Medicine & Health

Beavers don’t brush their teeth, and they don’t drink fluoridated water, but a new study reports beavers do have protection against tooth decay built into the chemical structure of their teeth: iron. The research team, which was led by scientists from Northwestern University, included Jill D. Pasteris, PhD, professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences.

Sarah K. England, PhD, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology, has been named the inaugural Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Professor of Medicine at the School of Medicine.

Children treated for moderate acute malnutrition experience a high rate of relapse and even death in the year following treatment and recovery. A new study led by School of Medicine researchers has found that target weights and measures of arm circumference used in assessing the health of malnourished children are insufficient and that raising these thresholds could significantly lower the rate of relapse.

​Restoring function after spinal cord injury, which damages the connections that carry messages from the brain to the body and back, depends on forming new connections between the surviving nerve cells. With a five-year, nearly $1.7-million grant from the National Institutes of Health, Shelly Sakiyama-Elbert, PhD, professor of biomedical engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, is using novel methods to study how these nerve cells grow and make new connections to reroute signals that could restore function and movement in people with these debilitating injuries.

Factors associated with the prevalence of diabetes vary by geographic region in the United States, according to new research from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis led by J. Aaron Hipp, PhD. The findings suggest that approaches to combating the disease should be localized.

A Washington University drug discovery program, led by Michael Holtzman, MD, has received three grants totaling more than $5 million to develop new medical therapeutics for respiratory diseases. The target illnesses range from the common cold to life-threatening lung disease.

New research shows that the hormonal intrauterine device (IUD) and the contraceptive implant remain highly effective one year beyond their approved duration of use, according to a study at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Shin-ichiro Imai, MD, PhD, is a professor of developmental biology and of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Over the past three decades, his research has shed light on the processes of aging and longevity as he has sought to help people maintain better health into later years.

A mosquito-borne virus that has spread to the Caribbean and Central and South America and has caused isolated infections in Florida often causes joint pain and swelling similar to that seen in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, according to new research from the School of Medicine.

Women whose bodies have high levels of chemicals found in plastics, personal-care products, common household items and the environment experience menopause two to four years earlier than women with lower levels of these chemicals, according to a new study.