Tag Health & medicine
UW-Madison launches H1N1 study with asthma sufferers
The School of Medicine and Public Health is one of just seven research centers conducting the first clinical trial in the nation to determine the dose of H1N1 vaccine necessary to give immunity to people with asthma. Read More
UW-Madison’s ‘good ideas’ get lift from stimulus funds
The university has drawn more than $38 million in funding for more than 120 research projects and programs from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The work is spread across the range of academic disciplines, including public health, computer science, psychology, economics and engineering. Funding comes from agencies such as NSF, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Department of Energy and the National Endowment for the Arts. Read More
St. Jude CEO to deliver 2009 Rennebohm lecture
William E. Evans, chief executive officer of St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital and an expert on the treatment of pediatric cancer, and a research leader in the effect of genetics to the response to drugs, will deliver the 2009 Rennebohm Lecture on Thursday, Sept. 10. Read More
Future angst? Brain scans show uncertainty fuels anxiety
Anyone who has spent a sleepless night anguishing over a possible job loss has experienced the central finding of a new brain scan study: Uncertainty makes a bad event feel even worse. Read More
Team discovers gene for age-related cataracts
Participants in the University of Wisconsin–Madison's long-running Beaver Dam Eye Study have contributed to the discovery of a gene involved in cataracts in both aging humans and in mice. Read More
Reduced diet thwarts aging, disease in monkeys
The bottom-line message from a decades-long study of monkeys on a restricted diet is simple: Consuming fewer calories leads to a longer, healthier life. Read More
Doctor’s compassion may help cure colds faster
Some cold medicines will shave a day off your suffering from the common cold, but they often produce unpleasant side effects. A new study shows, for the first time, that the doctor's empathy may be an even better way to speed recovery. Read More
Major study links malaria mosquitoes to Amazon deforestation
In one of the most field-intensive efforts to explore the connection between malaria and tropical deforestation, a team led by Jonathan Patz, a specialist in the link between environment and health at the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at UW–Madison, has established a strong correlation between the extent of forest destruction and the incidence of the Amazon's most dangerous malaria vector, the mosquito Anopheles darlingi. Read More
From the waiting room to the birthing room
Years ago, dads-to-be nervously paced the floor of hospital waiting rooms as they waited to hear that their child had been born. But during those countless hours of waiting, many wrote down their feelings in journals known as "father's books" or "stork room jottings." Frequently left in waiting rooms in the 1940s and '50s, the journals provided an outlet for the apprehensive, often exasperated men. Read More
The healing game: How Nintendo’s Wii is making the hard work of physical therapy into child’s play
Pediatric physical therapists at American Family Children's Hospital have been introducing Wii video gaming techology into their patients' therapy programs with notable success. Read More
Curiosities: Why do the blue eyes of babies often turn brown?
Melanin is the pigment that makes body parts dark, said Burton Kushner, professor of ophthalmology at the School of Medicine and Public… Read More
Special protein helps maintain an efficient brain
The instruction manual for maintaining an efficient brain may soon include a section on synaptotagmin-IV (Syt-IV), a protein known to influence learning and memory, thanks to a study by University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers. Read More
Early Alzheimer’s diagnosis offers large social, fiscal benefits
Early diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease could save millions or even billions of dollars while simultaneously improving care, according to new work by University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers. Read More
UW-Madison cancels early summer Mexico programs
Based on the recommendations of the university’s International Emergency Response Committee, Chancellor Biddy Martin is instructing campus units to cancel student programs in Mexico that are scheduled to depart before June 1. Read More
UW-Madison to create national Alzheimer’s research center
Gov. Jim Doyle announced today (May 4) that the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH) has been awarded a multimillion dollar grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to create an Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. Read More
Researchers explore the broad-reaching effects of a pandemic in Wisconsin
If a pandemic hit Madison, canceling a football game at the University of Wisconsin–Madison's Camp Randall would protect thousands from exposure to illness. However, the economic cost would be substantial for stadium workers and employees at nearby restaurants and businesses if widespread, prolonged illness forced officials to call off an entire season of Badger football. Read More
As ticks expand, new areas may become prone to Lyme disease
Last summer, after returning home from a walk in Madison's Dudgeon-Monroe neighborhood, Susan Paskewitz was astonished to find a deer tick crawling up her dog's hind leg. It was the first time Paskewitz, a University of Wisconsin–Madison entomologist, had collected a tick in the city. Within the month, she learned of two other such cases. Read More
Sleep: Spring cleaning for the brain?
If you've ever been sleep-deprived, you know the feeling that your brain is full of wool. Read More