03

UF Researchers Explore Why Patients’ Pain Recall May Be More Than Total

Published: March 31 2004

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — In a perfect world, a visit to the dentist’s office would be stress-free and painless. But if you’re like 25 million other Americans, the mere thought of reclining in a dentist’s chair probably fills your heart with dread.

UF survey: Florida consumer confidence falls after terrorist attack

Published: March 30 2004

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Consumer confidence among Floridians experienced its biggest drop in nearly 18 months, prompted by fears of additional terrorist attacks after the bombing strikes in Spain as well as continued pessimism about the job market, University of Florida economists report.

Chemists: nanocapsules show potential against overdoses in lab tests

Published: March 30 2004

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Trauma doctors may one day have a new weapon against drug overdoses: “nanocapsules” that sponge up the drugs and render them harmless.

UF Study: Local, Regional Weather Patterns Sway Impact Of El Niño, La Niña

Published: March 29 2004

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Climatologists can improve the accuracy of computer models that predict El Nino- or La Nina-induced droughts by taking into account how local and regional weather patterns influence these global weather anomalies, according to a new University of Florida study.

UF Stem Cell Researchers Successfully Treat Diabetes In Mice By Coaxing Cells To Change

Published: March 22 2004

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — University of Florida adult stem cell experts have restored normal blood sugar levels in diabetic mice for three months by chemically coaxing bone marrow cells to produce insulin, a hormone normally made in the pancreas.

Black Police Officers In The South Still Face Racism, UF Researcher Says

Published: March 18 2004

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A "blue curtain" has descended within police departments in the South, bringing to a standstill the progress made by black officers, UF research has found.

Development to cost Florida almost 3 million acres of rural land by 2020, UF expert warns

Published: March 17 2004

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Spreading suburbs could consume almost 3 million acres of Florida’s farmland by the year 2020, a University of Florida researcher predicts.

UF Researchers Link World Trade Center Attack To Rise In Heart Arrhythmias In Florida Patients

Published: March 8 2004

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — In the month after the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center, millions grappled with the emotional heartache of a national tragedy. Scientists now have discovered new evidence of physical consequences for the heart as well among patients living hundreds of miles from Ground Zero who rely on a pacemaker-like device that corrects dangerously rapid arrhythmias with electric shock.

Study: Young Blacks Less Attuned Than Whites To Noise-Induced Hearing Loss

Published: March 4 2004

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Young blacks know less about hearing loss than their white counterparts, but those in both groups turn a deaf ear to advice about how to protect themselves in noisy settings, a new UF study shows.

UF Researchers Create New Low-Carb Food Product

Published: March 3 2004

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A new low-carbohydrate, high-protein food product created by University of Florida researchers could give dieters a new weapon in the battle against obesity.

UF Study: Neurotoxin Eliminates Pain-Transmitting Nerve Cells In Rats With Spinal Cord Injury

Published: March 2 2004

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A potent neurotoxin can be used to zap rogue nerve cells responsible for triggering chronic pain after paralyzing spinal cord injury in rats, an approach scientists have labeled molecular neurosurgery, University of Florida researchers report in the online edition of Neuroscience Letters.

UF Researchers Find National Kidney Transplant Failure Rate Is Rising

Published: March 1 2004

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Armed with increasingly effective drug regimens, physicians have cut short-term rejection rates in the months after kidney transplantation in half. Yet recent analysis of a national database reveals the odds the lifesaving organs will ultimately fail years later have risen, University of Florida researchers report in the March issue of the American Journal of Transplantation.

Discarded Cell Phones, Printers, Keyboards, Etc. May Be Hazardous Waste

Published: March 1 2004

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The devices that make possible e-mail, e-news and e-commerce may end their days as e-hazardous waste.

Study Shows St. John's Wort May Compromise Cancer Drug's Ability To Prevent Relapse

Published: March 26 2004

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — St. John’s wort, an herb thought to be a safe, natural remedy for mild depression, may interfere with a powerful cancer-fighting drug’s ability to prevent relapse in leukemia patients, a University of Florida pharmacy researcher will report March 27 at the annual meeting of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics.

Study: Supercontinent's Breakup Plunged Ancient Earth Into Big Chill

Published: March 17 2004

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The breakup of the world’s original supercontinent, coupled with the breakdown of massive amounts of volcanic rock, plunged Earth into the deepest freeze it has ever experienced, new research shows.

UF Scientists Find Immune System Cells Fight Cancer's Return, Predict Outcome So

Published: March 10 2004

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — By measuring levels of cells crucial to marshaling the forces of the immune system, University of Florida researchers have been able to predict with greater accuracy the likelihood cancer patients who have received a blood stem cell transplant will go into remission or suffer a relapse and die.