Veterans Affairs News and Research

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ECT is more cost-effective for treating depression than other treatment strategies, shows study

Right now, very few depression patients receive the treatment once known as 'shock therapy', which today uses far milder electrical impulses than decades ago.

10 May 2018

Hoping to see your doctor via telemedicine? Here’s a quick guide.

Tucked into the federal budget law Congress passed in February was a provision that significantly expands the use of telemedicine — long a hyped health care reform, and now poised to go mainstream within five to 10 years.

9 May 2018

Lymph node status after preoperative therapy determines survival of esophageal cancer patients

According to a new study, the status of lymph nodes rather than the status of the primary tumor following preoperative neoadjuvant chemotherapy or chemoradiation therapy is the most important factor that determines whether patients with locally advanced esophageal cancer will survive.

2 May 2018

Obesity associated with more rapid progression of disability in rheumatoid arthritis patients

In a study of adults with rheumatoid arthritis, those who were severely obese experienced more rapidly progressing disability than patients who were overweight.

30 Apr 2018

Best reads of the week from Brianna Labuskes

Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes, who reads everything on health care to compile our daily Morning Briefing, offers the best and most provocative stories for the weekend.

28 Apr 2018

Podcast: KHN’s ‘What the Health?’ What next for the VA?

The Trump administration has withdrawn the nomination of White House physician Ronny Jackson to head the Department of Veterans Affairs after allegations surfaced about inappropriate handling of prescription drugs, issues with alcohol and difficulties working with other White House medical unit staffers.

26 Apr 2018

Study: VA hospitals provide better quality care than other health providers

The VA health care system performs similar to or better than non-VA systems on most measures of inpatient and outpatient care quality, although there is high variation in quality across individual VA facilities, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

26 Apr 2018

CU Anschutz Medical Campus receives NIH grant to speed up discovery of new treatments

The National Institutes of Health recently awarded $46.5 million to the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and its Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, a research partnership designed to speed up development of new treatments to address the greatest health needs of Coloradans.

25 Apr 2018

Experimental compound reduces destructive inflammation to improve stroke outcome

An experimental compound appears to improve stroke outcome by reducing the destructive inflammation that can continue months after a stroke, scientists report.

20 Apr 2018

People diagnosed with traumatic brain injury may have increased risk of Parkinson's disease, shows study

People who have been diagnosed with a mild concussion, or mild traumatic brain injury, may have a 56 percent increased risk of developing Parkinson's disease, according to a study published in the April 18, 2018, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

19 Apr 2018

CU Anschutz scientists receive $3.8 million DoD grant to boost EB research

Scientists from the Gates Center for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine are part of a consortium awarded $3.8 million from the U.S. Department of Defense to move discoveries in stem cell-created skin grafts into the manufacturing stage, bringing further hope to victims of debilitating inherited skin diseases.

12 Apr 2018

New study highlights lack of vegetable choices in infant and toddler food

Eat your vegetables is a well-worn message that weary parents have been giving reluctant children at the dinner table for generations.

10 Apr 2018

Researchers discover Tfh cell dysfunction in HIV-infected patients

A team of chemical and biomedical engineers from the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, have discovered that HIV-infected patients experience a dysfunction in a certain type of immune cell: the follicular helper T (Tfh) cell.

6 Apr 2018

To treat pain, PTSD and other ills, Tennessee vets try tai chi

Every week in Murfreesboro, Tenn., Zibin Guo guides veterans in wheelchairs through slow-motion tai chi poses as a Bluetooth speaker plays soothing instrumental music.

6 Apr 2018

Acupuncture helps manage menopausal symptoms, review finds

An umbrella review from Duke Clinical Research Institute that was a comprehensive assessment of previous systematic reviews and randomized controlled trials has found that women who received acupuncture had less frequent and less severe vasomotor symptoms associated with menopause than women who did not have acupuncture.

21 Mar 2018

Women in medicine shout #Metoo about sexual harassment at work

Annette Katz didn't expect to be part of a major social movement. She didn't set out to take on a major health organization. But that all began to change when a co-worker saw her fighting back tears and joined Katz to report to her union what amounted to a criminal sexual offense at a Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center in 2012 and 2013.

20 Mar 2018

Telediabetes program improves blood sugar control for veterans

A telehealth program for diabetes self-management not only shortens the wait to talk to a physician specialist versus an in-person visit but also results in patients with type 2 diabetes having comparable improvements in blood glucose (sugar) control to patients receiving traditional care, a study conducted in veterans finds.

19 Mar 2018

Researchers find new method to restore movement sensation in patients with prosthetic arms

A team of researchers led by Cleveland Clinic has published first-of-its-kind findings in Science Translational Medicine on a new method of restoring natural movement sensation in patients with prosthetic arms.

15 Mar 2018

Many patients show CKD signs prior to diabetes diagnosis

Many patients who will later be diagnosed with diabetes show signs of chronic kidney disease (CKD) even before their diabetes diagnosis, according to a study by researchers with the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and VA MidSouth Healthcare Network.

14 Mar 2018

TSRI researchers show path to developing treatments for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have now shown a path to developing treatments for disease subtype CMT2D.

8 Mar 2018