School of Medicine

Michael J. Mueller works to improve movement and physical performance in people affected by different diseases and injuries.

Giving antibiotics before cesarean section surgery rather than just after the newborn’s umbilical cord is clamped cuts the infection rate at the surgical site in half, according to infection disease specialist David K. Warren, MD, and his colleagues at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a potential target for treating diabetes and obesity. Studying mice, they found that when the target protein was disabled, the animals became more sensitive to insulin and were less likely to get fat.

Zuum, a free iPad app, estimates a user’s disease risk and offers a customized plan for living a healthier life.

The federal government is in the process of revising the regulations that govern most human subject research in the United States. In a “Policy Forum” piece in the Aug. 3 issue of Science, bioethics expert Rebecca Dresser, JD, the Daniel Noyes Kirby Professor of Law and professor of ethics in medicine, weighs in with recommendations for changes in the oversight process.

New research from Washington University in St. Louis suggests that as much as 10 percent of individual differences in intelligence can be explained by the strength of neural pathways connecting the lateral prefrontal cortex to the rest of the brain. Findings establish “global brain connectivity” as a new method for understanding human intelligence.

Steven Strasberg, MD, has received the Lifetime Achievement Award/Gold Medallion of the International Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association (IHPBA) for his numerous contributions to the field of hepato-pancreato-biliary surgery.

New research suggests that patients whose mobility has been limited by stroke may one day use their imagination and a computer link to move their hands.

Three hundred and eighty physicians at Washington University in St. Louis have been named to the Best Doctors In America for 2012. One of every three physicians in St. Louis is a Washington University physician.

Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis who were decoding the activity of populations of neurons in the motor cortex discovered that they could tell how a monkey was planning to approach a reaching task. By chance the two monkeys chosen for the study had completely different cognitive styles. One was a hyperactive type, who kept jumping the gun, and the other was a smooth operator, who waited for the entire setup to be revealed before planning his next move. The difference is clearly visible in their decoded brain activity, allowing the scientists, in effect, to read their minds.