School of Medicine

Children between the ages of 6 and 17 years old with moderate-to-severe asthma may be eligible for a study at the School of Medicine to evaluate whether two medications can reduce the amount of inhaled steroids needed to control asthma.

The high-fat “diet” that diabetic heart muscle consumes helps make cardiovascular disease the most common killer of diabetic patients, according to a study done at the School of Medicine. The study will appear in the February 7 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and is now available online.

Photo by Robert BostonHelping kick off St. Louis Children’s Hospital’s “Building for Care, Searching for Cures” campaign were Joe Buck, Jonathan D. Gitlin, Lee Fetter and Larry Shapiro.The collaboration will focus on accelerating cures in four areas: congenital heart disease, cancer, lung and respiratory disorders and musculoskeletal diseases. More medical news

Warfarin, also known by the brand name Coumadin, is often given to patients with atrial fibrillation, irregular contractions of the upper chambers of the heart.

Surgeons once treated blockages with a carotid bypass, which reroutes a scalp artery to restore normal brain blood flow and pressure.

“We’re analyzing the genes active in breast tumors to characterize the biological behaviors of each breast-cancer subtype,” says lead investigator Matthew Ellis.

Photo by Tim ParkerMedical students in the Ballroom Dance Club learn dances for the School of Medicine’s 10th annual Faculty/Student Med Ball, to be held March 11.

Listed below are this month’s featured news stories. • Warfarin increases risk of fractures (week of Feb. 1) • Older adults can control health (week of Feb. 8) • New cancer strategy (week of Feb. 15) • Enzyme affects aging process (week of Feb. 22)

Sustiva is the brand name for efavirenz.The largest detailed, prospective clinical study of the mental side effects of a potent anti-AIDS drug, efavirenz, has revealed that the anxiety, dizziness, “funny feelings” and vivid dreams triggered by the drug fade away within a month, possibly clearing the way for more widespread use. Efavirenz is the first drug from its class that lasts long enough to be taken once a day, and that makes it a potentially valuable drug for AIDS treatment, according to scientists at the AIDS Clinical Trials Unit (ACTU) at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

WUSM scientists have identified a protein that helps keep internal “clocks” in sync.Scientists have identified a receptor protein that helps the fruit fly know when to start and shut down its day. Neuroscientists from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis identified a receptor for pigment-dispersing factor (PDF) protein, which scientists previously recognized as a molecule that helps keep different internal “clocks” synchronized. Because these timekeeping processes have been highly conserved through evolution, what the scientists learn from flies and other organisms may help them better understand the same systems in humans.