PET detects neuroinflammation in multiple sclerosis

16-Jun-2016 - The triggers of autoimmune inflammation in multiple sclerosis (MS) have eluded scientists for many years, but molecular imaging is bringing researchers closer to identifying them, while providing a means of evaluating next-generation therapies for MS. More than 2.3 million people are affected by ...

Breast milk linked to significant early brain growth in preemies

02-May-2016 - Feeding premature babies mostly breast milk during the first month of life appears to spur more robust brain growth, compared with babies given little or no breast milk. Studying preterm infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at St. Louis Children's Hospital, the researchers found ...

Problems finding your way around may be earliest sign of Alzheimer's disease

Navigation skill test could diagnose brain changes long before memory fails

25-Apr-2016 - Long before Alzheimer's disease can be diagnosed clinically, increasing difficulties building cognitive maps of new surroundings may herald the eventual clinical onset of the disorder, finds new research from Washington University in St. Louis. "These findings suggest that navigational tasks ...

Rare form of diabetes may require alternate treatment

21-Mar-2016 - Patients with a rare, genetic form of diabetes often are misdiagnosed as having type 2 diabetes because the two share symptoms. But new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that treating such patients with therapies designed for type 2 diabetes is potentially ...

Viruses flourish in guts of healthy babies

16-Sep-2015 - Bacteria aren't the only nonhuman invaders to colonize the gut shortly after a baby's birth. Viruses also set up house there, according to new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. All together, these invisible residents are thought to play important roles in human ...

Relapse, poor survival in leukemia linked to genetic mutations that persist in remission

27-Aug-2015 - For patients with an often-deadly form of leukemia, new research suggests that lingering cancer-related mutations - detected after initial treatment with chemotherapy - are associated with an increased risk of relapse and poor survival. Using genetic profiling to study bone marrow samples from ...

Researchers home in on way to predict aggressiveness of oral cancer

02-Jul-2014 - Studying mouth cancer in mice, researchers have found a way to predict the aggressiveness of similar tumors in people, an early step toward a diagnostic test that could guide treatment, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. "All patients with advanced ...

Ingredient in red wine may prevent some blinding diseases

Resveratrol inhibits formation of damaging blood vessels in mouse retina

28-Jun-2010 - Resveratrol — found in red wine, grapes, blueberries, peanuts and other plants — stops out-of-control blood vessel growth in the eye, according to vision researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The discovery has implications for preserving vision in blinding eye ...

A golden bullet for cancer

16-Mar-2010 - In a lecture he delivered in 1906, the German physician Paul Ehrlich coined the term Zauberkugel, or "magic bullet," as shorthand for a highly targeted medical treatment. Magic bullets, also called silver bullets, because of the folkloric belief that only silver bullets can kill supernatural ...

Drug that modifies gene activity could help some older leukemia patients

15-Jan-2010 - Older patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) might benefit from a drug that reactivates genes that cancer cells turn off, according to research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and collaborating institutions. The researchers say the findings support further ...