Medicine & Health

Washington University in St. Louis administrators are urging Congress and the White House to reach a compromise to avoid wide-ranging, across-the-board federal spending cuts that would take effect March 1.

The most common inherited form of mental retardation and autism, fragile X syndrome, turns some brain cells into chatterboxes, scientists at the School of Medicine report. The extra chatter may make it harder for brain cells to identify and attend to important signals, potentially establishing a parallel at the cellular level to the attention problems seen in autism.

In the weeks, months and years after a severe head injury, patients often experience epileptic seizures that are difficult to control. A new study in rats suggests that gently cooling the brain after injury may prevent these seizures.

Robert Mecham, PhD, has been named interim head of the Department of Cell Biology and Physiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Washington University School of Medicine faculty members were honored by the school this week for their dedication, talent and contributions to the institution and the field of medicine. Shown is Anne Carol Goldberg, MD, an associate professor of medicine, who was presented with distinguished clinician honors at the event.

The School of Medicine is offering “Freedom from Smoking” classes, beginning Tuesday, Feb. 19. The one-hour classes are free and open to anyone on a first-come, first-served basis. Those interested must register by Friday, Feb. 15.

School of Medicine’s Health Happening Fair Feb. 1 gave employees the opportunity to test their grip strength, body composition and gaits, and provided information on an array of services. Pictured is Rob Fitzgerald, an epidemiologist in the Department of Psychiatry, watching as Megan Prouhet, a physical therapy student, programs a device that analyzes body composition.

Cancer drugs should kill tumors, not encourage their spread. But new evidence suggests that an otherwise promising class of drugs may actually increase the risk of tumors spreading to bone, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Scientists have identified a genetic mutation that may underlie common behaviors seen in some people with autism, such as difficulty communicating and resistance to change. The mutation disrupts levels of serotonin, a chemical messenger produced by a limited number of neurons (red) in the brain.

On Monday, Feb. 18, alumna Susannah Cahalan will read from her new memoir, Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, as part of the Assembly Series. The book focuses on her ordeal with a rare and terrifying disease. A panel discussion will follow. The event, free and open to the public, will be held at 5 p.m. in Simon Hall’s May Auditorium.