MONDAY, DEC. 16 – SUNDAY, DEC. 23
RESEARCH
RESEARCHERS TEST NEW TECHNOLOGY TO AID IN WEIGHT LOSS – The National Institutes of Health has awarded a consortium of university researchers, led by UA, a $2.5 million grant to further evaluate a wearable device designed to change eating behaviors. Developed in a UA lab, the patent-pending system uses a tiny camera to photograph food and sensors that measure how quickly you eat it. The grant, via the NIH’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, enables the researchers to test the device in a clinical trial over four years. An initial round of funding was awarded this fall. For more information, contact Chris Bryant in UA communications at 205-348-8323 or chris.bryant@ua.edu.
UA STUDY INVESTIGATES STUDENTS’ VIEWS OF EATING LOCAL – Four researchers from UA were recently awarded a grant from the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries to examine students’ perceptions of Alabama-grown produce and create a plan to increase awareness and consumption. The researchers, part of UA’s department of human nutrition and hospitality management, recently conducted pilot research that found students generally lacked awareness about Alabama-raised food, were unfamiliar with locally grown crops or didn’t know where to purchase them. For more information, contact Bryant Welbourne, UA Strategic Communications, at 205-348-8325 or bryant.welbourne@ua.edu.
BEST BETS
COMBATING OPIOID OVERDOSES: TEAM TO BEGIN TRAINING RURAL EMS PERSONNEL – The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has awarded UA’s School of Social Work a $3.2 million grant to study the occupational stress of first responders and train them to better deal with opioid overdoses. The hope is that, through specific training relative to the dynamics and resources of 14 rural counties in Alabama, the state can lower its number of opioid overdose deaths, a number that more than doubled from 2012 to 2017, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. In 2017, the state recoded 422 opioid overdose deaths. For more information, contact David Miller, communications specialist, UA School of Social Work, at 205-348-3942 or David.c.miller@ua.edu.
SEE A LIST OF CAMPUS EVENTS AT https://www.ua.edu/events/.
NEED A SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT ON TOPICS MAKING NEWS? – See our frequently updated expert directory here.
VISIT THE UA NEWS CENTER FOR STORY IDEAS AT https://www.ua.edu/news/.