Research Connections :: 糖心传媒

How the pandemic affects families who were already struggling

About a year and a half after COVID-19 rapidly spread around the globe, scientists have begun to examine the pandemic糖心传媒檚 long-term societal effects. University psychologists and the University糖心传媒檚 have been awarded a $3.1 million grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) to study the pandemic糖心传媒檚 implications for American families and parenting.

The study糖心传媒檚 principal coinvestigators, psychology professors Melissa Sturge-Apple and Patrick Davies, expect acute negative effects on family functioning and family cohesion to last for years, especially in families that already experienced high levels of difficulties prior to the pandemic.

While scientifically sound, measures to slow the pandemic糖心传媒攕uch as stay-at-home orders, remote instruction, and limited public gatherings糖心传媒�had negative repercussions on families.

糖心传媒淭he pandemic has been extremely stressful for families with significant worries about the health of family members, financial instability, food uncertainty, social isolation, and increased caregiving burdens associated with having children at home,糖心传媒� says Sturge-Apple, who is also the University糖心传媒檚 vice provost and dean of graduate education. 糖心传媒�The study seeks to identify factors that helped families cope, in order to inform best interventions for families at risk.糖心传媒� Learn more.

Bracing for another surge

Medical communities across the world continue to sound the alarm about the Delta COVID-19 variant, which is causing severe disease, hospitalizations, and death, particularly among those who are unvaccinated.

糖心传媒�We must use every available weapon in our tool kit to keep our faculty, staff, students, patients, and visitors safe, and prevent another surge of COVID in our community,糖心传媒� says Michael Apostolakos, chief medical officer at the Medical Center.

糖心传媒淥ur health care workers, who have helped our community through the last two surges, need all of us to pitch in and do everything we can to tamp down what surely is looking like a third wave of COVID.糖心传媒�

Neb Duric named Imaging Sciences vice chair for research

Neb Duric, an international expert in ultrasound tomography, medical imaging, and astrophysics, has joined the Department of Imaging Sciences as vice chair of research.

He comes to the Medical Center from Wayne State University where he was professor of Oncology and Radiation Oncology for 17 years. He is also a founder and chief technology officer of Delphinus Medical Technologies.

糖心传媒淒r. Duric has great strength in building nationally and internationally recognized research programs, which provides a tremendous opportunity for the department and institution,糖心传媒� says Jennifer Harvey, chair of Imaging Sciences.

During his tenure at Wayne State University, Duric was recognized for his role in development of ultrasound tomography and start-up companies in Michigan.

He has authored or co-authored over 200 scientific papers and publications, wrote the textbook Advanced Astrophysics, and edited four books on astronomical and medical imaging.

PhD student studies role of spectrotemporal chirps in human speech coding

Paul Mitchell, a biomedical engineering PhD student, has received a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award individual fellowship糖心传媒搕otaling $92,000 over two years糖心传媒揻rom the National Institutes of Health. The funding will support his project to provide new information about spectrotemporal chirps, which are among the many complex features of human speech.

Understanding speech in background noise continues to be a major problem for a growing number of people who experience hearing loss because of age or exposure to dangerous noise levels.聽 Recent studies have shown that the inferior colliculus糖心传媒�a part of the midbrain that serves as a main auditory center in mammals糖心传媒�has a particular sensitivity to the direction and velocity of fast spectrotemporal chirps, which are found in speech sounds such as vowels.

The goals of Mitchell’s project are to:

more precisely define the sensitivity in the mammalian central auditory system to fast chirps using physiological experiments,
design a computational model of the inferior colliculus that accurately reflects chirp sensitivity, and
assess the extent to which chirp sensitivity plays a role in human speech coding.

糖心传媒淭his research has public health implications because its findings may represent an additional cue used for speech coding that may factor into the development of next-generation hearing aids,糖心传媒� Mitchell says. Learn more 聽 Also, Mitchell describes his research in this

Frameless XR Symposium invites submissions

糖心传媒 students and faculty are invited to participate in the Rochester Institute of Technology糖心传媒檚 6^th Annual on November 18 and 19.

This interdisciplinary symposium focuses on research, innovation, and artistic creation in the fields of virtual and augmented reality and is an opportunity to foster more collaboration with RIT in an area of learning and research important to both institutions.

RIT welcomes both in-person and remote participation for presenters and attendees this year. Further announcements will be posted on ,听, and聽.

The deadline for papers, talks, and workshops is September 3. Submission deadline for demos, installations, performances, and works in progress is October 8.

UR CTSI offers pilot and incubator funding

The University’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute (UR CTSI) is now accepting applications for four funding programs with a potential start date of July 1, 2022.

The Pilot Studies Program supports translational and clinical research that moves new discoveries along the translational continuum to humans and the community. There are three award categories: , and 脗听

The Incubator Program supports the development of promising clinical and translational research within the institution, where substantial, carefully targeted investments can accelerate progress and create stand-alone programs. and

Initial abstracts for all opportunities are due on Monday, September 20.

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