More than 30 corkboards filled the Academic and Research Center atrium Friday, displaying projects completed by researchers in the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine.
During the college's Research Day, faculty and student researchers presented 36 projects on topics ranging from vampire bat teeth to communication through Twitter between doctors and patients.
Kumika Toma, a professor who studied the effects of acupuncture on skin activity, said the research environment at OU is a very good thing.
It's not known so much nationally
but it's very active she said.
Toma and her team measured the skin's sympathetic nerve activity during acupuncture and found acupuncture can reduce elevated skin activities such as excessive sweating.
It indicates (acupuncture) could suppress hyperactivity she said.
Jay Shubrook, a professor in the family medicine department, headed a project exploring the use of communication technology between doctors and diabetes patients in Southeast Ohio.
Through a survey, the researchers found that, in socio-economically disadvantaged areas, most patients do not use electronic or internet-based forms of communication with their doctors, according to the project abstract.
The report said new media technologies would make communication between doctors and patients more efficient by allowing them to make contact more often. According to the report's conclusion accessibility to new communication technologies
especially Internet
should be addressed.
Another team studied treatment of chronic lower back pain, a topic about which there's not a lot of data out there
said David Goss, a master's student who worked on the project.
Findings from the study suggest pain treatment is working when the lower back makes a popping sound, Goss said.
I feel very fortunate
he said. Here at OU
within the medical college
I think there's this feeling of excitement to do research
and it's fun to be a part of it.
A study on the structure of vampire bat teeth and jaws was one of the few projects not focused on humans.
Using CT scans and radiology, the team took a highly detailed look at vampire bat mouths. According to the project abstract, vampire bats are the only mammals that get all their nutrition from blood. The team hypothesized that certain features, like a gap between the lower incisors, help facilitate this unusual diet.
