Multimedia Reporting (Fred-Musser)

While inattention is often thought to be within a person’s control, studies suggest otherwise. There is in fact a science to attention and now research shows that attention is a mental resource with only so much capacity, Greg Simpson, Professor and Department Chair of the Psychology Department said. Attention is the ability to respond to the environment and what is around us. "Attention is a crucial step toward other cognitive processes," graduate student Mark Chan said. "It leads too things such as perception, memory, and decision making."

When a driver is talking on a phone or having a conversation in the car, attention is focused on the message of the conversation as opposed to the aspects of driving. All other messages in the environment such as traffic and traffic signals are replaced as the driver’s main focus. This can lead to dangerously divided attention and a greater risk of getting in an accident.

Research conducted at the University of Kansas by Dr. Paul Atchley has looked at in-car phone use and its effect on the increase of crash risk. His research shows that when conversational demands increase, attention to other areas of the environment decrease. When attention is taken away from the environment, the risk of having an accident becomes greater, researchers say.

The Kansas Department of Transportation has collected data over the past three years involving accidents caused by cell phone distractions. Since 2003, the number of accidents caused by cell phone distractions increased from 198 to 292. Deaths resulting from those accidents also increased from 1 to 3.

Because data is only three years old, the statistical increase in accidents is most likely not due to an actual increase in cell phone related accidents. “Even though data reflects an increase in accidents, it’s very recent data and the increase is most likely due a learning curve within law enforcement.” John Eichkorn with the Highway City Patrol said. “They know what to look for now.”

Despite the fact that there is only three years of data on cell phone related accidents, the research was enough to support a cell phone ban proposal last year. The proposal in Lawrence this past year aimed to ban the use of both hand-held and hands-free cell phones by drivers. With the frequency of cell phone use, the concern for inadequate attention is very real. “Distractions in general were the number one cause of accidents last year.” Eichkorn said. “With cell phones, it seems like everybody has them and everyone’s kid has them.”

People often assume that the coordination needed to use a phone is the main problem and the main distraction while driving. However, research is showing that the actual conversation, whether on hand-held or hands-free phones, is the distraction, researchers said.

Dr. Atchley was unavailable for comment, but his research reports say that the intentions of his research include improving driver performance.

Posted by Kelly Cochran at 7:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Good old fashioned, greasy, American hamburgers and french-fries may be the solution to the world’s energy crisis.

KU students have begun to research possible ways of chemically engineering bio-diesel fuel from waste cooking oils.

“The ultimate goal is to use inexpensive materials to make something that would be useful as a fuel source,” Susan Williams, Professor of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, said. “We’re looking for something domestically available, homegrown and renewable so that we are not relying on foreign resources for fuel.”

Bio-diesel is an environmentally friendly, non-toxic fuel made from renewable resources such as vegetable oils. According to Williams, the problem is the initial cost of production.

Williams said that pure vegetable oils are highly processed. As a result, the initial cost of making the fuel is at least twice as much.

Waste oil, produced from used cooking grease, is hypothesized to be able to provide a more cost efficient raw material, or feedstock, because the initial product is unwanted and cheap.

“If you could reduce the cost of the feedstock, you could significantly impact the process overall,” Williams said.

David Slade, a student researcher working on his PhD, said that some people are afraid to use bio-diesel fuel.

“The biggest obstacle for the whole project is getting people to accept that this fuel made from plain vegetable oil is actually a high quality fuel. If anything, it is good for your car,” Slade said.

Environmental Benefits of Research

The production of bio-diesel fuel uses sulfuric acid, a highly corrosive and toxic material. This process is hurtful to the environment.

A goal of the research is to find a catalyst, a chemical that changes the state of the oil, which is not absorbed and is re-usable itself.

“The big challenge is to find something that is as useful as sulfuric acid, but you can get back out and re-use,” Slade said. “Something that is easier to handle, less corrosive and less environmentally negative in its own right.”

“If you can use the catalyst without losing any of the material, you don’t have to spend money and resources on new materials,” Williams said.

Student and Community Co-operation

“One of the things that we are most excited about is getting the campus and community to do something like this in-house,” Williams said.

Williams said that we could take our own waste grease to make fuel for our own campus buses or diesel vehicles. This would allow students to take part in something technologically relevant in our society.

“It’s here. It’s happening in the US. It’s happening all over the world,” Williams said. “Students could actually do projects that are relevant, getting hands on experience.”

Students have the opportunity to work with other disciplines on campus, co-operating for a common goal.

“Engineers, chemists, physicists, business students, environmental engineers, people working on societal impacts could all work together to do something that is good for the community,” Williams said.

Research Could Attract National Praise

This kind of research is being looked at on the national level and has the potential to attract people KU. The project is funded through the Center for Beneficial Catalysis.

“In the national and international arena, KU could get a name as being a school at the forefront of this kind of research,” Slade said.

Williams said that this is a research area that has become a very popular topic in important markets. Very little has actually been done in the area and there is a lot of room for growth and new discoveries.

Posted by Jessica Wicks at 7:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Researchers at the University of Kansas School of Medicine have released a study that could lead to increased enrollment in the school.

The study, which was published in the September version of Academic Medicine, compares the performance of students admitted to the school from the main list to students admitted from the alternate list. Results show that the difference in performance between students from the two lists is not very significant.

“The study in a nutshell says that there are a relatively large number of students out there who have the potential to succeed in medical school but are not admitted because class sizes are too small,” Dr. Glen Cox, Vice Dean of the School of Medicine and co-author of the study said.

Cox and five of his colleagues put together the study after the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) reported in 2005 that the United States is headed toward a physician shortage (Registration required to view article). In an attempt to counteract the expected shortage the AAMC recommended that United States medical schools increase their enrollment by 15 percent over the next ten years.

The shortage is expected to affect the entire country but Kansas is one state that could experience a larger than average shortage of physicians.

“The Academy of Family Physicians published its findings and for the state of Kansas. It was estimated that we need to have roughly 240 more family physicians by the year 2020,” Cox said. “Also, keep in mind that a large number of physicians will be retiring in that time. So the state of Kansas alone will need anywhere from 480 to 700 new physicians.”

The study was designed to test the effects of increasing the enrollment to the School of Medicine. Students looking to go into medicine at the University of Kansas are currently selected by a 15 member selection committee that grades applicants on things like MCAT scores, previous GPAs, course work, letters of recommendation, interviews and personal statements just to name a few.

Cox estimated that the school has anywhere from 1,600 to 2,000 applicants each year and ends up bringing in about 300 for interviews. The students who come in for interviews are scored in each category and then ranked by their overall score. The first 175 applicants in rank are put on the main list while the remaining students are put on the alternate list in case a main list student has a change of heart.

“There is usually a large difference between people in the top 50 of the main list and the people on the alternate list, but in terms of someone ranked 100 to 175 and someone on the alternate list there isn’t that much difference in the selection process,” Cox said.

Cox and his colleagues found that of the 1,188 students admitted to the School of Medicine from 1997 to 2005, 1,024 students were accepted from the main list and 164 students came from the alternate list. They studied the performance of these main list and alternate list students by comparing basic science and clinical science GPAs as well as the students scores on the Step 1 and Step 2 CK tests, two tests that all students must pass before graduating from med school.

When the results were compiled it was found that once the students were in the School of Medicine the list they were on did not ultimately determine their performance in the school. The mean scores of students on the main list were above the mean of students on the alternate list on all tests. However, the standard deviation for all the tests was high enough to render the difference insignificant.

The results of this study have given the School of Medicine confidence to raise enrollment without fear of deteriorating performance and loss of prestige within the school. The possibility of increased enrollment would come as a relief to students currently working to get into medical school.

“The School of Medicine is extremely competitive so any increase in enrollment would help,” Nate Lata, Lenexa, junior said. “I’m not sure if the increase would effect me or not but it can’t hurt.”

The problem now facing the School of Medicine is finding a way to facilitate an increased enrollment.

“If we decided to go along with the guideline of admitting 15 percent more students we would be out of small group space and out of lecture hall space very quickly,” Cox said.

“We hope to have some proposals in front of the policy makers by early 2007. If we are going to increase medical school class size that’s still several years away because of the building, refurbishing and recruitment that will need to be done.”

Cox knows there is more work to be done but sees the results of his study as an important step.

“The main point is that now we know we have enough capable students if we admit more from the alternate list. The first step in dealing with the expected shortage will be getting people to fill those positions. Now we need to find a way to educate them.”

Posted by Bradley Mertel at 6:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Kansas state flower may be in danger of becoming what scientists call a super weed. Dr. Helen Alexander , KU Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, said that wild sunflowers and crop sunflowers, both helianthus annuus, are the same species and very genetically similar. When humans alter crop sunflowers, adding what is called the Bt gene to give them certain characteristics, and pollen spreads from a crop sunflower to a wild sunflower, there is the potential for the creation of what is known as a super weed. “A super weed is a plant species that is normally an agricultural weed, but has become a greater problem due to the incorporation of beneficial trans-genes into their genome through hybridization with transgenic crop relatives,” graduate student Jennifer Moody-Weis said.

Alexander said that crop sunflowers are generally bigger, have less dormancy and have greater disease and insect resistance.

According to Alexander, a hybrid sunflower plant is a plant whose parents consist of both crop and wild sunflowers. Characteristics from the crop sunflowers are transferred to the hybrids.

Alexander began her research in the late 1990s when Dr. Allison Snow, Ohio State University, contacted her about a project. Since then, Alexander and others, including her students, such as Moody-Weis have done a range of research on sunflowers. They recently received a four-year grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to study sunflowers at the seedling stage.

Alexander and Moody-Weis’ work is part of an ongoing project.

“I think that this research shows that we can use basic biology to assess the risk of the escape of transgenes from crop populations, and that much work needs to be done to fully access the risk.”

According to Alexander, there are two main issues, the genetic question and the ecological question. Alexander studies the ecological aspects of sunflowers. She said that ecology of this project can be broken down into space and time. Time includes multi-year studies and the dormancy of seeds. Space encompasses local patches and populations, metapopulation and regional distributions.

Alexander said that crop sunflowers have larger seeds, which is why people like to eat them. Alexander worked with Snow, Loren Riesberg, Indiana University and Charity Cummings, former KU graduate student to study seed size, characteristics of seeds and seed predation. They found that the average size of crop seeds is 48 milligrams, the average size of wild seeds is seven milligrams, and the average size of crop-wild hybrid seeds is nine milligrams.

One aspect of super weeds that the scientists studied was the effect of hybrids on animals in the environment.
“Quail, turkey and mice like to eat seeds,” Alexander said. “Maybe hybrid seeds get eaten more often. What we wanted to know is if there is going to be a difference in predation with hybrid seeds versus wild seeds. We found that the more hybrid seeds were eaten by the critters.”

The findings of this study were published in “Ecological Applications” in 2002. Alexander was also involved in the research for and writing of an article titled “Seed Size Variation and Predation of Seeds Produced by Wild and Crop-Wild Sunflowers.” This was published in the “American Journal of Botany” in 2001.

Moody-Weis’ research for her dissertation focused on regional distributions.

“My dissertation research had three components,” Moody Weis said. “The first chapter examined the roles of seed density and soil disturbance on the formation of seed banks. The second chapter looks at how we can translate information between different spatial scales. My third chapter focuses on really large scale issues, basically the modeling of the geographic distributions of sunflowers.”

Alexander and Moody-Weis are currently working with Snow and Kristin Mercer from Ohio State University on research for the new four-year grant. Their current research focuses on sunflowers at the seedling stage. According to Alexander, they have three goals, first to study the differences between hybrid and wild seeds without competition, and second to look at the survival and growth of hybrid and wild seeds with competition.

“Do the hybrid seedlings out compete the wild seedlings?” Alexander said.

The third aspect of their current research will be a population experiment. They will sow a combination of wild and hybrid seeds at different frequencies. Much of this research and growing is done at the Kansas Ecological Reserves , owned by The University of Kansas and located 20 minutes North of Lawrence. A variety of scientific work is done at the Kansas Ecological Reserves and a portion of it, including a nature trail is open to the public.

Moody Weis said that risk of the super weed scenario becoming a major problem may be low, but that is important to be careful anyway.

“I think that we have to be very cautious in introducing transgenes into our ecosystem,” Moody-Weis said. “Once they are out in the environment, we cannot recapture them.”

Posted by Andrea Chao at 5:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Scientists at the University of Kansas have discovered that insects are more prosperous living in larger prairie areas rather than smaller ones. By understanding how a smaller environment can affect insects, scientists are hoping to understand how human habitation affects insect life.

As Douglas County changed over the past century, the size of most insect communities also changed. Dr. Robert Hagen, a research associate at the Kansas Biological Survey, estimates that 90% of the fields that used to cover Douglas County have been broken up into smaller pieces. Until recently, it was unknown how insects react to this environment change.

“We wanted to look in more detail how the process of succession worked in small vs. large areas,” Hagen said.

At the University of Kansas Field Station and Ecological Reserve, located north of Lawrence, scientists created over 452 prairie environments for insects to live in. These environments were spread out in a 30-acre field. The idea was for all the different environments to be identical except for one aspect: size. This was accomplished by regularly running a mower between the different areas, keeping life from spreading between the different environments. From 1984-1993, life inside the different environments was allowed to grow and change on its own.

As this was happening, insects were collected from the different environments using nets. During the study, over 300,000 insects were collected, spanning over 1,000 different species.

According to Hagen, “There was so much data, no one could cope with it.”

Luckily, scientists didn’t give up on the study, and recently they have concluded that insects are more successful living in larger prairie areas. According to Hagen, the larger prairie areas not only boasted proportionately larger numbers of insects but also wider varieties of insect species.

Scientists still struggle to determine why insects live better in larger areas, especially since other creatures, such as rats, are more prosperous in smaller areas.

“We’re not sure why right now,” Hagen said.

The research will continue into the future as this ongoing study reaches 23 years of age. As students and funding come and go through the university, the progress of the project has been anything but steady.

“Part of the challenge is to maintain a project,” Hagen said.

Other life is also being studied inside the different environments, including plants, mammals and reptiles.

Posted by Joseph Hunt at 4:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The widely used herbicide Roundup could soon lose its effectiveness on the weeds it’s designed to prevent according to a recent study published by two KU researchers.

Monsanto produces Roundup to work on crops specially designed for it by the company. In theory, when a farmer sprays his field with Roundup the only thing that will survive are the Roundup Ready crops while all weeds will be killed. The Roundup Ready crops are resistant to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, because of a protein known as CP4 EPSP synthase added to the genetics of a crop. This protein prevents glyphosate from reacting with the plants.

In a startling recent discovery by KU Associate Professor of Medicine and Chemistry Ernst Schönbrunn and his graduate student Todd Funke, showed weeds could rapidly develop a natural resistance to glyphosate. If this happens on wide scale it could devastate the agriculture industry according to Schönbrunn.

“It would be catastrophic around the world if glyphosate loses its effectivness on weeds,” Schönbrunn said.

This could hit agricultural states like Kansas especially hard according to Schönbrunn. Only a new herbicide would destroy Roundup resistant weeds. That new herbicide would also destroy the Roundup ready crops in the field. Roundup ready crops accounts for 87 percent of soy beans, and 61 percent of cotton and 26 percent of corn grown in the U.S. in 2005 according to a USDA web site. Roundup Ready crops also include rice grown in Asia and some crops grown in Africa, according to Schönbrunn.

Weed resistance occurs because of overuse of the herbicide, like that of germs to anitibiotics according to Schönbrunn.

“If you spray too much or take too much, resistance will develop. That is the power of nature,” Schönbrunn said.

The study by Schönbrunn suggested that resistant weeds could happen. However, recent reports by farmers in Kansas and Missouri show it’s already a reality. Farmers in Kansas rotate crops yearly from soy beans to corn to soy beans according to the Douglas County Extension Agent for Agriculture, Bill Wood.

Until about 1999 soybeans were Roundup Ready but corn was not, meaning multiple types of non-glyphosate herbicides were used on corn Wood said. Once Monsanto developed Roundup Ready corn many farmers in Kansas began using it because it was economically and environmentally better, resulting in Roundup being applied to fields every year according to Wood. This was something Wood feared would lead to resistance.

“We said researchers knew it happened in other instances, and if you want it to last a long time you need to think about this,” Wood said.

According to Wood, this past Spring Kansas farmer Leroy Lenning discovered when he applied Roundup to his field, a local weed, mares tail turned yellow and looked sick but then bounced right back.

A study released this year by Missouri Professor, Kevin Bradley showed actual proven resistance to Roundup. The weed water hemp, which is a problem in Kansas and Missouri, is now resistant according to Kansas State University Professor Dallas Peterson. The field where Roundup resistant water hemp was found identically matches the theory and fear of how Roundup resistance would occur. The field has been using Roundup ready soy beans every year since 2006 according to Peterson. This resistance is a problem because Roundup Ready soy beans are almost the only option for farmers growing that crop.

“Well over 90 percent of the soy beans are round up ready in Kansas because the round up is so inexpensive and provides excellent weed control,” Peterson said.

Theories on how to combat what looks to be imminent resistance varies. Bill Wood said that farmers should use a different herbicide for a few years to kill all the resistant weeds. Then use Roundup on a cycle so it is not the only herbicide being used. Schönbrunn called the idea by Wood “clever.”

The problem is that glyphosate, which is what weeds are developing a resistance to in Roundup, is the only herbicide known not to be dangerous to humans, animals and the environment according to Schönbrunn. That makes using a different herbicide potentially dangerous.

Todd Funke thinks that the future of this problem can be solved by developing a new herbicide and Schönbrunn agrees. Schönbrunn said the herbicide industry needs to develop one or ideally two more herbicides that work like Roundup. Then by rotating herbicides each year weeds would not be exposed to the same herbicide year after year, and thus would not develop resistance. However, those herbicides do not yet exist according to Schönbrunn.

Monsanto has made no public statement on the study according to Funke. However they are aware of the problem and finding a solution is a high priority, according to Schönbrunn.

Posted by Brendan Farrell at 3:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

When swimming in lakes around the neighboring counties, Kansans’ may now be susceptible to naegleria fowleri, or also termed a “killer amoeba.” The rare amoeba forms in extremely hot, stale water conditions and enters through a human’s nose that has suffered a cut or some type of trauma. Studies being conducted by Dr. John Mullican of Washburn University show that the possibility of the amoeba living in Kansas is a greater possibility than ever before.

“We’ve taken several samples from lakes in the area and brought them back to the lab to incubate,” Mullican said. “The results that are coming back show positive signs of the killer amoeba being present.”

Mullican says that since 1965, only 200 cases have been reported worldwide. Of the cases reported, only two people lived to tell about it. Once the amoeba enters the nose it moves through the nasal gland, where it then proceeds to eat away brain tissues until the victim dies. The disease will end a person’s life within five days of entering the body.

“Often time’s doctors will not notice it when they run tests on a patient because it follows the same symptoms of meningitis,” Mullican says. “It is only after the person dies that the disease’s true identity is discovered.”

Many variables must fall in line for naegleria fowleria to enter the human body. Water in lakes or reservoirs must sustain a 90 degree temperature level while the water remains relatively stagnant. The best possibilities for this would come near a shore or a shallow area where the water is pooled. Accordingly, a person who is swimming in the water must have a cut or other sort of injury to the nasal area that can serve as an opening for the amoeba. Nearly all diagnosed with the disease have been healthy, college-aged adults. This pattern has not been able to be explained by scientists. While the majority of cases are found in the southern half of the United States, cases have been reported worldwide. The “killer amoeba” does not have the ability to transfer between people. Mullican says that since the disease does not affect the amount of people the way a disease like cancer does, research invested into naegleria fowleria is relatively low. He says it is likely that many cases in the southern hemisphere are commonly misdiagnosed.

Mullican says the needed variables to contract the “killer amoeba” are difficult to have aligned at the same time but he does add the affects of global warming prompted him to look into the bodies of water around the area. Since many lakes have been able to sustain warmer areas of dormant water, the focus to find the specimens closer to home has increased.

“Unless you fall down drunk in a swell of heated water, it is unlikely that you should be seriously concerned,” Mullican says. “But with global warming, this type of naegleria certainly creates an increased need for scientific study.”

Mullican, along with five research assistants, study the naegleria yielding samples on agar plates within the laboratory at Washburn. They extract the liquid form onto the bacteria plate, then place it into an incubator set, either at 37 degrees Celsius, human body temperature, or 25 degrees Celsius, to grow. Their growth is fueled by the consumption of the bacteria. Besides watching the effects of the amoeba growing, the lab also surveys the liquid version on a microscope, which captures the organism on a specially designed computer. He says his computer images have provided the positive results of the disease being in Kansas. Mullican says that until he publishes his findings he cannot state where the water samples were extracted from and also cannot 100% verify the amoeba is in Kansas, although he says by the end of next spring his research should be confirmed.

Posted by Dylan Schoonover at 2:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Kids are what they watch.

According to recent research, children’s television programming influences language development in infants and toddlers. Different shows have different influences on vocabulary production in children.

The study, conducted by Dr. Deborah Linebarger, University of Pennsylvania and Dr. Dale Walker, University of Kansas, showed that some programs, such as Blue’s Clues and Dora the Explorer, resulted in a higher vocabulary than that of Barney & Friends and Teletubbies.

Although many programs increase children’s vocabulary by means of repetition and common themes throughout the show, Dr. Walker said that parent participation is vital for language development.

“When sitting a child down at the television, if a parent is sitting there with them, then it’s a very engaging opportunity,” Walker, associate research professor at the University of Kansas, said. According to Linebarger and Walker’s article, infants and toddlers spend about 75 minutes in front of the television daily.

The study, which was published in the American Behavioral Scientist in 2005, explored the effects of eight children’s television programs on infants and toddlers aged six months to 30 months. Blue’s Clues, Dora the Explorer, Arthur and Clifford all demonstrated gains in vocabulary in children by as many as 13 new words at 30 months of age. While Dragon Tales and Sesame Street had no affect on vocabulary development, Barney & Friends and Teletubbies both negatively affected youngster vernacular.

For Ted and Emily Semadeni, this is good news.

Their daughter Isabel, a small tot at two years old, watches Dora the Explorer nearly every day.

“Right when we get home from day care she’ll watch it at least once, sometimes two of them,” Ted Semadeni said.

Dora the Explorer encourages children like Isabel to talk to the television in a repetitive manner, exercising new vocabulary. The program also introduces not only new English words to a child’s lexicon, but also Spanish vocabulary.

“I speak Spanish, so I would do anything I could to encourage her to speak Spanish,” Emily Semadeni said. The encouragement has already given Isabel multilingual success, as she recognizes many Spanish terms, including parts of her face and simple expressions.

According to Dr. Walker, the format displayed by Dora the Explorer is what makes language development more successful in some children’s educational shows. Programs like Sesame Street, though meant for learning, lack these traits.

“Dora the Explorer is for a younger audience. There’s a lot more repetition in that show,” she said. “They have a theme, they repeat it constantly throughout and in short segments, and they always go back to that. There’s a lot more interaction, so they have children doing things. Sesame Street’s not doing that.

It’s like sitting back and listening to a professor, a little bit,” Walker said. Walker has been involved in the University’s Juniper Gardens Children’s Project since 1990. The program is focused on the improvement of children’s development and educational experiences.

Even less successful for vocabulary, according to Walker and Linebarger’s research, were the children’s shows Barney & Friends and Teletubbies. Children who watched these programs knew 10 fewer words at 30 months of age compared to those who didn’t view the show.

Though most shows were linked to have a positive or negative effect on vocabulary development, the article said neither children’s informational nor entertainment programs were notably related to expressive language. However, according to the study, the amount of single-word expressions children used was increased by adult programming.

According to the study, shows like Blue’s Clues and Dora the Explorer are more successful with vocabulary than others because they speak directly to the viewer; this in combination with parent interaction helps children understand language easier.

Dr. Linebarger and Dr. Walker’s article said that Teletubbies negatively impacted language development in children for a variety of reasons. The article states that “the multiple forms of imput, including music, visual stimulation, and language, were too difficult and complex to enable word learning.” Teletubbies was also suggested as using “baby talk,” negatively impacting the development of vocabulary in children.

Due to the impression that Ted and Emily Semadeni get from children’s programs such as Teletubbies and its newest successor, Boohbah, they have chosen to instead expose Isabel to programs like Dora the Explorer.

“I think Dora does a good job of not doing baby talk,” Emily Semadeni said. “It’s not educational as in documentary-educational. It’s a fun educational show, and I love the Spanish influence.”

Dr. Walker said that no matter what the program, the most important part is for parents to be involved with what their children watch.

“With infants and toddlers, what’s really important is that they’re exposed to language in lots of different ways from other children and other adults, and that they have opportunities to hear language and to practice language throughout their day”

Posted by Brian Lewis at 2:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A computer program could help kids with chronic headaches say researchers in pediatric pain management.

The program, Headstrong, educates children 7 to 12 years old about headaches, teaches them relaxation techniques and introduces them to helpful coping strategies to deal with their pain.

“If you can give kids information, that makes them feel empowered,” said Mark Connelly, co-director of integrative pain management at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo. “Just that feeling can have a very real effect on the body.”

Connelly designed the original Headstrong program for his doctoral dissertation at the University of Kansas Medical Center under Michael Rapoff, division chief of behavioral pediatrics at the Med Center. The program has since been refined and modified based in part on feedback from kids who have used it, Rapoff said.

Rapoff continues to study the usefulness of the program. In a pilot study, published in August in the Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 53 percent of children using the program showed clinically significant improvement.

That study examined the effects of Headstrong for three months. Now, Rapoff is conducting another study to look at longer term benefits, he said. The pilot study also compared the results of Headstrong kids against a control group that used no computer program. In the current study, the control group receives the same educational material as kids using Headstrong, but not the relaxation training. Connelly said this is to find if educating kids about their headaches provides a benefit.

Children use the program for four weeks, progressing through a series of lessons. Week one educates children about headaches. Children are introduced to the four parts of the pain puzzle: injury, feelings, thoughts and behaviors. Each can contribute to pain and how it is managed.

During week two, they are led through a series of relaxation techniques.

First is deep breathing: Breathe in slowly…2…3, now out…2…3.

Next, imagery: Imagine yourself in calm, peaceful place, like a beach or forest. What do you hear? What do you see?

Finally, muscle relaxation: Tense and then relax your muscles. Pretend you are a cat, stretching its legs out in front of it.

During week three, children learn about how to use positive thinking and problem solving techniques to reduce their headaches. Week four examines behaviors which can help, or worsen, headaches.

Some of the information might sound familiar, and should. The pain management techniques in the program are widely accepted and used in psychology, Connelly said. There is nothing cutting edge about the information delivered.

The difference is in how kids learn it. Where traditionally a child would attend a number of sessions with a psychologist, now the same information can be delivered in their home with them in control of how and when they learn it.

Connelly said that the results from the pilot study with Headstrong matched up very closely to the success rates when children are taught these techniques by a psychologist.

“For the most part, kids are better at most of that stuff than adults,” he said. “Adults can get more cynical about it, thinking it’s ‘new agey.’”

Rapoff said he estimated a normal cost of $1,500 to $2,000 for a child to traditionally learn the techniques in the program. The program is currently distributed by CD, but Rapoff would like to see it freely available on the internet, he said. Even kids without computers could benefit by using it on a school computer, he said.

“The advantage is that the children don’t have to come in and see a therapist and pay for it,” said Rapoff. “My hope for this is that it is readily available, with all the legal and medical caveats.”

He said one concern about hosting the program for free on the internet was that it couldn’t substitute a medical diagnosis or treatment. If headaches are being caused by a physical condition, like a brain tumor, then kids need to see a neurologist, he said. All of the children who have used Headstrong have been seen by a neurologist and had problems like tumors ruled out, Rapoff said. For those using the program, medication just doesn't do enough to manage their pain. Headstrong isn't a replacement to other therapy, though, it is another tool to use to treat pain, he said.

The possible financial benefits could extend beyond psychologist visits, however. Fewer headaches can mean fewer doctor visits and less reliance on pain medication, Connelly said. Parents would have to miss fewer days of work to care for their child.

Rapoff said they are also working on expanding the concept beyond just headaches. They also are working on Gutstrong for children with chronic abdominal pain and Jointstrong for children with arthritis. The idea can be extended to many chronic pain issues, he said. The current study ends late next summer, after which they will be able to consider how to distribute it.

Posted by Courtney Farr at 2:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Danny Bristow, 2006 graduate, has spent much of his life around cows – and he’s spent more than a few frightening moments running from angry ones.

“Growing up on a farm, I’ve been rammed, stepped on,” Bristow said. “You have a 12-, 13-, 14-hundred-pound animal running at you at 20 miles an hour. I’ve had to jump many fences, and thankfully I haven’t had any major injuries, but I’ve had some pretty good minor ones.”

With those scrapes and bruises in mind, Bristow decided to conduct undergraduate research aimed at figuring out why some cows are more easily angered, and more dangerous, than others.
During a two-year research process that’s nearing completion, Bristow found evidence of a biological reason for differences in behavior among cattle. Some of the behavioral links he found may help farmers and ranchers predict which cows will react with anger, panic or fear in a stressful situation.

The key to Bristow’s research is the hormone cortisol. Mammals produce cortisol when they are under stress, Bristow said, and it provides blood sugar, or glucose, during times of stress.

Bristow’s findings suggested that cattle showing more symptoms of anxiety during a stressful situation produce more cortisol during times of stress. He also found that these cattle tended to show anxiety during non-stressful times.

Bristow found that the cattle that produced more cortisol mooed more and were more hesitant to squeeze through a narrow opening after being confined. Even when roaming free, these cattle showed signs of anxiety.

For example, the cattle that produced more cortisol chewed their cud less than other cattle. Bristow said cattle usually chew their cud when they are more relaxed. These cattle also were more likely to stand up than lie down.

“Humans release cortisol under stress,” Bristow said, “so we thought if aggressive cows have more cortisol, that could be an indicator that they’re stressed out, and if that’s the case, maybe stress can lead to aggression in cattle.”

Bristow’s research may suggest ways for farmers and ranchers to predict which cows will give them trouble when placed under stress.

For instance, a cow that chews its cud less often than other cows may be more likely to cause trouble when confined, because less chewing is related to higher cortisol levels.

“Everybody’s going to be able to spot a stressed cow when it’s stressed, when it’s under confinement,” Bristow said. “But can you spot one when it’s out just relaxing?”

Bristow’s findings may even contribute to the idea that emotional reactions are connected to biochemical responses in all mammals, including humans.

“If there’s going to be differences in people and there’s differences in animals then maybe if you find a link in animals you can find links in people,” Bristow said. “We’re all mammals, after all, so there’s got to be some kind of common ground.”

Bristow said he heard many stories of aggressive cattle while growing up on his family’s Leavenworth farm, and he wondered what made different cows behave in different ways.

“You notice everybody kind of has a few bad cows in the herd,” Bristow said, “and I thought maybe if you can find an objective, scientific way to quantify what a dangerous cow is, you can sort of eliminate the tales that the farmers tell and actually have a scientific basis for why they are this way.”

Bristow, a psychology major, wanted to do some undergraduate research in his field to help him get into medical school. David Holmes, professor of psychology, helped him design the research and write his report about the research.

Holmes said Bristow came to him based on the recommendation of other professors. Though he did not know Bristow previously, Holmes said he was impressed by his interest in his subject.

“He came in absolutely out of the cold,” Holmes said. “But he told me, ‘I’m just curious.’”

Bristow said Holmes helped him figure out how to conduct the experiment and helped him write a report that they submitted to a peer-reviewed academic journal, Physiology & Behavior.

“He was an adviser in the best sense of the word,” Bristow said. “He made it difficult for me, he made me justify my reasoning, and he was there with a lot of support.”

The Honors Program awarded Bristow a J. Michael Young Opportunity Award, a grant funding his research. He also got to present his research during the opening session of the Honors Research Symposium this spring. Only four people present during the opening session each year.

Bristow, now a first-year student at the School of Medicine, currently awaits a response from the journal Physiology & Behavior.

Holmes said he’s confident that Bristow’s report will be published.

“I think it’s a very solid piece of research,” Holmes said. “If I were giving it a grade, I’d say it’s a good, solid A-plus.”

Posted by Matthew Erickson at 9:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

A new theory on a vitamin deficiency proposed by a KU Medical Center researcher may change the future of familial alcoholism.

Dr. Ann Manzardo, research assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral science, has found a link between a thiamine deficiency early in life and adult alcoholism. Manzardo said that thiamine, a B vitamin important for all cells, is often lacking in alcoholics.

“A thiamine deficiency has long been linked to alcoholism,” Manzardo said. “We now believe that the deficiency may be predisposing people to alcoholism instead of being the result of alcoholic behavior.”

Thiamine helps to break down sugars and turn them into energy. The heart and nervous system are especially prone to a deficiency, which occurs when proteins do not “turn on” the thiamine to run throughout the body. Thiamine also keeps nerves functioning normally.

Manzardo’s theory, which appeared in the September issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, suggests that some babies may have an inherited insensitivity to thiamine that inclines them to alcoholism later in life. This adds to the proven data that alcoholism is a genetic disease.

Manzardo said that white matter, a fatty substance that protects cells in the nervous system, sometimes does not develop properly in the first few weeks of life when there is a thiamine deficiency. This can lead to permanent problems, including adult alcoholism.

“Individuals with white matter damage may have impaired judgment when using alcohol and may be less able to stop themselves from drinking too much,” Manzardo said.

Previous studies have found that children of alcoholic parents develop at a slower rate, and their motor skills are especially impaired. White matter damage in the brain that results from a thiamine deficiency is now believed to be the cause of those developmental issues.

Manzardo said that the inherited deficiency is a major link to alcoholism later in life, as children with alcoholic parents are at a much high risk of abusing alcohol themselves.

“Sons and daughters of alcoholics are two to four times more likely to become alcoholics themselves,” Manzardo said.

Wally Mechler is the owner of W.E. Mechler Counseling. He is licensed to treat alcohol addictions, and he said that significant medical research has linked the genetic qualities of alcoholism.

“Between 60 and 70 percent of my patients actively report that they have at least one parent who is an alcoholic,” Mechler said.

One reason alcoholism is so difficult to study is because the gene connected with the disorder has not yet been found. However, if Manzardo’s theories prove to be correct, isolating the gene may become much easier. Right now, though, testing theories involves creativity, as gathering the data from birth to adulthood is an extensive process.

Manzardo said that she hopes to assess preteens with an inherited thiamine deficiency before they begin drinking and interview them again in 10 years, noting how many have become alcoholics.

The future of familial alcoholism may also be altered by a supplement Manzardo is currently testing. Benfotiamine is a dietary supplement that was created in the 1960s to help with side effects of drinking. It has recently been used to help diabetics, who have blood sugar problems that relate to the thiamine deficiency. A diabetic’s body can break down sugars properly with the aid of Benfotiamine.

Manzardo said that the drug activates thiamine in the body and dramatically increases the vitamin’s levels. It has been shown to improve brain function in alcoholics.

“We will see if the supplement has an effect on drinking and whether it will help alcoholics recover,” Manzardo said.

The supplement has been very successful in Europe at reducing the symptoms of nervous system conditions involved with alcoholism, and no adverse effects have been found. Manzardo said Benfotiamine could eventually be used to help those who have the thiamine deficiency before they abuse alcohol.

“Ultimately, it makes sense to give it to pregnant women or babies,” Manzardo said, “especially people who have a high risk for alcoholism.”

Manzardo said the supplement could improve or reduce the risk of alcoholism later in life. However, she said she would not recommend this without extensive testing that proves there are no negative side effects.

Mechler said there are many medications out now that help combat cravings, and he sees potential in Benfotiamine.

“If it was approved by the correct governing agencies, I would advocate anything that is safe to help,” Mechler said. “I promote supplements, and it is also about a holistic lifestyle.”

Benfotiamine has the opportunity to change the face of adult alcoholism by controlling symptoms before birth and in the earliest stages of life. Manzardo said this could decrease pregnancy complications, increase development rates, and in time, lead to fewer cases of alcoholism.

Posted by Gretchen Wieland at 9:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

University of Kansas researchers say a recent Yale University study, which claims high amounts of testosterone can lead to memory loss, may be misleading. The study, published in the September issue of the Journal of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, states that elevated concentrations of testosterone can have lethal effects on brain cells. Yale researchers said androgens, found in testosterone and all steroids, can trigger a programmed cell death known as apoptosis.

KU researchers are hesitant to fully accept the results produced by the study and worry that its data might give people a wrong impression.
KU researchers are concerned that the public will take the results of the study out of context.
“The study used massive amounts of testosterone that would be almost impossible to create in the human body,” said Michael Prewitt, health and exercise graduate teaching assistant. “Someone would practically have to eat meals of steroids to get that much testosterone, which is what people won’t realize by reading the study.”
The study used three different strengths of testosterone doses on the brain cells. The lowest dose is approximately 1,000 times the amount of testosterone in an average male and the highest dose is approximately more than 100,000 times.

The study shows that only the large amount of testosterone caused significant cell death. Cell death is natural and happens to about one out of every 10,000 cells daily in average humans according to Erik Floor, professor in neurobiology at KU.
“Programmed cell death happens when something is dysfunctional within the cell like a virus. The cell chews itself up and disposes of itself without the knowledge of other cells,” said Floor. “It’s like a mafia hit, it happens quickly and is low key not disturbing anything,”
Floor said it would take an exponential increase in apoptosis to have a significant effect on memory loss.
KU researchers say problems with the study don’t stop there. The study was done in vitro, meaning it was done outside the body and doesn’t take into account whether this would be possible in reality. Once a steroid enters the body it has a direct effect on the cells around it, then it passes through the liver where it could possibly be diluted said Prewitt. The testosterone would have another obstacle before reaching the brain cells, the blood brain barrier.
“The blood brain barrier is like a very selective bouncer at a bar. It will only let in things that are good for the brain,” said Prewitt. There is no quantitative data from studies that shows testosterone administration to the brain said Prewitt.
Another thing that KU researchers say the study doesn’t discuss is the fact that only 0.5 to 2 percent of testosterone is free within the body.
“About 99 percent of a person’s testosterone is bound to specific places in the body,” said Prewitt. This includes testosterone that is taken via steroids, the percentage that goes free stays fixed at 2 percent of the total testosterone, making it harder to raise the testosterone level to the amount used in the study.
It is unlikely that an in vivo, in body, study will be done because of patient rights. But testing in rats and decreasing the amounts of testosterone to realistic levels would be the next step according to Floor.
“Rats have the same blood brain barrier as humans so testing them would allow us to see if testosterone could actual reach the brain,” said Floor.
KU researchers are quick to point out that without an in vivo study results don’t mean much.

Posted by Stephen Peteritas at 1:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

New research not only links Anorexia and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) but KU researchers also say their findings may affect the treatments offered for both disorders as well.

The similarities between OC-spectrum disorders (OCD, Body Dysmorphic Disorder) and Anorexia are of growing interest to the scientific community. By connecting Anorexia to OCD, scientists can use everything they have already learned about OCD to help better understand Anorexia.

Anorexia is considered more difficult to treat than OCD, and research by University of Kansas Medical Center neuro-psychologist Cary Savage, Ph.D., may help expand treatment options.

“Current treatments are pretty good, but Anorexia remains highly treatment resistant,” said Savage. “The OCD treatment literature may give us important clues that ultimately lead to better treatments for Anorexia.”

Lisa Hale, Ph.D., who works at the Kansas City Center for Anxiety Treatment, said that Anorexia patients at her clinic often need an eating disorder specialist on their case working alongside a therapist because Anorexia is so difficult to treat.

“We’re trying to get them to have a more realistic perception of themselves over time,” said Hale. “They can’t just hear ‘you’re not fat’…it’s a process over time.”

Hale said that the OCD and Anorexia research has allowed her center to fine tune cognitive therapy and incorporate methods used to treat OCD into the treatment of Anorexic patients.

Savage said that establishing a link between the two diseases could eventually explain why some patients become anorexic.

“Understanding how OCD and Anorexia are related helps us better understand the potential causes of Anorexia,” Savage said. “Linking cognitive functioning in Anorexia with OCD does not necessarily pinpoint its cause, but it give us important clues that we can follow up on.”

The link between these two diseases was established using a simple paper and pencil test, called the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (RCFT). The test requires a patient to copy an image of geometric shapes of various size and detail. The patient is not told that she will be asked to recreate this image from memory. The original image is then removed, and the patient is asked to recreate it as best as she can.

“There’s a difficult way and an easy way to complete the drawing,” Savage said. “Patients with OCD and Anorexia tend to focus on the details instead of drawing the larger geometric shapes present.”

The patient is handed different colored pens as she completes the drawing so the researcher can determine the order in which she completed the drawing and stored the information in her brain.

Savage originally administered the test to patients with OCD in 1999. Then in 2006 he administered the test to patients with Anorexia and found that they performed identically to the OCD patients. Both OCD and Anorexia patients had significantly poorer performance than healthy patients when asked to recall the image from memory.

Savage said that patients with both diseases put information into their brain in a complicated way, and therefore have trouble retrieving that information after it has been stored.

Savage said the Anorexic patients’ tendency to copy the RCFT in detail might partially explain some of the perceptual distortions that occur in Anorexia. If a patient focuses on the details of the test over the whole (by copying small lines and complex shapes instead of large, simple ones), they may be more likely to fixate on the details of their own appearance.

“Anorexia sufferers might focus on a single body part, such as the hips,” Savage said. “Since the hips in women are invariably wider than the waist, they might perceive themselves as fat even though the overall body is thin to the point of wasting.”

Lawrence senior Laura Fletcher suffered from anorexia from 1998-2004. Fletcher, who struggled most with the disease after she began modeling in 2003, said that the link between OCD and Anorexia made sense to her.

“When I was an anorexic, as much as I could see my ribs and sternum I still fixated on my skin”, said Laura Fletcher, Lawrence senior. “I figured any extra skin was fat and as emaciated as I looked, it didn't even occur to me that I was wasting away.”

Fletcher said she wished that more people acknowledged the problem of Anorexia.

“Anorexia is well known, but it seems people remain turned away from it in their every day lives,” said Fletcher. “Anorexics have a disease, and we haven’t found a cure.”

Though his research cannot cure Anorexia, Savage said that he hopes it will increase knowledge about the disease and lead to new and better treatment options.

Posted by Jaime Netzer at 2:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)