Tag: Dedman College

Breathing technique can reduce frequency, severity of asthma attacks

Post author By Margaret Allen
Post date August 14, 2009

Mueret10%2C-9-09%2Clr.jpg As the health care reform debate turns to cutting costs and improving treatment outcomes, two SMU professors are expanding a study that shows promise for reducing both the expense and suffering associated with chronic asthma.

Thomas Ritz and Alicia Meuret, both of SMU’s Psychology Department, have developed a four-week program to teach asthmatics how to better control their condition by changing the way they breathe.

With the help of a four-year, $1.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, they plan to engage 120 Dallas County patients in four weeks of breathing training by the study’s projected end in July 2012. Their co-investigators include David Rosenfield, also of SMU’s Psychology Department, and Mark Millard, M.D., of Baylor University Medical Center.

Mueret8%2C-9-09%2Clr.jpg More than 22 million Americans suffer from asthma at an estimated annual economic cost of more than $19 billion, according to the American Lung Association. The number of cases doubled between 1980 and 1995, prompting the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to classify the disease as an epidemic in 2000.

During an attack, sufferers tend to hyperventilate, breathing fast and deep against constricted airways to fight an overwhelming feeling of oxygen deprivation.

Unfortunately, this makes the problem worse by lowering the body’s carbon dioxide levels, which restricts blood flow to the brain and can further irritate already hypersensitive bronchial passages.

Patients who “overbreathe” on a sustained basis risk chronic CO₂ deficiencies that make them even more vulnerable to future attacks. Rescue medications that relieve asthma symptoms do nothing to correct breathing difficulties associated with hyperventilation.

As part of SMU’s Stress, Anxiety and Chronic Disease Research Program, Ritz and Meuret use their biofeedback-based Capnometry-Assisted Respiratory Training (CART) to teach asthma patients to normalize and reverse chronic overbreathing. A hand-held device called a capnometer measures the amount of CO₂ exhaled. Using this device, patients learn how to breathe more slowly, shallowly and regularly.

Mueret4a%2C-9-09%2Clr.jpg CART techniques could have a positive impact on quality of asthma treatment even as they reduce the need for acute care, Ritz says.

“The research shows that this kind of respiratory therapy can limit both the severity and frequency of asthma attacks,” he says. “That means fewer doctor visits and less frequent use of rescue medications, with the associated savings of both time and money.”

And for those who count any year without a trip to the emergency room as a year with a good treatment outcome, that means a higher quality of life, says Meuret, who lives with asthma herself.

“The training gives patients new ways to deal with acute symptoms, and that helps them to feel more in control,” she says. — Kathleen Tibbetts

(Photos: SMU Professor Alicia Meuret uses biofeedback data to demonstrate the relationship between oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in hyperventilation.)

News coverage:
ScienceDaily
physorg.com
Health.am
e! Science News
RTMagazine.com
medindia.net
Bio-Medicine.org
medicalnewstoday.com

Tags Alicia E. Meuret, Dedman College, SMU Department of Psychology, Thomas Ritz

Earth & Climate Fossils & Ruins

“Rosetta Stone” of supervolcanoes discovered in Italian Alps, reveals rare plumbing

Post author By Margaret Allen
Post date July 20, 2009

Fossil supervolcano in Sesia Valley, more than 200 million years old, will advance understanding of nature’s most violent eruptions

“Bishop Tuff” at Long Valley resulted from a volcanic event that erupted 140 cubic miles of magma 760,000 years ago. (Photo: USGS)

Scientists have found the “Rosetta Stone” of supervolcanoes, those giant pockmarks in the Earth’s surface produced by rare and massive explosive eruptions that rank among nature’s most violent events.

The eruptions produce devastation on a regional scale — and possibly trigger climatic and environmental effects at a global scale.

A fossil supervolcano has been discovered in the Italian Alps’ Sesia Valley by a team led by James E. Quick, a geology professor at Southern Methodist University. The discovery will advance scientific understanding of active supervolcanoes, like Yellowstone, which is the second-largest supervolcano in the world and which last erupted 630,000 years ago.

A rare uplift of the Earth’s crust in the Sesia Valley reveals for the first time the actual “plumbing” of a supervolcano from the surface to the source of the magma deep within the Earth, according to a new research article reporting the discovery. The uplift reveals to an unprecedented depth of 25 kilometers the tracks and trails of the magma as it moved through the Earth’s crust.

Supervolcanoes, historically called calderas, are enormous craters tens of kilometers in diameter. Their eruptions are sparked by the explosive release of gas from molten rock or “magma” as it pushes its way to the Earth’s surface.

Calderas erupt hundreds to thousands of cubic kilometers of volcanic ash. Explosive events occur every few hundred thousand years. Supervolcanoes have spread lava and ash vast distances and scientists believe they may have set off catastrophic global cooling events at different periods in the Earth’s past.

Sesia Valley fossil caldera reveals rare magmatic plumbing
Sesia Valley’s caldera erupted during the “Permian” geologic time period, say the discovery scientists. It is more than 13 kilometers in diameter.

“What’s new is to see the magmatic plumbing system all the way through the Earth’s crust,” says Quick, who previously served as program coordinator for the Volcano Hazards Program of the U.S. Geological Survey. “Now we want to start to use this discovery. We want to understand the fundamental processes that influence eruptions: Where are magmas stored prior to these giant eruptions? From what depth do the eruptions emanate?”

Sesia Valley’s unprecedented exposure of magmatic plumbing provides a model for interpreting geophysical profiles and magmatic processes beneath active calderas. The exposure also serves as direct confirmation of the cause-and-effect link between molten rock moving through the Earth’s crust and explosive volcanism.

“It might lead to a better interpretation of monitoring data and improved prediction of eruptions,” says Quick, lead author of the research article reporting the discovery. The article, “Magmatic plumbing of a large Permian caldera exposed to a depth of 25 km.,” appears in the July issue of the peer-reviewed journal “Geology.”

Deep fossil plumbing can advance understanding of eruptions
Calderas, which typically exhibit high levels of seismic and hydrothermal activity, often swell, suggesting movement of fluids beneath the surface.

“We want to better understand the tell-tale signs that a caldera is advancing to eruption so that we can improve warnings and avoid false alerts,” Quick says.

To date, scientists have been able to study exposed caldera “plumbing” from the surface of the Earth to a depth of only 5 kilometers. Because of that, scientific understanding has been limited to geophysical data and analysis of erupted volcanic rocks. Quick likens the relevance of Sesia Valley to seeing bones and muscle inside the human body for the first time after previously envisioning human anatomy on the basis of a sonogram only.

“We think of the Sesia Valley find as the ‘Rosetta Stone’ for supervolcanoes because the depth to which rocks are exposed will help us to link the geologic and geophysical data,” Quick says. “This is a very rare spot. The base of the Earth’s crust is turned up on edge. It was created when Africa and Europe began colliding about 30 million years ago and the crust of Italy was turned on end.”

Scientists have documented fewer than two dozen caldera eruptions in last 1 million years
British researchers introduced the term “supervolcano” in the last 10 years. Scientists have documented fewer than two dozen caldera eruptions in the last 1 million years.

Besides Yellowstone, other monumental explosions have included Lake Toba on Indonesia’s Sumatra island 74,000 years ago, which is believed to be the largest volcanic eruption on Earth in the past 25 million years.

Described as a massive climate-changing event, the Lake Toba eruption is thought to have killed an estimated 60% of humans alive at the time.

Another caldera, and one that remains active, Long Valley in California erupted about 760,000 years ago and spread volcanic ash for 600 cubic kilometers. The ash blanketed the southwestern United States, extending from California to Nebraska.

“There will be another supervolcano explosion,” Quick says. “We don’t know where. Sesia Valley could help us to predict the next event.”

Quick is a professor in the SMU Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences as well as SMU associate vice president for research and dean of graduate studies. Co-authors of the report are Silvano Sinigoi, Gabriella Peressini and Gabriella Demarchi, all of the Universita di Trieste; John L. Wooden, Stanford University; and Andrea Sbisa, Universita di Trieste. — Margaret Allen

SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

News coverage:
Discovery Channel: Daily Planet at 3:41 into the video
National Geographic News
MSNBC.COM/LiveScience.com
geology.com
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Corriere della Sera
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Tags Dedman College, Huffington Department of Earth Sciences, James E. Quick

Culture, Society & Family Fossils & Ruins Researcher news

The Archaeology Channel interviews SMU’s Fred Wendorf

Post author By Margaret Allen
Post date July 16, 2009

The remarkable 60-year-career of internationally recognized field archaeologist Fred Wendorf, SMU Henderson-Morrison Professor of Prehistory Emeritus, is the subject of an interview with Richard Pettigrew, president and executive director of the nonprofit Archaeological Legacy Institute.

Pettigrew interviewed Wendorf for The Archaeology Channel, exploring Wendorf’s productive career: Founding the Fort Burgwin Research Center in New Mexico, now The Archaeological Field School at SMU-in-Taos; founding SMU’s Department of Anthropology; and leading the Combined Prehistoric Expedition in the Sahara Desert from 1962 to 1999, the longest international prehistoric expedition in northeastern Africa.

A collection of artifacts from the expedition are housed in The Wendorf Collection of The British Museum.

Listen to the interview

Excerpt:

Dr. Fred Wendorf came of age and began his career during a formative period in American archaeology. But after leaving his permanent mark on the development of archaeology in the American Southwest and the United States, he essentially founded the study of the prehistoric eastern Sahara, beginning with the Aswan Dam Project in the Nile River Valley.

His life, nearly ended by a bullet on a WWII battlefield in Italy, has included an archaeological research career spanning six decades and an unsurpassed record of seminal contributions.

His recently published book, Desert Days: My Life as a Field Archaeologist, is a record not only of a life, but of an epoch in the history of archaeology on two continents.

This is history he not just witnessed, but to a significant degree he created it through his innovative approaches and endless energy, which should serve as an inspiration to subsequent generations of archaeologists.

Dr. Richard Pettigrew of ALI interviewed Dr. Wendorf for The Archaeology Channel on two separate occasions, first in person at the Society for American Archaeology Conference in Atlanta on April 24, 2009, and then over the telephone on June 9, 2009.

Guided by Dr. Wendorf’s book, this interview covers a wide array of topics, including his role in the creation of the first truly large contract archaeology projects in the United States, his momentous and very fruitful decision to launch a field expedition in the Nile River Valley against the wishes and advice of others, and the contributions of his research toward the understanding of human cultural development.

Personal anecdotes combine with long considered assessments to paint a genuine picture of his life and career and the era they have spanned.

Listen to the interview

Tags Dedman College, Fred Wendorf, SMU Department of Anthropology, SMU-in-Taos

Culture, Society & Family Fossils & Ruins

New research partnership at The Archaeology Field School at SMU-in-Taos

Post author By Margaret Allen
Post date July 15, 2009

The Archaeology Field School at SMU-in-Taos begins a unique education and research partnership this summer with students and faculty from Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pa., uniting two of the nation’s leading archaeology programs on Southern Methodist University’s New Mexico campus.

“This collaboration will create one of the strongest archaeology field training programs in the nation, if not the world,” said Mike Adler, SMU-in-Taos executive director. “It leverages the strengths of both institutions.”

SMU%20Taos%20entrance%20w%20bicyclists.jpg The goal of the Taos Collaborative Archaeology Program (TCAP) is to unite the strengths of SMU’s community-based archaeology and Mercyhurst’s excavation, documentation and analytical protocols to offer students an unparalleled archaeological training experience.

The SMU-in-Taos campus is sited on an archaeological treasure trove in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains within the Carson National Forest. Program participants have ready access to the restored Fort Burgwin, a pre-Civil War U.S. Cavalry cantonment, and the 13th-century Pot Creek Pueblo. The campus is located on New Mexico Highway 518 between Ranchos de Taos and Penasco. Open archaeological excavations on the SMU-in-Taos campus include the Laundresses Quarters.

SMU%20students%20at%20Taos%20dig%20site.jpg The first TCAP session was June 1 through July 15, and joined 12 students from SMU with 16 from Mercyhurst. SMU’s TCAP director is Sunday Eiselt, assistant professor of anthropology, and Mercyhurst field directors are Judith Thomas, a historic archeologist, and Joseph Yedlowski, a prehistoric archeologist.

SMU is now in its fourth decade of offering field archaeology at the Taos campus, and Adler estimates more than 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students have trained there.

“We have a lot to learn from each other,” Thomas said. “SMU is very strong in community-based archaeology and they have a top facility at which to study. We provide an intense, hands-on field archaeology experience using state-of-the art technology.”

SMU%20Taos%20site%20specimens.jpg The Mercyhurst group is supplying a new remote sensing device known as a gladiometer that works in tandem with computer software to detect features and structures buried at shallow depths, to generate subsurface maps and to better target excavation efforts.

The students will excavate at the Ranchos de Taos Plaza in the shadow of the historic San Francisco de Asis church, and in the homes and backyards of Ranchos de Taos residents whose willingness to work with SMU is a hallmark of the program. Students will also take part in the annual mudding of the church and will record rock art near the spectacular Rio Grande Gorge.

SMU%20Taos%20students%20in%20library.jpg SMU-in-Taos has offered summer education programs tailored to the region’s unique resources since 1973, but the rustic campus dormitories were impractical for use during colder weather. New construction, recent renovations to housing and technological improvements provided through a $4 million lead gift from former Texas Gov. William P. Clements and his wife, Rita, will allow SMU students to take a full semester of classes for the first time this fall.

Other donors have given more than $1 million to support the student housing. They include Dallas residents Roy and Janis Coffee, Maurine Dickey, Richard T. and Jenny Mullen, Caren H. Prothro and Steve and Marcy Sands; Bill Armstrong and Liz Martin Armstrong of Denver; Irene Athos and the late William J. Athos of St. Petersburg, Fla.; Jo Ann Geurin Thetford of Graham, Texas; and Richard Ware and William J. Ware of Amarillo, Texas. — Kim Cobb (Mercyhurst College contributed to this report)

Tags B. Sunday Eiselt, Dedman College, Mercyhurst Archaeological Institute, SMU Archaeology Field School, SMU Department of Anthropology, SMU-in-Taos, Taos Collaborative Archaeology Program

Events Fossils & Ruins Researcher news

Uncovering Angola’s ancient giants: Louis Jacobs’ presentation

Post author By Margaret Allen
Post date July 6, 2009

Fossil finds in the rock outcrops of the coast of Angola in Africa are a “museum in the ground,” according to SMU vertebrate paleontologist Louis L. Jacobs.

Internationally recognized for his fossil discoveries, Jacobs and a team of researchers have unearthed fossils in the outcrops from Namibe, at the southern end of Angola’s coast, to Cabinda, at the northern end.

Jacobs’ work in Angola is jointly funded by the Petroleum Research Fund and National Geographic Society. He’ll present details July 9 at the monthly meeting of the Angola Field Group in Luanda.

A professor in Dedman College‘s Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences, Jacobs joined SMU’s faculty in 1983. Currently he has projects in Mongolia, Angola and Antarctica. His book, “Lone Star Dinosaurs” (1999, Texas A&M University Press) was the basis of an exhibit at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History that traveled the state. He is consulting on a new exhibit, Mysteries of the Texas Dinosaurs, which is set to open in the fall of 2009.

From the Angola Field Group’s blog:

The Angola Field Group invites you to: Uncovering the Hidden Remains of Angola’s Ancient Giants, a presentation this Thursday, July 9, at 8:00 p.m. at the Viking Club with dinosaur hunter Dr. Louis Jacobs who calls the fossils of Angola a “museum in the ground.”

Dr. Jacobs and his team first came to Angola in 2005 and again in 2007 to hunt for fossils of giant marine lizards first reported in the 1960’s, but they unearthed much more than that. He will present a review of their finds from the rock outcrops of the coast of Namibe province all the way up to the coast of Cabinda, conducted in cooperation with Agostinho Neto University and ISPRA University in Lubango.

Dr. Jacobs teaches geology and paleontology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas and has conducted fieldwork worldwide. He’s internationally recognized as a dinosaur expert and six fossil species have been named after him.

Read the full entry.

Tags Dedman College, Huffington Department of Earth Sciences, Louis L. Jacobs

Fossil supervolcano in Sesia Valley, more than 200 million years old, will advance understanding of nature’s most violent eruptions

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