School of Medicine

Alcoholism may be linked to taste.A team of researchers, led by investigators at the School of Medicine, has found that a gene variant for a bitter-taste receptor on the tongue is associated with an increased risk for alcohol dependence. The research team studied DNA samples from 262 families, all of which have at least three alcoholic individuals. Investigators report in the January issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics on the variation in a taste receptor gene on chromosome 7 called TAS2R16.

The National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, issued an announcement encouraging treatment with anticancer drugs via two methods, after surgery, for women with advanced ovarian cancer. The combined methods, which deliver drugs into a vein and directly into the abdomen, extend overall survival for women with advanced ovarian cancer by about a year. The Siteman Cancer Center at the School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital participated in the NCI-supported clinical trial which led to this clinical announcement.

Chances are good that a medication you take is one of several drugs that can be affected by genetic factors, according to researchers at the School of Medicine and the St. Louis College of Pharmacy. They found that 29 percent of patients seen at local primary-care offices had taken at least one of 16 drugs that can cause adverse reactions in genetically susceptible people.

As the New Year begins, millions of people are resolving to exercise more in 2006. A team of researchers at the School of Medicine in St. Louis hopes that similar lifestyle changes will help HIV-positive people avoid metabolic and cardiovascular problems associated with HIV and anti-HIV drugs.

WUSTL and BJC will provide new help for smokers who want to quit.People seeking help to quit smoking have many options, from support groups to nicotine replacement to prescription drugs designed to lessen the urge to light up. Now Washington University researchers and BJC HealthCare are testing another one: telephone counseling.

U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Kevin L. MosesSoldiers currently stationed at Camp Liberty, Iraq, unload 105mm M119 Howitzer rounds.Comparing veterans deployed in the first Persian Gulf War and veterans deployed elsewhere at the same time has revealed veterans who served in the Persian Gulf have nearly twice the prevalence of chronic multi-symptom illness (CMI), a cluster of symptoms similar to a set of conditions often called Gulf War Syndrome.

Researcher Tiffany Tibbs discusses breast cancer treatment with a patient.Contrary to psychologists’ expectations, breast cancer survivors don’t experience an extended emotional crisis after their treatment regimens end, according to a new study by researchers at the School of Medicine. The study appears in the December issue of Supportive Care in Cancer.

Increased communication between brain cells increases levels of amyloid beta, the key ingredient in Alzheimer’s brain plaques, scientists at the School of Medicine have found. The findings showed that turning up brain cell firing rates drove up levels of amyloid beta in the spaces between brain cells.

Investigators at the School of Medicine have found that cells making up a non-visual system in the eye are in place and functioning long before the rods and cones that process light into vision. The discovery should help scientists learn more about the eye’s non-visual functions such as the synchronization of the body’s internal, circadian clock, the pupil’s responses to light and light-regulated release of hormones.

HaugheyBruce Haughey, director of the Division of Head and Neck Surgical Oncology and professor of otolaryngology, has been named the first to hold the Dr. Joseph B. Kimbrough Chair in Maxillofacial Surgery and Prosthodontics in the Washington University Department of Otolaryngology for Teaching and Healing.