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.)

Great Lakes “seasons” may reflect a warming trend
Scrutinizing a 139-year record of Great Lakes water levels, a scientist has discovered a dramatic shift in the seasonal changes in water levels on the Great Lakes. The finding, reported at a meeting of the International Association of Great Lakes Research by climatologist John D. Lenters, is further evidence that the effects of global warming on natural systems could be far reaching and significant. “The bottom line is that over this 139-year period, the annual rising and falling of Lakes Ontario and Erie has gotten earlier” by about a month, Lenters says. These shifts, says Lenters, are essentially hydrological representations of the seasons, and “what I am finding is a shifting of the seasons.”
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Chemo extends life for late-stage patients
Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers report that a landmark research trial shows chemotherapy offers survival benefits for advanced lung cancer patients. “Our study shows that there is new hope for the treatment of advanced lung cancer patients that can help extend their survival with a better quality of life,” says Joan Schiller, Medical School professor and lead investigator of the study.
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Fewer calories linked to healthier old brains
Eating less may be good for the health of your brain and may help keep debilitating ailments such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases at bay, researchers say in a new study. The study by Cheol-Koo Lee, Richard Weindruch and Tomas A. Prolla provides new insight into the cognitive and motor skill deficits that occur with age. The results may also help to explain the basis of common neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.
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Building better engines
Could Charles Darwin’s rules of evolution help engineers design high-performance engines? Computer models developed at the university are doing just that by using genetic algorithms to simultaneously increase fuel efficiency and reduce pollution. Peter Senecal, a post-doctorate engineer, created the computer models to help sort through literally billions of combinations of factors that determine engine performance – a task too enormous for conventional computer simulations. Senecal says the most important advance is in improving pollution emissions without sacrificing fuel efficiency and vice versa. Senecal created a diesel engine design that reduces nitric oxide emissions by threefold and soot emissions by 50 percent over the best available technology. At the same time, the model reduced fuel consumption by 15 percent.
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African Americans more likely to get cancer
Cancer rates among Wisconsin blacks rose slightly from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s while rates among whites fell, according to a new Medical School study. Wisconsin’s growing racial gap reflects a national trend in cancer mortality, says Patrick Remington, professor of preventative medicine. He says reasons for the gap are complex and not well understood.

Study projects steady growth
A UW–Madison study entitled “Wisconsin’s Economy in the Year 2010” shows Wisconsin is in a solid position to move forward in the first decade of the 21st century. Services will be the state’s fastest growing sector, at 2.5 percent. Average monthly employment is expected to reach 670,552 by 2010.
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