In Review

Research Notes

Rochester Starts First Deaf Health Research Center in Nation

The health of people who are deaf or hard of hearing is the focus of a new initiative at the Medical Center, the first such effort in the country. Funded with a $3.5 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control, the new center is intended to help prevent disease and to improve the overall health of the deaf community. The 25 team members include representatives from the University; the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, a college of Rochester Institute of Technology; Rochester School for the Deaf; Finger Lakes Health Systems Agency; the Health Association; and the Monroe County Department of Health.

Short-Term Memory Influenced by Sight, Sound

Seven may not be the magic number after all when it comes to remembering an ordered list, according to new research led by a Rochester professor. In a study published in Nature Neuroscience, Daphne Bavelier, associate professor of brain and cognitive sciences, reports that the ability of people to recall a set of ordered items—long thought by scientists to be limited to about seven—varies depending on whether the language used is spoken or signed. Bavelier’s team tested people proficient in American Sign Language, comparing people’s memories in hearing and signed language. On average, participants remembered seven spoken items and five signed items. The results have important implications for standardized tests, which often employ ordered-list retention as a measure of mental aptitude.

In Hot Water? Try ‘Fluxion’ for Survival

Kara Bren, associate professor of chemistry, has uncovered an answer to a puzzle that has baffled scientists for decades: How do some heat-loving bacteria manage to survive in intense temperatures that would maim or kill the rest of the Earth’s inhabitants? In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Bren reports that in a bacterium that lives in hot springs in Japan her team found a protein with a section that flaps back and forth between two configurations, a process called “fluxion.” Bren says the motion- enhancement in such a protein could help stabilize it in extreme environments.

Laser Lab Transfers Camera Technology

A camera designed by researchers at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics to take incredibly quick snapshots of the giant Omega laser in action has been licensed exclusively to a Rochester-area business, Sydor Instruments, to commercialize the technology. The device, called the Rochester Optical Streak System, takes in light from very brief events and turns it into data. The high-speed “snapshot” occurs in less than a billionth of a second.

Protecting Patients from Glaucoma

The physician who revolutionized screening methods for glaucoma nearly 20 years ago has patented a new device aimed at detecting glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness. Steven Feldon, director of the Eye Institute, has received a patent for a new tonometer, a device that measures pressure inside the eye. Feldon previously developed a portable tonometer that doctors have used worldwide to measure eye pressure in millions of patients. The new tonometer’s accuracy rivals that of bulkier, more expensive systems.