News highlights for September 8, 2010

CisionPoint news monitoring provides this small sampling of the university's daily news coverage. Click headline to read full text via Cision or link directly to the online article where available. For questions or comments about this service, or to add or delete a name from the mailing list, please contact Gerry Everding.

Psychology Today / National Humanities Center

Bright spots and blind spots in self-knowledge
9/7/2010

How well do you know yourself? How well do you know what makes you happy? Do others know things about you that you don’t know about yourself? If so, can you improve your self-understanding, bring your view of yourself more into line with the understandings of others? Should you? These are the questions explored by Simine Vazire, an assistant professor of psychology and the director of the Personality and Self-Knowledge Lab at Washington University in St. Louis, in her essay, Bright Spots and Blind Spots in Self-Knowledge, posted this week on the National Humanities Center’s “On The Human” web forum. The forum is an online community of humanists and scientists dedicated to improving our understanding of persons and the quasi-persons who surround us. In a related post to the “Know Thyself” blog at Psychology Today, Vazire ponders how the uniquely human trait of self-knowledge sets us apart from other animals, such as dogs: A psychologist dissatisfied vs. a dog satisfied. Link to Psychology Today Link to On the Human

GenomeWeb
NIH invests $161M in 14 new pharmacogenomics research network projects
09/08/2010
The National Institutes of Health this week said it would grant $161.3 million over the next five years to 14 new projects under the Pharmacogenomics Research Network. With this new funding, the NIH hopes to continue research in existing focus areas of cancer, heart disease, asthma, and nicotine addiction, and also to expand into new areas, including rheumatoid arthritis and bipolar disorder. Elaine Mardis of Washington University, St. Louis will receive $3 million to develop program resources in Next Generation Sequencing. Link to Article

Kansas.com
Marathoner, 60, running away from aging
09/07/2010

Barn Wnek, soon to be 61, is one of many aging boomers still competing in marathons. Studies show that running for fitness decreases aging by 50 percent over people who are sedentary. The National Institute on Aging says aerobic exercise programs work for people over 60 whether they enter their senior years in good condition or are sedentary. “Studies show that if you’re 90 and start lifting weights, your muscles will get stronger,” Susan Deusinger, director of programs in physical therapy for Washington University School of Medicine. “It’s never too late to start.” Link to Article

The Health Care Blog
And the best job in academic medicine goes to…
09/07/2010

Robert M. Wachter, MD is Professor and Associate Chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, explores various mindsets for filling the top leadership position at academic medical centers, He mentions the University of Chicago’s recent decision to name Ken Polonsky, then WUSTL’s chair of medicine, as Chicago’s medical school dean and hospital leader. Wachter credits much of his discussion to arguments made in Time to Heal, a book on American medical education written by Kenneth M. Ludmerer, MD, the Mabel Dorn Reeder Distinguished Professor in the History of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine. Link to Article

STLtoday.com
Wash U to release study on secondhand smoke
09/08/2010

Researchers at Washington University are expected to announce today the results of the first study to monitor secondhand smoke exposure in St. Louis area bars and restaurants and whether ventilation systems work in purifying the air. The study was a joint effort between the Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine and the Center for Tobacco Policy Research at Washington University. Researchers looked at airborne nicotine levels, nicotine levels in employees’ hair samples, employees’ health, employees’ knowledge about smoke-free policies and the effectiveness of ventilation systems. Link to Article

STLtoday.com
Task force tackles gaps in domestic abuse laws
09/08/2010

Earlier this summer, when her ex-husband was still actively stalking her, Carol Cromer said it would have been out of the question for her to share her harrowing story, as she did Tuesday. Cromer spoke at the first meeting of a new domestic violence task force spearheaded by Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster. “I have experienced the need for better law with stronger consequences,” she told the group and about 40 audience members gathered at the campus of Washington University School of Medicine. Link to Article

STLtoday.com
Doctors take health talks to homeless women in St. Louis shelter
09/08/2010
Shortly after Patrick and Libby White arrived in St. Louis for their residencies at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, they started calling homeless shelters. The young couple from Ohio wanted to initiate a program to educate the homeless on health issues, and Gateway 180, the largest 24-hour emergency shelter for single women and families in Missouri, welcomed the idea. The Whites also got Washington University and Barnes-Jewish involved to keep the program going. Link to Article

STLtoday.com
St. Louis man charged in sexual assault, robberies
09/08/2010

A St. Louis-area man registered in adult-education programs at St. Louis University and Washington University was charged Tuesday in a sexual assault and robbery in Clayton and a holdup in University City over the Labor Day weekend. Police are taking a close look at the man as a possible suspect in similar incidents Jeremiah McMillon, 23, was charged with forcible sodomy, attempted rape and robbery in an attack on Monday. He was charged with two additional counts of robbery in the robbery of two Washington University students about 2:45 a.m. Sunday at Big Bend and Lindell boulevards. Link to Article

D-III Women’s Volleyball (blog)

Poll: Wash U still the unanimous #1
Nothing changed atop the Week 1 AVCA Top 25 poll this week after defending
national champion Washington got off to a 6-0 start. Wash U again received
all 24 first-place votes. Link to Article
See also U-Wire

News in higher education

CNN.com

Judge: No delay in ruling blocking stem-cell research funding
9/7/2010

A federal judge Tuesday rejected the Obama administration’s request to stay
his recently imposed injunction against use of public funds in embryonic
stem-cell research. Link to Article

USA Today

Best college towns (and cities) ranked
9/8/2010

Shopping for colleges? Location may be more important than you think, according to a new index of 75 “best cities” for college students. The American Institute for Economic Research unveiled its 2010-2011 College Destination Index on Wednesday. Link to Article

National Public Radio

New college teaches young American Muslims
9/8/2010

NPR’s Barbara Bradley Hagerty didn’t know what I expect when she arrived at Zaytuna College in Berkeley, Calif., the country’s brand new Muslim liberal arts college. Women in headscarves? Yes, for the most part. Men with heavy beards? No. A lot of prayer and fasting, since it’s Ramadan? Absolutely. What she didn’t expect was Jamye Ford, a 24-year-old who graduated with degrees in neuroscience and history from Columbia University before enrolling at Zaytuna College, where he currently studies Arabic. Link to Article / Podcast

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The Chronicle of Higher Education
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