Medicine & Health

Gary K. Ackers, PhD, professor emeritus, died from problems related to early-onset Alzheimer’s disease Friday, May 20, 2011, in Oro Valley, Ariz. He was 71.

Washington University physicians and surgeons at St. Louis Children’s Hospital , including Avihu Gazit, MD, collaborated to make several strategic and innovative decisions that led to the first successful use of an artificial lung in a toddler. The treatment is published in The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.

Hundreds of employees were recognized for their years of service to the School of Medicine June 9, 2011.

Lifestyles and emotions play important roles in many medical illnesses, and when scientists study potential treatments to help people stop smoking, get more exercise, overcome depression or improve their diet, they often compare patients who get a certain treatment to others who don’t. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, led by Ken Freedland, MD, say to accurately measure a new therapy’s the effectiveness, it is critical to carefully define comparison — or control — groups in those studies.  

Luis Zayas’ commitment to U.S. Latinas and their struggle with suicide started in the 1970s when he encountered the pain and suffering that the teenage girls and their parents were experiencing during his work in emergency rooms and mental health-care clinics. “Latinas have the highest rate of suicide attempt among teens in comparison to white girls or African-American girls,” says Zayas, PhD, the Shanti K. Khinduka Distinguished Professor of Social Work at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. Zayas brings compelling personal stories and nearly 40 years of research to his new book, Latinas Attempting Suicide: When Cultures, Families and Daughters Collide, published by Oxford University Press.

The body’s ability to perform simple tasks like flex muscles or feel heat, cold and pain depends, in large part, on myelin, an insulating layer of fats and proteins that speeds the propagation of nerve cell signals. Now, scientists have identified a gene in mice that controls whether certain cells in the peripheral nervous system can make myelin. Called Gpr126, the gene encodes a cellular receptor that could play a role in diseases affecting peripheral nerves.

Ozioma (localhealthdata.org) is a new online tool from the Health Communication Research Laboratory (HCRL) at Washington University in St. Louis designed to increase the amount of locally relevant health information in communities through media. Ozioma, which launches June 8, allows users to search for health data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (for example, National Cancer Institute and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and more than 60 other reliable sources — all in one place.

David Mutch, MD, says the importance and joy of the School of Medicine’s tripartite mission is why he is at Washington University today. “In my mind, Dave Mutch is a glowing example of everything good about being an academic physician,” says George Macones, MD, the Mitchell and Elaine Yanow Professor and head of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

The Young Scientist Program (YSP) will mark its 20th anniversary with a day-long symposium at 8:30 a.m. Monday, June 6, at Washington University School of Medicine.

An advanced imaging technique has revealed that some U.S. military personnel with mild blast-related traumatic brain injuries have abnormalities in the brain that have not been seen with other types of imaging. The abnormalities were found in the brain’s white matter, the wiring system that nerve cells in the brain use to communicate with each other.