News Release
June 14, 2007

Postpartum depression research top story in UW Reflections magazine

Research into postpartum depression (PPD) using sheep and whether Wyoming should designate a state insect are the top stories for the University of Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station (AES) research magazine Reflections.

The authors of the stories receive $750 for first place and $500 for second place, respectively.

“Developing an animal model of postpartum depression (What can this ewe tell Tom Cruise about PPD?)” was selected as the top submission by a review committee of UW College of Agriculture faculty and staff members. The article details research into how mother ewes react to stressors after birthing and how they respond to medication. The article is written by Assistant Professor Brenda Alexander in the Department of Animal Science and Associate Professor Gail Leedy in the UW Division of Social Work.

“Would a state insect fly in Wyoming?” is written by Department of Renewable Resources Professor Scott Shaw, who specializes in insect biology and classification. He is also the curator of the UW Insect Museum. Shaw examines what insects other states have designated, their biology, and what insects might be appropriate if Wyoming takes steps to name a state insect.

Reflections is a color magazine published through the AES and is designed to showcase the College of Agriculture’s teaching, research and outreach programs.

The magazine is sent to all land-grant universities, major donors to the college, all advisory board members and Wyoming legislators, and is a handout at a number of college events. Reflections is also used for recruiting purposes. The magazine received a national silver award last year from the Association for Communication Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Life and Human Sciences, and a second-place in the publications category in this year’s Wyoming Press Association awards contest.

Other topics in the magazine are:

* Off-road vehicle use and their economic impact on Wyoming

* How precision herbicide applications can reap cost savings for producers

* Sampling range grasses for mineral content so ranchers in northeastern Wyoming can make decisions about what mineral supplements might be advantageous

* How rising carbon dioxide levels may change the plant landscape on northern mixed-grass prairies

* The impact of rising fuel and nitrogen prices on Big Horn Basin producers and what mix of crops might be most profitable

* Efforts to develop a low-cost method to test for high-altitude brisket disease in cattle

* Wyoming producers using satellite images to make crop management decisions

* How UW scientists are using satellite images to assist locust-management decisions in the Amudarya River Delta near the Aral Sea in Central Asia.

* Efforts by the Small Acreage Issue Team, spearheaded by the University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service (UW CES), to help small-acreage owners in Wyoming with natural resource management

* Modification of insect cells by molecular biologists to make them become more human-like and make proteins with sugar groups that could be used to diagnose or cure diseases

* The status, role and challenges facing the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory as a veterinary diagnostic laboratory.

The magazine is available now. By midsummer, the magazine will be available at the UW research and extension centers near Powell, Sheridan and Lingle, and UW CES offices. Copies can also be obtained via mail by calling the AES office at (307) 766-3667.

On the Web: http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/uwexpstn/

Story Contact: Steven L. Miller, Senior Editor
Phone: (307) 766-6342
E-mail: slmiller@uwyo.edu

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