Health and Medicine

The appointment of Michael Glick, D.M.D., as dean of the School of Dental Medicine at the University at Buffalo was announced today by David L. Dunn, M.D., Ph.D., UB vice president for health sciences. Glick is professor of oral medicine and associate dean for oral and medical sciences at the School of Osteopathic Medicine at A. T. Still University (ATSU) in Arizona and editor of the premier peer-reviewed journal

Neurologists at the University at Buffalo are beginning a research study that could overturn the prevailing wisdom on the cause of multiple sclerosis (MS). The researchers will test the possibility that the symptoms of MS result from narrowing of the primary veins outside the skull, a condition called "chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency," or CCSVI.

University at Buffalo neurology researchers are beginning a clinical study that, if successful, could overturn current understanding of the causes of multiple sclerosis (MS). The researchers involved in the 1,600-person trial will describe the initial discovery that brought this finding to light, and the UB collaboration resulting in this clinical trial.

Tort reform -- legislation that aims to reduce medical malpractice suits -- will not cut medical costs and improve health care unless the government addresses the proliferation of unnecessary medical errors that victimize hundreds of thousands of patients every year, says Ruqaiijah Yearby, MPH, JD, associate professor in the University at Buffalo Law School.

UBMD, the University at Buffalo's 450-member physician practice plan, has received a $7 million grant from the New York State Department of Health HEAL NY initiative to implement a novel electronic records system to track and manage treatment of chronic kidney disease in real time, with the goal of reducing the number of patients in Western New York who develop end stage kidney disease (ESRD).

The University at Buffalo introduced today iSciWNY, a comprehensive life-sciences workforce development program dedicated to preparing all Western New Yorkers, not just scientists, for new positions in Buffalo Niagara's growing life sciences industry.

A nation-wide cancer information program targeting African-Americans, called the Witness Project, is partnering with a University at Buffalo genetic epidemiologist to conduct the first national study of genes that increase breast cancer susceptibility in African-American families.

Excessive drinking or smoking by a husband or wife can strain a marriage. However, is it substance use specifically that causes problems within a relationship, or is it the difference in the amount of drinking and smoking between a husband and wife that loosens the ties that bind? That question is the crux of a report by Gregory G. Homish, Ph.D., assistant professor of health behavior, and colleagues in University at Buffalo's School of Public Health and Health Professions and UB's Research Institute on Addictions.

Against the backdrop of last week's Congressional hearing into the future of forensic science, researchers from the University at Buffalo's Laboratory for Forensic Odontology Research in the School of Dental Medicine, have published a landmark paper on the controversial topic of bitemark analysis.

J. David Smith, Ph.D., a comparative psychologist at the University at Buffalo who has conducted extensive studies in animal cognition, says there is growing evidence that animals share functional parallels with human conscious metacognition -- that is, they may share humans' ability to reflect upon, monitor or regulate their states of mind.