VUMC

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Prospective mothers taking a new class of cholesterol-lowering drugs might incur higher risk of spina bifida in their future children, according to a study published in the journal Drug Safety by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

The first two drugs in the new class, alirocumab and evolocumab, were approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2015. They’re taken by patients who don’t respond well to first-line therapy.

It is estimated that nearly one out of five pediatric patients and one of three adult patients age 60 and older are malnourished and will experience a decline in their nutritional status during their hospital stay.

A six-member group of biomedical scientists from Europe and the United States, including Eric Delpire, PhD, MS, professor of Anesthesiology, has been awarded a $6 million grant to study the role of dietary potassium in hypertension.

The five-year grant was awarded by the Paris-based Fondation LeDucq as part of its Transatlantic Networks of Excellence Program.