Medicine & Health

An imbalance of certain gut microbes appears to be the underlying cause of a frequently fatal intestinal illness in premature babies, according to new research led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

A new Washington University School of Medicine study reveals extensive antibiotic resistance in the gut bacteria of premature infants. The researchers say these findings support the push to minimize routine use of antibiotics in these patients.

New guidelines from the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology loosened some restrictions on athletes with heart conditions. Cardiologists at the School of Medicine led two of the task forces responsible for updating the guidelines.

A new study that included genetic data from more than 190,000 people has identified two genes that, when altered in specific ways, either promote or undermine cardiovascular health. The findings may help guide efforts to design new preventive drugs, similar to the way statins now are prescribed to lower “bad” cholesterol to reduce the risk of heart disease.

Using a laser probe, neurosurgeons at the Medicine have opened the brain’s protective cover, enabling them to deliver chemotherapy drugs to patients with a form of deadly brain cancer called glioblastoma.

A team of researchers led by senior author Mark J. Manary, MD, at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has found that inadequate dietary intake of essential amino acids and the nutrient choline is linked to stunting. That knowledge may unlock the door to new approaches to treat the debilitating condition.

New research from the School of Medicine shows that a natural sugar called trehalose prevents the sugar fructose — thought to be a major contributor to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease — from entering the liver and triggers a cellular housekeeping process that cleans up excess fat buildup inside liver cells.

For patients with obesity trying to lose weight, the greatest health benefits come from losing just 5 percent of their body weight, according to a new study at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

A chemist at Washington University in St. Louis hopes to develop bifunctional compounds that can be both therapeutic and diagnostic agents for Alzheimer’s disease. In the first role, they would block the metal-mediated formation of amyloid beta oligomers; in the second, they would be loaded with a long-lived radioistope (Cu-64) and employed as PET imaging agents.

Two new studies led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis show that effects of gut bacteria reach far beyond the gastrointestinal tract. Manipulating the makeup of microbes in the gut has the potential to provide new ways to treat and ultimately help prevent childhood malnutrition.