School of Medicine

Among the areas activated by tasks designed to stimulate voluntary attention were the intraparietal sulcus and frontal eye fields, both believed to be part of a network of neurons called the dorsal attention system.The first direct analysis of the interactions between two brain networks that govern visual attention may help researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis develop treatments for stroke patients with a condition known as spatial neglect. These patients have difficulty focusing on or paying attention to stimuli in the left half of their visual field. They may forget to shave the left side of their face, fail to eat food on the left side of a plate or seem to be unaware that their left arm belongs to them. However, researchers have found that if they explicitly tell these people to pay attention to their left side, for a brief time they can do so.

In these brain sections of neonatal mice exposed to ethanol, mice deficient in certain enzymes (right) exhibit much more neurodegeneration as indicated by the black material in the dying neurons.Can you blame your genes if you can’t handle your liquor? A new study conducted at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis may pave the way to finding out. Researchers found that the brain’s response to alcohol is partially under the influence of two genes. The genes, studied in both adult and newborn mice, were found to affect sensitivity to alcohol intoxication, interest in alcohol consumption and risk of developmental brain damage from alcohol.

Lung tumors from mutant mice show an abundance of abnormal, undifferentiated cells.Often mice are used to investigate cancer because their accelerated life spans allow discoveries to be made in a few months. But most strains of mice stay relatively free of lung tumors, even when exposed to heavy tobacco smoke, so there has been a shortage of models suitable for studying tobacco smoke-induced lung cancer. Now, cancer researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed a strain of mice that readily develops lung tumors that have the same genetic mutations found in human lung tumors.

Listed below are this month’s featured news stories. • Bad metabolism and atherosclerosis (week of June 1) • Gulf War syndrome (week of June 8) • Timing key in diabetes cure (week of June 15) • New arthritis treatments (week of June 22) • Fireworks safety (week of June 29)

A team of engineers from Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Colorado at Boulder has removed bioaerosols – airborne biological particulate matter — from the air of a hospital therapy pool using a new generation of hybrid filters. The bioaerosols identified in the unnamed Midwestern hospital pool had sickened nine lifeguards who had become ill with hypersensitivity pneumonitis, a lung condition that mimics pneumonia symptoms. This forced the pool to shut down. It is now reopened.

U.S. Army photoThe battles don’t end with the war for some soldiers.More than a decade after the first Gulf War in 1991, a detailed comparison of the health of veterans who were deployed to the Persian Gulf region and veterans who served elsewhere has found that the health of the two groups is very similar. However, the study also found that Gulf War veterans are more likely to have chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia syndrome.

Atrial fibrillation, one of the most common and least manageable postoperative complications of heart surgery, may soon have an effective treatment.

Hip fractures are among the most common bone breaks for adults over the age of 65. These injuries can render previously active adults severely disabled. Recovery from a hip fracture can be long and strenuous. That’s why doctors at the School of Medicine are studying the effects of hormone therapy on hip fracture patients.

The compound eye of a fruit fly (left) and a micrograph of the cells that make up the eyeThe laws of physics combine with the mutual attraction of two proteins to create the honeycomb pattern of fruit fly eyes, say molecular biologists at the School of Medicine. This same combination of forces forms the delicate filtering structures of the mammalian kidney.

School of Medicine researchers are testing ginseng, an ancient Asian herbal medicine, to see if it can help prevent diabetes in overweight adults. Read more about the study in this St. Louis Post-Dispatch article.