UO yields medical research
■An open house showcases
the work of three professors
and their doctoral students
By Andrew Adams
Oregon Daily Emerald
Doctoral student Ji-Hang Lee
placed a skintight swimmer’s cap
over his head and calmly sat down
while professor Paul von Donke
laar charged a magnetic pulse ma
chine. Von Donkelaar used mark
ings on the cap to find exactly
which part of the brain he wanted
to stimulate and then gave Lee a
slight charge of magnetic energy
directly to the brain.
Lee’s fingers twitched involun
tarily, and he gave a big smile to
those gathered around him — it
was just another day in the motor
control lab.
“It’s nothing,” Lee said. “Just a
little twitch.”
Von Donkelaar’s exhibit of his
research was just one part of an
open house held by the depart
ment of exercise and movement
science. The event, held last week,
showcased the work of von Donke
laar and professors Li-Shan Chou
and Christopher Minson. Chou is
developing imaging technology to
further biomechanics research,
and Minson is studying cardiovas
cular systems.
While students go home this
holiday break, these researchers
will keep at the work they carry
out the rest of the year.
Louis Osternig, head of the divi
sion of graduate studies, said the
department offered the open house
to introduce members of the local
health community to the re
searchers and their work.
“They’re bringing new areas of
experience to the department, and
we wanted to showcase that,” he
said.
Minson and Chou have both
came to the University from the
Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.
Von Donkelaar is using the mag
netic pulse machine to study what
parts of the brain are key in hand
eye coordination. By charging spe
cific areas of the brain with mag
netic energy, he can perturb those
areas for milliseconds. Judging
how a patient does in hand-eye co
ordination tasks after receiving a
pulse can tell von Donkelaar what
parts of the brain play a role in en
abling a person to perform those
tasks. He does this by tracking eye
activity during the test.
Adam Amato Emerald
Doctoral students Jeanne Laugan (left) and Jessie Chen use a hydraulic platform to
study how people regain their balance. Their work is used in treating stroke patients.
“What we show is that the nor
mal eye influence is disrupted,
and from that we infer what brain
parts play a role in the interac
tion,” he said.
Part of the work with the brain
study can also be applied to study
ing how a stroke affects a person,
but another project in von Donke
laar’s lab can be directly applied to
helping stroke victims recover.
Laura Adomaitis, a doctoral stu
dent working with von Donkelaar,
demonstrated a device the depart
ment is using to help stroke vic
tims recover some of their balance.
Using a hydraulic platform, the re
searchers are able to analyze how
stroke patients respond to losing
their balance.
Adomaitis said a patient is
strapped to a harness, which is
connected to a beam above the
platform. The platform then shifts
and sensors strapped to the pa
tient’s muscles and connected to a
computer tell researchers how the
patient adjusts to the shifting plat
form. Information gathered in the
experiments is then incorporated
into treatment therapies for the
stroke victims.
“This gives us a lot of informa
tion,” Adomaitis said. “We’ve
trained four subjects and the re
sults are very positive.”
While those in the motor control
lab help people regain their move
ment, professor Chou is studying
exactly how people move.
His lab is using the newest imag
ing technology to study the me
chanics of common movement.
Chou and his assistants then use
this information to study how dif
ferent forces created by movement
affect human joints.
“We know when you walk or
run or jump how much force is put
on the joints,” he said.
By using special cameras and re
flective sensors placed on a per
son’s body, Chou is able to create a
simple re-creation of how that per
son moves. This re-creation pro
vides a vital visual resource for
physicians to understand what the
forces do to a person’s movement.
“If you just show the numbers,
that doesn’t make so much sense,”
he said.
Chou said the next step in the
research is to take the simple re
creation and turn it into an anima
tion. Then researchers could input
obstacles into the animation to un
derstand how a patient would deal
with those obstacles. While this
technique has not yet been devel
oped, Chou is confident that it will
come soon.
Professor Minson is studying
how heat waves often have deadly
consequences for the elderly. To do
this, he uses a special suit that can
dramatically lower or raise a per
son’s core temperature. He then
uses special sensors to examine
how the body responds to the tem
perature changes.
Although the researchers have
made some breakthroughs in their
fields, they all acknowledge there
is still work to be done.
Holiday gift options abound
■ Items on college students
wish lists this year range from
Dreamcasts to hard cash
Nick Kulmac
for the Emerald
Surprise — talking fish and
scooters are hot gifts this year, and
the holiday shopping season is in
full swing. The stores are packed
with spirited shoppers. Grand
mothers are throwing sharp el
bows in Mervyn’s. Children are
getting mugged for their PlaySta
tion2s, and Furbys, last year’s big
hit, are on clearance at Rite-Aid.
All the new gizmos are on the
shelves, and that means goodbye
savings account.
So what do college students
want this holiday season?
Kate Garoutte-Smith, a sales em
ployee at Spencer Gifts in the
Gateway Mall, said the big sellers
; his year for the age group are lava
mips, fart machines and singing
. h.
’hose are our top sellers by far
this year,’ Garoutte-Smith said.
“Scooters are also pretty big this
season.”
Deven Morganstern, a junior po
litical science major, said electron
ics are at the top of his list.
“A home entertainment system
would be real nice, but that’s prob
ably a little pricey,” he said.
Employees at Game Crazy in the
Gateway Mall said Sega Dream
casts are selling quickly.
“Lately, we have been selling at
least one Dreamcast every day,”
said Patrick Leonard, a Game
Crazy employee. “And as far as
games go, Shenmue and Tony
Hawk 2 are the ones everyone
wants.”
Not all students are interested in
high-tech toys. Britton Kiefer, a
junior psychology major, said he
wants gifts that take him to the
outdoors.
“I’m asking for a surfboard for
the summer, and some warm
clothes I can wear outdoors during
winter,” Kiefer said.
*. m’t even know
what to ask for.
“I have no idea what I want this
year,” said Ben Cordell, an unde
clared freshman.
For many students, money tops
their wish lists. Wishfully thinking
students also said they wouldn’t
mind receiving cars, computers,
car stereos with CD players or
some leather pants.
Where do you go to get all this
stuff? The malls have most of the
items.
If you can’t stand the packed
aisles, screaming children and
crowded stores, you might want to
try shopping online. Online shop
ping offers competitive prices and
just about every store you can
think of without the craziness of
going out.
With this in mind, you are ready
to go shopping for the college stu
dents on your list or for yourself.
If these suggestions don’t spark
any ideas, or you can’t afford any
thing listed, try a Chia Pet. You
can’t go wrong there.
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