There’s an almost audible buzz emitting from a basement level laboratory in The University of Alabama’s Biology Building. The five graduate and 10 undergraduate students who work there, alongside Drs. Guy and Kim Caldwell, UA biology professors, are pumped. So too are their aforementioned faculty mentors.
Counting sheep as a way to doze off may be a cliché, but statistics show that millions of Americans suffer from insomnia and struggle to get a good night’s sleep.
Think we’ve advanced too far in Civil Rights issues and medical care to resort to making health judgments based on skin color? Don’t be so sure, says Dr. Gregory Dorr, an assistant professor of history at The University of Alabama, who has joined scholars at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology researching so-called “designer medicines” and the possibilities they could lead to racial medicine.
University of Alabama researchers have demonstrated that a specific protein protects against the loss of the brain neurons whose demise leads to Parkinson’s disease, a central nervous system disorder estimated to affect more than 1 million Americans.
The Institute of Medicine estimates that almost 100,000 patients die each year because of human errors in their care. This estimate is greater than the numbers of annual deaths from vehicle crashes, AIDS or breast cancer.
Court authorities often struggle to balance protecting society with appropriate treatment for youth who commit crimes. A University of Alabama professor recently authored a psychological test that measures key juvenile concepts and assists professionals in achieving that balance.
People with autism can be highly intelligent, but the way their brains work when they learn may be distinctly different from those without the disorder.
Few things leave people feeling as helpless and stressed as caring for a seriously ill family member.
A University of Alabama psychologist with international success in modifying aggressive behavior in children is working with dozens of elementary schools to further gauge his program’s effectiveness in reducing substance abuse risks.
Researchers at The University of Alabama, who have found a way to mimic epileptic seizures in the tiny roundworm C. elegans, have published their findings in the current issue of a top ranked scientific journal. The efforts could make the worm a powerful model for unraveling the molecular regulation of epilepsy, a condition that affects 2 percent of the population.