School of Medicine

He was one of only 45 physicians nationwide elected to mastership in 2005 at the college’s annual meeting in San Francisco.

Richard D. Wetzel, Ph.D., first came to St. Louis to attend Concordia Seminary. But when he arrived at the seminary, he wasn’t dreaming of a small country church. He wanted to become a college professor. He comes from an extended family that includes nine college professors, and almost all of them taught at Lutheran colleges. […]

School of Medicine research shows the immune system can brand foreign proteins by chemically modifying their structure.

Research suggests inflammation is the cause of postoperative atrial fibrillation, giving doctors new options for preventative therapy.

Until now, there were no studies to determine if exercise has protective effects in older obese people, says principal investigator Dennis Villareal.

Two genes were found to affect sensitivity to alcohol intoxication, interest in alcohol consumption and risk of developmental brain damage from alcohol. More medical news

Photo by Robert BostonProject ARK members enjoy ice cream at the School of Medicine’s Employee Appreciation Day picnic at Hudlin Park.

Breast cancer in younger women is more often fatal than the disease in older women. A research team at the School of Medicine has begun a study designed to find genetic factors that may contribute to this difference and is calling for interested women to participate.

Medical experts suggest leaving fireworks to professionals.Fireworks can be beautiful against the night sky on July 4th, but a Washington University emergency medicine specialist at St. Louis Children’s Hospital says, for safety’s sake, parents and children should leave the fireworks to professionals. All fireworks are dangerous, especially to children. Typically, about two-thirds of all fireworks injuries occur in the days around the July 4th holiday.

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.