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16
T H E C A M P U S
KRT/PHIL SEARS
S u m m e r 2 0 0 5
{Inquiring Minds}
Talk Therapy vs. Meds
Research at Vanderbilt and the
University of Pennsylvania challenges
the American Psychiatric
Association’s position that antidepressant
medications are the
only effective treatment for moderately
to severely depressed
patients.The research, published
April 5 in the Archives of General
Psychiatry, found cognitive therapy
may be as effective at treating
moderate to severe depression as
antidepressants, and more effective
at preventing relapses following treatment termination.
“Cognitive therapy teaches patients how to monitor their own
reactions and helps them make sense of their own experiences,”
says Steve Hollon, an author of the study.“They walk out the
door with those skills, which help protect them from falling
prey to helpless feelings.” Hollon is a professor of psychology
and psychiatry at Vanderbilt and a member of the Vanderbilt
Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development and the
Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience.
No Joke: Laughing Helps Burn Calories
Laughter could help trim your waistline. Maciej Buchowski,
director of bionutrition at Vanderbilt, has found laughing raises
energy expenditure and increases heart rate 10 percent
to 20 percent. Ten to 15 minutes of laughter could increase
energy expenditure by 10 to 40 calories per day, which could
translate into about four pounds a
year. Buchowski and senior research
specialist Karen Majchrzak put pairs
of friends and couples in a metabolic
chamber and showed them video
clips. “People can’t eat at McDonald’s
and then expect to laugh away
their lunch,”Buchowski warns.“You’d
have to laugh for 15 minutes just to
burn off two Hershey’s Kisses.”
Quantum Dots Faster, More Sensitive for Detecting
Respiratory Viral Infections
In what may be one of the first medical uses of nanotechnology,
a doctor who specializes in infectious childhood diseases and
a chemist have joined forces to create an early detection method
for a respiratory virus that is the most common cause of hospitalization
among children under 5. Vanderbilt researchers
report that not only can a quantum dot system detect the presence
of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) particles in a matter
of hours rather than the two to five days required by current
tests, but it is also more sensitive, allowing it to detect the virus
earlier in the course of an infection. Professor of Pediatrics
James E. Crowe Jr. collaborated with Associate Professor of
Chemistry David W. Wright in the development.
KRT/STEVE DESLICH
Med Students Find
Supply Remedy
Each day in busy medical
centers across the country,
countless leftover supplies are
discarded not because they are
used but because they are no
longer considered sterile. At
Vanderbilt a group of medical
students is helping put those
supplies to use overseas where
they’re really needed. Through
the REMEDY program, students
collect leftover materials
from the operating rooms and
send them to underdeveloped
countries.
Medical students Ashleigh
Hegedus, Himali Wijessoriya,
Kimberly Ma and Renee
Makowski, with the help of an
Alpha Omega Alpha service
grant and direction from
Jeanette Norden, professor of
cell and developmental biology
and neuroscience, have put a
collection bin in place and have
made their first delivery, sending
a 25-pound package to Sri
Lanka.
“We were inspired by one of
last year’s World Health Week
speakers, Dr. Khassan Baiev,”
Hegedus says. Baiev spoke
about practicing medicine in
the midst of the Chechen/Russian
war, during which time
physicians substituted household
thread for suture thread, a
hand saw for a surgical saw,
and an ordinary drill for brain
operations. Baiev said it pained
him to walk through American
hospitals and see unused supplies
in the trash.
“A group of us got together
to figure out how we could
help,” Hegedus says.
The remedy was REMEDY, a
program piloted at Yale University,
which allows unused materials
to be put to use. While the
supplies are not sterile, they are
more hygienic than many of
the alternatives physicians have
in underdeveloped countries,
and they are eagerly accepted.
At Vanderbilt the REMEDY
program has a bin located in
the core room of the surgical
suites, where they collect items
such as gowns, drapes, gloves,
sutures, medical equipment
and tubing.
“Many materials are opened
and prepped in the operating
room, but either go unused or
are mishandled,” Hegedus says.
The group hopes to expand the
operation, placing more bins
around the Medical Center.
Scholarship Winner
Globetrots in Pursuit
of Public Service
Star Wallin isn’t taking
a hard-earned break from
studies this summer. She started
her summer vacation in
Liberty, Mo., taking part in a
leadership-development conference
as one of the nation’s
2005 Harry S. Truman Scholars.
From the end of May
through mid-August, she is
working in Tanzania as an outreach
coordinator for the Jane
Goodall Institute. Then in
mid-August she’ll attend a
gathering of the 2005 Morris
K. Udall Scholars in Tuscon,
Ariz., before returning to Vanderbilt
for her senior year. She
even plans to climb Mount
Kilimanjaro while in Africa—
but just for fun and in her
“spare time.”
Wallin considers the opportunities
invaluable training for
a future career in public service.
“Receiving both the Truman
and Udall scholarships has
served to strengthen my commitment
to living a life of serv-