Investigational approach to AIDS treatment may allow patients to clear all HIV
Clinicians who care for patients infected with HIV are testing a new set of experimental treatments that may eliminate the hidden copies of the virus that previously have made a cure unattainable.
Scientists use PET scans to monitor lung inflammation noninvasively
In this PET image, the arrow shows inflammation of the lungs.A noninvasive approach for assessing lung inflammation should accelerate efforts to develop drugs for inflammatory lung conditions like cystic fibrosis and pneumonia, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report. Researchers have used positron emission tomography (PET) scans to monitor artificially induced inflammation in the lungs of healthy volunteers. The new imaging process may help doctors monitor the conditions of patients with inflammatory lung diseases and should make it easier for investigators to test potential anti-inflammatory drugs.
Wall of tiles designed to help cancer patients heal
Tiles painted by cancer patients and their familiesPatients undergoing treatment at the Siteman Cancer Center have a new option to pass the time. They can get creative and paint ceramic tiles for a display in the treatment area. Arts as Healing, a program facilitated by the School of Medicine’s Medical Photography, Illustration and Computer Graphics (MedPIC) department, is currently working on “Your Square Matters,” which allows patients and their families to paint a 4-inch square ceramic tile. Already, more than 400 tiles have been completed and are on display in Siteman’s infusion center.
Mental health expert creates first research model to study high rate of U.S.-born Latina teen suicide attempts
In recent years, one in five U.S. Latina teens attempted suicide. Though this rate is startlingly higher than their non-Hispanic peers, “efforts to understand the phenomenon have been hampered by a dearth of solid statistics and research,” says Luis H. Zayas, Ph.D., professor of social work at Washington University in St. Louis and an expert on mental health issues in the Latino community. “We have developed a new research model that will help us to understand what is really behind those statistics.” More…
Storch named Siteman professor
Gregory StorchGregory A. Storch, M.D., has been named director of the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Department of Pediatrics and the first Ruth L. Siteman Professor of Pediatrics at the School of Medicine. The new endowed professorship, given by Alvin J. and Ruth Siteman, will support leadership in pediatric infectious diseases.
Poor neighborhood conditions triple risk for disabilities
The gray shading shows the areas surveyed for the study.A comparison of residential areas in the St. Louis region reveales that late middle-aged and older African-Americans who live in rundown neighborhoods with poor air and street quality are three times more likely to develop difficulties walking, standing, or lifting than those in cleaner, better-maintained areas.
Combating biopiracy: Use existing IP systems
Concerns over biopiracy have fueled urgent calls for a new system of legal protection for indigenous biological materials and knowledge. Detractors of the current patent systems say that the knowledge of traditional cultures and communities does not readily fit into the industrialized world’s definition of intellectual property (IT); critics argue that existing laws basically promote the interests of the industrialized world. However, intellectual property and technology law expert Charles McManis, J.D., disagrees. More…
Health Savings Accounts: At best a partial solution
The Bush administration’s plan to push through health savings accounts is limited in how much it can lower healthcare costs, according to a business professor in the Olin School of Business at Washington University. He says that health savings accounts could work for some things – if the relationship between most doctors and patients changes, and if there were greater acceptance of the variety of ways to keep people healthy. More…
Anti-inflammatory drug’s potentially deadly side effect found to be rare
Scientists have completed an extensive study of more than 3,000 patients who received a promising anti-inflammatory drug, natalizumab, that was linked to three cases of a serious brain infection in large clinical trials halted in early 2005.
Girl inspires family to get on fitness track
A program designed by the Weight Management Center at the School of Medicine and the YMCA of Chesterfield has helped the Garcia family from Chesterfield lose roughly 105 pounds. The Family Lifestyle Intervention Program (FLIP) is designed to show families how to get healthy together through supervised exercise, counseling and education.
Older Stories