Winter is over, the sun is shining and across the country and it’s pleasant enough to roll down the windows, break out your favorite pair of shorts and sandals and get outside.

But before you head out for a day of fun in the sun, you may want to take note of some recent changes to the label on your sunscreen bottle…

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system which can lead to blurred vision, balance issues, tremors and even paralysis amongst other issues.

An estimated 2.1 million people have MS but it is believed to be much higher because the CDC does not require U.S. physicians to report new cases.

In a study recently published in the Journal of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota neuroscientist Wensheng Lin, M.D., Ph.D., took a closer look at the relationship of myelin and oligodendrocytes (cells responsible for the formation of myelin in the central nervous system) in mice with MS.

Gunda Georg, Ph.D., is an esteemed researcher and professor in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Minnesota. As head of the Department of Medical Chemistry, Georg has made a tremendous impact in the field of synthetic medicinal chemistry.

Georg is also the director of the Institute for Therapeutics Discovery and Development and holds both the Robert Vince Endowed Chair in Medicinal Chemistry and McKnight Presidential Chair. This July she will receive the prestigious Volwiler Research Achievement Award for her research accomplishments.

Cari Clark, Sc.D., M.P.H., never sought out to be a crusader for women’s health. However, her work has positioned her as a true champion for women’s health as she’s advanced an understanding around the public health impact that violence against women has on our society in the U.S. and abroad.

In early April, Clark, an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School and adjunct assistant professor in the School of Public Health, presented the public health impact of violence against women at a press conference convened by U.S. Senator Al Franken and Minneapolis Police Chief Janee Harteau to support the renewal of the Violence Against Women Act.

The bill provides funding for victim services, law enforcement, and violence prevention. Importantly the bill also supports research on the health effects of violence against women, the impact of violence on the health sector, and improvements in the health sector’s response to violence victimization.

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the Spring 2013 University of Minnesota Medical School magazine, Medical Bulletin. The complete article can be found here.

On a chilly Minnesota evening last December, 16-year-old Tiffany Cowan sat uncomplainingly in Room 242 of the University of Minnesota’s Masonic Memorial Building as two graduate students from the University’s Brain Plasticity Laboratory carefully attached a series of wires to her scalp and right arm.

Cowan, with the consent of her parents, had volunteered to participate in one of the lab’s studies, which was examining the safety of using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) as a treatment for children with congenital stroke. tDCS is a type of painless, noninvasive brain stimulation that delivers a low (battery-powered) and persistent current to specific areas of the brain through small electrodes. Experimental studies have suggested that it may help adult stroke victims regain some function of their limbs. This is among the first to investigate whether it may help children, too.

Alexander Graham Bell once said, “Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.”

Whether you’re preparing for a big presentation, a job interview or about to run a big race, your level of preparation can dramatically influence your level of success.

But did you know that most of our movements are often prepared in the brain well in advance of the time we intend to initiate an action? In some instances, the planning process in the brain begins as much as two seconds ahead of time and slowly increases until the initiation of movement.

In a new study in PLOS ONE, University of Minnesota neurophysiologist Colum MacKinnon, Ph.D., demonstrates that if a loud sound occurs during the brain’s planning process, it can result in rapid and involuntary release of the intended action. In some cases, the complete movement is released as much as 1.5 seconds before the intended timing of movement initiation. The closer the timing of the loud sound got to the “go” signal, the more difficult it became to suppress the involuntary initiation.