Health and Medicine

Nearly 2,700 years after it was buried in the Mesopotamian earth, the crumbled, plundered, and now spectacular palace of the ancient Assyrian King Ashur-nasir-pal II will within the next year open its virtual doors to visitors from around the world. The visit will be made possible by archaeologists, engineers and computer scientists at the University at Buffalo who have been digging with digital tools to produce the next era of instructional devices.

Scientists at the University at Buffalo and Therex Technologies, Inc. have developed a remarkably versatile, antibacterial compound with anti-inflammatory properties that they are investigating as a potential topical treatment for acne and gingivitis and as a preventive agent for skin cancer.

Older adults who listened to their choice of music during outpatient eye surgery had significantly lower heart rate, blood pressure and cardiac work load than patients who did not listen to music, a study by researchers at the University at Buffalo has shown.

College students can be taught to like cauliflower and 5-year-olds to drink grapefruit juice. It can be accomplished through flavor-flavor learning and all it takes is a sprinkling of sugar, says Elizabeth D. Capaldi, Ph.D., University at Buffalo provost and professor of psychology, who studies the origins and development of taste preferences.

Since it opened last Nov. 15, the V.I.S.A. Center has provided roughly 200 students who have been suspended from the Buffalo Public Schools for acts of violence a safe, weapon-free environment where they can feel comfortable expressing themselves. And even the toughest-acting students seem to be finding something they need there.

Gov. George E. Pataki has announced the awarding of three major, peer-reviewed grants totaling $25 million from the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research to the University at Buffalo and its research partners.

It's official: Buffalo's CAT is back. After nearly a decade without a New York State Center for Advanced Technology program that supports industry/university collaborations to drive job creation and economic growth, Buffalo is once again home to a CAT, this time a joint venture between UB and Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI).

The major players in medical care, research, education and biotechnical innovation concentrated in what has been termed the "High Street medical corridor" in Buffalo have formed an entity called the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus (BNMC) to coordinate projects that will serve and enhance the group as a whole.

New research by epidemiologists at the University at Buffalo has suggested that Vitamin E and a little-known vitamin called beta-cryptoxanthin found primarily in oranges are associated with healthy lung function.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- University at Buffalo Professor Leonard Epstein and his work with obese children will be featured in a segment of PBS' "Scientific American Frontiers," to be aired today (May 1, 2001). Locally, it can be seen on Channel 17, WNED-TV, at 8 p.m. Epstein, professor in psychology, pediatrics, and social and preventive medicine, will be featured in a segment called "Couch Potato Kids." Following the show, Epstein will be participating in "Science Hotline," a feature on the show's Web site (http://www.pbs.org/saf) that allows viewers to email scientists participating in tonight's show.