Health and Medicine

The simultaneous existence of bird flu and a particularly virulent form of human influenza circulating this season is the "perfect set-up for something weird and dangerous" to happen on the world health scene, according to a University at Buffalo expert on infectious disease and geographic medicine.

In TV's portrayal of law and justice, civil liberties have become public enemy No. 1, according to a new book by a nationally known media critic at the University at Buffalo. "Law and Justice as Seen on TV" (New York University Press), examines the social and political impact of TV law and crime shows over the past 50 years -- from depictions of saintly public defenders to modern portrayals of tough-on-crime, heroic prosecutors.

Overweight individuals who adopt a low-fat diet in hopes of lessening their risk of heart disease and diabetes may be venturing down the wrong path, results of a new study headed by a nutritional researcher at the University at Buffalo have shown. The study, published in the current (February) issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, showed that a moderate-fat diet might be a better choice.

Appearances by a prominent director and an emerging director -- each of whom will introduce her film -- will be among the highlights of the eighth annual University at Buffalo Women's Film Festival, which will run on Thursdays from Feb. 5 through March 11 in the Market Arcade Film & Arts Centre, 639 Main St.

Ewa Plonowska Ziarek, newly appointed Julian Park Chair in the Humanities in the Department of Comparative Literature in the University at Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences, will discuss feminist theory and the militant suffrage movement at the annual UB Institute for Research and Education on Women and Gender (IREWG) Distinguished Faculty Lecture.

Drivers, when you fasten your seat belt, make sure the person sitting behind you buckles up, too. It could save your life, as well as your passenger's. That's the message from research conducted by investigators at the Center for Transportation Injury Research (CenTIR), affiliated with the University of Buffalo (UB) and the Calspan UB Research Center.

Can the presence of Fido or Fluffy calm an owner's stress, as some studies have suggested? Or is the science as fuzzy as Fifi's coat? A research scientist at the University at Buffalo, reviewed the scientific evidence to date relating to pets and cardiovascular responses. Her conclusion? Your beloved cat or dog can have a positive effect on your cardiovascular health, but don't stop taking your heart medicine.

The next time you're about to pop a chunk of moldy Gorgonzola, lamb's lung, aged beef or urine-scented kidney into your mouth, consider its meaning. "Part of the experience of this sort of meal," says Carolyn Korsmeyer, professor of philosophy at the University at Buffalo, "involves an awareness, however underground, of the presence of death amid the continuance of one's own life."

Just as all fats are not "bad," it's wrong to demonize all carbohydrates and to think of foods high in carbohydrates as "bad" and those low in carbohydrates as "good," according to an assistant professor of nutrition in the School of Public Health and Health Professions at the University at Buffalo.

Women tend to adapt to their husband's drinking behavior during the first year of marriage, with his drinking behavior influencing who they choose as friends and the role of drinking in their social life, according to research conducted at the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions.