Researchers are on a tick-finding mission

Washington University researchers are tracking the source of a mysterious new tick-borne disease. They’re searching throughout the Midwest for ticks that carry the illness, with the hope of also identifying the animals responsible for spreading the disease. Called Southern tick-associated rash illness, the pathogen causes rashes and flulike symptoms.

MRI scans in premature infants can predict future developmental delays

The MRI scans on the left show normal gray matter. The two on the right are abnormal.A Washington University pediatrician at St. Louis Children’s Hospital has found that performing MRI scans on pre-term infants’ brains assists dramatically in predicting the babies’ future developmental outcomes. Researchers studied 167 preterm infants in New Zealand and Australia and at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. The findings are a breakthrough because previous technology — cranial ultrasounds — did not show the abnormalities in the infants’ brains.

Trial of new asthma treatment calls for volunteers

Asthmatx illustrationA bronchoscope delivers thermal energy to airways during a bronchial thermoplasty treatment.Researchers at the School of Medicine are seeking participants for the AIR2 (Asthma Interventional Research) international, multi-center clinical trial, which explores whether a new asthma treatment improves asthma care. The trial, the first test of the procedure in the U.S., focuses on a procedure called bronchial thermoplasty to treat asthma.

Immune cells protect retina from damage due to age-related macular degeneration

Abnormal blood vessels and hemorrhage under the retina in wet macular degenerationAlthough some recent studies have suggested that inflammation promotes retinal damage in age-related macular degeneration (AMD), new work from Washington University ophthalmology researchers has found that a particular type of inflammation, regulated by cells called macrophages, actually protects the eye from damage due to AMD.

Unmasking nutrition’s role in genes and birth defects

Doctors may soon be prescribing personalized menus for pregnant women.Expectant mothers may someday get a personalized menu of foods to eat during pregnancy to complement their genetic makeup as a result of new research at the School of Medicine. Researchers used transparent fish embryos to develop a way to discover how genes and diet interact to cause birth defects.

Reversing malnutrition a spoonful at a time

Patricia Wolff examines a young patient in her pediatric clinic in Cap Haitien, Haiti.Swollen bellies, orange hair, listlessness and dull eyes — these are the traits of child malnutrition in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and where roughly one of every three children is chronically malnourished. To try to change that statistic, Patricia A. Wolff, M.D., associate clinical professor of pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, founded Meds & Food for Kids (MFK) in 2004.

Washington University Researchers find almost half of kids with ADHD are not being treated

Many kids who may benefit from ADHD medications don’t get them.In contrast to claims that children are being overmedicated for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a team of researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has found that a high percentage of kids with ADHD are not receiving treatment. In fact, almost half of the children who might benefit from ADHD drugs were not getting them.
Older Stories