Veterans Affairs (VA), the Department of Defense (DoD), and civilian health systems to connect the health records of our nation's active duty military personnel and Veterans.

13 Dec 2010

ORNL's software scans molecular databases, may help scientists to develop new drug treatments

A quicker and cheaper technique to scan molecular databases developed at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory could put scientists on the fast track to developing new drug treatments.

13 Dec 2010

Childhood maltreatment more strongly associated with current psychiatric symptoms than military sexual stressors

A study of long-term, active duty military personnel who used Department of Veterans Affairs' health services showed that childhood maltreatment and other high magnitude stressors, such as being in a serious accident or a natural disaster, were more strongly associated with participants' current psychiatric symptoms than were their military sexual experiences, such as sexual harassment.

9 Dec 2010

Study: Adding community features to online health programs could reduce attrition

In an era when social networking sites and blogs are visited by three quarters of online users, it's only natural that the medical profession would also tap into the power of social media tools.

9 Dec 2010

New technique jumpstarts growth of nerve fibers to reverse stroke damage

A new technique that jumpstarts the growth of nerve fibers could reverse much of the damage caused by strokes, researchers report in the Jan. 7, 2011 issue of the journal Stroke.

9 Dec 2010

Integrating smoking cessation treatment with mental health care improves abstinence rates in PTSD veterans

Among smokers with military-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), integrating smoking cessation treatment with mental health care for PTSD resulted in higher rates of prolonged smoking abstinence, compared to referral for assistance with quitting smoking, according to a study in the December 8 issue of JAMA.

8 Dec 2010

Ultraviolet light activates enzyme that helps skin cancer cells survive, proliferate: Researchers

The sun's ultraviolet light activates an enzyme that helps skin cancer cells survive and proliferate, researchers report.

8 Dec 2010

Case Western Reserve School of Medicine researchers receive NIH grant for four research endeavors

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine faculty members are reaping the rewards of funding from the National Institutes of Health, in the form of grants and contracts. The funding totals more than $6.4 million for four different research endeavors.

8 Dec 2010

Lutheran Medical Center implements Medsphere's OpenVista EHR solution

Lutheran Medical Center (LMC) and Medsphere Systems Corporation today announced the successful implementation of Medsphere's OpenVista® electronic health record (EHR) solution throughout the hospital. The full service 476-bed teaching hospital is now on track to achieve meaningful use and qualify for millions of dollars made available by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

7 Dec 2010

Study reveals higher mortality rate among veteran status epilepticus patients

Status epilepticus (SE) is a true medical and neurologic emergency. To better understand the causes, treatment approaches and associated outcomes among SE patients, investigators at the Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System retrospectively reviewed all SE cases treated within their system over an eight year period.

4 Dec 2010

Veterans Affairs News and Research

Combat-related PTSD associated with longer-term physical, emotional and cognitive symptoms

Deceptive food labels lead to increased risk of deadly diseases

NEI awards Case Western Reserve $10M for study of retinal diseases

Study shows vegetarian diet lowers blood, urine phosphorous levels

Top ten advances in cardiovascular, stroke research in 2010

AIDS patients with serum biomarkers are predisposed to immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome

Military health: Philanthropy, not the Pentagon, leads to quality care for brain-injured soldiers

Nanosphere's Verisens cTnI assay measures low levels of troponin I in patients with heart failure

Combination therapy improves survival rates in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer

Tort reform legislation has not reduced physician concerns about malpractice lawsuits: Study

MedVirginia becomes first community HIE to connect with Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record

ORNL's software scans molecular databases, may help scientists to develop new drug treatments

Childhood maltreatment more strongly associated with current psychiatric symptoms than military sexual stressors

Study: Adding community features to online health programs could reduce attrition

New technique jumpstarts growth of nerve fibers to reverse stroke damage

Integrating smoking cessation treatment with mental health care improves abstinence rates in PTSD veterans

Ultraviolet light activates enzyme that helps skin cancer cells survive, proliferate: Researchers

Case Western Reserve School of Medicine researchers receive NIH grant for four research endeavors

Lutheran Medical Center implements Medsphere's OpenVista EHR solution

Study reveals higher mortality rate among veteran status epilepticus patients

How Omics Technologies Are Transforming Biological Research and Drug Discovery

How microplastics and bacteria interact to drive antibiotic resistance

Single-cell proteomics: Revealing proteome diversity from cellular heterogeneity to non-canonical biology

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