Veterans Health Administration

About: Veterans Health Administration is a government organization based out in Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Veterans Affairs. The organization has 63820 authors who have published 98417 publications receiving 4835425 citations. The organization is also known as: VHA.

A review of the global burden, novel diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccine targets for cryptosporidium

Abstract: Summary Cryptosporidium spp are well recognised as causes of diarrhoeal disease during waterborne epidemics and in immunocompromised hosts. Studies have also drawn attention to an underestimated global burden and suggest major gaps in optimum diagnosis, treatment, and immunisation. Cryptosporidiosis is increasingly identified as an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Studies in low-resource settings and high-income countries have confirmed the importance of cryptosporidium as a cause of diarrhoea and childhood malnutrition. Diagnostic tests for cryptosporidium infection are suboptimum, necessitating specialised tests that are often insensitive. Antigen-detection and PCR improve sensitivity, and multiplexed antigen detection and molecular assays are underused. Therapy has some effect in healthy hosts and no proven efficacy in patients with AIDS. Use of cryptosporidium genomes has helped to identify promising therapeutic targets, and drugs are in development, but methods to assess the efficacy in vitro and in animals are not well standardised. Partial immunity after exposure suggests the potential for successful vaccines, and several are in development; however, surrogates of protection are not well defined. Improved methods for propagation and genetic manipulation of the organism would be significant advances.

Regulation of the Immune System by Sex Steroids

Abstract: Introduction IN THE PAST 10 years there has been a significant increase in studies relating to the function of the immune system. The recent popularity of research in this area is due in part to the awareness by the medical and scientific community of the importance of immune function in the maintenance of a disease-free homeostasis, to technological advances in the field of immunological research, and to the increased availability of funds for investigation in this area. From the rapidly expanding literature in this field it has become increasingly apparent that the immune system interacts with most, if not all, of the body systems. One of the most intriguing of these interrelationships is that which occurs between the immune and reproductive systems and involves interactions of pituitary hormones, gonadal steroid hormones and thymic hormones. Because of the complexity of this area the present review will concentrate on only one aspect of the interaction between the two systems, namely the effects of gon...

The Aneurysm Detection and Management Study Screening Program Validation Cohort and Final Results

Abstract: Background We previously reported the prevalence and associations of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) in 73,451 veterans aged 50 to 79 years who underwent ultrasound screening. Objective To understand the prevalence of and principal positive and negative risk factors for AAA, and to assess reproducibility of our previous findings. Methods In the new cohort of veterans undergoing screening, 52,745 subjects aged 50 to 79 without history of AAA underwent successful ultrasound screening for AAA, after completing a questionnaire on demographics and potential risk factors. Results We detected AAA of 4.0 cm or larger in 613 participants (1.2%; compared with 1.4% in the earlier cohort). The direction and magnitude of the important associations reported in the first cohort were confirmed. Respective odds ratios for the major associations with AAA for the second and for the combined cohorts were as follows: 1.81 and 1.71 for age (per 7 years), 0.12 and 0.18 for female sex, 0.59 and 0.53 for black race, 1.94 and 1.94 for family history of AAA, 4.45 and 5.07 for smoking, 0.50 and 0.52 for diabetes, and 1.60 and 1.66 for atherosclerotic diseases. The excess prevalence associated with smoking accounted for 75% of all AAAs of 4.0 cm or larger in the total population of 126,196. Associations for AAA of 3.0 to 3.9 cm were similar but tended to be somewhat weaker. Conclusions Our findings confirm our previous cohort findings. Age, smoking, family history of AAA, and atherosclerotic diseases remained the principal positive associations with AAA, and female sex, diabetes, and black race remained the principal negative associations.

Histone Deacetylase Inhibition by Sodium Butyrate Chemotherapy Ameliorates the Neurodegenerative Phenotype in Huntington's Disease Mice

Abstract: The precise cause of neuronal death in Huntington's disease (HD) is unknown. Although no single specific protein-protein interaction of mutant huntingtin has emerged as the pathologic trigger, transcriptional dysfunction may contribute to the neurodegeneration observed in HD. Pharmacological treatment using the histone deacetylase inhibitor sodium butyrate to modulate transcription significantly extended survival in a dose-dependent manner, improved body weight and motor performance, and delayed the neuropathological sequelae in the R6/2 transgenic mouse model of HD. Sodium butyrate also increased histone and Specificity protein-1 acetylation and protected against 3-nitropropionic acid neurotoxicity. Microarray analysis showed increased expression of α- and β-globins and MAP kinase phosphatase-1 in sodium butyrate-treated R6/2 mice, indicative of improved oxidative phosphorylation and transcriptional regulation. These findings strengthen the hypothesis that transcriptional dysfunction plays a role in the pathogenesis of HD and suggest that therapies aimed at modulating transcription may target early pathological events and provide clinical benefits to HD patients.