Health and Medicine

A pharmacist and business executive turned venture capitalist, University at Buffalo graduate Henry A. Panasci, Jr. has given $1 million to the university to create a competition that encourages students to become entrepreneurs.

A new University at Buffalo study published in the December issue of Pediatrics comparing the effectiveness over time of Adderall and Ritalin -- two drugs for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) -- shows that a single dose of Adderall is effective for a full school day.

Is there an infant or toddler with disabilities on your holiday gift list? If so, you might be interested in some advice from Susan Mistrett, director of the Let's Play! project at the University at Buffalo, which uses assistive technologies and interactive strategies to help disabled children to play.

Some might say Walter Simpson has a "bah, humbug!" attitude toward the holiday season. But the University at Buffalo energy officer and environmental activist says the holidays just are not happy anymore because they have become a time "scarred by hypocrisy and commercialism" and bring the year's most unecological and earth-destructive practices.

With the help of a $2.74 million grant, researchers at the University at Buffalo and the University of Missouri-Columbia are taking steps to find answers to why some teens engage in risky behaviors, such as drinking, using drugs and having unsafe sex.

Does drinking really kill brain cells? If not, what does happen, and how does it happen? Is the damage permanent? Does chronic alcohol abuse in late adulthood increase the deficits caused by aging? For 16 years, UB professor Roberta J. Pentney has pondered these basic questions concerning chronic alcohol abuse and brain function. Her painstaking work has yielded striking and unexpected answers.

The University at Buffalo has established a new, multidisciplinary institute to conduct research designed to harness the power of light in a broad spectrum of applications and potential products, ranging from telecommunications to cancer therapy.

International critics have called Nicholas Isherwood the uncontested darling of contemporary musicians and one of the greatest interpreters of new music in the world today. The world-renowned performer joined the UB faculty in January as an assistant professor of singing and musical theater, teaching voice and running the Music Theatre Workshop.

A major new report, developed by the University at Buffalo Institute for Local Governance and Regional Growth in collaboration with more than 200 community leaders, highlights some strengths in the Buffalo-Niagara region, points to areas where the region needs to do better and calls for collaborative, cross-sector action to enhance the region's quality of life and competitiveness.

Members of the UB Green Office in University Facilities at the University at Buffalo have kicked off a "think green" campaign to urge members of the university community to save energy, recycle and reduce waste.