School of Medicine

Photo by Robert BostonOccupational therapy students learn to use different mobility devices.

Photo by Robert BostonEd Walter was among more than 70 employees honored for their years of service to WUSM.

Breast cancer patients taking the drug Arimidex to prevent recurrence of their disease sometimes suffer from bone, muscle or joint pains. Giving these patients vitamin D supplements can make the pain go away in some cases, according to Washington University physicians who treat cancer patients at the Siteman Cancer Center and Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

Cervical cancers that take up a lot of blood sugar, or glucose, are more resistant to treatment than those that are less glucose-hungry, according to research at the School of Medicine. The researchers also found that the high glucose-uptake tumors can be identified with PET scans, which are already routinely used to determine tumor size and lymph node involvement in cervical cancer patients.

Reporting in the journal Science, Washington University researchers have reaffirmed a method for curing Type 1 diabetes in mice. They try to stop the immune system before it kills off all of the insulin-secreting cells in the pancreas. Read more of this article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Organizers of a 20-year global effort to eliminate a parasitic infection that is a leading cause of disability have an early victory to savor: a five-year Egyptian elimination campaign has mostly succeeded, according to a new report in the March 25 issue of The Lancet. Infection with the parasites, threadlike filarial worms, can lead to the dramatic, disfiguring swelling known as elephantiasis.

He’ll develop a clinical research division in Obstetrics and Gynecology to provide new knowledge to improve women’s health.

The new imaging process should make it easier for researchers to test potential anti-inflammatory drugs in trials.

Photo by Robert BostonOf the 119 students in the School of Medicine’s Class of 2006, 29 will stay in St. Louis to complete their residencies at WUSTL-affiliated hospitals.

He died in Miami Feb. 3 after a long illness; his research interest was in the myelination and de-myelination of the central nervous system.