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associated with an overproduction of
hormone-like substances, called prostaglandins,
Dr. Labrum told Science
Digest. Prostaglandin inhibitors have
been used successfully as treatment,
he says. Changes in diet also can
relieve some premenstrual symptoms,
he adds.
The myths and fears surrounding
miscarriage were the focus of a New
York Times article that cited Dr.
Labrum's research on that subject.
Working with forty-two women who
had miscarried and eleven of their
husbands, Dr. Labrum found "few
knew anything about frequency and
causes, nor did they know of others
who had been through a similar
experience," the Times reported.
Miscarriage is a "far more common
and more emotionally devastating
event than most people realize," the
Times noted.
DKnee injuries top the list of runners'
ailments, and a Rochester
researcher has proven the effectiveness
of a new diagnostic tool,
Runner's World magazine reports.
Dr. Kenneth DeHaven, associate
professor and head of athletic
medicine (orthopaedics), used an instrument
called an arthroscope to
look inside injured knee joints
without making the major incisions
previously needed for internal examinations.
The arthroscope
diagnoses were more accurate than
initial diagnoses based on clinical examinations,
Runner's World notes.
Earlier, Dr. DeHaven discussed his
findings in an interview on the
"Good Morning America" show.
DThe two-and-a-half million gifted
children in the United States need
special attention in school in order to
realize their potential, a Harper's
Bazaar article states. But we tend to
forget that these gifted youngsters are
still children, despite their remarkable
abilities, and we form unreasonable
expectations of them based solely on
their intellectual performance, Dr.
Rita Underberg told the magazine.
Cognitive skills have nothing to do
with emotional development, says
Underberg, clinical associate professor
of psychiatry.
DToo much stress will make you
sick-right?
Maybe so, but no one knows
precisely how, according to an article
in Newsweek. Dealing with the farfrom-understood
relationship between
stress and health, the article cited
research by professor of psychiatry
Robert Ader exploring the ways mild
stress affects the susceptibility of rats
to disease under varying conditions.
The results of moderately stressful
circumstances-in this case, the stress
produced by human handling-are
not all that predictable, Ader's study
showed. "Rats handled by humans
before they were weaned got fewer
ulcers as adults than unhandled rats,
but only if they were raised in cages
with other rats; rats whose mothers
had been handled while they
themselves were in the womb got more
ulcers, but only if they were individually
caged after birth, "
Newsweek reported. Early experience
and social environment seem to
influence the onset of disease, Ader's
research indicates. "But what experience?
What disease?" Ader's
conclusion: "The world is very
complicated. "
Appointments
PatrickJ. Hayes, formerly of the
University of Essex, England, has
been Henry R. Luce Professor of
Cognitive Science at the University
of Rochester since January 1. The
professorship was established last year
with a five-year grant of $250,000
from the Henry Luce Foundation.
Cognitive science brings together a
number of disciplines that bear on
human thought and action. It
includes such areas as perception,
learning and memory, thinking and
reasoning, the use of language, logic
and philosophy, and the capabilities
for intelligent activity. The University's
program is one of the first of its
kind in the nation.
Hayes was most recently a fellow
at the Center for Advanced Study in
the Behavioral Sciences at Palo Alto,
California, where a group of
distinguished psychologists, computer
scientists, and philosophers has been
assembled for a special program in
cognitive science. He is an authority
on the application of the principles of
consistent reasoning, as developed in
traditional philosophy, to machine
reasoning.
Sidney Shapiro, professor of electrical
engineering, and Hugh M.
Van Horn, professor of physics and
astronomy, have assumed new duties
as chairmen of their respective
departments.
Shapiro is an internationally
known authority on superconductive
tunneling and the Josephson effect.
His research has been instrumental in
developing understanding of these
complex physical phenomena, which
are expected to play critical roles in
future superfast, large-capacity computers.
He succeeds Professor Charles
W. Merriam III, who is continuing
his teaching and research at the
University.
A specialist in the structure and
evolution of stars, Van Horn is the
author of over sixty scientific publications
on astrophysics and has been invited
to lecture widely in Europe and
North America. He succeeds Professor
Harry E. Gove, who is continuing
his teaching and research at
the University. Gove also remains
director of the University's Nuclear
Structure Research Laboratory.
Among new appointments at the
Eastman School of Music are these:
Alfred Mann, since 1962 music
director of the celebrated Bach Choir
of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, has
joined the faculty as professor of
musicology.
Appointed as associate professors
are: Rebecca Penneys, piano,
Charles Geyer and Barbara Butler,
trumpets, and Atar Arad, viola. Penneys
is pianist of the New Arts Trio,
which won the 1980 Naumburg
Chamber Music Award, and has also
been chairman of the piano department
at the Wisconsin Conservatory
of Music. Butler is a former coprincipal
trumpet of the Vancouver
Symphony Orchestra, and Geyer was
principal trumpet of the Houston
Symphony Orchestra. Both are now
members of the Eastman Brass,
founded at the Eastman School in
1961. Atar, a native of Israel who
until this year had been living in
England, has succeeded Martha
Strongin Katz as a member of the
distinguished Cleveland Quartet at
Eastman.