Veterans Affairs News and Research

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First Edition: May 5, 2014

Today's headlines include reports about how President Barack Obama poked fun at the health law during his White House Correspondents' Dinner speech.

5 May 2014

FABP5 protein enhances cognitive function

Case Western Reserve researchers have discovered that a protein previously implicated in disease plays such a positive role in learning and memory that it may someday contribute to cures of cognitive impairments.

5 May 2014

Longer looks: Failure to meet Veterans' health needs; new views of the 1918 flu pandemic; a crumbling mental health system

At least 40 U.S. veterans died waiting for appointments at the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care system, many of whom were placed on a secret waiting list.

2 May 2014

Findings suggest usage of statins after surgery may reduce risk of prostate cancer recurrence

Men who begin taking statins after prostate cancer surgery are less likely to have a recurrence of their cancer, according to a retrospective analysis led by researchers at Duke Medicine.

2 May 2014

Viewpoints: New poll points out inconsistencies among health law's opponents; protecting vets; Calif. restaurant nutrition info missing

The case against the Affordable Care Act rests on the premise that the free market can better provide health insurance to the nation's 54 million uninsured than a government program can. But what does it mean if many of the same people who oppose Obamacare also object to the cost of covering more people through the market? A telephone survey by Bankrate.com asked 3,496 people how they would react if a business tacked on an extra 25 cents to every bill to help cover the cost of health insurance for its employees. Among Democrats, 70 percent said they would approve.

30 Apr 2014

Studies demonstrate new approaches to treating and preventing Parkinson's disease

A trio of studies from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania demonstrate new approaches to understanding, treating and potentially staving off Parkinson's disease (PD). Studies show that factors such as estrogen exposure and statin use have an impact on the onset of Parkinson's disease.

29 Apr 2014

Researchers receive $2.3 million grant to study child maltreatment in neighborhoods

The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development awarded a $2.3 million grant to three Case Western Reserve University schools and colleges.

29 Apr 2014

Study: Depression affects more than one out of three critical care survivors

Depression affects more than one out of three survivors of critical illness, according to a Vanderbilt study released in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, and the majority of patients experience their symptoms physically rather than mentally.

26 Apr 2014

Exposure to microgravity can simulate aging for immune cells

Telling someone to "act your age" is another way of asking him or her to behave better. Age, however, does not always bring improvements.

23 Apr 2014

Narrowing of carotid artery in neck without any symptoms may be linked to memory problems

For the first time, researchers have demonstrated that narrowing of the carotid artery in the neck without any symptoms may be linked to problems in learning, memory, thinking and decision-making, compared to people with similar risk factors but no narrowing in the neck artery, according to a study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 66th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, April 26 to May 3, 2014.

22 Apr 2014

New research may help scientists develop treatments or vaccines for Dengue fever

Two recent papers by a University of Colorado School of Medicine researcher and colleagues may help scientists develop treatments or vaccines for Dengue fever, West Nile virus, Yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis and other disease-causing flaviviruses.

18 Apr 2014

Study quantifies adherence to recommended surveillance colonoscopy in average-risk patients

According to a new study, endoscopists' recommendations for timing of surveillance colonoscopy in average-risk patients with one to two small polyps are consistent with guideline recommendations in about 90 percent of cases. T

17 Apr 2014

Viewpoints: Sebelius withstood attacks, but wasn't 'warrior' for law; Burwell offers GOP chance to focus on law's problems

Kathleen Sebelius was known for her patience and cool under savage attack by Republicans, who treated her as a stand-in for the health law. She sat through hearings calmly reciting talking points while they fumed and fulminated for their audience. But that turned out to be one of her biggest liabilities ... What the health law needed in its first years was a cheerful, populist warrior who could laugh at the truly ridiculous distortions and lies Republicans invented about it, and roar back with the truth. Instead, she came across as a mild technocrat. She never emerged from the defensive crouch she assumed after the law's calamitous debut (David Firestone, 4/11).

15 Apr 2014

New drug combination proves effective in treating patients with HCV genotype 1

Treatment options for the 170 million people worldwide with chronic Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) are evolving rapidly, although the available regimens often come with significant side effects. Two multi-center clinical trials led by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center show promise for a new option that could help lead to both an increase in patients cured with a much more simple and tolerable all oral therapy.

15 Apr 2014

Natural compound from green tomatoes protects against muscle atrophy

Using a screening method that previously identified a compound in apple peel as a muscle-boosting agent, a team of University of Iowa scientists has now discovered that tomatidine, a compound from green tomatoes, is even more potent for building muscle and protecting against muscle atrophy.

10 Apr 2014

Regional collaboration in Northwest spurs first widespread adoption of the OpenNotes initiative

A unique regional collaboration among nine prominent health systems and medical groups in the Northwest will provide more than one million patients in Oregon and Southwest Washington with electronic access to the notes their providers include in medical records.

9 Apr 2014

Healthy Aging Brain Center care model improves health outcomes and quality of care in older adults

Studies have shown that a new patient and caregiver centered model of innovative, coordinated brain care for older adults improves health outcomes and quality of care for those with cognitive impairment.

9 Apr 2014

Study: A record number of elderly people are completing living wills to guide end-of-life medical treatments

A record number of elderly people are completing living wills to guide end-of-life medical treatments - up from 47 percent in 2000 to 72 percent in 2010 - according to new research from the University of Michigan and the Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System.

3 Apr 2014

Scientists discover how MRP-14 gene generates dangerous clots that could trigger heart attack

Right now, options are limited for preventing heart attacks. However, the day may come when treatments target the heart attack gene, myeloid related protein-14 (MRP-14, also known as S100A9) and defang its ability to produce heart attack-inducing blood clots, a process referred to as thrombosis.

2 Apr 2014

Providing health insurance coverage to uninsured people does not result in reduced readmission rates

Boston-In a first of its kind retrospective study, Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) researchers have found that providing health insurance coverage to previously uninsured people does not result in reducing 30-day readmission rates.

1 Apr 2014