School of Medicine

A bacterium that lives in the human gut adaptively shifts more than a quarter of its genes into high gear when its host’s diet changes from sugar to complex carbohydrates. This not only allows the bacteria to survive rapidly changing nutrient conditions but also helps maintain the stability of the gut’s highly complex microbial society, according to WUSM researchers.

Researchers at the School of Medicine are testing the effectiveness of an investigational drug for the treatment of sciatica pain. Sciatica involves pain in the lower back and hip that radiates down the thigh into the leg.

Bipolar disorder is often hard to diagnose in children, and it is easy to mistake the disorder’s manic phase for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, warns Joan Luby, a child psychiatrist at the School of Medicine and St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Learn more about pediatric bipolar disorder in the following St. Louis Post-Dispatch article.

Genomic analysis may one day be a primary diagnostic tool for physicians deciding on a course of treatment for trauma and other critically ill patients in the intensive care unit (ICU), according to a new study by a national collaboration of more than 70 physicians and scientists.

Physicians believe a vaccine-induced immune response could be used to supplement other cancer therapies or to immunize high-risk people. More medical news

Courtesy PhotoMario Castro and nurse Michelle Jenkerson visit with study patient Wil Klages and his mom, Peg Klages.Researchers went to children’s homes and analyzed dust and allergens to determine their role in the severity of infections.

The study builds on previous research that showed bipolar disorder can occur in children as young as 7.

University researchers have used a statistical analysis to generate new risk estimates for respiratory distress syndrome.

Initial results from an ongoing study evaluating the benefit of prostate cancer screening practices demonstrate that the combined use of both standard tests—the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test and the digital rectal exam (DRE)—is optimal for detecting cancer.

Child psychiatry researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are investigating the effectiveness of several therapies for children with bipolar disorder, also known as manic depressive illness.