Feed of Latest U-M Research News
Public Health
Professor co-authors new book on conservation, food sovereignty
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...]
Viewing sneezing and coughing in public raises fears
Seeing other people sneeze and cough affects how people view the U.S. health care system and how likely they are to support federal spending to develop a flu vaccine, a University of Michigan study shows. "We found that exposure to public sneezing and coughing increased risk perception even for risks that are completely unrelated to the flu," said Norbert Schwarz, a research professor at the U-M Institute for Social Research, a professor in the U-M Department of Psychology and a professor at the U-M Ross School of Business. "We also found that people were unaware that exposure to public symptoms of the flu had influenced their judgments of risk, their views about government spending on flu research or their opinion of the U.S. health care system." [Read more...]
Whooping cough immunity long-lasting, study shows
Immunity to whooping cough lasts at least 30 years on average, much longer than previously thought, an analysis by researchers at the University of Michigan and the University of New Mexico shows. The research, by U-M professor of ecology and evolutionary biology Pejman Rohani and his former postdoctoral fellow Helen Wearing, now an assistant professor at the University of New Mexico, is scheduled to be published Oct. 23, 2009 in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens. Once thought to be under control, thanks to widespread childhood vaccination, whooping cough (pertussis) has been on the rise since the 1980s in the United States and several other countries. This increase has fueled concerns about the effectiveness of current vaccination practices and raised the question of whether whooping cough can ever be eradicated. [Read more...]
U-M professor testifies to Congress on health trends among former NFL players
The author of a U-M study on the needs of retired NFL players testified before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday on the role of his research in the debate over how to best address dementia in former pro athletes. David Weir, associate director of the Survey Research Center at the Institute for Social Research, told the panel that “faced with the aging of the U.S. population, we are all looking for policies and programs to serve the needs of people after a lifetime of hard work. This unique population of retired football players is an intriguing place to look for challenges and solutions.” [Read more...]
A Very Loud Number
Essay by Stephen Forrest, Vice President for Research
Occasional Essays, No. 2 [PDF]
Search & Discovery Home
By now, many have heard that the University of Michigan broke the $1,000,000,000 threshold for research expenditures in Fiscal Year 2009 (FY09). Indeed, by National Science Foundation accounting, U-M has moved into third place for research expenditures by U.S. universities in 2008 (the latest year for which such numbers are available). Only the University of California at San Francisco and the University of Wisconsin rank higher.
[Read more...]
U-M researcher part of effort to reform federal rules to improve accuracy of nursing home payments
Federal Medicare payments to the nation’s nursing homes will more accurately match the different levels of care that elderly patients require, under rule changes that have just been announced for implementation in 2010. “We know that the characteristics of nursing home residents have changed in the last decade, for example with more individuals who have severe mental illness and serious disabilities. But we were surprised that the old system, with only a bit of modification, is still very effective in predicting the cost of care,” says Brant Fries, research professor in the U-M Institute of Gerontology and professor of health management and policy at the U-M School of Public Health. [Read more...]
Getting an edge on a very common youth sport injury
Research at the Bone & Joint Injury Prevention & Rehabilitation Center is moving a step closer to solving a problem that affects at least 400,000 young athletes every year and causes them to sit on the sideline for months. Injuries to the knee anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of the most common youth sport injuries, and the injury frequency has been steadily climbing over the last decade. The new study, led by Center members and Kinesiology Professors Riann Palmieri-Smith and Scott McLean, will determine which components of current ACL prevention training programs work best to reduce injuries. [Watch video...]
U-M researchers find those with severe H1N1 at risk for blockage of lung artery
University of Michigan researchers have found that patients with severe cases of the H1N1 virus are at risk for developing severe complications, including pulmonary emboli, according to a study published Oct. 14, 2009 in the American Journal of Roentgenology. A pulmonary embolism occurs when one or more arteries in the lungs become blocked. The condition can be life-threatening. However, if treated aggressively, blood thinners can reduce the risk of death. “The high incidence of pulmonary embolism is important. Radiologists have to be aware to look closely for the risks of pulmonary embolism in severely sick patients,” said Prachi P. Agarwal, assistant professor of radiology at the U-M Medical School and lead author of the study. [Read more...]
Two U-M faculty elected to prestigious Institute of Medicine
Ana V. Diez Roux, professor of epidemiology and director of the Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health in the School of Public Health, and Arul M. Chinnaiyan, Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, S.P. Hicks Endowed Professor of Pathology, and director of the Michigan Center for Translational Pathology in the Medical School, have been elected to the Institute of Medicine. Being selected for membership in the IOM is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine. [Read more...]
$9.3 million grant to boost nanotech vaccine research
University of Michigan efforts to develop new nanoemulsion-based vaccines for a variety of diseases will move forward much more quickly thanks to a large federal award. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has awarded U-M a contract for $9,340,522 over five years for work to be conducted at the Michigan Nanotechnology Institute for Medicine and Biological Sciences at U-M (MNIMBS) and Ann Arbor-based NanoBio Corporation, the institute’s research partner for the project. "This contract allows us to develop the process to apply our nanoemulsion technology to almost any form of antigen. We believe this will facilitate a number of new vaccines as well as improve existing vaccines," says James R. Baker Jr., director of the Michigan Nanotechnology Institute, Ruth Dow Doan Professor of Internal Medicine, and founder and CEO of NanoBio Corporation, in which he holds a financial interest. [Read more...]