Humanities & Society

BagenstosThe United States Supreme Court ruled unanimously on January 9 in favor of a Georgia inmate in a disability rights case, United States v. Georgia. Samuel R. Bagenstos, J.D., professor of law, argued the case on behalf of the inmate, Tony Goodman. The ruling paves the wave for Goodman to seek damages against the state of Georgia. According to the ruling, Goodman’s “more serious allegations” were that he was “confined for 23-to-24 hours per day in a 12-by-3-foot cell, in which he could not turn his wheelchair around” and that “the lack of accessible facilities rendered him unable to use the toilet and shower without assistance, which was often denied.”

An international team of researchers, led by investigators at the School of Medicine, are zeroing in on a gene that increases risk for Alzheimer’s disease. They have identified a region of chromosome 10 that appears to be involved in risk for the disease that currently affects an estimated 4.5 million Americans.

“One Woman’s Action…One Man’s Effort” is the theme of the University’s annual celebration honoring Martin Luther King Jr. at 7 p.m. Jan. 16 in Graham Chapel. Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton will begin the program with a welcome and remarks. Also speaking will be Margaret Bush Wilson, a prominent civil rights attorney in the 1960s and the first woman to chair the board of directors of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and several student leaders. The evening will include performances by the YMCA Boys Choir and Washington University’s Black Anthology.

TrinkausTwo Neandertal fossils excavated from Vindija Cave in Croatia in 1998, believed to be the last surviving Neandertals, may be 3,000-4,000 years older than originally thought. An international team of researchers, including Erik Trinkaus, Ph.D., the Mary Tileston Hemenway Professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences, has redated the two Neandertals from Vindija Cave, the results of which have been published in the Jan. 2-6 early edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Kevin L. MosesSoldiers currently stationed at Camp Liberty, Iraq, unload 105mm M119 Howitzer rounds.Comparing veterans deployed in the first Persian Gulf War and veterans deployed elsewhere at the same time has revealed veterans who served in the Persian Gulf have nearly twice the prevalence of chronic multi-symptom illness (CMI), a cluster of symptoms similar to a set of conditions often called Gulf War Syndrome.

Increased communication between brain cells increases levels of amyloid beta, the key ingredient in Alzheimer’s brain plaques, scientists at the School of Medicine have found. The findings showed that turning up brain cell firing rates drove up levels of amyloid beta in the spaces between brain cells.

Jerry Naunheim Jr., Post-DispatchNearly all of the senses get used in some of the newer cognitive therapies for Alzheimers.Alzheimer’s patients at a Creve Coeur residential community enjoy a nontraditional type of therapy — gardening. “I have to say that gardening’s fairly new, at least in long-term care,” says David Carr, associate professor of medicine. “And I have no scientific proof, but based on my personal experience and the literature, these types of activities can help maintain cognitive ability over time.”

Karen Elshout, Post-DispatchRobin Harris holds a blanket that belonged to her daughter, Kaitlyn, a teen whose depression led her to kill herself.The teenage brain may hold secrets which could help unlock some of the mysteries of mental illness. Adolescent brains undergo serious transitions and can become very volatile, making it sometimes difficult to distinguish between normal teenage behavior and serious mental illness. Some scientists believe several severe mental illnesses may even have roots in the developing teen brain.

The recent $2.5 million grant will support the creation of a permanent endowment for the center directed by Michael W. Sherraden.

So you think you know what your parents want? A psychologist at Washington University in St. Louis is conducting research that shows two adult siblings may have radically different views on what their parents would want. In fact, he says that a random stranger might have the same chance at guessing parental wishes as some children would.