Research at U-M

Researchers find new way to attack inflammation in Graves’ eye disease

leekatt — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:17:49 +0000

A small group of patients with severe Graves’ eye disease experienced rapid improvement of their symptoms — and improved vision — following treatment with the drug rituximab. Inflammation around their eyes and damage to the optic nerve were significantly reduced. The same patients had not previously responded to steroids, a common treatment for Graves’ eye disease. Professor Raymond S. Douglas, an oculoplastics specialist who recently joined the faculty of the U-M Kellogg Eye Center, reports on the potential of the drug in the online October issue of Ophthalmology. [Read more...]

NIH stimulus awards to U-M Medical School top $47 million

leekatt — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:14:36 +0000

The National Institutes of Health have granted 182 stimulus-package awards totaling nearly $47.5 million to researchers at the University of Michigan Medical School as of November 1, 2009. The grants will enable U-M scientists and physicians to continue or begin projects that explore innovative approaches to such important health issues as cancer treatment and prevention, the impact of endocrine disruptor chemicals on fetal development, kidney disease genetics, stress as a factor in childhood obesity and dozens of other areas on the frontiers of medical research. [Read more...]

Professor co-authors new book on conservation, food sovereignty

leekatt — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:57:15 +0000

Ivette Perfecto, a professor at the U-M School of Natural Resources and Environment, has co-written a new book that offers a radical departure from traditional theories related to biodiversity and food sovereignty in tropical regions of the world. In Nature’s Matrix: Linking Agriculture, Conservation and Food Sovereignty (Earthscan, Ltd, 2009), Professor Perfecto and her co-authors say that such goals cannot be achieved without embracing rural social movements and local peasant farmers. This new approach to the conservation of biodiversity is based on advances in ecology science and modern political realities found in rural areas, particularly tropical regions. [Read more...]

U-M professor selected as a Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching senior partner

leekatt — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:32:54 +0000

Magdalene Lampert, George Herbert Mead Collegiate Professor in Education, has been selected by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as one of five senior partners who will guide the development of the program’s agenda. The first topic is expected to be high failure rates among students in developmental mathematics in community colleges. [Read more...]

The Things They Carried

leekatt — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:48:28 +0000

U-M professor examines the items people bring to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall and their reasons for doing so, reported in an article in the Fall 2009 issue of LSA Magazine. [Read more...]

U-M scientists move forward with plans for embryonic stem cell projects

leekatt — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:21:36 +0000

Nov. 4, 2009 is the one-year anniversary of the vote approving Proposal 2, the state constitutional amendment that eased restrictions on human embryonic stem cell research in Michigan. The amendment permits Michigan scientists to derive new human embryonic stem cell lines. While no such projects have begun at U-M, researchers here have taken several significant steps this year to prepare for them. [Read more...]

SNRE professor contributes to study examining inequality, ’silver spoon’ effect in ancient societies

leekatt — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:38:02 +0000

The so-called “silver spoon” effect—in which wealth is passed down from one generation to another—is well established in some of the world’s most ancient economies, according to an international study reported in the Oct. 30 issue of Science. The study expands economists’ conventional focus on material riches, and looks at various kinds of wealth, such as hunting success, food-sharing partners and kinship networks. The team of researchers—including Bobbi Low, a Conservation Biology professor at the School of Natural Resources and Environment— found that some kinds of wealth, like material possessions, are much more easily passed on than social networks or foraging abilities. [Read more...]

Hybrid molecules show promise for exploring, treating Alzheimer’s

leekatt — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:10:26 +0000

One of the many mysteries of Alzheimer’s disease is how protein-like snippets called amyloid-beta peptides, which clump together to form plaques in the brain, may cause cell death, leading to the disease’s devastating symptoms of memory loss and other mental difficulties. In order to answer that key question and develop new approaches to preventing the damage, scientists must first understand how amyloid-beta forms the telltale clumps. University of Michigan researchers have developed new molecular tools that can be used to investigate the process. The molecules also hold promise in Alzheimer’s disease treatment. The research, led by assistant professor Mi Hee Lim, was published online this week in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. [Read more...]

The Unwitting Lexicologist

leekatt — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:14:56 +0000

Professor Sarah Thompson never suspected her life’s work would be to record an endangered native language before it is lost forever. Here is her story, as reported in the Fall 2009 issue of LSA Magazine. [Read more...]

Pregnant women risk early delivery from medications to treat depression

leekatt — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:52:45 +0000

The odds triple for early child delivery among pregnant women with a history of depression who used psychiatric medication, a new study showed. Researchers at the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and University of Washington found that a combination of medication use and depression—either before or during pregnancy—was strongly linked to delivery before 35 weeks’ gestation. “Medication use may be an indicator of depressive symptom severity, which is a direct or indirect contributing factor to pre-term delivery,” said Kristine Siefert, the study’s co-author and U-M professor of social work. [Read more...]