School of Medicine

Smoking can increase the risk of death from cervical cancer.Cervical cancer patients infected with either of two strains of human papillomavirus (HPV) were twice as likely to die of their disease as patients with other common strains of HPV, according to a study at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. In addition, smokers with these strains increased their risk of death even further. Nearly all cervical cancers are associated with HPV infection of the cervix.

College eating habits can pack on extra pounds.College students talk about the “Freshman 15.” That’s the typical number of credit hours a full-time student takes during a semester. Some also claim it’s the number of pounds students gain eating dorm food and studying all night. New work from researchers at Washington University in St. Louis confirms that most students do, indeed, gain weight in college. Reporting in the Journal of American College Health, the research team found that about 70 percent of students gained a significant amount of weight between the start of college and the end of sophomore year.

Listed below are this month’s featured news stories. • Daydreaming and Alzheimer’s (week of Sept. 7) • New insight into arthritis (week of Sept. 14) • Preventing wrong-site surgery (week of Sept. 21) • Intense hip fracture therapy (week of Sept. 28)

A router in the new Open Network Laboratory, funded by NSF.A novel networking service has been made available to the research community by computer scientists at Washington University in St. Louis, enabling researchers and students remote, free use of the latest networking technology. Ultimately, the new Open Network Laboratory (ONL )can lead to innovations that can expand the capability of the Internet and other networking environments, said its director, Jonathan S. Turner, Ph.D., Henry Edwin Sever Professor of Engineering, and professor of computer science and engineering at WUSTL.

Anthony H. Guarino, M.D., instructor of anesthesiology, is joining scientists from around the country to test the drug called CC-5013.

Research has shown that the compound 17AAG has the unusual ability to simultaneously affect multiple proteins implicated in human cancers.

Researchers have found that the areas of the brain that young people use when daydreaming are the same areas that fail in people with Alzheimer’s.

The protein, Sirt1, is referred to as Sir2 in lower organisms, in which it has previously proven to be a key to aging and longevity.More medical news

Photo by Robert BostonIncoming medical students of the Class of 2009 and their guests watched the Cards beat Arizona at the dean’s annual welcoming party.

James B. Lowe III, M.D., chief of the Section of Cosmetic Surgery, admits he’s obsessed with detail. “When I’m in the operating room, every millimeter and every second counts,” he says. “It’s so important to be 100 percent focused in the OR. I go into this zone and nothing can distract me.” With every procedure […]