The Telegraph (Calcutta, India)
Share credit call to Bihar non-residents
12/18/2010
Hundreds of delegates participated in a two-day conclave to discuss the challenges of change in Bihar, India. M.J. Warsi, a professor in linguistics and culture of South Asia, Washington University, said, “I have a commitment towards my state. I want to open an institute of linguistic and cultural studies in Nalanda University. The matter is still under consideration. Secondly, I want all universities in Bihar to include linguistic studies in their subjects. If linguistics are included, it can create jobs for the people here.” Link to Article
Time
C-Sections on the rise, especially for black moms
12/20/2010
Nearly one of every three births in 2008 was a C-section, according to an annual report that tallies trends in births and deaths. Black mothers were most likely to deliver their babies that way. Since 1996, the cesarean rate has soared a whopping 56%, according to the Annual Summary of Vital Statistics. “I personally don’t think it’s a good thing,” says George Macones, vice chairman of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and an obstetrician at Washington University in St. Louis. “The rate is going up but we are not really improving the health of babies or moms.” Link to Article
US News & World Report
Female chimps play with ‘dolls’
12/20/2010
A new study finds that young females in one group of African chimpanzees use sticks as dolls more than their male peers do, often treating pieces of wood like a mother chimp caring for an infant. Researchers have not reported regular stick play in any other chimp community. “If these behaviors are socially transmitted between playmates, then it’s not unlikely that one could find local traditions of toy use in different chimp groups,” remarks anthropologist Crickette Sanz of Washington University in St. Louis. Link to Article
The New York Times
Letters: Getting to the heart of health costs
12/18/2010
Barbara Geller, emeritus professor of psychiatry, Washington University, writes that “there is one strategy for cost-cutting that neither of the two bipartisan deficit-reduction commissions focused on: a public health blitzkrieg aimed at prevention. Until we combat excess weight, tobacco use and sedentary lifestyle, there is little possibility of controlling wildly escalating health spending.” Link to Article
The New York Times
The vanishing mind: Early tests for Alzheimer’s pose diagnosis dilemma
12/17/2010
New medical tests make it possible for Alzheimer’s patients to learn of their diagnosis long before dementia sets in. Some doctors, like Dr. John C. Morris of Washington University in St. Louis, say they will not offer the new diagnostic tests for Alzheimers (like M.R.I.s and spinal taps) to patients because it is not yet clear how to interpret them. He uses them in research studies but does not tell subjects the results. Link to Article See also UPI, Tapei Times, The Ledger, Seattle Times
Chronicle of Higher Education
12/17/2010
One of the critical ways to achieve greater socioeconomic diversity is for colleges to provide affirmative action for economically disadvantaged students. Founded by Michael J. Carter, a recent graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, Strive for College seeks to tap the enthusiasm and experience of college students to guide low-income pupils in nearby high schools through the admissions and financial-aid maze. The program started at Wash U, where students partnered with pupils at Eskridge High School in Wellston, Mo. Link to Article
The Wired Classroom
HEC-TV Live! Presents The Giver
12,17/2010
“The Giver: From Page to Stage.” This free, interactive videoconference will give your students a chance to talk in depth with the director, designers, actors, and technical staff from Metro Theater Company on how they are translating the world of Lois Lowry’s novel to the stage for their upcoming production at Edison Theatre on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis. In this final of a series of four HEC-TV Live! programs focusing on the novel, students will have the unique opportunity to join us live from the stage of the Edison Theatre where Eric Coble’s adaptation is being staged. Link to Article
TechFlash
An inside look: Startup demos
12/18/2010
Mobisante wants to change the way ultrasound is delivered. And the Redmond startup, created by a former Microsoft mobile executive and a researcher at Washington University in St. Louis, has secured funding from WRF Capital to deliver on that mission. Mobisante is developing a low-cost system that utilizes cellular phones and existing wireless networks to transmit ultrasound images from patients in remote areas to hospitals. Link to Article
Legal Theory Blog
Flagg on judicial race activism
12/18/2010
Washington University School of Law Professor Barbara Flagg has posted an article titled ‘And Grace Will Lead Me Home’: The Case for Judicial Race Activism. We’ve come a long way since the era of Jim Crow, writes Flagg, but whites remain attached to a subtle and culture-borne sense of superiority vis-a-vis people of color. The law, and the judges who interpret it, have an important part to play in effectuating racial progress, she argues. Link to Article
The Hill on the Web
Legal fight expected over healthcare reform is only beginning
12/19/2010
Both sides in the legal battle over healthcare have found reason to claim victory recently, but experts suggest that recent lower court decisions have little impact on how the Supreme Court decides. “Nobody’s really right,” said Gregory P. Magarian, a Washington University School of Law professor. “We’re sitting at Round 1,” Magarian said. “To say anything about how this is going to shake out in the final reckoning is pretty much impossible.” The Supreme Court will have the final word. Link to Article
The Dallas Morning News
DMN Investigates: Lax supervision of residents at U.S. teaching hospitals puts patients at risk
12/20/2010
Teaching hospitals treat about half of the nation’s hospital patients, but their reliance on resident doctors-in-training, often with little supervision, is raising concerns about patient safety. Doctors are divided on the question of resident supervision vs. autonomy. “It’s an elusive line,” said Dr. Kenneth Ludmerer, a medical historian at Washington University in St. Louis. “Too much supervision is bad because you cannot avoid the day of reckoning when the physician for the first time practices medicine independently.” Read Full Text
St. Louis Beacon
Income taxes decrease economic growth, prosperity
12/20/2010
According to a new report by Americans for Tax Reform, Missouri shares a feature with the other nine states likely to lose representatives: relatively high state income tax rates and government spending. Show-Me Institute Chief Economist and University of Missouri Columbia professor Joseph Haslag, along with Washington University economics doctoral student Grant Casteel, argue in a new essay that replacing Missouri’s income tax with a sales tax will lead to a higher growth rate and therefore higher lifetime consumption than we would have under the current system. Link to Article See also Fired Up Missouri, Springfield (Mo.) News Leader
St. Louis Globe-Democrat
H1n1 vaccine safe for those with asthma, study shows
12/15/2010?
A single dose of inactivated 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine in people with asthma is safe, according to results from a national clinical trial with a site at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The findings suggest that individuals over age 60 who have severe asthma may require a larger dose of vaccine. “This study demonstrates that the use of H1N1 flu vaccine is safe for all patients with asthma,” says Mario Castro, MD, professor of medicine and of pediatrics and principal investigator at the Washington University site. “Patients with asthma who are concerned about the flu vaccine should be reassured. Furthermore, elderly patients with severe asthma should talk to their doctor about receiving high dose flu vaccine.” Link to Article
The St. Louis American
Blacks are still not getting enough vitamin D (16)
12/20/2010
Consuelo H. Wilkins, MD, an associate professor of medicine and psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine, discusses the science behind often-confusing guidelines on recommended daily intake of Vitamin D. The risk of having a low vitamin D is more common in African Americans, since people with darker skin have more melanin, which blocks UV light and reduces the amount of vitamin D made. Link to Article
STLtoday.com
UConn takes aim at long-held UCLA streak
12/20/2010
The University of Connecticut Huskies play Ohio State and try to match UCLA’s NCAA record 88-game win streak. If No. 1 UConn gets past the No. 11 Buckeyes at Madison Square Garden, it will go for No. 89 Tuesday night against No. 15 Florida State in Hartford, Conn. This season they broke the NCAA women’s record of 81 consecutive wins set by Division III Washington University between February 1998 and January 2001. Link to Article
STLtoday.com
Officer believed to have committed suicide
12/19/2010
Sgt. William Vize, a 16-year veteran of the St. Louis police department, was found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound Saturday morning near his patrol car, the police department said. In addition to his regular duties, Vize did composite sketches of suspects for the department. His work is on display at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University. Link to Article
STLtoday.com
Clayton tech firm born at WU rarer than it should be
12/19/2010
Seven years ago, Global Velocity’s data security technology was an interesting invention in Washington University’s Advanced Research Lab. Now it’s the basis of a company with 17 employees, $21 million in funding from investors and the beginnings of a commercial customer base. The company builds and sells network security products for companies and institutions. Link to Article
St. Louis Globe-Democrat
Drug may make PSA test more reliable
12/19/2010
Even a slight rise in prostate-specific antigen levels in men taking dutasteride may indicate prostate cancer, according to a study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine. Elevated PSA levels not only increase with cancer, but also increase in men with benign prostatic hyperplasia — a progressive enlargement of the prostate. Researchers found that in men taking dutasteride to shrink an enlarged prostate gland, the PSA was lowered by half within six months. Link to Article
News in higher education
Bloomberg News
Yale business school Gets $50 million for construction
12/20/2010
Yale University received a $50 million commitment to help construct a new building for its School of Management from Edward P. Evans, a former publishing executive. Link to Article
New York Times
Is going to an elite college worth the cost?
12/19/2010
The sluggish economy and rising costs of college have only intensified questions about whether expensive, prestigious colleges make any difference. Economists and sociologists have tried to tackle the question. Their research, however hedged, does suggest that elite schools can make a difference in income and graduate school placement. Link to Article
New York Times
Serious mental health needs seen growing at colleges
12/19/2010
Surveys show that nearly half of students who visit counseling centers have serious mental illness. The need to help this troubled population has forced campus mental health centers whose staffs, on average, have not grown in proportion to student enrollment in 15 years to take extraordinary measures to make do. Some have hospital-style triage units to rank the acuity of students who cross their thresholds. Others have waiting lists for treatment sometimes weeks long and limit the number of therapy sessions. Link to Article
New York Times
Massachusetts: Guilty plea for lying way into Harvard
12/16/2010
A man who authorities said falsified his academic record to get into Harvard University pleaded guilty Thursday to larceny, identity fraud and other charges. Adam Wheeler, 24, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison, 10 years of probation and $45,000 in restitution. Wheeler was charged after forging his transcripts and receiving more than $50,000 in scholarships and grants from Harvard. Mr. Wheeler applied to the university as a transfer student, sending fabricated records from M.I.T. and Philips Academy. In reality, Mr. Wheeler attended a public high school in Delaware and Bowdoin College. Link to Article
For additional higher education news (subscription may be required):
The Chronicle of Higher Education
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