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Tools

Body mass index (BMI) may not be the best tool to measure percentage of body fat and risk of weight-related diseases. Jim Pivarnik and colleagues found that it doesn’t distinguish between fat and muscle. Athletes and fit young people may have a BMI above 25, generally considered an indication of excess weight and health risk, without being fat. Perhaps for people who exercise regularly, a higher BMI should be viewed as normal.

Strong emotional responses to certain hazards, like those from terrorism and crime, can "drown out" ability to critically analyze risk. This often leads to over-investment in managing "emotion rich" risks at the expense of more hazardous but "emotion poor" risks like routine maintenance of infrastructure. Joseph Arvai and his students study these decisions and develop decision aids that help people balance their emotional with more effortful, cognitive responses to risks.

Tamara Reid-Bush and Joseph Vorro led a team that developed a cutting-edge diagnostic tool that may help improve care for patients with head and neck pain. Sensors tracking head and thorax movement convey that information to a computer where the data are graphed for biomechanical evaluations. This advanced motion measurement computer technology has the potential to compare pre- and post-clinical interventions to determine levels of improvement and course of future treatments.

The successful background check system Lori Post and colleagues developed for the state is cited as a national model in the Patient Safety and Abuse Prevention Act of 2007. Developed with community involvement, the system integrates databases and offers a means to do efficient criminal history checks on employees and providers in long-term care facilities, keeping patients safer, saving families potential grief, and reducing hiring costs.

Depletion of tropical forests—it’s happening at a rate of 7,683 square miles per year—means the carbon released through fire and decay isn’t reabsorbed, resulting in a negative impact on climate change. Walter Chomentowski and colleagues analyzed three decades of remotely sensed data to document the location of and reasons for changes. They’re developing tools to measure, monitor, and manage carbon reduction in those forests and elsewhere.

Joseph Arvai, assistant professor, Environmental Science and Policy Program, 517-353-0694

Walter Chomentowski, research specialist in forestry, 517-432-3906   

James Pivarnik, professor of kinesiology, 517-353-3520

Lori Post, assistant professor of telecommunications, information studies, and media, 517-355-3410

Tamara Reid-Bush, visiting assistant professor of mechanical engineering, 517-353-9544

Joseph Vorro, professor of family and community medicine, 517-355-4717