Expert Available: Edibles are Not a Treat at Halloween
Stony Brook University
Well-rested teenagers tend to make more healthful food choices than their sleep-deprived peers, according to a study led by Lauren Hale, PhD, Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine at Stony Brook University School of Medicine. The finding, presented at SLEEP 2013, the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, may be key to understanding the link between sleep and obesity.
In 2012, Nicholas Fisher a distinguished professor in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) at Stony Brook University and postdoctoral scholar Zosia Baumann, working with a colleague at Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station, reported that they had detected radioactivity in Pacific bluefin tuna swimming off the California coast. The source of the radioactivity was Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi powerplants, which were damaged by the strong earthquake and subsequent tsunami on 11 March 2011 and released large quantities of radioactivity into the Pacific Ocean. The news prompted widespread media interest and speculation as to the possible risks to seafood consumers posed by the levels of radioactivity found in the tuna.
Greeted by their families, supporters and a shining display of 6,000 pinwheels, Christopher Pendergast, a 20-year ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) patient and advocate, and other ALS patients, rode onto the Stony Brook University Campus for the annual “Ride for Life” Celebration and Remembrance Ceremony, marking the halfway point of the ride from Southold to Manhattan, which concluded May 18. The pinwheels represented the American lives lost each year to ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. During the ceremony, Pendergast presented a check on behalf of the Ride for Life for $150,000 to Stony Brook University to support ALS research at Stony Brook Medicine and the Christopher Pendergast ALS Center of Excellence, the only ALS Association-certified center on Long Island.
The results of a phase 1/2 clinical trial in Europe of an investigational Lyme disease vaccine co-developed by researchers at Stony Brook University, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and at Baxter International Inc., a U.S. based healthcare company, revealed it to be promising and well tolerated, according to a research paper published online in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. The vaccine was shown to produce substantial antibodies against all targeted species of Borrelia, the causative agent of Lyme disease in Europe and the United States. Baxter International conducted the clinical trial of the vaccine.
Increase in gold nanoparticles can accelerate aging and wrinkling, slow wound healing, cause onset of diabetes.
Projected to start in the second half of 2013, researchers at Stony Brook University plan to begin phase IIa placebo-controlled clinical trials using a drug treatment method developed here to treat cellulite. The treatment method is licensed to BioSpecifics Technologies Corp. (“BSTC”), sublicensed to Auxilium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (“Auxilium”), and uses clostridial collagenase histolyticum (“CCH”), an injectable form of the enzyme collagenase.
For the millions of Americans who rely on pain medications for neuralgia, a condition where nerves damaged by surgery, traumatic injury, or diseases such as diabetes cause chronic pain, an emerging non-pharmacological treatment may offer relief. By placing a tiny ball of ice on damaged nerves by way of a minimally invasive interventional radiology treatment called cryoneurolysis, William Moore, MD, a thoracic interventional radiologist at Stony Brook University School of Medicine, is able to safely short circuit chronic pain caused by nerve damage.
For 11-year-old Veronica Franco, music has always been a passion. The Rocky Point, N.Y., native loves playing cello and singing in the choir at Rocky Point Middle School. Her outstanding singing ability has garnered her recognition: Veronica earned a coveted spot in the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra (MYO) children’s chorus and performed at Carnegie Hall on March 16.
Charles A. Gargano, former U.S. Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago and long-time friend of Stony Brook University, has agreed to establish the Ambassador Charles Gargano Chair in Advanced Cardiovascular Imaging at Stony Brook Medicine. The $750,000 gift will be matched dollar for dollar by the Simons Foundation Challenge and Jim and Marilyn Simons, creating a $1,500,000 philanthropic impact.
Specialists at Stony Brook Medicine’s Cerebrovascular and Stroke Center (CVC) are treating patients with a new generation of blood clot removal devices that show promise in successfully revascularizing stroke patients, including those with large vessel blockages. The Solitaire Flow Restoration Device and the Trevo device, approved by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2012 to treat stroke caused by the sudden obstruction of a brain blood vessel (acute ischemic stroke) showed improved results over a previous standard and first generation clot-removal device in clinical trials.
Data from the largest multicenter study accessing cognitive functioning in children with multiple sclerosis (MS) reveals that one-third of these patients have cognitive impairment, according to a research paper published in the Journal of Child Neurology. Led by Lauren B. Krupp, MD, Director of the Lourie Center for Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis at Stony Brook Long Island Children’s Hospital, the study indicates that patients experience a range of problems related to cognition.
Low-intensity vibrations led to improvements in the immune function of obese mice by restoring B and T-cell populations and thereby diminishing consequences of obesity, according to a Stony Brook University study.