UA gets $6M grant to fight diabetes, substance abuse

The federal government has just awarded a $6 million grant to the University of Arizona to focus on eliminating health disparities in diabetes and substance abuse for Hispanics and Native Americans.

The grant from the National Institutes of Health to the Mel and Enid Zuckerman Arizona College of Public Health is one of the largest ever received by the UA to address health disparities.

It will establish the Arizona EXPORT Center to conduct research, training and outreach geared toward finding prevention methods for these diseases that work for these populations. It will be a collaboration between the UA and the affected communities to develop solutions.

Mortality data for Arizona shows American Indians have the highest death rate due to diabetes in the state ÷ 75 deaths per 100,000 people. Hispanics have a rate of 41 deaths per 100,000 people. In comparison, the rate for all Arizonans is 19 per 100,000.

According to another study, both groups have higher than average rates for obesity, and American Indians are at the highest risk for engaging in binge drinking.

Chemists discover microbe self-defense mechanism

UA chemistry professor Richard S. Glass and his colleagues in Munich, Germany, have discovered how microbes avoid being poisoned by the cyanide and carbon monoxide compounds they make.

They discovered that cyanide attaches to sulfur before it attaches to iron as the hydrogen gases are assembled, Glass said.

The team published the research in the Feb. 14 issue of Science in the article, "Taming of a Poison: Biosynthesis of the NiFe-Hydrogenase Cyanide Ligands."

Bacteria with this remarkable ability have long been widely dismissed as one of Mother Nature's interesting, if largely useless and unimportant, oddities, said Glass.

Glass became intrigued with the bacteria while working with microbiologists and biochemists in Munich during his 1999-2000 sabbatical. As well as using chemical tests, the scientists verified their findings using mass spectrometry techniques that won scientists the 2002 Nobel Prize in chemistry.

Tucson rodeo participants looked-after by UA doctors

University of Arizona doctors spent last week at the annual rodeo offering their help in case of rodeo injuries.

UA doctors left the sterile environment of the hospital and entered the dusty, grimy world of the professional rodeo rider at La Fiesta de los Vaqueros on Wednesday. They were on hand just in case a rodeo rider spilled off the back of a horse or got beaten by a 1,500-pound bull.