Health

Mississippi is establishing an arsenal of expertise in the fight against cancer, thanks in part to an innovative collaboration between the University of Mississippi’s National Center for Natural Products Research and the Cancer Institute at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. With a long-term goal of becoming a designated National Cancer Institute, the Cancer Institute has been expanding its capabilities in basic science research, clinical trials, ...

The Mississippi Healthy Students Act of 2007 gave the state’s public schools new mandates for physical activity programs and health education instruction. But how can policy makers know whether these changes are making a real difference? Teresa Carithers, professor of nutrition and hospitality in the UM School of Applied Sciences, is providing answers to that question. A nutrition epidemiologist, Carithers was contacted by the Center for ...

The expanding footprint of the National Center for Natural Products Research is poised to move University of Mississippi research one step closer to the marketplace. Phase II construction of NCNPR broke ground in 2012 and is expected to near completion in late 2014. The new research wing of 96,000 gross square feet will add 53,000 square feet of usable research space dedicated to advancing commercial development ...

The University of Mississippi’s Department of Nutrition and Hospitality Management has a motto: “Changing the culture of obesity—one child at a time.” For Kathy Knight, UM associate professor and interim chair of the department, the motivation to improve nutrition education in Mississippi public schools comes not only from knowing that the state has one of the country’s highest childhood obesity rates, but also from a ...

Greg Snyder knew the drawbacks of traditional stuttering treatments when he set out to determine whether a novel idea he’d had might provide an alternative. Snyder, associate professor of communication sciences and disorders, has a stutter, but he noticed a reduction in his own symptoms when he used his fingertips to feel his throat vibrate while speaking. His idea—that a tactile feedback device might be ...

For as long as civilizations have practiced medicine, people have searched for better, safer ways to deliver drugs. Today’s innovators are working with new technologies to design different kinds of drug-delivery systems, a prime area of research for Michael Repka, chair and professor of pharmaceutics, director of the Pii Center for Pharmaceutical Technology and research professor in the Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Repka is an ...

When managers at General Electric Aviation’s facility in Batesville, Mississippi began implementation of HealthAhead, an employee wellness program, they discovered the help they needed was little more than 20 miles down the road at the University of Mississippi. Leaders at the facility enlisted Melinda Valliant, associate professor and director of the Department of Nutrition and Hospitality Management’s coordinated programs, to share what she knew about ...

A product on drugstore shelves gives testament to the creative collaboration between the University of Mississippi, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the UM Medical Center. The product line, BluScience, contains pTeroPure® pterostilbene (pronounced “tero-STILL-bean”), a compound found in blueberries. An analog to resveratrol, the compound that is thought to give grapes and red wine beneficial effects, pterostilbene is believed to help the body produce enzymes ...

Although the challenges they face are immense, leaders in the UM Department of Pharmacy Practice are equipping young pharmacists with the skills they need to take a more proactive role in patient care. The department’s Community-Based Research Program is an ongoing effort comprising multiple projects geared toward determining how pharmacists can improve the wellbeing of Mississippi residents through better utilization, understanding and adherence to medications—what ...

Managing chronic pain presents doctors with major challenges—painkiller side-effects, such as increased tolerance and even addiction, can be hurdles to treatment. The answers to these challenges may lie in the unique drug compounds studied by Chris McCurdy, professor of medicinal chemistry and pharmacology and research associate professor in the UM Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences. McCurdy is working with compounds that are highly selective for sigma ...

As long as there’s been commerce, there’s been product adulteration. From historic coffee traders who bulked up their product with chicory root to modern-day olive oil producers who substitute soy and canola oils, all merchants have faced the temptation to substitute less desirable ingredients for costly ones. But when it comes to botanical dietary supplements, purity is not only a consumer affair; it’s also a ...

In the United States, where as many as half of all prescription medicines aren’t taken as prescribed, lack of prescription adherence is a serious problem that escalates health care costs and compromises patient health. That’s why streamlining pharmacy practice is a win-win solution for pharmacists and their patients. RxSync®, a business model developed at the UM Center for Pharmaceutical Marketing and Management, helps pharmacists restructure their ...