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  • Social work professor Venera Bekteshi has found that a bout with cancer can be the catalyst for growth and healing in mother-daughter relationships.

    Cancer and treatment side effect: Stronger mother-daughter ties

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A bout with cancer can be the catalyst for growth and healing in mother-daughter relationships, suggests a new study by a University of Illinois social work professor.

  • University of Illinois chemistry professor Eric Oldfield, center, graduate student Wei Zhu, left, research scientist Yonghui Zhang and their colleagues at UC San Diego discovered a compound that cured drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection in mice.

    New compound overcomes drug-resistant Staph infection in mice

    CHAMPAIGN, lll. - Researchers have discovered a new compound that restores the health of mice infected with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), an otherwise dangerous bacterial infection. The new compound targets an enzyme not found in human cells but which is essential to bacterial survival.

  • University of Illinois neuroscience professor Aron Barbey led a study that found a gene variant associated with improved recovery from traumatic brain injury.

    One gene influences recovery from traumatic brain injury

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Researchers report that one tiny variation in the sequence of a gene may cause some people to be more impaired by traumatic brain injury (TBI) than others with comparable wounds.

  • A team of researchers led by John Rogers, the Lee J. Flory-Founder Chair in Engineering at Illinois, has developed biocompatible silicon devices that could mark the beginning of a new wave of surgical electronics.

    Flexible electronics could help put off-beat hearts back on rhythm

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Arrhythmic hearts soon may beat in time again, with minimal surgical invasion, thanks to flexible electronics technology developed by a team of University of Illinois researchers, in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Northwestern University. These biocompatible silicon devices could mark the beginning of a new wave of surgical electronics.

  • UI scientist does nutritional detective work in Botswana

    Many Americans have a soft spot for Botswana. Some developed that fondness for the African country while reading the best-selling “The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency” series. But few have had a chance to do any sleuthing of their own there.

  • Arts program provides services, guidance to HIV/AIDS patients

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - As an art educator and researcher, Julia Kellman has long been aware - from her academic's box-seat vantage point - that art can impact people's lives in profound ways. But for the past four years, she's witnessed the phenomenal power of art-making from the perspective of a director who is on stage, engaging in an ongoing, intimate dialogue with the actors.

  • University of Illinois psychology professor and Beckman Institute affiliate Janice Juraska, left, and doctoral student Nioka Chisholm found that long-term exposure to estrogen and a synthetic progesterone increased synapse numbers in the prefrontal cortex of aged rats.

    Long-term hormone treatment increases synapses in rat prefrontal cortex

    CHAMPAIGN, lll. - A new study of aged female rats found that long-term treatment with estrogen and a synthetic progesterone known as MPA increased levels of a protein marker of synapses in the prefrontal cortex, a brain region known to suffer significant losses in aging.

  • Craig Gundersen

    The upside of school lunch programs

    A Minute With™... Craig Gundersen, a U. of I. professor of agricultural and consumer economics

  • SOCIAL STUDIES: New research by Nicole Llewellyn and Karen Rudolph suggests that children's gender, social orientation and sensitivity to social rewards and punishments may determine their responses to peer victimization. Llewellyn is a doctoral candidate and Rudolph is a faculty member, both in the department of psychology.

    Gender, social orientation affect children's reactions to bullying

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A new study of nearly 600 third-graders may explain why some children who experience peer victimization develop problems with depression or aggression while other children who also get bullied have healthy emotional and social adjustment.

  • University of Illinois professor Ning Wang and colleagues in China use soft gels to culture the elusive cells that spread cancer from the primary tumor to other places in the body.

    New way to grow, isolate cancer cells may add weapon against disease

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The news a cancer patient most fears is that the disease has spread and become much more difficult to treat. A new method to isolate and grow the most dangerous cancer cells could enable new research into how cancer spreads and, ultimately, how to fight it.

  • Illinois chemists developed a method to make tiny silicone microspheres using misting technology found in household humidifiers. The spheres could have applications in targeted medicine and imaging.

    Tiny silicone spheres come out of the mist

    Technology in common household humidifiers could enable the next wave of high-tech medical imaging and targeted medicine, thanks to a new method for making tiny silicone microspheres developed by chemists at the University of Illinois.

  • Jung Min Park, left, and Joe Ryan, both professors of social work, followed 5,978 children in foster care in Illinois for several years to determine whether these children's placement and permanency outcomes were affected by their histories of intensive mental health treatment.

    Study looks at how mental health care affects outcomes for foster children

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Of the approximately half-million children and adolescents in foster care in the U.S., experts estimate that 42 to 60 percent of them have emotional and behavioral problems. Despite the prevalence of mental health problems among foster children, little is known about how pre-existing mental health conditions affect their outcomes in foster care.

  • Modified bone drug kills malaria parasite in mice

    CHAMPAIGN, lll. - A chemically altered osteoporosis drug may be useful in fighting malaria, researchers report in a new study. Unlike similar compounds tested against many other parasitic protozoa, the drug readily crosses into the red blood cells of malaria-infected mice and kills the malaria parasite. The drug works at very low concentrations with no observed toxicity to the mouse.

  • The health care industry needs to think carefully about the types of pictures used to illustrate patient education websites, since older adults' comprehension can be negatively impacted by irrelevant material, suggests a new study co-written by Daniel Morrow, a faculty member in the College of Education and in the Beckman Institute.

    Images on health websites can lessen comprehension, study finds

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Photos of happy, smiling faces on patient education websites may engage readers, but they also may have a negative impact on older adults' comprehension of vital health information, especially those elderly patients who are the least knowledgeable about their medical condition to begin with, suggests a new study.

  • Wildlife veterinarian Mark A. Mitchell reports on how our instinctive fear of snakes and other reptiles leads to neglect and mismanagement.

    Despite a recent salmonella outbreak, can pet turtles be made safe?

    A Minute With™... wildlife veterinarian Mark A. Mitchell

  • UI study shows how to lose weight without losing bone

    A higher-protein diet that emphasizes lean meats and low-fat dairy foods as sources of protein and calcium can mean weight loss without bone loss - and the evidence is in bone scans taken throughout a new UI study.

  • Jianjun Cheng, professor of materials science and engineering, left; Rong Tong, graduate student, center, and Yi Lu, professor of chemistry, were on a team that developed a reversible method for delivering cancer drugs to tumor cells.

    New cancer drug delivery system is effective and reversible

    CHAMPAIGN, lll. - For cancer drug developers, finding an agent that kills tumor cells is only part of the equation. The drug must also spare healthy cells. And - ideally - its effects will be reversible, to cut short any potentially dangerous side effects.

  • Researchers report they have found a way to disrupt the spread of antibiotic-resistance genes among S. pneumoniae bacteria, which can contribute to pneumonia, meningitis and other dangerous ailments.

    Scientists target bacterial sharing of antibiotic-resistance genes

    CHAMPAIGN, lll. - The bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae - which can cause pneumonia, meningitis, bacteremia and sepsis - likes to share its antibiotic-defeating weaponry with its neighbors. Individual cells can pass resistance genes to one another through a process called horizontal gene transfer, or by "transformation," the uptake of DNA from the environment.

  • $2 million Mellon grant to fund three new humanities research groups

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities has been awarded a $2,050,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to create research groups in three emerging areas in the humanities.

  • University of Illinois entomology professor Barry Pittendrigh (back right) and his colleagues create animated educational videos as part of the Scientific Animations Without Borders project. Pictured: back row left: entomology research scientist Weilin Sun; front row from left: SAWBO co-founder Julia Bello-Bravo, who also is assistant director of Illinois Strategic International Partnerships; graduate students Laura Steele and Alice Vossbrinck; and research specialist Susan Balfe.

    Agricultural, health education goes global via cellphone animations

    CHAMPAIGN, lll. - They're watching them in Benin, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, India and Niger. They're learning how to stop the spread of dengue, malaria, tuberculosis, cholera and food-related illness. They're learning how to protect their crops from insect damage or post-harvest losses. And they're coming up with new ideas for similar lessons to share with their neighbors or others around the world.

  • University of Illinois engineers developed a method to computationally correct aberrations in three-dimensional tissue microscopy. From left, postdoctoral researcher Steven Adie, professor P. Scott Carney, graduate students Adeel Ahmad and Benedikt Graf, and professor Stephen Boppart.

    Computing the best high-resolution 3-D tissue images

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Real-time, 3-D microscopic tissue imaging could be a revolution for medical fields such as cancer diagnosis, minimally invasive surgery and ophthalmology. University of Illinois researchers have developed a technique to computationally correct for aberrations in optical tomography, bringing the future of medical imaging into focus.

  • A recent study conducted by Illinois kinesiology and community health professor Ruopeng An shows that although the increase in obesity prevalence among adults may be slowing, it continues to increase, especially in those with high body mass index measures.

    New evidence shows increase in obesity may be slowing, but not by much

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - In his 2014 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama referred to an August 2013 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study that showed a decline in the obesity rate among low-income preschool children, saying, "Michelle's Let's Move! partnership with schools, businesses and local leaders has helped bring down childhood obesity rates for the first time in 30 years, and that's an achievement that will improve lives and reduce health care costs for decades to come."

  • New research reveals factors that helped some commit to a yearlong exercise program.

    Want to keep your exercise resolutions? New research offers pointers

    CHAMPAIGN, lll. - Sticking with an exercise routine means being able to overcome the obstacles that invariably arise. A key to success is having the confidence that you can do it, researchers report. A new study explores how some cognitive strategies and abilities influence this "situation-specific self-confidence," a quality the researchers call "self-efficacy."

  • What the media call 'pink slime' is not new or dangerous

    A Minute With™... Anna Dilger, a professor of animal sciences

  • Research reinforces findings that Chinese exercises benefit older adults

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - New work by researchers at the University of Illinois lends strength to previous research documenting the health benefits of Qigong and Taiji among older adults who practice these ancient Chinese martial-arts forms.

  • L. Brian Stauffer Many of the behavioral and cognitive characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorders can be identified when children are as young as age 2, suggests a new study by alumna Laurie M. Jeans, right, and Rosa Milagros Santos Gilbertz, a faculty member in the College of Education.

    Autism signs can be identified earlier than formerly thought, study suggests

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Many characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorders can be identified by the age of 2 and are predictive of which children will be diagnosed with these disorders when they're older, a new study suggests.

  • Taiji master Yang Yang, an adjunct professor of kinesiology at the University of Illinois, is featured in a new, permanent exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

    U. of I. professors featured in exhibit about body-mind-spirit connection

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Taiji master Yang Yang, an adjunct professor of kinesiology at the University of Illinois, is featured in a new, permanent exhibit that opened Oct. 8 at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

  • Parents level of health literacy determines the weight-control strategies they would choose for their children, according to a new study led by Janet Liechty, a professor of social work and of medicine. Dr. Salma M. A. Musaad, a visiting research biostatistician in human and community development, and social work doctoral student Jaclyn A. Saltzman were co-authors.

    Parents' health literacy affects child weight-loss tactics, study finds

    Parents who have low health literacy are less likely to choose government-recommended weight-loss strategies, such as increasing physical activity or serving more fruits and vegetables, to help their children control their weight than parents who are better able to understand basic health-related information, a new study suggests.

  • Microbiology professor Steven Blanke (center), graduate student Prashant Jain (left) and postdoctoral researcher Tamilselvam Batcha found that a factor produced by the bacterium H. pylori directly activates an enzyme in host cells that has been associated with several types of cancer, including gastric cancer.

    Team finds link between stomach-cancer bug and cancer-promoting factor

    CHAMPAIGN, lll. - Researchers report that Helicobacter pylori, the only bacterium known to survive in the harsh environment of the human stomach, directly activates an enzyme in host cells that has been associated with several types of cancer, including gastric cancer.

  • New research by doctoral candidate Yunxian (Fureya) Liu and nutrition professor William Helferich suggests that soy's breast cancer preventive properties may stem from eating soy-based whole foods across the lifespan.

    Gene mapping reveals soy's dynamic, differing roles in breast cancer

    Scientists have mapped the human genes triggered by the phytonutrients in soy, revealing the complex role the legume plays in both preventing and advancing breast cancer.

  • Anton Ivanov and Ujjal Kumar Mukherjee, both professors of business administration at Illinois.

    Study: Default testing for COVID-19 in K-12 schools more effective than voluntary testing

    Schools adopting a test-to-stay program in which students were regularly tested for COVID-19 unless they proactively “opted out” of testing experienced an 84% higher testing rate and a 30% lower positivity rate than schools with a voluntary “opt-in” testing model, says a study co-written by Anton Ivanov and Ujjal Kumar Mukherjee, both professors of business administration at Illinois.

  • Professor Sheldon H. Jacobson led a study that found that the pediatric vaccine market is affected by a physician's perceptions of cost, more than actual cost.

    Study recalculates cost of combination vaccines

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - One of the most popular vaccine brands for children may not be the most cost-effective choice. And doctors may be overlooking some cost factors when choosing vaccines, driving the market toward what is actually a more expensive option, according to a new study by University of Illinois researchers.

  • University of Illinois pathobiology professor Marilyn O'Hara Ruiz, right, and graduate student Allison Gardner identified the physical factors associated with increased numbers of disease-carrying mosquito larvae in Chicago catch basins.

    Heat, rainfall affect pathogenic mosquito abundance in catch basins

    CHAMPAIGN, lll. - Rainfall and temperature affect the abundance of two mosquito species linked to West Nile Virus in storm catch basins in suburban Chicago, two University of Illinois researchers report.

  • University of Illinois comparative biosciences professor Suzanne Berry-Miller, veterinary clinical medicine professor Robert O'Brien and their colleagues developed a method that enhanced cardiac function in a mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

    Stem-cell approach shows promise for Duchenne muscular dystrophy

    CHAMPAIGN, lll. - Researchers have shown that transplanting stem cells derived from normal mouse blood vessels into the hearts of mice that model the pathology associated with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) prevents the decrease in heart function associated with DMD.

  • Topography of a red blood cell as measured by the SLIM optical technique. Though the cell keeps its shape as it ages, the membrane becomes less flexible.

    Banked blood grows stiffer with age, study finds

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - It may look like fresh blood and flow like fresh blood, but the longer blood is stored, the less it can carry oxygen into the tiny microcapillaries of the body, says a new study from University of Illinois researchers.

  • University of Illinois psychology professor Joshua Gulley and his colleagues found that amphetamine use in adolescence can lead to long-term impairments in memory.

    Amphetamine use in adolescence may impair adult working memory

    CHAMPAIGN, lll. - Rats exposed to high doses of amphetamines at an age that corresponds to the later years of human adolescence display significant memory deficits as adults - long after the exposure ends, researchers report.

  • Mix of taiji, cognitive therapy and support groups benefits those with dementia

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Those diagnosed with early stage dementia can slow their physical, mental and psychological decline by taking part in therapeutic programs that combine counseling, support groups, Taiji and qigong, researchers report. Some of the benefits of this approach are comparable to those achieved with anti-dementia medications.

  • Pictured, from left: Professor Huimin Zhao, professor Charles Schroeder, graduate students Luke Cuculis and Zhanar Abil.

    Genome-editing proteins seek and find with a slide and a hop

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Searching a whole genome for one particular sequence is like trying to fish a specific piece from the box of a billion-piece puzzle. Using advanced imaging techniques, University of Illinois researchers have observed how one set of genome-editing proteins finds its specific targets, which could help them design better gene therapies to treat disease.

  • M.D./Ph.D. student Marta Zamroziewicz, left, Carle Hospital-Beckman Institute postdoctoral fellow Rachael Rubin and their colleagues looked at the role of nutrition in brain function in elderly adults who were at risk of developing late-onset Alzheimers disease.

    Omega-3 fatty acids enhance cognitive flexibility in at-risk older adults

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A study of older adults at risk of late-onset Alzheimer’s disease found that those who consumed more omega-3 fatty acids did better than their peers on tests of cognitive flexibility – the ability to efficiently switch between tasks – and had a bigger anterior cingulate cortex, a brain region known to contribute to cognitive flexibility.

  • Three hours of fighting a fire stiffens arteries and impairs cardiac function in firefighters, according to a new study by Bo Fernhall, right, a professor in the department of kinesiology and community health in the College of Applied Health Sciences, and Gavin Horn, director of research at the Illinois Fire Service Institute.

    Firefighting stiffens arteries, impairs heart function

    CHAMPAIGN, lll. - Firefighting causes stiff arteries and "cardiac fatigue," conditions also found in weightlifters and endurance athletes, according to two recent studies by researchers at the Illinois Fire Service Institute, located at the University of Illinois.

  • Craig Gundersen

    Links between hunger and health lead to recommendation that doctors screen patients for food insecurity

    Almost 50 million people in the United States are food insecure – that is, they lack access to adequate food because of limited money or other resources. University of Illinois economist Craig Gundersen and University of Kentucky’s James P. Ziliak examined recent research on food insecurity and its association with poor health, and offer suggestions including that doctors screen for hunger.

  • Parks and recreation play key role in promoting healthy living, study finds

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A new study co-written by a University of Illinois professor has confirmed what parks and recreation professionals have long suspected: Nationwide, their agencies are serving as effective partners with community health-care providers in promoting healthy, active lifestyles among residents.

  • Woman in a bathrobe seated on a bench in a hospital hallway being comforted by her physician

    Women seeking credibility in health care feel ‘on trial,’ struggle with constraints of double binds

    Women with chronic, undiagnosed conditions find themselves in several double binds while laboring to establish their credibility as a patient and the legitimacy of their medical problems with their doctors and loved ones, says a new study.

  • Breast tissue is computationally stained using data from infrared imaging without actually staining the tissue, enabling multiple stains on the same sample. From left, the image shows a Hematoxylin and Eosin stain (pink-blue), molecular staining for epithelial cells (brown color) and Masson's trichrome(blue, red at right).

    New technique paints tissue samples with light

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - One infrared scan can give pathologists a window into the structures and molecules inside tissues and cells, enabling fast and broad diagnostic assessments, thanks to an imaging technique developed by University of Illinois researchers and clinical partners.

  • Barbara H. Fiese, a professor of human development and family studies, says family meal can be one of the most powerful times for promoting health.

    Family meals promote healthier weights, eating behaviors in children

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Eating meals with family may be the best recipe for promoting healthy eating behaviors and body weights in children and adolescents, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Illinois.

  • A YouTube icon on a device screen

    Study: YouTube did not actively direct users toward anti-vaccine content during COVID-19

    New research led by data science experts at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and United Nations Global Pulse found that there is no strong evidence that YouTube promoted anti-vaccine sentiment during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study, published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, performed an algorithmic audit to examine if YouTube’s recommendation system acted as a “rabbit hole,” leading users searching for vaccine-related videos to anti-vaccine content


  • Photo of University of Illinois alumnus Daniel J. Laxman found that fathers who read to their children with autism also boosted the mental health of the children's mothers. Co-authors on the study were special education professor Rosa Milagros Santos Gilbertz of Illinois, W. Justin Dyer of Brigham Young University, and Laurie M. Jeans of St. Ambrose University.

    Dads' parenting of children with autism improves moms' mental health

    Fathers who read to their infants with autism and take active roles in caregiving activities not only promote healthy development in their children, they boost moms’ mental health too, new research suggests.

  • Mesenchymal stem cells (green) accumulate in skeletal muscle following exercise and release growth factors to spur regeneration.

    Exercise triggers stem cells in muscle

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - University of Illinois researchers determined that an adult stem cell present in muscle is responsive to exercise, a discovery that may provide a link between exercise and muscle health. The findings could lead to new therapeutic techniques using these cells to rehabilitate injured muscle and prevent or restore muscle loss with age.

  • University of Illinois graduate student Marc Cook and his colleagues found that young African-American men experienced more cardiovascular benefits from weight training than Caucasian men of the same age.

    Strength training improves vascular function in young black men

    CHAMPAIGN, lll. - Six weeks of weight training can significantly improve blood markers of cardiovascular health in young African-American men, researchers report in the Journal of Human Hypertension.

  • UI employees participate in a Weekly Wellness Walk, hosted by the Wellness Center. The walk took place on one of the routes evaluated by volunteers last year. The lunch-hour walks take place Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays at different locations. To encourage employees to fit exercise into their routines, the Wellness Center is planning an online toolkit with maps and other information for prospective walkers.  Click photo to enlarge

    Wellness Center: 'Hoofing it' gets a following

    Bob Douglas resembles neither Lewis nor Clark, but he's a trailblazer nonetheless.