Futurity.org » Washington University in St. Louis

Big threat to women CEOs? Other women

Neil Schoenherr-WUSTL — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:19:16 +0000

WASHINGTON U.- ST. LOUIS (US) — Women who are high-status executives are often threatened by other women—and may not support them as potential high-prestige peers at work.

Women serve as chief executive officers of just 17 of the Fortune 500 top companies in the United States. PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi has been quoted as saying, “The glass ceiling will go away when women help other women break through that ceiling.”

After spine trauma, nerve detour revives hand

Julia Evangelou Strait-WUSTL — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:43:19 +0000

WASHINGTON U. -- ST. LOUIS (US) — Surgeons have restored some hand function in a quadriplegic patient with a spinal cord injury at the C7 vertebra, the lowest bone in the neck.

Instead of operating on the spine itself, the Washington University in St. Louis surgeons rerouted working nerves in the upper arms. These nerves still “talk” to the brain because they attach to the spine above the injury.

Alzheimer’s gene opens floodgate in brain

Tom Rickey-Rochester — Wed, 16 May 2012 21:16:21 +0000

U. ROCHESTER (US) — A genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease triggers a cascade of signaling that results in leaky blood vessels in the brain, allowing toxic substances to pour into brain tissue.

The findings come from an investigation into why a gene called ApoE4 makes people more prone to developing Alzheimer’s. People who carry two copies of the gene have roughly eight to 10 times the risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease than people who don’t.

RNA snippets direct worker bee tasks

Diana Lutz-WUSTL — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:58:29 +0000

WASHINGTON U.- ST. LOUIS (US) — Worker bees’ tasks change as they age, and a new study finds that tiny bits of RNA control this behavior shift.

What worker bees do depends on how old they are. A worker a few days old will become a nurse bee that devotes herself to feeding larvae (brood), secreting beeswax to seal the cells that contain brood, and attending to the queen.

When cells can’t recycle, arteries clog up

Jim Dryden-WUSTL — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 20:27:42 +0000

WASHINGTON U.-ST. LOUIS (US) — Researchers have found that problems with a digestive process in cells—called autophagy—can lead to clogged arteries.

The finding, from Washington University in St. Louis, could provide a target for future therapies aimed at preventing or reversing atherosclerosis, a common disorder in which fat, cholesterol, and other substances build up in the walls of arteries and block blood flow.

The study found that disruptions in cell digestion, called autophagy, caused drastic inflammation in artery walls, a common characteristic of atherosclerosis.

To tally Google ad boost, think long term

Neil Schoenherr-WUSTL — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:49:22 +0000

WASHINGTON U.-ST. LOUIS (US) — The effectiveness of Google search advertising is only accounted for by considering goods and services purchased off-line, as well.

The study, from Washington University in St. Louis, finds that the conventional method of measuring the return on investment of online search ads is limited and fails to take into account the potential for “cross-channel sales spillover.” The findings are published in the journal Marketing Science.

To beat glaucoma, train eyes with stress

Michael Purdy-WUSTL — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 18:59:12 +0000

WASHINGTON U.-ST. LOUIS (US) — Scientists have devised a treatment that prevents the optic nerve injury that occurs in glaucoma, a neurodegenerative disease that causes blindness.

The researchers, from Washington University in St. Louis, increased the resistance of optic nerve cells to damage by repeatedly exposing mice to low levels of oxygen similar to those found at high altitudes.

The stress of the intermittent low-oxygen environment induces a protective response called tolerance that makes nerve cells—including those in the eye—less vulnerable to harm.

Breast cancer ultrasounds: false positives

Michael Purdy-WUSTL — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:55:43 +0000

WASHINGTON U.-ST.LOUIS (US) — Adding ultrasounds to annual breast cancer screenings can help detect more cancers in women who have dense breasts and who are at a higher risk of breast cancer.

However, ultrasound has a downside: risks of false positive results and unnecessary biopsies that may outweigh the scans’ benefits.

Imaging with sound puts down the scalpel

Diana Lutz-WUSTL — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:13:56 +0000

WASHINGTON U.-ST.LOUIS (US) — Photoacoustic tomography is allowing scientists to virtually peel away the top several inches of flesh to see what lies beneath.

The technique achieves this depth vision by an elegant marriage between light and sound, combining the high contrast due to light absorption by colored molecules such as hemoglobin or melanin with the spatial resolution of ultrasound.

Mariana trench fuels volcanoes and quakes

Diana Lutz-WUSTL — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 20:46:51 +0000

WASHINGTON U.-ST.LOUIS (US) — A seismic survey of the Mariana trench investigated how water moves through the subduction zone, including related seismic and volcanic activity.

Last month, Doug Wiens, professor of earth and planetary science at Washington University in St. Louis, and two WUSTL students were cruising the tropical waters of the western Pacific above the Mariana trench aboard the research vessel Thomas G. Thompson.