Medicine & Health

NagamiInfectious diseases specialist Pamela Nagami will deliver the Olin Fellows Lecture for the Assembly Series at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 5th in Graham Chapel. Her talk will focus on the exotic and strange infectious diseases she has encountered throughout her medical career. The lecture is free and open to the public.

A new study that enrolled nearly 50,000 women has revealed that digital mammography can detect breast cancer better than conventional film-based mammography in certain groups of women.

Cancer patients infected with either of two strains of human papillomavirus were twice as likely to die of their disease.

“We really thought that myosin II was just a motor, but it seems to help steer as well,” said senior investigator Paul C. Bridgman.

WUSM researchers believe a vitamin found in vegetables may serve as a safe, ingestible sunscreen for humans. They are currently looking for volunteers for a related study.

Millions of Americans suffer from food allergies, and those numbers are quickly rising. Allergic reactions can range from rashes to life-threatening anaphylactic shock. WUSM physician James Wedner reveals a number of details about food allergies in the following St. Louis Post-Dispatch article.

The Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy will kick off its fall forum series with a half-day symposium on “Taxing Temptation: Excise Taxes and Health” from 9 a.m.-noon Sept. 23 in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom in Anheuser-Busch Hall. The series, which is free and open to the public, also includes forums on education finance (Nov. 4) and monetary policy (Nov. 30).

Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital, the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center and Washington University School of Medicine proudly announce the opening of the new Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital. Together, the three organizations will bring world-class cancer care to St. Charles County.

Below is a link to the Washington University news release about the U.S. News & World Report undergraduate rankings for 2004-05: http://news-info.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/3627.html To view a full listing of U.S. News magazine, book and Web-only rankings for 2004-05, please visit the U.S. News & World Report site: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/rankindex_brief.php

WUSTL pharmacogenetics researchers are using National Institutes of Health funding to find ways to personalize cancer treatments.