Findings suggest new ways to study controls of early human development, causes of birth defects, and regeneration of damaged tissue.
Health and medicine
Montlake Tower, which overlooks Portage Bay, has distinctive architectural, technological and environmental elements.
Although the English are generally healthier than Americans, both countries grapple with large health inequalities. A new study suggests that in both countries, health and wealth are tightly linked. The study, published online Sept. 20 in the American Journal of Public Health, links income level with obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, asthma and other health conditions. The results surprised author Melissa Martinson, an assistant professor at the UW’s School of Social Work, who expected income to have less of an effect…
Dr. Angela Gonzales will ride from Bellingham, Wash., to Ventura, Calif., to raise funds for Hopi cancer patients.
The scientists were selected for their inventive ideas to transform their field of research and improve the health of the public.
Feeling wheezy? You could call the doctor. Or soon you could use your smartphone to diagnose your lung health, with a new app that uses the frequencies in the breath to determine how much and how fast you can exhale.
Finding that the failed vaccine RV144 did offer some protection against certain HIV viruses suggests a more potent vaccine might be possible.
Christopher Marshall underwent a seven-hour heart transplant surgery yesterday, Sept. 12, a UW Medical Center.
The UW’s new Molecular Engineering and Sciences Building opens this fall with a series of kick-off events focused on this emerging area of research. The associated Institute will focus on research applications in medicine and clean energy.
Findings challenge the assumption that, if a pulse is not restored soon, continuing resuscitation efforts is futile.
An international team of researchers has made headway toward a comprehensive listing of all the working parts of the human genome. More than 30 scientific papers appear today, include major work by UW researchers. The London Museum of Science celebrates with ceiling banners and aerial dancers.
Scientists created comprehensive maps of elusive gene-controlling DNA and a dictionary of the human genome’s programming language
Most genetic changes linked to more than 400 common diseases affect regions of DNA that dictate when genes are switched on or off. Many of these changes affect circuits active during early human development.
To improve the odds for mothers and their newborns in the new nation of Timor-Leste, a non-profit affiliated with the UW School of Public Health has launched a first-ever mobile phone project.
Sarah Davis took an unexpected side trip during an Alaskan cruise last week. While the Beaufort, S.C., resident was admiring the rugged scenery with her family, she developed debilitating pain in her leg. In the middle of the night,the ship’s physician diagnosed a dangerous blood clot. At 2:30 a.m. Aug. 21 in Seattle, UW Medicine vascular surgeon Dr. Benjamin Starnes consulted by phone with the cruise physician. Starnes advised on the impending need for a type of treatment not available…
UW researchers have found that a low dose of the sedative clonazepam alleviated autistic-like behavior in mice with a mutation that causes Dravet syndrome in humans.
Researchers have discovered molecular and protein signatures that predict rapid onset of liver damage in hepatitis C patients following a liver transplant. The markers appeared soon after transplant and well before clinical evidence of liver damage. Such early detection of susceptibility to hepatitis C virus-induced liver injury could lead to more personalized monitoring and treatment options after a transplant. Also, because the markers stem from an underlying pathology occurring at a very basic level, they might reveal why hepatitis C…
UW medical researchers are launching a study to help determine which of the two most common blood product combinations provide the best outcomes for trauma patients who require massive blood transfusions. Dr. Eileen Bulger, UW professor of surgery and chief of trauma at Harborview Medical Center, is the principal investigator for the clinical study. The study will be conducted at 12 Level I trauma centers across the United States, including UW Medicine’s Harborview Medical Center. Bulger and her team will…
Researchers have made a major advance in efforts to regenerate damaged hearts. They discovered that transplanted heart muscle cells, grown from stem cells, electrically couple and beat in sync with the heart’s own mucle. The grafts also reduced the incidence of arrhythmias (irregular heart rhythms) in a guinea pig model of myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). This finding from University of Washington-led research is reported in the Aug. 5 issue of Nature. The paper’s senior author, Dr….
Despite the increasing awareness of the problem of obesity in the United States, most Americans don’t know whether they are gaining or losing weight, according to new research from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, also known at IHME, at the University of Washington. Obesity increased in the U.S. between 2008 and 2009, but in response to the questions about year-to-year changes in weight that were included in the most widespread public health survey in the country, on average,…
HIV care centers are an important and highly accessed point of care for HIV-infected children and their families in sub-Saharan Africa, but opportunities to address other health issues are being missed. Proven interventions, including routine deworming among children, could be effectively integrated into HIV care according to a new paper by University of Washington researchers published in the journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. The article, “Integration of Deworming into HIV Care and Treatment: A Neglected Opportunity,” estimates that millions of…
Seattle researchers will be part of the new federal initiative to engineer 3-dimensional chips containing living cells and tissues that imitate the structure and function of human organs. These tissue chips will be used for drug safety testing. Tissue chips merge techniques from the computer industry with those from bioengineering by combining miniature models of living organ tissues onto a transparent microchip. Ranging in size from a coin to a house key, the chips are lined with living cells and…
A chemical that temporarily restores some vision to blind mice has been discovered. Its discoverers are working on an improved compound that may someday allow people with degenerative blindness to see again. Read the paper in Neuron News release on earlier study A team of UW Medicine researchers, in collaboration with scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Munich, conducted the study. Their findings appear in the July 26th issue of the journal Neuron. The approach could eventually help those with…
U.S. News latest hospital rankings UW Medicine’s two academic medical centers are ranked the best in the region and the state of Washington in U.S. News & World Report’s 2012 edition of America’s Best Hospitals. UW Medical Center holds the No. 1 rank and Harborview Medical Center is No. 2 out of 35 hospitals in the Seattle metropolitan area and more than 100 hospitals in the state. In addition, UW Medicine’s Valley Medical Center is ranked No. 4 in the metro…
The public is invited to an open house from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday July 21 at the facility, which has one of the regions strongest concentrations of MSspecialists.
Study suggests life-extending benefits of longer telomeres if recent male ancestors reproduced at older ages.
Analyzing medical records from thousands of patients, statisticians have devised a statistical model for predicting what other medical problems a patient might encounter.
Bioengineers have developed the first structure to grow small human blood vessels, creating a 3-D test bed that offers a better way to study disease, test drugs and perhaps someday grow human tissues for transplant.
Scientists try to find which single-letter switches in the genetic code influence health risks.
A textured surface mimics a lotus leaf to move drops of liquid in particular directions. The low-cost system could be used in portable medical or environmental tests.
The cells that line the pipes leading to the heart pull more tightly together in areas of fast-flowing blood. The cells’ mechanical response to their environment could aid understanding of heart disease.
New findings on the molecular biology of autism spectrum disorders are reported today in Nature.
The UW is one of five consortia of colleges and universities to receive National Institutes of Health funding to foster the next generation of global health scientists.
Pediatricians who showed an unconscious preference for European Americans tended to prescribe better pain-management for white patients than they did for African-American patients, new UW research shows.
Installing a gun cabinet dramatically reduces unlocked guns and ammunition in the home, according to a study in rural Alaska villages.
The walls of the aorta, the largest blood vessel carrying blood from the heart, exhibits a response to electric fields known to exist in inorganic and synthetic materials. The discovery could have implications for treating human heart disease.
Seven identical robots created and built at the UW will be flown to campuses across the country, where they will provide the first common research platform to develop the future of surgical robotics. The robots will be display Friday at an open house.
A new plasma pencil promises to give nutrition status in minutes that used to take 24 hours, and could improve health in developing world.
Adolescent boys with at least one parent in the military are at elevated risk of engaging in school-based physical fighting, carrying a weapon and joining a gang, according to researchers at the University of Washingtons School of Public Health.