Author: Chris Amelung

A predominantly Democratic crowd packed into the Edison Theater at Washington University in St. Louis to hear remarks from Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Dean was showing his pre-debate support for the Obama-Biden ticket.

More than 3,000 members of the worldwide media were issued credentials to cover the vice presidential debate Oct. 2 at Washington University in St. Louis. The cornucopia of cameras on campus adds to the color and excitement of debate day.

Web users can now have the latest medical news stories and radio releases from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis sent straight to their desktop via RSS.

A drug-resistant germ was found in children tested in the St. Louis metropolitan area by researchers at the School of Medicine. Demographic analyses showed that children carrying the superbug were associated with a low socioeconomic status, defined as enrollment in Medicaid and living in crowded households.

By Sarah Conard, *St. Louis Post-Dispatch*Maria Littrell works out.A few days after gastric bypass surgery, Maria Littrell found herself in the grocery, choosing which type of baby food to buy — for herself. Before the operation, Littrell honored her Sicilian heritage by eating pasta — a lot of it, and often. After struggling with her weight for 20 years, Littrell had gastric bypass surgery in September. The surgery reduces the size of the stomach and allows food to bypass part of the small intestine.

Anorexia can be a nightmare for an entire family. Immediate family members can also play crucial roles helping an anorexic patient attempt to recover. Considering all the familial factors of the disease, researchers at the School of Medicine are recruiting families to help evaluate two family-oriented therapies.

A mutation that causes a childhood tumor syndrome also impairs growth hormone secretion, researchers at the School of Medicine have found. The discovery provides new insights into an old mystery, revealing why patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 are frequently shorter than their peers. The surprising details have led scientists to consider modifying their search for treatments for the inherited disorder, which is caused by a mutation in the neurofibromin 1 (NF1) gene and is characterized by an increased risk of cancer.

WUSM surgeon Susan Mackinnon, a pioneer of the surgical procedure known as peripheral nerve transfer, hopes to share the technique with more Veterans Affairs hospitals this year. The advanced form of nerve reconstruction Mackinnon performs can help injured soldiers regain the use of severely damaged limbs.

Scientists testing sleep’s effects on learning have devised a model that presents fruit flies with a simple choice: fly into a lighted vial or a darkened one.Staying awake slows down our brains, scientists have long recognized. Mental performance is at its peak after sleep but inevitably trends downward throughout the day, and sleep deprivation only worsens these effects. For the first time, researchers at the School of Medicine have found a way to stop this downward slide. When scientists genetically tweaked a part of the brain involved in learning and memory in fruit flies, the flies were unimpaired even after being deprived of sleep.

More than 300 physicians at the School of Medicine have been named to The Best Doctors In America for 2008. The number is twice that of any other physicians’ group in St. Louis and more than any other physicians’ group in the Midwest.