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The findings support an explanation for why the world contains so many species, says Regents Professor of Ecology David Tilman, who led the study. The data also helps explain why grasslands, lakes, and rivers that are polluted with nitrogen and phosphorous have fewer species—the “dead zone” where the Mississippi River empties into the Gulf of Mexico being one of the best known examples of the phenomenon.

The study included analysis of a 150-year-old grass experiment and showed that the loss of biodiversity due to nutrient pollution can persist for more than 100 years.

Halting a Progressive Disease
University of Minnesota doctors have discovered a treatment to help patients with advanced cases of a rare nerve disorder first brought to the public’s attention by the 1992 film Lorenzo’s Oil. With adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), a progressive degenerative disease that affects young boys, insulation around the nerves breaks down and causes loss of hearing, sight, mobility, and general nerve function. Left untreated, patients with ALD will usually die within three to five years of diagnosis. The progression of the disease can be halted with a bone marrow transplant. But the procedure isn’t recommended in advanced cases because those patients die within a year despite transplantation.

Doctors gave patients with advanced ALD the anti-inflammatory drug N-acetyl L-cysteine (NAC), normally used to help liver cells recover from drug overdose, and then performed a bone marrow transplant. Administering NAC prior to transplant halted the disease progression and allowed patients to survive the transplant. The discovery was made by doctors at the University of Minnesota Children’s Hospital, Fairview.

Curing a Sick Health System
Nearly two-thirds of Minnesota physicians believe a single-payer universal health insurance system would provide the best value for Minnesota patients, according to a survey conducted by the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and the University Health Care Action Network–MN. While 63.4 percent think such a system would offer the best care to the greatest number of people, 24.6 percent prefer health savings account systems, and almost 12 percent are in favor of managed care.

The study also found that a large majority of physicians, 86.2 percent, believe that it is society’s responsibility, via the government, to ensure access to good medical care for all people, regardless of their ability to pay. Fifty-nine percent believe the insurance industry should not continue to play a dominant role in health-care delivery. Seventy-one percent of physicians surveyed said they would accept a 10 percent reduction in fees for a “very significant” reduction in paperwork, and 63.8 percent favor physician payment under a salary system.

The survey was mailed to 1,061 randomly selected physicians whose names were drawn from the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice, and 39 percent (408) were completed and returned.

Living Long Despite Leukemia
More than 90 percent of children and young adults who survive five years or longer after diagnosis and treatment for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are alive 20 years later and leading productive lives, according to a University of Minnesota Cancer Center study. The comprehensive study, which involved 272 AML survivors and a control group of their siblings, analyzed not only survival rates but also marriage, education, and unemployment over 20 years.

Among the findings: Marriage rates among AML survivors 25 years of age and older were similar to the general population, at 57 percent, but lower than the sibling group at 67 percent. Forty percent of AML survivors graduated from college compared with 52 percent of siblings and 34 percent of the general U.S. population. And 93 percent of survivors and 98 percent of siblings were employed.

Preventing Mental Retardation
University of Minnesota pediatrics researchers have developed an experimental vaccine for a virus that is the second most common cause of mental retardation after Down syndrome. The vaccine has proven successful in protecting the offspring of guinea pigs infected with cytomegalovirus (CMV), and researchers hope to set up clinical trials to test a vaccine in people within a year.

In addition to mental retardation, CMV is also a leading cause of deafness in children and is possibly linked to cerebral palsy, seizure disorders, and other neurological problems. According to researchers, most adults become infected with the virus but don’t know it. The virus is transmitted from mother to fetus, and up to 40,000 babies are born with the virus every year in the United States. Developing a vaccine to be administered to women before they become pregnant could prevent the devastating effects of the virus.

Walking on Diamonds?
Mineral tests on soil samples taken from across Minnesota and adjacent regions indicate that diamonds might lie beneath the state’s surface. The University of Minnesota’s Geological Survey and an Australian mining company surveyed soil taken at 30-kilometer intervals during the summer of 2004 and released the data this March.

One of the survey’s findings concerns the occurrence of minerals that suggest the presence of rock formations that sometimes contain diamonds. These minerals were found in an area stretching from the Twin Cities to southwestern Minnesota and in the far north-central part of the state. The data does not adequately assess the state’s diamond potential, and geologists say it is possible that the minerals were deposited by glaciers from neighboring states or Canada. The University’s Natural Resources Research Institute is currently processing more closely spaced soil samples in northeastern Minnesota to assess the area’s diamond potential.

Querying the Kids
Through a longitudinal study of more than 2,000 adolescents over five years, University of Minnesota researchers in the School of Public Health found that, from early to late adolescence, physical activity dramatically decreases while the time spent in sedentary activities, such as leisure-time computer use or television watching, sharply increase. The shift begins later for boys than girls, but the overall time spent on sedentary behaviors is substantially greater for boys than girls through adolescence.

In another study, University researchers found that participation in sports with real or perceived body weight requirements, such as ballet, gymnastics, and wrestling, is strongly associated with unhealthy weight control and steroid use in teens. The use of steroids, diuretics, or self-induced vomiting is approximately 5 percent greater among boys and girls between 12 and 18 in weight-related sports than among their peers who were not in weight-related sports. In a separate study, U researchers found that steroid use peaks at 5 percent in middle-school boys and girls and declines significantly as children age.

The studies are part of Project EAT: Eating Among Teens, a project in the Division of Epidemiology and Community Health designed to investigate the eating habits, physical activity, and related factors among adolescents.
—Edited by Shelly Fling