Where Peril Beckons attempts to grab potential readers with its cover art, featuring a man (whose leg is tied to a bed frame) punching another man (presumably his captor) in the face. The book offers a prime example of one of the 10,000-plus dime novels held by the Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation (RBSCP).

Dime novels are a form of middlebrow American literature, produced weekly, that emerged in the 1860s. They offer a gateway for scholars interested in studying the dominant attitudes, beliefs, and values between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly among young boys. The problem is much of RBSCP’s collection is extremely fragile and difficult to use.

The low-quality paper has made the copies so brittle that would pull apart if opened. Their fragility makes them perfect test subjects for an unprecedented imaging system.

Led by Rochester’s Gregory Heyworth, associate professor of English and textual science, a team from the Lazarus Project has developed a novel method of producing digital images of manuscripts and similarly rare and fragile books without opening them more than 30 degrees.

Learn more here about the novel imaging technology the team has developed, and why it is so important for research involving not only dime novels, but any fragile document of historic value.

Any student who has taken Economics 101 can tell you that when demand for a product rises, so will the price.

So why, for example, does the price of turkeys fall, rather than rise, as demand for them increases with the approach of Thanksgiving?

Simon School Professor Avery Haviv addresses this violation of the basic relationship between supply and demand in a Dean’s Corner blog.

In his research, Haviv explains, he considers factors like price sensitivity among consumers and price elasticity (how much price responds to demand). “I also took into account the inventory consumers have at home, a key factor in their purchasing patterns,” he writes. “I was able to approximate this inventory by using panel data where consumers recorded their purchases each week over several years. I then used the seasonal dynamic structural inventory model to test several explanations for the decisions consumers make surrounding price promotions.

“The bottom line is this: Even though demand for an item may be higher in a certain season, the consumers who are more likely to buy that item during a high-demand season are also more price-sensitive.”

Haviv uses soup as an example. Consumers who consider soup a dietary staple will buy it year-round “without paying too much attention to the price because a dollar or two isn’t worth missing out on something that they value highly,” Haviv writes. “But when the temperature drops and the overall demand for soup goes up, the consumers who only buy in the colder months start to eye the soup aisle at the grocery store. This second group happens to be more price-sensitive. They’re always looking for a sale. It may take an especially low price for them to start considering an item at all.” Learn more.

Doctors can safely lower the dose of cancer treatment such as chemotherapy without impacting survival for adults older than 70 who are at high risk for toxic side effects. This finding is from a potentially practice-changing new study, published in The Lancet, and led by Supriya Mohile, the Philip and Marilyn Wehrheim professor of medicine, hematology/oncology and surgery and a Wilmot Cancer Institute research program leader.

Oncologists have been fearful of deviating from standard guidelines for cancer treatment. But the new study proves that more personalized care can be delivered safely to older adults, based on their medical histories and individual circumstances.

“Giving oncologists an evidence-based tool that allows them to make adjustments based on a patient’s fitness is very powerful and an excellent step forward in cancer care delivery,” Mohile says.

The randomized clinical trial involved 718 patients with a mean age of 72, who had advanced cancer and other aging-related conditions. Results show that patients who received a geriatric assessment (GA) benefited from less serious side effects, fewer falls, and other favorable medication changes that protected their overall health. The Lancet data adds to a growing collection of geriatric oncology research addressing the most effective ways to treat the oldest people facing cancer. Learn more.

Improving memory and slowing cognitive changes caused by Alzheimer’s disease is an ongoing challenge for researchers seeking to develop novel therapies. In a newly published paper in Frontiers in Neuroscience, researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience found that glatiramer acetate, a prescription drug currently used to treat patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), improved memory in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease.

“This research extends our information about glatiramer acetate’s potential use in Alzheimer’s disease,” says M. Kerry O’Banion, professor of neuroscience and senior author of the study. “This isn’t a cure, but it could be a step in the right direction for a treatment to slow the symptoms of this debilitating disease.”

Using a mouse model, researchers found changes in microglia – part of the brain’s immune system – and improvements in cognitive behavior when glatiramer acetate was used. These changes were associated with less amyloid plaques and modifications to tau pathology – a protein found in neurodegenerative diseases – in the brain, indicating that molecular hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease had been impacted. Previous studies have found that glatiramer acetate can alter brain pathology in Alzheimer’s disease mouse models, but the exact mechanisms that are impacted in the brain are still unknown.

“Overall, these findings provide further evidence that therapies that modify the immune system could be effective in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease,” says co-first author Dawling Dionisio-Santos, a first-year resident in neurology and graduate of the Medical Scientist Training Program. “It adds evidence to support trials that test the use of glatiramer acetate in patients at risk for developing Alzheimer’s.”

The Translational Immunology and Infectious Diseases Institute is accepting requests for applications.

The purpose of this program is to foster innovative new ideas and team-driven multidisciplinary translational research projects related to infectious disease and immunology.

Applicants must be full-time tenure or research track faculty at the University. Submit your abstracts to Stefanie Fingler by 5 p.m. EST, Tuesday, November 30.

The Center for Research on Flavored Tobacco Products (CRoFT) is hosting a seminar from 1-2 p.m. today, exploring the concept of addiction with attention to treatments and harm reduction. It will also investigate current evidence on e-cigarettes within the context of addiction and as a potential harm reduction practice.

The seminar will be presented by Peter Selby, a clinician scientist and senior medical consultant at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, which is affiliated with the University of Toronto and is Canada’s largest mental health teaching hospital. Register here.

After the seminar, an informal session will be held for students and postdocs/residents who wish to hear more about Selby’s career path and research, and ask questions. This session is open to 14 people. Register here.

The Medical Faculty Council announces four travel reimbursement awards of up to $500 to assist students and trainees in the School of Medicine and Dentistry to attend important national or international meetings at which they will present their research and make professional connections.

Eligible applications for the current cycle are for travel between September 1, 2021 and February 28, 2022. Apply by 6 p.m. Friday, December 10.