Carla Kantara, Ph.D., and Darrell Carney, Ph.D., recently completed a study reporting a new breakthrough in countering the deadly effects of radiation exposure. A single injection of an investigative peptide drug called TP508 given 24 hours after a potentially lethal exposure to nuclear radiation appears to significantly increase survival and delay mortality in mice by counteracting damage to the gastrointestinal system. The findings were published in Laboratory Investigation.

Michael Malloy, M.D., found and described in a paper in the Journal of Perinatology that, while there were significant improvements in the infant mortality rate among extremely preterm infants before 2000, there has been little improvement since then. The results may be related in part to the advances made in the 1990s, such as the use of synthetic surfactant to prevent breathing disorders. While improvements to techniques and technology have been made since 2000, there have been no great breakthroughs or new discoveries.

George Saade, M.D., found that fetal electrocardiogram ST segment analysis, or STAN, which is largely used in Europe to measure fetal heart activity, does not improve outcomes during labor and delivery or decrease cesarean deliveries compared with conventional fetal heart rate monitoring. The findings, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, were the result of a study conducted at 26 U.S. hospitals, including UTMB Health. The research, conducted in conjunction with the NIH research institute, looked at 11,108 randomized patients.

Gurinder Singh, MBBS, found that people with a psychological condition such as depression, anxiety, psychosis or alcohol/ drug abuse are more likely to be readmitted early into a hospital for complications of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Up to 55 percent of patients with COPD suffer from anxiety or depression. Because of the complexity of this situation, hospitals and health care providers need more guidance to reduce readmission in patients with COPD. The study was recently published in the journal Chest.

Kimberly Brown, M.D., has joined forces with a musical conductor/artistic director and a member of the U.S. National Rowing Team, among others, to produce a step-by-step coaching model that uses techniques and strategies from the musical and sports world to train surgeons. Deliberate practice, which entails setting a well-defined goal, being motivated to improve and having ample opportunities for practice and refi nement of performance through structured feedback, is a hallmark of this model. The components of their Conducting Elite Performance Training in Medicine model appear in a special edition of the journal Surgical Clinics of North America that centers on simulation in surgical training and practice.

RESEARCH BRIEFS were written by Donna Ramirez, Christopher Smith Gonzalez and Johnston Farrow. Find out more at www.utmb.edu/newsroom.