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University of Florida researchers are addressing a critical gap in medical genetic research — ensuring it better represents and benefits people of all backgrounds. Their work, led by Kiley Graim, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Computer & Information Science & Engineering, focuses on improving human health by addressing "ancestral bias" in genetic data, a problem that arises when most research is based on data from a single ancestral group. This bias limits advancements in precision medicine, Graim said, and leaves large portions of the global population underserved when it comes to disease treatment and prevention. To solve this, the team developed PhyloFrame, a machine-learning tool that uses artificial intelligence to account for ancestral diversity in genetic data. With funding support from the National Institutes of Health, the goal is to improve how diseases are predicted, diagnosed, and treated for everyone, regardless of their ancestry. A paper describing the PhyloFrame method and how it showed marked improvements in precision medicine outcomes was published Monday in Nature Communications. Graim, a member of the UF Health Cancer Center, said her inspiration to focus on ancestral bias in genomic data evolved from a conversation with a doctor who was frustrated by a study's limited relevance to his diverse patient population. This encounter led her to explore how AI could help bridge the gap in genetic research. “If our training data doesn’t match our real-world data, we have ways to deal with that using machine learning. They’re not perfect, but they can do a lot to address the issue.” —Kiley Graim, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Computer & Information Science & Engineering and a member of the UF Health Cancer Center “I thought to myself, ‘I can fix that problem,’” said Graim, whose research centers around machine learning and precision medicine and who is trained in population genomics. “If our training data doesn’t match our real-world data, we have ways to deal with that using machine learning. They’re not perfect, but they can do a lot to address the issue.” By leveraging data from population genomics database gnomAD, PhyloFrame integrates massive databases of healthy human genomes with the smaller datasets specific to diseases used to train precision medicine models. The models it creates are better equipped to handle diverse genetic backgrounds. For example, it can predict the differences between subtypes of diseases like breast cancer and suggest the best treatment for each patient, regardless of patient ancestry. Processing such massive amounts of data is no small feat. The team uses UF’s HiPerGator, one of the most powerful supercomputers in the country, to analyze genomic information from millions of people. For each person, that means processing 3 billion base pairs of DNA. “I didn’t think it would work as well as it did,” said Graim, noting that her doctoral student, Leslie Smith, contributed significantly to the study. “What started as a small project using a simple model to demonstrate the impact of incorporating population genomics data has evolved into securing funds to develop more sophisticated models and to refine how populations are defined.” What sets PhyloFrame apart is its ability to ensure predictions remain accurate across populations by considering genetic differences linked to ancestry. This is crucial because most current models are built using data that does not fully represent the world’s population. Much of the existing data comes from research hospitals and patients who trust the health care system. This means populations in small towns or those who distrust medical systems are often left out, making it harder to develop treatments that work well for everyone. She also estimated 97% of the sequenced samples are from people of European ancestry, due, largely, to national and state level funding and priorities, but also due to socioeconomic factors that snowball at different levels – insurance impacts whether people get treated, for example, which impacts how likely they are to be sequenced. “Some other countries, notably China and Japan, have recently been trying to close this gap, and so there is more data from these countries than there had been previously but still nothing like the European data," she said. “Poorer populations are generally excluded entirely.” Thus, diversity in training data is essential, Graim said. "We want these models to work for any patient, not just the ones in our studies," she said. “Having diverse training data makes models better for Europeans, too. Having the population genomics data helps prevent models from overfitting, which means that they'll work better for everyone, including Europeans.” Graim believes tools like PhyloFrame will eventually be used in the clinical setting, replacing traditional models to develop treatment plans tailored to individuals based on their genetic makeup. The team’s next steps include refining PhyloFrame and expanding its applications to more diseases. “My dream is to help advance precision medicine through this kind of machine learning method, so people can get diagnosed early and are treated with what works specifically for them and with the fewest side effects,” she said. “Getting the right treatment to the right person at the right time is what we’re striving for.” Graim’s project received funding from the UF College of Medicine Office of Research’s AI2 Datathon grant award, which is designed to help researchers and clinicians harness AI tools to improve human health.

The president is eager “to plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars.” Would you sign up for that mission? What would happen to your body in the three years you would be gone? As the United States continues to prioritize space travel, you might wonder why anyone would want to travel to Mars and whether it’s even ethical to expose humans to such extreme physiological conditions. The world is watching as the astronauts on the Boeing Starliner remain stuck in space until at least March due to a capsule malfunction. So many questions have arisen about the impacts of people spending extended periods of time in space, and we don’t have all the answers yet. However, because I study how spaceflight affects human physiology and performance, I have some ideas. The first 10 minutes of your journey will be exciting, but it’s the next months and years we really need to worry about. We have solved some of the problems but not all. After you lift off, the high g-forces will paste your body against the crew couch as you accelerate, but there’s really not too much to fear. A typical launch results in only about half the acceleration experienced by a fighter pilot in a tight turn. You might feel lightheaded, but astronauts have dealt with this for generations. Read the full article in the Tampa Bay Times here:

With the busiest shopping season of the year approaching, new findings from the National Retail Federation’s Impact of Retail Theft and Violence 2025 report — developed by the University of Florida’s SaferPlaces Lab and the Loss Prevention Research Council — show retailers are facing increasingly complex and technology-driven threats. UF researchers say early preparation, better data and stronger collaboration will be essential as stores brace for heavier foot traffic and heightened safety risks. Despite public reports that retail theft is decreasing, Read Hayes, Ph.D., a UF research scientist and director of the LPRC at UF Innovate, said retailer surveys tell a different story: Incidents of shoplifting, organized retail crime, online fraud and other external theft continue to rise, even as some law enforcement statistics appear flat or declining. The gap, he said, reflects how much crime goes unreported or unrecorded. “Retailers have always had a difficult time reporting much of their crime, and if you look only at police data, like calls for service or arrests, it can look like retail crime is flat or even slightly down,” he said. “But when we survey retailers, who are the actual crime victims, they consistently report year-over-year increases in theft and violence.” Criminal groups are also becoming more sophisticated. Hayes said offenders are increasingly using technology to defeat protective systems, disrupt cameras and identify vulnerable stores. They also rely heavily on social media platforms such as TikTok and Reddit to coordinate attacks and share tactics. “It’s a little disconcerting how much criminals rely on social media now to scout stores, map out easy targets, learn from each other or just plain brag about how they did it,” he said. LPRC scientists monitor social media signals to help retailers and law enforcement understand emerging threats — not in real time, Hayes said, but to help build best practices organizations can use to defend themselves. Criminals continue to focus on high-demand items such as branded apparel and footwear, prompting retailers to rethink how those products are displayed and secured. Hayes said many companies are testing new approaches to better protect vulnerable merchandise without driving customers away. One example is automated self-service systems for locked items, where customers can retrieve a product by having a code sent to their phone without waiting for a store employee. Safety remains retailers’ top concern, Hayes said. LPRC’s latest report, developed in collaboration with the security technology company Verkada, found that frontline retail workers report feeling less safe than ever, a trend that typically intensifies during the holiday rush. Rising incidents of in-store violence, limited law enforcement support in some areas and increased guest-related confrontations are pushing retailers to reassess how they protect both employees and customers. “Nothing is more important than protecting the frontline retail associates who keep this industry running,” Hayes said. “This report helps reinforce what retailers need to do to ensure those workers feel safe.” LPRC teams are also studying ways to improve safety beyond store walls, testing parking lot technologies, including license plate readers and flashing deterrent systems designed to discourage potential offenders and reassure law-abiding shoppers. At the federal level, Hayes said he and partners across the country are urging Congress to pass a bill to address organized retail crime and establish a centralized platform for reporting retail theft threats. As the holiday season approaches, Hayes said the need for evidence-based solutions has never been clearer. “Retailers are under pressure to keep their stores safe, welcoming and competitive,” Hayes said. “The more we can understand offender behavior, customer expectations and emerging technologies, the better we can help retailers, communities and law enforcement reduce harm.” The LPRC, headquartered at UF Innovate, brings together more than 200 major retailers, technology companies and public safety agencies to conduct research that strengthens store safety, reduces loss and enhances the customer experience.

For a young adult who is lonely or just needs someone to talk to, an artificial intelligence chatbot can feel like a nonjudgmental best friend, offering encouragement before an interview or consolation after a breakup. AI’s advice seems sincere, thoughtful and even empathic – in short, very human. But when a vulnerable person alludes to thoughts of suicide, AI is not the answer. Not by itself, at least. Recent stories have documented the heartbreak of people dying by suicide after seeking help from chatbots rather than fellow humans. In this way, the ethos of the digital world – sometimes characterized as “move fast and break things” – clashes with the health practitioners’ oath to “first, do no harm.” When humans are being harmed, things must change. As a researcher and licensed therapist with a background in computer science, I am interested in the intersection between technology and mental health, and I understand the technological foundations of AI. When I directed a counseling clinic, I sat with people in their most vulnerable moments. These experiences prompt me to consider the rise of therapy chatbots through both a technical and clinical lens. AI, no matter how advanced, lacks the morality, responsibility and duty of care that humans carry. When someone has suicidal thoughts, they need human professionals to help. With years of training before we are licensed, we have specific ethical protocols to follow when a person reveals thoughts of suicide. Read the full article from US News & World Report here

In February of 1982, the Syrian government besieged the city of Hama, killing tens of thousands of its own citizens in sectarian violence. Four decades later, rebels used the memory of the massacre to help inspire the toppling of the Assad family that had overseen the operation. But there is another lasting effect of the attack, hidden deep in the genes of Syrian families. The grandchildren of women who were pregnant during the siege — grandchildren who never experienced such violence themselves — nonetheless bear marks of it in their genomes. Passed down through their mothers, this genetic imprint offers the first human evidence of a phenomenon previously documented only in animal models. The genetic transmission of stress across multiple generations. “The idea that trauma and violence can have repercussions into future generations should help people be more empathetic, help policymakers pay more attention to the problem of violence,” said Connie Mulligan, Ph.D., a professor of Anthropology and the Genetics Institute at the University of Florida and co-senior author of the new study. “It could even help explain some of the seemingly unbreakable intergenerational cycles of abuse and poverty and trauma that we see around the world, including in the U.S.” While our genes are not changed by life experiences, they can be tuned through a system known as epigenetics. In response to stress or other events, our cells can add small chemical flags to genes that may quiet them down or alter their behavior. These changes may help us adapt to stressful environments, although the effects aren’t well understood. It is these tell-tale chemical flags that Mulligan and her team were looking for in the genes of Syrian families. While lab experiments have shown that animals can pass along epigenetic signatures of stress to future generations, proving the same in people has been nearly impossible. “Resilience and perseverance is quite possibly a uniquely human trait.” —Connie Mulligan Mulligan worked with Rana Dajani, Ph.D., a molecular biologist at Hashemite University in Jordan and co-senior author, as well as anthropologist Catherine Panter-Brick, Ph.D., of Yale University, to conduct the unique study. Dajani envisioned the research project; because of her intimate knowledge of the Syrian population and its tragic history, she designed the study to cover three generations of Syrian refugees to Jordan. Some families had lived through the Hama attack before fleeing to Jordan. Other families avoided Hama, but lived through the recent civil war against the Assad regime. The team collected samples from grandmothers and mothers who were pregnant during the two conflicts, as well as from their children. This study design meant there were grandmothers, mothers and children who had each experienced violence at different stages of development. A third group of families had immigrated to Jordan before 1980, avoiding the decades of violence in Syria. These early immigrants served as a crucial control to compare to the families who had experienced the stress of civil war. Study coauthor Dima Hamadmad, a Syrian researcher and the daughter of refugees, led the search for families that met the study criteria and collected cheek swabs from 138 people across 48 families. "The participants took part in the research out of love for their children and concern for future generations,” she said. “But more than that, they wanted their stories of trauma to be heard and acknowledged.” Back in Florida, Mulligan’s lab scanned the DNA for epigenetic modifications and looked for any relationship with the families’ experience of violence. In the grandchildren of Hama survivors, the researchers discovered 14 areas in the genome that had been modified in response to the violence their grandmothers experienced. These 14 modifications demonstrate that stress-induced epigenetic changes may indeed appear in future generations in humans, just as they can in animals. The study also uncovered 21 epigenetic sites in the genomes of people who had directly experienced violence in Syria. In a third finding, the researchers reported that people exposed to violence while in their mothers’ wombs showed evidence of accelerated epigenetic aging, a type of biological aging that may be associated with susceptibility to age-related diseases. Most of these epigenetic changes showed the same pattern after exposure to violence, suggesting a kind of common epigenetic response to stress – one that can not only affect people directly exposed to stress, but also future generations. “We think our work is relevant to many forms of violence, not just refugees. Domestic violence, sexual violence, gun violence: all the different kinds of violence we have in the U.S,” said Mulligan. “We should study the effects of violence. We should take it more seriously.” It’s not clear what, if any, effect these epigenetic changes have in the lives of people carrying them inside their genomes. But some studies have found a link between stress-induced epigenetic changes and diseases like diabetes. One famous study of Dutch survivors of famine during World War II suggested that their offspring carried epigenetic changes that increased their odds of being overweight later in life. While many of these modifications likely have no effect, It’s possible that some have functional effects that can affect our health, Mulligan said. The researchers published their findings, which were supported by the National Science Foundation, Feb. 27 in the journal Scientific Reports. While carefully searching for evidence of the lasting effects of war and trauma stamped into our genomes, Mulligan and her collaborators were also struck by the perseverance of the families they worked with. Their story was much bigger than merely surviving war, Mulligan said. “In the midst of all this violence we can still celebrate their extraordinary resilience. They have persevered,” Mulligan said. “That resilience and perseverance is quite possibly a uniquely human trait.”

As emerging technologies like AI reshape sport industries and professional demands evolve, it is essential for students to graduate with the expertise to thrive in their future careers. To ensure that these students are set up for success, the UF College of Health & Human Performance has launched a new sports analytics program. Led by Scott Nestler, Ph.D., CAP, PStat, a professor of practice in the Department of Sport Management and a national analytics and data science expert, the program ties back to the UF & Sport Collaborative – a five-part project intended to elevate UF’s presence on the global stage in sports performance, healthcare and communication. “Tools and insights that previously were only available to professional sports teams are now coming to the college level, and it makes sense for universities to begin using these data, technologies and new analytic methods,” Nestler said. The sports analytics program fosters collaboration between academic units, such as the Warrington College of Business and the University Athletic Association, helping bridge the gap between sport research and innovation and empowering students to address real-world challenges through data and AI. For example, the program offers opportunities to leverage technology and analytics for strategic decision making in player acquisition, team formation and in-game decisions. Beyond performance metrics, the program also explores marketing strategies and revenue analytics, providing a well-rounded understanding of the field. “When you have enough data and a large enough sample of individuals, AI can help make predictions that otherwise would take prohibitively longer for a human to accomplish with traditional methods,” said Garrett Beatty, Ph.D., the assistant dean for innovation and entrepreneurship and an instructional associate professor in the College of Health & Human Performance’s Department of Applied Physiology and Kinesiology. “Because those data volumes are getting so large, AI models, machine learning, deep learning and other strategies can be leveraged to make sense and glean insights from sport and human performance data in ways that have never been done before.” The program seeks to offer several educational opportunities, such as individual courses, certificate programs and potentially a full degree program. In the long term, Nestler envisions the program evolving into a center or institute, beginning with establishing a research lab in the spring. Additionally, the program will leverage the university’s supercomputer, HiPerGator, to analyze larger data sets and use newer predictive modeling machine learning algorithms. “As faculty and staff move from working with box score and play-by-play data to using tracking data, which contains coordinates of all players and the ball on the field or court tens of times per second, the size of data files in sports analytics has grown tremendously,” Nestler said. “HiPerGator, with its large storage capacity and multiple central processing units/graphic processing units, is ideal for using in sports analytics work in 2025.” Nestler also aims to increase student involvement by enhancing UF’s Sport Analytics Club and hiring research assistants to work on projects for the University Athletic Association. “We need to take a broader view of what AI is and realize that it incorporates a lot of what we’ve been calling data science and analytics in the form of machine learning models, which came more out of statistics and computer science. Those are types of AI and those that I think will largely continue to be used in the coming years within the sports space,” Nestler said. “Also, we’re continuing to see growth in the number of people interested in working in this space, and I don’t foresee that changing. Fortunately, we are also seeing the number of opportunities available to those with the appropriate skills increase as well.”

To help the 50 million people globally who live with dementia, the National Institute on Aging is finding researchers to develop tech-based breakthroughs that target the disease — researchers like the University of Florida’s “AI Queen.” It’s a fitting nickname for Aprinda Indahlastari Queen, Ph.D., who is applying artificial intelligence technology to study transcranial direct current stimulation, or tDCS — a technique that involves placing electrodes on the scalp to deliver a weak electrical current to the brain — as a possible way to prevent dementia. The assistant professor in the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions’ Department of Clinical and Health Psychology is using UF’s supercomputer, HiPerGator, to perform neuroimaging and machine learning analyses to study how anatomical differences may affect tDCS outcomes. “Investigating working memory in patients with mild cognitive impairment offers an opportunity to understand how cognitive processes are disrupted in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease,” said Queen, whose study — funded by a National Institute on Aging research career development grant — integrates neuroimaging with information on brain structure that is unique to older adults and those with mild cognitive impairment. Refining the treatment with AI Using neuroimaging, Queen captures real-time changes during tDCS to the parts of the brain associated with working memory, which is the type of memory that allows humans to temporarily keep track of small amounts of information. Think of this as a mental “scratchpad.” Her study includes older adults with mild cognitive impairment as well as individuals who are cognitively healthy. In tDCS, a safe, weak electrical current passes through electrodes placed on a person’s head. The stimulation is being used in research and clinical settings for a variety of conditions and has shown partial success as a nonpharmaceutical intervention that can improve cognitive and mental health in older adults. But tDCS results can vary across individuals, and the suspected cause is both simple and complex: Everyone’s head is different. “One potential reason tDCS may not work for some individuals is the variation in head tissue anatomy, including differences in brain structure,” Queen said. “Since electrical stimulation must travel through multiple layers of tissue to reach the brain, and every individual’s anatomy is unique, these differences likely affect outcomes.” To address this further, Queen is using AI. “Artificial intelligence will play a major role in the modeling pipeline, including constructing individualized head models, conducting predictive analyses to identify which participants will respond to the stimulation, and disentangling multiple individual factors that may contribute to these outcomes,” Queen said. An estimated 10 to 20% of adults over age 65 have memory or thinking problems characterized as mild cognitive impairment. Their symptoms are not as severe as Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, but they may be at increased risk for developing dementia. “The fact that not all individuals with mild cognitive impairment progress to Alzheimer’s disease emphasizes the need to identify effective interventions that can slow the progression to dementia,” Queen said. “This project presents an opportunity to differentiate between multiple types of mild cognitive impairment and investigate how tDCS affects the brain across these subtypes.” An AI visionary Queen, who joined the UF faculty under the university’s AI hiring initiative, is an instructor in the College of Public Health and Health Professions’ undergraduate certificate program in AI and public health and health care, and the co-chair of the college’s AI Workgroup. She is also the assistant director for computing and informatics at the UF Center for Cognitive Aging and Memory Clinical Translational Research and a member of UF’s McKnight Brain Institute. Queen received her Ph.D. training in engineering with a focus on building and running computational models to investigate medical devices. She experienced a career “a-ha” moment as a postdoc, when she was a co-investigator on a large clinical trial that paired brain stimulation with cognitive training to enhance cognition in older adults. “This experience was transformative for me. I had the chance to interact directly with participants, which was both fulfilling and eye-opening. These interactions allowed me to see the immediate, real-world implications of my work and sparked a passion for pursuing aging research,” Queen said. “I realized that, through this type of research, I could have a more direct impact on addressing age-related challenges, which prompted a shift in my career plans.” The new grant will help Queen further improve her understanding of the neurobiology and progression of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. “These experiences will ultimately prepare me to become a well-rounded aging investigator, capable of making meaningful contributions to the field of aging research,” Queen said. She also credits her mentors and collaborators — Ronald Cohen, Ph.D.; Adam Woods, Ph.D.; Steven DeKosky, M.D.; Ruogu Fang, Ph.D.; Joseph Gullett, Ph.D.; and Glenn Smith, Ph.D. — with supporting her as an early career scientist. “It really takes a village to get here!” Queen said.

When Hurricane Idalia hit the Big Bend region of Florida in 2023, Jeff Carney and his team were watching. A coalition of architects, planners, and landscape architects led by Carney worked closely with the tiny Gulf island of Cedar Key, which is particularly vulnerable to hurricanes, to prepare for this moment. The researchers had modeled for city officials how a major storm would flood the city’s core services. “Idalia caused flooding exactly where the maps said it would, including city hall, the historic downtown, older homes, and many streets,” Carney said. After the storm, Cedar Key moved city hall to higher ground, as outlined in the plan. And just in time. Barely a year later, Cedar Key was hit even harder by Hurricane Helene. Between the storms, Carney’s group had worked with the city to refine their storm preparation. The new plan focused more on resilience-boosting projects, like improving drainage around the city. Cedar Key finalized their plans just weeks before Helene. “A lot of the projects we put forward in this plan are in the process of seeking additional funding after Helene,” Carney said. A professor of architecture at the University of Florida, Carney directs the Florida Institute for Built Environment Resilience, or FIBER. A research institute in UF’s College of Design, Construction and Planning, FIBER engages with communities to understand how the designs of buildings and cities expose Floridians to risks — not just storms, but also excessive heat, poor air quality, even a lack of health care. FIBER faculty then work with cities to mitigate these hazards. By preparing for emergencies, upgrading buildings, and providing targeted services, communities across Florida are bolstering the resilience of their residents, all with expert help from UF researchers. Preparing to weather big storms That kind of resilience is especially important for some of Florida’s most vulnerable residents. Older and poorer Floridians face higher-than-average risks from natural disasters and other environmental hazards. That vulnerability was apparent in Cedar Key as it weathered the last two hurricane seasons. Centered around aquaculture and tourism, Cedar Key seems in many ways to be thriving. Yet, with the feel of a small fishing village, roughly 13% of its nearly 1,000 full-time residents are considered to be financially disadvantaged, according to U.S. Census data. Poorer residents may also have a harder time walking away from coastal communities devastated by storms. With savings invested into damaged homes and jobs tied to the local area, less-wealthy residents often have no choice but to stay and rebuild. Carney’s team helps people see the opportunities for rebuilding with a clearer vision of a future where rising sea levels are a reality. “You capture people’s attention and excitement when you can offer them options that are not doomsday,” said Carney, who has been working in Pine Island and Matlacha in Southwest Florida’s Lee County to help residents affected by recent storms prepare for the future. “There’s a lot of opportunity for rebuilding as long as you don’t try to have it be business as usual. We help people see how redevelopment can provide a community asset for the future,” he added. “We try to paint the picture of all the possible scenarios so people can find their own comfort level. It puts them in the driver’s seat.” Aging with fewer choices While that kind of agency is empowering, it can be harder to come by as people retire and find themselves facing tough decisions on fixed incomes. That’s a common experience in Florida, which has a larger proportion of seniors than any other state, due in part to its popularity as a retirement destination. More than 10% of Americans over the age of 65 live below the federal poverty line. This population often finds themselves moving to less safe places as they age. “Older people with more social vulnerability — such as low income or poor health — have a tendency to move to worse places,” said Yan Wang, Ph.D., a professor of urban and regional planning in the UF College of Design, Construction and Planning. “They are more likely to move to places with less economic stability, with less access to health care, and with more exposure to extreme weather.” Wang and postdoctoral researcher Shangde Gao, Ph.D., recently published a study that uncovered the risks low-income seniors face when moving. Compared to their peers with higher incomes, poorer seniors were more likely to end up in neighborhoods lacking access to health care facilities. To address these kinds of disparities, UF Health has launched mobile health units that can reach people who have trouble traveling to health centers, including low-income seniors. The Mobile Outreach Clinic provides primary care and referrals for specialists. And the newly launched cancer screening vehicle, which serves all of North Central Florida, can help catch the disease in the early stages when it is easiest to treat. It’s not just finding health care that’s a struggle. Older adults from minority racial groups were also more likely to increase their exposure to poor air quality and to natural disasters like flooding and hurricanes when they moved, Wang and Gao discovered. “If we understand the trend and causes of these income disparities better, we could better prepare some places with more health care resources or better hurricane preparation for these older populations,” Wang said. Building safer, healthier homes That preparation is happening right now in Jacksonville, not just for big storms but for the everyday nuisances and hazards — even the ones people are exposed to in their own homes — that threaten people’s lives and health. The Jacksonville Restore and Repair for Resiliency research initiative was founded to address these kinds of risks while improving energy efficiency. The R3 initiative, as it’s known, is a home remodeling program organized by a slew of community partners and supported by FIBER research on the impact of housing quality on health. The project aims to keep longtime residents of the Historic Eastside in their homes while addressing the home hazards that put people at risk for medical complications like asthma attacks and emergency room visits. “The designs of buildings impact human health and well-being,” said Lisa Platt, Ph.D., the lead researcher with the Jacksonville program and an assistant professor of interior design with FIBER. “Our research is helping the team prioritize the home improvements that will benefit residents’ health the most.” Jacksonville’s Eastside faces a lot of challenges. The population is older than the city as a whole. Roughly three-quarters of residents are over the age of 60, and the poverty rate is over 40%. Yet more than a third of residents own their own homes. Often passed down from previous generations, some of the houses are now over a century old and struggle to keep the intense Florida heat and humidity out. Platt’s research has modeled how things like high heat days — only growing more common in a warming world —are associated with increased emergency room use and poor perceived physical and mental health. That science helps guide the community partners to prioritize providing air conditioning and better insulation to protect Historic Eastside residents. To date, the Jacksonville program is targeting up to 70 homes for renovation. Builders have fixed holes in roofs, replaced drafty windows, and hooked up air conditioning for the first time, keeping the heat and humidity at bay and protecting residents’ health. Now the R3 initiative is applying for federal grants to expand the program. “I think the best way to approach this kind of community action research is with humility and outreach. Community members have amazing expertise. I always say, ‘I can build models to analyze the problem, but you are the ones that are the experts,’” Platt said. “That’s where UF can be most useful, is coming in from a perspective of service.”

Nobody likes to feel pain, but it’s something every person will experience at some point in their life. But why is that? I am a neuroscientist, and my job is to research why and how people feel pain in order to help doctors understand how to treat it better. What is pain? To understand why people feel pain, it helps first to understand what pain is. Pain is the unpleasant sensation you feel when your body is experiencing harm, or thinks it is. Not everyone experiences pain the same way. Pain is a highly personal experience influenced by a variety of biological, psychological and social factors. For example, research has shown differences in the pain experiences of women and men, young and older people, and even across people from different cultures. Danger signals A network of nerves similar to wires runs all through the human body, from the tips of your fingers and toes, through your back inside the spinal cord and up to your brain. Specialized pain receptors called nociceptors can be found at the end of the nerves on your skin, muscles, joints and internal organs. Each nociceptor is designed to activate its nerve if it detects a danger signal. One way scientists classify nociceptors is based on the type of danger signal that activates them. Mechanical nociceptors respond to physical damage, such as cuts or pressure, while thermal nociceptors react to extreme temperatures. Chemical nociceptors are triggered by chemicals that the body’s own tissues release when they are damaged. These receptors may also be triggered by external irritants, such as the chemical capsaicin, which gives chili peppers their heat. This is why eating spicy food can cause you pain. Finally, there are the nociceptors that are activated by a combination of various triggers. For example, one of these receptors in your skin could be activated by the poke of a sharp object, the cold of an ice pack, the heat from a mug of cocoa, a chemical burn from household bleach, or a combination of all three kinds of stimulation. How pain travels though the body When you fall and get a scrape, the mechanical nociceptors in your skin spring into action. As soon as you hit the ground, they activate an electrical signal that travels through the nearby nerves to the spinal cord and up to your brain. Your brain interprets these signals to locate the place in your body that is hurting and determine how intense the pain is. Your brain knows that a pain signal is an SOS message from your body that something isn’t right. So it activates multiple systems all at once to get you out of danger and help you survive. Your brain may call on other parts of your nervous system to release chemicals called endorphins that will reduce your pain. It may tell your endocrine system to release hormones that prepare your body to handle the stress of your fall by increasing your heart rate, for example. And it may order your immune system to send special immune cells to the site of your scrape to help manage swelling and heal your skin. As all of this is happening, your brain takes in information about where you are in the world so that you can respond accordingly. Do you need to move away from something hurting you? Did you fall in the middle of the road and now need to get out of the way of moving cars? Not only is your brain working to keep you safe in the moments after your fall, it also is looking ahead to how it can prevent this scenario from happening again. The pain signals from your fall activate parts of your brain called the hippocampus and anterior cingulate cortex that process memory and emotions. They will help you remember how bad falling made you feel so that you will learn how to avoid it in the future. But why do we need to feel pain? As this example shows, pain is like a warning signal from your body. It helps protect you by telling you when something is wrong so that you can stop doing it and avoid getting hurt more. In fact, it’s a problem if you can’t feel pain. Some people have a genetic mutation that changes the way their nociceptors function and do not feel pain at all. This can be very dangerous, because they won’t know when they’re hurt. Ultimately, feeling that scrape and the pain sensation from it helps keep you safe from harm. Yenisel Cruz-Almeida is a UF Associate Professor of Community Dentistry and Associate Director of the Pain Research & Intervention Center Of Excellence, University of Florida This article is republished from The Conversation's Curious Kids series under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article: