Research

Two University of Vermont research teams have been awarded SPARK-VT grants by the university to help commercialize their work and move it a step closer to the marketplace, following a faculty pitch competition held June 16, 2017.

For patients who survive an episode of critical illness, they can experience weakness and other limitations to their function long after they’ve left the hospital. But there’s hope in sight: A unique, multi-site clinical trial that aims to improve outcomes for intensive care unit patients using a combination of early nutritional supplementation and exercise.

Acute respiratory disease (ARD) due to infection with adenovirus is a major cause of morbidity at military training centers. In addition to ARD, adenovirus infection can cause sore throat, pneumonia, conjunctivitis, and urinary infections.

All it takes is the flip of a protein “switch” within the tiny wire-like capillaries of the brain to increase the blood flow that ensures optimal brain function. New research has uncovered that capillaries have the capacity to both sense brain activity and generate an electrical vasodilatory signal to evoke blood flow and direct nutrients to nourish hard-working neurons.

While the debate regarding the safety of e-cigarettes continues, another issue has emerged: Is vaping addictive?

Despite diagnoses for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) occurring in a reported 11 percent of U.S. school-aged kids, clinicians still don’t fully understand the underlying causes of this common condition. Now a brain marker may be on the horizon, thanks to a new approach that provides evidence of a relationship between brain structure and dimensional measures of ADHD symptoms.

Only one new drug has become available over the past 50 years for the estimated 1.5 million Americans and five million-plus people worldwide suffering from lupus, but new research has identified a previously unknown mechanism involved in the immune response that could provide an alternative therapy target.

The following interview with Neil Zakai, M.D., M.Sc., associate professor of medicine at the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont, originally appeared on the Facebook page of the Thrombosis and Haemostasis journal and focused on his research publication, titled “D-dimer and the Risk of Stroke and Coronary Heart Disease: The REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS),” which was pre-published online in December 2016. (Key: TH = Thrombosis and Haemostasis; NZ = Neil Zakai)

Like spicy food? If so, you might live longer, say researchers at the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont, who found that consumption of hot red chili peppers is associated with a 13 percent reduction in total mortality – primarily in deaths due to heart disease or stroke – in a large prospective study.

On January 10, 2017, the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH), in partnership with John Wiley and Sons, Inc., announced the launch of the Society’s new open access journal, Research and Practice in Thrombosis and Haemostasis (RPTH), with its inaugural issue to publish in conjunction with the meeting of the ISTH 2017 Congress in Berlin, Germany, which will take place July 8 to 13, 2017.