neurology

An upcoming broadcast of NOVA called “Memory Hackers,” airs Wednesday, Feb. 10, and will explore the cutting edge frontiers of human memory. Washington University in St. Louis scientists are featured in the show.

Researchers at the School of Medicine have received a five-year, $6.5 million grant to study the physiological underpinnings of developmental disabilities in children and to use the findings to search for novel ways to improve such children’s lives. The grant renews funding for the university’s Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (IDDRC), which is directed by John N. Constantino, MD (left) and Bradley L. Schlaggar, MD, PhD.

Scott Frey, PhD, has been named associate director of the Program in Occupational Therapy at Washington University School of Medicine and head of its Rehabilitation and Participation Science (RAPS) PhD program.

David B. Carr, MD, has been named the inaugural Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the School of Medicine. He is pictured at his installation with Larry J. Shapiro, MD, dean of the School of Medicine, and Victoria J. Fraser, MD, head of the Department of Medicine.

A new multi-institutional study that originated at the School of Medicine showed that giving monthly blood transfusions to young sickle cell anemia patients who already had experienced silent strokes reduced by 58 percent their risk of another stroke, silent or otherwise.

Explosive devices are the most common cause of traumatic brain injuries in veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. A new study shows that military personnel with brain trauma related to such blasts had outcomes similar to those with brain injury from other causes, according to researchers at the School of Medicine.

The brain appears to synchronize the activity of different brain regions to make it possible for a person to pay attention or concentrate on a task, scientists at the School of Medicine have learned. Pictured is the study’s first author, graduate student researcher Amy Daitch.

The most common inherited form of mental retardation and autism, fragile X syndrome, turns some brain cells into chatterboxes, scientists at the School of Medicine report. The extra chatter may make it harder for brain cells to identify and attend to important signals, potentially establishing a parallel at the cellular level to the attention problems seen in autism.

Neurologists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have received funding to study the brain following repeat concussions. The project is one of 15 around the country selected by NFL Charities, the charitable foundation of the National Football League Owners.

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have taken one of the first detailed looks into how Alzheimer’s disease disrupts coordination among several of the brain’s networks.