Medicine & Health

An international team of researchers, including a team from the School of Medicine, has identified a gene that regulates how quickly the body metabolizes alcohol as a key risk factor for alcohol dependence. The researchers also linked genetic factors associated with alcohol dependence to other psychiatric disorders.

A major U.S. study led by School of Medicine researchers has found that a commonly used probiotic is not effective in improving symptoms of diarrhea and vomiting in young children with gastroenteritis.

Audrey Odom John, MD, PhD, is on a mission to fight the spread of infectious diseases like malaria through better, faster, more nimble diagnostic tools.

Doctors may one day be able to gauge a patient’s risk of dementia with an MRI scan, according to a new study from the School of Medicine. Using a new technique for analyzing MRI data, researchers were able to predict who would experience cognitive decline with 89 percent accuracy.

School of Medicine scientists have identified rogue cells – namely brain and muscle cells – lurking in kidney organoids, an indication that the “recipes” used to coax stem cells into becoming kidney cells inadvertently are churning out other cell types. The researchers also demonstrated they could prevent most of those wayward cells from forming, an approach that could be adopted by scientists working with other organoids, such as those of the brain, lung or heart.

WashU physician Jen Silva, MD, has co-founded a startup that will enable doctors to see real-time 3D holograms of the heart during cardiac procedures.

Washington University’s newly launched Cordell Institute for Policy in Medicine & Law has signed on as one of the early signatories of French President Emanuel Macron’s “Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace,” announced Nov. 12 as part of the peace forum commemorating 100 years since the ending of World War I.

Ovarian cancer claims the lives of more than 14,000 women in the U.S. each year, ranking fifth among cancer deaths in women. A multidisciplinary team at Washington University has found an innovative way to use sound and light to diagnose ovarian tumors, which may lead to a promising new diagnostic imaging technique to improve current standard of care.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has updated its concussion recommendations to support children and teens engaging in light physical activity and returning to school as they recover. The School of Medicine’s Mark Halstead, MD, was lead author of the report, which also advises against complete removal of electronic devices.

In the largest genetic study of Alzheimer’s disease, researchers at the School of Medicine and the University of California, San Francisco, have found that genes that increase risk of cardiovascular disease also heighten the risk for Alzheimer’s.