Inside Duke Medicine

SOM Research Roundup: Better patient care, one discovery at a time

The latest in research news from the School of Medicine.

Statins Inhibit Inflammation Within Prostate Tumors

Patients with prostate cancer who regularly use statins to lower their cholesterol may be enjoying a secondary benefit from the drugs: A new study, led by Lionel Banez, M.D., assistant professor of surgery, shows that statins significantly lower the degree of inflammation within prostate tumors. The response may, in part, explain why men on statins have a lower risk of disease progression.

Duke Scientists Image Brain at Point When Vocal Learning Begins

In the first experiment of its kind, Duke researchers, led by Richard Mooney, Ph.D., professor of neurobiology, employed high-resolution imaging to track changes to individual dendritic spines, important points of contact between nerve cells, in the brain of an anesthetized juvenile songbird right after he heard an adult tutors’ song for the first time.

What the Brain Values May Not Be What it Buys

Duke researchers, led by Scott Huettel, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology, found that as participants were watching a sequence of faces, their brains were simultaneously evaluating those faces in two distinct ways: for the quality of the viewing experience and for what they would trade to see the face again. New brain-imaging research shows it's even possible to predict how much people might be willing to pay for a particular face.

Restrictions on Female Plasma May Not Be Warranted

Three years after the U.S. blood banking industry issued recommendations that discourage transfusing plasma from female donors because of a potential antibody reaction, Duke researchers, led by Mark Stafford-Smith, M.D., professor of anesthesiology, discovered that female plasma actually may have advantages. The Duke team conducted a retrospective study of Red Cross donor and hospital data from a period when female plasma wasn’t restricted. They examined heart surgery outcomes for lung problems, and prolonged length of hospital stay or death. They found that patients receiving female-donor plasma did significantly better than similar patients receiving male-donor plasma.

Molecular Pathways Linked to Sex, Age Affect Outcomes in Lung Cancer

The biology of lung cancer differs from one patient to the next, depending on age and sex, according to genetic research, led by Anil Potti, M.D., associate professor of medicine. The findings may help explain why certain groups of patients do better than others, even though they appear to have the same disease.