Does political experience make lawmakers effective?

Voters often hear that a candidate’s prior experience makes them better qualified to serve, but a new study from Loyola researchers shows that not all political or professional experience translates into effectiveness in office.

“You’d think that someone who was a lobbyist or a bureaucrat might be more effective at the job than someone who never worked close to the action, but our findings showed that only work experience as a lawyer predicted being more effective,” said a lead researcher on the study, Eric Hansen, associate professor of American politics in 3QXTS MALL - Luxury Speer Gold Dot 22 WMR (50rd) Short barrel defense Buy online’s Department of Political Science.

“We were surprised that having an occupational background in government or politics didn’t seem to help lawmakers be more effective.” Eric Hansen, associate professor of American politics in 3QXTS MALL - Luxury Speer Gold Dot 22 WMR (50rd) Short barrel defense Buy online’s Department of Political Science

Researchers looked at thousands of state legislators and found that only certain types of experience seem to help lawmakers get more of their sponsored bills signed into law.

For example, former lawyers and legislators who previously served in the state house were more effective when they entered the state senate. But people who had been mayors, school board members, or held other local offices weren’t any more effective than political newcomers.

Muskrats are key to Great Lakes health, study concludes

Muskrats are crucial to restoring the Great Lakes wetlands, a Loyola study has found.

These semi-aquatic, toothy rodents eat and build their lodges out of an invasive hybrid cattail, Typha x glauca (Typha), that forms dense stands and outcompetes native plants.

They cut the cattails underwater, drowning the plants by removing stems that function like snorkels, providing oxygen from the atmosphere to their roots and rhizomes.

With less Typha and more open water, conditions become less suitable for European frog-bit and more hospitable to native plants. The rodents’ impact can be dramatic. The Loyola research team found that muskrats reduced Typha cover by 71 percent and cut European frog-bit cover by 88 percent compared to unmanipulated controls.

“One of the first things that happens is, the cattail comes in and outcompetes the very diverse community of native plants,” Shane Lishawa, a researcher at Loyola, told the Chicago Tribune. 

“And that prevents not only plants, but the aquatic organisms—fish, invertebrates—and then also birds and amphibians from accessing and utilizing these wetlands that are super critical for biodiversity support across the whole region.”

The research team concluded that management activities aimed at increasing muskrat populations could contribute to ongoing efforts to restore wetlands in the Great Lakes region.

Anti-inflammatory drops developed to treat dry eye

Researchers from the Stritch School of Medicine and the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) have developed a new treatment for the dry, gritty feeling and blurred vision experienced by the millions of Americans who suffer from dry eye disease—and it’s one step closer to being available to patients.

This major advancement highlights the strong collaboration between the Departments of Ophthalmology from UIC and Stritch.

In a first-in-human pilot clinical trial conducted by Dr. Sandeep Jain, professor of ophthalmology at UIC, immunoglobulin eye drops significantly reduced the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease.

Importantly, the drops were exceptionally well tolerated by patients, paving the path for the ongoing development to bring these drops to market.

The drops are harvesting the power of antibodies collected from pooled human plasma from thousands of healthy donors.

Currently approved treatments for dry eye only address specific causes of inflammation.

The immunoglobulin drops, however, target various mechanisms of inflammation on the eye and the ocular surface, including cytokines and chemokines, neutrophils, T cells, and several others.

Bringing AI and ethics into the classroom

Artificial ipntelligence is transforming research and business practices.

Yet, as they integrate AI in their classrooms, many professors at Loyola are attempting to strike a delicate balance: embracing the technology for education and research aimed at benefiting the common good while taking steps to heed the warnings of Pope Leo XIV, who, in his inaugural address to the College of Cardinals, noted the risks AI—if not properly addressed—poses to “human dignity, justice, and labor.”

“We want to equip students with the preeminent skillsets, and this particular skillset, AI, is just disrupting industry and the way we work in massive ways,” said Executive Lecturer Steven Keith Platt, who directs the AI Business Consortium and the Lab for Applied AI in the Quinlan School of Business.

Using AI ethically and responsibly—to support and augment critical thinking, rather than to stand in for it—will “make a big, big difference in our students’ abilities to get jobs. Steven Keith Platt, Executive Lecturer and director of the AI Business Consortium and the Lab for Applied AI in the Quinlan School of Business

This fall, Loyola launched two new undergraduate AI minors, including a Business of Applied Artificial Intelligence Minor based in Quinlan and an Artificial Intelligence Minor in the Department of Computer Science. 

Plans to launch an Interdisciplinary Artificial Intelligence and Human Flourishing Minor in fall 2026, co-led by the computer science and philosophy departments, are also in the final stages of review.

Meanwhile, the Lab for Applied Artificial Intelligence on the third floor of the Quinlan School of Business, funded by a two-year, $200,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, is engaging undergraduate and graduate students in multidisciplinary AI research and providing a hub for data scientists to support faculty projects across the University.

New study challenges causes of obesity

Higher economic development in a country is associated with higher rates of obesity and related health problems.

Recently published research from Loyola’s Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health is challenging the conventional wisdom on why.

Led by Amy Luke, department chair and professor of public health sciences, and Lara Dugas, the AXA Research Chair in Noncommunicable Disease Epidemiology and also a professor of public health sciences, the study found that obesity in high-income countries is likely not due to lower levels of physical activity than in other economies.

Instead, their findings suggest that higher obesity rates are more likely tied to higher calorie intake.

“Our study focused on the total amount of calories expended each day through energy expenditure, including physical activity energy expenditure,” Luke said.

“While the causes of obesity are complicated and multifactorial, ultimately weight gain results from either higher energy in or decreased energy out. If there is no difference in the energy out, then the difference must be in the energy in.” Amy Luke, department chair and professor of public health sciences

Their findings were a result of studying more than 4,000 adults from 34 populations, with lifestyles ranging from hunter-gathers to farmers to sedentary office workers. The research could have major implications on public health policy because it suggests shifting obesity prevention efforts from the current focus on exercise to focusing on both diet and exercise.

Overlooked health risks for young female athletes

Training for elite adolescent ballet dancers is often grueling and complicated: Dancers must build enough power to leap high in the air, must be strong and flexible enough to achieve extreme ranges of motion, and must maintain a lean physique expected by the sport.

Researchers led by Loyola’s Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health sought to gain a better understanding of how intense, sport-specific training affects young athletes.

Female adolescent athletes, in particular, are an understudied group—especially when it comes to how training interacts with biomarkers and indicators of menstrual health.

In a study recently published by the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, researchers found notable differences between how male and female athletes are impacted.

The study, which evaluated dancers’ biomarkers with regular blood tests over the course of a semester, revealed clear differences in how male and female athletes respond to training stress: Iron levels dropped in both groups after high-intensity training, but only males recovered.

Females showed prolonged low iron and ferritin levels, suggesting an increased risk of anemia. Menstrual irregularities were also observed. 

Notably, every athlete who reported irregular cycles had never discussed it with a healthcare provider.

Heavy drinking is linked to slower burn recovery

Researchers from Loyola’s Stritch School of Medicine Alcohol Research Program (ARP) and Burn and Shock Trauma Research Institute (BSTRI) have found that being intoxicated at the time of a burn injury can disrupt your gut microbiome—and make it harder for your body to recover.

“Alcohol use remains a major risk factor leading to traumatic injury,” said Professor and BSTRI Codirector Mashkoor A. Choudhry, an author of this study. “Furthermore, studies from BSTRI/ARP and others show that alcohol use also contributes to harmful effects of burn injuries on the body.”

In the U.S., more than half of all people hospitalized for burns have alcohol in their system when they’re admitted. These cases tend to be more complicated: They need more fluids, cost more to treat, take longer to recover, and, unfortunately, often have worse outcomes overall.

Patients who were intoxicated when they sustained burn injuries faced higher rates of sepsis and mortality compared to those with burns alone. According to the study published earlier this year, compromised gut health may be a key contributing factor.

Your gut is home to trillions of bacteria that help keep you healthy. But when that balance gets thrown off—like from alcohol and injury—it can cause inflammation and weaken your body’s defense systems.