Being Kind is Good for Your Health: It's Random Acts of Kindness Week
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.
Stony Brook University School of Medicine researchers have found that children’s brains are more affected by an inhaled anesthetic than an intravenous anesthetic with increased levels of brain lactate.
Stony Brook cancer specialist solves a diagnostic puzzle that appeared to be brain cancer.
Researchers from Stony Brook University have developed a high-resolution, 3D optical Doppler imaging tomography technique that captures the effects of cocaine restricting the blood supply in vessels of the brain.
A series of rehabilitation studies published in Archives of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation demonstrate that innovative treatments for individuals with spinal cord injuries can lead to functional improvements.
A new study by Dr. Benjamin J. Luft of Stony Brook University School of Medcicine and colleagues will explore the role genetics may play in the development of PTSD and respiratory illness in 9/11 WTC responders.
– A team of scientists that used a method of analyzing proteins from samples is the first to detect an immune response from a 500-year-old Incan mummy. Completed at the Proteomics Center, Stony Brook University, the process led to the first positive evidence of active pathogenic infection in an ancient sample of a 15-year-old girl who exhibited an immune response consistent with chronic respiratory infection. Their findings are reported in the PLoS One article “Detecting the Immune System Response of a 500 Year-old Inca Mummy.”
Research led by Yi-Xian Qin, PhD, Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, and Director of the Orthopaedic Bioengineering Research Laboratory at Stony Brook University, demonstrated that the use of medium-intensity focused ultrasound on osteoblasts, known as bone-forming cells, stimulates the mobility of the cells and triggers calcium release, a process that promotes growth. The technique could provide a foundation for a method to develop non-pharmacologic treatments of osteoporosis, fractures, and other conditions involving bone loss. The team’s research findings are detailed online in the PLoS One article “Mechanobiological Modulation of Cytoskeleton and Calcium Influx in Osteoblastic Cells by Short-Term Focused Acoustic Radiation Force.”
The gene p53 is the most commonly mutated gene in cancer. p53 is dubbed the “guardian of the genome” because it blocks cells with damaged DNA from propagating and eventually becoming cancerous. However, new research led by Ute M. Moll, M.D., Professor of Pathology at Stony Brook University School of Medicine, and colleagues, uncovers a novel role for p53 beyond cancer in the development of ischemic stroke. The research team identified an unexpected critical function of p53 in activating necrosis, an irreversible form of tissue death, triggered during oxidative stress and ischemia. The findings are detailed online in Cell.
Stony Brook University, through its School of Health Technology and Management (SHTM), is collaborating with Los Angeles-based NextStep Fitness with the intention to build the organization’s first fitness and wellness facility in New York State for people with paralysis and spinal cord injuries. NextStep founder Janne Kouri, a former Georgetown University star football player paralyzed in a swimming accident in 2006, and Stony Brook University President Samuel L. Stanley Jr., M.D., will announce the plan at NextStep’s “Help Make a Difference” Benefit at the Tribeca Cinemas in Manhattan on June 7.
Christopher Pendergast, a 19-year ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) patient and advocate, along with ALS patient Steve DePascale, their families friends and other supporters, led the charge as they rode onto the Stony Brook University campus on June 2 to a display of 6,000 flickering pinwheels. The pinwheels represented the American lives lost each year to ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. During Stony Brook’s “Ride for Life” Celebration and Remembrance Ceremony, Pendergast presented a check for $1 million from the Ride for Life organization to Stony Brook. He also received a gift from Dr. Samuel L. Stanley Jr., President Stony Brook University – a Seawolves baseball jersey with Pendergast’s name and Lou Gehrig’s number 4 on it. The Remembrance Ceremony was held on the same day that Yankee great Lou Gehrig passed away from ALS in 1941 shortly before turning 38.
Aristolochic acid (AA), a component of a plant used in herbal remedies since ancient times, leads to kidney failure and upper urinary tract cancer (UUC) in individuals exposed to the toxin.
An analysis of a nationally representative sample of 710 adult respondents reveals that the public is less willing to pay to avoid mental illnesses compared to paying for treatment of medical conditions.
Markus Seeliger, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Stony Brook University School of Medicine, and collaborators at Harvard University, have developed and characterized the mechanism of a new class of highly specific inhibitors of the Src (sarcoma) kinase, known as a cancer-causing protein. The research, published in the April 2012 edition of Nature Chemical Biology, may provide a foundation to developing new targeted cancer therapeutics.
Sugary drinks are the single biggest contributor to the obesity epidemic in the United States, and according to the Centers for Disease Control, two-thirds of adults and one-third of the children in the U.S. are overweight or obese. Registered dietician Leah Holbrook, Coordinator of the Long Island Center for Pediatric Obesity Prevention in the Department of Family Medicine at Stony Brook School of Medicine, says that these sobering statistics and the fact that beverages account for nearly half of the added sugars in our diet are a wakeup call for Americans to reduce their sugary drink intake.
A study of more than 300 children and adolescents with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) revealed no association between specific antiretroviral therapy and the severity of psychiatric disorders. In “Human Immunodeficiency Virus Disease Severity, Psychiatric Symptoms, and Functional Outcomes in Perinatally Infected Youth,” Principal Investigator Sharon Nachman, M.D., of Stony Brook School of Medicine, and colleagues detail this finding and others in the Online First edition of Archives of Pediatrics & Adult Medicine.
– A clear association between obesity and pain – with higher rates of pain identified in the heaviest individuals – was found in a study of more than one million Americans published January 19 in the online edition of Obesity. In “Obesity and Pain Are Associated in the United States,” Stony Brook University researchers Arthur A. Stone, PhD., and Joan E. Broderick, Ph.D. report this finding based on their analysis of 1,010,762 respondents surveyed via telephone interview by the Gallop Organization between 2008 and 2010.
Talking on a cell phone or texting while walking may seem natural and easy, but it could be dangerous and result in walking errors and interfere with memory recall. Researchers at Stony Brook University found this to be the case in a study of young people walking and using their cell phones. The study is reported in the online edition of Gait & Posture.
The Stony Brook University World Trade Center Health Program is expanding its clinical Center of Excellence to Winthrop-University Hospital which enables care and treatment for thousands more who were exposed to toxic chemicals and who continue to suffer from upper and lower respiratory ailments, mental health symptoms, and other conditions related to the environment at Ground Zero.
For children with HIV infection, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the use of raltegravir, an antiretroviral drug that slows the spread of HIV infection, offers a new weapon to treat HIV infection in children.
More than 10 years after 9/11, when thousands of rescue and recovery workers descended on the area surrounding the World Trade Center in the wake of the terrorist attacks, a research team led by Benjamin J. Luft, M.D., the Edmund D. Pellegrino Professor of Medicine, and Medical Director of Stony Brook’s World Trade Center Health Program, and Evelyn Bromet, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor, Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, and Preventive Medicine, Stony Brook University School of Medicine, has published results of a study examining the relationship between the two signature health problems among WTC first responders—respiratory illness and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Giving during the holidays, or at any time, not only helps others but helps ourselves and appears to lead to a happier and healthier life. This conclusion by Stephen G. Post, Ph.D., Professor of Preventive Medicine, Head of the Division of Medicine in Society, and Director, Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care and Bioethics, Stony Brook University School of Medicine, is based on a review of scientific and medical studies covering several decades on the benefits experienced by individuals who act sincerely for the benefit of others.
Guedalia Sawadogo, a 2-year-old girl from West Africa, enjoys drawing with a pen and playing with figurines shaped as people or animals. During a hand therapy session at Stony Brook University Hospital she could only use her left hand for those activities, as her recent surgically repaired right hand went through the rigors of adjusting to a splint. But soon with more healing Guedalia will have the dexterity of normal children to play and learn. On November 14, Alexander Dagum, M.D., Professor of Surgery and Orthopaedics, and Chief, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Stony Brook University School of Medicine, performed surgery on Guedalia’s right hand to correct contractures caused by scar tissue healing after a serious burn injury.
Aristolochic acid, a component of a plant used in herbal remedies since ancient times and still used in certain herbal medicines worldwide, leads to kidney failure and upper urinary tract cancer in those exposed to the toxin.
Benjamin J. Luft, M.D., Edmund D. Pellegrino Professor of Medicine at Stony Brook University School of Medicine, and Medical Director of Stony Brook’s World Trade Center Health Program, will present “We’re Not Leaving: Responders Oral Histories Redefine 9/11,” at the American Folklife Center at The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., on November 10. The Center will serve as the repository for oral histories of 9/11 first responders from around the country, which are being recorded and filmed by Dr. Luft and the WTC Health Program staff as the Remembering 9/11 oral history project. The lecture will be held in the Mary Pickford Theater, from 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m.
Stony Brook University has launched a pilot epidemiologic study targeting avid fish consumers that will examine the benefits and risks of seafood consumption. The “Long Island Study of Seafood Consumption,” led by Jaymie Meliker, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Graduate Program in Public Health, Department of Preventive Medicine, Stony Brook University School of Medicine, is now recruiting for study participants via a qualifying survey.
Stony Brook University Medical Center has opened a new Valve Center that offers comprehensive treatment of valvular heart disease.
Specialists in Stony Brook University School of Medicine took part in a NIH-sponsored clinical trial that reveals high-risk patients without stents implanted had fewer second strokes.
Allen Jeremias, M.D. has been named one of 10 national fellows for the inaugural Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) Emerging Leader Mentorship (ELM) Program.
Interventional cardiologists at the Stony Brook University Heart Center and elsewhere are performing more heart catheterizations by going through the wrist instead of the groin. This approach has increased advantages for patients.
By employing optogenetics, a new field that uses genetically altered cells to respond to light, researchers at Stony Brook University have demonstrated a way to control cell excitation and contraction in cardiac muscle cells.
Inpatient hospitalizations for children and adolescents with a psychiatric diagnosis increased significantly over a 12-year period (1996 to 2007), according to a report in the early online edition in Archives of General Psychiatry.
A Stony Brook University School of Medicine study concludes that there do not appear to be any negative associations between bedsharing in toddlerhood and children’s behavior and cognition at age 5.
Stony Brook University Hospital was named as one of America’s Most Beautiful Hospitals, ranking third in a list of 50 healthcare facilities around the country. Soliant Health, a leading specialty healthcare provider, released the results this month of the 20 Most Beautiful Hospitals 2011, a contest developed by Soliant Health.