School of Medicine

Photo by Robert BostonMissouri Gov. Matt Blunt signed Senate Bill 567, which requires health insurers to cover primary health-care costs for patients involved in approved phase II clinical trials for cancer.

Heavy metal Robert L. Barrack, M.D., (right) performs a hip implant with the Birmingham Hip on a patient at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. Barrack was the first U.S. surgeon to implant the system, which resurfaces the head of the femur with a metal hip joint and leaves the patient’s thighbone intact.

WellingThe Washington University Diabetes Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital focuses on providing patients with the latest technology, treatments and clinical research. Some patients at the center are receiving a new diabetes drug that may give a welcome side effect — weight loss. Research lab supervisor Cris Welling began taking Byetta about 10 months ago and has lost 40 pounds.

Like the fictional wizard Harry Potter, some cancerous tumors seem capable of wrapping themselves in an invisibility cloak. Researchers at the School of Medicine have found that pancreatic tumors hide from the body’s immune surveillance by surrounding themselves with cells that make it hard for the immune system to detect them.

TobinPatients managing diabetes can now get full diagnostics, treatment and education in one place — the Washington University Diabetes Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. The center will provide a new group-care and patient-education approach for patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes, says Garry Tobin, medical director of the center.

The Food and Drug Administration recently approved a shingles vaccine for adults age 60 and older. Anyone who has ever had chicken pox is susceptible to the shingles virus, which can cause blisters and extreme pain. More than 1 million Americans are afflicted with shingles each year.

Listed below are this month’s featured news stories. • Not all sunglasses block UV rays (week of July 5) • Risks for alcoholism (week of July 12) • Earlier implants lead to better speech (week of July 19) • Surgery lets boy walk again (week of July 26)

Some experts think the cost of caring for Alzheimer’s patients could soon be more than our economy can bear.Providing care for people with Alzheimer’s disease costs the U.S. more than $100 billion per year, but less than $1 billion is spent by the government for research. Politicians argue that caring for people who already have the disease should be the top fiscal priority, while researchers believe more money should be spent to find better treatments, vaccinations or a cure. Great strides have been made with Alzheimer’s research in recent years, and more effective treatment and prevention could save billions in patient care.

NIH IllustrationA cochlear implant stimulates hearing nerves in the inner ear.Research indicates the earlier a deaf infant or toddler receives a cochlear implant, the better his or her spoken language skills at age 3 and a half. Researchers tested the spoken language skills of children who had cochlear implants and found that with increased implant time, children’s vocabulary was richer, their sentences longer and more complex and their use of irregular words more frequent.

Science is now poised to answer an important and longstanding question about the origins of Alzheimer’s disease: Do Alzheimer’s patients have high levels of a brain protein because they make too much of it or because they can’t clear it from their brains quickly enough?