MADISON. Wis. - Some people think that restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a joke, not an actual medical condition.

Not so, says Dr. Stephen Barczi, a physician who specializes in sleep disorders at the University of Wisconsin- Madison.

"Restless legs syndrome is a real neurologic and sleep-related condition," he says, adding that 10 to 12 percent of Americans suffer from the puzzling disorder.

People who have it often can't sit still or enjoy a full night's sleep - because their legs are constantly tingling, twitching and needing to move.

Physicians believe RLS is associated with a deficiency of iron in the blood or dopamine in the brain. It can also appear with conditions ranging from diabetes to pregnancy.

Barczi treats at least one RLS patient per week as part of his work with Wisconsin Sleep, the clinical and sleep research center at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.

Not all RLS patients need medication, he says, but some can benefit from carefully chosen drugs that can help control symptoms.

Meditation Could Help Alcoholics Avoid Relapse

MADISON, Wis. - Meditation might help alcoholics become aware of their urges and develop coping skills that may reduce their risk of going back to the bottle.

That's according to Dr. Aleksandra Zgierska, assistant professor of family medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

She conducted a small study that showed meditation was as successful as conventional therapies in preventing alcohol relapse.

One meditation technique Zgierska uses is called "urge surfing."

"While meditating, one visualizes a craving or urge as an ocean wave that begins small and gradually builds to a large cresting wave," she explains. "Using the awareness of one's breath as a 'surfboard,' the goal is to 'surf the urge' by allowing it to first rise and then fall without being 'wiped out' by giving in to it."

Successfully 'surfing the urge' can weaken addictive conditioning and enhance healthy coping skills, she says. Zgierska emphasizes that meditation would probably not be a replacement for standard therapy, but it's another option patients might find useful.
New Approach to Wound
Healing Easy on Skin, Tough

on Bacteria

MADISON - An ultra-thin, layered patch carrying a concentrated dose of silver nanoparticles has proven highly effective in healing wounds while not damaging important cells.

Silver is commonly used to prevent bacterial contamination in traditional wound dressings, but it can damage fibroblasts--cells needed for healing.

Now Ankit Agawal, a researcher in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at UW-Madison, has developed a way to deliver low doses of silver in a small concentrated area, avoiding fibroblast damage.

Wound healing is a particular problem in diabetes, where poor blood supply that inhibits healing can require amputations, and also on burn wards. Agarwal says some bum surgeons avoid silver dressings despite their constant concern with infection.

In lab tests, patches soaked with 100 times less silver than conventional silver dressings killed nearly 100 percent of the bacteria but did not damage the fibroblasts needed to repair it.

Agarwal can precisely control the thickness, porosity and silver content of the patch, a "sandwich" of microscopically thin polymer films that stick together through electrical attraction.