Medicine & Health

The Food and Drug Administration recently approved a shingles vaccine for adults age 60 and older. Anyone who has ever had chicken pox is susceptible to the shingles virus, which can cause blisters and extreme pain. More than 1 million Americans are afflicted with shingles each year.

Listed below are this month’s featured news stories. • Not all sunglasses block UV rays (week of July 5) • Risks for alcoholism (week of July 12) • Earlier implants lead to better speech (week of July 19) • Surgery lets boy walk again (week of July 26)

Some experts think the cost of caring for Alzheimer’s patients could soon be more than our economy can bear.Providing care for people with Alzheimer’s disease costs the U.S. more than $100 billion per year, but less than $1 billion is spent by the government for research. Politicians argue that caring for people who already have the disease should be the top fiscal priority, while researchers believe more money should be spent to find better treatments, vaccinations or a cure. Great strides have been made with Alzheimer’s research in recent years, and more effective treatment and prevention could save billions in patient care.

NIH IllustrationA cochlear implant stimulates hearing nerves in the inner ear.Research indicates the earlier a deaf infant or toddler receives a cochlear implant, the better his or her spoken language skills at age 3 and a half. Researchers tested the spoken language skills of children who had cochlear implants and found that with increased implant time, children’s vocabulary was richer, their sentences longer and more complex and their use of irregular words more frequent.

Science is now poised to answer an important and longstanding question about the origins of Alzheimer’s disease: Do Alzheimer’s patients have high levels of a brain protein because they make too much of it or because they can’t clear it from their brains quickly enough?

An epilepsy drug that has been on the market for decades can ease the symptoms of adult sufferers with a genetic disorder that seriously weakens muscles. Scientists at the School of Medicine retrospectively reviewed results from off-label use of the drug valproate to treat seven adult spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) patients.

An education and retraining program that previously reduced catheter-associated infections in ICUs at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Missouri Baptist Medical Center has been successfully exported to five other medical centers across the nation, clinicians report in the July issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.

HarbourJ. William Harbour has been named the Paul A. Cibis Distinguished Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences. Washington University Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton joined Larry J. Shapiro, executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, in announcing the appointment.

Photo courtesy of WUSTLIt’s very important to get sunglasses with UV protection and to wear them at an early age.We all know the importance of using sunscreen to protect our skin from the sun’s harmful rays, but what about protection for our eyes? July is UV Safety Month and prolonged exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet rays without protection may cause eye conditions that can lead to vision loss, such as cataracts and age-related macular degeneration. Sunglasses and wide-brimmed hats are your best protection against UV-related vision problems, but be careful when you’re shopping for sunglasses — the wrong kind of lenses might do more harm than good.

WUSM researchers believe a vitamin vitamin natually found in carrots and tomatoes can protect skin from sunburns. The vitamin. zeaxanthin, is a natural pigment found in fruits and vegetables.