Department of Veterans Affairs

Sex-specific skeletal muscle fiber atrophy and reduced macrophage inflammation in a rodent transverse aortic constriction model

Abstract Heart failure is associated with systemic skeletal muscle remodeling, where sex-specific differences suggest differential peripheral involvement in disease progression. Skeletal muscle macrophages regulate angiogenesis and tissue remodeling and may contribute to early al...

Pilot Study of Cannabis Use Reduction and Associated Functional Outcomes.

AIMS: Interventions for cannabis use disorder often reduce the frequency and quantity of use, but rarely achieve sustained abstinence. It remains unclear whether reductions in use (rather than sustained abstinence) result in meaningful improvements in functioning. This study eval...

Population pharmacokinetics modeling of albendazole and its active metabolite, albendazole sulfoxide in mass drug administration against lymphatic filariasis

ABSTRACT Albendazole (ALB), a benzimidazole antiparasitic, is widely used in mass drug administration (MDA) campaigns against lymphatic filariasis (LF). It is rapidly metabolized to its active form, albendazole sulfoxide (ALB-OX), which exhibits considerable interindividual varia...

Total-cause and cause-specific mortality among U.S. criminal justice-involved veterans: associated risk and protective factors

Abstract Background This study examined rates and correlates of mortality among criminal justice-involved veterans (JIVs), who are a group of public health concern in the U.S. Methods Using data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) between January 2014 and December 2...

α-Parvin regulation of cell rearrangement is critical for ureteric bud branching morphogenesis

All branched tubular structures, including the kidney collecting system, are formed by branching morphogenesis, a process that includes tip branching and trunk narrowing. Tight control of cell movement and rearrangement is a prerequisite for branching morphogenesis. The role of i...

Radiology considerations for the PREMIUM study: a multicenter randomized controlled trial of abbreviated MRI versus ultrasound for liver cancer screening in cirrhosis

Abstract This paper describes the rationale and radiology considerations in the implementation of the Preventing Liver Cancer Mortality through Imaging with Ultrasound versus MRI (PREMIUM) study. PREMIUM is a multicenter, randomized controlled trial sponsored by the Department of...

The interplay of air pollution with plasma neurodegenerative markers and metabolome for dementia, Parkinson’s disease and all-cause mortality risks and transitions: The UK Biobank study

We investigated the joint associations of circulating neurodegeneration markers—neurofilament light (NfL) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)—ambient air pollution, and plasma metabolomic profiles with transitions from a healthy state to dementia, Parkinson’s disease (PD),...

Reflection Activity After Patient Death to Reduce Anxiety in Intensive Care Nurses

BACKGROUND: Many nurses, particularly those working in intensive care units, experience anxiety and burnout as a result of caring for patients with complex conditions and high mortality rates. This situation often leads to employee dissatisfaction and high turnover. LOCAL PROBLEM...