School of Medicine

Neurosurgeons at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are renewing calls for a ban on use of all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) by children under age 16 after a 10-year review of injuries caused by the vehicles.

Image courtesy of Jewish Hospital; Kleinert, Kutz and Associates Hand Care Center; and University of LouisvilleLimb transplantation involves several kinds of tissue.Years ago, the idea of attaching a donor limb onto a patient’s body would have been the stuff of science fiction. But to date about two-dozen people around the world have received hand transplants. Thomas Tung, M.D., conducts research within this relatively unorthodox realm of surgery, investigating the use of therapy that could potentially allow the body to accept donor tissue without the use of immunosuppressive medication.

Red areas of the circled leg in the right image show increased blood flow due to angiogenic cells.To speed healing at sites of injury – such as heart muscle after a heart attack or brain tissue after a stroke – doctors would like to be able to hasten the formation of new blood vessels. One promising approach is to “mobilize” patients’ blood vessel-forming cells, called angiogenic cells, so these cells can reach the injured area. Recently, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis demonstrated that a drug called AMD3100 can mobilize angiogenic cells from bone marrow of human patients in a matter of hours.

An experimental anti-cancer regimen combined a diuretic, a Parkinson’s disease medication and a drug ordinarily used to reverse the effect of sedatives. In research conducted at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the unusual mixture inhibited the growth of aggressive prostate tumors in laboratory mice.

A new drug has increased survival rates among children with a deadly form of muscular dystrophy called Pompe disease. Now WUSM researchers are testing the drug, Myozyme, in adults with Pompe.

Researchers are confident that their fruit fly model parallels human physiology to a great extent. More medical news

Courtesy PhotoPatricia Wolff, M.D., gives a checkup to a girl in Meds & Food for Kids’ clinic in Haiti.Patricia B. Wolff, M.D., founded Meds & Food for Kids, which works to combat childhood malnutrition in Haiti with a nutrient-rich peanut-butter mixture.

The School of Medicine received a $2 million grant to fund the Child Health Research Center for the next five years.

Emil R. Unanue, M.D., internationally recognized as a leader in understanding the immune system, has been named the Paul and Ellen Lacy Professor of Pathology.

Albert Pujols took part in laboratory tests similar to those conducted on Ruth in 1921.