Low-Calorie Diet May Lead to Longer Life
A low-calorie diet, even in people who are not obese, can lead to changes in metabolism and body chemistry that have been linked to better health and longer life, researchers are reporting.
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By DENISE GRADY
Published: April 5, 2006
A low-calorie diet, even in people who are not obese, can lead to changes in metabolism and body chemistry that have been linked to better health and longer life, researchers are reporting.
In the early 1990s, American scientist Richard Davidson traveled to India at the request of the Dalai Lama to meet with Buddhist monks who devote their lives to meditation. A Harvard-educated researcher at the University of Wisconsin, Davidson has since brought Buddhist monks to his lab.
Donations in the amount of $150 million will fund a brand-new UW-Madison science research facility, Chancellor John Wiley announced Monday.
A University of Wisconsin scientist is challenging recent rumors of a national autism epidemic, pointing to a new study on special-education trends.
University of Wisconsin Chancellor John Wiley announced a total of $100 million in donations Monday toward the construction of an on-campus biomedical research complex.
MADISON, Wis. — An alumni couple from the University of Wisconsin-Madison is putting up $50 million for the first phase of a unique, world-class research institute near campus.
Wisconsin business executives gathered in Milwaukee to hear how radio frequency identification and nanotechnology can make their businesses more competitive, but while several applications are tantalizingly close, barriers remain.
The technologies were outlined during a session of the Wisconsin Innovates Conference. Although presenters Alfonso GutiÃ?©rrez, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s RFID Lab, and Lawrence Casper, UW-Madison’s assistant dean for research and technology transfer, believe these technologies will influence business in many sectors, they acknowledged that both are a bit over-hyped.
MADISON, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-Madison received $100 million to build two research institutes on campus, including a private research center that will be the first of its kind in the Midwest, university officials said Monday.
Twin institutes of UW-Madison biomedical research and discovery – one public, one private – will rise in the 1300 block of University Avenue by 2009 with the help of a $50 million private gift from UW-Madison alumni John and Tashia Morgridge.
The Morgridges’ gift, announced Monday, is the single largest private donation in university history. It will be matched by another $50 million from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation for a total $100 million privateboost to the building project, now known as the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery.
Madison, Wis. ââ?¬â? Just in case anyone doubts that the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation has both the will and the resources to defend its stem cell patent, Andy Cohn would like to disabuse them of the notion. Cohn, government and public relations manager for WARF, said the foundation, armed with a $1.5 billion endowment, is prepared to take on any legal challenges to its controversial stem cell patent.
The couple’s donation will fund the first phase of the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery. The governor says the launch of this project is a big step forward in maintaining the state’s status as a leader in biotechnology. Gov. Jim Doyle says he called for facilities like this one, when he announced a $750 million initiative two years ago to further biotechnology and stem cell research in Wisconsin.
It’s the largest donation ever to the UW-Madison campus, and it had Governor Jim Doyle declaring, “On behalf of all the citizens of the state of Wisconsin, I thank you for what you have done.”
Doyle was directing his congratulations toward alumni John and Tashia Morgridge, who helped kick start a massive biotechnology center to be built on the UW campus.
It’s the largest donation ever to the UW-Madison campus, and it had Governor Jim Doyle declaring, “On behalf of all the citizens of the state of Wisconsin, I thank you for what you have done.”
Doyle was directing his congratulations toward alumni John and Tashia Morgridge, who helped kick start a massive biotechnology center to be built on the UW campus.
MADISON, Wis. — Gov. Jim Doyle is expected to announce a source of funding on Monday for the controversial biotech research center at University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The $375-million Discovery Center complex will include stem cell research, as well as business incubation services for related companies.
MILWAUKEE (AP) – Special education statistics being used to suggest a national autism epidemic are faulty and do not substantiate such a claim, according to a new study by a University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher
Paul Shattuck of the university’s Waisman Center wrote the study published in today’s issue of the journal Pediatrics.
University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor John Wiley announced today the largest individual gift in the university’s history.
The $50 million gift from John and Tashia Morgridge will benefit the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, a new building planned for the 1200 and 1300 blocks of University Avenue. The gift will be matched by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, bringing the total to $100 million.
Combined with another $50 million approved by the state, the pledges complete the fundraising needed to put up the building, said Carl Gulbrandsen, managing director of the foundation.
James C. Knox, a geologist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and an acclaimed expert on the pulses that affect the Mississippi River, told a group at Illinois State University that agricultural factors such as the draining of wetlands, improved drainage from farm fields and erosion are often blamed for floods.
The California stem cell institute’s plan to profit from the research it funds is going to cost it.
The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation said it is approaching licensing talks with the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine as if the organization were a commercial entity, since it plans to capture revenue from the commercialization of the research it funds. The institute, created by voters in 2004, will oversee $3 billion earmarked for stem cell research
CHICAGO, Illinois (Reuters) — A rise in autism cases is not evidence of a feared epidemic but reflects that schools are diagnosing autism more frequently, a study said Monday.
There may be as yet unknown environmental triggers behind autism, study author Paul Shattuck of the University of Wisconsin at Madison said, but his research suggested the past decade’s rise in autism cases was more of a labeling issue.
Wisconsin’s reputation as an emerging biotechnology hot spot will be further enhanced next month when the state is well represented at one of the world’s premier biotechnology conferences, businesses and organizations here hope.
Wisconsin attendees will make up 1.5 percent of the total participation at the Biotechnology Industry Organization’s International Convention, which will be held April 9-12 at Chicago’s McCormick Place Convention Center. That’s more than many other states and some countries.
Wisconsin is gearing up for what a state development group calls ââ?¬Å?the largest gathering of biotechnology leaders in the world.ââ?¬Â Next month, Forward Wisconsin hopes to market the state as a place where stem cell and other emerging biotech research is strong. Others think studying cells taken from embryos is wrong, and both sides are showcasing prominent people to make their point. (Sixth item.)
James Thomson, the stem cell researcher featured on a 2001 cover of Time magazine, will help Governor Jim Doyle lead a state delegation at a conference next month in Chicago.
We lost the dairy crown to California. Milwaukee’s days as the nation’s beer capital ended years ago. But when it comes to rat poison, Wisconsin can hold its head high: In the rodent-killing world, we rule.
Quoted: Richard Davidson, professor of psychology.
Women struggling with breast cancer can benefit greatly from online support groups, new research suggests.
These groups provide emotional benefits for breast cancer patients who can openly express their feelings in ways that help them make sense of their cancer experience, report researchers at the Center of Excellence in Cancer Communications Research, part of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: David Larbalestier, professor of materials science and engineering and director of the Applied Superconductivity Center.
Quoted: Max Lagally, professor of materials science and engineering.
More than 70 years ago, a farmer approached scientists at the University of Wisconsin asking them to solve a mystery involving spoiled sweet clover, a dead heifer and bovine blood that wouldn’t clot.
It’s that time of year again. Time for plenty of sneezing and stuffy noses. In fact allergy season is upon us.
While allergies affect different people in different ways, UW Researchers are looking for volunteers who have dust mite allergies to help them learn more about a new allergy treatment.
Gov. Jim Doyle announced Tuesday that a patented anti-anxiety compound developed at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has been licensed by a global pharmaceutical company.
Results from the first rigorous clinical trial of the bird flu vaccine for humans suggest that existing manufacturing methods could not produce enough vaccine to protect most Americans.
UW-Madison is one of the world�s leading research universities. The following are some discoveries and innovations that have occurred at the university in the last month:
UW-MADISON molecular biologist Ross Inman does not adhere to the theory, advanced by Time magazine in a cover story this week, that “the climate is crashing” and global warming is to blame.
But as Inman looks out on Lake Mendota from his sixth floor office on Linden Drive, he sees a lake that did not completely freeze over this past winter.
That view is at odds with the state climatology office, which reported that the lake froze on Dec. 19. With all due respect, Inman will believe his own eyes, and he says the lake did not completely freeze.
On Thursday, March 23, I [Bill Lueders] co-moderated a debate about the use of animals in research between Dr. Eric Sandgren, the chair of the UW’s All Campus Animal Care and Use Committee, and Rick Bogle of the Alliance for Animals’ Primate Freedom Project. My report about the debate covers much of the discussion and questions there, though I wrote that “I was a bit disappointed that both Sandgren and Bogle did not provide more specific answers to some of the questions asked.”
Bogle’s response to this is available after the break.
Quoted: Pieter Johnson, fellow of the Center for Limnology
What many scientists are calling “the next big thing” is really very small. Nanotechnology uses extremely tiny particles to make lots of things better and stronger. It involves the manufacture and manipulation of materials on an extremely tiny scale – particles so small that they can’t be seen with the unaided eye.
The unit of measure, a nanometer, is one-billionth of a meter – comparable in size to 10 hydrogen atoms, or roughly one-50,000th the width of a human hair. (Nano is from the Greek nanos, which meant little old man or dwarf.)
But these tiny structures – be they carbon nanofibers, liquid crystals or something else – pack a large potential, for good or bad.
Hummingbirds do it. Bears do it. Even whistle pigs do it. So why don’t we do it?
That’s the question scientists who study hibernation are asking. If humans could hibernate, or at least harness the power of torpor (as scientists call the dormant drowse), conditions such as SIDS, obesity and diabetes might be a thing of the past.
Researchers hope that studies of hibernators also may aid trauma victims, help preserve transplant organs, lead to safer weight-loss treatments and blood-thinning agents and shed light on some of the most basic, but still mysterious processes in the body.
Quoted: Jeffrey Jones, professor of medicine
Quoted: Alta Charo, professor of law and medical ethics (regarding investigation of possible scientific misconduct in stem cell research by a former UW professor)
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/living/pets/stories/0326slpetdish.html
Quoted: Dr. Ronald Schultz, professor and chairman of pathobiological sciences in the School of Veterinary Medicine
Stem cell patents held by a University of Wisconsin organization are so restrictive that they create an impediment to research, according to a science journal published Friday.
The authors, California stem-cell researcher Jeanne F. Loring and patent attorney Cathryn Campbell, said the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation patented stem cells so broadly that other researchers can do little without infringing on the foundation’s patents.
The article appears in Friday’s issue of the journal Science.
AT THE DAILYPAGE.COM/DAILY
It sounded like monkeys. During the first 13 minutes of last night’s Isthmus-sponsored debate on the use of animals in research, a strange chirping noise emanated from the sound system, adding uncomfortably to the already full classroom at the UW-Madison’s Chamberlin Hall.
The insistent sound played out as I introduced the participants; while my fellow moderator, UW Prof. Deborah Blum, explained the ground rules; and while Dr. Eric Sandgren, chair of the UW’s All-Campus Animal Care and Use Committees, made his opening remarks. At one point, Deborah leaned over to whisper in my ear, “Where are those monkey noises coming from?”
The University of Wisconsin’s animal research program is not transparent enough, and people would turn against it ifÃ? they saw animals in their cages and during testing, an animal rights activist says.
Rick Bogle of the Primate Freedom Project faced off against Eric Sandgren, the chairman of the All-Campus Animal Care and Use Committee, during a tense one-and-a-half hour debate Thursday night at UW-Madison’s Chamberlin Hall.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison broke years of silence Thursday when a UW-Madison professor went head to head in a debate with an animal rights advocate over the University�s use of animals in scientific research.
For the first time in eight years, a debate concerning the use of animals in research was held Thursday on the University of Wisconsin campus.
If anyone came looking for compromise at Thursday night’s public debate between animal rights activist Rick Bogle and UW-Madison professor Eric Sandgren, they picked the wrong venue.
Powerful patents on human embryonic stem cells held by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation may be more of an impediment to research on the prized cells than restrictions imposed by President Bush, an article in today’s journal Science charges.
(MADISON) A worldwide competition ends today in Madison, with gold, silver, and bronze medals at hand for the winners. Contestants are judged on their presentation, form, and sharpness, along with age, veining, and even odor in hopes of taking honors at the 2006 World Championship Cheese Contest.
UW Scientists have been using animals in their research for at least 15 years and animal activists have been protesting for just as long.But for only the 4th time at the UW, an organized debate and a civil one at that.A standingââ?¬â??room only crowd filled Chamberlin Hall on the UW campus.
WASHINGTON – Two research teams, one from Wisconsin and Japan, and the other from the Netherlands, have independently discovered explanations for the chief features of the H5N1 bird flu virus – its difficulty infecting humans, and the deadly effects when it does.
An international team of researchers, led by University of Wisconsin-Madison flu expert Yoshihiro Kawaoka, has identified the biological roadblock that prevents the avian influenza virus, H5N1, from transmitting easily between people.
NEW YORK – Why doesn’t bird flu spread easily between people? Scientists think they’ve found a reason.
The virus prefers to infect cells in the lung instead of such areas as the nose and windpipe, so it’s not easily coughed or sneezed out into the air, new research says.
Lake Monona glistened in the bright sunlight outside the big windows of the Grand Terrace of the Monona Terrace Convention Center. Inside, oblivious to the picturesque setting, a team of international judges was scrutinizing, smelling and tasting 1,792 samples of the world’s best cheeses. It’s the 2006 Biennial World Championship Cheese Contest sponsored by the Madison-based Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association.
(Photo shows Center for Dairy Research’s Mark Johnson judging)
A UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine professor has recently discovered why the H5N1 avian influenza virus does not spread easily from human-to-human contact, though it continues to infect those in close contact with infected poultry, a UW-Madison statement said.
Two groups of researchers, in Japan and in Holland, say they have discovered why the avian flu virus is rarely if ever transmitted from one person to another.
The reason, the researchers propose, is that the cells bearing the type of receptor the avian virus is known to favor are clustered in the deepest branches of the human respiratory tract, keeping it from spreading by coughs and sneezes. Human flu viruses typically infect cells in the upper respiratory tract.The avian virus would need to accumulate many mutations in its genetic material before it could become a pandemic strain, said Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a virologist at the University of Tokyo and the University of Wisconsin.
Foreign applications to graduate schools in the United States have increased 11 percent in the last year, marking a substantial ââ?¬â? if incomplete ââ?¬â? rebound from recent declines, according to data being released today by the Council of Graduate Schools.
The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that Ohio State University is not required to release videotapes of animal research sought under the state’s open-records law by an advocacy group opposed to such studies.
Fifteen other public universities have faced similar requests in the past year, although 11 voluntarily released the information sought. One of the three that refused, Mississippi State University, has been sued.
Standing in a large room where men in white coats monitor an array of instruments and silver tubing connects several giant chrome vats, one might not expect this lab�s product to be served in a waffle cone. But at the University of Wisconsin Dairy Plant located in Babcock Hall, the sweet smell of ice cream fills the air.
Wisconsin flexed its biotech muscles once again last week, this time in an area of medicine that is at the top of everybody’s to-do list: researching the viruses that cause influenza.
Welcome to Wisconsin, the flu capital of North America.
Don’t take that title the wrong way and run screaming for the nearest border. Wisconsin has yet to become a hot spot for the spread of avian influenza � and, it can be hoped, won’t become one. However, it may be the place where a possible pandemic is monitored and even controlled.
MADISON, Wis. — The UW unveiled plans and suggestions Monday about how to incorporate the Rennebohm building into new plans for a state of the art research center.
UW officials said the university could add on or build around the old building, but they would prefer to demolish it, reported WISC-TV.
