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Immune System Promotes Digestive Health by Fostering Community of “Good” Bacteria

Jan. 22, 2015 – As many as 1.4 million Americans suffer from uncomfortable abdominal cramping and diarrhea that come with ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. These conditions, collectively known as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), are associated with an imbalance among the thousands of species of “good” bacteria that inhabit the gut. A University of Utah […]

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New Study Findings Help Physicians and Patients Determine Prostate Cancer Risk

A discovery by researchers at Huntsman Cancer Institute shows that looking at whether a man’s uncles and great-grandparents, among other second- and third-degree relatives, had prostate cancer could be as important as looking at whether his father had prostate cancer. A more complete family history would give physicians a new tool to decide whether or not a PSA test was appropriate

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University of Utah professor nominated by President Barack Obama to serve on Federal Reserve Board of Governors

A familiar face at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business is expected to become the newest member of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors. Allan R. Landon, an adjunct professor at the David Eccles School of Business who has taught courses since 2011, was nominated by President Barack Obama on Tuesday to fill an open position of governor on the seven-member board.

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University of Utah Spin-Offs Exhibit Technologies at International Consumer Electronics Show

What if a solider could test for explosive residue on a suspect’s hand in the middle of a warzone with a simple hand-held sensor? Or health care providers could get quick information about a patient’s movement abilities with simple technology in the bottom of a shoe? Or if graphene —a one-atom thick layer of carbon atoms that many experts believe will transform electronic technology in coming decades —could be mass produced?

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Defying Textbook Science, Study Finds New Role for Proteins

Open any introductory biology textbook and one of the first things you’ll learn is that our DNA spells out the instructions for making proteins, tiny machines that do much of the work in our body’s cells. Results from a study published on Jan. 2 in Science defy textbook science, showing for the first time that the building blocks of a protein, called amino acids, can be assembled without blueprints – DNA and an intermediate template called messenger RNA (mRNA). A team of researchers has observed a case in which another protein specifies which amino acids are added.

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‘Darwinian’ test uncovers an antidepressant’s hidden toxicity

Because of undetected toxicity problems, about a third of prescription drugs approved in the U.S. are withdrawn from the market or require added warning labels limiting their use. An exceptionally sensitive toxicity test invented at the University of Utah could make it possible to uncover more of these dangerous side effects early in pharmaceutical development so that fewer patients are given unsafe drugs.

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