Health and Medicine

When UB hosts "Digital Frontiers: The Buffalo Summit 2001," on Nov. 2 and 3, one of the projects to be exhibited in connection with the event is a little honey called "EVL: Alive on the Grid" -- a peculiar virtual experience involving avatars, simultaneous occupation of virtual space, lots of music and dancing "ghosts."

A "universal bathroom" developed by an architectural team from the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning has won the Bronze Award in the 2001 American Society on Aging (ASA) competition for new products for mature markets.

Retailers should brace for a poor Christmas sales season because many Americans feel too guilty to shop during this period of national mourning, says an expert on retailing and consumer behavior. "Not since the death of President Kennedy has the United States experienced such collective mourning," says Arun K. Jain, Samuel P. Capen Professor of Marketing Research and Chair of the Marketing Department in the University at Buffalo School of Management.

In a new study underway at the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions, researchers are examining the cumulative effect of a number of risk factors associated with mothers' cocaine use on their infants' mental development.

The School of Social Work at the University at Buffalo has developed a Web site that offers online information and resources for those who are having personal difficulty coping with the Sept. 11 terrorist attack and its aftermath.

Have we developed the collective wisdom and conscience to deal with a world in which ubiquitous technological interactions are so intertwined that they cannot be untangled? Let's hope so, because that's what our future holds. "Digital Frontier: Buffalo Summit 2001," a major international conference to be held Nov. 2 and 3 at the University at Buffalo, will present observations and research on what digital technology has wrought by some of the most brilliant, pioneering thinkers in art, social science, applied science and engineering, medicine, philosophy and education.

Rush Limbaugh's loss of sensory inner-ear hair cells, a condition that likely contributed to his hearing loss, could lead to changes in his brain that would allow him optimize use of his remaining hearing, research being done at the University at Buffalo indicates.

With the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon now one month ago, this is the time when cases of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in those who witnessed the events in person or through the news media will start being diagnosed, according to a psychologist at the University at Buffalo.

Making sure that cell-phone calls go through, particularly in times of disaster, as well as at times of heaviest use, is the goal of new architecture for next-generation wireless systems for cellular telephones being proposed by researchers at the University at Buffalo.

The University at Buffalo has received a $7.3 million, three-year grant from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research to plan and conduct a pilot study for a clinical trial of the impact of periodontal disease treatment on prevention of second heart attacks.