Medicine & Health

New research led by the School of Medicine indicates that 1 in 4 of the children given antibiotics in U.S. children’s hospitals are prescribed the drugs inappropriately. The overuse of antibiotics poses an increasing threat to children who develop — or already have — drug-resistant infections.

Timothy Miller, MD, PhD, the David Clayson Professor of Neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and a group of his colleagues have received the inaugural Healey Center International Prize for innovation in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) research from the Sean M. Healey & AMG Center for ALS at Massachusetts General Hospital.

High-protein diets may help people lose weight and build muscle, but a School of Medicine study in mice suggests they also lead to more plaque in the arteries. The findings also show that high-protein diets spur unstable plaque, the kind most prone to rupturing and causing blocked arteries.

New School of Medicine research indicates that “jumping genes” play a surprising role in stabilizing the 3D folding patterns of the DNA molecule inside a cell’s nucleus.

School of Medicine researchers have received $29 million from the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health to continue a long-running, international Alzheimer’s study aimed at understanding how the disease develops and progresses.

A new study from the School of Medicine suggests that bone marrow — or blood stem cells — from healthy donors can harbor extremely rare mutations that can cause health problems for the cancer patients who receive them. Such stem cell transplants are important for treating blood cancers, including acute myeloid leukemia.

Exposure to chemotherapy and radiation during cancer treatment leads to bone loss and increases the risk of osteoporosis and fractures. A new School of Medicine study identifies the trigger for this bone loss and suggests ways to prevent it.

Washington University’s Jerome Cox and Jack H. Ladenson join a small but distinguished group of fellows of the National Academy of Inventors, the highest professional distinction accorded solely to academic inventors.

Including the insights of more than 35 leading social work scholars from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis and beyond, a new book grapples with 13 key areas in the profession in an effort to identify innovative solutions toward achieving a “livable life — a life in which individuals are able to thrive and reach their full potential.”

A new study, led by the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, suggests proton therapy is as effective as traditional X-ray radiation therapy while causing fewer serious side effects.