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January 16 , 2007
Scholarship and research roundup

By helen anne richards

Emory graduate students named ARCS scholars
Scholars from the Emory University Graduate School have been recognized for outstanding achievement by The Atlanta Chapter of Achievement Rewards for College Scientists. Of the 45 recognized from Emory, Georgia Tech, Morehouse and the University of Georgia, six were from Emory’s Graduate Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, four from the Chemistry Department and two from the Rollins School of Public Health. Emory received an award of $72,000. In order to be named an “ARCS Scholar,” each candidate must be enrolled full-time, maintain a 3.5 grade point average, be a citizen of the United States and be nominated by their department, school or university.

Emory Sleep Center expands, moves to new location
Sleeping on the job is usually frowned upon at work, but sleeping is the top job at the newly expanded and state-of-the-art Emory Sleep Center. Located on the first floor of the Wesley Woods Health Center on Clifton Road, just off Emory University’s main campus, the Center’s new facility offers high-tech equipment and testing for sleep disorders. The Center has the most up-to-date diagnostic testing for sleep disorders right at the bedside. The Center also has expanded its staff. All of the new elements equate to better and more efficient service for patients, with a shorter wait time. Nearly 1,500 sleep studies are performed at the Center each year and more than twice as many patients are evaluated annually in clinic visits. The Center offers multi-specialty care in sleep disorders.

Emory Healthcare opens new clinic for stroke patients
Emory Healthcare has opened a new physical therapy clinic to provide rehabilitation to patients who have suffered from a stroke and have experienced weakness or immobility in a hand or arm. The Constraint-Induced Therapy Program helps a patient recovering from a stroke to improve the use of an arm or hand by restraining the less-impaired limb with an immobilizing mitt during waking hours to encourage use of the weaker one. Patients engage in daily rehabilitative therapy sessions, which include intensive training in functional tasks such as opening a lock, turning a door knob or pouring a drink.

Get an eye exam during Glaucoma Awareness Month
January is national Glaucoma Awareness Month and ophthalmologists at Emory Eye Center urge anyone who may be at risk for this potentially blinding disease to get a complete eye examination from an “Eye M.D.” For those with a family history and over the age of 45, annual check-ups are even more important. Glaucoma is a group of diseases that can damage the eye’s optic nerve and result in vision loss and blindness. Early treatment, however, can often protect people from serious vision loss.

Emory Clinic first to install new generation CT scanner
The Emory Clinic now has available a new, state-of-the-art dual-source computed tomography system which will help physicians perform quick, non-invasive examinations on patients without the need to slow the heart with medication — a step needed in previous scanning devices. Emory is the first in Georgia, and one of the only centers in the South, to offer this latest technology to its patients.

Chinese medicine may help retinal degenerations
We may live in the 21st century, but it appears that traditional medicines from Asia may be key in preventing the ravaging effects of retinal degenerations that can ultimately cause blindness. Researchers at Emory Eye Center have found that a synthetic version of bear bile, which has been used in Asia for more than 3,000 years to treat visual disorders, has the potential to treat age-related macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa and glaucoma. The researchers at Emory state that this is the first controlled, experimental proof of the ophthalmic efficacy of a component of bear bile. They underscore that the compounds tested are synthetic, relatively inexpensive, and do not come from bears.

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