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Two discoveries at the University of Minnesota hold promise for helping people who suffer from Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. A team of researchers has for the first time identified a protein complex in the brain of mice that is proven to cause memory loss. The discovery holds out the possibility that drug developers now have a target for creating drugs that can stop Alzheimer's disease before it causes irreversible damage to the brain.

Another team of researchers at the University Medical School and the Brain Sciences Center at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center discovered a way to assess how the nerve networks in the brain communicate and interact with one another over time. The discovery will allow researchers to better evaluate the brain function of people with brain diseases.

Banned Drug, New Hope

Thalidomide, a drug that gained notoriety in the 1960s for causing birth defects, has been discovered to be an effective addition to treatment of recurrent ovarian cancer.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota Medical School and Cancer Center found that women with recurrent ovarian cancer experienced significantly better response to therapy and a longer disease-free interval when thalidomide was added to a conventional chemotherapeutic drug. Thalidomide is a biologic therapy, which works with the body's natural defenses to help fight tumor cells without harming healthy cells. Biologic therapies can be effective in treating cancer without the extreme toxicities often seen in conventional chemotherapy.

Thalidomide was banned in the early 1960s after it was found to cause deformed limbs in the children of women who took it early in pregnancy to ease morning sickness. The drug is now being investigated for use in treating some types of cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.

Atheism Un-American?

Americans who don't believe in God are the least likely to share a common vision of American society, according to a nationwide survey conducted by three University of Minnesota sociology professors. The survey, part of the American Mosaic Project, was designed to better understand the current state of diversity and tolerance in the United States. The findings surprised the reports authors. After 9/11, we assumed that Muslims would fare the worst, they wrote. However, this was not the case. Atheists received the lowest scores by far. Overall, only 54 percent of respondents thought atheists shared their vision of America. Muslims were ranked the next lowest but still scored 10 points higher than atheists, at 64 percent.

The authors suggest that religion has become a line in the sand for inclusion in American society. The absence of faith, a belief in a higher being, seems to be a major barrier between people in our society today.

Lifting Gives a Lift

Women who have undergone breast cancer surgery reap substantial emotional and physical benefits from weight training, according to results of a study by researchers at the University of Minnesota and the University of Pennsylvania. A study of 86 women who were between four and 36 months past their primary treatment showed that those who engaged in twice-weekly weight training sessions scored a significantly better quality of life score than those who did not lift weights. Researchers said weight training may improve quality of life in breast cancer survivors because they gain a sense of feeling in control of their bodies again. That, in turn, may translate into feeling greater effectiveness in other areas of their lives.

Teasing Weighty Consequences

Adolescent boys who are teased about their weight are more likely than girls to initiate binge eating and unhealthful weight control behaviors. Girls, on the other hand, are more likely than boys to become frequent dieters.

That's the conclusion of a study conducted by the University of Minnesota  School of Public Health. The survey included more than 2,500 children who were surveyed twice, fi ve years apart. Researchers say the study shows that teasing has a profound impact on all children, but that boys may be more affected because they are not as accustomed as girls to facing a negative reaction to their weight.

Unhealthful weight control methods adopted by children in the study included fasting, skipping meals, vomiting, or using laxatives. The study also found evidence that reducing teasing through educational interventions and policies may reduce the level of disordered eating behaviors among young people.