Skip to main content

Category: Research

High-tech inhaler from Madison company would help doctors track asthma attacks

Wisconsin State Journal

GPS can help a tourist find the way around a strange city, tell trucking companies where their vehicles are, and guide farmers in planting their crops efficiently. Now, a young Madison company is out with a GPS-equipped product to treat asthma. Asthmapolis has developed an inhaler fitted with a GPS device and a Bluetooth connection to a smartphone. David Van Sickle, an asthma epidemiologist and honorary associate fellow at UW-Madison, came up with the idea of tracking when, where and how often asthma patients reach for the medication device.

Wis. Assembly passes budget on party line vote (AP)

Madison.com

The Republican-controlled state Assembly passed Gov. Scott Walker?s state budget early Thursday over objections from Democrats who derided it as an assault on the middle class that will hurt public education, weaken programs for the poor and make it harder to get health care services. A Republican amendment keeps alive the University of Wisconsin?s WiscNet program, a non-profit cooperative that brings high-speed Internet services to about 75 percent of public schools in Wisconsin and nearly all public libraries. Originally, it would have had to return about $40 million in federal money under the budget. UW spokesman David Giroux called the deal, which requires any new financial commitments to be approved by the Legislature?s budget committee, a reasonable compromise.

Assembly passes budget after 13 hours of blistering debate; Senate next

Wisconsin State Journal

The state Assembly passed Gov. Scott Walker?s state budget about 3 a.m. Thursday, sending it to the state Senate, which planned to take it up about 10 a.m. Republican leaders worked feverishly in closed-door meetings on budget details most of the day on Wednesday, delaying the start of the floor session by more than five hours. Several provisions were removed at the last minute, including a plan to give back about $37 million in federal grant money awarded to the UW System. That proposal would end UW-Madison?s support of WiscNet, a statewide Internet provider. Vos called the decision to back away from returning the federal money a compromise that should lead to a better approach. The amendment, released after 7 p.m., would allow those who now have WiscNet to keep it. The deal adds a requirement that the state?s Legislative Audit Bureau do an audit of the program by January 2013.

Chris Rickert: Worry less about mice, more about humans

Wisconsin State Journal

I watched the video of fighting mice posted on the Madison-based Alliance for Animals website as part of the complaint it and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals filed against UW-Madison, which apparently has been pitting mice against one another in laboratory studies of aggression..It?s hard for me to see much blood lust in a pair of mice that are fighting, which in the short video looked more like a kind of bloodless wrestling. So it?s hard for me to see why it should be illegal.

Sustainable energy jobs could boost economy, group says

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Wisconsin should strive to do more to grow a renewable energy economy that creates jobs in the state, the author of a new sustainability report says. The report was published by the Wisconsin Sustainable Business Council, the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business and the state Department of Natural Resources? green tier program.

For Calgarian, device delivers sight and hope (Calgary Herald)

Calgary Herald

Noted: “What was a surprise was when the congenitally blind people were capable, just operating with 400 pressure points on the back, they could recognize human faces. There was big noise about this in the beginning of the ?70s. Hundreds of publications around the globe wrote about Paul Bachy-Rita and his device, about how people can see from skin. That was great proof and great success,” says Yuri Danilov from the University of Wisconsin?s Tactile Communication and Neurorehabilitation Lab.

Campus Connection: UW researchers may soon be exempt from animal cruelty statutes

Capital Times

Should scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison be exempt from state statutes pertaining to crimes against animals as long as the investigators are “engaged in bona fide scientific research?”

Scientists at colleges and universities across the state were granted these protections June 3 by the Joint Finance Committee in a measure tucked into an omnibus motion see item No. 27 in this document which mostly deals with UW System budget issues — including the new freedoms and flexibilities state campuses were awarded from state oversight.

Wasps to the rescue (WITI-TV)

On Wednesday officials with the Department of Natural Resources along with Entomology professors from UW-Madison started an experiment to eliminate the bug by releasing cups full of wasps onto newly affected trees.

Campus Connection: Finalists named for top UW-Madison research post

Capital Times

Following a seven-month national search, UW-Madison on Friday announced the names of four finalists for the position of vice chancellor for research and dean of the Graduate School. The job is the university?s top research post. The finalists were identified by Bill Tracy, a UW-Madison professor of agronomy who headed a 16-member search-and-screen committee.

Hundreds of wasps unleashed on ash borers

Wisconsin State Journal

TOWN OF SAUKVILLE ? Wisconsin researchers released tiny parasitic wasps into the wild as part of an effort to slow the population growth of a destructive beetle species that has destroyed millions of trees. UW-Madison entomologists released 800 stingless Asian wasps from four plastic cups Wednesday at the Riveredge Nature Center in Newburg, so they can feast on the larvae of the emerald ash borer.

Telecom measure could cost UW

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The University of Wisconsin would have to return nearly $40 million in federal funds – money intended to pay for community networks and improve broadband service for public entities – if a state budget provision aimed at protecting rural telecommunications providers becomes law. UW officials say the proposal also would prevent research universities in the state from participating in a high-speed system that connects them with research universities nationwide. “The consequences would be catastrophic,” said Paul DeLuca, provost at UW-Madison.

UW-Madison scientists create low-acrylamide potato lines

What do Americans love more than French fries and potato chips? Not much-but perhaps we love them more than we ought to. Fat and calories aside, both foods contain high levels of a compound called acrylamide, a potential carcinogen. University of Wisconsin-Madison plant geneticist Jiming Jiang, a professor of horticulture, has a solution. As described in the current issue of Crop Science, his lab has developed a promising new kind of potato that helps cut acrylamide, an innovation he created with support from USDA-ARS plant physiologist Paul Bethke, an assistant professor of horticulture.

WiRover was the big winner of the 2011 Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest (WTN News)

Wisconsin Technology Network

A Madison company aiming to help passengers in buses, trains and other vehicles connect to the Internet was the grand prize winner in the 2011 Wisconsin Governor?s Business Plan Contest. WiRover has developed an end-to-end software platform to deliver high-bandwidth Internet services to moving vehicles, including buses, trains, emergency vehicles and automobiles.

Shareholders approve TomoTherapy sale to Accuray

Wisconsin State Journal

TomoTherapy shareholders have approved the sale of their Madison company to Accuray, of Sunnyvale, Calif., for $277 million in cash and stock. Established in 1997 based on technology with UW-Madison roots, TomoTherapy?s Hi-Art system spirals around a patient firing radiation beams at cancerous tissue.

Wis. researchers use wasps to fight beetle

Madison.com

Wisconsin researchers have released tiny parasitic wasps as part of an effort to slow the population growth of a destructive beetle species that has destroyed millions of trees. University of Wisconsin-Madison entomologists released 800 stingless Asian wasps from four plastic cups at the Riveredge Nature Center in Newburg Wednesday, so they can feast on the larvae of the emerald ash borer.

Animal rights groups ask DA to investigate UW experiments involving mice fights

Wisconsin State Journal

Two animal rights groups are asking Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne to investigate whether UW-Madison researchers broke the law by conducting lab experiments in which mice fight. In a letter to Ozanne, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the Madison-based Alliance for Animals allege UW-Madison scientists violated a law that says “no person may intentionally instigate” a fight between animals.

Cellular Dynamics reaches agreement for distribution in Japan

Wisconsin State Journal

Cellular Dynamics International has an agreement letting iPS Academia Japan distribute the Madison company?s stem cell-derived heart cells in Japan. The agreement brings together CDI founder and UW-Madison researcher James Thomson with Shinya Yamanaka, a member of the Japanese company?s advisory board. Both are considered stem cell pioneers in their countries. They published articles in scientific journals at the same time in 2007 describing their separate breakthroughs in stem cell research.

Ex-Cheney aide gets into patent fight

Politico.com

Noted: But Wisconsin interests are identified with the opposition?and proponents of the bill said this has been an influence on Sensenbrenner. Just last week, Dr. Carl Gulbrandsen, managing director of a University of Wisconsin-related foundation?the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), a major leader in technology transfer?spoke out strongly against the bill.

It’s bug vs. bug in latest attempt to save ash trees

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Town of Saukville – Tiny parasitic wasps, Wisconsin?s newest weapon in the war against the emerald ash borer, took flight Wednesday in a forest that is under siege from the invasive tree killer. Two species of stingless Asian wasps that feast on the larvae of the emerald ash borer were released by scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison at the Riveredge Nature Center.

Two local companies get funding for medical isotope work

Wisconsin State Journal

Two competing local companies, both working to produce a scarce radioactive isotope used in heart stress tests and cancer scans, have each brought in money from investors. And at least one is getting wooed by three communities to house the manufacturing plant it plans to build. SHINE Medical Technologies, Middleton, said Tuesday it is getting $11 million from investors led by Knox, a Las Vegas venture capital fund set up by UW-Madison alumnus Frederick Mancheski. SHINE?s collaborators include the UW-Madison and the private, nonprofit Morgridge Institute for Research.

Biz Beat: Local medical tech firm lands $11 million in funding

Capital Times

If everything falls into place, Wisconsin could land a high-tech facility to manufacture a valuable medical isotope used to detect heart disease or cancer. SHINE Medical Technologies of Middleton announced Tuesday it has secured $11 million in venture capital funding as part of its effort to develop the plant, which could create up to 100 permanent jobs.

Whistle-blower claims his accusations cost him his job

Nature

After months of friction that culminated in his openly questioning the reproducibility of data published by his supervisor, a postdoc at the University of Wisconsin?Madison?s zoology department was presented with three options. The department?s chairman said he could wait to be fired, resign voluntarily or accept a “gracious exit strategy” that would give him time to prepare a paper for publication, if he dropped his “scientific misconduct issues”.

Is it possible to predict the tipping point of an ecosystem? (EarthSky)

Scientists working on a remote Wisconsin lake have identified early signals that warn when an ecosystem is on the verge of a regime shift ? a radical and rapid change from one type of ecosystem to another. They hope that understanding this kind of signal will improve our ability to protect and manage ecosystems in the future. The research findings were published in the journal Science on May 27, 2011.

‘Fabulous day’ for Race for the Cure

Wisconsin State Journal

Some 12,000 people turned out at Willow Island in Madison Saturday for the Susan G. Komen Race For The Cure. The event helps raise money for breast cancer research and services, like the UW-Madison CareWear project. CareWear gives wigs, clothes and other items to patients undergoing chemotherapy

Divorce can hurt kids’ math scores, friendships

USA Today

Young children of divorce are not only more likely to suffer from anxiety, loneliness, low self-esteem and sadness, they experience long-lasting setbacks in interpersonal skills and math test scores, new research suggests. Children do not fall behind their peers in these areas during the potentially disruptive period before their parents divorce, the study revealed. Instead, it?s after the split that kids seem to have the most trouble coping. “Somewhat surprisingly, children of divorce do not experience detrimental setbacks in the pre-divorce period,” noted study author Hyun Sik Kim, a doctoral candidate in the department of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Divorce can hurt kids’ math scores, friendships

USA Today

Young children of divorce are not only more likely to suffer from anxiety, loneliness, low self-esteem and sadness, they experience long-lasting setbacks in interpersonal skills and math test scores, new research from the University o0f Wisconsin-Madison suggests.

Researchers map likely future contact with wolves

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

As Wisconsin?s wolf population has grown, so have conflicts with humans. But where will the future problems occur? And if we know those locations, how might landowners and others be able to respond?

To help pinpoint future problem areas, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Department of Natural Resources have created a new tool to manage wolf-human conflicts.

Mapping the state?s wolf risk

Wisconsin Radio Network

New research shows wolf attacks on livestock in Wisconsin are highly localized, and may be predictable. Adrian Treves of UW Madison has worked with UW and Department of Natural Resources researchers on ways to reduce the wolf threat to both people and animals.

Research yields map of Wis. wolf attacks

United Press International

Attacks on livestock, a major facet of conflict between wolves and people, are localized and may be predictable, researchers in Wisconsin say.

“It?s just hard to live alongside large carnivores. They damage crops, they kill livestock and pets, they threaten people?s safety,” University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Adrian Treves said.

Divorce Plagues Kids’ Social, Academic Lives for Years (Fox News)

Young kids whose parents divorce struggle with math, social skills and emotions such as anxiety and depression for at least two years after the split, a new study finds.

The research is the first long-term study to break down the effects of divorce by the predivorce, during-divorce and postdivorce phases. Surprisingly, said study researcher Hyun Sik Kim, a doctoral candidate at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, parents? predivorce marital problems didn?t influence their kids? social and school success. But once divorce proceedings began, children fell behind and failed to catch up for at least two years.

Children of divorce score worse in math, social skills

Reuters

Children of divorced parents often fall behind their classmates in math and social skills and are more likely to suffer anxiety, stress and low self-esteem, according to a new study. Researcher Hyun Sik Kim, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the study showed that the detrimental effects on the children do not start until after the parents begin divorce proceedings.

Wisconsin’s Badger Days begin

Madison.com

The University of Wisconsin?s athletics department begins its Badger Days tour on Wednesday with a stop in Milwaukee. The event at the Harley-Davidson Museum includes many of Wisconsin coaches and administrators, including athletic director Barry Alvarez, football coach Bret Bielema, men?s hockey coach Mike Eaves and women?s hockey coach Mark Johnson. Similar stops will be made on Friday in Wisconsin Dells and Tuesday in Green Bay.

Universities Expand Research Space at Faster Pace After Years of Slower Growth

Chronicle of Higher Education

The University of Wisconsin at Madison is notable among research universities: It lands in the top 10 for institutions that constructed the most space and spent the most money in 2008 and 2009, as well as in the top 10 of institutions that are planning major expansions in 2010 and 2011. Alan Fish, associate vice chancellor for facilities at Madison, said that the university is consistently in the top five in federal research grants and that the university has made it a strategic priority to stay there through building.

Madison Metro bus directions come to Google Maps

Wisconsin State Journal

Metro Transit?s embrace of green technology keeps rolling as riders can now plan their trips using Google Maps and use GPS data to track bus locations and arrival times on smartphones and PCs. Metro is also promoting applications created by third parties. Aleksandr Dobkin, a UW-Madison graduate, developed a Bus Radar application for Android, while Jignesh Patel, also a UW-Madison graduate, developed an app called Locomatix for iPhone and Blackberry.