According a new study by West Virginia University researcher Nancy Lan Guo, the microscopic toner nanoparticles that waft from laser printers may change our genetic and metabolic profiles in ways that make disease more likely.
Just because a pregnant woman is nearing her due date doesn’t mean it’s safe for her to drink alcohol. Alcohol exposure in the third trimester can still cause her baby developmental problems later in life, including difficulty with language, memory and focusing. WVU researchers Candice Hamilton, Amna Umer, Collin John and Christa Lilly were part of an investigation into how often West Virginia babies are exposed to alcohol in the last two to four weeks before their birth. They found that about 8 percent of newborns statewide had markers for prenatal alcohol exposure in their blood.
West Virginia University’s telestroke program connects rural hospitals throughout West Virginia—and across the Maryland border—with neurologists at WVU, who can offer insight into stroke cases. New research suggests that since the program’s launch in 2016, more patients at those hospitals are receiving prompt, noninvasive stroke treatments there, rather than being driven or flown somewhere else.
Being exposed to PFAS—a class of chemicals found in drinking water—has been linked to higher rates of cancer, heart disease, thyroid dysfunction and other conditions. WVU School of Dentistry researchers R. Constance Wiener and Christopher Waters studied whether PFAS exposure is also associated with tooth decay. They found that children who had higher concentrations of a particular PFAS were more likely to have higher rates of tooth decay.
Only about one-fourth of adults are up to date on their whooping-cough vaccines. If they catch whooping cough, they may just think they have a cold. But if they give it to a baby, it can be deadly. In a new study, Allison Wolf and Dylan Boehm —researchers from the West Virginia University School of Medicine—investigated how to make the vaccine more effective, for longer. One possible way: making it a nose spray instead of a shot.
Could applying a cell-phone-sized device to your neck three times a day prevent migraine attacks? WVU researcher Umer Najib thinks it might. In a new clinical trial, he’s testing how well a vagus nerve stimulator averts and relieves migraine symptoms. The noninvasive device showed promise in earlier animal studies. Now Najib wants to know if it works in actual migraine patients, too.
Amina Kunovac, a third-year doctoral student in exercise and a former Bosnian refugee, is conducting research that assesses the cardiovascular health of offspring when exposure to harmful particles occurs during pregnancy.
When Angie Blankenship woke up following double mastectomy surgery, she was relieved to hear that her breast cancer had not spread to her lymph nodes. But, she said, “in that moment of jubilation, I also knew that we had the fight of healing.”
WVU Men’s Basketball Coach Bob Huggins launched the Norma Mae Huggins Cancer Research Fund after his mother lost her battle with colon cancer in 2003. To date, the fund has raised about $5 million to support clinical research trials for cancer patients in West Virginia. But, to the patients and physicians impacted by those funds, the value is priceless.
West Virginia University researcher Shane Kaski is investigating whether an anti-itch medication that targets a specific part of our nerve cells can make morphine—which targets a different part—more effective. His findings suggest it can.