Author: Ken Duenke

This feature will be included in each 2003-04 issue of the Record in observance of Washington University’s 150th anniversary.

This feature will be included in each 2003-04 issue of the Record in observance of Washignton University’s 150th anniversary.

Passionate, dedicated and driven only begin to describe Fiona H. Levy, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics. As the medical director of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, Levy oversees a multidisciplinary team that cares for critically ill children and infants. “I have been given the opportunity to make a difference […]

“Cyclotron Produced Isotopes in Biology and Medicine” will continue to support research into imaging techniques and agents. Click here for more medical articles

Richards”The Tenth Circuit’s decision upholding the constitutionality of the ‘Do Not Call’ registry is a straightforward application of the Supreme Court’s past rulings on commercial speech,” says Neil M. Richards, an expert in the fields of privacy law and constitutional law and an associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. “Telemarketers are a business like any other, and when they engage in abusive and annoying conduct in their attempt to sell its products, they should be subject to consumer protection regulation just like any other business.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will speak on “Our Environmental Destiny” for the Washington University Assembly Series at 11 a.m., Wednesday, Feb. 25 in Graham Chapel. Kennedy has devoted his career to protecting the environment and has used his legal expertise to reduce pollution. He is a clinical professor and supervising attorney at the Environmental Litigation Clinic at Pace University’s School of Law in New York. The Clinic takes a leading role in protecting New York City’s water supply and reservoirs. He helped lead the fight to turn back the anti-environmental legislation during the 104th Congress. His reputation is built on a number of successful legal actions, including prosecuting governments and companies for polluting the Hudson River and suing sewage treatment plants to force compliance with the Clean Water Act.

Four eminent scientists will explore the subject of “Plant Sciences: The Environment and Sustainability,” and topics ranging from phytoremidiation, the inorganic carbon cycle, carbon sesquestration, the impact of genetically modified crops on the environment, and the issue of sustainability.

Faddis and colleagues use a catheter with a magnet at its tip combined with a magnetic guidance system machine to help guide the magnetic catheter as it moves inside the heart.Thanks to advances in cardiology and in magnetic technology, it’s now possible to use magnetic fields to guide tools used to treat certain heart rhythm problems. Cardiologists can treat heart rhythm abnormalities without surgery by using catheters to deliver treatment. Catheters are long, narrow tubes that are run from the groin to the heart via blood vessels using X-ray images for guidance. A team at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has found that the Magnetic Navigation System (MNS) developed by Stereotaxis Inc. allows them to guide catheters within the heart more accurately. Instead of a standard design, MNS catheters contain a magnetic tip. In the same way the needle on a compass aligns itself with the direction of the Earth’s magnetic field, the catheter’s magnetic tip aligns itself with a magnetic field surrounding the patient and allows physicians to more easily guide the catheter in order to locate and treat problem areas in the heart.

The European Union (EU) will impose trade sanctions on billions of dollars of U.S. goods starting March 1 if Congress fails to repeal an export subsidy ruled illegal by the World Trade Organization (WTO). The export subsidy provision — known as the “extraterritorial income” deduction — gives U.S. companies a big leg up on competitors, but is paid for by the U.S. taxpayer, said William J. Streeter, a professor of international business at the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis. Streeter says legislation to repeal the export subsidy that has yet to be passed by Congress is projected to save U.S. taxpayers $80 billion over the next decade, but will be offset by lower corporate taxes on the earnings of U.S. firms abroad.

Dr. James Lowe in the operating room.Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but plastic and reconstructive surgeons at Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis are trying to learn the basics of aesthetic beauty in various ethnic groups. When plastic surgeons operate, they don’t want to make African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans and other groups look the same. Rather, they hope to preserve ethnicity while at the same time restoring or enhancing beauty. The Washington University team is one of only a handful worldwide that is scientifically studying ways to preserve ethnicity in plastic surgery procedures, and as more people from different ethnic backgrounds seek plastic surgery, defining aesthetic attractiveness in various ethnic groups is becoming more important.