Washington University

Wash U. wins, Westminster loses in first round D-III regional baseball games

May 19, 2016 By Bill Pollock

Brad Margolin (photo/Washington University athletics)

Junior Brad Margolin tossed a four-hit complete-game shutout to lead the Washington University in St. Louis baseball team to an 8-0 win over Augustana College (Ill.) in the opening game of the 2016 NCAA Division III Central Regional Wednesday at GCS Ballpark in Sauget, Ill. Margolin (8-1) struck out four and did not walk a batter throwing 101 pitches. He also improved his career record 14-2 with the victory.

WashU had 11 hits in the win and took advantage of seven walks. The Bears are 5-18 all-time in 10 trips to the NCAA Tournament.

The Westminster College baseball team came up short losing to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament Central Regionals, 11-4. The Blue Jays move to 28-14 on the season. The loss pushes the Blue Jays to the first elimination game of the tournament held on Thursday, May 19, at 12:00 pm. They play Wartburg.

Washington University women back in the NCAA D-III Elite Eight

March 7, 2016 By Bill Pollock

photo courtesy/bearsports.wustl.edu/

The No. 10-ranked Washington University-St. Louis women’s basketball team advanced to the 17th NCAA Sectional Semifinal in school history and third in the last four years with a pair of home wins in the first two rounds of the NCAA Division III Championship Friday-Saturday at the WU Field House.

The Bears earned an 87-48 win over Greenville College in the First Round, then used a big fourth quarter to pull away for a 62-45 win over the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in Saturday’s Second Round. With the two wins, WashU improved to 67-24 (.736) in 28 NCAA Tournament appearances.

WashU will travel to Crestview Hills, Ky., for the 2016 NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Sectional hosted by Thomas More College. The Bears will take on No. 25 Carnegie Mellon University in the Sectional Semifinal Friday, March 11.

Host and No. 1 Thomas More (29-0) will face No. 12 Maryville College (Tenn.) (26-3) in the other Sectional Semifinal Friday. Thomas More is the defending D-III national champion.

Washington University loses to Wisconsin-La Crosse. Bears face elimination this afternoon

May 15, 2015 By Bill Pollock

Wash U baseball. (photo/bearsports.com)

No. 2 seed University of Wisconsin-La Crosse scored a pair of runs top of the 13th inning as the Eagles posted an 8-6 over No. 3 seed Washington University in St. Louis in a winner’s bracket game Friday at the 2015 NCAA Division III Midwest Baseball Regional held at Copeland Park in La Crosse, Wis.

In a game that was suspended Thursday with WashU leading 6-5 after two innings, the Eagles shutout out the Bears for the final 11 innings of play to move into the finals of the winner’s bracket to take on Coe at 7:45 p.m. Friday.

WashU falls to 34-15, and takes on No. 3-ranked and defending national champion University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Friday at 4:30 p.m.

Ruling against California death penalty could be raised in Missouri execution cases

July 18, 2014 By Mike Lear

A federal judge in California has ruled that state’s death penalty takes so long to be carried out it breaks the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The ruling could have an impact on cases in Missouri.

Washington University Professor Peter Joy

The judge ruled that delays of 25 years or more for appeals and the rarely carrying out of executions by California mean that state’s death penalty has become arbitrary and pointless.

Washington University Law Professor Peter Joy says the ruling could come up in Missouri cases.

“Any lawyer representing somebody on death row who’s been on death row for a lengthy period of time should raise this argument now because there is this decision out there,” says Joy.

About 40 percent of California’s death row inmates have been there more than 19 years. Three Missouri inmates have been awaiting execution for 25 years, and about 22 percent of condemned Missouri inmates have been waiting 19 years or more.

Not all the delays cited by the judge stem from appeals.

Joy says also noted were, “delays [related to] the system itself, and have nothing to do with the person filing a lot of appeals.”

“Out in California,” says Joy, “There’s a much lengthier time before the court finds someone to appoint as a lawyer to represent people that have been convicted in their appeals and post-conviction relief. There isn’t that lengthy a time here in Missouri but there are still issues with the way the process works that take a long time.”

The issue could be raised by attorneys for Michael Shane Worthington, who Missouri is scheduled to execute August 6 and who has been awaiting execution for 15 years.

Backers, critics argue significance of Missouri’s new ‘right to try’ law

July 16, 2014 By Mike Lear

Next month, Missouri will have a “right to try” law in place that aims to allow terminally ill patients who have exhausted conventional treatments to seek the use of drugs, devices and products that haven’t gone all the way through the federal Food and Drug Administration’s testing process.

John DiPersio, MD, PhD (left) and Show-Me Institute analyst Patrick Ishmael

Governor Jay Nixon (D) signed legislation on Monday to make Missouri the third state to enact such a law, to give patients and their doctors the opportunity to try so-called “investigational” drugs if the makers of those drugs agree.

Proponents of the measure like Show-Me Institute analyst Patrick Ishmael say it will mean a lot to patients.

“I think they’re going to find this legislation as being very helpful to them, being very hopeful for their families,” says Ishmael, “and at the end of the day it provides them an opportunity to pursue treatment and care that before, the state may have been able to step in and try to prevent.”

See the legislation, HB 1685

The bill has critics, however, who say it won’t actually do anything.

“The problem is there’s this thing called the FDA,” says Doctor John DiPersio, Deputy Director of the Siteman Cancer Center in St. Louis and Chief of the Division of Oncology at Washington University in St. Louis.

DiPersio says a mechanism for giving patients access to investigational drugs already exists. He says no matter how the new law reads, the administration to a patient of a drug still under development without FDA approval is illegal.

“If you gave an investigational drug and the FDA found out about it … outside of a clinical trial, outside of their proper mechanism, then it could be potentially catastrophic for the patient, the physician and the institution,” says DiPersio.

DiPersio says it is unlikely pharmaceutical manufacturers would risk development of new drugs by giving them to patients under the terms of the “right to try” law.

“You can’t just give your drug to everybody in the country that wants it and not be in a position to actually, rigorously follow those patients,” says DiPersio, “because if something bad happens then it could undermine the development of the drug, number one. Number two is that there are liability issues.”

HB 1685 was sponsored by Representative Jim Neely (R-Cameron)

Proponents counter that one company, Neuralstem Inc, has expressed interest in making available experimental treatments for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease), under Colorado’s right to try law.

Still, DiPersio says allowing such access to new drugs not only threatens their development, but he criticizes the bill for allowing drug companies to require patients receiving an experimental drug, product or device, to pay for them.

“Under the current practices you’d have to get FDA to approve it, it actually reduces or limits the liability of the company providing it, insurance companies have to pay for the standard of care associated with it and any complications because it’s FDA approved,” says DiPersio, “But now, you’re telling me that the companies can actually ask for a payment for an investigational drug for which there is no known cost associated with it, so they could make up a cost.”

Ishmael says there is no way to be sure what drug manufacturers are going to do.

“Do we know the future about what the FDA will do, about what drug companies will do? This is a new innovation in the law, and really it’s a de-regulation where the state is getting out of the way,” says Ishmael.

Ishmael says he has no doubt the legislation will make a difference.

“There is something to be said for hope. There is something to be said for opportunity,” says Ishmael, “and I think the patients who are in a terminal situation deserve the hope and the opportunity of making sure that the state is not going to stand in their way when they seek this sort of experimental medication.”

The law becomes effective August 28.

Did you know Washington University in St. Louis has two of the most successful D-III basketball programs in the country? (VIDEO)

March 10, 2014 By Bill Pollock

Today’s Missourinet Mornings video features Washington University’s basketball programs (photo/http://bearsports.wustl.edu/)

No. 2 Washington University-St. Louis lost in the second round of the 2014 NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Championships Saturday night at the WU Field House in St. Louis, falling to No. 24-ranked Calvin College 83-75 win. The Bears ended their season at 24-3 and saw their 19-game winning streak come to an end…which was the third longest in school history.

The 5th ranked Washington women saw their season come to an end with a 72-66 loss to No. 12-ranked University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in the NCAA Second Round Saturday evening as well. The Washington women saw their season end with a 24-3 record.

What you don’t know about these two programs is that their success on the basketball court has been building for decades with coaches who have 33 and 28 years respectively. Watch as I share some of the numbers and a brief history of Mark Edwards and Nancy Fahey of the Washington University Bears.

Washington U. football makes D-III NCAA tournament (VIDEO)

November 19, 2013 By Bill Pollock

The Washington University-St. Louis football team received a bid to the 2013 NCAA Division III Football Championship, the NCAA Committee announced Sunday. Washington University, takes on No. 20 ranked Franklin College Saturday at 11 a.m. (CT) in the first round.

Wash U. went 8-2 in the regular season, including a 3-0 record in the University Athletic Association (UAA). The Bears ended the season with seven-straight wins, their first regular-season seven-game win streak since 1948. Washington U. also won its second-straight and 10th UAA championship in school history.

The Grizzlies are making their fourth-straight and sixth overall appearance in the NCAA Championship, all coming in the last seven years.

NCAA D-III bracket

Here’s a video from Washington’s athletic department showing the team’s reaction.

Researchers say MRI scans effective in catching early Alzheimer’s

August 30, 2013 By Mike Lear

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis say they have found another way to detect Alzheimer’s disease early.

Two methods of early detection of Alzheimer’s are moving closer to being approved for clinical use. One requires an injection, and the other, a lumbar puncture or spinal tap. Washington University researchers say they have shown that brain scans could be just as effective and less invasive.

Associate Professor Beau Ances says in fact it involves a resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan, which is a type of MRI scans that allow a person to just sit back and relax.

“All we’re doing is asking the individual to lie quietly, keep their eyes open and just be naturally thinking there and we can see functional connections within the brain.”

The scan tracks the rise and fall of blood flow in different regions as patients rest in the scanner. The resting data can be used to assess connections between regions of the brain to look for signs of Alzheimer’s.

Ances says fact that the scan allows an individual to be relaxed is significant.

“If you have someone that is, say, significantly more impared, it would be hard for them to do a functional task because they may get a little bit worked up, but as long as they can just it quietly in the scanner and they don’t move a lot, we can see similar kinds of functional networks without them doing any tasks.”

He says catching Alzheimer’s early can allow treatment to slow its advance.

“We may be able to stave off the progression for a number of years and that would have a huge economic benefit to society, as well as help these individuals in treatment.”

Ances says it will be some time before the method could be used in practice, but he thinks it will become the preferred option for patients.

“If you ask people what would you like to have … unless you have a pacemaker, certain kinds of metal or if you’re claustrophobic, it’s pretty easy to do.”

The findings have been published in JAMA neurology.

Study finds many survivors of domestic violence not getting mental health care

June 19, 2013 By Mike Lear

A University of Missouri researcher says a significant number of women who are in or have been in abusive relationships are not getting mental health care.

Assistant processor of social work in the University of Missouri’s College of Human Environmental Services Mansoo Yu (photo courtesy; MU News Bureau)

The study involved 50 women who had been the victims of violence brought by intimate partners. It found that more than 70 percent of them did not receive mental health care, even though they regularly see a primary care physician. 54 percent of them were suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), clinical depression or both.

Assistant Professor Mansoo Yu says that could be due to factors including social stigma, shame, concerns about privacy, healthcare costs or a lack of information. He says many of the women in the study also said they do not utilize housing, legal services or crisis lines.

Yu says screenings for domestic violence by primary care providers could help turn up more cases that go unreported, and get more help to victims.

“Though most of the survivors did not use services they reported using regularly their family doctors. So, based on our study, medical primary care doctors are uniquely positioned to screen for mental health problems and then they can refer these survivors to other services.”

Colleen Coble, CEO of the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, says the study affirms how battered women often respond to the trauma of domestic violence.

“I think it reflects the experiences of women throughout Missouri and certainly coincides with the reports from all of the service providers in the state, primarily those who are running domestic violence shelters … that they are really facing a crisis in being able to get adequate services for women in terms of mental health treatment and substance abuse treatment for those that they’re serving.”

As for reasons why women might not utilize services, Coble says there is a host of reasons that could be responsible.

“Those services not being available, not knowing what it entails, some of the services may be provided on a residential basis and do not make provisions for your children, it may be that the services are distanced from your home community and that will pose problems with maintaining your employment.”

Insurance coverage as a barrier to mental health care

Another reason could involve insurance coverage. Coble says many victims of domestic violence are among the many Missourians who do not have private health care coverage and make just enough income to not qualify for Medicaid coverage, leaving mental health care unaffordable.

“If you’ve gotten employment, which is the goal … you are separating from an abusive partner, you wish to sustain your family without the violence and support yourself and your children, very often with a job that is just a little bit over minimum wage you’re no longer eligible for the types of public assistance services that would perhaps get you quicker access to mental health treatment.

Yu says the women in the study were also skeptical of law enforcement. Coble says that is often for good reason.

“You can’t deny someone’s experience. If they’ve called for assistance and were told there was nothing that could be done by law enforcement or they went to court and found that it was not a responsive system to their needs in terms of ongoing protection, or things worked at one point but yet nobody enforces, say, an order of protection … it’s a very reasonable opinion to be skeptical that the system is not going to work for you.”

Screenings as a first step toward help

Coble thinks the recommendation that questions related to domestic violence be included in medical screenings is a good one, and adds, that is a requirement included in the federal healthcare reform law. She says the best way to do such a screening is to talk about an individual’s experiences.

She says that includes questions like, “Who makes the financial decisions in your home, what level of interference to you experience in how you are a parent, are you allowed to work, are there constraints on who you can spend time with … your family or friends, are you ever afraid?” Coble adds, “You can’t run down a list of checkboxes and expect someone who is a stranger to you to pour out very personal and traumatic information.”

Yu says his study did not explore any connection between mental health issues resulting from domestic violence in relation to gun violence, but says that is an area that deserves study.

“Some existing studies already found that there are significant relationships between mental health problems including PTSD and depression, and gun violence. In this study we didn’t see that correlation but I think that’s really some important topic that we have to study further.”

Coble says there is no one or easy answer to these issues.

“It’s layers upon layers of complexity.” She adds, “One of the simple solutions is having access to mental health care around the state that is offered clearly as, ‘This is a normal response to trauma of being victimized by your intimate partner repeatedly through violence.'”

The study was co-authored by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Louisville.

Findings suggest tailored approach better at treating cervical tumors

June 5, 2013 By Mike Lear

Doctors at Washington University in St. Louis say they’ve learned that preliminary testing on cervical tumors can predict how effective standard treatments will be on them.

A PET/CT scan reveals a cervical tumor in the left image that is no longer visible after successful treatment, in the right image. (image courtesy; Washington University)

Assistant professor of radiation oncology Julie Schwarz, MD, PhD, says the current treatment of cervical cancer beyond a certain stage employs platinum.

“Platinum is thought to be a radiosensitizer so it’s thought that just getting this a spot in chemotherapy helps the radiation work better, but one of the findings from this study is that the individual tumor cell’s sensitivity to that reagent, if it doesn’t respond to that reagent, it doesn’t do well. That sort of tells us that the chemotherapy by itself and picking the right chemotherapy is really, really important.”

Schwarz says this study was limited in scope, though, and she hopes it will lead to a case study that might help develop a more definitive test.

“You would enroll patients on a study where you would test their tumors up front to figure out if they’re insensitive to platinum. If they were insensitive to platinum would you then pick another reagent, and the question is what reagent would you pick, first of all, and how would you sort of rationalize and put patients in groups, and that’s sort of where some of our laboratory work is coming into play.”

Schwarz says researchers at Washington University are looking at how a number of cancers are treated and asking the same kinds of questions.

“This research is just part of a whole group of studies that’s being performed to figure out if [using standard treatments] is the right approach, and the results of this study and many others are sort of leading us to believe that’s not the right assumption … that we need to sort of individualize chemotherapy treatment for cervical cancer.”

She thinks that even in the next decade, doctors might be able to use a preliminary test on certain types of cancers to determine what treatments will be most effective on an individual tumor. Her aim is to make sure that cervical cancer is one of them.

The new findings have been published in the online journal Gynecologic Oncology.