Health and Medicine

A small piece of protein from one end of a larger molecule found in human saliva has been shown in laboratory tests to have potent antimicrobial activity against several types of bacteria and fungi, some of which are resistant to current drugs. If these findings hold up in animal and human trials, the peptide could form the basis for promising new drugs for treating a wide range of infections.

A study of a group of Germans conducted by researchers in the University at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine suggests that the relationship between gum disease and cardiovascular disease may be a common phenomenon in developed countries. The study found periodontal disease bacteria in samples of fatty plaque removed from the carotid arteries of 106 German subjects undergoing a procedure to unclog the large arteries in the neck. The bacteria were the same types as those found in carotid plaque from an earlier study of U.S. residents.

A dietary study by University at Buffalo nutrition researchers has shown that lutein and zeaxanthin, rather obscure antioxidant vitamins in the carotenoid family, have a significant positive effect on lung health.

If policymakers need one more reason to press for a good education for all Americans, here it is: Education is a boon to public health. University at Buffalo researchers have found that as education level goes up, risk of death from stroke and brain hemorrhage goes down. The relationship likely exists for other chronic diseases, as well.

Daytime nappers and people who routinely sleep more than eight hours a night have a greater chance of dying from stroke than those with more standard sleep habits, a study by stroke researchers at the University at Buffalo has shown.

A team of University at Buffalo researchers that has been at the forefront of quantifying and predicting the complex effects of drugs, now has found in animal studies that there is a "severe" tolerance to steroids that occurs soon after their initial use that blunts the effects of the drugs.

The importance of educating women who have type 1 diabetes about osteoporosis at a much earlier age is underscored by preliminary data from research at the University at Buffalo showing that diabetes and brittle bones may go hand in hand.

The nation's first master's degree program in pharmaceutics with a focus in pharmacometrics, a new field that fuses pharmacologic studies with computational and statistical methods of data analysis, has been developed at the University at Buffalo School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

In the wake of the Enron debacle, many Americans will begin to question how much they trust their employers, says a University at Buffalo School of Management professor who researches the development and consequences of trust in the workplace.

University at Buffalo researchers will test the somewhat counterintuitive concept that exercise can lessen tiredness in persons with multiple sclerosis, a group especially susceptible to fatigue.