Latest University of Rochester Stories

Study Reaffirms "Obesity Paradox": Obese patients at lower risk of sudden cardiac death compared to non-obese patientsObesity has long been identified as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and heart failure. But, a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center found that being skinny confers no advantage when it comes to the risk of dying suddenly from cardiac causes.Scientists found that non-obese heart failure patients "“ including overweight,...

OAKLAND, Calif., March 12 /PRNewswire/ -- A major intellectual property jury trial, involving the theft of trade secret information and the breach of Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA), is set to start on Monday, March 15, 2010. The trial is in Hayward, California, Department 512, Judge John True, III. Plaintiff Victor Kley, who is the sole owner of General Nanotechnology and Metadigm (the other plaintiffs), approached Lawrence Livermore Lab in the Spring of 2004 with a unique idea to assist...

Scientists at the University of Rochester have discovered that the Earth's magnetic field 3.5 billion years ago was only half as strong as it is today, and that this weakness, coupled with a strong wind of energetic particles from the young Sun, likely stripped water from the early Earth's atmosphere.The findings, presented in today's issue of Science, suggest that the magnetopause"”the boundary where the Earth's magnetic field successfully deflects the Sun's incoming solar wind"”was only...

It is second nature for most of us that exercise protects against heart attack and stroke, but researchers have spent 30 years unraveling the biochemistry behind the idea. One answer first offered by researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center is that athletic hearts push blood through arteries with greater force, which alone triggers reactions that protect against dangerous clogs in blood vessels.In the latest study out of Rochester, published recently in the journal Blood,...

Most people know that diamond is one of the hardest solids on Earth, so strong that it can easily cut through glass and steel.Surprisingly, very little is known about the strength of diamond at extreme conditions. But new research by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists shows that diamond becomes even stronger during rapid compression.Using the Janus laser at LLNL and the Omega laser at the University of Rochester, Livermore scientists and Rochester and UC Berkeley colleagues...

Parasitic wasps kill pest insects, but their existence is largely unknown to the public. Now, scientists led by John H. Werren, professor of biology at the University of Rochester, and Stephen Richards at the Genome Sequencing Center at the Baylor College of Medicine have sequenced the genomes of three parasitoid wasp species, revealing many features that could be useful to pest control and medicine, and to enhance our understanding of genetics and evolution. The study appears in the Jan. 15...

From construction laborers and secretaries to physicians and lawyers, people experience better moods, greater vitality, and fewer aches and pains from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon, concludes the first study of daily mood variation in employed adults to be published in the January 2010 issue of the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology. And that 'weekend effect' is largely associated with the freedom to choose one's activities and the opportunity to spend time with loved ones, the...

Vitamin D deficiency may contribute to a higher number of heart and stroke-related deaths among black Americans compared to whites, according to a University of Rochester Medical Center study.The journal Annals of Family Medicine is publishing the study in the January-February edition, which goes online Jan. 11, 2010.Researchers sought to understand the well-documented disparity between blacks and whites in cardiovascular deaths. They turned to vitamin D because growing evidence links low...

Researchers have developed a novel animal model showing that four commonly used chemotherapy drugs disrupt the birth of new brain cells, and that the condition could be partially reversed with the growth factor IGF-1.Published early online in the journal Cancer Investigation, the University of Rochester Medical Center study is relevant to the legions of cancer survivors who experience a frustrating decline in cognitive function after chemotherapy treatment, known as chemo brain."It is not yet...

University of Rochester scientists discover that laser technique used to change the colors of metals could have important implications for medicineUniversity of Rochester optics professor Chunlei Guo made headlines in the past couple of years when he changed the color of everyday metals by scouring their surfaces with precise, high-intensity laser bursts.Suddenly it was possible to make sheets of golden tungsten, or black aluminum.A recent discovery in Guo's lab has shown that, beyond the...