Research Notes

3.2 Billion-Year-Old Surprise: Earth Had Strong Magnetic Field

The Earth’s magnetic field was nearly as strong 3.2 billion years ago as it is today, according to a study led by Rochester geophysicists. John Tarduno, professor and chair of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, reported his findings this spring in the journal Nature. The results suggest that even in its earliest stages the planet was already well protected from the solar wind, which can strip away a planet’s atmosphere and bathe its surface in lethal radiation.

Custom Lenses Offer Hope for Rare Eye Condition

People who have a rare but disabling eye condition caused by the abnormal shape of their corneas may be able to see better with custom-designed contact lenses rather than with corneal transplants, according to a Rochester research team. In a study published this spring in Optics Letters, Geunyoung Yoon, assistant professor in the departments of ophthalmology and biomedical engineering, the Center for Visual Science, and the Institute of Optics, and other scientists reported that the visual acuity of people with the condition known as keratoconic eyes who received the custom-made lenses improved compared to their visual acuity when they tried lenses made with other techniques.

Pill Shows Promise for Post-Chemotherapy Fogginess

A drug described by some people as a “genius pill” for enhancing cognitive function provided relief to a small group of Rochester breast cancer survivors who were coping with a side effect known as “chemo-brain,” Medical Center scientists report. In an eight-week clinical trial of the effects of the drug modafinil (Provigil), lead author Sadhna Kohli, a research assistant professor at the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center, followed 68 women who had completed treatment for breast cancer. The women who took modafinil for all eight weeks reported major improvements in memory, concentration, and learning.

Migraine’s Effects Like ‘Mini-Stroke’

Rochester scientists have found evidence that migraines may be causing more than skull-splitting pain. The headaches may also be acting like tiny transient strokes, leaving parts of the brain starved for oxygen and altering the brain in significant ways. By combining two recently developed imaging technologies, a team led by neuroscientist Maiken Nedergaard, a professor of neurosurgery, and lead study author Takahiro Takano, a research assistant professor, found that as the brain tries to restore a chemical balance lost in the initial throes of a phenomenon thought to underlie many migraines, some parts of the brain wind up with a severe oxygen shortage. That causes parts of the brain’s signaling structures to disintegrate, similar to what occurs when a person has a mini-stroke or after a severe injury. The team’s results appeared online in Nature Neuroscience.

Why Does Bladder Cancer Hit More Men than women?

Rochester scientists may have discovered one of the reasons why bladder cancer is as much as three times more prevalent in men than women: A molecular receptor or protein that is much more active in men plays a role in the development of the disease. The findings could open the door to new types of treatments. Working with a team from Rochester and from Yokohama City University in Japan, Chawnshang Chang, a faculty member in the departments of urology and pathology and the Wilmot Cancer Center, and lead author Edward Messing, chair of uology, reported their team’s findings this spring in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.