News highlights for January 24, 2011

p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Cambria;} .MsoChpDefault {font-family:Cambria;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;}  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. 

USA Today

HCG weight-loss products are fraudulent, FDA says
01/23/2011

A popular type of weight-loss product, heavily promoted on the Internet, is fraudulent and illegal, Food and Drug Administration officials say. HCG weight-loss products claim to contain human chorionic gonadotropin, a hormone made by the placenta during pregnancy. Samuel Klein of Washington University School of Medicine agrees: “Data from most randomized controlled trials show that HCG is no better than placebo in achieving weight loss or reducing hunger.” Link to Article

National Education Policy Center

WUSTL’s William Tate reviews The Lottery, a documentary about charter schools
1/24/2011

William Tate, chair of the department of education at WUSTL, reviews the documentary film, The Lottery, which focuses on the battle between advocates for a New York City charter school provider, Harlem Success Academy Charter Schools (HSA), and those presented as charter school opponents. While there is much that is very real and poignant about this film, its zealous advocacy for charter schools fundamentally misdirects viewers away from the actual evidence about the mixed results that have been achieved by charter schools, Tate suggests. Link to Article

Economics Roundtable

Fazzari on stimulus and Keynes
01/24/2011

Steve Fazzari of Washington University in St. Louis talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the economics of Keynesian stimulus. In a podcast taped Jan. 20, they discuss the stimulus package passed in February 2009 and whether it improved the economy and created jobs. The conversation includes a discussion of the underlying logic of Keynesian stimulus and the effect of the financial crisis on economic research and teaching. Link to Article

ABC NEWS

Beer fights prostate cancer? Food studies we wish were true
01/22/2011

People shouldn’t jump to eat the latest super-food in excess. “We don’t want to hang our hat on any single food as the answer in disease prevention,” said Connie Diekman, the director of university nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis. In the end, though, Diekman said, individual food studies should show a consumer an overall message of a balanced and varied diet rather than one of choosing super-foods. Link to Article

ABC NEWS

New USDA nutrition guidelines focus on obese, unhealthy population
01/23/2011

New USDA nutrition guidelines call for a shift to a more plant-based diet that focuses on nutrient-rich rather than energy-dense foods, but nutrition experts say one of the most challenging changes are sodium recommendations. Connie Diekman of Washington University in St. Louis said that most Americans eat 3,000 to 8,000 mg of sodium per day: “Why not develop better ways to get them to 2,300 and then see how that impacts the incidence of hypertension?” Link to Article

FuturePundit

Practice memory retrieval to learn faster
01/24/2011

Practicing memory retrieval boosts science learning far better than elaborate study methods, according to new research from Jeffrey Karpicke, a graduate of the psychology doctoral program at Washington University and now a professor at Purdue University. If you are curious to know more, Henry Roediger’s Memory Lab at Washington University in St. Louis has done a lot of pioneering work in this area. What amazes and disappoints me is just how slow academia has been to use these research results to change how teaching and learning is done. Link to Article

The Detroit News

Obama initiative gives job creators hope for a lighter regulatory burden
01/23/2011

The Detroit News is cautiously enthusiastic over President Barack Obama’s pledge to get government off the backs of American businesses, but others fear that Obama’s edict to regulatory agencies “will serve largely to distract them from their important regulatory work.” Economists at Washington University in St. Louis peg the dollar cost of complying with government regulations at $1.5 trillion a year. That’s a lot of money going to paperwork. Link to Article

The Pantagraph

Wash U.’s stirring comeback too much for Titans
12/19/2010

Washington University wore desperation with impeccable flair Saturday. Bears’ freshman Alan Aboona’s spinning, game-tying 3-pointer with three-tenths of a second remaining in regulation and Spencer Gay’s baseline shot to narrowly beat the shot clock in overtime were critical in Washington’s 83-75 victory over Illinois Wesleyan. “We’ve had a lot of games against good teams where we shoot ourselves in the foot,” Washington coach Mark Edwards said. “We tried to do it tonight, but we made a couple plays.” Read Full Text

KPLR-TV

Beating the winter blahs
01/21/2011

Winter weather in St. Louis has many residents housebound and fighting to avoid the winter blahs. But hibernating is the worst thing you can do, according to Washington University professor of psychiatry Dr. Richard Wetzel. “When times are tough the best thing to do is pamper yourself. Do the things that you know you enjoy and things you like, and get together with people you know,” he suggests. Link to Broadcast

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Clayco chief gives $50,000 to Rahm’s mayoral bid
01/24/2011

Construction chief Bob Clark, head of Clayco Inc. construction in Overland, has been one of the region’s most generous supporters of President Obama. Clark and his wife, Ellen, were invited to the White House to witness Obama’s lifting of the ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Mrs. Clark, who suffered from a rare genetic disorder, died a year later. The couple also funded the multi-million dollar Ellen S. Clark Hope Plaza in front of the BJC Institute of Health at Washington University School of Medicine. Link to Article

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Emerson, Carnahan team up to promote civil discourse in Congress
1/21/2011

Few congressional panels keep a lower profile than the Center Aisle Caucus, which is encouraging Republicans and Democrats to sit together during the State of the Union speech on Tuesday. The caucus, made up of about 40 House members, doesn’t announce its meetings, has no web site and does little or nothing to publicize its goals of promoting civility and persuading members of Congress of the value of socializing with one another. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, and Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-St. Louis, are co-chairs of the group. They plan to convene a forum next month at Washington University on civility in politics and invite other members of Congress to take part. A date has not been announced. Link to Article

St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Extending banks’ reach
01/24/2011

The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis sponsored a study by Washington University in the fall to determine why some people don’t use banks and barriers to accessing bank services. The Washington U. study surveyed residents of low-income areas who don’t use banks and found that distrust in traditional banks’ fees can be a deterrent. With payday lenders, many thought that they knew what the fees were going to be but were less certain about bank fees. Link to Article

St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Wydown Middle in Clayton is again in the middle of a controversy
01/23/2011

Critics of the Clayton School District’s plan to replace a school building at 6500 Wydown Boulevard say the proposed new building is too big (nearly 25 percent bigger than the current structure), too close to the streets and too modern-looking. Two years ago, the controversy involved the School Board’s proposal to swap the Wydown property for the old CBC property on Clayton Road, owned by Washington University, and build a new middle school there. That idea died when voters passed a ballot measure authorizing a new building on Wydown. Link to Article

Saint Louis Beacon
City school system may sponsor charters of its own
01/21/2011

If you can’t beat ’em, sponsor ’em. St. Louis public school administrators are set to unveil plans for the district to sponsor its own charter schools in buildings the district has closed. While the city schools may be the sponsor of the charter, they would not run the school; that would be done by a separate board. Washington University, which is the sponsor of the KIPP school in south St. Louis, is cited as an example. Link to Article

Saint Louis Beacon
Haiti, one year later: St. Louis-based groups are growing, helping more (Part 2)
01/21/2011

Perhaps 300 professionals from the St. Louis area have helped in Haiti in the past year, and most want to help the Haitians help themselves. After two decades of helping in Haiti, St. Louis pediatrician and Washington University medical professor Dr. Patricia Wolff sees new hope, even though the earthquake stalled her food production expansion plans. “I am seeing a silver lining,” she said, among the nation’s government and business leaders. Link to Article

St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Life away from CIA still tangled, lonely for indicted ex-spy
01/23/2011

Jeffrey A. Sterling, left the Central Intelligence Agency alone, with nothing, after becoming the first black case officer to sue the CIA for racial discrimination. He started over in St. Louis. Now he’s been charged with leaking classified secrets to a reporter. He graduated from Washington University School of Law in 1992 and was working in the St. Louis public defender’s office when he applied to the CIA. Link to ArticleSee alsoSt. Louis Beacon
 
St. Louis Beacon

St. Louis Post-Dispatch
WU grad John Brandon scores with stunning `Citrus County’
01/23/2011

“Citrus County” is a stunner. The edgy second novel from John Brandon, a graduate of Washington University’s master of fine arts program, combines elegant writing with an author’s affection for his own characters to explore thoroughly dark subject matter. Link to Article

St. Louis Riverfront Times

Newsflash: If you play with your kid, it won’t be depressed!
01/23/2010

A team of child psychiatrists at Washington University has made an amazing discovery: The best way for parents to relieve depression in their toddlers is to play with them! According to lead investigator Dr. Joan L. Luby, children as young as three years old can suffer from clinical depression. This would seem to be a pretty obvious conclusion, but the Wash. U. researchers have done a study that’s about to be published in the peer-reviewed journal Depression and Anxiety, so it’s now official and scientifically-proven. Link to Article



News in Higher Education

The Associated Press

Mizzou intending to reduce emissions
01/23/2010

The University of Missouri’s flagship campus wants to reduce its carbon emissions 20 percent by the year 2015 as part of a national initiative. Columbia campus chancellor Brady Deaton was one of more than 650 college and university leaders to sign the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment two years ago. School officials report an 8 percent reduction in carbon emissions from 2008 to 2010. The university’s plan calls for reducing campus coal use while increasing woody biomass use; designing more energy efficient buildings; and upgrading mechanical ventilation systems. Link to Article

New York Times

Federal research center will help develop medicines
01/22/2010

The Obama administration has become so concerned about the slowing pace of new drugs coming out of the pharmaceutical industry that officials have decided to start a billion-dollar government drug development center to help create medicines. The new effort comes as many large drug makers, unable to find enough new drugs, are paring back research. Promising discoveries in illnesses like depression and Parkinson¹s that once would have led to clinical trials are instead going unexplored because companies have neither the will nor the resources to undertake the effort. The new center, to be called the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, will do as much research as it needs to do so that it can attract drug company investment. Link to Article

New York Times / International Herald Tribune

European business schools gain ground
01/24/2010

Business schools across Europe are drawing an ever-increasing number of students from both inside and outside the continent, according to a new report. Link to Article

New York Times

Schools find good in tragedy, but will Loughner’s former college do the same?

01/24/2010

Some of the best mental health programs for college students were spurred by terrible tragedies, but will Pima Community College in Tucson, alma mater of the man charged in the Tucson shooting, do as other schools have? Link to Article

New York Times

Education: Business schools with a social appeal
01/24/2010

Business schools are starting to offer degrees in social entrepreneurship based on the principle that social problems can be tackled in similar ways to business problems. Link to Article

New York Times

N.Y. / Region: Bard College Freshmen Get Crash Course in Science
01/24/2010

In an intensive new program, freshmen at Bard College, a campus with a decidedly arty bent, have had to take a crash course in science. Link to Article

For additional higher education news (subscription may be required):
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Inside Higher Ed
University Business

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