Medicine & Health

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that problems with a digestive process in cells can clog arteries. The finding could provide a target for future therapies aimed at preventing or reversing atherosclerosis.

Adding ultrasound exams to annual breast cancer screening can detect more cancers in women who have dense breasts and are at a higher risk of breast cancer, according to a three-year, multi-center trial appearing this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association. But the scans carry risks that may outweigh their benefits.

For Lewis Wall, MD, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, a dream has come true. For almost 20 years, he worked doggedly to build a hospital in one of the world’s poorest countries to treat women with a devastating childbirth injury. His dream became reality in February, when a 42-bed hospital opened in Niger, Africa. The facility is dedicated to repairing fistulas, wounds inflicted by prolonged labor, which leaves women — and often girls — steadily leaking wastes.

Washington University biomedical engineer Lihong Wang, PhD, will explain his photoacoustic tomography technology April 3 at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Chicago.

Working in mice, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have devised a treatment that prevents the optic nerve injury that occurs in glaucoma, a neurodegenerative disease that is a leading cause of blindness. Researchers increased the resistance of optic nerve cells to damage by repeatedly exposing the mice to low levels of oxygen similar to those found at high altitudes.

The Academy of Science of St. Louis will honor 10 faculty members from Washington University in St. Louis for their contributions and leadership in science and medicine. The Outstanding St. Louis Scientists Awards will be presented Thursday, April 19, at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel. The awards are designed to focus attention on St. Louis individuals and institutions known around the world for scientific contributions to research, industry and quality of life.

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are using powerful DNA sequencing technology not only to identify mutations at the root of a patient’s tumor – considered key to personalizing cancer treatment – but to map the genetic evolution of disease and monitor response to treatment.

Graham A. Colditz, MD, DrPH, a disease prevention expert at the Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, will be recognized April 3 for his 30 years of fighting cancer before it starts.

More than half of all cancer is preventable, and society has the knowledge to act on this information today, according to Graham A. Colditz, MD, DrPH, the Niess-Gain Professor and other public health researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Siteman Cancer Center. 

Older adults who still drive will have an opportunity to find out how well they are fitting in their vehicles at a CarFit screening offered by occupational therapy students at Washington University School of Medicine at a CarFit event from 12:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m., Saturday, March 31.