Medicine & Health

Frozen sperm taken by biopsy from testicles in men with no sperm in their semen is as effective as fresh sperm taken by biopsy in helping couples conceive through in vitro fertilization (IVF), according to a School of Medicine study. Pictured is a section of human testicular tissue and sperm cells viewed through a microscope.

Tread the Med, the School of Medicine’s popular 100-day wellness program that encourages participants to walk 10,000 steps per day, is set to begin Thursday, Aug. 8, with a kickoff on the Medical Campus.

Burning biomass for cooking and heating, a common practice of rural people in developing countries, has been linked to an increase in cardiovascular problems.

A research career development program in obstetrics and gynecology is moving to the School of Medicine from University of California-San Francisco. The Reproductive Scientist Development Program will support the salaries and training of 15 MD or MD/PhD fellows who want to become physician scientists in obstetrics and gynecology. Pictured is Kelle Moley, MD, recipient of the grant that funds the program.

A boost in the speed of brain scans is unveiling new insights into how brain regions work with each other in cooperative groups called networks. Shown is the study’s senior researcher, Maurizio Corbetta, MD.

Washington University Medical Center faculty, staff and students will perform a summer concert Aug. 24 in the lobby of the Center for Advanced Medicine.

Obese women who use donor eggs to become pregnant through in vitro fertilization are just as likely to become pregnant as normal weight women, according to a new report. Pictured is the study’s first author, Emily Jungheim, MD, left, observing as Mary Bade uses assisted reproductive technology to inject a single sperm into an egg.

Fumihiko Urano, MD, PhD, has been named the new Samuel E. Schechter Professor of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Shown (from left) are Larry J. Shapiro, MD; Urano; and Victoria J. Fraser, MD.

Researchers have found that seeing well as we age depends, at least in part, on a recycling process in the eye that mops up cellular debris and recycles light-sensitive proteins. The findings suggest that disruptions in that process may harm vision and play a key role in the development of eye diseases related to aging. Inside the retinal pigment epithelium cells pictured are structures used for recycling (green) that engulf and digest spent parts of photoreceptor cells (red).

Children born with a complete absence of the external ear canal, even if only one ear is affected, are more likely than their peers to struggle in school, according to new research at the School of Medicine.