Medicine & Health

Occupational therapy students learn the powerful effect of alcohol on an egg to demonstrate fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

Ralph J. Damiano Jr., MD, chief of cardiac surgery and the John M. Shoenberg Professor of Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine, was elected president of the International Society of Minimally Invasive Cardiothoracic Surgery for 2010-11.

Improving the lives of infants and children with developmental disabilities will be the focus of Washington University’s new Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (WUIDDRC).

A new bachelor of science in health care will be offered this fall semester at University College, the adult, evening and continuing education division in Arts & Sciences. The degree program, which begins with the start of the semester Aug. 31, provides an academic foundation for students pursuing managerial, clinical or research careers in health care.

A parasite estimated to afflict as many as 12 million people worldwide relies on a family of genes that should make it vulnerable to compounds developed to treat cancer and other disorders, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found.

A largely unexplored world of viruses make their home in the lower intestine, and new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that each of us harbors a unique collection of these “friendly” viruses. The research is published in the journal Nature.

George Macones, MD, once lost a patient two days after she gave birth. He now cares for women who have had previous complicated pregnancies, have lost a fetus during pregnancy or are carrying twins or triplets. He also sees patients with pre-existing medical conditions such as high blood pressure or lupus.

A study undertaken to help scientists concerned with abnormal brain development in premature babies has serendipitously revealed evolution’s imprint on the human brain.

The saying “You are who you hang around with” seems especially true when it comes to alcohol, cigarette and drug use. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are reporting that people who hang out with marijuana, cigarette or alcohol users are not only more likely to do the same, but that exposure allows genetic tendencies for substance use to become more robust.  

A treatment plan used to prevent potentially dangerous blood clots in recovering surgical patients can also benefit some patients immobilized by acute medical illness, doctors have found in a multi-institutional study. In women, patients age 75 or older, and patients strictly confined to 24-hour bed rest, a month of extended treatment with a blood thinner significantly reduced the chances of blood clots while only slightly increasing the risk of bleeding.