University of Wisconsin
By solving a long-standing puzzle about how the influenza virus assembles its genetic contents into infectious particles that enable the virus to spread from cell to cell, scientists have opened a new gateway to a better understanding of one of the world's most virulent diseases. This insight into the genetic workings that underpin infection by flu, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provides not only a better basic understanding of how flu and other viruses work, but holds significant promise for new and improved vaccines and drugs to combat the disease by exposing the genetic trick it uses to form virus particles.
In one of Chicago's poorest neighborhoods, a little girl with pigtails and a denim jumper stands in front of a table and fingers the shape of wooden letters as she fits them into a puzzle. In the next room, her mother talks to a parent-resource teacher about taking the GED and how she can help her daughter with homework. According to a new study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, this type of learning environment does more than strengthen skills - it helps cut the rate at which enrolled children will be abused or neglected by their parents or caregivers. The findings, published in the current issue of the journal Child Development, provide new evidence that preschool programs can impact not just school readiness, but long-term family outcomes.
They say money can't buy love, but could it change the structure of your brain? When the going gets tough, do the tough live longer? And if an apple a day keeps the doctor away, what can hard apple cider do? For 45 years, the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS) has provided policy makers and social science researchers with an unparalleled look at how education, career and family affect adult life. Housed in the Center for Demography of Health and Aging at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, this groundbreaking study repeatedly surveys thousands of 1957 graduates from all of Wisconsin's high schools about their interests and experiences, habits and health.
A dramatic increase in deformed frogs and other amphibians is being caused by a range of environmental factors, all of which can ultimately be linked to human impacts on habitat, but the primary cause of many of the deformities is an epidemic of a key parasite. These findings are the results of eight years of research by scientists around the world, and are presented in the February issue of Scientific American by researchers from Oregon State University and the University of Wisconsin.
A Wisconsin scientist is using new technology to tackle an old problem in cheesemaking - and the solution could mean both a bigger market for the state's dairy producers and reduced costs for cheesemakers. One of the major expenses in cheesemaking is the cost of storing cheeses as they age and develop their distinctive flavors, says Jim Steele, a food scientist with the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Cheddar takes six months to a year to mature, while Parmesan takes a full year. During that time off-flavors and bitterness, the most common Cheddar defects, may develop. "We've identified an enzyme that plays a critical role in reducing bitterness in cheese," says Steele. "If the bacteria in the starter culture produced this enzyme cheesemakers would save money and ensure a more consistent product."
The slightest turn of the head can significantly change the way a person or animal detects sound. A subtle tilt alters the angle at which high-frequency sound waves hit the ear, providing cues to localize the sound. To use those cues, the brain must put what it hears into the context of the position of the head. Until recently, scientists were not sure how this was done. Now researchers in Wisconsin appear to have the explanation. They have discovered that in the cochlear nucleus, the first sound-processing station in the brain, certain cells accomplish the job by integrating the two kinds of information, each of which travels along a distinct pathway.
In the race to cure cancer, researchers look for roadblocks that could stop cancer in its tracks, preventing it from spreading to other parts of the body. Scientists from Wisonsin may have found that blockade - an enzyme critical to the ability of cells to metastasize, a biological phenomenon by which cells migrate.
Like farmers across the nation bringing in their crops this season, researchers in Wisconsin are carefully taking stock of a very special harvest ? one grown aboard the International Space Station.
To remain young at heart, eat less. That's the message drawn from new research out of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where a team of scientists studied middle-aged mice that were put on a calorie-restricted diet. What they found were signs of a remarkable uptick in heart health in old age. "It looks like caloric restriction just retarded the whole aging process in the heart," said one of the researchers. The new study provides evidence that -- even starting in middle age -- cutting calories can confer significant health benefits for the heart and extend its working life. It does so, according to the team's results, by exerting influence on the genetic program that governs heart cells.
Researchers have traditionally thought that language learning in children with Down syndrome stopped during the teenage years. As a result, Down youth typically received no language instruction after puberty. But a new study suggests the opposite: that individuals with Down syndrome can benefit from language intervention programs during adolescence and beyond, precisely because it takes them longer to learn. Down syndrome is a developmental disability resulting from an extra copy of chromosome 21, and it affects about 5,000 newborns in the United States every year. Most children begin learning language skills, such as grammar and speaking, at rapid rates early in their lives. Children with Down syndrome, however, typically experience delays in language development, learning more slowly and at varying rates.
Treating pork and other livestock meat with plain old baking soda improves the taste, Wisconsin researchers have found. "For years consumers have noticed that pork quality is inconsistent. A major reason is that the meat from some pigs becomes pale, soft and watery after they are slaughtered, according to Robert Kauffman, an expert on pork quality and a UW-Madison emeritus professor." Vegetarians in the audience should move on now, as this clearly meat-friendly story may make you a little uncomfortable.
