Medicine & Health

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified the protein that norovirus uses to invade cells. The discovery, in mice, provides new ways to study a virus notoriously hard to work with and may lead to treatments or a vaccine.

But a new study in young children with asthma — co-authored by the School of Medicine’s Leonard B. Bacharier, MD — compared acetaminophen to ibuprofen. It showed no difference in the severity of asthma symptoms between the two medications.

A kind of neuron found only in male mice and that detects a pheromone in female urine has been identified by researchers at the School of Medicine. But the sex difference is not hard-wired. By manipulating the mice’s living conditions and exposing male mice to female scents for long periods of time, the scientists showed that males lost these neurons and their interest in courting females.

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has awarded a $10.4 million, five-year grant to Washington University researchers and physicians at Siteman Cancer Center to lead a national group of experts in collaborative pancreatic cancer research.

Commonly touted as “good cholesterol” for helping to reduce risk of stroke and heart attack, both high and low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol may increase a person’s risk of premature death, according to new research at the School of Medicine and Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System.

Researchers at The McDonnell Genome Institute at the School of Medicine have co-led a study on breast tumors — before and after hormone reduction therapy. It reveals the extreme genetic complexity of these tumors and the variety of responses that are possible to estrogen-deprivation treatments.

Studying mice and zebrafish, researchers from the School of Medicine and the University of Zurich have shown that the proteins associated with Mad Cow Disease — when properly folded — play a vital role in nerve cell function.

St. Louis area high school student Rachel Neff helped Gaya Amarasinghe, associate professor of pathology and immunology at the School of Medicine, design a project focusing on a protein called VP35 found in both the Ebola virus and the bat genome.

The level of a specific molecule present in prostate tumors is an indicator of whether the cancer is aggressive and likely to spread, according to new research from the School of Medicine.

A study led by researchers at the School of Medicine find that, even in this internet age, explicit efforts must be made to increase engagement among under-represented groups or current health-care disparities may persist.