Health

Inhaling dangerous particulates is a hazard of coal mining, mold remediation, sandblasting … and dentistry. Fotinos Panagakos, associate dean of research at the West Virginia University School of Dentistry, is collaborating with a team at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to study how microscopic, airborne particulates and gases might be generated during dental procedures. NIOSH—a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—is funding the project.

Kim Innes, of the WVU School of Public Health, and her colleagues recently discovered that greater exposure to perfluoroalkyl substances was associated with lower rates of existing coronary heart disease in adults with diabetes. PFAS, considered a public health threat by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are manufactured chemicals that were popularized by various industries in the 1940s because of their ability to repel oil and water.

With West Virginia leading the nation in opioid related deaths, five of the state’s most influential institutions - including West Virginia University - are joining with the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission to increase awareness of the issue and possible solutions.

Pregnant African American women are more likely than white women to give birth prematurely, but they’re underrepresented in studies of preterm birth rates. Snehalata Huzurbazar, a biostatistics professor in the West Virginia University School of Public Health, is working to change that.

There’s a fine line between helpful and harmful inflammation. WVU School of Medicine researchers Gordon Meares and Savannah Sims want to explore it. They and their colleagues are investigating how inflammation spreads throughout the brain and what makes it protective—or perilous.

Researchers at West Virginia University are fighting West Virginia’s opioid epidemic with new professional development opportunities for social workers.

The West Virginia University Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute unveiled its new Innovation Center on Wednesday (May 15). On Thursday (May 16), RNI convened its inaugural Summit, “Breaking Barriers,” at the Morgantown Marriott at Waterfront Place.

Tuition for Potomac State College for the upcoming academic year was cut $418 Tuesday as the West Virginia University Board of Governors adjusted the cost to open the way for in-state students to be eligible for free community college benefits adopted by the state Legislature.

Six West Virginia University students will study or intern abroad this summer as Gilman Scholars. Wrenna Dorrer, Myya Helm, Iain MacKay, Morgan McCardell, Veronica Nicole and Juliana O'Reilly will gain skills that are critical to the country’s national security and economic prosperity while gaining an enriching cultural and career-building experience.

Cole Vonder Haar, an assistant professor of behavioral neuroscience in the Department of Psychology, has received a five-year, $989,210 award from the National Institutes of Health to investigate potential treatments for psychiatric deficits arising from chronic traumatic brain injury.