Virginia Wadley Bradley, PhD (Professor, Gerontology, Geriatrics and Palliative Care) co-led the group that administered the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial’s (SPRINT) Memory and Cognition in Decreased Hypertension (MIND) study. Preliminary results reported at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference indicate that lowering systolic blood pressure reduces the risk of mild cognitive impairment, often a precursor to dementia. These benefits are in addition to the previous findings of the SPRINT study that cardiovascular complications, from heart attacks to heart failure and even death, were significantly reduced with the same treatment. These findings and others inform new guidelines that normal systolic blood pressure (<120 mm Hg) reduces risk of cardiovascular disease.
More Good News for August 1, 2018
Victor J. Thannickal, MD (Professor and Director, Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care) has received an $8.9 million NIH award for a translational Program Project Grant to study the role of NOX enzymes in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Pulmonology faculty Steve Duncan, MD, Brent Carter, MD, Veena Anthony, MD and Rui-Ming Liu, MD, PhD, will lead projects for this program. The centerpiece of the grant is a clinical trial, in part supported by Genkyotex, a Swiss pharmaceutical company. Congrats, everyone!
Kellie Flood, MD (Associate Professor) and Katrina Booth, MD (Assistant Professor) in Gerontology, Geriatrics and Palliative Care, and Maria Danila, MD, MSc, MSPH (Associate Professor) and Kenneth Saag, MD, MSc (Professor) in Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, have published a study in Innovation in Aging in which a bedside storytelling intervention reduced risk for delirium in hospitalized older patients.
Not every blocked artery needs to be opened up. Department of Medicine trainees in the lab of Pankaj Arora, MD (Assistant Professor, Cardiovascular Disease), Nirav Patel, MD (Fellow) and Harpreet Arora, MD (PGY-1) examine hospital deaths and renal failure with these procedures in an article published in the International Journal of Cardiology.
Tinsley Harrison, MD (first chair, Department of Medicine), one of the most influential physicians of the 20th century, was creator and editor-in-chief of the first five editions of Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine. Originally published in 1950, the 20th Edition (hardcover) is to be released August 17. The electronic version is available now.
Announcements:
- RIME Call for Abstracts: The 8th Annual Research and Innovations in Medical Education (RIME) Week celebrating excellence in medical education will be held September 12-13, 2018. An Abstract Poster Presentation for fellows and faculty will enhance your teaching effectiveness. Call for Abstracts submission deadline is Tuesday, August 7, 2018.
- Mark your calendars for the Inaugural UAB Marchase Interdisciplinary Research Centers Symposium, Friday, August 17, 2018, 8:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., in Margaret Cameron Spain Auditorium. Keynote Speaker Anthony S. Fauci, MD, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, will present “Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases: From AIDS to Zika” at noon.
- UAB Medicine Pituitary and Thyroid Disease Conference will be held at Vulcan Park on Saturday, August 25, 2018, 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. For more information, contact Kathryn Lea.
- Register now for the Update in Infectious Diseases, set for Friday, August 24, at The Florentine Building in Downtown Birmingham.