"Monetary Policy Amid Economic Turbulence" is the focus of a public conference to be held Feb. 5 in the Bryan Cave Moot Court Room. Anheuser-Busch Hall, Danforth Campus, Washington University in St. Louis. Experts from around the country and the St. Louis Federal Reserve will discuss the Fed's role during the recent recession and future directions for policy.
“The tobacco industry has always been very nimble and aggressive in its responses to new regulations, and Altria’s current attempts to market smokeless tobacco as ‘less harmful’ are no exception,” says Douglas Luke, Ph.D., professor and director of the Center for Tobacco Policy Research at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. “Part of what we're seeing here is the tobacco industry trying to position smokeless tobacco products so that they either do not come under the new Food and Drug Administration regulations or they come under weaker regulations.”
Exposure to severe stress early in life increases the risk of alcohol and drug addiction. Yet surprisingly, some adults sexually abused as children — and therefore at high risk for alcohol problems — carry gene variants that protect them from heavy drinking and its effects, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
Cleft palate has been linked to dozens of genes. During their investigation of one of these genes, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis were surprised to find that cleft palate occurs both when the gene is more active and when it is less active than normal.
A type of antibiotic that can cause hearing loss in people has been found to protect the ears when given in extended low doses in very young mice. The surprise finding came from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis who investigated the effect of noise and the antibiotic kanamycin.
The largest epidemiological study of Parkinson's disease in the United States has found that the disease is more common in the Midwest and the Northeast and is twice as likely to strike whites and Hispanics as blacks and Asians. The study is based on data from 36 million Medicare recipients.
Two days before the earthquake, Lora Iannotti, Ph.D., nutrition and public health expert from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, traveled to Port-au-Prince and Leogane, Haiti, to continue her research about undernutrition and disease prevention in young children. The massive tremor changed her focus from research for the future to survival, with her team helping children in the aftermath of the quake. Iannotti says that there are some immediate actions that can be taken to prevent more lost lives and protect livelihoods.
The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn campaign spending limits for corporations “strikes a serious blow against efforts to stem the dominance of corporations in our political process,” says Gregory P. Magarian, J.D., constitutional and election law expert at Washington University in St. Louis. “The Court overruled a longstanding decision that had struck a sensible, carefully drawn balance between the self-interest of corporations and interests of integrity and fairness in the political process.“
HIV infection or the treatments used to control it are prematurely aging the brain, researchers at have found. Blood flow in the brains of HIV patients is reduced to levels normally seen in uninfected patients 15 to 20 years older.
Olin Business School at Washington Univ. in St. Louis is taking its top ranked executive education programs to professionals on the opposite side of the state. Beginning this month Olin exec ed programs will be offered in Kansas City. From Executive MBA degrees to customized seminars, Olin senior faculty will commute to the new satellite program which is significantly closer than the school's EMBA program in Shanghai, China.
Older patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) might benefit from a drug that reactivates genes that cancer cells turn off, according to research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and collaborating institutions. The researchers say the findings support further investigation of the drug, decitabine, as a first-line treatment for these patients, who have limited treatment options.
An international team of researchers, including Erik Trinkaus, professor of Anthropology at Washington University in Saint Louis, has reanalyzed the complete immature dentition of a 30,000 year-old-child from the Abrigo do Lagar Velho, Portugal. The new analysis of the Lagar Velho child shows that these “early modern humans” were “modern” without being “fully modern.”
Washington University in St. Louis faculty offer their suggestions for the one book — in a few cases two or three — that a high school senior should read before heading off to college, whether to be better prepared for the college classroom or for living away from home or simply to be a more well-rounded person.
For the first time, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have shown that brain plaques in apparently healthy individuals are associated with increased risk of diagnosis with Alzheimer's disease years later.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke coined the phrase "the Great Moderation" back in 2004 to refer to the relative stability of the U.S. economy over the previous two decades. Many believe "The Great Recession" of the past two years has jolted the economy out of its moderate mode and back into a state of high volatility. Washington University in St. Louis economist James Morley disagrees. He argues the Great Moderation is alive and well and will help the economy recovery from this latest financial shock.
Obese patients who lost a moderate amount of weight by eating less and exercising more improved their cardiovascular health, says a study at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
An international gathering of business executives will don caps and gowns for their graduation ceremony at the Olin Business School, Washington Univ. in St. Louis today. Strobe Talbott, president of the Brookings Institution will deliver the keynote speech.
The holiday season, while fun, can be draining. When you add the pressure of New Year’s resolutions, stress levels can rise. Environmental health expert J. Aaron Hipp, Ph.D., says that simply getting out of the house and going to a local park has the potential to lower stress and increase focus. “Parks allow us to physically and psychologically get away from stressful environments,” says Hipp, assistant professor at Washington University in St. Louis. “Spending time in a park can recharge your batteries. A resolution to take advantage of local parks can contribute to a healthy, green year. Plus, a walk in the park can help you relax and refocus on New Year’s resolutions that may already have been broken.”
An international group of anthropologists offers a new theory about the diffusion of maize to the Southwestern United States and the impact it had.
A case before the Supreme Court (hearings set for Dec. 7, 2009) could find the Sarbanes-Oxley Act unconstitutional with major implications for auditing oversight and Congress' ability to establish independent agencies in general. Expert available for comment.
Anjan Thakor, finance professor at the Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis, will present a new theory on the causes of the financial crisis to a meeting of the New York Federal Reserve Bank on Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009.
More than half of HIV patients experience memory problems and other cognitive impairments as they age, and doctors know little about the underlying causes. New research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests HIV-related cognitive deficits share a common link with Alzheimer's-related dementia: low levels of the protein amyloid beta in the spinal fluid.
Human guinea pigs do their homework before volunteering for high-paying clinical trials. New research shows that people equate large payments for participation in medical research with increased levels of risk. And when they perceive studies to be risky, potential participants spend more time learning about the risks and nature of the study. Findings published this month in Social Science and Medicine, suggest there is a "mismatch" between current research guidelines for setting compensation levels and the assumptions participants make about the levels of pay and risk.
Caring for a child with special health care needs usually means higher medical expenses for a family, particularly for low-income families, who spend a disproportionally large share of their income on their child's care. Yet, for individual families, the impact of out-of-pocket expenses is often a function of their state of residence, says Paul T. Shattuck, Ph. D., professor of social work at Washington University in St. Louis.
Pancreatic tumors can be identified by a readily detectable marker that shows promise as a basis for immune therapy against the disease, according to research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
Research into Alzheimer's disease seems an unlikely approach to yield a better way to fight urinary tract infections (UTIs), but that's what scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and elsewhere recently reported.
The key issue is not whether the official recession is over, argues economics professor Steve Fazzari, but whether the economy can generate the growth necessary to put many of the unemployed back to work again.
In recent years, scientists have decoded the DNA of humans and a menagerie of creatures but none with genes as complex as a stalk of corn, the latest genome to be unraveled. A team of scientists led by The Genome Center at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis published the completed corn genome in the Nov. 20 journal Science, an accomplishment that will speed efforts to develop better crop varieties to meet the world’s growing demands for food, livestock feed and fuel.
For years, it has been widely assumed that older adults may experience memory loss and other cognitive problems following surgery. But a new study from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis questions those assumptions. In fact, the researchers were not able to detect any long-term cognitive declines attributable to surgery in a group of 575 patients they studied.
The first of its kind in the St. Louis area, the SPOT is a one-stop, drop-in center for youth that will provide testing for HIV and sexually transmitted diseases, health care and counseling, social support, prevention and case management services at no cost. Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis physicians and staff from a variety of disciplines will provide services.
U.S. auto sales in October equaled an annualized rate of 10 million vehicles. That’s a steep drop from the 17 million cars sold each year from 1991-2007. Not even a robust recovery from the recession is expected to boost sales near previous highs. Bailouts, bankruptcies and cash for clunkers have helped keep the industry afloat this year. Yet, the reality of too many factories and workers remains as demand continues to dip. Supply chain expert Panos Kouvelis says auto makers need to keep the brakes on production and proceed with caution.
In a study published this week in the journal PLoS ONE, a team of researchers, including Herman Pontzer, Ph.D., assistant professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences, has found strong evidence that many dinosaur species were probably warm-blooded.
Holidays and tables full of delicious food usually go hand in hand, but for nearly half of the children in the United States, this is not guaranteed. “49 percent of all U.S. children will be in a household that uses food stamps at some point during their childhood,” says Mark R. Rank, Ph.D., poverty expert at Washington University in St. Louis. “Food stamp use is a clear sign of poverty and food insecurity, two of the most detrimental economic conditions affecting a child’s health.”
Intensive lifestyle changes aimed at modest weight loss reduced the rate of developing type 2 diabetes by 34 percent over 10 years in people at high risk for the disease.
The 2009 Nobel Memorial prize in economics drew attention to a new approach to economics and criticism from traditionalists. "A lot of people were horrified that it was the first time a political scientist got the prize," says Douglass C. North in a video interview on the 2009 Nobel prize in economics.
80 years ago this month, the stock market crashed and ignited the Great Depression. The crashes of 1987 and 2008 also occurred in October. Is there a connection between crashes and the tenth month of the year? Curse, conspiracy or bewitched? Washington University in St. Louis economist Stephen Williamson proposes three theories on why the markets might tend to collapse in October. Warning: these theories are based on complex calculations involving ripening pumpkins, sunspots and scratching dogs.
A genetic mutation found in four children born with multiple abnormalities may provide insight into potential treatments for newborn lung distress and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Ever wonder how your eyes adjust during a blackout? When we go from light to near total darkness, cells in the retina must quickly adjust. Vision scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified an intricate process that allows the human eye to adapt to darkness very quickly. The same process also allows the eye to function in bright light.
A new mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) closely resembles humans with the paralyzing disorder, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report.
An historian of American politics and political institutions at Washington University in St. Louis says that there is a "profound" difference between the awarding of a Nobel Peace Prize to President Barack Obama and ones to Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.
Researchers have launched an online registry that ultimately aims to help children with a severe type of epilepsy that strikes in the first months of life. It is believed to be the first worldwide registry of children with infantile spasms.
Spontaneous brain activity formerly thought to be "white noise" measurably changes after a person learns a new task, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Chieti, Italy, have shown.
A group of pregnant women who have asthma or allergies will get extra vitamin D as part of a study to determine if the vitamin can prevent their children from developing asthma.
Chronic sleep deprivation in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease makes Alzheimer's brain plaques appear earlier and more often, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report online this week in Science Express.
Researchers have launched an online registry that ultimately aims to help children with a severe type of epilepsy that strikes in the first months of life. It is believed to be the first worldwide registry of children with infantile spasms and is a collaboration between Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Chicago.
The health reform debate to date has been characterized by confusion and misinformation. "The conclusion that most of the uninsured either are voluntarily uninsured or do not need assistance is erroneous," says Timothy McBride, Ph.D., health economist at Washington University in St. Louis. The Census Bureau will announce the official health insurance estimates on Thursday, Sept. 10. According to McBride, the number of uninsured may top 50 million.
An international team of scientists has identified two more genetic risk factors for Alzheimer's disease. The group, led by investigators from the School of Medicine at Cardiff in the United Kingdom and including scientists from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, completed the largest genome-wide association study ever involving patients with Alzheimer's disease. The study pooled DNA samples from more than 19,000 older European and U.S. residents. Seven thousand had Alzheimer's disease, and the others had no clinical symptoms of the disorder.
The annual Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Competition held at Washington University in St. Louis offers some of the largest investment awards in the U.S. to social ventures. The five-year-old competition has strong community support and is accepting applications for the 2010 contest.
New findings from nutrition researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggest that it's not whether body fat is stored in the belly that affects metabolic risk factors for diabetes, high blood triglycerides and cardiovascular disease, but whether it collects in the liver.
Low levels of vitamin D are known to nearly double the risk of cardiovascular disease in patients with diabetes, and researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis now think they know why.
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