Advances

(Advances gives a glimpse of the many significant research projects at the university. Tell us about your discoveries by e-mailing: wisweek@news.wisc.edu.)

To quit smoking, click here
University researchers are testing a web-based program tailored to the unique needs of teenaged smokers in the hope of preventing smoking-related health problems later in life.

Along with other researchers, the UW research team has developed teen-friendly content for the program based on what both current and former teen smokers told the researchers about their smoking habits. The UW team has started recruiting Madison-area teen smokers, ages 11 to 17, to participate in a clinical trial that will test the effectiveness of the Web site versus standard smoking cessation counseling.

During the two-year trial, teen smokers will be assigned randomly to a smoking cessation counseling group or a Web site group. (Hardware and Internet access will be provided whenever necessary.) Each teen will participate in the trial for one year; during this time, the teen’s progress at quitting smoking will be monitored at regular intervals. Recruitment for the trial will continue over the next year or so.

Youths who took the site for a test drive liked the teen-friendly design and found it easy to get information. “They especially were drawn to personal stories of teens who are in the process of quitting and the real-time chat feature,” says Project Manager Tracy Meis.

Cross-species study planned
University officials have reached an agreement with a drug company to do cross- species research aimed at eventually enabling animal-to-human organ transplants.

The UW System Board of Regents has approved an agreement with a subsidiary of Switzerland-based Novartis AG. The subsidiary will pay for research on drugs to prevent rejection of pig kidneys that will be transplanted into baboons.

University officials say none of the work will involve transplanting animal organs into people. Putting one species’ tissue into another species is known as xenotransplantation.

Will robots milk dairy cows?
Robotic milkers could someday free Wisconsin dairy farmers from the tyranny of the milking schedule. However, for the short term, the machines will be a risky investment, according to Doug Reinemann, a milking systems researcher at the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.

Robotic milkers could improve the daily routine of both dairy farmers and cows. If they prove reliable and economically feasible, the milkers would lower the risk of accidents and repetitive-stress injuries. Milking labor consumes nearly 50 million person-hours per year in Wisconsin. Unshackled from the twice- or three-times-a-day milking routine, dairy farmers would find more free time and a social life – scarce commodities on many farms today.

Farmers might also see bigger milk checks. The machines may allow them to milk more frequently, thus increasing yield.

Rotational grazing triples

About 23 percent of the state’s dairy farmers used management-intensive rotational grazing last year – more than triple the 7 percent that used rotational grazing in 1993, a university survey shows.

Researchers in the Program on Agricultural Technology Studies say beginning farmers were much more likely to use rotational grazing than dairy farmers as a whole.

Cows on nearly half of the dairy farms in Wisconsin grazed pastures to meet some of their forage needs in 1999, the survey showed. Researchers define “rotational grazing” as using pastures to supply at least part of the forage for milking cows, and moving cows to fresh pastures at least once a week. Information: 265-2908; carlisle@ssc.wisc.edu