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It is not uncommon for prison inmates to claim that a spiritual experience has changed their nature and made them a better person. Kent Kerley, Ph.D., associate professor in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Justice Sciences, has heard these stories and examined religion-based programs to discover the effect they have on inmates who are still imprisoned. His findings will be published next month in his book, “Religious Faith in Correctional Contexts.”

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Researchers at UAB say that high-intensity strength training produced significant improvements in quality of life, mood and motor function in older patients with Parkinson’s disease. The findings were published Jan. 9 online in the Journal of Applied Physiology.

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After the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, invertebrates like shrimp, oysters and crabs were the subject of the majority of testing by federal and state agencies. One UAB expert analyzed fish caught a year after the spill to determine safety.

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Physicians at UAB are employing a technology known as ECMO as a last-resort therapy for extremely severe cases of influenza. ECMO is a sort of portable heart/lung bypass machine.

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A study by researchers at the Birmingham VA and UAB says using home-based hospice practices for terminally ill, hospitalized patients could reduce suffering and improve end-of-life care.

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UAB health policy experts recently completed a survey of 601 Alabama residents on issues of the ACA, the Exchange and Medicaid expansion.

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Alan S. Gertler, M.D., associate professor of medicine in UAB’s Division of Cardiovascular Diseases and part of UAB’s Heart & Vascular Service.

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Anath Shalev, M.D., director of the UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center. Shalev is an internationally recognized authority in endocrinology, pancreatic beta-cell biology and the pathophysiology of diabetes.

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Dr. Ovalle is Director of the Multidisciplinary Comprehensive Diabetes Clinic at UAB.

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Dr. Fouad is Director of the UAB Minority Health And Health Disparities Research Center and Director of the Division of Preventive Medicine.

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The GRADE study at the University of Alabama at Birmingham had a special visitor in November. Red suit. Black boots. White beard. Belly that shook like a bowl full of jelly. A V.I.E. (Very Important Elf) visited this national clinical trial for Type 2 diabetes.

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Mutations in a key gene predispose people to develop a rare tumor-causing disorder.

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With cold and flu season in full swing, digital thermometers are a convenience for many families, but an internal medicine physician in the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine says they are not for everyone.

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Preparation for an innovative, complex UAB program has been years in the making, and up to 30 “hard-to-match” patients are expected to receive organs this year. UAB is one of three locations in the nation, and the only one in the Southeast, able to do this as a single center.

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The 2014 Evidence-Based Guideline for the Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults contains nine recommendations for health care providers.

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Running around town trying to get holiday tasks crossed off the list may mean jaywalking to save time. But one UAB expert says this should be avoided at all times.

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A UAB study shows early maturing in adolescent girls can increase aggressive and delinquent behavior.

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Changes to a key protein amplified its natural ability to counter kidney disease, according to a study published today by researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in the journal Nature Medicine.

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Politics and religion are considered unsafe topics of conversation at parties. This holiday season, experts at UAB say avoiding one other topic – weight – can help everyone be more merry and bright.

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A national group of leading scientists, including one University of Alabama at Birmingham expert, says fewer people are dying of stroke, but the mechanisms remain unknown.

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Damage to heart muscle caused by a heart attack turns on immune cells in the spleen that accelerate heart failure.

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Weakened immune systems due to diseases like cancer cause increased risk of severe complications from the flu virus — experts advise vaccine shot, not mist.

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PNP Therapeutics, UAB and Southern Research Institute work abolishes otherwise unmanageable human cancers in preclinical rodent studies.

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A new study identified which of 15 published heat wave definitions were most closely associated with non-accidental deaths and pre-term births found in Alabama vital records, along with what those definitions had in common.

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Anesthesia was in its infancy when the American Civil War began. Using case studies of two wounded soldiers, a private and a general, a UAB anesthesiologist reports on its early use. “As we honor the sesquicentennial, or 150th anniversary, of the Civil War, it is still widely believed that the sole anesthetic agent used was the whiskey bottle,” said Maurice S. Albin, M.D., professor in the UAB Department of Anesthesiology. “But sulfuric ether was first used in 1846, and chloroform a year later.”

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In an America shaped by Currier and Ives lithographs and Norman Rockwell paintings, the holiday season is supposed to be one of warmth, love and good cheer. For too many Americans, however, it can be a time of sadness and grief, says University of Alabama at Birmingham psychologist Josh Klapow, Ph.D.

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A University of Alabama at Birmingham surgical team has performed the first surgery using a virtual augmented reality technology called VIPAAR in conjunction with Google Glass, a wearable computer with an optical head-mounted display. The combination of the two technologies could be an important step toward the development of useful, practical telemedicine.

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UAB experts have advice on how to slow aging, and how this can help with appearance and self-esteem.

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A simple idea by University of Alabama at Birmingham employees has saved the campus millions of gallons of water each month.

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Flu season lurks around the corner throughout the United States, and gerontologists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham say the elderly are at increased risk for getting the flu and often have a worse time coping with flu symptoms than do younger people.

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There is an association between the influenza virus and cardiovascular events like heart disease and stroke; those with cardiovascular disease should protect themselves against the flu.

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Whether it’s simply waking up on the wrong side of the bed, or a bad week at work, feeling down is a form of depression and should be addressed.

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The investigators found that brain connectivity data from 19 paths in brain scans predicted whether the participants had autism, with an accuracy rate of 95.9 percent.

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The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has licensed to Illumina Inc. the rights to a DNA sequencing technology developed by a UAB microbiologist and a University of Washington physicist.

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University of Alabama at Birmingham experts offer tips on how to decrease stress.

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Shih-Hsin (Eddy) Yang, M.D., Ph.D., in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Dept of Radiation Oncology, has received a $450,000 grant from Susan G. Komen for the Cure to further investigate HER2-positive breast tumor susceptibility to PARP inhibitors.

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Hormone therapy should only be used for a short period of time near the time of menopause for women experiencing hot flashes and not as therapy for chronic disease prevention, according to findings released today by the Women’s Health Initiative in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

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If telecommuting – or working from home – is an available option, one University of Alabama at Birmingham expert says its perks go beyond working in pajamas.

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UAB clinician says those with diabetes should receive the flu vaccine and not the mist, which is not safe for diabetics.

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Genes in mitochondria, the “powerhouses” that turn sugar into energy in human cells, shape each person’s risk for heart disease and diabetes.

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Scientists at UAB have identified a molecular pathway that seems to contribute to the ability of malignant glioma cells in a brain tumor to spread and invade previously healthy brain tissue.

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A UAB internal medicine expert says sporadic cases of flu are appearing and with a vaccine already available, it is best to get immunized now.

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A clinical review from geriatricians at the University of Alabama at Birmingham suggests that mobility limitations are a litmus test for healthy aging and urges primary care physicians to take a more aggressive role in ascertaining the mobility of their older patients.

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Believed to be eradicated from the United States in 2000, measles are brought into the country and can infect those who are not vaccinated.

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The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has renewed a grant shared by the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine and the University of California, San Diego, that will extend and expand research into acute kidney failure, or acute kidney injury, which kills 70 to 80 percent of patients in intensive care units who develop the disease.

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University of Alabama at Birmingham cardiovascular physician Tom McElderry, M.D., has become the first surgeon in the United States to use the new IntellaTip MiFi™ XP catheter in a patient.

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Study is first to reveal the role of the kidney in the regulation of iron metabolism following injury.

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New UAB research shows while there’s an association between breakfast habits and obesity, some practices by scientists have led the evidence for a causal claim to be exaggerated.