Digest — U.Va. News Daily

Incoming class more diverse, better qualified
The record 3,100 first-year students who make up U.Va.’s Class of 2007 — the school’s largest — are more diverse and better qualified than those from the previous year. The class’s average combined SAT scores crept up nine points to 1,323 out of a possible 1,600, and 85.1 percent ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating classes, compared with 84 percent last year. (Aug. 22)

Health System researchers receive $5.5 million to study hormonal disorder
U.Va.’s Center for Research in Reproduction has been awarded $5.5 million over five years by the National Institutes of Health. The funding is a renewal of a grant to study polycystic ovarian disease, one of the most prevalent hormonal disorders in women. The disease causes women to have a variety of symptoms, including irregular or no periods, infertility problems, excess facial hair, obesity and high insulin levels, and increased rates of uterine cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. (Aug. 26)

Study targets treatment for halting bone cancer
Researchers at the U.Va. Health System have identified a key target for potential treatments aimed at halting bone metastases in prostate and breast cancer patients. “The real benefit of this study will be in prevention,” said Dr. Theresa Guise, lead author of the study, a Mellon investigator at the U.Va. Cancer Center and professor of endocrinology. “Once a tumor gets to bone it is incurable. We’re hopeful that the results of this study will help lead to new treatments to block metastasis to bone.” (Sept. 2)