The mission of the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) is to advance innovation and discovery. The core of this mission is the research, scholarship, and creative works of UNM faculty. The OVPR seeks to facilitate these activities, resulting in new knowledge and applications of value to academic communities and the public.
Using the largest database of real-time recordings of the effects of common and commercially available cannabis products in the United States (U.S.), researchers at The University of New Mexico (UNM) found strong evidence that cannabis can significantly alleviate pain, with the average user experiencing a three-point drop in pain suffering on a 0-10 point scale immediately following cannabis consumption. [Jacob] Vigil explains, “Cannabis offers the average patient an effective alternative to using opioids for general use in the treatment of pain with very minimal negative side effects for most people.”
As the world struggles to battle the effects of climate change, not everyone benefits equally from the remedies. In a recent paper titled Weaponizing vulnerability to climate change, Benjamin Warner, an assistant professor of geography and environmental studies at The University of New Mexico, and his colleague Kimberley Thomas, a political ecologist at Temple University, examine the way the fight to remediate climate change is hurting the most vulnerable, the poor.
Ellis was born on Sunday, Oct. 23, 1927 in New Bern, N.C. His family later moved to Norfolk, Va., where he spent his childhood. He served in the United States Air Force as a medical laboratory technician from 1946 through 1947. Ellis married his wife, Florence, in 1957 and they moved to Albuquerque, where he began his career with the Psychology Department at UNM. Ellis worked as an active researcher and psychology professor at UNM for more than 50 years, serving as Department Chairman of from 1972 to 1984. He had more than 120 publications, with 10 books among them, to his credit.
The purpose of the study, Cognitive Neuroscience of Reward, is to look at the brain’s response to reward in both depressed and non-depressed participants. The eligibility includes men or women aged 18-55. Participants also need to either meet criteria for Major Depressive Disorder via a Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM-5 (SCID), or have an absence of symptoms to qualify as a control; and free from psychoactive medication for at least two weeks. Participants will be compensated $20 to $30 per hour depending on the study being run at that time.
According to research from George Washington University, a projected $6.2 billion is on the line next year that would go to the 16 biggest Federal Assistance Programs in New Mexico, including Medicaid, SNAP benefits, highway planning and construction, housing, and grant programs for early childhood education and special ed. Because of the low response numbers in 2010, along with several other factors, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham established a commission, funding it with about $3.5 million approved by the legislature, to ensure an accurate and complete count.
NMiF takes a multi-layered look at social, political, economic health, education, and arts issues, and explores them in-depth, with a critical eye to give them context beyond the "news of the moment." This week on New Mexico in Focus, correspondent Megan Kamerick sits down with researchers at The University of New Mexico School of Medicine who have developed a vaccine that carries the tantalizing possibility of preventing Alzheimer’s disease.
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