Author: Jim Dryden

The Longer Life Foundation, a joint enterprise of the School of Medicine and the Reinsurance Group of America, is seeking applications for funding in 2013.

Rajendra S. Apte, MD, PhD, is the new Paul A. Cibis Distinguished Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The second faculty member to hold the Cibis chair, Apte focuses his research on inflammation and aberrant blood vessel growth that together wreak havoc in eye diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in older Americans.

Matthew J. Silva, PhD, has been named the Julia and Walter R. Peterson Orthopaedic Research Professor at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Rajendra S. Apte, MD, PhD, associate professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences and of developmental biology, has been chosen to receive the 2013 Young Investigator Award from the Macula Society.

When cigarette taxes rise, hard-core smokers are more likely than other smokers to cut back, according to new research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Gastric bypass surgery has been thought to offer advantages, independent of weight loss, for improving insulin sensitivity and blood glucose levels in obese patients. But new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis shows that those improvements are related to weight loss alone and not to the surgical procedure itself.

People with diabetes often develop clogged arteries that cause heart disease. New research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has found that when vitamin D levels are adequate in people with diabetes, blood vessels are less likely to clog. But in patients with insufficient vitamin D, immune cells bind to blood vessels near the heart, then trap cholesterol to block those blood vessels.

Studying premature babies prior to their release from the NICU, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified developmental differences between those preemies and babies born at full term. Their work points to opportunities for therapeutic interventions — even in the first few weeks of life — that might improve long-term outcomes for the preemies.

School of Medicine researchers have received a five-year, $2.7 million grant to detect and analyze differences in the brains of children with a rare illness, Wolfram syndrome. The disorder includes a severe form of diabetes, hearing and vision loss and kidney problems. Patients also eventually lose muscle control and coordination from brain degeneration.

Resveratrol, an ingredient in red wine thought to improve insulin sensitivity, reduce risk of heart disease and increase longevity, does not appear to have those benefits in healthy women, according to new research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.