better care for hypertension | Nearly half of American adults have chronic blood pressure, also known as hypertension. It’s one of the most common conditions contributing to heart disease. To enhance and expand evidence-based hypertension care, Mercy was awarded funding from the nonprofit Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. With the funds, Mercy will implement a standardized, team-based hypertension care model shown to improve blood pressure control and patient outcomes, building on its existing hypertension control clinical standard. “Embedding these evidence‑based approaches into routine care enables us to deliver more proactive and consistent hypertension management across Mercy,” says Ursula Wright, Mercy chief clinical excellence officer and vice president of care transitions. “The program is designed to identify patients earlier, support timely follow‑up and provide ongoing care beyond traditional office visits.”
alzheimer’s risks in the caribbean
Washington University School of Medicine has launched the Caribbean Omics & Genomics for Alzheimer Study (CONGAS) with the support of a five-year, $12 million grant from the National Institute on Aging. CONGAS will strive to understand why Alzheimer’s disproportionately affects Caribbean and Hispanic populations. The study will characterize genetic data, blood biomarkers and large-scale proteomics from about 5,000 people in Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and Spain. The data will then be integrated with more than 70,000 additional genomes, including more than 10,000 from Hispanic and Latino participants from the Alzheimer’s Disease Sequencing Project. The ultimate goal is to identify the genetic and molecular drivers behind Alzheimer’s in these populations to help develop personalized diagnostic tools and treatments.
prenatal bone health
Shriners Children’s St. Louis has received a $3.1 million R01 grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The funding will support the work of Dr. Arin Oestreich, which explores how targeted therapy for rare bone diseases given to babies still in the womb can improve their condition. An estimated 50,000 people in the United States currently have osteogenesis imperfecta, an inherited condition that causes bones to be extremely fragile and prone to fracture. The research team aims to develop a prenatal drug therapy that strengthens bone formation before birth by exploring therapeutic strategies to block myostatin, a protein that normally slows muscle growth. When myostatin is blocked, muscles and bones grow larger.
deep vein thrombosis relief
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine have found a minimally invasive procedure that can treat post-thrombotic syndrome. The condition is a common painful complication from blockages of major veins due to blood clots. The study found that placing a stent to open and strengthen the affected vein reduced the severity of the post-thrombotic syndrome and improved overall quality of life in affected patients. “We see a lot of patients who have moderate or severe post-thrombotic syndrome and have a tough time conducting their daily activities and maintaining a good quality of life,” says lead author Dr. Suresh Vedantham, an interventional radiologist and professor of radiology. “This study is the first large randomized trial to show that this is a treatable condition, giving patients meaningful relief from this disease.”