School of Medicine

A new study indicates that many patients undergoing spine surgery have low levels of vitamin D, which may delay their recovery. Vitamin D helps with calcium absorption, and patients with a deficiency can have difficulty producing new bone, which can, in turn, interfere with healing following spine surgery.

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown that a protein may help prevent the kind of brain damage that occurs in babies with cerebral palsy.

Washington University in St. Louis has licensed to Castle Biosciences Inc. the exclusive use of a gene to detect the spread of cancer in melanoma patients. A link between the BAP1 gene and cancer metastasis was discovered by Washington University scientists J. William Harbour, MD, an ophthalmologic oncologist, and Anne Bowcock, PhD, a geneticist.

Workers unwrap the world’s first superconducting synchrocyclotron proton accelerator at the Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The device is part of a proton therapy system being installed at Washington University Medical Center at the Kling Center for Proton Therapy,

John B. Shapleigh, II, MD, instructor of clinical medicine since 1949, died Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011, at Mari de Villa in Ballwin, Mo., of apparent complications from a respiratory infection. He was 89.

Keith Hruska, MD, began his term as president of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR), Sept. 20, 2011, at the society’s 2011 Annual Meeting in San Diego. ASBMR is the world’s leading scientific organization for bone health research.

Washington University scientists have demonstrated a rigorous way to test the effects of probiotic bacteria on digestive health: they zeroed in on the community of microbes that naturally live in the intestine and help to digest foods our bodies can’t on their own.

Larry J. Shapiro, MD, executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, will host the annual Dean’s Update for all employees Oct. 31 and Nov. 2.

A major U.S. study shows that annual chest X-rays to screen for lung cancer do not reduce the risk of dying from the disease, even in smokers or former smokers. More than 150,000 older Americans were involved in the clinical trial, funded by the National Cancer Institute, with about 16,000 enrolled at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Results of the study will be published Nov. 2 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Wearing decorative contact lenses on Halloween — also known as fashion, color, cosmetic or theatre contact lenses — changes the look of the eyes, but the lenses don’t correct vision. If used incorrectly, they can impair vision and damage the eyes, according to an optometrist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.