Category Health & Wellness
Cancer patients who tell their life story find more peace, less depression
A new study finds that delivering an edited life and cancer story elicited by a phone conversation measurably enhances the sense of peace in the face of looming death.
Bringing cheap and accurate tuberculosis tests to Africa
Researchers are developing a "robust, simple and inexpensive way to increase the sensitivity of an existing TB test" by integrating a step very similar to a pregnancy test.
As influenza looms, Madison firm advances human trials of revolutionary vaccine
One of the most promising universal flu vaccines is being developed by FluGen, a spinoff from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Next up is an experimental trial.
Study advances gene therapy for glaucoma
A new study shows an improved tactic for delivering new genes into the eye's drain, called the trabecular meshwork, offering a promising treatment for glaucoma.
Waisman research into rare syndrome offers hope for families
Waisman Center research into the molecular mysteries of Rett Syndrome may ultimately help an 8-year-old girl who suffers from the rare neurological disorder.
New stem cell method sheds light on a telltale sign of heart disease
A regenerative biology team at the Morgridge Institute for Research led by Dave Vereide unexpectedly unearthed a powerful new model for studying a hallmark of vascular disease.
Lake Michigan waterfowl botulism deaths linked to warm waters, algae
UW-Madison researchers, with the help of citizen scientists, tracked bird deaths along Lake Michigan, and found that warm waters and algae apparently promoted the growth of botulism toxin-producing bacteria that caused them.
New hope for stopping an understudied heart disease in its tracks
Thanks, in part, to pigs at the Arlington Agricultural Research Station, scientists now are catching up on understanding the roots of calcific aortic valve disease.
Cracking the code of coenzyme Q biosynthesis
A research group is chipping away at many of these knowledge gaps in CoQ production and in understanding the role of CoQ deficiency in human diseases.
To help kids battling a rare disease, scientists forge a genetic link between people and pigs
Scientists and physicians needed a better model to understand neurofibromatosis in order to help affected children. A groundbreaking research partnership at UW–Madison is showing the way.
Progress made toward treatment for rare, fatal neurological disease
Promising results in the lab and in animal models could set the stage for developing a treatment for Alexander disease, a rare and usually fatal neurological disease with no known cure.
‘Amazing Grace’ chorus members take a vacation from Alzheimer’s with singing
The Amazing Grace chorus mixes caregivers and people with dementia; to encourage social contact, the pairs seldom sit side-by-side at performances.
Monkeys infected by mosquito bites further Zika virus research
Monkeys who catch Zika virus through bites from infected mosquitoes develop infections that look like human Zika cases, and may help researchers understand the many ways Zika can be transmitted.
Chimpanzee deaths in Uganda pinned on human cold virus
Scientists investigating an outbreak of respiratory disease in a community of wild chimpanzees in Uganda were surprised and dismayed to discover that rhinovirus C was killing healthy chimps.
Estrogen discovery could shed new light on fertility problems
Researchers have upended the traditional understanding of the hormonal cascade that leads to release of an egg from the ovaries.
Researchers investigate how a stressed brain can make asthma worse
Researchers are investigating cross-talk between the brain and lungs of people with asthma in a four-year, $2.5 million study to understand how psychological stress can make asthma symptoms worse.
Waisman Center director search advances as interim leadership is named
The center has been dedicated for 45 years to the advancement of knowledge about human development, developmental disabilities and neurodegenerative diseases.
Gambling against the odds on life’s risks more common after childhood stress
Trouble reading the signs that a loss or punishment is looming can lead to situations that risk avoidable problems.
Designer molecule points to treatment for diseases caused by DNA repeats
“Most young people with Friedreich’s ataxia develop severe heart problems and are wheelchair-bound," says researcher Aseem Ansari, "but the disease is so rare that few drug companies invest in it."
Medical minds
Knowing that your doctor is under stress may not be comforting, but it might put you more at ease to know that mindfulness — the practice of training your brain to cultivate well-being — is now being taught in medical school.