U of M Alumni Association  |  U of M Twin Cities

Alumni Association Home Search

Alumni Association Home > May-June 2009   Print View Discoveries 5/6/2009 11:35 AM Saline Solution Needed Almost 70 percent of the 350,000 tons of sodium chloride, or road salt, applied to roads during the winter in the Twin Cities metro area ends up in lakes and rivers, according to research at the University of Minnesota Institute of Technology. The findings were reported to the Minnesota Local Road Research Board. A team of researchers measured salinity in 39 metro area lakes and found that it has increased over the past 22 years, a trend that corresponds with road salt purchases by the state of Minnesota. Both showed a marked increase from 1984 to 2005. If the trend continues, salinity would double in these lakes in about 50 years. Salinity was near zero in the 1950s, when road salt application began. Continuous levels of chloride concentration—even as low as the equivalent of one teaspoon of salt in five gallons of water—have been shown to be harmful to aquatic life and to affect the taste of drinking water. Researchers said more judicious use of road salt through better training of snowplow drivers could help reduce the effects. Discriminating Lenders Abound The Twin Cities has some of the nation’s worst racial disparities in mortgage lending, according to a new report by the University of Minnesota Institute on Race and Poverty. The report, “Communities in Crisis,” showed that even with a good income, people of color were substantially more likely to be denied loans. African American borrowers experienced the greatest disparities: Those with incomes exceeding $157,000 faced a 25 percent denial rate, compared with an 11 percent denial rate among whites making $39,250. The same pattern held true for high-income Asians and Hispanics. Similarly, subprime loans were more common for high- and very-high-income African American and Hispanic borrowers than for whites in any income group. Neighborhoods with the highest percentages of people of color had the highest subprime lending and foreclosure rates. A Step toward HIV Prevention Researchers at the University of Minnesota Medical School have discovered that a common compound used to combat toxic shock syndrome also effectively blocks the transmission of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), the virus that causes AIDS in primates. The finding is important because it is a significant step toward developing an effective means of preventing infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS in humans. Researchers investigated glycerol monolaurate, an inexpensive, naturally occurring compound widely used in foods and cosmetics. In recent years it has been effectively used to combat toxic shock syndrome, a potentially lethal bacterial infection. They found that when applied vaginally prior to exposure to SIV, it prevented infection. The compound still must go through human clinical trials before it can be considered a means of preventing HIV infection. The research was published in the March 4 online edition of Nature. Binge Drinking Prevalent inge drinking is common among active duty military personnel and is strongly associated with many health and social problems, according to a new study released by the University of Minnesota and the federal Centers for Disease Control. The study analyzed data from more than 16,000 active duty military personnel who participated in a 2005 Department of Defense survey of health-related behaviors among military personnel. Binge drinking was defined as consuming four or more drinks on one occasion for a woman or five or more drinks on one occasion for a man. It was reported by 43 percent of active duty personnel during the past month, resulting in approximately 30 million episodes of binge drinking or roughly 30 episodes per person per year. Active duty personnel who were 17 to 25 years old at the time of the survey reported about two-thirds of the episodes. The research found that, compared to non-binge drinkers, binge drinkers were more than six times more likely to report job performance problems and about five times more likely to report driving after having too much to drink. Researchers noted that, as with all self-reported surveys, binge drinking and related consequences are generally underreported. Thus, the findings may be conservative. The study was published in the March 2009 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Second Thoughts on Prostate Screening Annual screenings for prostate cancer result in more diagnoses of the disease but do not decrease the number of prostate cancer deaths, according to a new report from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial. The report appeared in the March 26 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. The National Cancer Institute began the PLCO trial in 1992 and tested 76,693 men over six years, including 17,099 at the U of M trial site. Subjects were assigned to one of three groups: One group was screened using annual digital rectal exams, another received annual prostate-specific antigen testing, and a third group received usual care, meaning they did not receive recommendations for or against annual screening. Results showed 50 deaths from prostate cancer in the screening group and 44 deaths in the usual care group at seven years from the beginning of the trial. Through year 10, there were 92 prostate cancer deaths in the screening group and 82 in the usual care group, numbers that are considered statistically insignificant. Researchers said it is too early to know whether the trial results will alter screening recommendations. Curbing the Urge to Steal A drug commonly used to treat alcohol and drug addiction shows promise in treating kleptomania, or the compulsion to steal, according to research at the University of Minnesota Medical School. An eight-week study of 25 men and women ages 17 to 75 who spent an average of at least one hour per week stealing showed that taking the drug Naltrexone resulted in a significant decline in stealing behavior compared to those subjects taking a placebo. The research was published in the April 1 issue of the Journal of Biological Psychiatry. Naltrexone has also been shown to be effective in treating gambling addicts. Power Grooming Scientists have long understood that grooming plays an important role in chimpanzee interactions. Now, a study led by a University of Minnesota undergraduate anthropology student is the first to show that a male chimpanzee’s size determines whether he’ll employ grooming to compete for alpha status. The study focused on three alpha males who ruled at different times in Gombe National Park in Tanzania. The largest male used size and aggression exclusively to rule, while the smallest male obsessively groomed other chimps to maintain his position. The chimp whose weight was in the middle used a combination of grooming and aggression. The study was published in the February issue of the American Journal of Primatology. Members of the University of Minnesota Alumni Association may access many of the journals that published these studies online through the Libraries Online member benefit. Go to www.alumni.umn.edu/U_of_M_Libraries1 for more information.

Last modified on 5/12/2009 11:58:05 AM ©2009 by the University of Minnesota Alumni Association. The University of Minnesota Alumni Association is an equal opportunity educator and employer.

Trouble seeing the text? | Contact Alumni Association | Privacy