Health and Medicine

MP3 downloading won't kill the music industry, but it may knock off a few pop superstars, according to a new study on the economics of digital music sharing. Noting that digital music sharing favors new artists and groups, the researchrs suggest that the music industry consider online music-sharing services as a way to increase profits and counter online music piracy.

A University at Buffalo scientist is leading an all-female research team that will be living and working deep under the surface of the ocean and studying the parentage of a coral reef off the coast of Key Largo, Fla.

The University at Buffalo has entered into a new high-technology partnership with Biopharma Ireland, Ireland's new national institute focused on biopharmaceutical research and development, giving the Buffalo Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics an important international connection.

A supportive relationship with a spouse or partner often is a source of comfort and strength, a buffer against the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. By helping both partners manage stress from a variety of sources, it not only can lengthen life, but make it more pleasant. But research shows that close relationships fraught with conflict increase blood pressure, produce cardiovascular strain and alter the function of the immune system, according to Frank Fincham, Ph.D., professor of social and clinical psychology at the University at Buffalo.

Working with Vibrio cholerae, the bacterium that causes the severe diarrheal disease of cholera, microbiologists at the University at Buffalo have revealed new information on a cellular signaling system that ultimately will help scientists understand how cholera toxin and virulent proteins of other pathogenic bacteria migrate through their cellular membranes to cause disease.

Insulin may interfere with the cascade of reactions that promote clot formation and platelet aggregation in heart-attack patients and may help prevent clot formation and plaque development in persons at risk of heart attack and stroke, new research by University at Buffalo endocrinologists has shown.

Frank Fincham, UB professor of psychology, will discuss the findings of 30 years of psychological research on marriage and family issues, as well as expose some of the prevalent myths currently held by the public, during a lecture at 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 17, in the Screening Room in the Center for the Arts on the North Campus.

Pediatric surgeon Philip Glick, M.D., is on a crusade to convince the medical community worldwide that minimally invasive surgery -- which can lessen pain, hospitalization and recovery time for young patients, as well as lower health costs -- should be the new surgical standard for treating conditions in children and adolescents. One way he is spreading his message is through a 21st-century version of show-and-tell: the surgical equivalent of teleconferencing. Glick operates in Buffalo while an audience gathered at a distant site watches in real-time through the technology of fiberoptics

Treating gum infections with an antibiotic decreases two markers of inflammation throughout the body, further supporting the connection between oral health and general health, including heart disease, researchers from the University at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine have shown.

Studies conducted in two Native American populations with a high prevalence of both Type 2 diabetes and gum disease have underscored the importance of oral health in controlling adult diabetes. One of the studies showed that reducing gum infections with antibiotics also improves diabetes control.