A new research study from the UVA School of Medicine has found that young children who watch one to two hours of TV per day are much more likely to become overweight or obese than those who watch for less than an hour. “We were interested to see that children…
Cancer touches all of us. Despite our greatest scientific achievements, far too many lives are cut short by this disease. But there is reason to hope. For the first time, we’re unlocking mysteries of how cancer develops, grows and spreads at the molecular and cellular levels — insights unknown even five years…
USA Today has dubbed Entamoeba histolytica the "werewolf amoeba." [caption id="attachment_8148" align="alignright" width="250"] Entamoeba histolytica parasites ingesting bites of intestinal cells in a mouse. Credit: Katherine Ralston and David Zemo[/caption] And Christopher Huston of the University of Vermont College of Medicine is calling the discovery a "technical tour de force." As published…
New research from the School of Medicine suggests a gene variation may play a key role in risk of stroke. The gene discovery comes as part of an investigation into how the body converts the enzyme methionine into the amino acid homocysteine. While researchers have previously found evidence to link…
The research world calls it cutaneous leishmaniasis, but it's become so common among U.S. troops serving in Iraq that they have dubbed it the “Baghdad Boil.” This unhealing skin sore is caused by sand fly bites that become infected with parasites. [caption id="attachment_7984" align="alignright" width="300"] Some of the UVA "Baghdad…
The most popular blog post of the New Year? A UVA med student, while training on a supposedly healthy volunteer, discovered a real, life-threatening aneurysm — a finding that saved the man's life. [caption id="attachment_7762" align="alignright" width="300"] During training, medical student Ryan Jones (right) caught an AAA in Jim Malloy.[/caption]…
In the last few years, American culture has become more conversant in the language of concussion and traumatic brain injury (TBI). Press coverage of both military veterans and football players experiencing extremes such as suicide has forced these tough-minded institutions to investigate and treat these unseen and often ignored injuries.…
Researchers followed children in Dhaka, Bangladesh, from birth to one year, trying to solve a mystery: Why are oral polio vaccines only about half as effective in developing countries as they are in the U.S.? [caption id="attachment_7847" align="alignright" width="300"] Infectious diseases researchers William Petri, MD, PhD, Nona Jiang and Caitlin…
Anthrax. It’s one of those words that immediately sends chills up your spine when you see it in a news headline or hear it mentioned on the radio. Today’s mention of the deadly bacteria also, at first glance, seems a little chilling: UVA researchers have found that anthrax spores actually…
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