Category Health & Wellness
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.
Research to relieve stress of police officers expands
The new work by the Center for Healthy Minds will expand on a pilot study that suggests a positive relationship between mindfulness training and measures such as sleep quality, officers’ perceived stress and symptoms of burnout.
All-in-one repair kit makes CRISPR gene editing more precise
Error rates as high as 50 percent are a problem when the goal is to correct typos in the DNA that cause genetic disease. Now, a team of researchers has made the fix less mistake-prone.
Video game improves balance in youth with autism
Balance challenges are more common among people with ASD, and difficulties with balance are thought to relate to more severe ASD symptoms and impaired activities in daily living.
Better health through the humanities
A new certificate teaches students historical, cultural and philosophical ways people intersect with health care and provides them a broader, more nuanced understanding of health.
In the heart of devastating outbreak, research team unlocks secrets of Ebola
In a study of blood samples from Ebola patients in Sierra Leone, the team led by UW–Madison's Yoshihiro Kawaoka has identified signatures of the disease that may aid in future treatment efforts.
Doctor, take your meditation
The Center for Healthy Minds at UW–Madison works to cultivate well-being and relieve suffering through a scientific understanding of the mind. Applying its teachings helps doctors better cope with the stresses of their profession.
Amid midterms, finals, one class is teaching students how to relax
With a midterm season that never seems to end and finals just around the corner, there’s very little time to relax, let alone simply take a breath. But one class on campus is helping students do just that.
UW scientists create a recipe to make human blood-brain barrier
The researchers have developed a process to turn multipurpose stem cells into the cells that make the anatomical feature that protects our brain from toxins and other threats that may be in circulating blood.
Study: Yoga reduces falls among the elderly
Participants in a study saw significant improvements on two measures of walking gait, and on balance, after 8 weeks of yoga classes.
Scientists explore national security implications of gene editing
Experts from the United States and across Europe, China and India, including UW and Morgridge Institute researchers, shared ideas for harmonizing genome editing policies across borders.
A little myelin goes a long way to restore nervous system function
New research shows that in long-lived animals, renewed but thin myelin sheaths are enough to restore impaired nervous systems and can do so for years after the onset of disease.
New study shows how cells can be led down non-cancer path
As cells with a propensity for cancer break down food for energy, they reach a fork in the road: They can either continue energy production as healthy cells, or shift to the energy production profile of cancer cells.
H7N9 influenza is both lethal and transmissible in animal model for flu
“This is the first case of a highly pathogenic avian virus that transmits between ferrets and kills them,” says prominent UW–Madison influenza researcher Yoshihiro Kawaoka. “That’s not good for public health.”
WARF announces annual grant figures and Innovation Award winners
The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation has invested $61.9 million in UW–Madison research for the 2017-18 academic year, and provided $19 million in grants to the Morgridge Institute for Research.
UW–Madison joins national network to combat opioid epidemic, substance abuse disorders
With a new $3.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, researchers at the Center for Health Enhancement Systems Studies have joined a national network of Addiction Technology Transfer Centers.
Autism prevalence and socioeconomic status: What’s the connection?
Children living in neighborhoods where incomes are low and fewer adults have bachelor’s degrees are less likely to be diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder compared to kids from more affluent neighborhoods.
Collaborative at UW, American Family Children’s Hospital a ‘huge blessing’ for school nurses
The Healthy Learner Cooperative's goal is to promote collaboration among school nurses, educators, students, families and health care providers, including pediatric clinic nurses.