Health and Medicine

As a result of Tuesday's terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, Americans have been hit with a "double shock," according to Paul Senese, assistant professor of political science at the University at Buffalo and an expert in international security and conflict process and American foreign policy.

While the use of hijacked commercial airliners by terrorists to attack the World Trade Center and Pentagon on Tuesday may leave many reluctant to board an airplane, the issue is not about flying, says Gayle Beck, Ph.D., professor of psychology at the University at Buffalo and an expert in panic and anxiety disorders and post-traumatic problems.

Tuesday's terrorist strikes at the World Trade Center and Pentagon "bring the horror of war into Americans' lives in ways others have been experiencing it for decades," according to Michael Frisch, professor of American History at the University at Buffalo.

Students in the University at Buffalo's summer archaeological field school at Old Fort Niagara have unearthed parts of the enlisted men's and officers' guard houses built by the British around 1768, as well as sections of the protective palisade around the old French "castle."

Scientists at the University at Buffalo, the Buffalo VA Medical Center and Roswell Park Cancer Institute have received a $2 million program project grant from the National Institutes of Health to perform research aimed at developing vaccines to prevent ear infections in children and respiratory tract infections in adults with chronic lung disease.

A biological scientist and ecologist at the University at Buffalo has received a $3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to determine how man-made environmental changes affect the transmission of malaria in Africa.

After spending the past six years probing the physics of how a football travels during flight using computer simulations and the videotape of a single forward pass from a 1976 professional football game, a University at Buffalo researcher hopes this week to put into place the final piece of the puzzle for a never-before-quantified phenomenon in football: why a forward pass curves slightly to the left or right, based on the handedness of the passer.

The alarming shortage of engineers throughout the U.S. has spurred numerous proposals on teacher training, curriculum and special programs, all geared toward boosting the sagging interest of American schoolchildren in science and mathematics. But one of the most important factors in shaping children's interest in science and math -- the attitudes of their parents -- is rarely mentioned, according to an engineer at the University at Buffalo.

Insulin, the hormone used to treat diabetes, also may have potential as a treatment for heart disease, a study conducted by endocrinologists at the University at Buffalo has shown.

Electronic prescriptions -- not fingerprinting of patients at pharmacies as proposed by some policymakers -- could help cut a substantial amount of illicit use of medications like OxyContin, according to Karl D. Fiebelkorn, assistant dean for student affairs and professional relations in the UB School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.