Office of Research & Development |
  |
Talk to the Veterans Crisis Line now
An official website of the United States government
Photo: ©iStock/TLFurrer |
Probing probiotics as potential PTSD, TBI treatmentMilitary Times covered work underway at the VA Rocky Mountain Mental Illness Research and Education Clinical Center to learn whether restoring friendly bacteria in the gut might counter symptoms of PTSD and traumatic brain injury. (02/01/2017) |
Photo: ©iStock/AleksandarNakic |
How aggressively should blood pressure be treated?CNN covered a study by a Portland (Oregon) VA team that looked at the benefits and harms of intensive blood pressure treatment in older adults. The researchers analyzed data from 24 past studies. (01/18/2017) |
Photo: ©iStock/JohnnyGreig |
Frailty screening boosts surgery outcomesThe Pittsburgh Post-Gazette covered a study by a VA Pittsburgh team that found that screening older patients for frailty before their surgeries significantly increased post-surgery survival rates. The study was published in JAMA Surgery. (01/06/2017) |
Photo: ©iStock/paultarasenko |
Study tracks melanoma ratesThe Associated Press reported on a VA study in JAMA Dermatology that tracked trends in melanoma—the most serious skin cancer—region by region in the U.S. between 2003 and 2013. New England was the only region to show an overall drop in both death and incidence rates. The authors believe strong public-awareness programs in the area may have driven the trend. (12/29/2016) |
Photo: ©iStock/Iovro77 |
VA researcher cited in NYT piece on weed killerDr. Samuel Goldman, a researcher with the Parkinson's Disease Research, Education and Clinical Center at the San Francisco VA Health Care System, was quoted in a Dec. 21, 2016, New York Times article on possible links between Parkinson's disease and the herbicide paraquat, which is used widely in the United States. Goldman said there is "overwhelming data" tying the weed killer to the disease. (12/22/2016) |
Photo: ©iStock/mihailomilovanovic |
PTSD exposure therapy via videoconferenceFox News and other media outlets ran a Reuters piece on a VA study involving 132 Veterans with PTSD. The study was led by a team at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center in Charleston, South Carolina. It found that prolonged exposure therapy—one of the two main evidence-based psychotherapies VA recommends for PTSD—could be delivered just as effectively by videoconferencing as in person. This could enable Veterans to benefit from the treatment at home without having to travel to a VA site. (12/14/2016) |