Research Updates

Researchers have found that men and women who feel sensitive to rejection based on their physical appearance are more likely to express interest in having cosmetic surgery than those who are less sensitive to appearance-based rejection. This effect is particularly true when people recall negative comments about their physical appearance.

It is well documented that police officers have a higher risk of developing heart disease: The question is why. In the most recent results coming out of one of the few long-term studies being conducted within this tightly knit society, University at Buffalo researchers have determined that underlying the higher incidence of subclinical atherosclerosis -- arterial thickening that precedes a heart attack or stroke -- may be the stress of police work.

During the past decade, residents of Pasto, Colombia, and neighboring villages near Galeras, Colombia's most dangerous volcano, have been threatened with evacuation, but compliance varies. With each new eruption Colombian officials have grown increasingly concerned about the safety of the residents who live within striking distance of Galeras. Now, geologists from the University at Buffalo and the Universidad de Narino have organized a workshop in Colombia designed to tackle the communication issue.

Stimulant medications, such as Ritalin and Adderall, are the accepted treatment to stem hyperactivity in children with attention deficit-hyperactive disorder (ADHD) and improve their behavior. Now a recent review of research by University at Buffalo pediatric psychologists suggests that such medication, or the assumption of medication, may produce a placebo effect -- not in the children, but in their teachers, parents or other adults who evaluate them.

Improved communication among patients and primary care physicians increases the chances those due for colorectal cancer screening will follow their doctors' advice and complete the procedure, a University at Buffalo study has found.

Modern glaciers, such as those making up the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, are capable of undergoing periods of rapid shrinkage or retreat, according to new findings by paleoclimatologists at the University at Buffalo.

The United States is becoming a nation of haves and have-nots when it comes to tobacco control, according to a comprehensive publication on cigarette smoking prevalence and policies in the U.S. that was released today.

In an editorial in the current issue of the <i>New England Journal of Medicine</i> (NEJM), William E. Boden, M.D., professor of medicine and preventive medicine at the University at Buffalo, recommends that the results of the BARI-2D Trial published in that edition must be interpreted with "considerable caution."

In 1993, John Eisner, D.D.S., Ph.D., was asked to develop software to streamline the admissions process at the University at Buffalo's School of Dental Medicine, where he was associate dean. Eisner responded to that challenge not just with a solution for UB but with a solution that other dental schools could use as well.

A rose by any other name is still a rose, but is an athlete by another name...a jock?