Author: Jim Dryden

As our brains mature, we tend to use the red regions more frequently for these certain tasks, using the regions represented in blue less.Children activate different and more regions of their brains than adults when they perform word tasks, according to investigators at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Reporting in the journal Cerebral Cortex, the researchers say those changes in regional brain activity from childhood to adulthood may reflect the more efficient use of our brains as we mature.

Theodore J. Cicero, Ph.D., vice chancellor for research, plans to step down in June 2006 after 10 years of leading the University’s research enterprise. Before his appointment as the head of research for the University, Cicero served as vice chairman for research in the Department of Psychiatry. He will return to that position and devote more time to his own research.

Although he was born in the Far East, Dan Riew grew up in the Midwest. He lived in Korea until he was 7, when his parents brought their family to the United States because they felt it would be a better place to get an education. “When we first came, it was difficult because we […]

Yellowing of the eye due to age-related cataractResearchers at the School of Medicine may be a step closer to understanding what causes cataracts and what may help to prevent them. In a new study published in the American Journal of Ophthalmology, the researchers report oxygen may be the culprit.

Yellowing of the eye’s lens due to age-related nuclear sclerotic cataractResearchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis may be a step closer to understanding what causes cataracts, with the hope of one day being able to prevent them. In a new study published in the American Journal of Ophthalmology, the researchers report oxygen may be the culprit.

Vegetarians who don’t cook their food have abnormally low bone mass, usually a sign of osteoporosis and increased fracture risk. But a research team at the School of Medicine also found that raw food vegetarians have other biological markers indicating their bones, although light in weight, may be healthy.

What makes a woman a woman?The mysteries of both human sex chromosomes have now been laid bare with the publication of the sequence of the human X chromosome in the journal Nature. Scientists at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in England led the effort to sequence the X, with significant contributions from the Genome Sequencing Center at Washington University.

Researchers at the School of Medicine are testing the effectiveness of an investigational drug for the treatment of sciatica pain. Sciatica involves pain in the lower back and hip that radiates down the thigh into the leg.

Child psychiatry researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are investigating the effectiveness of several therapies for children with bipolar disorder, also known as manic depressive illness.

Dr. Mario Castro and nurse Michelle Jenkerson visit with patient Wil Klages and his mom, Peg Klages.Studying Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) to learn what puts children at risk for the most severe infections, Washington University researchers at St. Louis Children’s Hospital found that a child’s age at the time of infection and whether that child lives with a smoker could mean the difference between the sniffles and the intensive care unit.