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Washington State University reproductive biologist Patricia A. Hunt has been named one of the top 50 researchers of 2007 by Scientific American, for her work showing a potential threat to human health posed by bisphenol A (BPA), a component of the polycarbonate plastics used to make food and beverage containers.
“There’s been so much good work in this area in the past year that to be singled out is really an honor,” said Hunt after learning of her selection.
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Two ground-breaking studies by Washington State University research teams are among the top 100 science stories of the year, according to Discover magazine. One of the teams, led by molecular biologist Michael Skinner, made the list for the second time in three years. Also making the list of top stories is research led by molecular anthropologist Brian Kemp.
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Pullman, Wash. -- The potato, shunned by Americans for its high carbohydrate content, may be healthier than we give it credit. A new study at Washington State University is examining some of its nutritional benefits.
Brightly colored potatoes, such as purple, red and yellow, contain higher levels of antioxidants compared with white potatoes, according to Boon Chew, WSU professor of nutritional immunology. Antioxidants help to prevent diseases by improving the human immune system.
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Human beings have faced new diseases, and more deadly forms of old diseases, all through history. Today fears of an epidemic are on the rise, fueled by reports of exotic infections and antibiotic-resistant "super bugs." Despite sophisticated modern techniques for tracking killer pathogens, figuring out where the next deadly disease will come from--and how to stop it--is not a simple task.
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To many people, the scent of jasmine flowers suggests a romantic interlude in an exotic locale. But jasmonate, the main component of the lush scent, carries far different meanings for plants. It is a hormone they use to regulate reproductive development, immunity to pathogens, defense against insect herbivores and other critical aspects of their biology.
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Researchers have long observed significant differences in normal people’s sleep. Some are light sleepers, whereas others sleep deeply. Some fall asleep right away, while others take their time.
Such sleeping pattern variability has long been attributed solely to differences in circumstances, habits, and other non-biological factors. But now a landmark study led by Hans Van Dongen, associate research professor and assistant director of the Sleep and Performance Research Center at Washington State University Spokane has shown that these individual variabilities constitute traits which may eventually prove genetic in origin.
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In normal times, Europe's brown bears live in a state of happy equilibrium. But under certain circumstances, things can go seriously awry, leading the males to commit what researcher Robert Wielgus calls sexually selected infanticide. Wielgus's most powerful tool against this eventuality is math.
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Between 1995, the year before Washington banned the hunting of cougars with hounds, and 2000, the number of human-cougar encounters nearly quadrupled. Although encounters have returned to pre-ban levels in some areas, the public perception is that cougars are making a comeback--and must be stopped. But Hillary Cooley and Rob Wielgus insist that much of what we think we know about cougars is wrong. And their argument rests with the young males.
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Christine Portfors, associate professor of biology at Washington State University Vancouver, has received a grant of $400,000 over three years to continue her research on how complex sounds are processed by the auditory system. She also examines how age-related hearing loss impacts this process.
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A team of sleep researchers from Washington State University has received a $1.5 million grant award from the W.M. Keck Foundation—a philanthropic institution supporting innovative research in science, engineering and medicine—to test a new theory of the brain organization of sleep.
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The study of evolution goes far beyond dinosaur bones and finch beaks. Fueled by advances in technology, research in evolutionary biology has never been stronger or more diverse—-especially on the Palouse.
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Imagine you’re a woman who is about to give birth to her first child via a C-section. Depending on the hospital you go to, your comfort and safety during the procedure might be in the hands of a certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) or an anesthesiologist. Should you prefer one situation over the other? The answer is no, according to Dan Simonson, a graduate of the health policy and administration program at Washington State University Spokane.
Simonson came to this conclusion in an article, "Anesthesia Staffing and Anesthetic Complications During Cesarean Delivery: A Retrospective Analysis," which was recently published in the January/February 2007 issue of Nursing Research. The article reports on a research study conducted by Simonson, himself a CRNA, as part of his master’s thesis.
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SPOKANE, Wash.—Realizing that obesity is a complex and multi-faceted problem, Washington State University faculty members Ruth Bindler, RNC, Ph.D. (WSU Intercollegiate College of Nursing) and Kenn B. Daratha, Ph.D. (WSU Spokane Informatics) assembled a multi-organizational, multi-disciplinary team to address this epidemic.
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PULLMAN, Wash. – The Washington State University Research Foundation and G-Biosciences have entered into a worldwide technology licensing agreement for patent rights to a spectroscopic method for assaying the activity of a key class of enzymes involved in several biological systems, including signal transduction, protein repair, chromatin regulation and gene silencing.
WSU chemist and Associate Professor Zhaohui Sunny Zhou and research associate Kathleen Dorgan led the team that developed the new assay, which allows researchers to measure the activities of a large and diverse family of enzymes called methyltransferases in cell extracts.
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With completion of the human genome project, researchers know a lot about our genetic makeup. How that translates into action in our bodies in the form of proteins is the next frontier of understanding.
In the field of proteomics, however, researchers are limited by separation techniques. Blood, for instance, is thought to contain more than 50,000 proteins. Researchers would like to better understand the function of these proteins, which may be indicators of disease known as biomarkers, but they can only separate out about 2,500 proteins at a time using gel electrophoresis.
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A researcher at Washington State University Vancouver explores how the brain turns sounds into meaningful messages.
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PULLMAN, Wash. – A suite of proteins that changes the arrangement of DNA in chromosomes plays a key role in enabling cells to repair damage to their DNA, according to a new study by researchers in Washington State University’s School of Molecular Biosciences.
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Dr. Guy Palmer, a veterinary pathologist at Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, has been elected to membership in the National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine (IOM). Election to this prestigious body is one of the highest honors for those in biomedical research and human health care.
The institute announced the election of its new members today (Oct. 9) in Washington, D.C.
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PULLMAN, Wash. – Animals might not analyze their emotions the way humans do, but they do experience them, according to Jaak Panksepp, a professor and researcher at Washington State University.
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It's taken 25 years of basic research in labs like that of John Browse for work on plant-oil biochemistry to begin to yield benefits we can use.
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PULLMAN, Wash. – Microscopic roundworms are helping scientists better understand what regulates cholesterol and fatty acid levels in the body, according to Washington State University researcher Jennifer Watts.
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In an effort to save its dwindling Asian vulture populations, India has announced it will ban veterinary use of the drug diclofenac. Lindsay Oaks of the Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine and The Peregrine Fund discovered that the drug used as an anti-inflammatory in cattle was highly toxic to the vultures when they ate carcasses of treated animals.
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Kaid’dub Pavel, a bright-eyed, blond-haired, effervescent 4-year-old, is leading the way for a new WSU preschool program that focuses on honing the oral language and listening skills of children with hearing impairments.
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Researchers at Washington State University are seeking volunteers aged 50 and over to participate in a study being conducted in Pullman and Spokane that may lead to new techniques and memory interventions to assist those suffering from progressive dementia.
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A disease you are suffering today could be a result of your great-grandmother being exposed to an environmental toxin during pregnancy.
