Author: Leslie Gibson McCarthy

The fifth annual Day of Discovery, Dialogue & Action event featured talks, workshops and panel discussions designed to spark questions and conversations on both the Danforth and Medical Campuses, as well as provide a tool kit for purposeful discussion moving forward.

Over-testing for urinary tract infections (UTIs) leads to unnecessary antibiotic use, which spreads antibiotic resistance. Infectious disease specialists at the School of Medicine made changes to hospital procedures that cut urine tests by nearly half without compromising doctors’ abilities to detect UTIs.

The School of Medicine has received a $15 million commitment from longtime benefactors Philip and Sima Needleman to support two cutting-edge research centers aimed at developing new treatments for diseases that collectively affect millions.

A School of Medicine study of adults with lumbar scoliosis and found that the most important factor in determining whether to do surgery is the extent of a patient’s disability due to his or her spinal deformity, as well as how much that disability interferes with day-to-day life.

Bestselling author Irshad Manji, keynote speaker for the fifth annual Day of Discovery, Dialogue & Action event Feb. 19 and 20, talks about her notion of moral courage and how that relates to diversity. Her talk, “Moving Beyond Labels: A Conversation About Diversity, Bigotry & Common Humanity,” begins at 5 p.m. Feb. 19 at the Eric P. Newman Education Center on the Medical Campus.

School of Medicine surgeon Amy Moore, MD, has performed nerve transfer surgeries on children stricken with a rare paralyzing illness called acute flaccid myelitis. Researchers believe the condition may be caused by a common enterovirus.

One in four older adults experiences delirium after surgery. However, School of Medicine researchers have found that closely monitoring brain activity and minimizing anesthesia if needed has no significant effect on the occurrence of delirium.

A new study from the School of Medicine finds that women’s brains appear to be about three years younger than men’s of the same chronological age, metabolically speaking. The findings could be one clue to why women tend to stay mentally sharp longer than men.

Researchers at the School of Medicine may have found a path toward improving the effectiveness of chemotherapy in people with breast or ovarian cancer caused by defects in one of the BRCA genes. The researchers identified a pair of genes that operate in parallel to BRCA and may increase susceptibility to chemotherapy drugs.

Researchers at the School of Medicine have discovered clues to a particularly deadly form of rejection that can follow lung transplantation. Called antibody-mediated rejection, the condition remains impervious to available treatments and difficult to diagnose. The researchers have identified, in mice, a process that may prevent the condition and lead to possible therapies to treat it.