Medicine & Health

An analysis of Twitter hashtag use on the subject of diabetes provides new insights about spreading health information through social media. The study, led by Jenine Harris, PhD, assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, looked at the hashtag #diabetes and its interaction with two Twitter measures of engagement, retweeting and favoriting. The study found retweeting and favoriting was significantly lower for tweets about the number or percentage of people with diabetes, while favoriting was higher for tweets about health problems associated with diabetes.

Brain tumor stem cells can resist treatment and regrow tumors, but scientists have identified a vulnerability in these cells that could lead to a new approach in battling deadly brain tumors.

The Affordable Care Act has great potential to improve health and health care for people with diabetes, finds a new study led by Derek Brown, PhD, assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Charles A. Goldfarb, MD, has been appointed chief of pediatric orthopaedic surgery at Washington University School of Medicine and St. Louis Children’s Hospital. A hand and wrist specialist, Goldfarb currently is a professor of orthopaedic surgery, co-chief of the department’s hand and wrist service and medical director of the Washington University and Barnes-Jewish Orthopedic Center in Chesterfield.

Washington University School of Medicine and St. Louis Children’s Hospital have opened a new pediatric medical center — the St. Louis Children’s Specialty Care Center — at Interstate 64/Highway 40 and Mason Road in west St. Louis County. The center welcomed its first patients June 2.

Victoria J. Fraser, MD, head of the Department of Medicine, was a featured speaker at TEDxStLouisWomen, Thursday, May 28. The presentations were part of TEDWomen, a national conference focused on women and girls as creators and change-makers. Fraser spoke about antibiotic resistance and its evolution into a public health crisis.

Munish C. Gupta, MD, has been appointed professor and chief of spine surgery in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He comes from the University of California, Davis and will assume his new duties Sept. 1.

Researchers have designed a nanoparticle-based therapy that is effective in treating mice with multiple myeloma, a cancer of bone marrow immune cells. Targeted specifically to the malignant cells, these nanoparticles protect their therapeutic cargo from degradation in the bloodstream and greatly enhance drug delivery into the cancer cells.

Studying West Nile virus infection in mice, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown that an antiviral compound tightens the blood-brain barrier, making it harder for the virus to invade the brain.

A diabetes drug may have benefits beyond lower blood sugar in patients with HIV. New research from the laboratory of Kevin E. Yarasheski, PhD, suggests the drug may prevent cardiovascular problems because it works to reduce inflammation that is linked to heart disease and stroke in these patients. The drug both improved metabolism and reduced inflammation in HIV-positive adults on antiretroviral therapy.