Chief pediatric surgeon named at medical school and St. Louis Children’s Hospital
WarnerBrad W. Warner, M.D., has been named pediatric surgeon-in-chief at the School of Medicine and St. Louis Children’s Hospital. His appointment was announced jointly by Timothy Eberlein, M.D., Bixby Professor and chairman of the Department of Surgery, and Lee Fetter, president of St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
WUSTL to host public forum on Medicaid financing, June 8
Tommy Thompson, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, will be among the speakers at a June 8 conference on Medicaid financing.Rising healthcare costs and diminishing health insurance coverage will be among critical issues debated by leading medical policy experts as Washington University hosts a daylong public forum on Medicaid financing June 8 in the School of Medicine’s Eric P. Newman Education Center. Participants include top administrators from a half dozen major research hospitals and a range of academic, government and think-tank policy experts, including Tommy Thompson, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Gene discovery lays groundwork for targeted therapies for endometrial cancer
Discovery of alterations in a gene called FGFR2 could accelerate the development of new treatments for endometrial cancer, a type of uterine cancer. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis; the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen); the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, which is part of Cambridge University; and New York University School of Medicine reported the findings in the May 21, 2007, online version of the journal Oncogene.
WUSTL creates center to study women’s infectious diseases
The School of Medicine is launching a new effort to study infectious diseases that preferentially affect women. The center for Women’s Infectious Disease Research (cWIDR) will focus on issues such as microorganisms that cause urinary tract infections, infections that lead to premature delivery and microorganisms that may contribute to life-threatening conditions such as cancer and heart disease.
Study of unexplained respiratory infections leads researchers to new virus
An ongoing effort to identify the microorganisms that make us sick has discovered a new virus potentially linked to unexplained respiratory infections. Clinicians can typically use a patient’s symptoms to determine that a virus is the likely culprit in a respiratory infection. However, even with advanced testing they still can’t pin the blame on a particular virus in roughly one-third of all such infections.
Simpler asthma treatment options found effective
Some people with mild asthma using a twice-daily inhaled steroid to prevent asthma symptoms might be able to cut their medication use to only once a day, according to a study by the American Lung Association (ALA). These findings may allow some patients to simplify their treatment, says Mario Castro, associate professor of medicine and pediatrics.
Herpes infection may be symbiotic, help beat back some bacteria
Mice with chronic herpes virus infections can better resist the bacterium that causes plague and a bacterium that causes one kind of food poisoning, researchers report in this week’s Nature. Scientists at the School of Medicine attributed the surprising finding to changes in the immune system triggered by the long-term presence of a latent herpes virus infection.
May 2007 Radio Service
Listed below are this month’s featured news stories.
• Alcohol’s effect on spouses (week of May 2)
• DNA links to autism (week of May 9)
• Fewer steroids for some with asthma (week of May 16)
• Increasing blood flow (week of May 16)
• New treatment for heart disorder (week of May 30)
Hayashi named director of pediatric hematology/oncology division
Robert J. Hayashi, M.D., has been named director of the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology in the Department of Pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine. A member of the faculty at the School of Medicine since 1992, Hayashi is an associate professor of pediatrics.
Nerves controlling muscles are best repaired with similar nerves
When repairing severed or damaged motor nerves with a donor nerve graft, surgeons have traditionally used a sensory nerve from another area of the patient’s body. However, these patients often do not fully regain function in the injured area. But now a team of surgeons at the School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital has found that repairing a motor nerve in rats with an intact motor nerve yields better results than using a sensory nerve. The research appeared in the March issue of the journal Microsurgery.
Older Stories