Medicine & Health

Popular heartburn drugs called proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) have been linked to a variety of health problems, including serious kidney damage, bone fractures and dementia. Now, a new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis shows that longtime use of the drugs also is associated with an increased risk of death.

Siteman Cancer Center will begin seeing patients July 1 at its newest satellite location, Christian Hospital in north St. Louis County. Siteman Cancer Center is based at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine, and the new location is Siteman’s fifth in the St. Louis area.

Mapping the molecular structure of an RSV protein that interferes with the body’s ability to fight off the virus, researchers at the School of Medicine have found clues to how RSV causes disease. This could potentially lead to a vaccine or treatment.

Washington University’s McDonnell Genome Institute has received $10 million from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to sequence the DNA of people from diverse ethnic backgrounds, in an effort to identify the genetic roots of COPD and other lung disorders.

A new study from the School of Medicine has found that a molecular decoy can target and reduce UTI-causing bacteria in the gut. With a smaller pool of disease-causing bacteria, the researchers say the risk of having a UTI goes down.

In a study of predominantly African-American women — who have a much higher rate of delivering babies early compared with other racial groups — researchers at the School of Medicine showed that a decrease in the diversity of vaginal microbes of pregnant women between the first and second trimesters is associated with preterm birth.

The School of Medicine has received a $10 million gift from the Harry Edison Foundation to support the Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology. The gift will help to advance the center’s innovative research programs, including its substantial work in understanding the gut microbiome.

Researchers from the School of Medicine have found that the immune system may be triggered to treat atherosclerosis and possibly other metabolic conditions, including fatty liver disease and type 2 diabetes.

The National Institutes of Health awarded a biomedical engineer at Washington University in St. Louis a 4-year, $1.7 million grant to attempt to develop a new way to image airflow in lungs. The research could someday make diagnoses of lung disease easier and more cost-effective.

A new study by anesthesiologists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Michigan Medical School sheds new light on the drug ketamine.