Medicine & Health

Each day, 3,400 people in the United States are diagnosed with cancer and another 1,500 die from the disease. And while these numbers are disturbing, they also harbor a fundamental inequity: racial and ethnic minority groups form a larger percentage of these totals than their proportions in the general population.

Like throwing oil on a fire or prescribing a high cholesterol diet for heart patients, gastroenterologists traditionally have believed that it would not be a good idea to stoke up the body’s immune system to treat Crohn’s disease. Most treatments for Crohn’s, an autoimmune disorder, are geared to suppress the immune response, but a new study demonstrates that stimulating innate immunity also is effective at improving symptoms of the intestinal disorder.

An experiment that turned out very differently than expected led scientists at the School of Medicine to the first direct link between inefficient metabolism and atherosclerosis.

The School of Medicine event will be at Hudlin Park, adjacent to the tennis courts in front of Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

Scientists have learned that a temporal “window of opportunity” was critical to their earlier successes in treating diabetic rats with embryonic pig tissues.

Obese elderly people can improve physical function and lessen frailty by losing weight and exercising, according to a pilot study by researchers at the School of Medicine.

Scientists have uncovered a new method the immune system uses to label foreign invaders as targets to be attacked. Researchers showed that the immune system can brand foreign proteins by chemically modifying their structure, and that these modifications increased the chances that cells known as lymphocytes would recognize the trespassers and attack them.

Scientists at the School of Medicine have learned that a temporal “window of opportunity” was critical to their earlier successes in treating diabetic rats with embryonic pig tissues.

Scientists studying mice have identified a gene that allows immune cells known as neutrophils to protect themselves from the inflammatory chemicals they secrete. Researchers at the School of Medicine showed that knocking the gene out in mice prevented the development of an arthritis-like disorder by making the neutrophils victims of their own damaging secretions.

Changes in regional brain activity from childhood to adulthood may reflect more efficient use of the brain as it matures.