Medicine & Health

MuslinAnthony Muslin has been named the Oliver M. Langenberg Distinguished Professor of the Science and Practice of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The professorship was established by the Edward Mallinckrodt Jr. Foundation in recognition of Oliver M. Langenberg’s outstanding contributions to the foundation’s success. Langenberg serves as the foundation’s chairman of the board.

Listed below are this month’s featured news stories. • Stop smoking by phone (week of Jan. 3) • Bacteria’s role in obesity (week of Jan. 10) • Biochemical marker for sleep loss (week of Jan. 17) • Unsafe drivers with dementia (week of Jan. 24) • Genetic link to nicotine dependence (week of Jan. 31)

Class-action lawsuits can significantly slow or halt science’s ability to establish links between neurological illness and environmental factors produced by industry, a team of scientists and lawyers warns in the journal Neurology. The authors caution that litigation’s effects could seriously impair efforts to identify compounds that contribute to a wide variety of diseases, including Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Comparing images of brain activity in response to the “self-remember,” left, and “self-future” event cues, researchers found a surprisingly complete overlap among regions of the brain used.Using brain imaging, researchers from Washington University in St. Louis have identified several brain regions that are involved in the uniquely human ability to envision future events. The study, to be published in the journal PNAS, provides evidence that memory and future thought are highly interrelated and helps explain why future thought may be impossible without memories. Findings suggest that envisioning the future may be a critical prerequisite for many higher-level planning processes.

Tests of a protein’s role in the immune system have revealed a surprising connection to a kidney problem that occurs in approximately one percent of all live births. This condition, known as functional obstruction, impairs the ureter’s ability to pump urine from the kidney to the bladder. If untreated, this leaves urine stuck in the kidney, which balloons and becomes at risk of failure.

A link between obesity and the microbial communities living in our guts is suggested by new research at the School of Medicine. The findings indicate that our gut microbes are biomarkers, mediators and potential therapeutic targets in the war against the worldwide obesity epidemic.

The schematic in the center shows how a drug molecule (in the circle) prevents UTIs by stopping pili formation.A different approach to treating urinary tract infections (UTIs) could defeat the bacteria that cause the infections without directly killing them, a strategy that could help slow the growth of antibiotic-resistant infections. Instead of trying to wipe out bacteria, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have been working to create pharmaceuticals that essentially “defang” the bacteria by preventing them from assembling pili, microscopic hairs that enable the bacteria to invade host cells and defend themselves against the host’s immune system.

Right now there’s no rapid way to diagnose sepsis, a fast-moving blood infection that is a leading cause of death in hospital intensive care units. Doctors who suspect sepsis typically rush to prescribe powerful antibiotics, but this can lead to the inappropriate treatment of patients with uncontrollable inflammation without an underlying infection. New research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that doctors one day could quickly distinguish sepsis from widespread non-infectious inflammation based on genetic profiles of patients’ blood.

The surge of baby boomers now entering their 60s means more drivers on the road who may be impaired by dementia or other cognitive impairments linked to aging. Researchers at the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and elsewhere have developed a three-hour workshop that trains health care providers to identify potentially unsafe drivers with dementia and to encourage appropriate retirement from driving.

David Murray demonstrates defibrillation techniques to a group of students in the Clinical Simulation Center.The Institute of Medicine estimates that medical errors are the eighth leading cause of death in the United States, and poor communication can be a major source of those errors. Now the Clinical Simulation Center at Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis hopes to improve patient safety by using clinical simulators to find the source of miscommunications during medical treatments.