Silver-coated endotracheal tubes are giving critically ill patients another reason to value the lustrous metal. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the NASCENT Investigation Group report that the silver-coated tubes led to a 36 percent reduction of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP).
To combat the increasing problem of childhood obesity, researchers are studying how to get preschoolers to eat more fruits and vegetables. According to researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, one way is early home interventions "” teaching parents how to create an environment where children reach for a banana instead of potato chips.
A mutation that causes a childhood tumor syndrome also impairs growth hormone secretion, researchers at Washington University have found. The discovery provides new insights into an old mystery, revealing why patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 are frequently shorter than their peers.
With food and fuel costs far above what they were a year ago, school children can expect to see some changes in menu offerings this academic year, says a nutrition expert at Washington University in St. Louis.
Psychologists have shown that to see objects better, you should take them into your own hands. Humans are compelled to closely analyze objects near our hands, they say, because we have a non-conscious, reflexive need to figure out how to handle nearby items or to provide protection against them. Findings offer new insight into the wiring of the brain.
Staying awake slows down our brains. Mental performance is at its peak after sleep but inevitably trends downward throughout the day, and sleep deprivation only worsens these effects. Researchers working with fruit flies have found a way to stop this downward slide for the first time.
As you load up the family vehicle or rental truck to take your child to college later this summer, leave the satellite dish off your packing list. A little common sense goes a long way when determining what to pack for a student's first, or any, year at school, says a residential housing director at Washington University in St. Louis.
Ultra-miniature bialy-shaped particles "” called nanobialys because they resemble tiny versions of the flat, onion-topped rolls "” could soon be carrying medicinal compounds through patients' bloodstreams to tumors or atherosclerotic plaques. Nanobialys were developed by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
According to a study conducted at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, older people who did endurance exercise training for about a year ended up with metabolically much younger hearts. The researchers also showed that by one metabolic measure, women benefited more than men from the training.
Surcharges "” additional fees such as shipping and handling "” are unwelcome but common charges that can shoot up the cost of online and catalog shopping. Yet how many of us base our purchasing decision on these niggling fees? More than you might think. Washington University in St. Louis marketing expert Amar Cheema shows that how consumers think about and respond to these surcharges depends, in large part, on the seller's reputation.
As one of only 120 board-certified pediatric sports medicine physicians in the country, Mark Halstead, M.D., instructor in orthopaedic surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has particular insight into young athletes and the injuries that commonly occur. His experience enables him to address a number of misconceptions that exist regarding pediatric sports injuries.
Sports-related concussions in young athletes frequently go unrecognized, and often do not receive proper respect for the potential seriousness that even a mild injury may have.
Not every child is sitting around playing an Xbox. Some are at the other end of the spectrum, playing multiple competitive sports year-round. That imbalance leaves them open to injury.
The Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC) at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis will lead a $16 million international research collaboration dedicated to understanding inherited forms of Alzheimer's disease. The National Institute on Aging (NIA) will fund the project.
There's no cure for the so-called stomach flu, a group of highly contagious viruses that can hit with a vengeance, causing nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Now, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report they have identified the primary immune sensor that detects the presence of stomach viruses in the body. This knowledge may help develop a treatment that prevents or reduces the infection.
Every moment we live, cells in our bodies are dying. One type of cell death activates an immune response while another type doesn't. Now researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis report in the journal Immunity that they have figured out how some dying cells signal the immune system. The finding eventually could have important implications in the treatment of autoimmune diseases and cancer.
Ten percent to 19 percent of children miss school or sports activities every year because of pain caused by heavy backpacks and 30 percent to 50 percent of adolescents complain of pain related to backpack use.
There often are highly publicized examples of teen exploitation secondary to Internet use, but these are usually extreme cases and not the norm. The negative experiences associated with Internet use should not deter teens from using this resource; however, negative experiences should serve as warnings of situations to avoid while on-line.
Beginning July 1, all children in kindergarten or first grade entering Missouri schools for the first time are required to have a comprehensive eye exam. A pediatric ophthalmologist at Washington University School of Medicine says the bill forces pediatricians from their gatekeeper's role.
Two pediatric eye surgeons at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis expressed alarm over what they label a "21st century snake oil" scam. They are concerned that reports will mislead many parents of children with optic nerve hypoplasia, who may bankrupt savings, go deeply into debt or organize fundraisers to pay for sham treatment.
In a new study published in Pediatrics, Paul T. Shattuck, Ph.D., professor of social work at Washington University in St. Louis, found that families with similar demographics and nature of their children's special needs have different out-of-pocket health expenditures depending on the state in which they live. He notes that wealthier states tend to have a lower average extra cost for caring for a child with special needs. "At the low end, families in Massachusetts paid an average of $560 for out-of-pocket medical expenses," he says.
The sound of a noisy Chicago restaurant during the breakfast rush "” the clang of plates and silverware and the clamor of many voices "” was the crucial test of new hearing aid technology in a study conducted by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The study showed that the hearing aids worked well in a noisy environment "” the most challenging test for a hearing aid.
Medical science may be a significant step closer to climbing into the driver's seat of an important class of immune cells, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report in Nature Immunology.
The game of baseball was designed to make a lefty the "Natural," according to David A. Peters, Ph.D., the McDonnell Douglas Professor of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, and uber baseball fan. Peters is a mechanical engineer who specializes in aircraft and helicopter engineering and has a different approach to viewing America's Favorite Pastime.
Compact, bedside brain-activity monitors detected most seizures in at-risk infants, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis showed. That means the compact units could assist clinicians in monitoring for electrical seizures until confirmation with conventional EEG (electroencephalography), the researchers assert in an article published in the June issue of Pediatrics.
Researchers have shown that they can put mouse embryonic stem cells to work building the heart, potentially moving medical science a significant step closer to a new generation of heart disease treatments that use human stem cells.
Saturday can be the worst enemy for our waistlines, according to researchers at the School of Medicine. They found that study subjects on strict diet and exercise programs tend to lose weight more slowly than expected because they eat more on weekends than during the week.
President Bush's call for Congress to end its decades-old ban on offshore oil and gas drilling has highlighted key differences in the big-oil platforms of presumptive Republican and Democratic presidential nominees Barak Obama and John McCain.
As if the emotional and financial impact of flood damage isn't bad enough, floodwaters can also bring health problems. H. James Wedner, M.D., professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Allergy and Immunology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, says after the water recedes, damp homes and businesses are fertile grounds for mold growth, which can cause allergic reactions and asthmatic symptoms in sensitive people.
Nutrition researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified five common genetic variations that increase the risk of metabolic syndrome, a group of factors linked to heart disease and diabetes. Another variant they found appeared to protect against the condition.
A group of steroids found in female mouse urine goes straight to the male mouse's head, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. They found the compounds activate nerve cells in the male mouse's nose with unprecedented effectiveness.
Investigators at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a genetic variation associated with an earlier age of onset in Alzheimer's disease. Unlike genetic mutations previously linked to rare, inherited forms of early-onset Alzheimer's disease "” which can strike people as young as their 30s or 40s "” these variants influence an earlier presentation of symptoms in people affected by the more common, late-onset form of the disease.
Women born after 1944 began drinking alcohol at younger ages than their elders, and that appears to have put them at greater risk for alcoholism, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
More than 1,000 babies are receiving a $1,000 jumpstart on saving for college thanks to SEED for Oklahoma Kids, a study designed to determine the impact of "seeding" a college savings account for children at birth. SEED OK, announced June 3 by the Governor Brad Henry and State Treasurer Scott Meacham, is a collaboration between the Okla. State Treasurer and the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis.
Research is shedding new light on what happens in the brains of children and adults affected by clinical depression, anxiety disorders and schizophrenia, according to Washington University in St. Louis studies presented at a recent mental health symposium sponsored by NARSAD, the world's leading charity dedicated to mental health research.
When patches of red, flaky and itchy skin on newborn mice led rapidly to their deaths, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis looked for the reason why. What they found was a molecular alarm system that serves as a sentinel to monitor the integrity of skin "” the body's essential protective barrier.
When the NASA Phoenix Mission spacecraft makes its scheduled May 25 landing on Mars, researchers from Washington University in St. Louis will play key roles in mission operations, including one student who helped pick the landing site. Phoenix will dig near the surface and search for evidence of an environment favorable for microbial life. (Video available)
A unique genetic signature can alert physicians to high-risk breast tumors that are masquerading as low-risk tumors, according to research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and collaborating institutions. Although these tumors are apparently estrogen-receptor positive "” meaning they should depend on estrogen to grow "” they don't respond well to anti-estrogen therapy.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have defined a new type of immune response that is activated in patients with severe asthma and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). Their discovery could dramatically improve diagnosis and treatment of patients with chronic inflammatory lung disease.
Changing the sugars attached to a hormone produced in the pituitary gland increased fertility levels in mice nearly 50 percent. The change appears to alter a reproductive "thermostat," unveiling part of an intricate regulatory system that may one day be used to enhance human fertility.
Maintaining bone density could be a key to decreasing the spread of cancer in women with locally advanced breast cancer, according to research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
China's massive earthquake may have dealt a huge blow to nation's push for more hydro-electric power dams, forcing more reliance on coal, more pollution and more competition for scarce global energy resources, suggests the author of a new book on the politics of China's epic dam-building campaign.
Mothers, here's another reason to encourage your daughters to be physically active: Girls and young women who exercise regularly between the ages of 12 and 35 have a substantially lower risk of breast cancer before menopause compared to those who are less active, new research shows.
There is an appropriate time and place for employers to monitor employees, according to a business professor at the Olin Business School. If done wrong, firms can lose their worker's trust and willingness to go above and beyond.
Scientists working with diabetic mice have examined in unprecedented detail the immune cells long thought to be responsible for type 1 diabetes. They caught the immune cells, known as dendritic cells, "red-handed": they were carrying insulin and fragments of insulin-producing cells.
The duck-billed platypus: part bird, part reptile, part mammal -- and the genome to prove it. An international consortium of scientists has decoded the genome of the platypus, showing that the animal's peculiar mix of features is reflected in its DNA. An analysis of the genome, published today in the journal Nature, can help scientists piece together a more complete picture of the evolution of all mammals, including humans.
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis radiation oncology researchers found that tumors have a built-in mechanism that protects them from heat (hyperthermia) damage and most likely decreases the benefit of hyperthermia and radiation as a combined therapy. By interfering with that protection, the researchers have shown that tumor cells grown in culture can be made more sensitive to hyperthermia-enhanced radiation therapy.
Recent economic events have shaken the confidence of many Americans with respect to their ability to achieve the "American dream." "With rising numbers of home foreclosures, job cuts, and loss of savings, more Americans are encountering severe periods of economic risk and insecurity in their lives," says Mark R. Rank, Ph.D., poverty expert and professor of social work at Washington University in St. Louis.
The influence of genetics increases as young women transition from their first drink to alcohol dependence. A team of researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine found that although environment is most influential in determining when drinking begins, genes play a larger role in advancing to problem drinking and alcohol dependence.
About 40 percent of African-Americans have a genetic variant that can protect them after heart failure and prolong their lives, according to research conducted at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and collaborating institutions. The new study offers a reason why beta blockers don't appear to benefit some African-Americans.
RSS
Medicine keyboard_arrow_right
Sciencekeyboard_arrow_right
Life keyboard_arrow_right
Business keyboard_arrow_right
Journal News keyboard_arrow_right
By Location keyboard_arrow_right
Meetings, Grants, and Events keyboard_arrow_right