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Winter 2016
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Inquiry Magazine Archive

  • Spring 2016

    Spring 2016: Premium Blend

    Found in everything from space shuttles to dental fillings, composite materials have thoroughly infiltrated modern society. But their potential is still greatly untapped, offering researchers ample opportunity for discovery.

  • Fall 2015

    Fall 2015: Collision Course

    Within the particle showers created at the Large Hadron Collider, answers to some of the universe’s mysteries are waiting.

  • Spring 2015

    Spring 2015: Almost Human

    Model systems like pigeons can help illuminate our own evolutionary and genomic history.

  • Fall 2014

    Fall 2014: Small Wonder

    UT Arlington's tiny windmills are bringing renewable energy to a whole new scale.

  • Winter 2014

    Winter 2014: Overdue for an Overhaul

    The stability of our highways, pipelines, and even manholes is reaching a breaking point.

  • 2012

    2012: Mystery solved?

    Scientists believe they have discovered a subatomic particle that is crucial to understanding the universe.

  • 2011

    2011: Boosting brain power

    UT Arlington researchers unlock clues to the human body’s most mysterious and complex organ.

  • 2010

    2010: Powered by genetics

    UT Arlington researchers probe the hidden world of microbes in search of renewable energy sources.

  • 2009

    2009: Winning the battle against pain

    Wounded soldiers are benefiting from Robert Gatchel’s program that combines physical rehabilitation with treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

  • 2009

    2007: Sensing a solution

    Tiny sensors implanted in the body show promise in combating acid reflux disease, pain and other health problems.

  • 2006

    2006:Semiconductors: The next generation

    Nanotechnology researchers pursue hybrid silicon chips with life-saving potential.

  • 2005

    2005: Imaging is everything

    Biomedical engineers combat diseases with procedures that are painless to patients.

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Treated

Hitting a Nerve

Kinesiology professor exploring the link between sympathetic nerve activity and kidney disease 

High sympathetic nerve activity can lead to high blood pressure, which harms kidneys

Kidney disease affects more than 26 million American adults, with about 47,000 dying from the condition in 2013. Now, a kinesiology professor is using a $1.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to try to develop a treatment.

Paul Fadel, director of clinical translation science for the College of Nursing and Health Innovation, was awarded the grant for his research into the link between kidney disease and high sympathetic nerve activity. Contrary to popular belief, most people with the disease actually die of cardiovascular issues, since increased blood pressure is injurious to the kidneys. High sympathetic nerve activity can contribute to high blood pressure and related health problems.

Dr. Fadel is searching for a way to decrease this activity in patients with kidney disease. The goal, he says, is to understand the mechanisms that cause the overactive sympathetic nervous system.

"We know that patients with chronic kidney disease have high sympathetic nerve activity, but we don't know why," Fadel says. "Our hope is to figure out a treatment and come up with a therapy that will lower patients' sympathetic nerve activity, improve their outcomes, and prevent them from moving on to dialysis."

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