8A - Thursday, October 4, 2012
GRANT
From Page 1A
Specifically, the center will
analyze data from sources such
as the University's Health and
Retirement survey - a longitu-
dinal study of more than 26,000
Americans over age 50 - and
data collected in Detroit, Lich-
tenberg said.
MCUAAAR will continue
providing scholars with oppor-
tunities to conduct research on
aging and health using $20,000
of the newly-allocated funding.
Junior faculty will also ben-
efit from the additional money
through expanded mentorship
. programs. -
TUSSLE
From Page 1A
between him and his opponent on
1,jobs and the economy, Romney
. defended what he said was a mis-
- characterization of his philoso-
phies and then criticized Obama's
economic record.
With Lehrer unable to hold
the candidates's responses to the
prescribed time, the candidates
did not touch on domestic policy
4,4 issues that might have favored
A4Obama, said Aaron Kall, director
of the University's debate pro-
gram..He noted that social issues
and a discussion of the candi-
dates's stances on policies like
immigration reform were not dis-
cussed.
t Michael Heaney, an assistant
professor of political science,
said that of the topics the candi-
dates discussed, Romney seemed
more aggressive and more elo-
quent than Obama. He added that
Obama was often "straight down
the middle," whereas Romney
took risks that sometimes paid off
and other times came off as "com-
pletely stupid."
"Romney's a stronger debater,
and in a lot of ways I think that
Romney is a stronger speaker,"
Heaney said. "Overall, he comes
across as stronger."
The result, according to
M -- ai.( flA o . n h i-A
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
"Many of (the junior faculty)
have used the study that they
did with us to go on to much
bigger studies that made a sig-
nificant impact in the areas of
cancer and Alzheimer's disease
and mobility," Lichtenberg said.
James Jackson, the MCU-
AAAR co-director and a Uni-
versity psychology professor,
said the renewed grant will
allow the center to train about
15 more junior scholars.
Jackson noted that training
the younger generation is cru-
cial as the baby boom generation
ages and general life expectancy
increases. As 2030 approaches,
there will be fewer people under
the age of 15 than there are over
the age of 60, Jackson added.
"Our long term focus has been
on training the next generation
of researchers interested in the
nature of aging and aging-relat-
ed phenomena among diverse
groups of elders," Jackson said.
"This has become even more
critical over the last 15 years."
Lichtenberg added that the
University of Michigan and
Wayne State workwell together
in mentoring scholars and con-
ducting studies.
"It's a very unique and excep-
tional partnership between two
universities," Lichtenberg said.
"That doesn't always happen. as
well as it has happened between
The University of Michigan and
Wayne State. I give Dr. Jackson
a lot of credit for that."
BALANCING
From Page 1A
game."
For McCormack, her daycon-
tinues with a procession of driv-
ing the kids to their respective
responsibilities - - water polo
practice, high school, middle
school - before settling in
for another day of work at the,
University's Law School. In
between meetings and during
the evening, she works on her
campaign.
"Most evenings I do stuff for
the campaign; most days I'm
generally at the Law School,"
McCormack said. "(If) I have
a lunchtime event or an early
morning event I will run to
that, but otherwise I'mtryingto
teach my classes, supervise my
students and run my programs."
Though they're apart during
the week, Croley said family
time is very important to him
and his wife.
"We just try to save a lit-
tle time for the kids," Croley
said. "Even though at their age
they're all busy with their'inde-
pendent things, we make a point
to try to do something as a fam-
ily each weekend."
Both McCormack and Croley
said their children are staunch
supporters of their careers.
"I think our kids have found
it interesting and exciting,"
McCormack said. "And they're
pretty involved in the world
anyway, so I think they are
proud of us, actually."
McCormack and Croley's
involvement in politics has not
gone without a few perks for the
kids, who have eaten meals at the
White House and hung out with
Bo, the Obama family's Portu-
guese Water Dog.,
"One of the things I've tried to
do is make this a family project
to a certain extent, giving them
some sense of ownership in it,"
Croley said.
Both McCormack and Croley
face significant life changes in
the near future, with Election
Day just over a month away. If
McCormack is elected, she will
be forced to resign from her
position as associate dean due
to potential conflicts of inter-
est if the University were to
have a case before the Michi-
gan Supreme Court. Croley
will return to the University to
resume his professorship later
this month,
Though it may be difficult to
manage a family, a campaign and
afull-time job, McCormacknoted
that her busy'schedule will soon
subside as the election ends.
For now, Croley said the fam-
ily is just enjoying their time
together.
"It's challenging ... it has its
moments, (but) we seem to man-
age okay," Croley said. "We have
found a family rhythm for it,
found away to make it."
a
a "slight narrowing" of Obama's
lead in the polls. He predicted
that by Friday, the polls might
record Romney's disadvantage to
-be about 2.5 percent, as opposed
to the 3.5 percent it was before the
debate in several polls.
While Heaney said Romney
might gain a new constituency of
swing voters, most students at the
watch party said they were not
swayed by either candidate's per-
formance.
Zingers and one-line put-
downs from each candidate
earned applause and laughs from
the audience of 266 students in
Annenberg Auditorium at the
Ford School of Public Policy, com-
prising the largest watch party on
campus Wednesday night, accord-
ing to the event's organizers.
LSA freshman Sara Isaac, who
attended the debate after being
encourages by her political sci-
ence professor, said she thought
oftentimes the candidates labored
over minor points or statistics.
"A lot of it was just very repeti-
tive," Isaac said in an interview
after the debate. "They would
attack the same issue. They kept
going back to the same issue."
The complaint was the same
for Public Policy graduate student
Nick Johnson, who said he was
surprised that Obama was able to
put Romney on the defensive, but
disappointed in the inconsistent
nnrfn..ann c htb an --m--
"Too much of the debate was
just arguing about the facts,"
he said, pointing to Romney's
insistence that Obama would cut
$716 billion from Medicare and
Obama's subsequent denial. "It
was just fact-throwing."
Johnson also expressed dismay
that the debate offered few memo-
rable moments.
"Obamalackedenergythrough-
out the debate," he said. "He just
wasn't very polished. Romney was
more polished but didn't provide
specifics, and I don't think that
Obama capitalized on (that)."
At awatch party for the Under-
graduate Political Science Asso-
ciation in Palmer Commons,
students said they were equally
unenthused with the candidates's
showings.
LSA junior Erik Hanson said
neither Obama nor Romney dis-
tinguished himself, adding that
he felt that both performances
were merely average.
"I think both (candidates) are
doing an okay job," he said. "Nei-
ther of them seem completely
great."
LSA freshman Lauren Dahar,
however, said she thought Rom-
ney outperformed her expecta-
tions.
"I'm impressed with how put
together Romney is," she said.
"I'm a Romney supporter and I
thought he was going to crash and
'--% nnvAenfr a-'--'lt"1
CITIZENSHIP
From Page 1A
citizens, demographics that have
historically favored Democratic
candidates.
Political Science Prof. Vincent
Hutchings said opponents of the
citizenship checkbox are fight-
ing Michigan legislation with
similar logic.
"I think there is a perception
that this is not an innocuous act
... that it's an effort to try to dis-
courage people - to intimidate
them from voting," Hutchings
said.
While Hutchings was reluc-
tant to accuse Johnson. of
attempting to disenfranchise
certain voting blocs, he said sim-
ilar voting laws passed in other
states have had clear political
aims not relating to voter fraud
prevention, which he noted is a
nominal issue nationwide.
"I can say, speaking more
broadly again, that these poli-
cies are disproportionately and
overwhelmingly pursued by
Republicans ... and it seems per-
fectly reasonable to presume
that at least some of them ... are
motivated by desire to discour-
age voters," he said.
In response to accusations
regarding Johnson's motive,
Gendreau said she is simply com-
mitted to upholding the integrity
of the voting system.
"Anyone who is making claims
of disenfranchisement is mis-
leading voters," Gendreau said.
Michigan passed legislation
that requires voters to show ID
at the polls in 2007, but the law
allows citizens to sign an affida-
vit if they are unable to provide
appropriate ID. Gendreau said
the law, which was in effect for
the 2008 presidential election,
did not appear to disenfranchise
voters, recalling that Michigan
reported record votingturnout.
She added that until 2008,
federal law required all Secre-
tary of State clerks to ask cus-
tomers if they wished to register
to vote, regardless of their citi-
zenship status. While the law
has since been modified, the Sec-
retary of State's office estimates
that about 4,000 non-citizens
are still registered from prior to
2008.
"If you are a non-citizen and
you vote, it's a felony," Gendreau
said. "You can be deported. You
can also have troubles becom-
ing a citizen even if you're not
deported. So it's a huge incon-
venience and a huge problem for
anyone who does vote who isn't a
qualified voter."
6
RATS
From Page 1A
from the rats, before the crew
sent the chemicals to Mabrouk
to conduct measurements and
analysis.
"You insert a small, painless
probe into (the rat's) brain areaof
interest and what the probe does
is collect the chemicals floating
around in that brain area," DiFe-
liceantonio said.
She said the study was pri-
marily conducted in three parts,
the first involved observing rats
in their natural environment,
carrying out daily activities like
chewing toys or eating, and then
introducing them to M&Ms.
The researchers found the rats
experienced an increase in a
particular type of endorphin, a
chemical produced in-the brain
that responds to a variety ofstim-
uli like excitement and pain.
"We gave (rats) access to
M&Ms," DiFeliceantonio said.
"They could eat as many as they
wanted, and as they started
eating the M&Ms, you saw an
increase in activity in a neu-
rotransmitter called enkephalin."
According to DiFeliceantonio,
enkephalin is an opioid peptide,
which is involved in the intake
of high-sugar and high-fat foods.
She said the second prominent
step in the study, after assessing
that the increased enkephalin
present during M&M-eating was
what made the rats want to eat
M&Ms, was then microinjecting
synthetic enkephalin into the
rats' brains.
"We wanted to know if this
enkephalin surge was causal in
any way," DiFeliceantonio said.
"So you have to manipulate the
brain and look at the behavior."
The idea was that if the syn-
thetic enkephalin caused the
rats to want to eat M&Ms, then it
could be identified as akey factor
in the brain's cravings for high-
fat and high-sugar foods.
"What we saw is that the rats
doubled their intake of M&Ms
(with the synthetic enkepha-
lin)," DiFeliceantonio said.
She explained, however, that
the second step wasn't conclu-
sive enough to convince the
team that it had reached their
goal.
Still, the third part of the
study yielded comprehensive
results after they tested if the
synthetic enkephalin made the
rats think the M&Ms tasted bet-
ter, or if it truly caused the brain
to make the rat eat more, regard-
less of taste.
DiFeliceantonio said they
analyzed the rats' facial expres-
sions to see if they enjoyed the
M&Ms more when microinject-
ed with synthetic enkephalin.
She noted that when provided
with the option to eat regular
lab "chow," chew on toys or eat
M&Ms, the rats consistently
chose M&Ms.
"We found that (synthetic
enkephalin) was increasing
their motivation to eat, but not
the deliciousness of the M&M,"
DiFeliceantonio said.
overall, she said t ostudy
showed definitive enough
information to write the"study
showcasing the discovery of
enkephalin in triggering the
desire to eat junk food.
Mabrouk, who handled the
chemical measurements for
DiFeliceantonio's study, said
Kennedy's lab is one of the "pre-
miere" labs in the world capable
of performing the minuscule
measurements required for the
study.
"We have very collaborative
spirits here," he said. "A lot of
labs know we have this technol-
ogy that is very powerful when
you apply it to questions in neu-
roscience."
Mabrouk said the combina-
tion of interesting problems and
the lab's skillful measuring abili-
ties has provided the opportuni-
ty to yield "high-impact" results.
"We collaborate with tons of
people and it is, in a way, fostered
by the University," he said. "We
can do these match-ups of differ-
ent techniques and the outcomes
are these really cool findings."
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