Medicine & Health

Genomic analysis may one day be a primary diagnostic tool for physicians deciding on a course of treatment for trauma and other critically ill patients in the intensive care unit (ICU), according to a new study by a national collaboration of more than 70 physicians and scientists.

Initial results from an ongoing study evaluating the benefit of prostate cancer screening practices demonstrate that the combined use of both standard tests—the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test and the digital rectal exam (DRE)—is optimal for detecting cancer.

Child psychiatry researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are investigating the effectiveness of several therapies for children with bipolar disorder, also known as manic depressive illness.

The rates of obesity and Type 2 diabetes among children in the U.S. is rapidly rising. Many children with Type 2 diabetes don’t even know they have the disease. Neil White, a pediatrician at WUSM and St. Louis Children’s Hospital, outlines symptoms and risk factors for diabetes in the following St. Louis Post-Dispatch article.

Scientists may have found a way to throw a wrench in the transmissions of several speed demons of the parasite world. Researchers at the School of Medicine and Harvard University have identified a protein that could help them develop drugs to stop or slow cell invasion by malaria and other parasites known as apicomplexans.

A five-year, $14 million grant will establish a center at the School of Medicine that will develop better ways to prevent and treat heart disease in diabetic patients. The grant was awarded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Photo by Robert BostonA fossil of a diminutive human nicknamed “the Hobbit” likely represents a previously unrecognized species of early humans, according to the results of a detailed comparison of the fossil’s brain case with those of humans, apes and other human ancestors.

Listed below are this month’s featured news stories. • Osteoporosis, celiac disease linked (week of March 2) • Another reason to not smoke (week of March 9) • New diabetes, obesity link (week of March 16) • Quit smoking help line (week of March 23) • Preventing baseball injuries (week of March 30)

Most pediatric burns can be prevented.Childhood burns can happen when least expected: An inquisitive toddler crawling around the kitchen pulls on a coffee pot’s dangling electrical cord, causing the scalding liquid to burn his tiny arm. The Trauma and Burn Program at Washington University School of Medicine and St. Louis Children’s Hospital admits approximately 165 burn patients a year and treats another 200 on an outpatient basis. Robert P. Foglia, M.D., director of the program, offers tips on how to prevent household burns, the leading cause of accidental deaths in the home.

Mammograms could more frequently bear good news if researchers develop an effective breast cancer vaccine.Progress toward development of a breast cancer vaccine has been reported by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine and the Siteman Cancer Center in St. Louis. Physicians believe a vaccine-induced immune response could be used to supplement other cancer therapies or to immunize high-risk people against cancer.