Chronicle of Higher Education
Colleges’ student health plans would offer more protections under proposed rules
02/10/2011
Students on college-sponsored health insurance plans would receive protections similar to those that last year’s healthcare reform law is providing to the general population, under proposed regulations. “Until these regulations came out … it was a challenge working with insurance companies,” said Alan I. Glass, president of the American College Health Association and director of student-health services at Washington University in St. Louis. Moving forward, he said, “I’m optimistic that things will be easier.” Link to Article
Psychiatric Times
Psychiatric assessment and treatment in preschool children
02/10/2011
“Significant scientific progress has been made in the field of infant and preschool psychiatry over the past 2 decades,” writes Dr Joan Luby, professor of child psychiatry and director of the Early Development Program at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis. “Beyond their importance to the field of child psychiatry, these advances may also have implications for intervention in mental disorders across the life span.” Early intervention, she argues, may provide a window of opportunity for greater treatment effects. Link to Article
Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville, FL)
Mayo Clinic researcher’s memory study leads to surprising obesity finding
02/10/2011
A new study exploring DNA’s impact on the waistline could lead to a treatment that attacks the genetic causes of obesity. Guojun Bu, a neuroscientist at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, found that mice whose brains had been wiped of the LRP1 gene experienced both Alzheimer’s-like memory problems and rapid weight gain. Bu did the bulk of the research while with the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Link to Article
KVIA TV (El Paso, TX)
Diet soda: Fewer calories, greater stroke risk?
02/10/2011
New research that links diet soda consumption with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke has doctors and other experts in diet, nutrition and vascular disease urging caution about the controversial and preliminary results. Connie Diekman, a registered dietician and director of University Nutrition at Washington University in St Louis, said, “Population-based studies provide some ‘food for thought’ but shouldn’t be used as the basis of nutrition guides for individuals. This study would be another one that indicates more controlled studies are needed.” Link to Article
St. Louis Business Journal
Cook gives $1M to Wash. U. professorship
02/10/2011
Banker and philanthropist Sam Cook has given Washington University in St. Louis $1.5 million to establish a professorship in the Department of Economics in Arts & Sciences. Link to Article
Related news release http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/21872.aspx
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Young girl battles vocal tic disorder
02/10/2011
Payton Oviatt, 7, wants people to stop staring at her when she makes noises she can’t control. Payton has the vocal form of transient tic disorder, a neurological condition that causes her to make sudden grunting and throat clearing noises. She’s part of a study being done by Dr. Kevin Black at Washington University School of Medicine. Link to Article
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Oxycodone killed Busch’s girlfriend, officials say
02/10/2011
Dr. Michael Mullins, a medical toxicologist at Washington University, said Wednesday that the amount of oxycodone needed to overdose depends on how much has been taken in the past. “If you have never taken any before, and your brain cells haven’t adapted to it, it would take a relatively low dose to cause respiratory depression,” Mullins said. “Someone with chronic pain, like a cancer patient, who’s been taking it for a long time, that person would tolerate a much higher dose than someone who is a novice.” Link to Article
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
U. City sweethearts separated by miles and years reunite
02/09/2011
High school sweethearts Bobbie Blick and Leger Grindon managed to find each other even though they were separated by more than 60 years. “Imagine two people who are 83 getting married,” said Grindon from his home in California. Grindon was an attorney in St. Louis when he packed up his four kids and then-wife Claire to move to California in 1972, after graduating from U. City High and attending law school at Washington University. Blick — whose maiden name was Neal—had also attended Wash U. Link to Article
Saint Louis Beacon
Review: Of Paris and southern Illinois at Philip Slein
02/10/2011
Local artist and Washington University professor Jamie Adams has gathered a sampling of drawings, paintings and studies from his jeannie series for a show titled For “Paris Dream’n” at the Philip Slein Gallery in St. Louis through Feb. 25. Adams has invented characters and settings that combine autobiographical details, art historical references, and — most important — inspiration from the American actress Jean Seberg and her role in Jean-Luc Godard’s classic 1960 film “Breathless.” Link to Article
West End Word (St. Louis, MO)
Wash U senior uses books, sports to aid SLPS students
02/09/2011
Washington University senior Paul Johannet spends a lot of time playing basketball with kids. Johannet is the founder of Books and Basketball, an after-school tutoring program. In the summer of 2008, Johannet read an article in Sports Illustrated about a student in Oakland, Calif., who credited his involvement with sports for keeping him away from drugs and violence. Inspiration struck, and Johannet decided to create a program for kids, combining sports and education to provide an after-school environment. Link to Article
News in Higher Education
Science Insider
NIH budget: Post-stimulus funding drop still looming, but not until next year
2/09/2011
A U.S. biomedical-research lobbying group today offered a sliver of solace to fears that Congress will slash science budgets this year. A budget analysis from the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) suggests that the steep drop in funding from the (NIH) when the 2009 stimulus act runs out will not hit researchers this year, as expected. Instead, stimulus funds are actually peaking this year. Link to Article
New York Times
Rule seeks to standardize student policies
Federal regulators proposed a new rule on Wednesday that would make sure the health plans offered to college students by their respective schools would have to comply with regulations in place under the new health care law, according to a release from the Department of Health and Human Services. Link to Article
New York Times
Charges against Muslim students prompt debate over free speech
2/09/2011
When administrators at University of California, Irvine suspended the Muslim Student Union for a quarter over disruption of a speech last year by the Israeli ambassador to the United States, most thought the controversy had ended. The District Attorney of Orange County, disagreed — and filed misdemeanor criminal charges last week against the 11 student protesters, reigniting campus debate about the event and prompting a feisty argument about the role of free speech on a college campus. Link to Article
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