Medicine & Health

Red jungle fowlThe first detailed analysis of the chicken genome has identified a chicken counterpart to an important human immune system protein, revised scientists’ assessment of the chicken’s sense of smell, and suggested that the chicken, long used to study gene activity in the earliest stages of life, may provide a good model for studying changes in DNA linked to aging and death.

On their backs is the safest way for babies to sleep. Babies who never sleep on their stomachs don’t learn behaviors that may lessen their risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), researchers at the School of Medicine have found. Even so, the researchers caution that infants should always be placed on their backs to sleep.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded an additional $1.8 million to the Midwest Regional Center of Excellence in Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research (MRCE), a multi-institutional research center anchored at WUSM.

AbumradNada A. Abumrad, Ph.D., has been named the first Dr. Robert C. Atkins Professor of Medicine and Obesity Research at the School of Medicine. The professorship has been made possible by a gift from the Dr. Robert C. Atkins Foundation.

Scientists at the School of Medicine have become the first to successfully grow a norovirus in the lab. In humans, noroviruses are a highly contagious source of diarrhea, vomiting and other stomach upset that made headlines two years ago after a series of repeated outbreaks on cruise ships. These viruses are a major cause of human disease worldwide.

When and where a bacterium uses its DNA can be as important as what’s in the DNA, according to WUSM researchers. Scientists found significant differences in two bacterial organisms’ use of a gene linked to antibiotic resistance. The distinction alters the bacteria’s “lifestyles,” or their ability to survive in different environments.

The prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test is a common way to detect prostate cancer in its earliest stages. The exact number of a dangerously high PSA count is constantly under debate and varies among men in different age groups. Despite its imperfections, WUSM urologic surgeon Arnold Bullock still recommends the test be taken annually by men over 50.

Researchers at the School of Medicine have identified a previously unsuspected response by mouse heart muscle cells to fasting conditions: the cells’ power generators, the mitochondria, appear to remodel and consume extra internal walls or membranes in an effort to supply energy to the rest of the cell.

H. pylori bound to stomach tissueThe bacterium that causes ulcers and contributes to stomach cancers uses a clever interaction between two genes to randomly tighten and loosen its grip on the stomach, according to a study by researchers at the School of Medicine and Umeå University in Sweden.

Two St. Louis organizations have teamed up to create the Hope Center for Neurological Disorders, a unique collaboration dedicated to basic science research on a broad spectrum of nervous system conditions. A reception to celebrate the new initiative will take place at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 5 at the Center for Advanced Medicine.