Veterans Affairs News and Research

RSS

Patient-centered end-of-life care results in happier patients who live longer, researchers find

New doctors take an oath to first do no harm, but physicians often go too far in their quest to keep that oath - exposing patients to aggressive treatments that don't improve outcomes and drive up healthcare costs.

21 Mar 2013

New communication technologies can have negative consequences for both soldiers and their families

As recently as the Vietnam and Korean wars, soldiers' families commonly had to wait months to receive word from family members on the front lines. Now, cell phones and the internet allow deployed soldiers and their families to communicate instantly.

20 Mar 2013

UCLA team uses brain aneurysm treatment technique to treat irregular heart rhythms

For the first time, a UCLA team has used a technique normally employed in treating brain aneurysms to treat severe, life-threatening irregular heart rhythms in two patients.

15 Mar 2013

Case Western Reserve University receives grant to research on glucose-responsive insulin

Case Western Reserve University's School of Medicine has received a nearly $1 million grant from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust's Type 1 diabetes program.

15 Mar 2013

Viewpoints: 'Grim' backlog at VA; Feds should stay away from reforming medical malpractice

A new report based on previously unreleased data from the Department of Veterans Affairs paints a distressing portrait of an agency buried helplessly in paperwork -- with a claims backlog that has gotten far worse in the past four years.

13 Mar 2013

Researchers work on stem cell treatments to halt vision loss caused by diabetic retinopathy

Researchers at the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Eye Institute and the Indiana Center for Vascular Biology at Indiana University School of Medicine are on the cusp of perfecting stem cell treatments that would halt - and potentially reverse - vision loss caused by diabetic retinopathy.

13 Mar 2013

Roundup: N.Y. psychiatrists sue insurer over parity; Calif. lawmakers hear from families of prescription drug victims

News outlets cover health care developments in California, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Missouri and New York.

13 Mar 2013

First Edition: March 12, 2013

Today's headlines include reports about this week's roll out of budgets on Capitol Hill and how Democratic and Republican fiscal blueprints will underscore key partisan differences.

12 Mar 2013

Scientist awarded $1.2M grant to develop therapy to reduce premature births

A scientist at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine has been awarded a $1.2 million grant to develop a therapy to reduce the prevalence of premature births, which today affect more than 15 million newborns worldwide each year.

11 Mar 2013

Boosting hypocretin could elevate both mood and alertness in humans

What makes us happy? Family? Money? Love? How about a peptide? The neurochemical changes underlying human emotions and social behavior are largely unknown. Now though, for the first time in humans, scientists at UCLA have measured the release of a specific peptide, a neurotransmitter called hypocretin, that greatly increased when subjects were happy but decreased when they were sad.

8 Mar 2013

Rats sniff each other to signal a social hierarchy and prevent aggressive behavior

Sniffing, a common behavior in dogs, cats and other animals, has been observed to also serve as a method for rats to communicate-a fundamental discovery that may help scientists identify brain regions critical for interpreting communications cues and what brain malfunctions may cause some complex social disorders.

7 Mar 2013

Treating substance abuse alone helps patients with co-occurring psychosis

Patients with co-occurring substance use disorder and psychiatric disorders may benefit from standard substance use disorder treatment, with the effects potentially lasting for several years, the results of a US study indicate.

7 Mar 2013

'Information overload' of electronic health records can mean doctors overlook key test results

Researchers report that nearly 30 percent of doctors responding to a survey say they have failed to notice important test results because of the deluge of information available with electronic records.

6 Mar 2013

Deleting Plin2 gene prevents obesity in mice

Researchers have discovered that deleting a specific gene in mice prevents them from becoming obese even on a high fat diet, a finding they believe may be replicated in humans.

6 Mar 2013

Androgen deprivation therapy interferes with diabetes control

Androgen deprivation therapy for prostate cancer hampers glycemic control in men with diabetes, report researchers.

5 Mar 2013

Youths addicted to alcohol and drugs can increase their chances of recovery by helping others

A Case Western Reserve University professor has found that young people addicted to alcohol and drugs can increase their chances of recovery by helping others.

28 Feb 2013

Brain functional connectivity differs between unipolar and bipolar depression

Patients with bipolar depression differ from their peers with unipolar depression in having stronger functional connectivity in the right posterior cingulate cortex, US study findings indicate.

28 Feb 2013

Direct approach speeds ventilator weaning

Moving straight to unassisted breathing through a tracheostomy collar results in faster weaning than does a gradual reduction in pressure support among patients needing prolonged mechanical ventilation, shows a randomized trial in JAMA.

26 Feb 2013

Study measures awareness, adoption and use of informatics tools by infection preventionists

Advances in electronic medical record systems and health information exchange are shifting efforts in public health toward greater use of information systems to automate disease surveillance, but a study from the Regenstrief Institute has found that these technologies' capabilities are underutilized by those on the front lines of preventing and reporting infections.

21 Feb 2013

New bio-mimicking therapeutics could help treat skin wounds

In "before" and "after" photos from advertisements for wound-healing ointments, bandages and antibiotic creams, we see an injury transformed from an inflamed red gash to smooth and flawless skin. What we don't appreciate is the vital role that our own natural biomolecules play in the healing process, including their contribution to the growth of new cells and the development of new blood vessels that provide nutrients to those cells.

21 Feb 2013

Veterans Affairs News and Research

Patient-centered end-of-life care results in happier patients who live longer, researchers find

New communication technologies can have negative consequences for both soldiers and their families

UCLA team uses brain aneurysm treatment technique to treat irregular heart rhythms

Case Western Reserve University receives grant to research on glucose-responsive insulin

Viewpoints: 'Grim' backlog at VA; Feds should stay away from reforming medical malpractice

Researchers work on stem cell treatments to halt vision loss caused by diabetic retinopathy

Roundup: N.Y. psychiatrists sue insurer over parity; Calif. lawmakers hear from families of prescription drug victims

First Edition: March 12, 2013

Scientist awarded $1.2M grant to develop therapy to reduce premature births

Boosting hypocretin could elevate both mood and alertness in humans

Rats sniff each other to signal a social hierarchy and prevent aggressive behavior

Treating substance abuse alone helps patients with co-occurring psychosis

'Information overload' of electronic health records can mean doctors overlook key test results

Deleting Plin2 gene prevents obesity in mice

Androgen deprivation therapy interferes with diabetes control

Youths addicted to alcohol and drugs can increase their chances of recovery by helping others

Brain functional connectivity differs between unipolar and bipolar depression

Direct approach speeds ventilator weaning

Study measures awareness, adoption and use of informatics tools by infection preventionists

New bio-mimicking therapeutics could help treat skin wounds

How can microdialysis benefit drug development

Global and Local Efforts to Take Action Against Hepatitis

Addressing Important Cardiac Biology Questions with Shotgun Top-Down Proteomics

Latest News