Medicine & Health

Family members of children with a staph infection often harbor a drug-resistant form of the germ, although they don’t show symptoms, a team of researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has found.

Drugs for type 2 diabetes can contribute to unwanted side effects, but Washington University researchers have found that in mice, an investigational drug appears to improve insulin sensitivity without side effects. The medicine works through a different pathway, which could provide additional targets for treating insulin resistance and diabetes.

A new study suggests that health insurance exchanges, a key provision of the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010, may need to be monitored by policymakers to make sure there is sufficient competition between private insurance plans. In the study, published in Health Affairs, Timothy McBride, PhD, professor and associate dean for public health at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, examined the insurance premiums, availability of plans and enrollment levels under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP). “From its inception, the health reform legislation used the structure of the FEHBP to guide the design of these exchanges,” McBride says.

A new model for understanding how nerve cells in the brain control movement may help unlock the secrets of the motor cortex, a critical region that has long resisted scientists’ efforts to understand it, researchers report June 3 in Nature.

​With more than $5 million in new grants from Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Washington University scientists at the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center are developing innovative treatments in the fight against breast cancer.

A new study shows the same gene variations that make it difficult to stop smoking also increase the likelihood that heavy smokers will respond to nicotine-replacement therapy and drugs that thwart cravings. The finding suggests it may one day be possible to predict which patients are most likely to benefit from drug treatments for nicotine addiction.

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital–Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project has announced the largest release to date of comprehensive human cancer genome data for free access by the global scientific community.

Ralph G. Dacey Jr., MD, the Henry G. and Edith R. Schwartz Professor and head of the Department of Neurosurgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, became president of the Society of Neurological Surgeons (SNS) May 22, 2012.

A study by Brooke Winner, MD (pictured), and Jeff Peipert, MD, to evaluate birth control methods has found dramatic differences in their effectiveness. Women who used birth control pills, the patch or vaginal ring were 20 times more likely to have an unintended pregnancy than those who used longer-acting forms such as an intrauterine device (IUD) or implant.

Larry J. Shapiro, MD, executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, congratulates Kristen E. Ziara Harring, as he hands her her Doctor of Medicine degree at the School of Medicine Commencement Recognition Ceremony May 18 at the America’s Center. At the ceremony, 127 students received degrees.