2,521 results match your criteria: "Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center.[Affiliation]"

Article Synopsis
  • * Out of 876 providers, only 10% were aware of their patients' PGx test status, with 64% not having ordered any PGx tests in the past year.
  • * Most providers (55%) believed PGx testing could be valuable for pain medication prescriptions, and 51% indicated a need for local experts to assist with PGx testing, highlighting areas for improvement in the Veterans Health Administration's approach to pain management.
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Exploring Journey Maps as Products From Qualitative Research: Application Through Food Insecure Veterans' Experiences.

Qual Health Res

October 2024

Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center (MEDVAMC), Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety (IQuESt), Houston, TX, USA.

Journey maps are graphic representations of participant, user, customer, or patient experiences or "journeys" with a particular phenomenon, product, business, or organization. Journey maps help visualize complex pathways and phases in accessible, digestible ways. They also capture emotions, reactions, and values associated with the processes participants undergo, complemented by images or quotes from participants.

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People with significant health anxiety may experience brain-gut dysregulation, leading to increased visceral sensitivity and greater gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms. Positive affect (PA), on the other hand, may serve as a protective characteristic, buffering the negative impact of health anxiety on GI symptoms. This study investigated interrelationships between health anxiety, PA, and GI symptoms.

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Background: Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), cancer stem cells (CSCs), and colorectal cancer (CRC) therapy resistance are closely associated. Prior reports have demonstrated that sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) supports stem cells and maintains the CSC phenotype. We hypothesized that the EMT inducer SNAI1 drives S1P signaling to amplify CSC self-renewal capacity and chemoresistance.

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Background: Few randomized clinical trials have evaluated the safety and efficacy of abbreviated ticagrelor based dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) in acute coronary syndrome (ACS); however, these trials were underpowered to detect differences in hard clinical outcomes.

Methods: A systematic search of MEDLINE, Cochrane, and Scopus databases was performed through June 2024, for trials that compared abbreviated (≤3-months) versus standard 12-months ticagrelor based DAPT in ACS. The primary endpoint was all-cause mortality.

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Factors associated with successful FLOW implementation to improve mental health access: a mixed-methods study.

Transl Behav Med

November 2024

Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, USA.

Article Synopsis
  • - The FLOW program helps mental health providers move patients who have stabilized in specialty mental health care to primary care, aiming to improve access to such services across nine VA sites, where implementation was varied.
  • - The study uses the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) to identify factors that contribute to successful implementation, utilizing a mixed-methods approach to analyze different metrics across the sites.
  • - Key themes for successful implementation include positive perceptions of the FLOW intervention, a supportive recovery-oriented care culture, low turnover of mental health providers, and effective internal facilitators, while other aspects like staffing and leadership support showed inconsistent effects.
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Article Synopsis
  • - The PACT Act of 2022 has spurred interest in studying toxic exposures among military personnel, with a focus on developing epigenomic biomarkers that could reveal health effects linked to these exposures.
  • - A study involving 22 Veterans highlighted that many are interested in receiving information about their toxic exposure and its health implications, citing benefits like understanding intergenerational health and early interventions.
  • - Despite the positive attitudes towards epigenomic research, Veterans expressed concerns about potential risks, including psychological distress and issues of privacy, indicating a complex sentiment towards this type of testing.
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A longitudinal study of the relationship between alcohol-related blackouts and attenuated structural brain development.

Dev Cogn Neurosci

October 2024

Palo Alto University, Clinical Psychology, Palo Alto, CA, USA; SRI International, Neuroscience Program, Menlo Park, CA, USA. Electronic address:

Purpose: Alcohol-related blackouts (ARBs) are common in adolescents and emerging adults. ARBs may also be indicative of persistent, alcohol-related neurocognitive changes. This study explored ARBs as a predictor of altered structural brain development and associated cognitive correlates.

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Background: There is clear evidence that loneliness and social isolation have profound health consequences. Documenting the associations of loneliness and social isolation with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) symptoms, disease severity, and treatment outcomes could meaningfully improve health and quality of life in patients with IBD.

Purpose: The purpose of this narrative review was to synthesize the empirical evidence on the associations of loneliness and social isolation with IBD symptoms, disease severity, and treatment outcomes.

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Article Synopsis
  • People with HIV (PWH) often show high cognitive intraindividual variability (IIV-dispersion), which can lead to everyday functioning issues.
  • A study involving 72 PWH assessed their cognitive performance using various tests, revealing that poorer executive function is linked to higher IIV-dispersion.
  • The results suggest that IIV-dispersion is specifically connected to executive functions, emphasizing the need for further research to better understand the underlying mechanisms.
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In Response.

Anesth Analg

October 2024

Department of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.

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Article Synopsis
  • Many heart failure (HF) patients do not receive optimal doses of RAAS inhibitors due to worries about hyperkalemia (HK).
  • The CARE-HK registry enrolled 2558 adults with chronic HF, primarily those with reduced ejection fraction, to evaluate RAASi treatment patterns and HK management across clinical practices in Europe and the USA.
  • The study aims to better understand how RAAS inhibitors are used in patients at high risk for HK and to analyze their treatment outcomes in routine medical settings.
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Introduction: Patients on systemic oral anticoagulation with vitamin K antagonists (VKA) or non-vitamin K oral anticoagulants (NOAC) often require triple therapy following percutaneous coronary intervention, substantially increasing the risk of bleeding. Gastroprotective agents like proton pump inhibitors (PPI) are often employed to mitigate this risk, despite potential competitive inhibition between P2Y12-receptor inhibitors, NOACs, and VKAs. While the interactions and clinical outcomes of PPIs and DAPT have been frequently explored in literature, not many studies have evaluated the same outcomes for triple therapy.

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Background: Computed tomography to body divergence (CTBD) is one of the main barriers to bronchoscopic techniques for the diagnosis of peripherally located lung nodules. Cone-beam CT (CBCT) guidance is being rapidly adopted to correct for this phenomenon and to potentially increase diagnostic outcomes. In this trial, we hypothesized that the addition of mobile CBCT (m-CBCT) could improve the rate of tool in lesion (TIL) and the diagnostic yield of shape-sensing robotic-assisted bronchoscopy (SS-RAB).

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Introduction: Delirium affects 15% of older adults presenting to emergency departments (EDs) but is detected in only one-third of cases. Evidence-based guidelines for ED delirium screening exist, but are underutilized. Frontline staff perceptions about delirium and time and resource constraints are known barriers to ED delirium screening uptake.

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Large-scale genome-wide association studies of schizophrenia have uncovered hundreds of associated loci but with extremely limited representation of African diaspora populations. We surveyed electronic health records of 200,000 individuals of African ancestry in the Million Veteran and All of Us Research Programs, and, coupled with genotype-level data from four case-control studies, realized a combined sample size of 13,012 affected and 54,266 unaffected persons. Three genome-wide significant signals - near , , and - are the first to be independently identified in populations of predominantly African ancestry.

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Purpose: The phase 3 Veterans Affairs Lung Cancer Surgery Or Stereotactic Radiotherapy study implemented centralized quality assurance (QA) to mitigate risks of protocol deviations. This report summarizes the quality and compliance of the first 100 participants treated with stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) in this study.

Methods And Materials: A centralized QA program was developed to credential and monitor study sites to ensure standard-of-care lung SBRT treatments are delivered to participants.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates how robotic exoskeletons impact veterans with spinal cord injuries compared to using a regular wheelchair.
  • It analyzes whether adding exoskeleton-assisted walking to standard wheelchair use leads to significant improvements in mental and physical health outcomes.
  • The research was conducted as a randomized clinical trial involving 161 veteran participants across 15 Veterans Affairs medical centers over a 4-month period.
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The state of (mis) trust: Human-centered technology development & implementation in intensive mental health settings.

J Affect Disord

December 2024

The Menninger Clinic, Houston, TX, USA; Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA; Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, Houston, TX, USA. Electronic address:

Article Synopsis
  • New technology can make mental healthcare better, but patients need to trust their doctors, the organizations, and the technology itself.
  • Building trust is complicated; it involves personal relationships, the reputation of healthcare systems, and how reliable the technology is.
  • The paper discusses challenges to building this trust, like a patient’s background and understanding of technology, and aims to improve mental healthcare with digital solutions by focusing on trust.
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Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is highly prevalent in youth. Conventional treatment paradigms primarily involve selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and psychotherapy, yet a significant proportion of this population exhibits treatment-resistant depression (TRD). In adults, interventional therapies like Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT), repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS), and ketamine have shown promise for TRD, but their comparative efficacy remains underexplored in Adolescent and pediatric population.

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