NewMediaWire

Carlsbad beaches get all A’s in new report

Fri, 24 May 2013 16:28:11 GMT

Carlsbad beaches got all A’s in Heal the Bay’s annual beach report card, a summary of water quality at more than 600 beach monitoring locations along the West Coast from April 2012 to March 2013, and five of Carlsbad’s beaches received “honor roll” status.

The A-to-F grades assigned to each location, during three different times of year and weather conditions, represent the risk of adverse health effects to beachgoers. The better the grade a beach receives, the lower the risk of contracting an illness from water recreation at that location. Locations receiving excellent ratings in all three categories received “honor roll” status.

"The City of Carlsbad has a great working relationship with the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board and the many members of our community who work with us to keep our beaches clean,” said Elaine Lukey, environmental manager for the City of Carlsbad. “We are very proud of these partnerships and our water quality programs.”

The report includes eight Carlsbad locations and gives grades for water quality during summer/dry months (April - October), winter dry months (November - March) and wet weather year round.

Projection of Poinsettia Lane: A+ for all conditions
Batiquitos Lagoon outlet: A+ for all conditions
Projection of Cerezo Drive: A+ for all conditions
Projection of Palomar Airport Road: A+ for all conditions
Encina Creek outlet: A+ for all conditions
Projection of Tamarack Avenue: A+ in summer, A+ in winter, no grade for year round wet conditions
Warm water jetty: A in winter, no grades for other conditions
Projection of Ponto Drive: A for summer/dry conditions and A+ for other conditions

“The best way to protect water quality in our streams, lagoons and ocean is to prevent contaminants and other materials from getting into gutters and storm drains,” said Lukey. “Everything that gets washed off our buildings, cars, driveways, sidewalks and streets during rainy weather eventually makes its way, untreated, into these precious water bodies. That’s why it is so important to make people aware of how they can help.”

According to Lukey, the City of Carlsbad has made it a priority to implement a storm water pollution prevention program that includes all city departments, as well as community members. One component specifically provides pollution prevention information to the local community through its website, regular mailers, special events, and classroom presentations for school children. Some of the tips she recommends include:

Minimize the use of lawn and garden care products such as pesticides, insecticides, weed killers, fertilizers, herbicides and other chemicals, especially prior to rainy weather.
Avoid over-irrigation, which washes fertilizers and pesticides from lawns and gardens into the gutter and storm drains.
Sweep up yard waste and debris and dump it in a trash can. Do not use a hose to wash off sidewalks, parking areas and garages.
Consider using a commercial car wash.
Take a bag when walking pets, and be sure to always clean up after them. Dispose of pet waste properly.

Community members are reminded that only rain should flow through the storm drain system in Carlsbad, and are encouraged to report any illegal dumping or washing to the storm drain by calling the Storm Water Hotline at 760-602-2799 or emailing stormwater@carlsbadca.gov.

For more information, please visit www.carlsbadca.gov and search “storm water program.” To read the report card, visit the Heal the Bay website.

Media contact

Kristina Ray, 760-434-2957 or kristina.ray@carlsbadca.gov

Help identify bank robbery suspect

Fri, 24 May 2013 16:03:56 GMT

The City of Carlsbad Police Department is asking the public for assistance identifying a bank robbery suspect.

On Thursday, May 16, at 11 a.m., a white male suspect (pictured) described as 5’9”, 180 pounds, wearing a gray button shirt, dark shorts, a black hat and white socks, entered the Mission Federal Credit Union at 710 Carlsbad Village Drive. He approached the teller, told her he had a gun, and asked for cash. He was carrying a black zipper bank bag. He was last seen leaving the north east end of the bank.

Anyone who can identify this suspect should contact Detective Jeff Smith.

Police contact

Jeff Smith, Detective, 760-931-2146 or Jeffery.Smith@carlsbadca.gov

Poly Shield Technologies Inc. Launches Newly Developed DSOX-15 Sulfur Treatment System to Meet Upcoming 2015 IMO Worldwide Emission Regulations for the Maritime Industry.

Fri, 24 May 2013 13:00:00 GMT

Poly Shield Technologies Inc. OTC:BB SHPR

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 24, 2013

Poly Shield Technologies Inc. Launches Newly Developed DSOX-15 Sulfur Treatment System to Meet Upcoming 2015 IMO Worldwide Emission Regulations for the Maritime Industry.

Boca Raton, Florida May 24, 2013 – Poly Shield Technologies Inc. (“Poly Shield”) (OTCBB:SHPR): announces the upcoming launch of its DSOX-15 system. The system, with its new approach to sulfur removal, is expected to enable ship operators to efficiently and economically comply with the new 2015 emission regulations set to take effect in January 2015.

Poly Shield's CEO, Rasmus Norling, commented: "We believe that our new DSOX-15 system will not only remove the sulfur but will also reduce the financial burden associated with current exhaust scrubber technology.” Norling further added, “For the Maritime Industry, the Poly Shield DSOX-15 exhaust emission technology is a quantum leap forward in environmental compliance."

Poly Shield intends to enter into a limited number of certification installation agreements with well-known operating companies to showcase its technology in three specific maritime sectors: Cruiselines, Freight/Cargo and Tankers. Poly Shield is currently engaged in negotiations and will update the public upon the solidification of any agreements.

About Poly Shield Technologies Inc.:

Poly Shield markets environmental, pollution emissions, energy saving, corrosion and durability solutions to a worldwide market.
Poly Shield's desalination bio-scrubber is a patent pending (in US and Europe), cost-effective technology designed to remove alkali metals from fuel in an effort to protect gas turbines from high temperature corrosion. The technology has proven significant cost savings and extended operational life results in the cruise line industry. The technology has a worldwide application that is not limited to the maritime industry and can be installed during normal vessel operation without the need to use expensive dry dock time.

Poly Shield's fluoropolymer coatings are formulated specifically for extreme durability reduced maintenance and enhanced aesthetics. They were tested and are in use in a number of different industries including marine, aerospace, oil field, industrial, commercial, and residential applications. In addition to its anti-corrosion products, Poly Shield offers a superior state-of-the-art line of antimicrobial coatings for use in hospital, school, and food industries.

For further information about Poly Shield Technologies Inc. please visit the company's website at http://www.Polyshieldtechnologies.com.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Rasmus Norling, Director and CEO

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions and are identified by words such as "expects", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "anticipates", "believes", "could", and other similar words. All statements addressing product performance, events, or developments that Poly Shield Technologies Inc. expects or anticipates will occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Because the statements are forward-looking, they should be evaluated in light of important risk factors and uncertainties, some of which are described in Poly Shield Technologies Inc.'s Quarterly and Annual Reports filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of Poly Shield Technologies Inc.'s underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those currently anticipated. In addition, undue reliance should not be placed on Poly Shield Technologies Inc.'s forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, Poly Shield Technologies Inc. disclaims any obligation to update or publicly announce any revisions to any of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory body has reviewed nor accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Investors are advised to carefully review the reports and documents that Poly Shield Technologies Inc. files from time to time with the SEC, including its Annual, Quarterly and Current Reports.

SOURCE Poly Shield Technologies Inc.

Contacts:

Poly Shield Technologies Inc.

info@polyshieldtechnologies.com

www.polyshieldtechnologies.com

Bike-powered 'Ecochella' concert rolls onto campus Friday

Thu, 23 May 2013 22:33:52 GMT

Bicycle generators will run the sound system at Ecochella, UCLA's first bike-powered concert, on Friday, May 24.

For a truly green concert experience, volunteers will use pedal power to amplify bands including The Dustbowl Revival, Blind Willies, India Carney, Jason Pittes, Kid Sheik, Manzanita, The Primaries, Free Food, Tahl Klainman and Juliet Piper. Student volunteers had a chance to sign up for shifts on one of the eight bikes. The free concert runs from 6-10 p.m. at UCLA's Sunset Canyon Recreation Amphitheater.

Several UCLA groups are getting in on the action, which is organized by E3: Ecology, Economy, Equity; The Green Initiative Fund; The Student Commitee for the Arts; and The Student Food Collective.

There will also be a bike-powered lighted tree installation featuring an acrobat, films from the UCLA Bicycle Coalition’s short film competition, and a bike-powered blender making free smoothies for the volunteer cyclists.

University Students Showcase Canada's Automotive Innovation Success

Thu, 23 May 2013 21:06:42 GMT

TORONTO, ON., May 23, 2013 - Wondering what the next automotive technology will be? What materials will make your car safer? Student researchers with the AUTO21 Network of Centres of Excellence are working on this and more as they help to advance Canada's automotive landscape. A University of Toronto team was nationally recognized at the annual AUTO21 Conference in Toronto, Ontario for their contribution to Canadian automotive research and development.

The team was awarded first place in the Toyota Canada-AUTO21 HQP Poster Competition, taking home a $4,500 prize. The competition is open to student researchers within the AUTO21 Network of Centres of Excellence program. Nearly 60 teams took part in the competition.

"Toyota is pleased to support the HQP Poster Competition as it recognizes the next generation of leaders in automotive engineering," said Sandy Di Felice, Director of External Affairs, Toyota Canada Inc. "Working with AUTO21 allows Toyota insight into the collaborative research project opportunities that advance Canada's contribution to the domestic and global auto industry."

The University of Toronto team contributes to the Mitigating GDI Particulate Emissions Through Ethanol Blends project, under the supervision of Dr. James Wallace. Team members include Phillip Mireault and Manuel Ramos.

"Our Highly Qualified People (HQP) or student researchers are among some of Canada's top minds and future leaders," said Dr. Peter Frise, AUTO21 Scientific Director and CEO. "Working on collaborative projects with industry, each student demonstrates cutting-edge knowledge and expertise as they contribute to a sustainable automotive industry for Canada."

The annual HQP Poster Competition boasts a total prize purse of approximately $15,000. Sixteen semi-finalist teams are selected from the initial pool of entrants, with each team member receiving a $50 bookstore voucher. The semi-finalists provide an oral defence of their research poster. Final winners are selected upon this evaluation. The winners receive a cash prize to be divided amongst the team members. Judges include senior industry, government and R&D experts.

Final ranking of the top student teams:

Project name	University	Ranking/prize
Mitigating GDI Particulate Emissions Through Ethanol Blends	University of Toronto	First/$4,500
Safe Driving in Older Adults	Lakehead University	Second/$3,500
Injury Prevention Through Adaptive Seat Design (team 1)	University of British Columbia	Third/$2,500
Safety Ambulance Driver Monitoring Unit	Universite Laval University of Windsor	Fourth/$1,500
Injury Prevention Through Adaptive Seat Design (team 2)	University of British Columbia	Honourable Mention/$1,000

AUTO21 supports nearly 200 researchers and 350 student researchers at 47 universities across the country. More than 120 public and private sector organizations partner with AUTO21. With an annual research budget of approximately $11 million, AUTO21 and its partners support projects in six key areas: health, safety and injury prevention; societal issues; materials and manufacturing; design processes; powertrains, fuels and emissions; and intelligent systems and sensors. AUTO21 is supported by the Government of Canada through a Networks of Centres of Excellence program, and its administrative centre is hosted by the University of Windsor.

For further information:

Stephanie Campeau
Director of Public Affairs and Communications
AUTO21 Network of Centres of Excellence
Tel: 519.253.3000, ext. 4129
Cell: 519.890.6830

Sandy Di Felice
Director, External Affairs
Toyota Canada Inc.
Tel: 416.453.6505

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Introducing New BEHR DECKOVER Solid Color Coating, the Revolutionary Solution to Resurface and Revitalize Worn Wood, Composites and Concrete

Thu, 23 May 2013 20:24:05 GMT

Just in time for spring and summer outdoor renovations, new BEHR DECKOVER® Solid Color Coating is an innovative makeover solution for your old, weathered wood or concrete. The advanced formula creates a durable smooth coating to revitalize tired decks, patios, porches and even pool decks, and provides a budget-friendly unique solution that was previously unavailable to consumers. Even decks, patios and porches with previous stains can be rejuvenated with BEHR DECKOVER; a product so advanced it’s created a new category of smooth finish resurfacing coatings.

“Using years of research and the latest technology, we have developed BEHR DECKOVER Solid Color Coating - a superior smooth finish resurfacing product,” said Scott Richards, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Behr Process Corporation. “BEHR DECKOVER provides easy application and durable protection against the elements, while refreshing the appearance of wood and concrete, allowing consumers to rejuvenate instead of replacing their decks or concrete surfaces.”

BEHR DECKOVER Solid Color Coating offers a substantial layer that dries four times thicker than conventional stains. It covers splinters and fills cracks up to ¼” and spreads as evenly as paint. The easy, splatter resistant application creates a smooth, slip-resistant finish. The result for sound wood and concrete surfaces is a rejuvenated, low maintenance deck that resists the elements, repels water and creates a smooth, slip-resistant finish that is comfortable for bare feet.

With just two coats and no primer needed, BEHR DECKOVER repairs weathered or cracked horizontal and vertical wood, composite and concrete surfaces. One gallon fully covers fifty square feet in 2 coats, and the revived surface is dry to the touch in just four hours.

The new product is currently available exclusively at The Home Depot stores nationwide and homedepot.com/behr in 54 unique colors, including 48 from Behr Premium Exterior Wood Stains and Finishes palette and six of Behr’s most popular Floor Coatings hues at a suggested retail price of $34.98 per gallon.

Do-it-yourselfers can visit behr.com/deckover to access robust how-to information and explore design inspiration. Fans can also follow BEHR Paints on Twitter at twitter.com/behrpaint, like BEHR Paints on Facebook at facebook.com/behrpaint, and browse How-To videos at youtube.com/user/BehrPaints. The ColorSmart by BEHR^® Mobile application, available as a free download for iPhone, iPad and Android compatible devices, helps users find the perfect BEHR hue at the touch of a finger. Plus, at colorfullybehr.com, Erika Woelfel, Director of Color Marketing, shares her perspective and expertise on all things color.

Halcrow-Fairhurst Joint Venture appointed by Transport Scotland to review upgrade of the A82

Thu, 23 May 2013 17:30:47 GMT

Halcrow, a CH2M HILL company, a global full service consulting, design, construction and operations firm and Fairhurst, one of the largest multi-disciplinary engineering and environmental partnerships in the UK, are pleased to announce that the Halcrow Fairhurst Joint Venture has been appointed by Transport Scotland in a £2m single supplier framework agreement to carry out investigations, appraisal, design, and reporting of options for an upgrade of a 16km section of the A82.

Halcrow and Fairhurst will deliver a full service solution reviewing the A82 between Tarbet and a point north of Inverarnan as part of Transport Scotland’s ongoing commitment to improve access to one of Scotland’s most visited areas. Improving the A82 will provide a significant boost to local businesses and tourism in the area by improving access to areas such as Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park.

The Halcrow Fairhurst Joint Venture will deliver the project with a pragmatic approach to design, a sensitive consideration of the environment and an inclusive view of stakeholder feedback as essential prerequisites for success. The team will apply the ‘Fitting Roads’ approach they developed together with Transport Scotland, which focuses on working with the natural landscape, tailoring their design development to reduce environmental impact as much as possible.

A further essential success factor will be ensuring that all future improvements to the road are carried out in a cost effective manner, ensuring value to the taxpayers and the road users over the long term.

Commenting on the appointment, Halcrow’s Donald Bell said: “This win marks the beginning of a positive partnership between Halcrow and Fairhurst. The joint capabilities of Halcrow and Fairhurst provide the right mix of skills to help deliver this challenging and exciting project.”

Ian McKay, a Partner from Fairhurst said: “We are delighted to secure the opportunity to delivery scheme development services to Transport Scotland. Together, Halcrow and Fairhurst present a strong partnership focussed on exceeding our client’s expectations.”

About CH2M HILL

Employee-owned CH2M HILL is one of the world’s leading consulting, design, design-build, operations, and programme management companies serving government, civil, industrial and energy clients, employing 28,000 people worldwide. Its work is concentrated in the areas of water, transportation, environmental, energy, facilities and resources.

Having operated in the UK for over 20 years, CH2M HILL acquired Halcrow in 2011 and continue to base its European headquarters in London, now employing more than 3,300 people in the UK. CH2M HILL is working on some of the most iconic infrastructure programmes including High Speed 2, Thames Tideway Tunnels, the decommissioning of Dounreay and was one of the leading partners in CLM, Delivery Partner to the ODA for the London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games. CH2M HILL is an active member of Business in the Community and the Employee Ownership Association.

About Fairhurst

Fairhurst is one of the largest multi-disciplinary engineering and environmental partnerships in the UK, providing a core service of Civil and Structural Engineering and additional specialist services in Planning and Development ,Transportation, Geotechnical Engineering, Water Services and Ports & Harbours.

With over 100 years of experience our aim has remained the same – to provide the highest quality of service to our clients using the integrated skills and strengths of our people. Membership of Professional Bodies exists at all levels in the Partnership and involvement in innovative design techniques is positively encouraged. Fairhurst’s committed and enthusiastic staff help to drive projects forward delivering results, on time and within budget.

###

Death rates decline for advanced heart failure patients, but outcomes are still not ideal

Thu, 23 May 2013 17:20:00 GMT

UCLA researchers examining outcomes for advanced heart-failure patients over the past two decades have found that, coinciding with the increased availability and use of new therapies, overall mortality has decreased and sudden cardiac death, caused by the rapid onset of severe abnormal heart rhythms, has declined.

However, the team found that even today, with these significant improvements, one-third of patients don't survive more than three years after being diagnosed with advanced disease. Heart failure is increasingly common, affecting close to 6 million individuals in the United States alone.

"We are doing a good job of ensuring that patients receive the latest therapies for heart failure, but we still have a lot more work to do," said senior author Dr. Tamara Horwich, an assistant professor of cardiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "It is very sobering that despite recent improvements, a third of advanced heart-failure patients aren't surviving past three years."

The findings are published in the May issue of the journal Circulation–Heart Failure.

The study focused on heart failure patients referred to UCLA, a major center for advanced heart failure management and heart transplants. The researchers examined outcomes in 2,507 adults who had "heart failure with reduced ejection fraction," which is characterized by a weak heart muscle.

Patients were divided into three six-year eras, based on when they received care: (1) 1993–98, (2) 1999–2004 and (3) 2005–10. Researchers looked at patient outcomes for each of the groups at one-, two- and three-year follow-up points after diagnosis.

Significant differences emerged between the eras. In the second and third eras, the team found greater use of therapies that help prolong life, including medications such as beta-blockers and aldosterone antagonists and devices that help control and stabilize irregular heart rhythms, including implantable cardioverter defibrillators and biventricular pacemakers. For example, beta-blocker usage in the first era was only 15.5 percent, but by the third era, a full 87.1 percent of patients received the medication.

Researchers believe the increased use of these therapies in later eras is due to the completion of clinical trials — and the publication of results — that demonstrated their benefit, as well as the inclusion of these therapies in national treatment guidelines developed by organizations like the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology.

The team also found that sudden cardiac death occurred significantly less often in the later eras. At the three-year follow-up point for patients, sudden death declined from 10.1 percent in the first era to 6.4 percent in the second era and 4.6 percent in the third.

"The decline in sudden cardiac death is most likely due to increased use of medications and devices like defibrillators," said first author John Loh, a medical student at the Geffen School of Medicine.

There was also a decrease in overall mortality rates in the later eras, Loh noted. Specifically, after adjusting for multiple risk factors like age and gender, researchers found that second-era patients were 13 percent less likely to die from any cause than first-era patients. Third-era patients were 42 percent less likely than those in the first era to die from any cause.

Although there was a reduction in overall mortality, there was a shift in the mode of death seen over time. The study found that patient mortality from progressive heart failure had increased from 11.6 percent in the first era to 19.9 percent in the third. The need for urgent heart transplants was also up in later years. According to the researchers, this shift in mode of death may result from a modest increase in progressive heart-failure death or the need for trannsplants in patients who might have died suddenly in earlier eras, before the widespread use of implantable cardioverter defibrillators.

"For patients with the most advanced heart failure, treatment options used to be limited to heart transplantation — or face early death," said study author Dr. Gregg C. Fonarow, UCLA's Eliot Corday Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and Science and director of the Ahmanson–UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center. "This study demonstrates that with improvements in medical therapy and availability of implanted devices, survival for these patients has improved considerably. What was once considered an end-stage, terminal disease state has, through implementation of innovative treatments, evolved into a manageable, but still challenging, condition."

In addition, although the overall mortality rate for all patients at the three-year follow-up point fell from 36.4 percent in the first era to 31.5 percent in the third era — a statistically significant reduction that represents thousands of patients — the researchers note that this is still too high.

"Despite a dramatic improvement in some outcomes, we still need to gear up and continue to investigate new modalities of treatment for heart failure patients," Fonarow added.

According to the researchers, the study provides a "real-world" view of advanced heart failure patients and the impact of implementing the latest treatments and devices.

The study was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health (grant 1K23HL085097). Disclosures are included in the manuscript.

Other authors included Julie Creaser, Darlene A. Rourke, Nancy Livingston, Tamara K. Harrison, Elizabeth Vandenbogaart, Jaime Moriguchi, Michele A. Hamilton and Chi-Hong Tseng.

For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.

Exclusive Video Interviews With CEOs Now Available on Equities.com

Thu, 23 May 2013 15:06:58 GMT

Exclusive Video Interviews With CEOs Now Available on Equities.com

SANTA MONICA, Calif., May 23, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Equities.com, Inc., the Global Financial Network and the world's premiere social community for self-directed investors and public companies, has made available on its website exclusive video interviews conducted at the New York Metals and Minerals Conference with key executives of publicly-traded emerging-growth companies. Hosted by the Equities.com editorial staff, the video interviews cover relevant topics across a wide range of industries.

Focused on increasing awareness of developments occurring across diverse industries, Equities.com aims to empower investors with real-time news, data, and resources for smart, successful investing. Featured companies from this project were:

Aston Bay Holdings (TSXV: BAY.V) Click here for interview
Eastmain Resources Inc (OTC: EANRF) Click here for interview
Energy Fuels Inc. (OTC: EFRFF) Click here for interview
Euromax Resources Ltd. (OTC: EOXFF) Click here for interview

See all video interviews on EquitiesTV (http://www.equities.com/mining-minerals-conference-interviews-2013/)

About Equities.com, Inc.

Equities.com is an online financial resource platform that provides global financial news, data, research, education and interactive networking capability. The site covers a broad spectrum of market sectors and investment types. Through its proprietary platform, equities.com enables publicly listed companies and the investment community to connect and network directly. Equities.com provides an interactive dimension that makes it possible for companies to access their online corporate profile to keep current and updated. Issuer companies will also be able to communicate directly with current and prospective investors by actively sharing and disseminating news releases, videos, blogs and more on the platform.

Disclaimer
This press release may include forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from the forward-looking statements. To read our full disclosure, please go to:http://www.equities.com/disclaimer

CONTACT: Equities.com, Inc.

i nfo@equities.com

www.equities.com

Top Gift Guide Editors Reveal How to Publicize Your Consumer Product in 2013 Holiday Editions

Thu, 23 May 2013 00:01:28 GMT

Bulldog Reporter's PR University Presents a New Master Class Webinar

Oakland, CA— PR professionals looking to learn the criteria and secrets for successfully placing products with top editors in the 2013 Holiday Gift Guides should attend this new 90-minute webinar from PR University.

PR pros who attend Top Gift Guide Editors Reveal How to Publicize Your Consumer Product in 2013 Holiday Editions will also hear firsthand from gatekeepers what they're looking for now, this year's hottest items and the latest consumer buying behaviors and trends.

This exclusive PR University webinar takes place on Thursday, May 23, at 1PM EST (noon CST; 11AM MST; 10AM PST).

Featuring Trainers:

Caren Oppenheim Assistant Editor, Family Circle

Adrienne Samuels Gibbs, Senior Editor, Ebony magazine

Tara Bradley, Senior Honeymoons Editor at Destination Weddings & Honeymoons magazine,

Amy Bates Stumpf, President and CEO, Gifted Communications

What PR pros will learn:

• 2013 Editorial Hot Buttons: The gadgets, goods, gear and top shopping trends editors will be covering this holiday season as the economy gathers steam—and how to emphasize these pegs in media outreach

• How top holiday gift guides differ in scope and mission—and how to use these insights to get products reviewed

• Early-Bird Techniques: Best ways to pitch embargoed products, negotiate exclusive first looks and manage beta runs months in advance

• Freebie Update: What journalists can (and can't) receive and how they prefer to receive mailed items and seasonal gifts

• Social Media Tips: How these media outlets use social media to source and seek product to cover—plus how to use tools like Twitter to build relationships with them and even pitch items for them to cover

• How smaller concerns can earn more holiday coverage than corporate giants with deeper pockets (and resources)

• Faux Pas to Avoid: The most common missteps brands and PR reps make when trying to score gift guide ink and how to avoid them

• Best Practices: How to get images and graphics in the hands of ultra-busy editors and dozens more inside media relations tips

For more details, go to the conference home page.

Bulldog Reporter’s PR University produces over 60 high-level professional development conferences per year with extraordinary speakers on media relations skills, PR measurement, crisis communications, advanced PR technology, social media, and the nation's most influential media—a complete professional development program to meet all your training and updating needs.

Attendance at this Bulldog Reporter PR University webinar costs just $299 per login. Participants in this 90-minute webinar will be able to pose specific questions for the presenter at several junctures during the discussion.

Attendees of PR University conferences receive one credit toward PRSA accreditation maintenance. Registration also includes an up-to-the-minute conference manual. For more information on taking part in the event, go to the conference home page or for personalized service and special offers please contact one of our sales consultants toll free at: 1-800-959-1059.

Texas employee named among best in private water industry

Wed, 22 May 2013 23:37:10 GMT

Parker picked as latest NAWC award recipient; colleague also nominated

CH2M HILL’s Christopher Parker, project manager in Temple, Texas, has been selected by his peers to receive a National Association of Water Companies Living Water Award.

The NAWC Living Water Awards were established to recognize the private water industry professionals who are “living water” through their extraordinary commitment to quality, service and community.

“Since launching the program at the NAWC Water Summit in October 2012, the NAWC Living Water awards have put a well-deserved spotlight on the outstanding men and women who work as private water professionals in this country,” says Michael Deane, executive director, NAWC. “In this most recent round we were surprised and pleased to see both of our finalists from CH2M HILL, a true testament to their employees. I congratulate Chris Parker on this achievement as well as his colleague, Lynn Kronowit, who was also named an NAWC Living Awards finalist.”

Parker is “living water” through his deep commitment to protecting and improving the quality of the environment. He has dedicated himself to assisting surrounding communities by volunteering in the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality “EnvironMentor” program. In this role, he puts his professional experience to work helping local organizations that lack the necessary resources or expertise to comply with state environmental regulations, improve their efficiency and protect the environment.

“CH2M HILL is thrilled to see two of our employees recognized through the NAWC Living Awards program for working tirelessly to provide safe drinking water and to protect our environment,” says Elisa M. Speranza, CH2M HILL’s Operations Management Business Group President. “They are both winners in our book, and not just for the contest but for how they serve their communities every day. Congratulations to Chris for pulling off the win. He has been in the water industry for close to 30 years, and we’re fortunate 18 of them have been with CH2M HILL.”

Kronowit, an administrative specialist with the company’s Rio Rancho, N.M., water and wastewater project, was nominated for her commitment to educating children on sustainability issues, particularly her work with the Rio Rancho Children’s Water Festival, which she helped establish in 2005. She also regularly visits local elementary schools, teaching lessons on conservation, basic wastewater procedures, where water in New Mexico comes from, how the water cycle works, and ways to reduce water pollution.

CH2M HILL has operated and maintained the water and wastewater systems in Temple since 1994 and Rio Rancho since 2002.

The NAWC Living Water Awards program is an ongoing initiative and any employee of an NAWC member company can participate by nominating a colleague online at any time. The voting process takes place on the NAWC Facebook page and we encourage you to “like” us to receive regular program updates. Visit www.nawc.org for more information.

About CH2M HILL:

Headquartered near Denver, Colorado, USA, employee-owned CH2M HILL is a global leader in consulting, design, design-build, operations, and program management for government, civil, industrial and energy clients. The firm’s work is concentrated in the areas of water, transportation, environmental, energy, facilities and resources. With US$7 billion in revenue and 28,000 employees, CH2M HILL is an industry-leading program management, construction management and design firm, as ranked by Engineering News-Record and named a leader in sustainable engineering and environmental services by Verdantix. The firm has been named a FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For six times. Visit us at ch2mhill.com, twitter.com/ch2mhill and facebook.com/ch2mhill.Search for jobs at ch2mhill.jobs.

About NAWC:
The National Association of Water Companies is comprised of members that look for solutions to water-related challenges, including aging water infrastructure, limited water supply and budget deficits that are preventing much-needed investment in the people, technology and facilities required to help ensure reliable water and wastewater services across the country. Through its state and regional chapters, NAWC works with legislators at every level of government and supports public policies that increase public and private investment in water infrastructure. NAWC is dedicated to helping close the information gap by serving as a credible resource for anyone seeking information about the water issues facing our nation today and in the foreseeable future, and the powerful and practical solutions that are available by way of the private water sector.

Exclusive Video Interviews With CEOs Available on Equities.com

Wed, 22 May 2013 23:13:09 GMT

Exclusive Video Interviews With CEOs Available on Equities.com

Premier Gold Mines (OTC: PIRGF) Click here for interview
Sierra Metals (OTC: DBEXF) Click here for interview
Virginia Mines Inc. (OTC: VGMNF) Click here for interview
Zenyatta Ventures (OTC: ZENYF) Click here for interview

See all video interviews on EquitiesTV (http://www.equities.com/mining-minerals-conference-interviews-2013/)

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Bruins honor veterans with Memorial Wall

Wed, 22 May 2013 21:56:49 GMT

Second-year student Patrick Yew joined fellow Bruins today in writing the names of military service members on a Memorial Wall at the Court of Sciences. The project, tied in with the upcoming Memorial Day holiday, was organized by UCLA’s Military Veterans Organization, the KIA WIA Foundation, UCLA Red Cross, the Community Emergency Response Team, UCLA Army ROTC and Operation Mend's undergraduate student support group. The wall moves to Bruin Plaza on Thursday, May 23, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Learn more here.

Beach Fest coming June 15

Wed, 22 May 2013 21:43:39 GMT

Celebrate the natural beauty of Carlsbad beaches while enjoying free and fun activities for the whole family during Carlsbad Beach Fest, Saturday, June 15, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the one mile of Frazee State Beach from Pine Avenue to Tamarack State Beach. Beach Fest will be filled with competitive sporting events, free beach activities, live music and entertainment on multiple stages, a beach cleanup, interactive booths, exhibitors, sand castles, food, and fun.

Carlsbad Beach Fest is an annual community event and a project of the Carlsbad Beach Fest Foundation, a nonprofit organization that works with the Carlsbad community to promote beach and ocean stewardship through education and provide funding to the State of California for local coastal improvement projects. Many local individuals, businesses and corporations, along with California State Parks and the City of Carlsbad, help support the festival.

The day’s activities include competitive sporting events, live entertainment, a volunteer beach clean up, interactive booth displays, sand castle building, hands across the beach and more. Highlights include:

Beach & Ocean Stewardship: Interactive educational booths encourage and teach environmental stewardship. More than 30 organizations provide fun, hands-on activities and information for children and adults.

“Hands Across the Beach”: Come show your environmental support in a linking of hands across one mile of Carlsbad shoreline at noon.

Beach Cleanup: Two cleanup shifts (10 a.m. to noon, 1 to 3 p.m.) organized and supported by San Diego CoastKeeper and New Ocean Blue provides anyone the opportunity to be of service to the community. Check-In at Tamarack Beach.

Free Organized Beach Activities: Sand sculpting, kite flying, face painting, and hula hoops, surf clinics, exhibitors: U.S. Open Champion Archisand continues to be the event’s featured artisan group, returning to create another gigantic sand sculpture to reflect the day’s theme. Find them and other artists at Frazee Beach.

Live Entertainment: Performance stages between Lifeguard Stations 36 & 37 provide live entertainment all day, headlined by notable local artists such as jazz & blues musicians Jerome Dawson & Wazabe Blue and Verua Tahiti e’, a 35+ member Polynesian Drum & Dance Group. Up top on the green lawn at Pine Avenue watch electric performances by drum and percussion group Naruwan Taiko. Near the Lifeguard Station 35 on the sand enjoy the indie rock sounds of the Praetors.

A full list of activities is available on the Beach Fest website, http://carlsbadbeachfest.com.

Media contact information

Call 760-529-2479 or visit http://carlsbadbeachfest.com

City Council tracking pension costs

Wed, 22 May 2013 21:04:15 GMT

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System will require cities to increase contributions to their pension funds to address funding shortages, and the City of Carlsbad is no exception.

That was the message that City of Carlsbad Administrative Services Director Chuck McBride gave the Council during a workshop on Tuesday, May 21.

The City of Carlsbad’s pension plan for general employees is funded at 71.3 percent of the outstanding pension liability, and the public safety employees’ plan is funded at 72.4 percent. Based on the plans’ market values, the city faces an unfunded liability of $71.7 million for miscellaneous employees, and $54.4 million for public safety employees.

However, McBride said, the city foresaw a dark pension cloud looming several years ago.

“We’ve already taken steps to address this,” McBride said, and detailed those measures for the Council:

The city set aside $3.2 million over the past two fiscal years to contribute to CalPERS, the pension plan administrator, which will reduce obligations over the long term.
City of Carlsbad voters passed a ballot measure that reduced pensions for city firefighters and police officers hired after Oct. 4, 2010, and passed a second ballot measure that did the same for non-public safety employees and managers hired after Nov. 27, 2011.
City employees pay their full share of their pension contribution, whereas in the past the city paid most of the employees’ share.

And last year the state Legislature passed AB 340, which further reduces pension benefits for new employees.

These and other measures will move the pensions toward being fully funded, McBride said, but their effects will be felt in the long term.

“CalPERS realized that pensions are underfunded and this is not being addressed, and this new plan attempts to bring the pensions to fully funded status in 30 years, beginning in fiscal year 2015-16,” McBride said.

“To get to fully funded status immediately would be painful for cities,” he said, so CalPERS’ plan will allow cities to ramp up the rates to healthier levels over a five-year period beginning in fiscal year 2015-16, and after those five years the rates will stabilize. In this way agencies will reach full funding status over 30 years.

McBride told the Council that Carlsbad has historically tried to stay in front of the curve, rather than wait for CalPERS to take action. City pension plans were fully funded for both public safety and miscellaneous employees as recently as 2001-02.

The issue has come to a head because in April the CalPERS Pension & Health Benefits Committee approved new actuarial policies to address pension plan problems for public agencies participating in the system. The problem was caused largely because assets in CalPERS pension accounts shrank while obligations for future pensioners continued to grow. That left most participating agencies with funding levels between 65 and 80 percent.

Instead of requiring participating agencies to fully meet their pension obligations, CalPERS has allowed them to use techniques like “smoothing,” which allow them to remain substantially underfunded and avoid large, sudden increases in pension contributions to bring the plans closer to full funding.

However, CalPERS is now requiring cities to take steps to bring the pension funds up to acceptable levels, and its new plan will require agencies to reach full funding over 30 years by increasing their contributions.

McBride said the city still can stay proactive by setting aside funds to address these increases in the future, which would lessen the long-term blow.

For more information

Chuck McBride, 760-602-2430, chuck.mcbride@carlsbadca.gov

City media contact

Kristina Ray, City of Carlsbad, 760-434-2957, Kristina.ray@carlsbadca.gov

Memorial Day city service schedule

Wed, 22 May 2013 18:20:31 GMT

In observance of Memorial Day, city offices will be closed Monday, May 27. A full holiday schedule for city services is listed below:

City offices: Closed

Emergency services: Regular service

Trash pickup: Pickup one day later

Monroe Street Pool: Open 8 – 10:15 a.m., 12 – 3 p.m.

Libraries: Closed

Community centers: Closed

Senior Center: Closed

Leo Carrillo Ranch: Closed (normal schedule, always closed Mondays)

Transit: For the holiday transit schedule, please visit http://www.gonctd.com or call 5-1-1

For more information

Please call the City of Carlsbad at 760-434-2820

Media contact information

Kristina Ray, 760-434-2957, kristina.ray@carlsbadca.gov

Toyota is the world’s most valuable automotive brand

Wed, 22 May 2013 18:10:20 GMT

Toronto, ON., (May 22, 2013)– Toyotareclaimed the top spot as the most valuable automotive brand in the BrandZ™ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands for 2013. Toyota’s brand value surged by 12% to $24.5 billion USD over the past year, one of the biggest movers in the automotive sector.

In the eight years since the BrandZ™ report was first published in 2006, Toyota was crowned brand value leader in the automotive sector six times, and second on two separate occasions.

According to the report, although automotive sales improved in some regions, they remained below pre-recession levels in others, adversely impacting overall brand values. In contrast, global sales for Toyota Motor Corporation ⁽¹⁾ in 2012 increased by 22.6% to 9.75 million units which positively contributed towards the company’s brand valuation in this year’s report.

BrandZ™ also suggests that brand value developments in the sector were shaped in part by the growth of customer affinity towards hybrid vehicles.

Since Toyota pioneered the world’s first mass produced full hybrid vehicle in 1997 – Toyota Prius – sales of Toyota and Lexus hybrid models have exceeded 5 million globally. Customers in Canada can choose between 11 Toyota and Lexus hybrid models, including: Toyota Prius, Prius c, Prius PHV, Prius v, Camry Hybrid, Highlander Hybrid, and Lexus CT 200h, ES 300h, GS 450h, RX 450h, LS 600h L.

Lexus retains its 10th position in the Top 10 list for the most valuable automotive brands with a brand value of $3.5 billion USD.

The BrandZ™ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands report, commissioned by WPP and conducted by Millward Brown Optimor, surveys some two million consumers in over 30 countries.

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More information about BrandZ™ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2013:

http://www.wpp.com/wpp/marketing/brandz/brandz-2013/

⁽¹⁾ Sales result for Toyota Motor Corporation includes Toyota, Lexus Hino and Daihatsu.

About the BrandZ™ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands Ranking

Developed for WPP’s operating companies by Millward Brown Optimor, the BrandZ™ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking is now in its eighth year. It is the only study to combine measures of brand equity based on interviews with over two million consumers globally about thousands of global ‘consumer facing’ and business-to-business brands with a rigorous analysis of the financial and business performance of each company (using data from Bloomberg and Kantar Worldpanel) to separate the value that brand plays in driving business revenue and market capitalization. Consumer perception of a brand is a key input in determining brand value because brands are a combination of business performance, product delivery, clarity of positioning, and leadership. The ranking takes into account regional variations since, even for truly global brands, measures of brand contribution might differ substantially across countries. Access additional useful materials here.

Costs to treat stroke in America may double by 2030

Wed, 22 May 2013 16:00:00 GMT

Statement Highlights:

Stroke costs are predicted to more than double in the next 20 years.
Americans 45-64 years old are expected to have the highest increase in stroke incidence.

EMBARGOED UNTIL 11 a.m. CT/12 noon ET, Wednesday, May 22, 2013
DALLAS, May 22, 2013 — Costs to treat stroke are projected to more than double and the number of people having strokes may increase 20 percent by 2030, according to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.

In a statement published in Stroke, an American Heart Association journal, the association cites the aging U.S. population as the main reason for the increases and predicts that by 2030:

Almost 4 percent of U.S. adults — nearly one in 25 — will have a stroke. This translates into an additional 3.4 million people with stroke in 2030.
Costs to treat stroke may increase from $71.55 billion in 2010 to $183.13 billion.
Annual costs due to lost productivity could rise from $33.65 billion to $56.54 billion.
Americans currently 45-64 years old are expected to have the highest increase in stroke at 5.1 percent.
Stroke prevalence is projected to increase the most among Hispanic men between now and 2030, and the cost of treating stroke in Hispanic women is expected to triple.

“Strokes will absolutely strain the healthcare system,” said Bruce Ovbiagele, M.D., M.Sc., professor and chairman of the Department of Neurology at the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston.

Caring for survivors is expensive because stroke can cause long-term disability, he said.

“Ninety percent of stroke patients have residual disability and only 10 percent recover completely after a stroke,” Ovbiagele said. “Policy makers at all levels of governance should be aware of this looming crisis so that we can consider practical ways to avert it.”

The fourth leading cause of death and one of the top causes of preventable disability in the United States, stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain is interrupted by a blood clot or a bleeding vessel. Without oxygen-rich blood, brain cells die.

“Getting patients specialized acute stroke care as soon as possible is critical. During every minute of delayed treatment, brain cells are dying. EMS systems nationwide should take patients directly to a designated stroke center equipped to quickly diagnose and administer drugs to restore blood flow to the brain,” Ovbiagele said.

Hispanics and blacks have a higher rate of stroke incidences and worse outcomes, and individuals without insurance have a 24 percent to 56 percent higher risk of death from stroke than those with insurance coverage, the statement said.

Stroke rates are particularly high among people 45-64, who are too young to receive Medicare, less able to afford medications and more likely to have diabetes and obesity, compared to older stroke survivors, Ovbiagele said.

The Affordable Care Act is expected to expand insurance coverage to an additional 32 million Americans and to increase emphasis on prevention and wellness. These types of policy changes should help reduce the number of strokes, deaths and related costs when the law is fully implemented in 2014.

For example:

86 million Americans have already gained access to free preventive screenings and services, such as high blood pressure and cholesterol screening and tobacco cessation services, through Medicare and most private health plans.
Expanding access to insurance coverage should improve access to primary care and the medications needed to control risk factors and help prevent stroke and to improve access to acute stroke treatment for those who were previously uninsured.

Statement co-writers are Larry B. Goldstein, M.D.; Randall T. Higashida, M.D.; Virginia J. Howard, Ph.D.; S. Claiborne Johnston, M.D., Ph.D.; Olga A. Khavjou, M.A.; Daniel T. Lackland, Dr.P.H., M.S.P.H.; Judith H. Lichtman, Ph.D.; Stephanie Mohl, B.A.; Ralph L. Sacco, M.D., M.Sc.; Jeffrey L. Saver, M.D.; and Justin G. Trogdon, Ph.D. Author disclosures are on the manuscript.

For the latest heart and stroke news, follow us on Twitter: @HeartNews.

###

The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association receives funding mostly from individuals. Foundations and corporations donate as well, and fund specific programs and events. Strict policies are enforced to prevent these relationships from influencing the association’s science content. Financial information for the American Heart Association, including a list of contributions from pharmaceutical companies and device manufacturers, is available at www.heart.org/corporatefunding.

Additional resources, including multimedia, are available in the right column: http://newsroom.heart.org/news/costs-to-treat-stroke-in-america-may-double-by-2030?preview=f5e49418c9fd3bf2b6cc25e89de6194d

For Media Inquiries: (214) 706-1173

Darcy Spitz: (212) 878-5940; darcy.spitz@heart.org

Julie Del Barto (broadcast): (214) 706-1330; julie.delbarto@heart.org

For Public Inquiries: (800) AHA-USA1 (242-8721)

heart.org and strokeassociation.org

2013 Chinese-Canadian Consumers Car Choice Top 10 Awards

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:41:22 GMT

VANCOUVER, BC (May 22, 2013) – The first and only automotive publication in the Chinese language across Canada, AutoNerveMagazine, announced the winners of the magazine’s Annual Chinese-Canadian Consumers Car Choice Top 10 Awards^TM.

Readers were invited to vote for the 2013 Top 10 models via ballot form published in Mar/Apr issue of AutoNerveMagazine, on-site entries at the 2013 Vancouver International Auto Show and published on the Inside Back-Cover of the Official Auto Show Program Guide (Chinese Edition).

The 2013 Chinese-Canadian Consumers Car Choice Awards^TMwinners, as featured in May/Jun issue of AutoNerveMagazine, are as follows:

BMW 3-Series	Lexus GS
Cadillac ATS	Mercedes Benz SL-Class
Fiat 500 Abarth	Prosche Boxter
Honda Accord	Scion FR-S/Subaru BRZ
Hyundai Santa Fe Sport	Volkswagen Golf R

About AutoNerve

Founded in 2001, AutoNerve is the first and only professional Automotive Publication in the Chinese language across Canada, serving the growing 1.5 million Chinese-speaking population in the country. AutoNerve is a registered trademark.

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Next UC staff advisor-designate selected

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:15:29 GMT

Donna Coyne of UC Santa Barbara has been selected as the 2013-2015 Staff Advisor-designate to the University of California regents, UC President Mark Yudof announced Tuesday.

Coyne, associate director of admissions for application services at UC Santa Barbara, joins Kathy Barton, of UC Riverside, 2012-2014 staff advisor, after a months-long, systemwide search. She is the first UC Santa Barbara staff member to be appointed as Staff Advisor to the Regents.

“Donna’s energy and commitment to staff issues ensures she will well represent their concerns,” Yudof said. “In addition, her perspective as a staff member working with students will be valuable in her new role.”

Yudof, in consultation with Chair of the regents Sherry Lansing, selected Coyne from finalists recommended by a selection committee that included current and former staff advisors, campus leaders and other staff from the Office of the President.

Coyne replaces Kevin Smith of UCLA whose two-year appointment ends June 30.

"I am excited to engage with staff across the system on issues that matter to them,” Coyne said. “I will strive to represent well the concerns, views and hopes of my colleagues, and work to find the compromises that will help to move us forward.”

Coyne says she has a personal interest in professional development and sees it as a retention issue. “Our young hires have very different expectations for their careers than those who have been here for 20 and 30 years,” she said. “They expect to have three or four careers, so we have to help them see how they can build a career within UC or they will move on.”

Coyne brings extensive experience working with staff organizations and systemwide and university committees to the position. She formerly served as chair of the Chancellor’s Staff Advisory Council and as a member of the UC Santa Barbara Staff Assembly Executive Board.

As associate director of admissions, Coyne oversees several units that support the evaluation and selection of undergraduate applicants as well as services to current undergraduates. She joined UC Santa Barbara in 1997 as an admission counselor and has served as comprehensive review coordinator, and business officer prior to her current position. She holds a B.A. in history, M.A. in educational leadership and organizations and a Ph.D. in education, all from UC Santa Barbara.

After Hours: A professor and her therapy dog

Tue, 21 May 2013 23:38:12 GMT

In this latest installment of “After Hours” — a series about faculty and staff who balance their work lives with fascinating hobbies or side jobs — meet UCLA history professor Margaret Jacob and her beloved dog, Blizzard. Both volunteer their time to bring comfort to patients through the People Animal Connection (PAC) program.

Name: Margaret Jacob

Day job: UCLA professor of history

History professor Margaret Jacob and her collie, Blizzard.

But after hours: PAC volunteer with her dog, Blizzard

What is PAC?: The UCLA People-Animal Connection (PAC) is one of the most comprehensive Animal-Assisted Therapy and Activity programs in the nation. PAC volunteer teams — consisting of canines and their human partners — offer companionship and emotional support to more than 900 critically ill children and adults per month. Since its inception in 1994, PAC teams have recorded more than 100,000 in-patient visits, as well as hundreds of thousands of unrecorded visits to families and guests at UCLA medical centers and community events.

Why PAC?: Jacob first heard about the PAC program “since coming to UCLA or from another dog lover in the park or something,” she said, laughing. Jacob knew immediately that it was something she wanted to be a part of. She did not hesitate getting her now 4-year-old collie, Blizzard, involved because her “previous collie, Riley, was involved, and that went really well ... Collies have a wonderful temperament, and I really wanted to share that.”

Becoming a PAC dog: The PAC program requires that all of its canine volunteers be at least 18 months old to qualify. Each dog must pass a three-hour test conducted by the Pet Partners organization. Test-givers make sure the dogs know how to obey basic commands, with or without their owners present. They also play out different scenarios — such as a patient falling — to see how the dogs will respond. “I brought in a trainer to train him and also to train me to train him. I tried to train him when he was a pup for half an hour every day,” Jacob said. “You really have to keep after it so he knows you’re in charge.” Blizzard passed the test and is now a full-fledged volunteer of the program. “He is so obedient in the hospital. Somehow the animals know they are in a formal setting.”

'A walking Clark Gable': The program requires that all dogs be groomed before going on their visits. Since it is not healthy for dogs’ skin to be groomed too often, Jacob takes Blizzard to the hospital twice a month. She accompanies Blizzard on all his visits and stays with him the whole time. At the hospital, Blizzard is “inherently friendly. I help him on the bed,” she said. “Sometimes he will lick hands and toes.” She brings treats for Blizzard and allows the children to give him the treats as well. According to Jacob, “Blizzard feels like the center of attention, a walking Clark Gable” when he is at the hospital, since everyone from doctors, nurses, orderlies, patients and visiting families are constantly petting him and wanting to take pictures with him.

Soothing away stress: Aside from the lobby’s slippery marble floor, which Blizzard hates, he is incredibly comfortable in the hospital. When it comes to patients, Jacob said their reactions vary. “Some people don’t want to see the dog. Some children go completely nuts.” Jacob chaperones Blizzard all over the hospital. “I always make a point to visit the waiting room, because people are stressed out or bored or anxious, and seeing a dog makes a difference,” she said. “Up on the psych wards, he is terrific. They talk about their own animals, and people smile a lot.”

With her mother by her side, Riley Holland takes a good long look at Blizzard as he makes the rounds at the Ronald ReaganUCLA Medical Center.

A special memory: “There was this little boy who had his head cut open for some kind of brain operation. He was lying there, out of it, and he looked vaguely at the dog. Blizzard got up on the bed and all of a sudden, the little boy became very animated. He leaned over and put his head on the dog’s head and just lay there. It was very sweet.”

Blizzard’s future: Jacob plans to keep Blizzard in the PAC program until he is 10 years old. Afterwards, she plans to take him to a different setting, such as a hospice. “Dogs tend to get stiff with age,” she said. She will evaluate how Blizzard is doing once he is older to see what will be best for him.

Fitting it all in: For Jacob, being a PAC volunteer allows her to enjoy something outside of her professorial duties. “Most of the time I am teaching, writing books or going to committee meetings. So it’s a real treat to get to do something different,” she said. The PAC program gives Jacob and Blizzard an opportunity to help ailing children and to lighten up a place that can seem very dismal to some. “The program is superb,” Jacob said. “It’s actually a lot of fun.”

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To read more stories in our "After Hours" series about faculty and staff who balance their work lives with side projects or fascinating hobbies, go here.

Graduating M.B.A.s take top prize with website for bridesmaids

Tue, 21 May 2013 22:19:24 GMT

Kelsey Doorey and Anna Baxter, two M.B.A. students at UCLA Anderson School of Management, see nothing wrong with always being a bridesmaid — never a bride. To make the experience more pleasurable and more affordable, they are launching a website this fall where women can rent designer bridesmaid dresses for someone else’s big day.

Along with Cleon T. "Bud" Knapp (far right), Betsy Wood Knapp (from the left) presents Anna Baxter and Kelsey Doorey with a first-place check for $15,000.

Their big day came May 14 when their business venture, the "Vow To Be Chic" website, took first place in the 32^nd Annual Knapp Venture Competition at UCLA Anderson School of Management and took home a $15,000 check.

The competition was hosted by the Harold and Pauline Price Center at UCLA Anderson and the Entrepreneur Association. This annual, student-run event is designed to provide UCLA Anderson students with the opportunity to enhance and develop their new business ventures. The competition is named after Cleon T. "Bud" and Betsy Wood Knapp, entrepreneurs and philanthropists whose endowment supports the annual event and other initiatives.

Doorey and Baxter’s business idea "made such an impact that the team was approached by angel investors and venture capitalists to discuss potential investments in the company," according to the Anderson School website. The two women graduate in June.

To read more about the competition and other business ventures judged by a panel made up of successful entrepreneurs, business executives and UCLA Anderson alumni, go here.

UCLA life scientists present new insights on climate change and species interactions

Tue, 21 May 2013 22:10:00 GMT

UCLA life scientists provide important new details on how climate change will affect interactions between species in research published online May 21 in the Journal of Animal Ecology. This knowledge, they say, is critical to making accurate predictions and informing policymakers of how species are likely to be impacted by rising temperatures.

"There is a growing recognition among biologists that climate change is affecting how species interact with one another, and that this is going to have very important consequences for the stability and functioning of ecosystems," said the senior author of the research, Van Savage, an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and of biomathematics at UCLA. "However, there is still a very limited understanding of exactly what these changes will be. Our paper makes progress on this very important question."

Climate change is causing global increases in mean temperature, as well as more fluctuations and greater variability in temperature. Growing evidence suggests these changes are altering when and how species interact, and even which species are able to interact without going extinct, Savage said.

Already, climatic warming is rapidly altering the timing and rate of flowering in plants, as well as breeding and migration in animals — changes that are likely to disrupt interactions between species.

"These changes may bring about novel and potentially unstable species interactions by causing warm-adapted species to seek out geographic regions and to experience seasonal periods that have historically been too cold for them until temperatures begin to rise," said lead author Anthony Dell, a former UCLA postdoctoral researcher now at Germany's University of Gottingen.

Such changes could destabilize entire ecosystems, such as rainforests or coral reefs, said co-author Samraat Pawar, a former UCLA postdoctoral researcher currently at the University of Chicago, who noted that although biologists are becoming increasingly aware that changes in species interactions are likely to be one of most important biological impacts of climate change, they have found it challenging to understand and predict.

Savage's research team has recently made significant progress on this front by developing a biotraits database. This massive dataset has been compiled from the literature and has been standardized and organized so that data can be combined and compared. This group has already used statistical analysis and mechanistic mathematical models to provide information on how various biological traits of organisms respond to changes in temperature and other environmental factors.

In particular, Savage and his team have looked at the impact temperature changes can have on the rate at which an organism uses energy, known as the metabolic rate. This fundamental process governs many aspects of an organism's life, including how much food it will eat, how fast it can move, how much it sleeps and how fast its heart beats. The team makes predictions about how an organism's activity — and thus the broader ecology — are affected by temperature.

In the current research, Savage and his colleagues examined how organisms' different physiological responses to rising temperatures could impact what are known as consumer–resource interactions. These are interactions between two organisms that lead to a "feeding" event — a prime example being a predator (consumer) and its prey (resource). Taken as a whole, a collection of consumer–resource interactions constitutes the food chain or food web that drives the diversity, dynamics and stability of particular communities and ecosystems.

Their model accounts for the fact that a change in temperature is likely to result in some predators becoming better at capturing prey while some prey animals become more efficient at evading capture, leading to imbalances in the food chain and potential repercussions for ecosystems.

A key biological trait driving different responses to temperature change among consumers and resources is body velocity — the speed at which an animal moves. Cold-blooded animals, for example, tend to move faster as their body temperature increases. The biologists predict that one of the primary impacts of global warming will be increasing the amount of time and speed with which organisms move around a landscape and thus encounter and interact with one another.

Specifically, the researchers say, the effects of climatic warming will be determined by the ways in which predators seek their prey — by moving around the landscape in search of mobile prey (active-capture), by remaining stationary and waiting for moving prey (sit-and-wait) or by moving around in search of immobile prey (grazing) — as well as by whether interacting predator–prey species are both cold-blooded, both warm-blooded or one of each.

Because of the effect of temperature on body velocity, biologists predict that encounter rates between predators and prey will increase with rising temperatures if the foraging strategy is active-capture (both predator and prey moving through the landscape), as with an eagle hunting a fish. However, if both species respond to temperature in identical ways, these changes may not lead to significant shifts in their interactions.

With a sit-and-wait strategy, often used by snakes and lizards, the effects of temperature change would arise primarily via the moving prey species, potentially creating a very strong asymmetry between predator and prey. In this case, the asymmetry may profoundly alter the nature of the interaction, so that the two species have much higher or lower abundances and may no longer be able to coexist in the feeding relationship without one or both going extinct.

Similarly, increasing temperatures are likely to have significant impacts on interactions between warm-blooded and a cold-blooded animals, such as warm-blooded birds that feed on cold-blooded lizards, or snakes that feed on squirrels. In these cases, the internal body temperature of the cold-blooded animal — the lizard or snake — will vary when the climate changes. As a result, the organism's physiology will change and, in turn, influence its body velocity, activity and reaction rates. In contrast, warm-blooded animals, whose body temperature is largely independent of external climate, will not experience much change, again creating an asymmetry between species.

Using the biotraits database, the authors show that trait-specific asymmetries exist in organisms' responses to temperature change and are likely to be a major factor in determining the effects of climate change on species interactions.

Naturally, the researchers say, it is impossible to study all the species on the planet, but with their new mathematical model, predictions can be made about effects of warming on different types of consumer–resource interactions.

"The large diversity of species that make up natural ecosystems mean it is logistically infeasible to study every species interaction in a community and make predictions about how these interactions will be affected by climate warming," Savage noted. "However, models that assume all species respond to temperature in the same way will both miss the large diversity in ecological systems and therefore miss the most important consequences that arise from differential and asymmetric responses to temperature among species."

"In this paper we forge a middle ground between these two extremes," Dell said. "We allow different species to have different thermal responses and show this is essential for predicting species responses to climate change, while also having our categories be much broader than every species on the planet. This new model can help form the foundation for a more predictive framework for understanding the effects of climate change on communities and ecosystems."

The research was federally funded by the National Science Foundation (grant DEB 1021010.)

UCLA is California's largest university, with an enrollment of more than 40,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The UCLA College of Letters and Science and the university's 11 professional schools feature renowned faculty and offer 337 degree programs and majors. UCLA is a national and international leader in the breadth and quality of its academic, research, health care, cultural, continuing education and athletic programs. Six alumni and six faculty have been awarded the Nobel Prize.

For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.

'Dreamscapes' debuts at UCLA Anderson

Tue, 21 May 2013 21:00:10 GMT

UCLA Anderson recently hosted a reception last week to celebrate the opening of ‘Dreamscapes,’ the celebrated artwork of Jane Gottlieb that will be on view at the school for the next decade. The collection includes 25 hand=painted and digitally enhanced large-scale photographs of dream cars and vistas from around the world. The paintings are available for sale with a portion of the profits going to support the arts at the UCLA Lab School. Standing near two artworks are artist Jane Gottlieb (from the left), Don Morrison, professor emeritus and the William E. Leonhard Chair in Management; Judy Olian, dean of UCLA Anderson; David Obst, film and TV writer and producer and the artist's husband; and Rachel Moran, dean of the UCLA School of Law.

Professor Jason Speyer named first holder of Ronald and Valerie Sugar Chair in Engineering

Tue, 21 May 2013 18:02:50 GMT

Jason Speyer, a distinguished professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, has been named the inaugural holder of the school's Ronald and Valerie Sugar Chair in Engineering.

The chair was established with a $1 million gift from UCLA alumni Ronald D. Sugar, former chairman and CEO of Northrop Grumman Corp., and his wife, Valerie Sugar.

"Jason Speyer is a recognized leader in guidance and control systems for aviation and aerospace craft, as well as an excellent educator," said Vijay K. Dhir, dean of UCLA Engineering. "I am pleased he has been named to this prestigious chair and am grateful for the generous contributions of Ron and Valerie Sugar, who have long been friends of the school."

Ron Sugar, currently a director at Apple Inc., Chevron Corp. and Amgen Inc., graduated summa cum laude in engineering in 1968 from UCLA, where he received his master's and doctoral degrees in the same field. He was subsequently honored as a UCLA Engineering Alumnus of the Year. Valerie Sugar, who formerly worked at the Aerospace Corp. and the RAND Corp., graduated magna cum laude in history from UCLA in 1971.

Ron Sugar said UCLA's support of his and his wife's studies led to their decision to fund the chair.

"Many years ago, Valerie and I were both extremely fortunate to be granted UC Regents Scholarships, which made it possible for us to attend UCLA," he said. "We feel it is fitting to show our gratitude by supporting the work of an excellent UCLA professor in educating the next generation of our nations' engineers."

Speyer has worked on the guidance, navigation and control systems of vital aerospace and military craft for 50 years. He contributed to the autonomous navigation system on several of NASA's Apollo missions to the moon. He determined the sequence of star, Earth and moon horizons used by astronauts to make angle measurements with a sextant in order to obtain the best estimate of their craft's position. This system was tested on Apollo 8 in 1968 and used in several subsequent Apollo missions.

Speyer also formulated the guidance laws for the U.S. Army's Patriot missile system and developed the longitudinal control laws for the U.S. Air Force's Advanced Fighter Technology Integration F-16 aircraft.

Speyer holds joint appointments in UCLA Engineering's mechanical and aerospace engineering department and electrical engineering department. He joined the UCLA faculty in January 1990 after nearly 14 years as a member of the engineering faculty at the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to that, he served as a senior aerospace engineer and analyst for a number of firms, including Boeing, Raytheon Co. and the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory.

"Being named to the Ronald and Valerie Sugar Chair is a great honor," Speyer said. "It presents the opportunity for me to do more work in my focus areas and explore areas I have thought about in the past."

Speyer added that he felt a kinship with Ronald Sugar, who devoted his distinguished career to automotive, aviation and aerospace engineering.

"The people who influenced him at the beginning of his career are the people who influenced me at the beginning of mine," he said.

Speyer has received many professional honors, including the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics' Aerospace Guidance, Navigation, and Control Award in 2012; election to the National Academy of Engineering in 2005; the Third Millennium Medal from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 2001; and fellowships in IEEE and AIAA in 1985.

He currently is working with the U.S. Air Force, NASA and others on projects ranging from fundamental stochastic estimation and control theory to air-traffic management at high-volume airport terminals.

Chairs are reserved for the most distinguished teachers and scholars. UCLA Engineering received the $1 million gift from Ronald and Valerie Sugar as part of the school's Enhancing Engineering Excellence (E3) initiative, a fundraising effort aimed at generating newly endowed faculty chairs, graduate fellowships, undergraduate scholarships and capital funds.

The UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, established in 1945, offers 28 academic and professional degree programs and has an enrollment of more than 5,000 students. The school's distinguished faculty are leading research to address many of the critical challenges of the 21st century, including renewable energy, clean water, health care, wireless sensing and networking, and cybersecurity. Ranked among the top 10 engineering schools at public universities nationwide, the school is home to eight multimillion-dollar interdisciplinary research centers in wireless sensor systems, wireless health, nanoelectronics, nanomedicine, renewable energy, customized computing, the smart grid, and the Internet, all funded by federal and private agencies and individual donors.

(www.engineer.ucla.edu | www.twitter.com/uclaengineering)

For more UCLA news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.

WOMP volunteers engage community

Tue, 21 May 2013 17:42:56 GMT

UCLA volunteers planted 22 new trees on Sunday in Westwood Village as part of the fourth annual WOMP, the Westwood Organized Meaningful Projects service day. WOMP aims to clean and beautify the Village and engage with the community, said Rachel Corell, director of the UCLA Volunteer Center. The more than 300 students also created hygiene kits for the homeless and worked with the residents of two local senior homes, where they played board games, taught a yoga class and told stories. Outdoors, they re-painted curbs and light posts, removed graffiti, cleaned up litter and more.

Campus community to honor veterans on Memorial Wall

Tue, 21 May 2013 17:41:46 GMT

With the three-day Memorial Day weekend coming up, veterans and their supporters on campus want everyone to take a moment to reflect on the many contributions made by service men and women, both those who have passed and those who are with us.

"In preparation for the Memorial Day holiday, we wanted to highlight how veterans touch the lives of the UCLA community as current and former students, family members, friends and community members," said Andrew Nicholls, a UCLA senior and veterans coordinator at the Veterans Resource Office in the Bruin Resource Center on campus.

On Wednesday, May 22, in the Court of Sciences and on Thursday, May 23, in Bruin Plaza — from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on both days — organizers will be asking members of the UCLA community to write the names of service members or words of support for the veteran community on a six-foot-high Memorial Wall. Made of plywood and painted black, the wall will be built as three connected panels to accommodate as many people as possible who wish to sign. It was inspired by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC.

"For Memorial Day, we wanted to provide something interactive, something that people could connect to," added Nicholls.

For passersby who do not know a service member, they can "adopt" one by choosing a name from an available list of service members associated with UCLA who have died.

"Adopting a veteran may be even more powerful, because maybe the person signing has never thought about this before," said Nicholls.

The Memorial Wall is a project organized by UCLA’s Military Veterans Organization, the KIA WIA Foundation, UCLA Red Cross, the Community Emergency Response Team, UCLA Army ROTC and Operation Mend's undergraduate student support group.

Organizers are hoping this can become an annual event, with panels being added to the Memorial Wall each year.

"We’re hoping that people connect to the fact that there are veterans on campus and that they probably know someone who has served. We should remember that on holidays like Memorial Day," Nicholls said.

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For more information on UCLA programs, services and research supporting veterans, visit www.veterans.ucla.edu.

How health care is learning from lawsuits

Tue, 21 May 2013 16:25:12 GMT

Joanna Schwartz is an assistant professor at the UCLA School of Law, who has a forthcoming article in the New York University Law Review that shows how medical malpractice claims help play a role in improving patient safety. This op-ed was originally published in The New York Times on May 21.

Much of the discussion over the Affordable Care Act has focused on whether it will bring down health care costs. Less attention has been paid to another goal of the act: improving patient safety. Each year tens of thousands of people die, and hundreds of thousands more are injured, as a result of medical error.

Experts agree that the best way to reduce medical error is to gather and analyze information about past errors with an eye toward improving future care. But many believe that a major barrier to doing so is the medical malpractice tort system: the threat of being sued is believed to prevent the kind of transparency necessary to identify and learn from errors when they occur.

New evidence, however, contradicts the conventional wisdom that malpractice litigation compromises the patient safety movement’s call for transparency. In fact, the opposite appears to be occurring: the openness and transparency promoted by patient safety advocates appear to be influencing hospitals’ responses to litigation risk.

I recently surveyed more than 400 people responsible for hospital risk management, claims management and quality improvement in health care centers around the country, in cooperation with the American Society of Health Care Risk Managers, and I interviewed dozens more.

My interviewees confirmed that while hospitals historically took an adversarial and secretive approach to lawsuits and error, that has begun to change. In recent years, hospitals have become increasingly open with patients: over 80 percent of hospitals in my study have a policy of apologizing to patients when errors occur. And hospitals are more willing to discuss and learn from errors with hospital staff.

What accounts for these changes? Several factors appear to have overcome historical resistance to transparency, including widespread laws requiring disclosure to patients and confidentiality protections for internal discussions of error. Hospitals have also found that disclosing errors to patients and offering early settlements reduces the costs and frequency of litigation.

My study also shows that malpractice suits are playing an unexpected role in patient safety efforts, as a source of valuable information about medical error. Over 95 percent of the hospitals in my study integrate information from lawsuits into patient safety efforts. And risk managers and patient-safety personnel overwhelmingly report that lawsuit data have proved useful in efforts to identify and address error.

One might think that hospitals would have little to learn from lawsuits, given other requirements that hospitals report, investigate and analyze medical error. But participants in my study said that lawsuits can reveal previously unknown incidents of medical errors — particularly diagnostic and treatment errors with delayed manifestations that other reporting systems are not designed to collect.

Lawsuits can also reveal errors that should have been reported but were not — medical providers notoriously underreport errors (although studies have shown that the threat of litigation is not responsible for this underreporting) and lawsuits may fill these gaps.

Moreover, litigation discovery can unearth useful details about safety and quality concerns. Analyses of claim trends can reveal problematic procedures and departments, and closed litigation files can serve as rich teaching tools.

True, malpractice litigation data also have many flaws: too few malpractice claims are filed to reflect an accurate picture of a hospital’s shortcomings, and the amount awarded in litigation may not reflect the merits of the claims. Yet hospitals say they recognize and account for these flaws in their review.

The assumed negative effects of malpractice litigation on patient safety have been used to justify numerous proposals for reform, including damages caps and "health courts," administrative bodies that adjudicate malpractice claims outside the tort system. Politicians, patient safety advocates and medical providers argue that such reforms will encourage more open discussions of medical error by removing the specter of liability.

My study suggests, however, that hospitals can — and have — found ways to increase openness and transparency without these dramatic interventions. Moreover, because lawsuits help to identify incidents and details of medical error, limitations on lawsuits may actually impede patient safety efforts.

The Affordable Care Act pours millions into patient safety for research centers, demonstration projects and other programs. Proposed reforms and initiatives should not rely on conventional wisdom about the negative effects of malpractice litigation. Medical-malpractice lawsuits do not have the harmful effects on patient safety that they are imagined to have — and, in fact, they can do some good.

UCLA School of Law kicks off monthlong commencement celebration

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:37:18 GMT

Teachers, family members and friends of more than 300 jubilant J.D. graduates and approximately 96 master of law graduates attended commencement ceremonies Friday at Dickson Court North. The UCLA School of Law graduation was the first of more than 60 degree-conferring ceremonies, receptions and celebrations planned at UCLA. Hilda Solis, who is a nationally recognized leader on the environment and environmental justice legislation, gave the keynote address. She served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2001 to 2009, representing districts that included portions of East Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley. A reception was held at an adjacent courtyard following graduation. See the master commencement schedule here.

UCLA Health System takes steps in anticipation of strike

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:53:22 GMT

UCLA Health System has taken numerous steps to protect patient safety in anticipation of a strike expected to begin at 4 a.m. on Tuesday, May 21.

In anticipation that hundreds of AFSCME and UPTE employees would not come to work, the UCLA Health System postponed twenty-five percent of the surgeries scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday. In addition, the patient census, which is normally at or above 100 percent of capacity, has been lowered to about 80 percent. Approximately 550 replacement workers and redeployed administration staff will fill in for striking workers in positions ranging from housekeeping staff to respiratory therapists and nursing assistants. The estimated cost of the two-day strike to UCLA is more than $5 million, which reflects lost revenue and expenditures for replacement workers.

Patient care areas that would be impacted include Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica, UCLA’s Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital, the David Geffen School of Medicine, Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA and its community and outpatient clinics.
"We sincerely regret any inconvenience this strike may cause our patients, their families and friends," said Dr. Tom Rosenthal, chief medical officer, UCLA Hospital Systems. "However, every effort is being made to ensure that the hospitals and clinics that are part of the UCLA Health System remain open and continue to deliver the highest level of patient care and safety through the duration of the strike."

The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE) represent about 5,000 UCLA Health System employees.

On May 20, the California Superior Court issued an injunction, which prohibits a very limited number of union employees at UCLA from striking because of the threat to public health and safety. The highest priority at UCLA Health System’s hospitals and clinics is to provide patients with safe, high quality care.

No-treatment approach may be best choice for older prostate cancer patients

Mon, 20 May 2013 22:35:54 GMT

Older prostate cancer patients with other underlying health conditions should think twice before committing to surgery or radiation therapy for their cancer, according to a multi-center study led by researchers from the UCLA Department of Urology.

The study reports 14-year survival outcomes for 3,000 men diagnosed with prostate cancer between 1994 and 1995. The results suggest that older patients with low- or intermediate-risk prostate cancer who have at least three underlying health problems, or comorbidities, are much more likely to die of something other than their cancer.

"For men with low-to-intermediate–risk disease, prostate cancer is an indolent disease that doesn't pose a major risk to survival," said the study's first author, Dr. Timothy Daskivich, a UCLA Robert Wood Johnson fellow. "The take-home point from this study is that older men with multiple underlying health problems should carefully consider whether they should treat these tumors aggressively, because that treatment comes with a price."

Aggressive treatments for prostate cancer, including surgery, external radiation and radioactive seed implants, can result in major side effects, including erectile dysfunction, urinary incontinence and bowel problems. Also, the survival advantage afforded by these treatments does not develop until approximately eight to 10 years after treatment.

In many cases, Daskivich said, either "watchful waiting" or active surveillance — monitoring the patient's cancer very closely with regular biopsies and intervening with surgery or radiation if the disease progresses — is better than hitting the disease with everything in the treatment arsenal.

The study appears May 21 in the early online issue of the peer-reviewed journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

The study looked at men diagnosed with prostate cancer in two age ranges: those between 61 and 74, and those 75 and older. The men completed surveys within six months of their diagnoses, documenting the other medical conditions they had at that time. Researchers then determined survival outcomes 14 years after diagnosis using information from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results database.

"This was a great opportunity to get a glimpse at the long-term outcomes of these men diagnosed with prostate cancer in the mid-1990s," Daskivich said. "What we were most interested in was their survival outcomes. We wanted to prove that in older men with other health problems, the risk of dying from their cancer paled in comparison to the risk that they'd die from something else."

The study examined patients who had three or more comorbidities, such as diabetes, hypertension, congestive heart failure and arthritis. The researchers found that the 10-year risk of dying from causes other than prostate cancer was 40 percent in men aged 61 to 74, and 71 percent in men 75 or older. In comparison, the 14-year risks of dying from low- or intermediate-risk prostate cancer were 3 percent for and 7 percent, respectively, which Daskivich characterized as low.

"If you're very unlikely to benefit from treatment, then don't run the risk and end up dealing with side effects that can significantly impact quality of life," he said. "It's important for these men to talk to their doctors about the possibility of forgoing aggressive treatment. We're not talking about restricting care, but the patient should be fully informed about their likelihood of surviving long enough to benefit from treatment."

However, Daskivich said, older men with high-risk, aggressive prostate cancers may benefit from treatment so that they don't die of their cancers. The risk of death from high-risk prostate cancer was 18 percent over the 14 years of this study.

Daskivich said that prior to this study, there was very little long-term data on which patients could base these crucial decisions. The study will result in patients who are much better informed on the risks and benefits of treatment, he said.

As they age, many men will develop prostate cancer and not know it because it's slow growing and causes no symptoms. Autopsy studies of men who died from other causes have shown that almost 30 percent over the age of 50 have histological evidence of prostate cancer, according to a study published in 2008 in the journal Urology.

In 2013, prostate cancer will strike 238,590 men, killing 29,720. It is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in men aside from skin cancer.

The study was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson/VA Clinical Scholars Program, the Urology Care Foundation of the American Urologic Association, the American Cancer Society, and the National Institutes of Health.

For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.

Take me out to the courthouse

Mon, 20 May 2013 21:35:53 GMT

UCLA professor Stuart Banner teaches property law as well as the law school’s Supreme Court Clinic and has clerked for former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Banner is also a lifelong baseball fan, who uses cases involving baseball in his teaching as stark examples of the court sticking with precedent even though everyone agrees that the issue would be decided differently today.

Banner has written eight books about topics ranging from the death penalty to the struggle to control airspace since the Wright brothers took to the skies. In his latest book, "The Baseball Trust: A History of Baseball’s Antitrust Exemption" (Oxford University Press, 2013), he examines the history of baseball through its important court cases. Banner, who as a 5-year-old went with his dad to watch the Mets take on the Orioles in the 1969 World Series, maintains that those who long for a return to the more innocent days of our national pastime might be surprised when they read about the game’s litigious history.

What team did you grow up rooting for? What’s your favorite team now?

I grew up rooting for the Mets, and I’m still a Mets fan. When our kids were born, we lived in St. Louis, and we took the kids to Cardinals games, so I became a Cardinals fan too. And now I’ve been at UCLA for 12 years, and we’ve been taking the kids to Dodgers games, so I’m a Dodgers fan too. That’s three teams — all in the National League — but at least they’re all in different divisions.

Why did you want to write this book?

Baseball’s exemption from antitrust law is something that is well-known to sports fans, because it’s mentioned in the media a lot. It always struck me as a puzzle: Why does baseball have this legal advantage over other sports? I wrote the book because I wanted to figure out how this situation came to be.

What do you think about baseball’s exemption from antitrust law?

It doesn’t make any policy sense. If baseball deserves an exemption, so do the other sports. If the other sports should be subject to antitrust law, so should baseball. The exemption can only be explained as a historical artifact — the outcome of a series of court decisions and strategic decisions by baseball’s lawyers.

How has baseball’s exemption from antitrust law worked to its advantage?

For much of the 20th century, baseball’s exemption shielded the reserve clause from antitrust attack. The reserve clause was a standard term in player contracts that, in effect, bound the player to the team for his entire career. Teams could trade or cut players, but players could not sell their services to the highest bidder. That ended in the 1970s with the advent of free agency. But baseball still receives advantages from the antitrust exemption. The two most important are: (1) baseball can prevent teams from changing cities, a practice that would likely violate antitrust law if antitrust law applied to baseball; and (2) baseball can operate its minor leagues, which have a structure that would be susceptible to antitrust challenge if antitrust law applied.

How has baseball’s exemption made it different from the other leagues?

These days, the main difference is that the other sports leagues can’t prevent teams from changing cities. For example, when the Rams moved from L.A. to St. Louis, the NFL at first tried to stop the move. But the league backed down when the Rams threatened an antitrust suit. In the past 40 years, only one baseball team has changed cities — the Montreal Expos became the Washington Nationals. During that same period, football has seen seven moves, basketball has seen eight (not even counting the Nets, who have moved twice within the New York metro area), and hockey has seen nine.

Which case do you think had the most impact on how fans view or interact with the game?

The most well-known of the Supreme Court’s baseball antitrust cases is Flood v. Kuhn, because it is the most recent (from 1972), and because it is the only one that involved a star player (Curt Flood, who was one of the best outfielders of the 1960s). Flood had been traded from the Cardinals to the Philadelphia Phillies, but he wanted to decide for himself which team he would play for. He sued Bowie Kuhn, the commissioner of baseball, and alleged that the reserve clause (which required him to play for the Phillies) violated antitrust law. But the Supreme Court once again reaffirmed that baseball is exempt from antitrust law.

How long did it take you to write the book?

Two or three years. One of the best things about the process was getting to do research at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, which has an excellent research library with lots of manuscript collections from early baseball officials. [The research center] is just one room, so you end up talking to the other people. One day I was working next to Babe Ruth’s granddaughter and her husband, who were writing a play about Babe Ruth. The archivists brought out one of Ruth’s bats — it was enormous, much thicker and heavier than any other bat I had ever seen.　

The archivists think that Ruth only used it in batting practice, because it would have been so hard to use it in a game.　Another day, I met a woman who had played in the All-American Girls Baseball League, a women’s league that existed for about a decade in the 1940s and 1950s (it’s the league depicted in the movie, "A League of Their Own"). Her family had brought her there to see if they had any news clippings from her playing career, and they did — they brought out a big folder of clippings.

What kind of reaction have you received thus far?

Usually my books are only reviewed in academic journals. When the New York Times review came out, I started getting emails from all sorts of people I hadn’t been in touch with for years. It was like a substitute for Facebook.

Did anything surprise you when researching and writing the book?

Here’s something I found in some unpublished court transcripts in the archives at the Hall of Fame. In the first serious antitrust suit against baseball, filed in 1915 by a competing league called the Federal League, the judge simply sat on the case, and did nothing for an entire year until the Federal League ran out of money and had to settle with baseball. Only then did the judge admit to the lawyers on both sides that he had intentionally refrained from deciding the case because had he decided, he would have found that baseball was violating antitrust law, and he didn’t want to harm baseball. The judge was named Kenesaw Mountain Landis. A few years later, the grateful team owners made him baseball’s first commissioner.

What do you think baseball fans would find most surprising in the book?

With all the stories in the news about legal disputes and squabbles over money, baseball fans are sometimes nostalgic for an earlier era they imagine was less litigious and less money-focused. But one message of the book is that players and team owners were arguing over money, often in court, from the 1870s on.

Free document shredding event June 8

Mon, 20 May 2013 21:32:04 GMT

The City of Carlsbad and its trash hauler, Waste Management, will host a free document shredding event to give residents an opportunity to destroy sensitive documents, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on June 8, at the city’s fleet maintenance yard at 2480 Impala Drive.

No appointment is necessary, and proof of City of Carlsbad residency will be required. Residents may drop off up to three standard size storage boxes of sensitive documents to shred, and all shredding will be performed on-site.

Event details

Name: City of Carlsbad document shredding event

Date: Saturday, June 8, 2013

Time: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Location: City of Carlsbad Fleet Maintenance Yard, 2840 Impala Drive

Cost: Free; no appointment necessary

Requirements: Must show proof of Carlsbad residency

Contact: 760-602-4646

For more information

Call 760-602-4646 or email trashservice@carlsbadca.gov

City media contact

Kristina Ray, 760-434-2957, kristina.ray@carlsbadca.gov

Fowler Museum celebrates 50th anniversary with year of special exhibitions, programs

Mon, 20 May 2013 21:18:13 GMT

The Fowler Museum at UCLA will honor its 50th anniversary with a series of special exhibitions and programs beginning in fall 2013 and running through fall 2014.

A suite of intimate, thematic exhibitions mounted this fall will highlight more than 800 artworks from the Fowler's vast, acclaimed global collections.

One of the hallmarks of the Fowler Museum since its inception has been its expansive attitude toward collecting examples of the boundless creativity of humankind — whether the sculptures and masks that have largely defined non-Western art in most art museums or the personal, popular and textile arts found worldwide.

"By transcending the barriers long established to separate and privilege certain categories of artistic production over others, the Fowler has invented a distinctive and ambitious niche for itself, positioned between the usual territories of 'art museums' and 'ethnography museums,'" said Marla C. Berns, the Shirley and Ralph Shapiro Director of the Fowler.

FOWLER AT FIFTY

Opening to the public on Oct. 13, 2013, are eight small-scale exhibitions installed in two large galleries, which spotlight particular strengths in the Fowler's collections of art from Africa, the Pacific and the Americas and feature works shown for the first time.

Each takes a distinctive curatorial approach, demonstrating that collections are dynamic resources, open to interpretation and reinterpretation over time and to multiple innovative perspectives. Three of these exhibitions include interventions by contemporary artists whose practices resonate with the Fowler's permanent collections.

From the Sepik River to Los Angeles: Art in Migration

Oct. 13, 2013–Feb. 23, 2014

The Fowler Museum's collections today include more than 4,500 masks, figural sculptures, shields, architectural elements, ritual objects and other items from the South Pacific island of New Guinea. Three-quarters of these were acquired through private donations in the short period from 1963 to 1969, and most originally came from the Sepik River region, now part of the nation of Papua New Guinea. What factors, both here and in distant New Guinea, conspired to drive this surge of so-called "primitive" art to Southern California?

This exhibition showcases, for the first time since 1967, more than 50 of the finest examples of Sepik art to arrive on our shores in such short order. It also explores how this massive migration changed both the art itself and the ways we think about it.

(Curator: Roy W. Hamilton, senior curator of Asian and Pacific collections at the Fowler Museum)

Double Fortune, Double Trouble: Art for Twins Among the Yoruba

Oct. 13, 2013–Feb. 23, 2014

This exhibition explores the power and prevalence of "two-ness" in Yoruba art and thought with an impressive display of more than 250 carved-wood twin memorial figures known as ere ibeji. The Yoruba, who live in southwestern Nigeria, as well as Togo and Benin, have one of the highest rates of twinning in the world, and special attention is paid to twins, both during life and after.

These works from the Fowler's extraordinary collection display a remarkable stylistic range and illuminate issues of apprenticeship and mastery, local innovation and invention; their surfaces and adornments show how they were treated and transformed once they left the sculptors' hands and moved into the hands, hearts and minds of family members.

A newly commissioned installation by contemporary artist Simone Leigh will incorporate hundreds of the West African plastic dolls, which sometimes substitute for the carved figures, in a dramatic suspended work that further comments on the Yoruba concept of doubling.

(Guest curator: Henry John Drewal, the Evjue-Bascom Professor of African and African Diaspora Arts at the University of Wisconsin–Madison)

Powerful Bodies: Zulu Arts of Personal Adornment

Oct. 13, 2013–Feb. 23, 2014

In 19th-century southern Africa, highly individualized arts of personal adornment experienced a florescence among isiZulu speakers, who today are known as the Zulu. Personal objects worn on or carried around the body were made with considerable aesthetic investment, and they announced status and identity. Intimate objects like ivory hairpins and snuff spoons were worn in elaborate hairstyles; beautifully crafted snuff bottles were worn against the body, suspended from belts and necklaces; and finely sculpted staffs and clubs carried by all adult men were prized possessions.

Men and women wore intricately sewn, jewel-colored beadwork to accentuate bodily "zones of power": Necklaces drew attention to the head, beaded fringes and belts highlighted the reproductive organs, and bracelets and anklets emphasized the hands and feet. "Powerful Bodies" includes 79 fine examples of such objects, which are often imbued with the physical traces of their former users.

(Guest curator: Anitra Nettleton, chair and director of the Centre for the Creative Arts of Africa and faculty of humanities/Wits School of Arts at South Africa's University of the Witwatersrand)

Maori Cloaks, Maori Voices

Oct. 13, 2013–Feb. 23, 2014

When the ancestors of the Maori people sailed to Aotearoa (New Zealand) roughly 900 years ago, they became the first Polynesians to settle a land outside the tropics. Previous generations of Polynesians had little need for clothing and made thin, beaten barkcloth, more for ceremonial purposes than for warmth. In Aotearoa, Maori women abandoned barkcloth and turned instead to the harakeke plant (New Zealand flax), developing new techniques to twine its fibers into garments by hand, without the benefit of a loom. The finest cloaks, including some covered with stunning, iridescent feather-work, transcended practical needs and became treasured markers of prestige.

This exhibition features 13 rare and beautiful 19th- and early 20th-century cloaks, shown publicly for the first time since their arrival in Los Angeles in 1965 as part of the major gift from the Wellcome Ethnological Collection in London (see "History of the Fowler" below). To celebrate this event, the museum has invited a panel of Maori artists and scholars to comment on the cloaks and their ongoing meaning and relevance, and will screen in the gallery a video of excerpts of their fascinating discussions.

(Curator: Roy W. Hamilton, senior curator of Asian and Pacific collections at the Fowler Museum)

The Peruvian Four-Selvaged Cloth: Ancient Threads/New Directions

Oct. 13, 2013–Jan. 26, 2014

The tradition of weaving textiles with four finished edges — selvages — characterizes the creative process of the ancient weavers of Peru, known for their mastery of color, technique and design. Without cutting a thread, each textile was woven to be what it was intended, whether a daily garment, royal mantle or ritual cloth. This approach to weaving required the highest level of skill, even for the simplest of plain, undecorated cloth, and reflects a cultural value in the integrity of cloth — not only in its design and function but in the way in which it was made.

This exhibition highlights selections from the Fowler Museum's noteworthy collection of pre-Columbian textiles and includes masterworks that demonstrate the extremely high level of artistic achievement of Peruvian weavers. These range from ancient ritual textiles from the early Chavin and Paracas cultures (500–100 B.C.E.) to the extraordinary garments of the Inca empire (1485–1532). While exploring the origins and development of this approach to weaving, the exhibition will also examine its influence on three contemporary artists ― Shelia Hicks, John Cohen and Jim Bassler — each of whom, through his or her own artistic path, has considered and transformed ancient weavers' knowledge and processes into new directions.

(Guest curator: Elena Phipps, independent scholar and curator)

New World Wunderkammer: A Project by Amalia Mesa-Bains

Oct. 13, 2013–Jan. 26, 2014

Chicana artist Amalia Mesa-Bains is working with the Fowler Museum's collections to create "New World Wunderkammer," which will include three "cabinets of curiosity" representing Africa, the indigenous Americas and the complex cultural and racial mixture (mestizaje) that typifies the New World.

Over two decades, Mesa-Bains has created installations that intervene in and disrupt the conceptual foundations of European museum collecting and display. "New World Wunderkammer" will be the first time she has utilized the holdings of a major museum to recontextualize hundreds of objects within the themes of memory, struggle, loss and wonder.

Following both a personal and professional trajectory, Mesa-Bains will weave elements from her previous installations into this work. The space will be completed by eight new prints made by the artist based on key pieces from the Fowler collection; images of artifacts will be layered with botanical, cartographic and historical photographic references. This "theater of wonder" will animate the cultural landscape and human geography of the New World through objects of beauty and narratives of power.

Chupícuaro: The Natalie Wood Gift of Ancient Mexican Ceramics
Oct. 13, 2013–Jan. 26, 2014

Purchased for the museum in 1969 by the late actress Natalie Wood, the Fowler's Chupícuaro holdings are its most important collection of ancient Mesoamerican art. A selection of more than 100 ceramics (out of a total 620) will be exhibited to represent crucial phases of Chupícuaro history (600 B.C.E.–300 C.E.) and to illustrate key categories of the ancient society's material culture. Necklaces and other forms of personal adornment, musical instruments, tripod serving vessels, and elegant containers, many of which feature striking animal and human imagery, are juxtaposed with majestic polychrome hollowware female figures and delicate miniature anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines for which the culture is increasingly celebrated.

This installation will feature the full breadth of Chupícuaro's remarkable ceramic accomplishments. The Fowler's Natalie Wood Collection of Chupícuaro ceramics is the largest and most important group of objects existing outside of Mexico from this important site, which was flooded and destroyed in 1949 by the building of the Solis Dam.

(Guest curator: Francisco Javier Martinez Bravo, archaeologist at the University of Guanajuato, Mexico)

From X to Why: A Museum Takes Shape

Oct. 13, 2013–Feb. 23, 2014

"From X to Why" focuses on the Fowler Museum's formative history through its earliest acquisitions. These works reveal the strength and breadth of the collection and foreshadow the Fowler's role as one of the premier museums for preserving and exhibiting works of art from cultures around the world. The installation begins with the very first object to enter the collection, a magnificent Balinese ceremonial textile, and continues with 35 objects, including African masks, American Indian pottery and basketry, Latin American ceremonial dress, Peruvian vessels, Indonesian puppets, and European Carnival masks, some from a spectacular gift that changed the course of the Fowler's history: 30,000 items from the Wellcome Ethnological Collection in London.

The exhibition also addresses how objects assumed new lives in the museum context. The Fowler staff assigns a number with the prefix "X" to every object that enters the collection. "X" signals the transition to a new identity and marks the point of contact between cultures and disciplines facilitated by the Fowler through its exhibitions, publications and programs.

(Guest curators: Graduate students Peter L. Haffner, Elyan Jeanine Hill, Dana L. Marterella, Elaine E. Sullivan, Tommy Tran and Rita M. Rufino Valente from UCLA's Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance, with faculty mentor Mary (Polly) Nooter Roberts)

Fowler in Focus: 50 Years/50 Gifts

In addition to the exhibitions listed above, the Fowler in Focus gallery, which is inside the long-term display "Intersections: World Arts, Local Lives," will feature two rotations of new gifts made to the Fowler in honor of this 50th anniversary milestone. The first installation will highlight textiles and dress from Asia, among other things.

History of the Fowler Museum

The museum was established in 1963 by then–UCLA Chancellor Franklin D. Murphy as the Museum and Laboratories of Ethnic Arts and Technology. Its first home was in the lower level of Haines Hall on the UCLA campus. In addition to active collecting, the museum initiated research projects, fieldwork, exhibitions and publications.

Within two years of its founding, the museum received a transformational donation that propelled it into the top tier of museums holding African and Pacific arts: 30,000 objects from the celebrated collection of Sir Henry Wellcome. Wellcome, a noted businessman, philanthropist, patron of science and co-founder of the British pharmaceutical company Burroughs Wellcome, was a passionate collector of medical artifacts and objects relating to life-cycle rituals and wellness. Prior to his death in 1936, he amassed a vast and diverse collection of more than 1 million objects.

Over the past five decades, the Fowler collections — focusing on Africa, Asia, the Pacific and the indigenous Americas — have grown to more than 120,000 objects (with additional archaeological collections of more than 4 million items), and the museum has become one of the nation's premier repositories of world arts. To date, the Fowler has presented more than 258 exhibitions and published 132 books, most of them major scholarly volumes.

The current facility, built especially for the museum in UCLA's north campus area, features approximately 20,000 square feet of exhibition space. It opened in September 1992 and was named in recognition of lead support by the Fowler Foundation and the family of collector and inventor Francis E. Fowler Jr.

To commemorate this landmark anniversary the Fowler will publish a lavishly illustrated book featuring more than 250 objects that are the highlights of the museum's collection. (Hardcover, ISBN 978-0-9847550-6-6).

The Fowler Museum at UCLA is one of the country's most respected institutions devoted to exploring the arts and cultures of Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and the Americas. The Fowler is open Wednesday through Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. and Thursday from noon to 8 p.m. The museum is closed Mondays and Tuesdays. The Fowler Museum, part of UCLA Arts, is located in the north part of the UCLA campus. Admission is free. Parking is available for a maximum of $11 in Lot 4. For more information, the public may call 310-825-4361 or visit www.fowler.ucla.edu.

For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.

UC student graduation rates hit a 20-year high

Mon, 20 May 2013 21:12:42 GMT

Despite budgetary constraints brought on by years of declining state funding, the University of California continues to outpace many of its peer institutions on critical measures of student success.

UC — and UCLA in particular — have made significant improvements on overall graduation rates in the last few years, and both freshmen and transfers are graduating more quickly than in the past.

"This is one of the untold stories," said UC provost Aimée Dorr. "Graduation rates for undergraduates have risen dramatically over the past 20 years, and it is taking less time than ever for them to complete their degrees." The trends were outlined in a report presented May 15 to the UC Board of Regents.

UC improved its student outcomes even while serving the needs of an economically diverse student population and juggling an increasing number of students per faculty member.

Graduation rates have increased across all undergraduate campuses, according to the report. More than 80 percent of students who enter UC as freshmen graduate within six years, a time frame widely considered as the de-facto measure of college completion.

At UCLA, graduation rates are even higher in comparison. The latest data from the UCLA Office of Analysis and Information Management show that 92 percent of students who enter UCLA as freshmen graduated within six years.

In fact, the percentage of UCLA students graduating in four years (12 quarters) has been rising in recent years and is at its highest point in university history.

Of the students who entered UCLA as freshmen and graduated in 2011-12, 81 percent finished in 12 or fewer quarters. The percentage rises to 89 percent for those in the same class who graduated in 13 quarters or fewer.

UC's graduation rates exceed the average for flagship public research universities and approach those of the county's leading private institutions. UC campuses account for six of the top 10 public research universities with the highest graduation rates.

UC also has seen big improvements in how long students take to complete their studies. The number of freshmen completing their degree in four years has almost doubled, from 37 percent in 1997 to 60 percent today. Of those students who don't earn a degree in four years, most are able to complete their studies with just one additional academic term.

A beacon for opportunity and access

These outcomes are even more remarkable given that UC — unlike many elite research universities — enrolls large numbers of low-income and first-generation students, who typically take longer to graduate than their peers.

The ability of America's system of higher learning to serve low-income students recently has become an issue of widespread concern. Nationally, these students are less likely to enroll in college and more likely to drop out or fail to complete their studies.

UC stands in noteworthy counterpoint to this trend, according to figures Dorr presented to the regents.

More than 40 percent of UC undergraduates receive Pell Grants, federal financial aid given to low-income families - almost twice the percentage at other highly selective public universities, and more than double that at elite private institutions.

"These students are not only getting accepted to and enrolling at UC campuses. They are succeeding here," Dorr said. At UCLA for 2012-13, the percentage of undergraduates receiving Pell Grants is 39 percent, according to the UCLA Financial Aid Office.

While Pell students at UC take a bit longer to complete their studies than do their peers whose families do not qualify for Pell grants, the majority — 78 percent — graduate in six years. "There is still a gap between the graduation rates for UC's Pell and non-Pell undergraduates, but it's not a very big gap," Dorr said. "It's a much narrower gap than exists at other elite public universities and is quite similar to that at elite private institutions."

Preserving academic excellence

UC campuses have been able to maintain these outcomes in the face of painful budget cuts, in part by asking more of its faculty.

The average number of classes taught by faculty has increased steadily over the last 20 years. So has the average number of student credit hours per faculty member — a measure administrators say better accounts for the increased instructional and advisory activity required to support a growing number of students per faculty member

.
"UC faculty have shouldered an increasing workload — and have done so while maintaining their commitments to cutting-edge research and public service that bring innumerable benefits to the state and its residents," Dorr said.

UC does have room to improve, particularly in the number of undergraduates who complete their studies in four years and in boosting graduation rates at individual UC campuses, Dorr said.

In discussing the report during the regents’ meeting, Dorr and others noted that there are numerous factors that influence how long it takes students to complete their studies. Some of these, such as the difficulty of getting into required courses or overly complex major requirements, may be well within the university's power to address. Others, such as financial pressures that require students to balance their studies with jobs, may not.

"To ask someone working half the week at another job to graduate in four years is perhaps too high a burden," said UC Regents Chair Sherry Lansing.

Regent Eddie Island cautioned against putting too great an emphasis on how long it takes students to graduate, saying that the drive to have students graduate more quickly eventually could translate into pressure to admit fewer low-income students

"UC's strength is its willingness to enroll and see through to graduation so many of our young people from low-income, first-generation families in California. ...We need to stay focused on this mission."

Free tours offered at Leo Carrillo Ranch

Mon, 20 May 2013 20:51:47 GMT

Discover the history and tranquil beauty of a former working ranchero during the City of Carlsbad’s free weekend tours of Leo Carrillo Ranch Historic Park, located at 6200 Flying Leo Carrillo Lane in southeast Carlsbad. The 90-minute, docent-led tours are held Saturdays at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. and Sundays at noon and 2 p.m. Wear comfortable walking shoes or boots. Tours depart from the parking lot. Reservations are not required.

Once owned by actor and conservationist Leo Carrillo, the ranch is secluded in the heart of a magnificently landscaped 27-acre canyon. The historic park features hand-crafted adobe buildings, antique windmills, a reflecting pool and many other beautiful historic structures where visitors can explore and experience California history. Nature-lovers delight in gorgeous agave, bougainvillea, Birds of Paradise, plentiful trees and the company of dozens of brilliant peacocks who call the ranch home. Leo Carrillo Ranch is a designated Historic National Landmark that was opened to the public by the City of Carlsbad in 2003. It is connected to the citywide trails system via the four-mile long Rancho Carrillo trail.

The Ranch was established in the late 1930s by Leo Carrillo, best known for his Hollywood role as “Pancho” in The Cisco Kid. Some of the visitors back in the day included Clark Gable, along with other legends shown in exhibit photos throughout the ranch detailing the history of the property and its owner.

According to City of Carlsbad Recreation Supervisor Mick Calarco, “Leo Carrillo Ranch gives us the opportunity to create a getaway within an urban setting. People can drive just a few miles from their homes or businesses in Carlsbad, and once they pass through the ranch entry gate and come down into the canyon, away from the traffic and city life, they will be absorbed by the beauty of nature, preserved adobe buildings and all of the historical richness that takes you back in time.”

In addition to the docent-led weekend tours, self guided walking tours of the building exteriors and park grounds are available during normal park operating hours. A free, self guided walking tour brochure is available in the parking lot, visitor center and hacienda. Tours are also offered by special advance arrangement for persons with special needs or mobility requirements, groups and organizations.

Leo Carrillo Ranch Historic Park is open Tuesday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free.

Visitor advisory: Leo Carrillo Ranch is a 27-acre historical park with irregular earthen and paved surfaces including, without limitations, stairs and trails. It is recommended that visitors wear appropriate shoes for the uneven terrain within this historic park. Be prepared to walk extended distances up and down moderately sloping hillsides on uneven decomposed granite trails. Wear cool, comfortable clothing and sturdy walking shoes or hiking boots. Wear a hat and sunscreen. Bring drinking water.

Find out more about Leo Carrillo Ranch Historic Park at www.carlsbadca.gov/parksandrec

For more information

Mick Calarco, 760-434-2859, or mick.calarco@carlsbadca.gov

City media contact

Kristina Ray, 760-434-2957, kristina.ray@carlsbadca.gov

27th Annual Jazz Reggae Festival

Mon, 20 May 2013 20:16:07 GMT

The 27th Annual Jazz Reggae Festival will be held on Memorial Day Weekend, May 26 and 27, and will feature artists such as Common, Santigold, Ziggy Marley, Jhene Aiko and others. Jazz Reggae is a two-day festival, the largest student-run music festival in the country, and highlights the art, music, and culture of jazz and reggae music. Sunday, the first day of the festival, is known as Jam Day and is dedicated to jazz music. The second day, Monday, showcases reggae music. Both days run from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Intramural Field. For UCLA students, staff and faculty, tickets are $25 for each day. For more info, visit: http://www.jazzreggaefest.com.

Many people with implantable defibrillators can participate in vigorous sports

Mon, 20 May 2013 20:00:00 GMT

Study Highlights:

Many people with implantable defibrillators may safely participate in a number of vigorous sports.
The study challenges some current science recommendations advising against vigorous competitive sports for people with implantable defibrillators.
People with implantable defibrillators should decide, with their physicians, about whether they can participate in vigorous competitive sports.

EMBARGOED UNTIL 3 p.m. CT/4 p.m. ET, Monday, May 20, 2013
DALLAS, May 20, 2013 — Many people with implantable defibrillators can safely participate in vigorous sports according to new research in the American Heart Association journal Circulation.

An implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) in the chest is somewhat similar to a pacemaker, delivering one or more electrical shocks to restore a normal heartbeat when it detects a dangerous rhythm.

Some science recommendations advise people with ICDs not to participate in competitive sports more vigorous than golf or bowling.

“But these recommendations were based on the best judgment of physicians, not actual data looking at the safety of more rigorous sports,” said Rachel Lampert, M.D., lead author of the study and associate professor of medicine at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn.

Researchers followed 372 ICD recipients, ages 10-60, for an average of two-and-a-half years each. They included competitive athletes, high school and college athletes and others who participated in vigorous sports such as running, basketball, soccer, tennis, volleyball, skiing and snowboarding.

In this prospective multinational registry, researchers found that although some athletes received shocks during sports for life-threatening and non-life-threatening heart rhythms, there were no injuries or deaths related to the shocks or the underlying abnormal rhythms.

Seventy-seven people received 121 shocks during the study. Of the total study population:

10 percent received shocks while participating in competition or practice.
8 percent received shocks during other physical activities.
6 percent received shocks while resting.

The rate of shocks among those studied was similar to those reported in previous studies for less active people with implantable defibrillators, Lampert said.

These data suggest that athletes should decide, with their physicians, whether to return to vigorous sports after discussing their specific situation and preferences, Lampert said.

Co-authors are: Brian Olshansky, M.D.; Hein Heidbuchel, M.D.; Christine Lawless, M.D.; Elizabeth Saarel, M.D.; Michael Ackerman, M.D.; Hugh Calkins, M.D.; Mark Estes, M.D.; Mark S. Link, M.D.; Barry J. Maron, M.D.; Frank Marcus, M.D.; Melvin Scheinman, M.D.; Bruce L. Wilkoff, M.D.; Douglas P. Zipes, M.D.; Charles I. Berul, M.D.; Alan Cheng, M.D.; Ian Law, M.D.; Michele Loomis, APRN; Cheryl Barth, B.S.; Cynthia Brandt, M.D.; James Dziura, Ph.D; Fangyong Li, M.S. and David Cannom, M.D. Author disclosures are on the manuscript.

Boston Scientific, Medtronic and St. Jude Medical funded the study.

Read more from the American Heart Association about abnormal heart rhythms and living with an ICD.

For the latest heart and stroke news, follow us on Twitter: @HeartNews.

For updates and new science from Circulation, follow @CircAHA.

###

Statements and conclusions of study authors published in American Heart Association scientific journals are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect the association’s policy or position. The association makes no representation or guarantee as to their accuracy or reliability. The association receives funding primarily from individuals; foundations and corporations (including pharmaceutical, device manufacturers and other companies) also make donations and fund specific association programs and events. The association has strict policies to prevent these relationships from influencing the science content. Revenues from pharmaceutical and device corporations are available at www.heart.org/corporatefunding.

For Media Inquiries: (214) 706-1173

Tagni McRae: (214) 706-1383; Tagni.McRae@heart.org

Bridgette McNeill: (214) 706-1135; Bridgette.McNeill@heart.org

Julie Del Barto (broadcast): (214) 706-1330; Julie.DelBarto@heart.org

For Public Inquiries: (800) AHA-USA1 (242-8721)

heart.org and strokeassociation.org

National Trails Day group hike June 1

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:33:02 GMT

On Saturday, June 1, the City of Carlsbad will commemorate National Trails Day, the country’s largest celebration of trails, with a 3.5 mile group hike on one of the city’s newest trails. See and print the flyer.

Hikers will meet at 8:30 a.m. at the Robertson Ranch trail head just off of Wind Trail Way (directions below) for a two and a half hour hike and tour that will include stops at points of interest and presentations by naturalists and other speakers who can address the unique nature of the trail and its surroundings. Hikers will begin at Robertson Ranch and head north on the new trail toward Lake Calavera and Mount Calavera, an old volcano.

Participants should wear close toed shoes, a hat and sunscreen. Water and healthy snacks will be provided.

National Trails Day began in the late 1980s and is organized as a national commemorative day by the American Hiking Society.

“Trails are one of the most unique and cherished aspects of the Carlsbad community,” says Liz Ketabian, City of Carlsbad park planning manager. “Every year we have hundreds of volunteers who help to maintain our wonderful trail system for all to enjoy. We are excited to have this specific day to hike and introduce the newly completed trail at Robertson Ranch into the citywide trail system, as part of Carlsbad’s 46 miles of trails.”

Directions to Robertson Ranch trail head

I-5 to Cannon Rd. Exit

East on Cannon Rd. to El Camino Real (approx. 3 miles)

Cross El Camino Real and continue on Cannon Rd. approx. ¼ mile to Wind Trail Way

Turn left on Wind Trail Way

Follow event directional signs to Robertson Ranch Park for parking and hike sign-in.

A map of Carlsbad’s trails can be found at: http://www.carlsbadca.gov/services/departments/parksandrec/trails/Documents/trails-map-north.pdf

For more information, visit www.carlsbadca.gov/trails

For more information

Liz Ketabian, 760-434-2978, or liz.ketabian@carlsbadca.gov

City media contact

Kristina Ray, 760-434-2957, kristina.ray@carlsbadca.gov

Renaissance RoboCop

Mon, 20 May 2013 15:49:57 GMT

On Tuesday last week, a middle-aged scholar lectured in a Royce Hall conference room on the role of Padua as the true cradle of the Italian Renaissance. Later that day, that same Ph.D. candidate stepped into a different world. He walked the red carpet on Hollywood Boulevard at the premiere of "Star Trek Into Darkness," which took home $70.6 million over the weekend in Hollywood's high-stakes box-office race.

The UCLA Ph.D. candidate in Italian Renaissance art history is none other than Peter Weller, or Starfleet Admiral Marcus in the latest "Star Trek" movie. But he's better known to movie-goers as RoboCop, hero in the 1987 action thriller. More recently, he's made appearances on the smaller screen in "24," "Dexter," "Fringe," and "House." Among his lesser-known credits: Weller did a History Channel documentary on Roman engineering in ancient times.

"My career was always full of risks one way or another, and that's the way I like it," Weller once remarked.

In a recent interview with Bilge Ebiri for the website, "Vulture," Weller reminisced about Tuesday when he presented his dissertation to an audience of scholars from the European history department at UCLA. It was, he rhapsodized, "one of the most beautiful days I ever had in my life."

His transition from one world to another was "a 'Star Trek' white-light experience," he said "It's like I've been lifted into a parallel world," he told Ebiri of his 40-minute lecture at Royce. "I do this thing, and it's fantastic, and the questions afterward are fantastic. I go out, on cloud nine, right to the 'Star Trek' premiere."

The scholar-actor hopes to complete his Ph.D. degree later this year.

To read more about his dual roles off- and on-screen, read this piece by Mary Daily for UCLA Magazine Online.

Yahoo! to Acquire Tumblr

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:00:00 GMT

Promises not to screw it up

SUNNYVALE, Calif. & NEW YORK -- Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) and Tumblr announced today that they have reached a definitive agreement for Yahoo! to acquire Tumblr.

Per the agreement and our promise not to screw it up, Tumblr will be independently operated as a separate business. David Karp will remain CEO. The product, service and brand will continue to be defined and developed separately with the same Tumblr irreverence, wit, and commitment to empower creators.

With more than 300 million monthly unique visitors and 120,000 signups every day, Tumblr is one of the fastest-growing media networks in the world. Tumblr sees 900 posts per second (!) and 24 billion minutes spent on site each month. On mobile, more than half of Tumblr's users are using the mobile app and do an average of 7 sessions per day. Its tremendous popularity and engagement among creators, curators and audiences of all ages brings a significant new community of users to the Yahoo! network. The combination of Tumblr+Yahoo! is expected to grow Yahoo!'s audience by 50 percent to more than a billion monthly visitors, and to grow traffic by approximately 20 percent.

The deal offers unique opportunities for both companies. Tumblr can deploy Yahoo!'s personalization technology and search infrastructure to help its users discover creators, bloggers, and content they'll love. In turn, Tumblr brings 50 billion blog posts (and 75 million more arriving each day) to Yahoo!'s media network and search experiences. The two companies will also work together to create advertising opportunities that are seamless and enhance the user experience.

Total consideration is approximately $1.1 billion, substantially all of which is payable in cash.

"Tumblr is redefining creative expression online," said Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer. "On many levels, Tumblr and Yahoo! couldn't be more different, but, at the same time, they couldn't be more complementary. Yahoo is the Internet's original media network. Tumblr is the Internet's fastest-growing media frenzy. Both companies are homes for brands - established and emerging. And, fundamentally, Tumblr and Yahoo! are both all about users, design, and finding surprise and inspiration amidst the everyday."

"I've long held the view that in all things art and design, you can feel the spirit and demeanor of the creator. That's why it was no surprise to me that David Karp is one of the nicest, most empathetic people I've ever met. He's also one of the most perceptive, capable entrepreneurs I've ever worked with," continued Mayer. "David's respect for Tumblr's community of creators is awesome. I'm absolutely delighted to have him join our team."

David Karp, CEO of Tumblr, addressed the Tumblr community, "Our team isn't changing. Our roadmap isn't changing. And our mission — to empower creators to make their best work and get it in front of the audience they deserve — certainly isn't changing. But we're elated to have the support of Yahoo! and their team who share our dream to make the Internet the ultimate creative canvas. Tumblr gets better faster with more resources to draw from."

The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close in the second half of the year.

Conference Call

Yahoo! will host a conference call at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time today to discuss this announcement. A live webcast of the conference call can be accessed through the company's Investor Relations website at http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/events.cfm?CalendarID=8. In addition, an archive of the webcast will be accessible for 90 days through the same link.

About Tumblr

Tumblr is a media network powered by an army of independent creators and home to an audience of more than 300 million unique visitors. Founded by David Karp in 2007, Tumblr is headquartered in New York City.

About Yahoo!

Yahoo! is focused on making the world's daily habits inspiring and entertaining. By creating highly personalized experiences for our users, we keep people connected to what matters most to them, across devices and around the world. In turn, we create value for advertisers by connecting them with the audiences that build their businesses. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA, and has offices located throughout the Americas, Asia Pacific (APAC) and the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) regions. For more information, visit the pressroom (pressroom.yahoo.net) or the company's blog (yahoo.tumblr.com).

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties concerning Yahoo!'s proposed acquisition of Tumblr (including without limitation the statements contained in the quotations from management in this press release), as well as Yahoo!'s strategic and operational plans. Actual events or results may differ materially from those described in this press release due to a number of risks and uncertainties. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, the possibility that the transaction will not close or that the closing may be delayed; and that the anticipated benefits to Yahoo!, including projected growth in audience and traffic, and benefits to users and advertisers may not be realized. More information about potential factors that could affect Yahoo!'s business and financial results is included under the captions, "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations," in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2012 and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2013, which are on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and available at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20130520005659/en/

Media Relations Contact:
Yahoo! Inc.
Sara Gorman, (408) 349-4040
sgorman@yahoo-inc.com
or
Investor Relations Contact:
Yahoo! Inc.
Joon Huh, (408) 349-3382
investorrelations@yahoo-inc.com

Source: Yahoo! Inc.

News Provided by Acquire Media

Short Takes

Fri, 17 May 2013 22:16:29 GMT

Empty Bowls project includes work by UHCL art staff

Help feed the hungry by participating in the Empty Bowls event hosted by ClayHouston and the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, where attendees can purchase bowls created by area artists including UH-Clear Lake Art Gallery Assistant Karen Fiscus. Proceeds from the event go to the Houston Food Bank.

Fiscus will be providing over one hundred bowls to the project. Attendees can buy the one-of-a-kind, hand-crafted bowls created by many of Houston’s leading artists and ceramists for $25 each and will receive a cup of soup courtesy of event sponsor Whole Foods Market.

Empty Bowls will be held Saturday, May 18, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m., at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, 4848 Main Street, Houston, 77002.

Association awards scholarships to two UHCL students

Representatives from the Texas Gulf Coast Chapter of the Healthcare Financial Management Association presented scholarships to two University of Houston-Clear Lake healthcare administration students. Students Shovana Thulung and Jamil Aslam received a $250 scholarship and a $1,500 scholarship respectively.

The scholarship program is sponsored by HFMA for accredited healthcare administration and healthcare finance degree programs. Scholarship criteria include academic achievement, experience and interest in the healthcare finance area, leadership skills and involvement in HFMA. Applications require a student essay, a copy of the student’s transcript and a professor’s letter of recommendation.

“The Texas Gulf Coast Chapter is proud to support young leaders who are the future of healthcare finance and administration in Texas,” says Mark D. Evard, president of HFMA’s Texas Gulf Coast Chapter.

For additional information about the healthcare administration program in UH-Clear Lake’s School of Business, visit http:// www.uhcl.edu/bus.

Valuable resources available at Psychological Services Clinic

Family and marriage therapy and individual assessment services can make life seem a little less complex and are among the services offered at UH-Clear Lake’s Psychological Services Clinic. Graduate students in assessment and therapy programs provide the services under the direct supervision of professionally licensed therapists and/or doctoral-level instructors.

Medical treatment, medication, crisis intervention and primary substance abuse treatment are not available through the clinic, though counseling for persons receiving psychiatric, substance abuse or other treatment elsewhere is sometimes possible. Fees are assessed based on the income of the client.

The clinic is located in the university’s Arbor Building, 2700 Bay Area Blvd., Houston. For office hours or to schedule an appointment, call 281-283-3330.

Diagnostic testing offered through UHCL center

Parents can assess their child’s educational skills through UH-Clear Lake’s Center for Educational Programs.

UH-Clear Lake Educational Diagnostician Sherry Morales and her staff can assist by providing educational and diagnostic tests for children ages six and older including assessment for the gifted, dyslexia, learning disorders and more. Costs are reasonable and based on the type of testing requested.

For more information, call Morales at 281-283-3526. To find out about all services offered by the Center for Educational Programs, visit http://kidsu.uhcl.edu or call 281-283-3530.

Say 'No' to Gang of Eight's immigration reform bill

Fri, 17 May 2013 18:42:05 GMT

Alvaro Huerta, a UCLA visiting scholar at the Chicano Studies Research Center, is the author of the forthcoming book, "Reframing the Latino Immigration Debate: Towards a Humanistic Paradigm," by San Diego State University Press. This op-ed was originally posted in ImmigrationProf Blog on May 17.

Given the national debate over the so-called Senate "Gang of Eight’ immigration reform bill, I have one recommendation: Go back to the drawing board. Introduced on April 17, 2013 by Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) as S. 77 or the "Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act," this 844-page document represents a complex, costly, enforcement-centered and morally bankrupt bill.

For the sake of brevity, let’s take the case of the "path to citizenship" component. It makes no sense why undocumented immigrants should pay exorbitant costs, such as financial penalties, back taxes and application fees? Haven’t these immigrants suffered enough financial hardships with the epidemic wage-theft cases against America’s most vulnerable workforce? What about the case that immigrant workers too often work below the minimum wage, receiving no over-time, adequate lunch breaks and other basic work-place rights that most citizens enjoy?

Additionally, don’t employers and consumers benefit from these mostly low-wage workers when purchasing basic goods and services on a daily basis? What about all the taxes that immigrants already pay, both directly and indirectly, without benefiting from federal programs, such as government assistance, Social Security and Medicare?

Moreover, the border-enforcement first pre-requisite before anyone qualifies for citizenship illustrates the absurd aspect of this bill. Why do undocumented immigrants have to pay for something, such as border control, that’s out of their control? How will immigration officials accurately know that the established 90% apprehension success goal will ever be met? As a social scientist, for example, I can’t know 90% of anything unless I know the universe of the population that I’m studying.

This pre-requisite is designed for failure because there’s no guarantee that immigration officials or the proposed bi-partisan task force will ever agree that the border is 90% secure due to economic and/or political reasons. It’s also immoral because it only creates the illusion and false hope for millions of honest, hard-working immigrants—who contribute more than their fair share to this country—of one day becoming American citizens.

The proposed 13-year wait period for undocumented immigrants to be eligible for citizenship, for instance, only occurs (if at all) after a five-year period, when immigration officials will determine if the U.S.-Mexico border is found to be 90% secure. If not, the proposed bi-partisan task force will take control, study the issue and make recommendations. This bureaucratic process only creates unpredictable outcomes for the aspiring citizens.

In short, to borrow from former First Lady Nancy Reagan’s catchy phrase of the war on drugs policy during the 1980s, President Obama, Congress and the public should "Just Say No" to the Gang of Eight’s immigration bill. In lieu of this flawed bill, we need a new immigration bill guided by humanistic principles with one central component: amnesty.

Staff News — May 17, 2013

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:50:55 GMT

Hammer Museum appoints Connie Butler as chief curator,
Aram Moshayedi as curator

Connie Butler has been named the new chief curator at the UCLA Hammer Museum. Since 2006 Butler has been The Robert Lehman Foundation Chief Curator of Drawings at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Prior to her tenure there, Butler served as the curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Los Angeles from 1996-2006, where she organized WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution among many other exhibitions.

Butler, whose new appointment is effective in July, will oversee the Hammer’s curatorial department — developing and organizing exhibitions, building the Hammer Contemporary Collection and overseeing the Hammer’s artist residency program and artist council. As previously announced in April, Butler will co-curate the Hammer’s biennial exhibition, Made in L.A. 2014, with Michael Ned Holte.

Aram Moshayedi has been appointed as curator in a newly created position also effective in July. Since 2010 he has served as the associate curator of the Gallery at The Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (REDCAT). Prior to that he was a curator at LA ART in Los Angeles. Moshayedi has written extensively on art and film/video in numerous publications including Artforum, Art in America, Frieze, X-TRA Contemporary Art Quarterly and Bidoun, for which he is also a contributing editor.

Carey McCarthy named director of volunteer services for UCLA Health

Carey McCarthy will serve as director of volunteer services for UCLA Health, which enlists 3,000-plus volunteers in the service of patients and families. McCarthy joined UCLA in 1989, and has served as the coordinator of volunteer special services and manager of the auxiliary’s medical plaza gift shops. McCarthy received an M.P.H. from California State University Northridge.

Erin Rice named director of UCLA's People Animal Connection program

Erin Rice has assumed the role of director of UCLA’s People Animal Connection (PAC), the animal-assisted therapy program that serves patients in UCLA's medical centers. Rice has been serving as PAC’s interim director since October. She and her dog, Finn, volunteered with the program for more than four years. Rice comes to UCLA from a career in the electronic trading industry. She received her B.A. in communications from East Carolina University.

Time for a new Victoria Day weekend driving tradition in Canada: greater safety knowledge for safer road trips

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:10:04 GMT

Toyota Canada Foundation and Traffic Injury Research Foundation encourage drivers to visit www.brainonboard.ca prior to getting behind the wheel this long weekend

TORONTO, ON., (May 17, 2013) – The Victoria Day long weekend is widely regarded as the unofficial start of summer. Whether it’s travelling to cottages, campgrounds or family get-togethers, the much-anticipated holiday is a celebrated launch into the busiest driving season of the year.

“Because so many people travel over the Victoria Day long weekend, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the importance of safe driving,” said Sandy Di Felice, Director, Toyota Canada Inc. “Drivers need to be thinking about safety as a top priority every time they get behind the wheel, making sure they follow safe driving practices from the moment they and their passengers enter their vehicles.”

To that end, the Toyota Canada Foundation and the Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) encourage all Canadians to visit www.brainonboard.ca before driving this weekend. The website contains everything from plain-language descriptions of important safety technology found in today’s vehicles, and how to make the most of those features, to the various driving behaviours that are essential for safe driving.

“Brain on Board is about dispelling myths and arming drivers with accurate information about safety features and safe driving habits” said Robyn Robertson, TIRF President and CEO. “One of the most concerning findings from our research is that a majority of Canadians rate themselves as safer than other drivers because this can create a false belief that safety is the responsibility of other motorists. It is important that drivers remain focused on their own driving and rely upon safe driving habits under all types of road conditions. Each driver plays an important role in helping to create a safer environment for all road users. Brain on Board is ideal for that because it’s one convenient, easy-to-use site that has all the information people need to better protect themselves and others on the road.”

About the Toyota Canada Foundation

The Toyota Canada Foundation is a national not-for-profit, private charitable foundation, with a long-standing commitment to the Environment, Education and Safety. The Foundation supports charitable and non-profit organizations dedicated to good work in these areas.

About TIRF

Established in 1964, TIRF’s mission is to reduce traffic-related deaths and injuries. As a national, independent, charitable road safety research institute, TIRF designs, promotes, and implements effective programs and policies, based on sound research. TIRF is a registered charity and depends on grants, awards, and donations to provide services for the public. Visit us online at www.tirf.ca.

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UCLA students plan to rock Pauley

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:56:59 GMT

It was 6 a.m. Wednesday in Pauley Pavilion, and dozens of undergrads were hoisting lights onto scaffolding, pounding floorboards and pushing massive speakers on dollies into place. Two days before Spring Sing, these members of the UCLA Student Alumni Association were absolutely energized at this early hour as they prepped for UCLA’s largest annual performance event.

This year, Spring Sing, a campus tradition since 1945 that showcases the best of UCLA student musicians, actors and performers, is expected to be larger than ever when it opens tonight. The show’s relocation to Pauley Pavilion from the Los Angeles Tennis Center increases audience capacity by almost 20 percent and production capabilities by far more.

Students haul in equipment on a newly designed stage where Spring Sing, a campus tradition since 1945, will take place tonight.

“It is definitely bigger,” said Turner Pope, Spring Sing’s executive director. A third-year political science and Spanish major, he has spent the last 13 months preparing for the big day when students’ thunderous applause and cheers will fill the arena with blue and gold pride. “We sold more tickets the first day than filled LATC (Los Angeles Tennis Center) last year. We’ve sold more tickets so far than the Alumni Association has ever sold.”

With expectations running high, Pope said, “We wanted to create a big experience. When you walk in, it’s going to be very different.”

Equipped with a $100,000 budget, a 13-student executive committee — all members of the UCLA Student Alumni Association (SAA) overseen by the UCLA Alumni Association — takes the reins on some major decisions, from casting and budgeting to production design.

The guiding theme on every decision: “Rock Pauley.”

Turner Pope, Spring Sing's executive director.

“We’ve done a lot more,” Pope said. “We redesigned the stage. It has much more of a rock concert feel. All the lightboards, the scoreboards… we’ll definitely have fun with that.”

One of the draws, no doubt, is MC Hammer, recipient of the George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement, which has been given every year since 1988 to such notable artists as Ella Fitzgerald, Julie Andrews, Lionel Ritchie and Stevie Wonder.

“We’ve never given an award to someone in hip-hop,” Pope said. “We’re really excited for him to be here.”

Celebrity judges are another draw, but their identities are kept under wraps until the night of the show. “We have some great judges this year, and we’re excited for them, but it’s always a big surprise,” Pope said.

Past judges have included Grammy-nominated Spring Sing alumna Sara Bareilles, Jason Alexander, Sean Astin and Candice Cameron Bure — nostalgically known as “DJ” from the TV show, “Full House.”

The Company

One of the highlights of Spring Sing, and certainly the most talked-about, is Company, a comedy group that writes and performs skits and produces videos for the show. Its hilarious odes to UCLA traditions and places are among the most anticipated and typically light up the crowd.

Every year, Spring Sing committee members select a cast of talented undergraduates after a grueling week of auditions, improv exercises and interviews. This year’s 12-person cast met for pitch meetings and rehearsals three or four evenings a week and then spent six weekends taping their videos.

“They’re all brilliant,” said Katya Lavine, a third-year English major and this year’s Company director. “Hearing them pitch scripts in meetings was one of the funniest, greatest experiences, because the stuff they came up with was incredible.”

The talent

Students performing in more than 100 acts competed this year for 17 talent spots before a 10-member panel of judges consisting of SAA members, board members and an adviser on staff with the UCLA Alumni Association.

For performer Philip Haro, Spring Sing is the biggest stage for a UCLA student musician.

“In one week, we spent over 40 hours watching auditions,” Pope said. The acts were filmed, scored and split into categories — solos, duets, bands, a capella groups and others — to fill an average of three spots per category, plus one dance group. But that isn’t a hard rule. Pope said he goes with “whatever is the strongest.” Performers have just one chance to make the bill; there are no callbacks.

The selection committee typically deliberates for hours, playing back performance tapes and at times agonizing over their choices. “Some people we can agree on very easily, but it’s hard,” Pope said.

“You do your best, and hopefully they like it,” said Phillip Haro, a fourth-year philosophy major who made the cut to play a song he wrote. “I didn’t want to graduate with regrets that I didn’t try out … Spring Sing is obviously the biggest stage for a UCLA musician. I wanted to see if I could make it. I knew how big a deal it is, especially at the new Pauley Pavilion … This is something I can look back on and be proud of.”

The work

Once the performers were chosen, the Spring Sing talent committee made sure they are as prepared as possible. From late January to mid-May, talent directors attended rehearsals, helping the performers shape their acts. A big focus this year, said Pope, was production.

“My talent directors … wanted better skits, cleaner performances, just overall better production, an exciting show,” Pope said.

In April, two full dress rehearsals took place in Pauley, with students doing their acts on a makeshift “stage” taped off in the exact shape of what will be the newly designed stage. “Performers get a feel for how big it is, where they’re going. And we get an idea of their needs for props or stage setup,” Pope said. “We even take video of them to send to the lighting company so they can start preparing.”

Based on the energy of the performances, Pope also decides the lineup order. After the last all-cast rehearsal, there are only three more weeks to get it right.

“At that point, everyone is very focused. They’re getting everything perfected,” said Pope.

The energy

What does it take to put on an event of this size?

“My committee is crazy,” Pope said, laughing. “They’re spectacular. they put over 40 hours a week into this … They’re extremely dedicated.”

Members of the Spring Sing Executive Committee.

“I’ve never worked so hard on anything in my life,” Company director Lavine said. “You make sacrifices, you find ways to get it all done. It’s been crazy, but it’s so fun.”

Pope prepared for the heavy workload by scheduling his lightest possible academic coursework for the past two quarters. “My friends are calling me, they’re going out, and that’s not an option for me,” he said.

This week, committee members put in 20-hour days.

“I’m a little out of control,” Pope said, laughing. “I’m very hands-on. I take control of a large amount of things, but I also know exactly what’s going on. I know exactly where people need to be. I love to be involved; I know this is the only experience [as director] I’ll ever have.”

Said Lavine, “I think Spring Sing is my life, and then I look at Turner, and I think ‘This is really truly his life.’ He puts so much into it. He’s calling us at midnight with questions, is always supportive, always accessible … He’s really great.”

The payoff — one incredible night of Spring Sing magic — makes it all worth it, the students said.

“At other schools, you don’t have productions of this size,” Lavine said. “Extracurricular activities, especially something like this, give you a learning experience you can’t get in the classroom. You have to be involved. Everyone in the show builds the stage, sets up the lights… we do it all.”

__________________________________________________________________________________________

See some of Company’s most popular videos from previous Spring Sings: Club B Cafe, UCLA vs. USC Rap Battle and Finals Week.

Diagnosing heart attacks: There’s an app for that

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:45:00 GMT

Study Highlights:

An experimental, inexpensive iPhone app transmitted ECGs faster and more reliably than traditional emailed photo transmission.
The app could help save lives by speeding diagnosis and treatment for the deadliest type of heart attack.

BALTIMORE, May 17, 2013 ― An experimental, inexpensive iPhone application transmitted diagnostic heart images faster and more reliably than emailing photo images, according to a research study presented at the American Heart Association’s Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions 2013.

The app could help save lives by speeding treatment for the deadliest type of heart attack known as STEMI (ST segment elevation myocardial infarction), in which a clot blocks blood flow to the heart.

A critical step in prompt, effective STEMI treatment is rapid transmission of an electrocardiogram (ECG) image from emergency medical personnel on site with a patient directly to the hospital to be viewed by a doctor. The ECG may show evidence of a heart attack, allowing doctors to prepare for immediate treatment upon the patient’s arrival.

Traditionally, ECG images are sent through specialized commercial systems. Some hospitals use cell phones to take photos of ECGs, which require large files to maintain clarity and can be slow and unreliable, particularly in signal-limited environments.

“Simple cellular technology can save lives,” said David R. Burt, M.D., the study’s lead author and an associate professor of emergency medicine at the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville. “This system may make pre-hospital ECG transmission a more inexpensive and reliable option. That can translate to faster treatment and saved lives.”

In this study:

iPhone images were transmitted in 4-6 seconds, compared to 38-114 seconds for actual-size and 17-48 seconds to send a large-size e-mail image.
The app’s failure rate at 120 seconds was less than 0.5 percent, compared to a 3 percent to 71 percent e-mail failure rate.

Researchers designed the app to take a photo of the ECG, center and reduce its size, while maintaining as much clarity as possible.

They tested the app more than 1,500 times with Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon in an urban area. The researchers are currently testing the app in rural areas with limited cell-phone access and in comparison with commercial proprietary systems.

“In many places, it may be feasible to transmit vital ECGs over commercial cell-phone networks, saving money, and allowing areas without commercial ECG transmission systems to still connect pre-hospital emergency medical services with STEMI treatment centers,” Burt said.

Each year in the United States, nearly a quarter of a million people experience STEMI. Survival depends upon immediate treatment to restore blood flow. Yet many patients don’t make it to the hospital in time.

The American Heart Association recommends surgical treatment within 90 minutes of hospital arrival, or clot-busting medication within 30 minutes. The association initiated a national system of treatment and referral centers known as Mission: Lifeline® to help ensure standard of care.

Co-authors are Richard Zhang; Steven Fowler; Jonni Seal; and Stephen D. Patek, Ph.D.

The University of Virginia Wireless Internet Center for Advanced Technology funded the study. Additional disclosures are on the abstract.

Follow news from the Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions 2013 via Twitter: @HeartNews; #QCOR13.

###

Statements and conclusions of study authors presented at American Heart Association scientific meetings are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect the association’s policy or position. The association makes no representation or guarantee as to their accuracy or reliability. The association receives funding primarily from individuals; foundations and corporations (including pharmaceutical, device manufacturers and other companies) also make donations and fund specific association programs and events. The association has strict policies to prevent these relationships from influencing the science content. Revenues from pharmaceutical and device corporations are available at www.heart.org/corporatefunding.

Any B roll, animation or images related to this release are in the right column of this link:http://newsroom.heart.org/news/diagnosing-heart-attacks:-theres-an-app-for-that?preview=58b596b9a7626a055ae10cd394b8312b

For Media Inquiries: (214) 706-1173

Cathy Lewis: (214) 706-1324; cathy.lewis@heart.org

Tagni McRae: (214) 706-1383; tagni.mcrae@heart.org

Julie Del Barto (broadcast): (214) 706-1330; julie.delbarto@heart.org

For Public Inquiries: (800) AHA-USA1 (242-8721)

www.heart.org and www.strokeassociation.org

Control of heart disease risk factors varies among outpatient practices

Fri, 17 May 2013 13:30:00 GMT

Study Highlights:

Controlling heart disease risk factors — like high cholesterol, high blood pressure and smoking — varies widely among outpatient practices.

BALTIMORE, May 17, 2013 ― Control of heart disease risk factors varies widely among outpatient practices, according to a study presented at the American Heart Association’s Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions 2013.

Researchers compared electronic health records of 115,737 patients in 18 primary care and cardiology practices participating in The Guideline Advantage™, a collaboration of the American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association and American Heart Association that aims to reduce risks for chronic diseases. They found:

The percentage of people whose hypertension was under control (less than 140/90 mm Hg) ranged from 58.7 percent to 75.1 percent.
The percentage of diabetic patients with cholesterol under control (“bad” low density lipoprotein cholesterol under 100 mg/dL) ranged from 53.8 percent to 100 percent.
The percentage of patients screened for smoking, and receiving a tobacco cessation intervention, ranged from 53.8 percent to 86.1 percent.

“Previously, we’ve focused on improving the quality of inpatient hospital care and haven’t explored enough how to improve outpatient care,” said Zubin Eapen, M.D., the study’s lead author and an assistant professor of medicine at Duke University in Durham, N.C. “This baseline snapshot lets us see just how much progress could be made in preventing or managing diseases.”

“It’s eye-opening for practices to see how much better or worse they’re doing than their peers on nationally derived measures of quality. They can learn to improve in collaboration with others instead of alone,” he said.

Co-authors are Vincent Bufalino, M.D.; Eric D. Peterson, M.D., M.P.H.; and Adrian Hernandez, M.D., M.H.S. Additional disclosures are on the abstract.

Follow news from the Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions 2013 via Twitter: @HeartNews; #QCOR13.

###

Any B roll, animation or images related to this release are in the right column of this link: http://newsroom.heart.org/news/control-of-heart-disease-risk-factors-varies-among-outpatient-practices?preview=a99de3e49457a56bd4d42f5c2b9ce4fe

For Media Inquiries: (214) 706-1173

Cathy Lewis: (214) 706-1324; cathy.lewis@heart.org

Tagni McRae: (214) 706-1383; tagni.mcrae@heart.org

Julie Del Barto (broadcast): (214) 706-1330; julie.delbarto@heart.org

For Public Inquiries: (800) AHA-USA1 (242-8721)

www.heart.org and www.strokeassociation.org

Agenda for next Council workshop now available

Fri, 17 May 2013 12:00:00 GMT

The agenda for the next Carlsbad City Council workshop is now available on the city website. City Council workshops are generally held the third Tuesday of the month from 9 to 11 a.m., at 1635 Faraday Ave. (always check the city website for exact meeting days and times).

City Council workshops are open to the public. Need directions? Use our online maps to get directions to the city’s Faraday Center (where Council workshops normally take place).

We look forward to seeing you!

Public invited to budget workshop

Fri, 17 May 2013 00:32:08 GMT

The public is invited to the City of Carlsbad’s annual citizens budget workshop Thursday, May 30, at 6 p.m., at the city’s Faraday Center, 1635 Faraday Ave. At the workshop, attendees will hear an overview of the city’s proposed 2013-14 budget and have an opportunity to ask questions and make comments. Input gathered at the workshop will be provided to the City Council. Watch a video about the city budget process.

The City Council is scheduled to receive a report on the fiscal year 2013-14 operating budget at its May 28 meeting and consider it for adoption June 11. The city’s fiscal year starts July 1. The proposed Capital Improvement Budget is available on the city website for review. The proposed operating budget will be available for review May 24.

Event details

Name: City of Carlsbad budget workshop

Date: Thursday, May 30

Time: 6 p.m.

Location: City of Carlsbad Faraday Center, Room 173, 1635 Faraday Ave.

Cost: Free

Contact: 760-602-2430

For more information

Contact the City of Carlsbad’s Finance Department at 760-602-2430.

City media contact

Kristina Ray, 760-434-2957, kristina.ray@carlsbadca.gov

UCLA math students place third in prestigious North American competition

Thu, 16 May 2013 22:12:00 GMT

It's a six-hour math test so difficult that most of the 4,200 college students who take it receive a score of 0 out of a possible 120.

The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition for university undergraduates is an annual exam that pits the best math students in North America against one another. And a team of Bruins recently achieved UCLA's best result in more than 40 years — finishing third out of more than 400 colleges and universities, behind only Harvard and MIT. A UCLA team finished third at the 1968 Putnam.

The performance was an impressive step up from last year's 12th place finish, but it wasn't wholly surprising to UCLA’s coach, mathematics professor Ciprian Manolescu. "Talking to the students after the exam in December, I knew they did well and I was expecting a great result," he said. "I didn't quite imagine we would be third, though."

Two UCLA students ranked in the top 20 of the more than 4,200 entrants: sophomore Tudor Padurariu (11th place, with 66 points) and junior Xiangyi Huang (18th, 59 points). They, along with freshman Dillon Zhi (among the top 150, with 39 points), were selected by Manolescu in advance to represent UCLA in the team competition.

Among UCLA's other top scorers in the individual competition were Francisc Bozgan, who ranked 83rd, Peihao Sun, who finished in the top 250, Zhongnan Li and Man Cheung Tsui (top 325), Ufuk Kanat and Cheng Mao (top 500), and Derek Jung and Tianyi Zhang (just outside the top 500). All earned between 22 and 44 points.

"To be in the top three universities in Putnam — better than Princeton, Stanford, Yale and many others — we are of course very happy," Bozgan said.

Manolescu is a Putnam legend himself: As a Harvard undergraduate, he scored among the top five in three competitions. As UCLA's coach, he led students in intense three-hour practice sessions each week, during which the team took sample exams and worked on problem-solving skills at a blackboard.

The students credited their success to those practices — Bozgan said they were "crucial" and Huang called them "wonderful" — and to Manolescu’s coaching.

"No one can coach these problems better than Professor Manolescu," said Kanat, a freshman who came 7,000 miles from Turkey to attend UCLA.

The Putman exam covers many subjects, including advanced calculus, number theory and advanced algebra. Given the range of knowledge required and the prospect of tackling 12 difficult problems in six hours over two sessions, the team's practice sessions emphasized strategy and time management. "To solve a Putnam problem, you have to know the answer or very quickly see a trick to break down the problem," Padurariu said.

Zhi said the test was difficult, but not more so than he had expected. "You have to balance your time between finding the solutions — working them out in your head — and writing them down. Sometimes in the process of writing your solution, you find out that what you thought worked in your head didn’t actually work out and then you have to think about it again."

Professor Dimitri Shlyakhtenko, chair of UCLA’s mathematics department, praised Manolescu for inspiring the members of the team. "Ciprian is not only a fantastic researcher, but also a wonderful mentor," he said. "He inspires them to succeed, to grow, and to mature mathematically."

Now, Shlyakhtenko hopes the team's success will become one of several factors that attract more students to UCLA to pursue mathematics. "Their performance is a reflection of the fact that UCLA’s mathematics department undergraduate program is following the same steep upward trajectory as our faculty and our graduate program," he said. "It also reflects the attention and investment we are making in undergraduate education."

Among other things, under the leadership of Sorin Popa, its previous chair, the department created Mathematical Merit Undergraduate Scholarships, which are aimed at bringing exceptional mathematics students to UCLA. Harvard, MIT and Princeton each offer several undergraduate math scholarships; UCLA’s mathematics department awards only one per year. Shlyakhtenko said he hopes that donor support will enable the department to increase the resources available for outstanding undergraduates.

For the students, success at the Putnam reinforced the wisdom of their decisions to study math at UCLA. "I wanted to go to a university where I could take any course I want. Here, I don’t have to take basic, easy courses," said Kanat, who is already planning to take graduate-level courses next year. "UCLA offers us a great opportunity."

Padurariu agrees. "The professors are outstanding scholars and, fortunately, also very good teachers," he said. "I have definitely learned a lot here."

Preparing for the Putnam was not only an opportunity for the students to share mathematical ideas and plan for their future as scholars, but also, according to Huang, a chance to get to know one another better. "I got to be very good friends with Tudor, Francisc and Cheng," he said. "I greatly benefited from our discussions. I feel very thankful to be able to represent UCLA, and am extremely appreciative of Professor Manolescu’s careful instruction. UCLA has many pioneering mathematicians and it is a great place to study math."

For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.

Yahoo! Granted Favorable Ruling in Mexico City Superior Court of Justice

Thu, 16 May 2013 20:24:00 GMT

SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) today announced that the Superior Court of Justice for the Federal District in Mexico has granted the company's appeal and reversed the ruling of the 49th Civil Court of Mexico, which had entered a non-final judgment of $2.75 billion against Yahoo! and Yahoo! Mexico on November 28, 2012.

The appellate decision overturned all monetary awards against Yahoo! Inc. and reduced the monetary award against Yahoo! Mexico to $172,500. Yahoo! Mexico was awarded $2.6 million in the original judgment, and this award was confirmed by the appellate decision. The plaintiffs may appeal this decision.

The appellate decision pertains to the lawsuit filed by World Wide Directories, S.A. de C.V. and Ideas Interactivas, S.A. de C.V. against Yahoo! Mexico and Yahoo Inc. in 2011. On December 12, 2012, and December 13, 2012, respectively, Yahoo! Mexico and Yahoo! Inc. appealed the judgment to a three-magistrate panel of the Superior Court of Justice for the Federal District.

About Yahoo!

Yahoo! is focused on making the world's daily habits inspiring and entertaining. By creating highly personalized experiences for our users, we keep people connected to what matters most to them, across devices and around the world. In turn, we create value for advertisers by connecting them with the audiences that build their businesses. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., and has offices located throughout the Americas, Asia Pacific (APAC) and the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) regions. For more information, visit the pressroom (pressroom.yahoo.net) or the company's blog (yodel.yahoo.com).

Yahoo! Inc.
Sara Gorman, 408-349-4040

Source: Yahoo! Inc.

News Provided by Acquire Media

UCLA, United Way team up to help veterans find jobs

Thu, 16 May 2013 20:18:06 GMT

"I've saved people's lives. I'm a pretty smart guy," said Jorge Gonzalez, 24, who returned home to East L.A. after four years of military service in Iraq. "I thought that counted for something."

Gonzalez was ready to find a job and begin a normal life, but found only roadblocks. After applying to more than 50 positions, he said, "It was closed door after closed door. No one [wanted] me, not even for an interview."

With a bad economy and tough job market, many veterans like Gonzalez have found the same disappointing homecoming, despite having impeccable recommendations and a host of transferable skills. "I don't use drugs — never have," Gonzalez said. "I can control air traffic, ground traffic, radio and all kinds of technology."

The UCLA/United Way 2013 campaign will help people like Iraq Army veteran Jorge Gonzalez get good jobs.

Thanks to United Way, though, things turned around for Gonzalez. He found out about a United Way seminar, enrolled in a 10-month training program and now works for ExxonMobil. "My life completely changed," Gonzalez said in a video that the United Way of Greater Los Angeles features on its YouTube channel. "I'm extremely grateful ... I'm definitely in a better position now than when I was growing up."

Once again UCLA has partnered with the United Way of Greater Los Angeles (UWGLA) in an employee-giving campaign. Since 1968 UCLA faculty and staff have usually donated $200,000 or more annually. Each year, Bruins receive an email with information about how to donate and continue the UCLA tradition of helping the community. This year's employee-giving campaign runs from May 20-31. Staff and faculty can go online to the UCLA/United Way 2013 site to make a one-time gift or continuing payroll deduction. "The United Way's veterans initiatives are squarely in line with UCLA's," said Chancellor Gene Block in a letter urging support for this year's campaign.

California is home to nearly 10 percent of the country's veteran population. In the greater Los Angeles area about 9,000 veterans are homeless and nearly 11,000 veterans are unemployed or underemployed, putting them at risk for poverty or homelessness.

United Way of Greater Los Angeles, which has set a goal to cut post-9/11 veteran unemployment in half by 2017, is calling for business and civic leaders, nonprofits, grant makers and other partners to strengthen the service system and help veterans succeed.

With 24,000 veterans expected to eventually return to L.A. County from Iraq and Afghanistan, United Way is looking for more businesses to bring veterans like Gonzalez back into the workplace.

"How successful they are depends largely on the systems we have in place to support them," wrote Elise Buik, president and CEO of United Way of Greater Los Angeles, in a recent letter. "The need for a coordinated response is urgent."

UCLA's donations help people like Carolyn Williams, a single mother who served in the U.S. Marine Corps. "I wanted to buy a home one day," Williams said. "When I got out of the military, I kind of felt lost. I just took odd jobs: bartending, retail, fast food … just doing what I [could] to survive."

Williams began to battle substance abuse, and soon became homeless.

United Way has provided her, and thousands of others, with job training to get on a solid career path.

"I see life so much differently [now]," Williams said. "I'm responsible. I show up. I'm on time. I'm honest … I belong again."

Massachusetts’ healthcare reform didn’t raise hospital use, costs

Thu, 16 May 2013 20:00:00 GMT

Study Highlights:

Healthcare reform in Massachusetts didn’t result in substantially more hospitalizations, longer stays or higher costs.
There were no significant differences in post-reform hospital use in Massachusetts versus to three other states without reform.
There was also no significant increase in use of safety-net hospitals in Massachusetts.

BALTIMORE, May 16, 2013 ― Massachusetts’ healthcare reform didn’t result in substantially more hospital use or higher costs, according to data presented at the American Heart Association’s Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions 2013.

The findings were true even among safety-net hospitals, which often have an open-door policy to accept patients regardless of the ability to pay. These hospitals are most likely to care for people who need free services, use Medicaid or must pay their own hospital bills.

“In light of the Affordable Healthcare Act, we wanted to validate concerns that insurance reform would lead to dramatic increases in healthcare use and costs,” said Amresh D. Hanchate, Ph.D., the study’s lead author, an economist at the V.A. Boston Healthcare System and assistant professor at Boston University School of Medicine. “We were surprised to find little impact on healthcare use. Changes we saw in Massachusetts are very similar to those we saw in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania — states without reform.”

Massachusetts reformed its healthcare system in 2006, increasing the number of people insured by 300,000.

The study analyzed information on more than 2.6 million patients ages 18-64 discharged from 66 short-term acute care hospitals in Massachusetts in 2004-2010.

Prior to reform, in 2004 -2006, the number of average quarterly admissions for each hospital was 1,502. After reform, in 2008 -2010, the average was 1,557 — a 3.6 percent increase versus a 3.3 percent increase in the comparison states.

The researchers also found:

The total days of inpatient care increased by 0.94 percent in Massachusetts, compared to 0.80 percent in the comparison states.
Hospital charges per quarter increased by 1.1 percent more in Massachusetts than in the comparison states.
Hospital use increased among previously high uninsured groups – the number of hospitalizations increased by 2.8 percent among blacks and by 4.5 percent among Hispanics.

The results were similar to those of safety-net hospitals and Medicare patients.

“These results are more applicable for states similar to Massachusetts in terms of the current healthcare system and government policy,” Hanchate said. “Because states vary a lot, it’s hard to say how this would compare for the rest of the country.”

Further study is needed to determine if the delivery of services changed, including whether inpatient services being moved to an outpatient setting, he said.

Co-authors are Karen E. Lasser, M.D., M.P.H.; Danny McCormick, M.D., M.P.H.; Nancy R. Kressin, Ph.D.; and Chen Feng, M.A.

The National Institutes of Health funded the study. Additional disclosures are on the abstract.

Follow news from the Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions 2013 via Twitter; @HeartNews; #QCOR13.

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Depression linked to almost doubled stroke risk in middle-aged women

Thu, 16 May 2013 20:00:00 GMT

Study Highlights:

Depression among women 47-52 years old is associated with an almost doubled risk of stroke.
Researchers call for greater awareness of depression as a preventable risk factor for stroke among younger middle-aged women.

EMBARGOED UNTIL 3 p.m. CT/4 p.m. ET, Thursday, May 16, 2013
DALLAS, May 16, 2013 — Depressed middle-aged women have almost double the risk of having a stroke, according to research published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

In a 12-year Australian study of 10,547 women 47-52 years old, researchers found that depressed women had a 2.4 times increased risk of stroke compared to those who weren’t depressed. Even after researchers eliminated several factors that increase stroke risks, depressed women were still 1.9 times more likely to have a stroke.

“When treating women, doctors need to recognize the serious nature of poor mental health and what effects it can have in the long term,” said Caroline Jackson, Ph.D., study author and an epidemiologist in the School of Population Health at the University of Queensland in Australia. “Current guidelines for stroke prevention tend to overlook the potential role of depression.”

This is the first large-scale study in which researchers examined the association between depression and stroke in younger middle-aged women. The closest comparison is with the U.S.-based Nurses’ Health Study, which found a 30 percent higher risk of stroke among depressed women. However, the average participant’s age in the Nurses’ study was 14 years older.

Jackson and her colleagues analyzed survey results from the nationally representative Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health. Participants answered questions about their mental and physical health and other personal details every three years in 1998-2010.

About 24 percent of participants reported being depressed, based on their responses to a standardized depression scale and their recent use of anti-depressants. Self-reported responses and death records revealed 177 first-time strokes occurred during the study.

The researchers used statistical software and repeated measures at each survey point to analyze the relationship between being depressed and having a stroke.

To distinguish the independent effects of depression, they factored out various characteristics that can affect stroke risks, including: age; socioeconomic status; lifestyle habits such as smoking, alcohol and physical activity; and physiological conditions including high blood pressure, heart disease, being overweight and diabetes.

Although the increased stroke risk associated with depression was large in the study, the absolute risk of stroke is still fairly low for this age group, Jackson said. About 2.1 percent of American women in their 40s and 50s suffer from stroke. In the study, only about 1.5 percent of all women had a stroke. That number increased to slightly more than 2 percent among women suffering from depression.

Similar results could be expected among American and European women, Jackson said.

“We may need more targeted approaches to prevent and treat depression among younger women, because it could have a much stronger impact on stroke for them now rather than later in life,” she said.

It’s still unclear why depression may be strongly linked to stroke in this age group. The body’s inflammatory and immunological processes and their effects on our blood vessels may be part of the reasons, she said.

The study’s co-author is Gita Mishra, Ph.D.

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Editor’s Note: The American Stroke Association encourages everyone to learn how to recognize a stroke and to act fast during a stroke emergency. When people recognize a stroke and act fast by calling 9-1-1, they have a greater chance of improving the outcome. Remember F.A.S.T. and the symptoms that come on suddenly:

F – Face drooping

A – Arm weakness

S –Speech difficulty

T - Time to call 9-1-1

Learn more about stroke:

Follow @HeartNews on Twitter for the latest heart and stroke news.

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For a dying patient, a prescription of silence

Thu, 16 May 2013 19:23:07 GMT

Dr. Susan Partovi is a family medicine physician and a volunteer instructor at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine and the medical director for Homeless Health Care Los Angeles. This op-ed was originally published in the Los Angeles Times on May 16.

His wife was a patient at the clinic where I worked in my early days as a doctor. I saw her regularly for hypertension. But on one visit, she was more concerned about her husband — let's call him Pedro. He was having stomach pains and difficulty swallowing. I told her to make an appointment for him with me.

When I saw him, Pedro explained that he had lost weight and was having trouble swallowing solid food. A barium swallow study confirmed my fears: He had esophageal cancer. Another doctor at the clinic received the report before I saw Pedro again and made an urgent referral to surgery. He was whisked off to the land of surgeons before I had the chance to tell him he had cancer.

I didn't see him again until a couple months later, when I ran into him and his wife strolling through the hospital arm and arm. He was eating popcorn.

"How did it go?" I asked.

"Great!" he exclaimed. "I can eat anything now." He seemed so nonchalant, which was admirable given that esophageal cancer is almost always terminal. I reminded him to make an appointment with me.

Soon after that, I saw Pedro's wife at the clinic for a regular visit. Pedro was scheduled to come in the following week, and his wife had something she wanted to tell me in advance of his appointment.

"Don't tell Pedro that his stomach was removed," she said. "It's OK to say that they removed part of his esophagus, but not the stomach."

I'd never had a request like this before. "Why," I cautiously asked.

"He'll lose his will to live if he knows that his stomach was removed. He thinks he had surgery to remove the obstruction."

"Did anyone tell him that he had cancer?"

"No, and I don't want him to know," she insisted.

I was perplexed. In medical school, we were taught not to withhold information from our patients or to be "paternal" in making decisions for them. We internalized the idea that fully informed patients are better equipped to make treatment decisions. And with patients likely to die of their diseases, discussing the prognosis frankly would allow them to say goodbyes, get things in order and prepare advanced directives for what kind of interventions they did and didn't want.

But Pedro's wife was adamant. "He will lose his will to live if he knows he has cancer. And he will then die even sooner."

When Pedro and his wife came the next week for his appointment, I asked Dr. Castro, one of our attending physicians, for advice. I had just graduated from residency and was staying on as chief resident, but I needed help. Was it ethical to do as Pedro's wife asked and not tell him he was likely to die soon?

He told me to consider the patient's cultural background. "We need to understand what death means to this family," he said. Before he even finished, tears were rolling down my cheeks — for my own father, who had died two months earlier, just before my residency graduation, of lung cancer.

I had learned a lot about the cultural norms of Persians around death as I watched my family holding vigil over my father day and night, unwilling to give up the fight to keep him alive. Death was the enemy.

Being a physician, I knew he wasn't going to get better, but that wasn't anything my family could accept. How can I help Pedro's family figure out what death means when I don't even know what it means? I thought.

When Pedro arrived, Dr. Castro walked into the room with me to talk with him.

"Do you want to know the details of your illness?" he asked. "For instance, if you were dying or had cancer, would you want to know?" Without missing a beat, Pedro said, "No." The clouds had lifted. What had seemed so complex now seemed simple.

I continued to see Pedro. I didn't tell him he had cancer, but I always searched his eyes to see if he had caught on. He never did, and I grew more comfortable with his willful denial.

Then came the crisis. Pedro's wife brought him to the clinic because he was having trouble breathing. He was obviously in distress. I quickly evaluated him and asked Dr. Castro what I should do, reminding him of our secret. With grace, he turned to Pedro's wife in confidence,

"Do you want everything done to keep him alive?" Her face showed pure panic, "Of course! And don't forget your promise. You heard him. He doesn't want to know that he has cancer."

Taking extraordinary measures to prolong Pedro's life wasn't what I would have chosen for him. He was dying; why not let him go in peace? But we called 911 and paramedics whisked him off to the emergency room.

I ran across the street to the hospital to update the ER docs about his case. His portable chest X-ray, on the view box behind his bed, showed his lungs completely "whited out" from the cancer's spread through the lymphatic system.

He was sitting upright in the bed fighting for breath. "Dr. Partovi, what's happening to me?" he asked, sounding desperate. I caressed his head, combing back his hair. "Your lungs are filled with fluid. We are giving you medicine to help you breathe."

But I kept my promise to his family and to him and didn't tell him how dire his condition was. He died that week in the hospital, surrounded by family members who had reminded Pedro's caregivers repeatedly that they wanted "everything done" and that no one was to tell Pedro he was dying or that he had cancer.

No one did.

Wounded soldiers race to South Pole

Thu, 16 May 2013 19:13:02 GMT

Mark Wise, trained at the United States Air Force Academy as an Army infantry officer, was deployed to Afghanistan in 2009 as a platoon leader, where he suffered severe injuries when an explosive device detonated just inches away from him. He is a patient with UCLA’s Operation MEND, which provided him with free reconstructive surgery. Medically retired from the military, Wise earned an M.B.A. from Georgetown University and is chief financial officer for GORUCK, a manufacturer of military-grade backpacks. This commentary was originally published on May 15, 2013, in the New York Times.

This November, I will join a team of three other wounded American veterans — Therese Frentz, Ivan Castro and Margaux Mange — on a 225-mile race across Antarctica for the Walking With the Wounded South Pole Allied Challenge. We will travel on skis while dragging sleds packed with approximately 150 pounds of survival equipment through the harshest climates on the planet. We will be racing for more than two weeks against similar teams of wounded veterans from the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. Our goal is not just to win the race, but also to raise awareness.

Veterans returning from conflict are confronted with an array of reintegration issues from post traumatic stress, unemployment, drug or alcohol abuse and suicide. Military leaders are taught to lead by example, and on this public stage, the participants in the South Pole Allied Challenge are trying to do just that. By sharing our stories of service, injury and recovery we hope to educate the public, inspire fellow service members and raise funds for programs that can assist those following in our footsteps.

Each of the four nations involved has a primary nonprofit organization to which people can donate time, money or other resources. For our team, that organization is Soldiers to Summits, which uses mountaineering to help build not just physical courage and strength, but also the mental capacity to cope with internal struggles.

My personal introduction to these organizations began with wounds I suffered on Oct. 24, 2009, while serving as an infantry platoon leader in Afghanistan. While on patrol with 24 soldiers, we came under fire and I tried to maneuver squads to assault a machine-gun position. At one point during the fighting, I tried to switch places with my radio man, Pfc. Devin Michel, behind a mud wall. As Private Michel stepped behind me, he detonated a pressure-plate improvised explosive device. He was killed instantly.

Nine days later I awoke at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, saw my family and asked, “What are you doing here?” The long road of recovery had just begun.

I was bedridden with all of my limbs immobilized. I was on a feeding tube and could not push my own pain-medication button or focus well enough to see faces. I was emotionally crushed. My family provided constant support as I struggled to come to terms with my injuries. Vanity was one of my initial worries, and I felt I needed plastic surgery on my face to feel normal again. Operation Mend, a nonprofit organization that provides surgical care in partnership with UCLA Medical Center, provided free reconstructive surgery that made me feel that I could go out in public again without being judged or stared at.

Initially, success came in small steps. Scratching my face on my own. Changing channels on the television. Feeding myself. But over time, improvements have come faster, though in fits and starts. There are days when I can run (what a sensation, even with discomfort), days when I can only walk and days when I can barely crawl. What counts is maintaining momentum.

While completing my medical treatment, I began studying at Georgetown University for a master’s degree in business administration. I participated in an event at the university called “War Stories and Free Beer,” sponsored by my current company, GORUCK, that encourages veterans to share their stories with civilians over beer. I spoke at two sessions, the first time I had publicly described my experiences to nonveterans.

After I graduated from Georgetown, I found myself without a larger purpose. I was working at a Fortune 100 company when I received an e-mail from a group called Walking With the Wounded, which offered me the opportunity to trek to the South Pole as an advocate for veterans. I jumped at the opportunity.
We recently completed training for our expedition in Iceland. It was difficult, but as the military taught us, you can find ways to drive on. We endured whiteout conditions, with minus-40-degree Celsius temperatures and 60 mile-per-hour winds. On one mini-expedition, we skied with sleds for five days, covering roughly 16 miles a day while learning to live in Arctic conditions. But in our race to the South Pole, our team will not only be overcoming harsh conditions but also blindness, post-traumatic stress, amputated fingers, reconstructed joints and severe burns. Teamwork will be essential.

Most everyone who has held a leadership position in the military feels an obligation to serve, and I still do – not just to living soldiers but also to Private Michel and the other members of my unit who were killed in combat. Those men remind me daily of my responsibilities to other veterans. And maybe that is why I feel so confident that our team will overcome our adversities to reach the South Pole.

New Ashe optometry center will serve faculty, staff

Thu, 16 May 2013 18:39:35 GMT

Faculty and staff whose to-do lists include items like "schedule an eye exam" or "get new glasses" can look forward to taking care of these tasks on campus when a new full-service optometry center opens summer 2014 at Ackerman Student Union.

The enterprise will be operated by the Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center, led by a management team with an eye toward expanding its optometry center — which currently serves students only — to also cater to faculty and staff. By growing a customer base of students covered by the UC Student Health Insurance Plan and faculty and staff covered by UC’s Vision Service Plan (VSP), the business will create new income for the Ashe Center, which is experiencing the same kinds of budgetary challenges being felt campuswide.

Dr. Karen Leung and one other optometrist at the Ashe center perform thousands of eye exams every year.

"Instead of having to increase costs to students in order to meet our budget demands, we’re hoping that this entrepreneurial endeavor is going to provide a new funding stream that will be able to keep prices low," said John Bollard, chief administrative officer at the Ashe center. Currently, students pay nothing out-of-pocket for a general office visit at Ashe, which sees about 400 students a day. Bollard came up with the idea for the new eye care center about three years ago and brought others onboard to bring it to fruition.

According to the current schedule, in a few months the UCLA Store will move its greeting cards and gift items to make way for a 1,500-square-foot space that ASUCLA will rent to the Ashe center. In January, 2014, Facilities Management will begin construction of a glassed-in optometry center designed by campus architects, with completion by summer 2014. Estimated construction costs of about $300,000 will be paid not from student registration fees, but from reserve funds the Ashe center has saved from other sources.

The new center will be more than double the size of Ashe’s current 600-square-foot optometry center, which now shares a space with the health center’s busy pharmacy. The current inventory of about 400 styles of eyeglass frames will expand to about 1,000, priced from $50 to $250, along with a wide selection of sunglasses and contact lenses. UC’s student health insurance plan pays up to $120 per year towards the purchase of frames or contact lenses.

John Bollard, chief administrative officer at the Ashe center, came up with the idea of extending the optometry center's services to faculty and staff.

Staff will expand from two optometrists to four. Currently, their schedules are so packed — they perform about 11,000 eye exams a year — that students must wait as long as six weeks to be seen. The new center, Bollard said, "will hopefully do away with waits," or at least reduce them to two or three days. "The ‘wait piece’ is very important," he explained, because long waits discourage students from getting exams in the first place.

"Eye exams are an important aspect of health care," said Bollard. With a co-pay of $10, these exams are fully covered by UC’s student health insurance, which 20,000 of UCLA’s 32,000 undergraduate and graduate students have. "Yet," Bollard noted, "as few as 20 percent of those students use their annual benefit for an eye exam. We’re hoping that by expanding, we’ll increase the number of students who take advantage of this insurance they already have."

Faculty and staff will find the new center very affordable, "because our whole model is nonprofit," said Bollard. "We won’t have the kind of markups charged by other stores."

And insurance reimbursement will be easy.

"They will be able to get an eye exam and purchase glasses, and we’ll bill VSP directly," Bollard said. Faculty and staff, as well as their dependents, can also have their prescriptions for eyewear or contacts obtained from outside the campus filled there.

However, because services to students will remain the optometry center’s first priority, the new center will only offer eye exams to active UCLA employees.

ASUCLA anticipates benefiting from the new store as well.

"The Ashe center will be able to provide expanded service to the campus, and ASUCLA will benefit from some rental income that can go toward other projects," said executive director Bob Williams. "ASUCLA is always looking for ways to add services that students, staff and faculty are looking for … ways to make the Student Union the center of campus life … We see this as a win-win situation."

For the Ashe center, moving from a health center model to a retail store "is one of the most interesting parts of this," said Bollard. "And I really think it’s going to be the future for a lot of departments at UCLA in these budget times. We’re all asking ourselves, ‘How can we be innovative and a little bit entrepreneurial?"

Showcase for emeriti arts and crafts

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:57:08 GMT

Sharon Belkin, a UCLA biological artist who provided graphics for medical research for 18 years before she retired, is one of 26 emeriti whose work will be showcased at the Sylvia Winstein UCLA Emeriti Arts and Crafts Exhibit on Tuesday, May 21, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Faculty Center. Belkin, whose painting, "View of the Forest," is shown above, bases her artwork on "the wondrous beauty and intricate relationships of the creatures in the American tropics." Her passion for the rainforest developed during her travels in the Amazon, with sketchbook and camera in hand. A reception will be held at 1:30 p.m.

Patients fare better at hospitals using Get With The Guidelines-Stroke

Thu, 16 May 2013 14:30:00 GMT

Study Highlights:

People with strokes caused by blood clots fared better in hospitals participating in the Get With the Guidelines^®-Stroke program than in those not involved in the program.
People treated in Get With The Guidelines-Stroke hospitals were more likely to go home from the hospital and less likely to die 30 days to a year after discharge.

BALTIMORE, May 16, 2013 ― People with strokes caused by blood clots fared better in hospitals participating in the Get With The Guidelines^®-Stroke program according to a study presented at the American Heart Association’s Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions 2013.

“We found that stroke patients treated in Get With The Guidelines hospitals were less likely to die or end up back in the hospital than those treated at other closely-matched hospitals not in the program,” said Sarah Song, M.D., M.P.H., study lead author and an assistant professor of neurology at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. “Previous studies have shown Get With The Guidelines hospitals improved the way they cared for people, but this is the first to show how the changes affected patient recovery.”

The researchers compared 366 hospitals that joined the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke program in April 2004-December 2007 with 366 that did not. They matched facilities by size, geographic setting, teaching status, number of strokes treated and patient characteristics.

Comparing the periods before and after hospitals joined Get With The Guidelines, the researchers found participating hospitals improved their 30-day and one-year death rates and 30-day and one-year re-hospitalization rates. During the same time, the non-participating hospitals only improved 30-day death rates.

Get With The Guidelines-Stroke hospitals also had higher rates of discharging patients directly home rather than to a care facility.

More than 2,000 hospitals participate in the association’s multiple Get With the Guidelines programs, which provide resources and tools to help healthcare teams follow the latest research-based treatment guidelines.

Co-authors are Gregg C. Fonarow, M.D.; Wenqin Pan, Ph.D.; DaiWai Olson, Ph.D.; R.N.; Adrian F. Hernandez, M.D., M.H.S.; Eric Peterson, M.D., M.P.H.; Mathew Reeves, Ph.D.; Eric Smith, M.D., M.P.H.; Lee H. Schwamm, M.D.; and Jeffrey L. Saver, M.D.

The American Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health partially funded the study. Additional disclosures are on the abstract.

Follow news from the Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions 2013 via Twitter: @HeartNews; #QCOR13.

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For Media Inquiries: (214) 706-1173

Cathy Lewis: (214) 706-1324; cathy.lewis@heart.org

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For Public Inquiries: (800) AHA-USA1 (242-8721)

www.heart.org and www.strokeassociation.org

Risk of death, hospital readmission prolonged after heart attack, heart failure

Thu, 16 May 2013 14:15:00 GMT

Study Highlights:

Heart attack or heart failure patients may have a high risk of death or re-admission for a month or longer after leaving the hospital.
The standard practice of tracking deaths and readmissions for only 30 days after discharge misses those longer periods of increased risk when people may need special care.
After discharge, people should be vigilant about their health and contact a healthcare professional right away if they feel ill, researchers said.

BALTIMORE, May 16, 2013 ― Heart attack or heart failure patients may have a high risk of death or re-admission for a month or longer after leaving the hospital, researchers said at the American Heart Association’s Quality of Care and Outcomes Scientific Sessions 2013.

“The risks of death and re-hospitalization can extend well beyond 30 days after discharge, the time period used by the federal government for measuring hospital performance,” said Kumar Dharmarajan, M.D., M.B.A., lead author of the study and a fellow in cardiology at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City, and visiting scholar at Yale University in New Haven, Conn. “Post-discharge care may be improved when aligned to the periods of greatest risk for patients.”

Researchers examined Medicare data on patients discharged for heart failure (878,963) and heart attack (350,509) and found:

Within the first year, 41.8 percent of heart failure patients died and 70.3 percent were re-hospitalized.
Within the first year, 25.9 percent of heart attack patients died and 50.5 percent were re-hospitalized.
The risk of re-hospitalization after heart failure took more than a month (43 days) to decline 50 percent from its peak level after discharge.
In the month after a heart attack, the likelihood of death is 21 times higher and the likelihood of hospitalization is 12 times higher than among the general Medicare-age population.
In the month after hospitalization for heart failure, the likelihood of death is 17 times higher and the likelihood of hospitalization is 16 times higher than among the general Medicare-age population.

“In the weeks after hospital discharge, your risk of death, re-hospitalization and other complications is very high,” Dharmarajan said. “If you feel ill, take it seriously and contact your healthcare provider.”

Co-authors are Angela F. Hsieh, Ph.D.; Vivek T. Kulkarni, A.B.; Zhenqiu Lin, Ph.D.; Joseph S. Ross, M.D., M.H.S.; Leora I Horwitz, M.D., M.H.S.; Nancy Kim, M.D., Ph.D.; Lisa G. Suter, M.D.; Susannah M. Bernheim, M.D., M.H.S.; Elizabeth E. Drye, M.D., S.M.; Sharon-Lise Normand, Ph.D., M.Sc.; and Harlan M. Krumholz, M.D., M.S.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute funded the study. Additional disclosures are on the abstract.

Follow news from the Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions 2013 via Twitter @HeartNews; #QCOR13.

###

For Media Inquiries: (214) 706-1173

Cathy Lewis: (214) 706-1324; cathy.lewis@heart.org

Tagni McRae: (214) 706-1383; tagni.mcrae@heart.org

Julie Del Barto (broadcast): (214) 706-1330; julie.delbarto@heart.org

For Public Inquiries: (800) AHA-USA1 (242-8721)

www.heart.org and www.strokeassociation.org

The Dynamic, Stunning 2014 Lexus IS Offers Incredible Choice When it comes to Luxury, Performance, Style and Technology

Thu, 16 May 2013 13:02:21 GMT

(TORONTO, ON – May 16, 2013) The sophisticated new Lexus IS comes to Canada this summer. Redesigned with passion from grille to tail-lights, the 2014 Lexus IS luxury sport sedan features an all-new, bolder design, dynamic handling and performance, and a host of new luxurious standard features. With that, buyers have a choice of engine sizes and rear-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive models, intuitive controls and instrumentation, advanced safety features, and thoughtful, driver-focussed convenience and luxury. And all of this is offered to Canadian drivers – seeking a fresh interpretation of luxury – at a manufacturer’s suggested price starting at just $37,300.

“We look forward to introducing Canadians to the new Lexus IS series – and are delighted to offer this stunning luxury vehicle at a price range that represents tremendous value,” said Cyril Dimitris, Director of Lexus in Canada. “We are offering the 2014 Lexus IS-Sedan in 22 specification packages, all of which offer remarkable performance, comfort and technology at incredible value. This includes ten F SPORT packages covering all engine and drive train configurations – our most diverse F SPORT offering to date. We’re confident this remarkable choice gives every Canadian luxury sport sedan buyer a perfect reason to add a new Lexus IS to their lives.”

The new IS luxury sport sedan builds on the Lexus reputation for quality, comfort and safety with cutting edge design, best-in-class features, and exceptional performance:

Choice of 2.5L V6 or 3.5L V6
Both engines offered in rear-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive models.
New steering and rear suspension, inspired by the Lexus GS, deliver exceptional handling.
Bold exterior design highlighted by distinct interpretation of Lexus signature Spindle Grille with unique LED Daytime Running Light treatment.
New driver-focused, ergonomic interior features lower driver position for improved comfort and driving experience.
Increased luggage space plus a new available 60/40 split folding rear seats for cargo-carrying versatility.

F SPORT packages – inspired by the LFA and track tested at the Nürbürgring are the first Lexus to adopt optional G-AI control, actively matching gear changes to G-forces generated during cornering.

3.5 litre, rear-wheel drive IS F SPORT models are now equipped with the 8-speed, Sport Direct Shift (SPDS) automatic transmission from the acclaimed IS F.
F SPORT models also feature special interior and exterior styling and performance enhancements, including unique seats designed to combine lightweight comfort with outstanding lateral holding performance.
Intuitive Human Machine Interfaces and user friendly multifunction screens
Luxury appointments include the Lexus analogue clock, and first Lexus use of electrostatic switches.
Advanced safety systems.

A host of new standard items for 2014 include boldy-inset LED Daytime Running Lights, premium NuLuxe seat surfaces with eight-way power-adjustable and heated driver and front passenger sport seats, user-selectable drive modes, HID headlamps with headlamp washers, Lexus Display Audio and more. This combination of new standard equipment is unmatched by any competitor in its class. And with a suggested retail price starting from $37,300, this unrivaled level of standard equipment represents substantial value.

F SPORT packages enhance the IS with specially-tuned suspension systems plus many unique F SPORT details, including a unique front fascia with mesh spindle grille, distinctive LFA-inspired 18-inch aluminum alloy wheels, sport front seats with lightweight NuLuxe seat surfaces, perforated leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob, interior trim, aluminum doorsill trim, and more.

IS 350 models are powered by a 306 peak horsepower 3.5L V6, while IS 250 models feature a 204 peak horsepower 2.5L V6. Both direct-injection engines are enhanced with dual variable valve timing with intelligence, electronic throttle control systems, and more.

The Lexus IS 250 RWD (starting MSRP $37,300) is available in five packages, including two F SPORT packages (starting MSRP $40,300).
The Lexus IS 250 AWD (starting MSRP $39,900) is available in six packages, including three F SPORT packages (starting MSRP $42,900).
The Lexus IS 350 RWD (starting MSRP $44,500) is available in four packages, including two F SPORT packages (starting MSRP $45,650).
The Lexus IS 350 AWD (starting MSRP $44,000) is available in seven packages, including three F SPORT packages (starting MSRP $47,500).

All models feature luxury amenities and performance enhancements, including: Vehicle Dynamics Integrated Management (VDIM); dual-zone automatic climate control; an eight-speaker Lexus premium audio system with satellite radio, USB audio input, Bluetooth^® connectivity and steering wheel-mounted audio controls; electro-chromatic rear view mirror; power windows with water repellant front door glass; leather-wrapped steering wheel with paddle shifters; Lexus SmartAccess key system with Push Button Start/Stop; integrated garage door opener; eight airbags, an onboard first aid kit, six active safety technologies including Vehicle Stability Control, Traction Control and Electronic Brakeforce Distribution, and other safety features; auto-leveling HID headlamps; dual power remote heated exterior mirrors; and more.

To preview the new 2014 Lexus IS, visit lexus.ca.

About Lexus Canada

Lexus in Canada is the exclusive Canadian distributor of Lexus luxury cars and sport utility vehicles through a sales and service network of 37 dealers across Canada. With 13 Lexus models on the road today, five of them being hybrids, Lexus has the largest luxury hybrid lineup; allowing guests a choice in a large range of luxury vehicle segments.

State of UC outlined in Yudof ‘white paper’

Thu, 16 May 2013 00:04:49 GMT

University of California President Mark Yudof presented the Board of Regents Wednesday a report that charted the significant changes of the past six years and offered a candid assessment of how UC is performing today.

Yudof, who will step down in August after serving five years, said he had prepared the data-driven "white paper" to offer an overview of the significant trends and policy choices that might await the next president.

"To the best of my ability, I've tried to outline the good, the bad and the ugly — and there's some of each," Yudof said.

President Mark Yudof outlined the good, the bad and the ugly in his just-released white paper.

On the bright side, UC continues to shine when it comes to serving first-generation and low-income Californians.

The report notes that four out of 10 UC students are eligible for Pell Grants, meaning they come from families with annual incomes of $50,000 or less. That's nearly double the average of other members of the Association of American Universities. And four UC campuses — UCLA, Berkeley, UC San Diego and Davis — each enroll more Pell Grant recipients than the entire Ivy League.

"The numbers do underscore the university's rare and defining ability to serve vast numbers of disadvantaged students, while still producing research of world-class quality," Yudof said. "Many universities can achieve one of these two results. But it's quite rare to achieve both."

The paper also details the steep drop in state financial support since 2007-08, and the reverberations that has had on tuition levels, faculty hiring and lagging salaries. Over the past six years, UC's state appropriation has dropped by 27 percent, while mandatory expenditures have gone up by 15 percent.

Yudof said that even though the university's financial outlook has improved slightly for the coming year, the "fiscal and societal ground has shifted" when it comes to support for funding public higher education — and is unlikely to return to the heyday of earlier years.

"More and more, the value of an education is seen as a private good, bestowed on those individuals who receive it, as opposed to a public good that nourishes society at large," he wrote in the report.

Regents welcomed his assessment and said it would prove valuable as they looked ahead.

"It's candid, it's complete and, in many ways, it's a road map for our future," said Regent Russell Gould.

Click here to read a PDF of Yudof's report.

Verbatim — tracking our thoughts, families online and hidden viruses

Wed, 15 May 2013 23:50:55 GMT

UCLA faculty members are quoted every day in the national media on a wide range of topical subjects. Here is a recent selection.

"We're always counting on science to tell us where we came from."

David Paige, professor in the UCLA Department of Earth and Space Sciences, was quoted on May 9 in a Los Angeles Times article that suggested that the moon’s water may have come from meteorites that hit ancient Earth.

"Once the technology for eye-tracking is in place, it will glean information conveying not only what we read online, but also how we read it … In the future, will we be served online ads based not only on what we’ve shopped for, but also on the thoughts reflected in our eye movements?"

John Villasenor, professor of electrical engineering at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, was quoted on May 9 in a Mashable news blog about advertisers’ use of eye-tracking technology in smartphones.

“For me, cluelessness is when a high-status person does not even consider that a low-status person might be acting strategically.”

Michael Chwe, professor of political science and author of a new book, “Jane Austen: Game Theorist,” argues that Austen was one of the earliest game strategists. He was quoted May 8 in the Onenewthing.com blog.

“If this nonsense is not illegal, it ought to be.”

Stephen Bainbridge, professor at the UCLA School of Law, was quoted May 10 in The New York Times about hedge funds’ efforts to give financial incentives to nominees of company boards.

“For the families that are strong to begin with, this technology is probably a tremendous help to them. For families having problems, maybe the technology will exacerbate their problems.”

Benjamin Karney, professor of psychology and co-director of the Relationship Institute at UCLA, was quoted May 12 in an Augusta Chronicle article about military families’ use of social media.

"People who have access to insurance coverage are faced with incentives that don't make sense in terms of how they seek care. If you have insurance, you may go to the emergency room for an avoidable reason just because it's more convenient and because you are financially isolated from the loss."

Dylan Roby, director of the health economics and evaluation research program at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, quoted May 11 in a Los Angeles Times article about preventing unnecessary medical tests and treatments.

"There are still arguments among scientists about whether there are places deep in the tissues that treatment doesn't reach, and whether or not virus is still replicating there.”

Jerome Zack, professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics and an associate director of the UCLA AIDS Institute, quoted May 12 in a China Daily article about new developments in the treatment of HIV/AIDS.

Student researchers on front lines of marijuana issue

Wed, 15 May 2013 22:44:17 GMT

In the midst of a raging national debate on how Americans use marijuana, a team of student researchers from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs is collecting data that could help separate marijuana fact from fiction.

Led by social welfare professor Bridget Freisthler, the researchers are fanning out across Los Angeles to visit medical marijuana dispensaries, surveying patients and dispensary owners to learn how marijuana fits into their lives — and how it shapes the fabric of their communities.

While the work is academic, the issue has real-world implications. The states of Washington and Colorado are currently implementing laws passed by voters last November that regulate and tax the recreational use of the drug. Eighteen states and the District of Columbia already permit marijuana use for medical purposes.

Closer to home, the California Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that local governments have the ability to ban marijuana dispensaries outright, a move that passed the L.A. City Council in 2012, but was quickly rescinded in the face of public outcry. Partly as a result of that decision, L.A. voters will decide next Tuesday between competing measures that could change how city residents buy and sell medical marijuana.

As advocates stake out various positions in the political sphere, Freisthler and her team are focused on uncovering facts to help inform the debate. The researchers are currently interviewing medical marijuana patients about their health care status, usage patterns and demographics. The information will be aggregated to help fill in a comprehensive picture of medical marijuana use in Los Angeles. The research is part of a five-year National Institute on Drug Abuse grant that Freisthler received in 2011.

During a recent site visit at the Green Kiss Collective in North Hollywood, Emily Hamilton, who received her master’s degree in social welfare in 2011, said solid data in the debate have been hard to find. "There are a lot of false statistics floating around about dispensaries and their effect on neighborhoods," Hamilton said, citing conventional wisdom that a marijuana dispensary will cause neighborhood crime rates to go up.

In fact, an earlier study the team conducted in Sacramento found no tie between crime rates and medical marijuana dispensaries. There is some evidence that the increased security found at well-regulated shops may actually reduce crime rates in the surrounding areas.

"People are voting on these things, and it's important to be fully informed as opposed to just throwing numbers out there," Hamilton added.

A team of four researchers spends roughly three hours at each dispensary location, selected at random to represent a range of economic and geographical circumstances. Patients are given a $20 incentive in return for completing a five-minute questionnaire, with the option of collecting a $30 gift card if they agree to take part in a second, more comprehensive survey.

The Friday evening traffic at Green Kiss produced a steady stream of respondents, and the team hit its target of 20 completed patient surveys with time to spare.

As the team member responsible for recruiting locations at which data are gathered, social welfare graduate student Elizabeth Schaper has seen dispensaries of all stripes.

"I have been in places where they take it extremely seriously. They've given patients printouts of the different chemical compounds that are most active in each strain," Schaper said. "Some of the employees actually have medical backgrounds, and they'll ask you, 'What is that you really need?' and then point you in the direction of the right strain.

On the other hand, she said, “I've walked into places that are basically a drug dealer in a closet."

The Green Kiss research team includes (from left) research assistant Brian Brown; Luskin social welfare alumna Emily Hamilton; research assistant Ryan Premeaux; Minal Patel, a Ph.D. candidate in public health; and Elizabeth Schaper, a graduate student in social welfare.

Both of the ballot measures in the May 21 L.A. city election address the range of quality that Schaper has encountered. Proposition D, which has the backing of the L.A. City Council and labor groups, would cap the number of dispensaries in the city at 135 — roughly the number that existed before a 2007 moratorium passed by the council.

Proposition F, sponsored by dispensary owners, wouldn't limit the number of dispensaries in the city, but would impose financial audits, quality control tests and other oversight of their business practices and products. (A third measure, Proposition E, was abandoned by its supporters in favor of D.)

The measures' focus on the number of shops in L.A. highlights another area where UCLA Luskin research has informed voters. While estimates of the number of dispensaries have seesawed from 200 to more than 1,700, last September UCLA Luskin released what was recognized as the most accurate count of dispensaries in the city. To build the list, Freisthler and her team combined city data with information from multiple industry resources, and then cross-checked that list by visiting each address and visually identifying those actually operating as dispensaries.

The snapshot showed that as of Sept. 4, 2012, there were 472 medicinal marijuana stores within city limits.

Despite her intimate knowledge of L.A.'s dispensary scene and her colleagues' track record of producing solid data, Schaper is reluctant to wade into the political debate. "I think it's one of those things where I know too much to make a good decision about it," she said. "As part of this research project, I feel like I've abdicated making any decision about [which ballot measure to choose]. I'm just trying to be as unbiased as possible."

Academic evenhandedness aside, the researchers aren't ignorant of the real-world implications of their work. Schaper hopes that a more informed discussion about marijuana use in America will help shed light on informal sources of health care, especially for those who have undiagnosed mental health problems.

Hamilton takes a bit of pride in the fact that her work will help steer policy on an issue that's experiencing a unique historical moment. "That really energized me to become involved in the project," she said.

"It feels like one of those things you'll look back on in 20 years and say to your kids, 'I was there when this was happening.'"

___________________________________________________________________________

This story appeared originally on the UCLA Luskin website. To read more about what Luskin faculty, staff and students are doing, go here.

City raises awareness of water safety

Wed, 15 May 2013 22:18:06 GMT

Did you know drowning accidents are the leading cause of injury and deaths for children under 5? Often without splashing or any other signs of trouble, a child can drown in mere moments – the time it takes to answer the phone or simply look away from the pool. The Carlsbad City Council called attention to the importance of water safety at its Tuesday meeting by presenting a special proclamation in recognition of the Water Watchers program.

Watcher Watchers is a program promoted by the City of Carlsbad Fire Department to help prevent drowning. Tips include:

Assign an adult water watcher to supervise children and commit to keeping a constant eye on children in a pool or spa, especially during social gatherings
Look in the pool/spa area first if a child is missing
Remind children of pool and spa safety, including no running, pushing or jumping on playmates in or near the water and no diving or jumping in to shallow water
Teach children how to be safe in the water by taking swimming lessons. The city’s Parks & Recreation Department offers individual and group lessons for all ages. Register at Parks & Recreation Department's Web page.
Remember, children are at risk from small wading pools, bathtubs, buckets, diaper pails, and toilets as well swimming pools, spas, and hot tubs. For more tips, search for “water watchers” on the city’s website.

Visit any City of Carlsbad Fire Department to pick up a free Water Watchers packet, which includes a lanyard to be worn by the adult responsible for watching swimmers.

For more information

Linda Allington, EMS manager, 760-931-2175

Photo caption information
(L to R) Mayor Matt Hall, Council Member Keith Blackburn, Council Member Lorraine Wood, EMS Manager Linda Allington, Council Member Farrah Douglas, Mayor Pro Tem Mark Packard.

Is there a nurse practitioner in the house?

Wed, 15 May 2013 20:59:47 GMT

Afflicted with pulmonary arterial hypertension and breathing difficulties, Carol Volckmann was unable to get much help from physicians near her home in the Cascade Mountains in Washington state. Desperate, she began consulting physicians elsewhere and ultimately chose UCLA pulmonologist Dr. Rajan Saggar.

Volckmann said the result was "excellent care," as well as a new and vital member of her healthcare team: Kathy McCloy, one of 160 nurse practitioners (NPs) spread across the UCLA Health System.

"Dr. Saggar prescribed very aggressive medication for my treatment,” said Volckmann, who speaks with McCloy regularly from Washington. “Then Kathy came in and spent a lot of time with me and my husband, making us feel comfortable. This could all be very scary, but we don't feel scared because we know she's right there for us."

Nurse practitioner Abigail Striblea talks to a patient at the Union Rescue Mission in the skid row area of downtown Los Angeles. Photos by Craig Havens.

Hundreds of miles south and a world away at the UCLA School of Nursing Health Center at the Union Rescue Mission in the skid row section of downtown Los Angeles, nurse practitioner Hannah Bampton spends Wednesday nights with homeless families.

"I'm available all night for families that need to be seen for anything," Bampton said. "By doing that, we've decreased the number of unnecessary urgent care visits. Someone might call 911 if there was no one there. But with a night nurse there, the kid doesn't need to go to an ER, because I'm going to help him here."

McCloy and Bampton are a new breed of health care provider that figures to play a pivotal role in health care in this country. Increasingly, it is a nurse practitioner whom patients see when they go to their doctor’s office. They also visit them at clinics, in retail pharmacies and hospitals.

Patients make more than 600 million visits to the nation's 157,000 nurse practitioners every year, according to the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. Those visits are expected to increase as 35 million new patients enter the health care system in the next few years as a result of the Affordable Care Act.

McCloy, a nurse practitioner at UCLA for 16 years who calls herself a "physician extender," said that her schedule allows for closer patient follow-up, leading to improved outcomes. "The patient receives more advanced care in between visits with the doctor," she said.

Like most nurse practitioners, McCloy is a registered nurse who returned to graduate school for her nurse practitioner certificate. The certification allows NPs to take health histories, conduct physical examinations, formulate medical diagnoses, create plans for care, prescribe medications and order therapies. They are also certified to do invasive procedures, such as the placement of a central venous catheter.

"The program really builds on your experience as a nurse," said Carla Caraccio, who has been working as a nurse practitioner in the cardiothoracic surgery ICU at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center since graduating from the UCLA School of Nursing nurse practitioner program in 2011.

"When I first tried to get approval to have NPs act in this expanded role, we met with a great deal of skepticism" from the panel of physicians, said Dr. Cynthia Barrett, who first brought NPs into the system in 1980 and now chair of UCLA's allied health professionals committee. "But now there is none."

It's still a new kind of health care provider, though, and challenges remain, particularly in training, said Dr. Mary Marfisee, medical director at the Union Rescue Mission.

"They throw the NPs out in the workforce as soon as they've graduated, and they have to make all these decisions," Marfisee said. "I'd like to see more nurse practitioner residencies."

Marfisee also said that new nurse practitioners tend to perform better when they’ve spent more time as nurses. Caraccio agrees. "We have a lot of nurses who have gone back for NP programs after just a couple years of nursing, and I'm not sure how they are doing it. I don't think it's enough."

Abigail Striblea, a nurse practitioner at the Union Rescue Mission, said that she enjoys mentoring NP students. "This is very important to all NPs because there is a great need for clinical preceptors. We have NP students who come from UCLA as part of their clinical training, and we do some interdisciplinary activities and teachings, [and] the NP students and medical students are able to work together."

Nevertheless, by all accounts nurse practitioners are taking a huge load off physicians in an overburdened national health system. They are also filling gaps created by a reduction in the number of primary-care physicians, as well as by the cap placed on how many hours per week hospital residents can work.

Nurse practitioners in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit provide valuable stability for patients that rotating residents cannot, said Heidi Crooks, UCLA chief nursing officer and senior associate director of operations and patient care services.

In the neurotrauma intensive care unit at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, nurse practitioner Carl Wherry spends just about every morning going on rounds with Dr. Paul Vespa, the unit's attending neurointensivist physician. "I bring input from a nursing perspective to raise concerns from the nursing end, and to ensure that the order and plans developed can be easily translated by nursing staff," Wherry said.

Wherry, who is planning to return to school in the next few years, said that more nurse practitioners are getting doctorates in nursing. They’re doing this as part of an effort to convince state legislatures to allow advanced-practice nurses to function more autonomously by raising the entry requirements.

"Nurse practitioners are truly the answer to health care reform," said Courtney Lyder, dean of the UCLA School of Nursing and a nurse practitioner. In addition to referencing the lower cost of employing nurse practitioners compared to doctors, Lyder also cited studies showing that NPs are just as effective, or more effective, than physicians in 80 percent of all primary-care procedures.

"We can't have 35 million more patients on the backs of the physicians," Lyder said. "If we are to look at how to employ people to keep the population healthier, it will be to hire nurse practitioners and other health specialists — dietitians, nutritionists, psychologists. The key is not to provide less care, but to provide the right care at the right time. Then the cold doesn't turn into pneumonia. Then you decrease costs to the system."

This story originally appeared in UCLA Magazine.

Children explore nature through science trek classes

Wed, 15 May 2013 20:48:48 GMT

“Environmental Institute of Houston is fun because I learn new facts, meet new people, and do something I love,” writes nine-year-old Landolt Elementary student Walter Zelaya to University of Houston-Clear Lake President William A. Staples. Zelaya and approximately 18 other fourth-graders from several Clear Creek Independent School District elementary schools have been visiting UH-Clear Lake since January to learn more about nature as part of the institute’s science trek classes.

“This class of ‘Science Trek the Next Generation’ fourth-graders attended 12 sessions through the Environmental Institute of Houston since January,” says Texas Master Naturalist and UHCL Environmental Education Specialist Sheila Brown. “I have nine passionate speakers who have been dedicated partners and experts from the community to help the kids build a foundation.”

Nine-year old Laurel Ray, a fourth-grader from League City Elementary, says that she has enjoyed her time at UH-Clear Lake.

“We get to do and see so many new things,” says Laurel about her exploration of nature.

Of course, Laurel’s love of nature may be inherited. Her mother, Anne Ray, is a Texas Master Naturalist and an alumna of UHCL. She and several other parents took part as observers during the group’s last day at UHCL for the school year.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for the students,” says Anne Ray. “It’s great to see these children explore their surroundings.”

During their visits, the students divided their time between classroom discussions and presentations by environmental leaders in the community and explorations around the campus. Their university treks have included the UHCL Environmental Institute of Houston Watersmart School Habitat Demonstration Lab that provides a variety of plants and a small pond for studying small water animals such as tadpoles and crawfish, and the wetlands area that was completed in 2011.

“I use the Environmental Institute of Houston Watersmart School Habitat Demonstration Lab to increase students’ critical and creative thinking, develop students’ abilities to make informed decisions on environmental issues, and instill in students the commitment to take responsible action on behalf of the environment increasing public awareness,” adds Brown. “I have been committed to creating a future where the next generation values the natural world and has the knowledge and skills necessary to make informed decisions and take responsible actions to restore habitats and the broader environment.”

“I was surprised by all I learned,” added Walter during his last visit to UHCL.

Ten-year-old Stephen Himel-Hansen said he loved attending class at the university as part of the program, especially when he got to go on the treks and explore.

“We got to learn about planting, and we got to be close to wildlife,” says Stephen, as he pointed to the area where he had just planted cucumber seeds. “I like the science trek class and coming to UHCL a lot.”

UHCL’s Environmental Institute of Houston addresses issues of environmental concern. The institute has become a leader in building partnerships in research, education and outreach. It conducts and funds research on regional environmental issues and encourages academic activities and public discussion on natural resource conservation, pollution prevention, public policy, and societal issues. The institute helps people in the Houston region participate more effectively in environmental improvement. In her role with the institute, Brown says she promotes stewardship through excellence in environmental education, professional development and curriculum resources that use the outdoors as a classroom window on the world.

The science trek classes were created approximately 14 years ago to give the students in CCISD an opportunity to attend classes and activities off campus.

“This is a win/win experience,” says Brown. “They come to UHCL and learn about nature and they take that knowledge back to the school and the environmental habitats at their schools.

“I want the kids to discover and love the outdoors!”

For more information about the Environmental Institute of Houston at UHCL, visit http:///www.uhcl.edu/EIH or call 281-283-3950.

■ ■ ■

University of Houston-Clear Lake offers more than 80 undergraduate and graduate degree programs, including a doctoral program, from its four schools, which include the School of Business, School of Education, School of Human Sciences and Humanities, and School of Science and Computer Engineering. In 2011, the university gained approval from the state to add freshman- and sophomore-level courses to its roster and is currently planning for its first freshman class in fall 2014. For more information about the university, visit http://www.uhcl.edu.

Major streets being repaved near the beach

Wed, 15 May 2013 20:24:35 GMT

The city has begun to resurface two major roadways in downtown Carlsbad as part of its regular program to extend the life of roadways, keep them smooth and improve safety. The work will cause some traffic delays on Carlsbad Boulevard north of Tamarack Avenue to the city limits in Oceanside, and on Carlsbad Village Drive between Interstate 5 and Carlsbad Boulevard.

Work crews began to remove deteriorating asphalt on Carlsbad Boulevard on Wednesday, May 15, and will begin repaving the roadway on May 20.

The work will necessitate some lane closures, so motorists are advised to use alternative routes until the repaving is completed on or about May 24.

After Carlsbad Boulevard is resurfaced, work crews will turn their attention to Carlsbad Village Drive between Interstate 5 and the beach. Repaving that roadway is expected to begin on May 28 and will take place at night, between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.

“We decided to do this work at night to reduce the impact on the businesses along Carlsbad Village Drive,” said City of Carlsbad Streets Superintendent John Maashoff. “It’s more of a commercial district, so the night work isn’t anticipated to affect many residences.”

Some residential streets also will be repaved. See a map of the affected streets.

The Carlsbad Boulevard project also will include lowering the boulevard near the Carlsbad Army Navy Academy at Cypress Avenue to improve access and mobility for pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists parking along the boulevard.

After Carlsbad Boulevard and Carlsbad Village Drive are repaved, they will be restriped to make them more bicycle-friendly. The city will widen bicycle lanes on Carlsbad Boulevard, a popular coastal route, and add bicycle lanes to Carlsbad Village Drive for the very first time. Adding and enhancing bicycle lanes is part of the City of Carlsbad’s “livable streets” program, which seeks to make city streets more accessible to people using all modes of transportation, not just motorists.

Under the city’s pavement management program, city transportation engineers evaluate the city’s streets every year to make sure they are well maintained. This year’s streets were chosen based on their age and pavement condition.

Some streets require a new pavement layer, which involves patching the pavement surface to remove cracks and other defects, then applying a thin layer of rubberized asphalt concrete to the surface. Other streets needed only a coat of slurry seal to bring them up to the proper standard. Carlsbad Boulevard and Carlsbad Village Drive are receiving a new pavement layer, and the expected life of new pavement will be about 20 years.

Watch a video about the city’s street paving program.

The $2.45 million contract for the city’s pavement overlay project was awarded to All American Asphalt, and the $923,000 contract for the slurry seal project was awarded to Valley Slurry Seal. The City of Carlsbad Construction Management and Inspection team will supervise the work. The project is funded through the city’s Capital Improvement Program budget, and the money comes from state gas tax funds, TransNet funds and fees paid by trash haulers.

For more information

John Maashoff, streets superintendent, 760-434-2980, john.maashoff@carlsbadca.gov

Jon Schauble, project engineer, 760-602-2762, jon.schauble@carlsbadca.gov

City media contact

Kristina Ray, City of Carlsbad, 760-434-2957, kristina.ray@carlsbadca.gov

Students give high marks to UC education, access to courses

Wed, 15 May 2013 20:03:58 GMT

University of California students remain highly satisfied with their education overall, and with their access to courses needed to graduate, according to a survey of UC undergraduates released this week.

Despite dramatic reductions in state funding for higher education and rising enrollment, the 2012 UC Undergraduate Experience Survey (UCUES) shows overall student satisfaction has remained at 82 percent, a number that has been essentially unchanged since 2006. Seventy-three percent of students reported they were satisfied with their access to courses needed to graduate, a jump from 68 percent in 2010. Meanwhile, 89 percent were satisfied with their ability to get into the major of their choice.

To read the story, go here.

Getting fit in middle age can reduce heart failure risk

Wed, 15 May 2013 20:00:00 GMT

Study Highlights:

Already being fit or getting into shape during middle age can reduce future heart failure risk.
Low fitness is an independent, modifiable risk factor for heart failure.

BALTIMORE, May 15, 2013 ― Middle aged and out of shape? It’s not too late to get fit — and reduce your risk for heart failure, according to research presented at the American Heart Association’s Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions 2013.

Researchers ranked fitness levels of 9,050 men and women (average age 48) who took two fitness tests — eight years apart — during mid-life. After 18 years of follow-up, they matched the fitness information to Medicare claims for heart failure hospitalizations.

“People who weren’t fit at the start of the study were at higher risk for heart failure after age 65,” said Ambarish Pandey, M.D., lead author of the study and an internal medicine resident at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. “However, those who improved their fitness reduced their heart failure risk, compared to those who continued to have a low fitness level eight years later.”

The researchers used metabolic equivalents (METs), a measure of how people do on a treadmill test. For each MET improvement in fitness, participants’ heart failure risk dropped by 20 percent. For example, if a 40-year-old went from jogging 12 minutes per mile to running 10 minutes per mile — an increase of two METs — he or she reduced heart failure risk at a later age by 40 percent, Pandey said.

As more people survive heart attacks and live with heart disease, the number with heart failure is increasing. More than 5.1 million Americans live with heart failure, according to the American Heart Association, and by 2030, the prevalence of heart failure may increase 25 percent from 2013 estimates.

“Improving fitness is a good heart failure prevention strategy — along with controlling blood pressure and improving diet and lifestyle — that could be employed in mid-life to decrease the risk of heart failure in later years,” Pandey said.

Co-authors are Benjamin Willis, M.D., M.P.H.; David Leonard, Ph.D.; Laura DeFina, M.D.; Ang Gao, M.S.; and Jarett Berry, M.D.

The American Heart Association funded the study. Additional disclosures are on the abstract.

Follow news from the Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions 2013 via Twitter: @HeartNews; #QCOR13.

###

Any B-roll, animation or images related to these news release are in the right column of this link: http://newsroom.heart.org/news/getting-fit-in-middle-age-can-reduce-heart-failure-risk?preview=5d440db142f0a4b2197177a258dcc9db

For Media Inquiries: (214) 706-1173

Cathy Lewis: (214) 706-1324; cathy.lewis@heart.org

Tagni McRae: (214) 706-1383; tagni.mcrae@heart.org

Julie Del Barto (broadcast): (214) 706-1330; julie.delbarto@heart.org

For Public Inquiries: (800) AHA-USA1 (242-8721)

www.heart.org and www.strokeassociation.org

Brain rewires itself after damage or injury, life scientists discover

Wed, 15 May 2013 20:00:00 GMT

When the brain's primary "learning center" is damaged, complex new neural circuits arise to compensate for the lost function, say life scientists from UCLA and Australia who have pinpointed the regions of the brain involved in creating those alternate pathways — often far from the damaged site.

The research, conducted by UCLA's Michael Fanselow and Moriel Zelikowsky in collaboration with Bryce Vissel, a group leader of the neuroscience research program at Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research, appears this week in the early online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers found that parts of the prefrontal cortex take over when the hippocampus, the brain's key center of learning and memory formation, is disabled. Their breakthrough discovery, the first demonstration of such neural-circuit plasticity, could potentially help scientists develop new treatments for Alzheimer's disease, stroke and other conditions involving damage to the brain.

For the study, Fanselow and Zelikowsky conducted laboratory experiments with rats showing that the rodents were able to learn new tasks even after damage to the hippocampus. While the rats needed more training than they would have normally, they nonetheless learned from their experiences — a surprising finding.

"I expect that the brain probably has to be trained through experience," said Fanselow, a professor of psychology and member of the UCLA Brain Research Institute, who was the study's senior author. "In this case, we gave animals a problem to solve."

After discovering the rats could, in fact, learn to solve problems, Zelikowsky, a graduate student in Fanselow's laboratory, traveled to Australia, where she worked with Vissel to analyze the anatomy of the changes that had taken place in the rats' brains. Their analysis identified significant functional changes in two specific regions of the prefrontal cortex.

"Interestingly, previous studies had shown that these prefrontal cortex regions also light up in the brains of Alzheimer's patients, suggesting that similar compensatory circuits develop in people," Vissel said. "While it's probable that the brains of Alzheimer's sufferers are already compensating for damage, this discovery has significant potential for extending that compensation and improving the lives of many."

The hippocampus, a seahorse-shaped structure where memories are formed in the brain, plays critical roles in processing, storing and recalling information. The hippocampus is highly susceptible to damage through stroke or lack of oxygen and is critically inolved in Alzheimer's disease, Fanselow said.

"Until now, we've been trying to figure out how to stimulate repair within the hippocampus," he said. "Now we can see other structures stepping in and whole new brain circuits coming into being."

Zelikowsky said she found it interesting that sub-regions in the prefrontal cortex compensated in different ways, with one sub-region — the infralimbic cortex — silencing its activity and another sub-region — the prelimbic cortex — increasing its activity.

"If we're going to harness this kind of plasticity to help stroke victims or people with Alzheimer's," she said, "we first have to understand exactly how to differentially enhance and silence function, either behaviorally or pharmacologically. It's clearly important not to enhance all areas. The brain works by silencing and activating different populations of neurons. To form memories, you have to filter out what's important and what's not."

Complex behavior always involves multiple parts of the brain communicating with one another, with one region's message affecting how another region will respond, Fanselow noted. These molecular changes produce our memories, feelings and actions.

"The brain is heavily interconnected — you can get from any neuron in the brain to any other neuron via about six synaptic connections," he said. "So there are many alternate pathways the brain can use, but it normally doesn't use them unless it's forced to. Once we understand how the brain makes these decisions, then we're in a position to encourage pathways to take over when they need to, especially in the case of brain damage.

"Behavior creates molecular changes in the brain; if we know the molecular changes we want to bring about, then we can try to facilitate those changes to occur through behavior and drug therapy," he added. I think that's the best alternative we have. Future treatments are not going to be all behavioral or all pharmacological, but a combination of both."

Fanselow and Vissel have worked closely over the last several years. For more information on Fanselow's research, visit the Fanselow Lab website. For more on the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, visit their website.

The research was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (grant MH 62122), part of the National Institutes of Health, and by the National Science Foundation (EAPSI award 0914307 to Zelikowsky).

For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.

Young women often less healthy than young men before heart attacks

Wed, 15 May 2013 20:00:00 GMT

Study Highlights:

Young female heart attack patients (18-55 years old) have more medical problems, more chest pain and a poorer quality of life before their heart attacks, compared to men.
These findings may provide insight into why young women often have poorer outcomes after heart attacks than their male counterparts.
Healthcare providers should routinely assess health status to help identify young women at risk for heart attacks.

BALTIMORE, May 15, 2013 ― Young women tend to be less healthy and have a poorer quality of life than similar-aged men before suffering a heart attack, according to research presented at the American Heart Association’s Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions 2013.

“Compared with young men, women under 55 years are less likely to have heart attacks. But, when they do occur, women are more likely to have medical problems, poorer physical and mental functioning, more chest pain and a poorer quality of life in the month leading up to their heart attack,” said Rachel Dreyer, Ph.D., the study’s lead author and a research fellow in cardiovascular medicine at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn.

Researchers surveyed 2,990 women and men from an international study of heart attack patients 18-55 years old. They used general health measures and a disease-specific questionnaire that assessed patients’ chest pain and quality of life prior to their heart attacks. They found:

Women had a poorer physical and mental health with more physical limitations prior to their heart attacks than similar-aged men with heart attacks.
The women were also more likely than men to have other conditions associated with heart disease: diabetes (40 percent vs. 27 percent); obesity (55 percent vs. 48 percent); history of stroke (6 percent vs. 3 percent); heart failure (6 percent vs. 2 percent); renal failure (13 percent vs. 9 percent); and depression (49 percent vs. 24 percent).

“These data suggest that young women were suffering more from their heart disease than young men prior to their heart attack,” Dreyer said.

“We need to develop better methods for recognizing and treating young women with chest pain to optimize their quality of life and potentially even prevent a heart attack. General health and disease-specific health status assessments are valuable tools for healthcare providers to measure the burden of disease on patients. These should be standardized into clinical practice, much like assessments for other traditional heart disease risk factors.”

Co-authors are Kim G. Smolderen, Ph.D.; Kelly G. Strait, M.S; John F. Beltrame, M.B.B.S., Ph.D.; Judith H. Lichtman, Ph.D.; Nancy P. Lorenze, D.N.Sc.; Gail D’Onofrio, M.D.; Harlan M. Krumholz, M.D.; and John A. Spertus, M.D.

Researchers used data from the VIRGO study (Variation in Recovery: Role of Gender on Outcomes of Young AMI Patients), funded by the National, Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Additional disclosures are on the abstract.

The American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women campaign provides information and tools to help women live heart-healthy lives.

Follow news from the Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions 2013 via Twitter: @HeartNews; #QCOR13.

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For Media Inquiries: (214) 706-1173

Cathy Lewis: (214) 706-1324; cathy.lewis@heart.org

Tagni McRae: (214) 706-1383; tagni.mcrae@heart.org

Julie Del Barto (broadcast): (214) 706-1330; julie.delbarto@heart.org

For Public Inquiries: (800) AHA-USA1 (242-8721)

www.heart.org and www.strokeassociation.org

Heart failure patients living longer, but long-term survival still low

Wed, 15 May 2013 20:00:00 GMT

Study Highlights:

More people hospitalized for heart failure are surviving longer.
Yet their prognosis remains poor, as only one in three patients hospitalized with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) in 2004 survived beyond five years.
Researchers noted that heart failure patients are older and sicker compared to the previous decade.

EMBARGOED UNTIL 3 p.m. CT/4 p.m. ET, Wednesday, May 15, 2013
BALTIMORE, May 15, 2013 — People hospitalized for acute heart failure are likely to survive longer compared to the prior decade, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Heart Association and presented at the American Heart Association’s Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions 2013.

But overall, long-term survival rates remain low, researchers said.

Unlike chronic heart failure, in which patients are able to live at home, acute decompensated heart failure involves a severe deterioration in health. Fluid backs up in the lungs, breathing becomes difficult and the heart is unable to supply the body’s necessary oxygen.

“Heart failure is a lethal disease with a worse life expectancy than many types of cancer,” said Samuel W. Joffe, M.D., lead author of the study and a cardiac fellow at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center, in Worcester. People hospitalized with heart failure are “very sick and their life expectancy is quite limited.”

Comparing 9,748 patients admitted to 11 central Massachusetts medical centers with acute decompensated heart failure in 1995 to those in 2004, researchers found good and bad news:

The proportion of people who died while hospitalized in 2004 decreased 21 percent compared to 1995.
The proportion who died within 30 days of discharge in 2004 decreased 18 percent compared to 1995.
Long-term survival, 5 years or more, improved by 45% in 2004 compared to 1995.
Patients admitted to hospitals in 2004 with acute decompensated heart failure were older and sicker than those admitted in 1995.
Patients in 2004 were more likely to have other chronic illnesses such as anemia, high blood pressure and chronic kidney disease.

“While survival for patients in this study improved significantly, their prognosis was still poor, as only about one in three of these patients hospitalized with heart failure survived five years or more,” Joffe said.

Treatment guidelines for heart failure, released jointly in 1995 by the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology, may have played a role in the short-term improvements, Joffe said.

Patients hospitalized in 2004 were more likely to be treated with aspirin, beta blockers and lipid-lowering agents or statins. They were less likely to be treated with calcium channel blockers and digoxin.

It’s not clear if changes in medications directly caused the increase in survival, Joffe said, noting that better pacemakers, defibrillators, overall medical care, or other factors also may have played a role.

Heart attack remains the leading cause of heart failure. Eating fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean protein sources, as well as exercising regularly, avoiding smoking and maintaining healthy cholesterol and blood pressure levels can help prevent heart attack and thus heart failure.

Co-authors are Robert Goldberg, M.D.; Kristy Webster, M.D.; David McManus, M.D.; Michael Kiernan, M.D.; Darleen Lessard, M.D.; Jorge Yarzebski, M.D.; Chad Darling, M.D.; and Joel Gore, M.D.

For the latest heart and stroke news, follow us on Twitter: @HeartNews.

Understand your risk of heart failure and learn more about Advanced Heart Failure.

###

For Media Inquiries: (214) 706-1173

Bridgette McNeill: (214) 706-1135; Bridgette.McNeill@heart.org

Cathy Lewis: (214) 706-1324; cathy.lewis@heart.org

Julie Del Barto (broadcast): (214) 706-1330; Julie.DelBarto@heart.org

For Public Inquiries: (800) AHA-USA1 (242-8721)

heart.org and strokeassociation.org

Jekyll into Hyde: Breathing auto emissions turns HDL cholesterol from 'good' to 'bad'

Wed, 15 May 2013 20:00:00 GMT

Academic researchers have found that breathing motor vehicle emissions triggers a change in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, altering its cardiovascular protective qualities so that it actually contributes to clogged arteries.

In addition to changing HDL from "good" to "bad," the inhalation of emissions activates other components of oxidation, the early cell and tissue damage that causes inflammation, leading to hardening of the arteries, according to the research team, which included scientists from UCLA and other institutions.

The findings of this early study, done in mice, are available in the online edition of the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, a publication of the American Heart Association, and will appear in the journal's June print edition.

Emission particles such as those from vehicles are major pollutants in urban settings. These particles are coated in chemicals that are sensitive to free radicals, which have been known to cause oxidation. The mechanism behind how this leads to atherosclerosis, however, has not been well understood.

In the study, the researchers found that after two weeks of exposure to vehicle emissions, mice showed oxidative damage in the blood and liver — damage that was not reversed after a subsequent week of receiving filtered air. Altered HDL cholesterol may play a key role in this damaging process, they said.

"This is the first study showing that air pollutants promote the development of dysfunctional, pro-oxidative HDL cholesterol and the activation of an internal oxidation pathway, which may be one of the mechanisms in how air pollution can exacerbate clogged arteries that lead to heart disease and stroke," said senior author Dr. Jesus Araujo, an associate professor of medicine and director of environmental cardiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

For the study, one group of mice was exposed to vehicle emissions for two weeks and then filtered air for one week, a second was exposed to two weeks of emissions with no filtered air, and a third was exposed to only clean, filtered air for two weeks. This part of the collaborative research took place at the Northlake Exposure Facility at the University of Washington, headed by study author Michael E. Rosenfeld.

"The biggest surprise was finding that after two weeks of exposure to vehicle emissions, one week of breathing clean filtered air was not enough to reverse the damage," said Rosenfeld, a professor of environmental and occupational health sciences and pathology at the University of Washington.

Mice were exposed for a few hours, several days a week, to whole diesel exhaust at a particulate mass concentration within the range of what mine workers usually are exposed to.

After the exposures, UCLA scientists analyzed blood and tissue specimens and checked to see if the protective antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of HDL, known as "good" cholesterol, were still intact. They used special analytical laboratory procedures originally developed by study author Mohamad Navab at UCLA to evaluate how "good" or "bad" HDL had become. The team found that many of the positive properties of HDL were markedly altered after the air-pollutant exposure.

For example, the HDL of mice exposed to two weeks of vehicle emissions, including those that received a subsequent week of filtered air, had a much-decreased ability to protect against oxidation and inflammation induced by low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, known as "bad" cholesterol, than the mice that had only been exposed to filtered air.

According to researchers, without HDL's ability to inhibit LDL, along with other factors, the oxidation process may run unchecked. Moreover, not only was the HDL of the mice exposed to diesel exhaust unable to protect against oxidation, but, in fact, it further enhanced the oxidative process and even worked in tandem with the LDL to promote even more oxidative damage.

Researchers also found a twofold to threefold increase of additional oxidation products in the blood of mice exposed to vehicle emissions, as well as activation of oxidation pathways in the liver. The degree of HDL dysfunction was correlated with the level of these oxidation markers.

"We suggest that people try to limit their exposure to air pollutants, as they may induce damage that starts during the exposure and continues long after it ends," said first author Fen Yin, a researcher in the division of cardiology at the Geffen School of Medicine.

The current research builds on the team's previous findings that ambient ultrafine particles commonly found in air pollution, including vehicle emissions, enhance the build-up of cholesterol plaques in the arteries and that HDL may play a role.

"Our research helps confirm that the functionality of HDL may be as important to check as the levels," said study author Dr. Alan Fogelman, executive chair of the department of medicine and director of the atherosclerosis research unit at the Geffen School of Medicine.

The study was funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences; the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute; and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Additional authors included Akeem Lawal, Jerry Ricks, Julie R. Fox and Tim Larson.

For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.

UCLA's new Meteorite Museum rocks

Wed, 15 May 2013 18:14:09 GMT

Canyon Diablo, a 357-pound chunk of a meteor that slammed into Earth 50,000 years ago, sits center stage at UCLA's new Meteorite Museum.

Nearly 50,000 years ago, an asteroid fragment slammed into Earth approximately 40 miles east of what is now Flagstaff, Ariz. Upon impact, the celestial projectile shattered into thousands of pieces and created a mile-wide hole now known as Meteor Crater. A 357-pound chunk of that asteroid now sits center stage at UCLA’s new Meteorite Museum, tucked away in the Geology Building. The Canyon Diablo meteorite, once owned by philanthropist William Andrews Clark, Jr., was donated to UCLA upon his death in 1934.

That meteorite became one of the first specimens in a collection that has grown to some 1,500 meteorites under the stewardship of professor John Wasson and researcher Alan Rubin, members of the department of Earth and space sciences and the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics. The collection is one of the most extensive in the world, but only recently have these unique bits of our solar system’s history been on display for visitors to admire.

"For many years, we’ve collected beautiful exhibit specimens, but kept them locked in an inaccessible cabinet," Rubin said. "It’s nice to put them on display for other people to see."

Those expecting the museum to be filled with rows of indistinguishable black rocks may be surprised to learn that there are many types of meteorites — metallic, stony and everything in between. More than one exhibit emphasizes chondrites, a type of meteorite that is the subject of "endless fascination," according to Rubin. "Chondrites are composed of thousands or millions of tiny spherules, called chondrules," he explained.

Chondrites are still very much a mystery, said Wasson. "It appears that chondrules formed from clumps of dust in the solar nebula — the gas and dust cloud that was here before the planets and asteroids formed — and were zapped in a way that is still unknown."

Melted debris from Earth that was shot into space in extraterrestrial impacts, tektites form into disks, teardrops and other shapes while spinning through the atmosphere.

In addition to exhibits of extraterrestrial specimens is a showcase of melted tektites formed from debris from Earth that was ejected during extraterrestrial impacts, as well as Libyan desert glass that formed as a result of meteor impacts.

Another exhibit offers tips on how to correctly identify meteorites. Rubin, a world expert in meteorite identification, gets phone calls nearly every day from meteorite-hunting hopefuls and regularly receives specimens people believe are meteorites. While real specimens occasionally come across his desk, the vast majority of these objects come from Earth. An exhibit humorously dubbed "Meteorwrongs" presents a selection of these, including ordinary rocks, petrified wood, pottery shards and twigs.

Wasson and Rubin hope that the museum, which welcomes visits from school groups, will help educate the next generation of meteorite researchers.

"The museum will be a wonderful teaching resource," Wasson said. "Our goal is to make it the world’s best scientifically oriented meteorite museum."

The Meteorite Museum, which is supported by the department of Earth and space sciences and the Institute for Planets and Exoplanets, is in Room 3697 of the Geology Building and is open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.- 4 p.m.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

This story was originally published in the April 23, 2013 edition of UCLA Planets. Read a recent UCLA Today story about the part Wasson and his colleagues played in collecting pieces of a meteor that exploded on April 22 near Reno, Nev.: Meteor explosion sets off modern-day Gold Rush.

iPR Software Drives 43 million Facebook Followers to Client Sites

Wed, 15 May 2013 17:49:34 GMT

Los Angeles, CA – May 15, 2013 – iPR Software, http://iprsoftware.com, the industry leader in public relations and marketing software solutions, has delivered 43 million Facebook followers for their clients in the first quarter of 2013, an increase from 28 million this same time last year. This validates the effectiveness and power of iPR Software’s integrated social media tools.

While clients like Yahoo!, Target, and Xerox provide the dynamic Content Marketing assets, such as news releases, HD Video, and Hi-resolution images, the ability to integrate social media into their online newsrooms and distributions is possible with the assistance of the online experts at iPR Software.

iPR Software’s public relations and marketing tools include customized, branded online newsrooms, integrated social media feeds, mobile optimized sites, digital press kits, crisis communication sites, and embedded multimedia galleries, just to name a few. Empowered with the easy-to-use Content Management System (CMS), iPR Software’s clients connection to 43 million is part of the social media and sharing tactics that also include email alerts, RSS Feeds, and targeted information news distributions to targeted audiences, media lists, and newswires.

"We’re very proud to serve the quality clients at iPR Software and assist in driving their social media efforts," says JD Bowles, President and COO of iPR Software. "The 35% increase in Facebook Followers from last year is an impressive achievement for our clients and evidence of the power of social media as a critical integrated PR and Marketing tactic."

With over 1 billion users and over 11 million business pages, Facebook is a critical element for any successful online PR and Marketing efforts. iPR Software makes social media tasks easy through their all-in-one CMS solution. If you would like to explore how iPR Software can assist you with your integrated social media efforts, Click here to receive a complimentary social media analysis of your newsroom and marketing content (a $500.00 value), or contact us at 800-514-1897 and on the web at www.iprsoftware.com.

About iPR Software

iPR Software is the premier global provider of public relations and marketing software that delivers increased brand visibility, drives traffic to corporate websites, and maximizes ROI with key audiences. Its solutions empower engagement across all traditional and social media channels via online, digital, and mobile networks. The all-in-one proprietary CMS workflow solutions and customized platforms enable corporate communicators and marketers to target key influencers, produce and self-publish rich media content, host and distribute optimized content, and analyze key measurements and metrics to increase B2B and B2C engagements.

Media Contact:
James Madden
jmadden@iprsoftware.com
310-494-2637

City invests in libraries, traffic improvements, other construction projects

Wed, 15 May 2013 15:12:32 GMT

The City of Carlsbad's proposed Capital Improvement Program for the fiscal year that begins on July 1 includes $43.9 million in new spending to improve neighborhoods and libraries, enhance traffic flow throughout the city, and upgrade the city's sewage, drainage and water delivery systems. The proposed budget was presented to the City Council at its May 14 meeting. Watch a video explaining the city budget.

“The city’s construction budget will focus on maintaining and modernizing city facilities to provide Carlsbad residents and businesses with the best possible services,” said City of Carlsbad Administrative Services Director Chuck McBride.

Highlights of the 2013-14 Capital Improvements Program include:

Library modernization

The city will significantly improve the Dove and Cole libraries to meet current and future needs for modern library services as well as needed maintenance, investing more than $5 million. The city will apply $630,000 from a bequest by George and Margaret Brownley. The Brownleys were long time Carlsbad library supporters, and Mrs. Brownley was Carlsbad’s 1992 Citizen of the Year.

Village and Barrio area projects

Seven new projects are slated to improve these neighborhoods, the heart of historic Carlsbad. The projects include bike and pedestrian way-finding signage, traffic circles, decorative lighting, parking signs, safety lighting and streetscape improvements. The city also will continue improvements to drainage systems in northwestern Carlsbad, with an additional $3.6 million in appropriations.

Parks and facilities maintenance

Maintaining and repairing city facilities is necessary to keep them in good condition. Twelve projects have currently been identified, including replacement of the synthetic turf soccer fields at Poinsettia Park and lighting at athletic fields throughout the city, at a total cost of about $8.3 million.

El Camino Real widening

The city will continue widening El Camino Real over the next five years, and $5.9 million in additional funding is included for these projects. The segments slated for widening are between Cassia Road and Camino Vida Roble, between Arenal Road and La Costa Avenue, between Lisa Street and Crestview Drive, and between Tamarack and Chestnut avenues.

Recycled water

The city is continuing its commitment to keeping local ocean waters clean by expanding the Carlsbad Water Recycling Facility, including construction of additional pipelines and a reservoir, at a cost $29.4 million over the next five years.

Fire Station No. 3

The city will relocate the existing Fire Station No. 3 from a house on Chestnut Avenue and Catalina Drive to a new facility in Robertson Ranch East. This relocation will bring the new station up to modern standards and ensure a six-minute response in northeastern Carlsbad. The total estimated project cost is $9.4 million.

About 23 percent of the city’s Capital Improvement Program budget comes from developer fees. Other funding comes from special financing districts, infrastructure replacement funds set aside by the city, the state gas tax, Transnet, grants and other agencies.

Even though money is appropriated through the Capital Improvement Program budget process, large projects still must be authorized by the City Council before proceeding.

The Capital Improvements Program for the next 15 years outlines approximately 240 projects at a cost of almost $500 million.

The city will present the proposed operating budget, which includes expenses for day-to-day city services such as police, fire, libraries and parks, on May 28. On May 30 at 6 p.m. the city will hold a public budget workshop at 1635 Faraday Ave.

Both the Capital Improvement Program budget and operating budget are scheduled to be presented to the City Council on June 11 for adoption.

For more information

Helga Stover, 760-602-2430, helga.stover@carlsbadca.gov

City media contact

Kristina Ray, City of Carlsbad, 760-434-2957, Kristina.ray@carlsbadca.gov

Del Castillo to Perform at Galveston’s Pier 21

Wed, 15 May 2013 15:02:15 GMT

Acclaimed Latin Rock band Del Castillo will perform at Party on the Pier on Sat., July 20. Mitchell Historic Properties and the restaurants and attractions at Pier 21® present this new free, family-friendly gathering, which takes place on the third Saturday of the month from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. through October and features live music and entertainment including performances by award winning Austin musicians.

Del Castillo has won upwards of 18 awards for their eclectic blend of Flamenco, Rock, Latin, Blues, and World music. Their unique sound and intense instrumental skills have gained them recognition including SXSW/Austin Music “Album of the Year” Awards for their albums Vida and Brotherhood, “Band of the Year”, ASCAP’s “Best Independent Group of the Year”, and Austin Music Pundits “Best Live Act”.

Their lively sound has gained Del Castillo recognition by Rolling Stone magazine who call the band “tumbling brilliance on nylon-string classical guitars” with “eruptions of technique and taste that conjure images of Eddie Van Halen fronting early Santana (with an assist from the Gipsy Kings).”

The band has toured with a diverse group of musicians including Styx, Los Lonely Boys, Don Henley, and Willie Nelson. Del Castillo has appeared for television and media including special performances for Austin City Limits, Dan Rather Reports, and The George Lopez Show. They have also performed for a number of blockbuster movie soundtracks including “Once Upon a Time in Mexico”, “Sin City”, “GRINDHOUSE”, and “Kill Bill Vol. 2,” among others.

Del Castillo will perform at Party on the Pier on Saturday, July 20 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Pier 21®, located at 21^st Street and Harborside Drive in Galveston, Tx. The event is free and open to the public. Visitors are encouraged to grab a meal and enjoy the show from the outdoor seating areas at any of the participating restaurants located on the pier. Visitors must be prepared to show valid identification to enter.

About Party on the Pier

Party on the Pier is sponsored by Mitchell Historic Properties and the restaurants and attractions at Pier 21® including Willie G’s Seafood and Steaks, Nonno Tony’s World Kitchen, Olympia Grill at Pier 21®, Texas Seaport Museum, Tall Ship Elissa, Pier 21 Theater, Ocean Star Off Shore Energy Center, Sun Time Watersports, Baywatch Dolphin Tours, Harbor Tours aboard Seagull II, Cool Tours, and Kona Ice. For more information, visit www.Pier21Galveston.com.

About Mitchell Historic Properties

Mitchell Historic Properties (MHP) oversees Galveston properties owned by developer, philanthropist and preservationist George Mitchell and the Mitchell family. MHP owns and preserves approximately one-fourth of the buildings in The Historic Strand Seaport Area including commercial and residential properties as well as Hotel Galvez & Spa, The Tremont House and Harbor House, the hotel and marina at Pier 21®. The Mitchell’s ongoing preservation of Galveston’s historic downtown helped spark the resurrection of The Strand National Historic Landmark District and Pier 21® as a tourist destination. For leasing information, visit www.MitchellHistoricProperties.com or call (409) 763-5806.

UCLA's first annual Diversity Symposium promotes dialogue

Tue, 14 May 2013 22:19:41 GMT

On Monday, May 13, UCLA officially kicked off its first annual Diversity Symposium, a weeklong series of programs ending May 18— including keynote speakers, lectures, film screenings, workshops and exhibits — to promote diversity and inclusion.

The comprehensive series of events draw on the collective efforts of students, faculty and staff, and will provide an opportunity for everyone across the campus to engage in meaningful dialogue.

“The purpose of the symposium is to energize the campus around the issue of diversity,” said Christine Mata, assistant dean of students, who, along with Minh Tran, intergroup relations program assistant coordinator for the Bruin Resource Center, was co-chair of the symposium. “These events not only recognize the diversity of our campus, but help us to create spaces where everyone can engage with each other in order to learn and appreciate the diversity of our experiences.”

Organized under the theme of “Our Stories: Recognizing and Embracing Our Differences,” the symposium was created as a key piece of Chancellor Gene Block’s Principles of Community. It is also intended to achieve the outcomes outlined in the Communities and Conflict in the Modern World General Education proposal that did not come to fruition last year.

UCLA study shows warming in central China greater than most climate models indicated

Tue, 14 May 2013 22:00:00 GMT

Temperatures in central China are 10 to 14 degrees Fahrenheit hotter today than they were 20,000 years ago, during the last ice age, UCLA researchers report — an increase two to four times greater than many scientists previously thought.

The findings, published today in the early online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could help researchers develop more accurate models of past climate change and better predict such changes in the future.

"Previously, we could only infer temperature on land through changes in climate archives like tree rings or pollen over time," said lead author Robert Eagle, a UCLA researcher in the department of Earth and space sciences. "This is the first time that temperature has been determined accurately on land at the time of the last ice age."

To make their temperature measurements, the scientists used a technique known as clumped isotope thermometry, which detects subtle atomic differences in calcium carbonate, a compound commonly found in rocks, snail shells and wind-blown dust deposits known as loess. The method is the most accurate land-based temperature-determination tool available today.

"We can now tell what temperatures were on land 20,000 years ago with more accuracy than was ever previously possible," said senior author Aradhna Tripati, a UCLA assistant professor in the department of Earth and space sciences and the department of atmospheric and oceanic sciences.

Tripati and Eagle chose to study the Loess Plateau in central China, a 250,000-square-mile agricultural region some 500 miles southwest of Beijing, because of its wide expanses of loess, the silty sediments that give the area its name and which contain deposits from the last ice age.

"We can calculate temperatures and reconstruct the chemistry of rainwater from the past ice age, then compare this to the present day climate in specific regions," Eagle said. "We can then use this information to validate current climate models and study atmospheric processes."

The researchers collected two unique ice age sample types from the Loess Plateau region: fossilized land-snail shells and soil deposits. While snails calcify quickly over just a few years, soil carbonates grow over longer time periods, ranging from a few hundred to thousands of years. Eagle and Tripati used clumped isotope thermometry to determine the temperature at which these samples formed roughly 20,000 years ago.

"One of the most important aspects of the study was showing that we could get the same result from such different types of carbonates," said Tripati, who is also a member of UCLA's Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. "Even though these materials integrate over very different time frames, they gave us the same result."

Comparing the findings with climate models

When Eagle and Tripati matched their findings against climate models predicting the change in temperature in central China from the previous ice age to the present, they found that those models that took into account atmospheric processes tended to be more accurate.

"The climate models that did the best job of resolving temperature changes in this region were the ones that accurately depicted very large-scale atmospheric processes, such as patterns of winds in the atmosphere, the position of the jet stream and various atmospheric fronts," Tripati said. "The models that didn't resolve these atmospheric phenomena tended to do a poorer job of predicting temperature.

"It's so important to have models that accurately depict regional climates on land for the study of past and future climate change. We were surprised at how poorly most climate models predicted temperature change in central China and also surprised at how sensitive this region has been to changes in climate forcing."

Since the last ice age, numerous factors have influenced changes in global wind and precipitation patterns in Earth's atmosphere. Atmospheric processes move in relation to a standing, stationary wave, which is an oscillating reference point that wraps around our planet like an invisible piece of string. The position of that wave around our planet has changed over time. Contributing factors have been a rise in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, changes in incoming solar radiation and changes in the amount of ice covering the Earth's surface.

For example, ice sheets can deflect the stationary waves so that winds and precipitation patterns fall more frequently in certain locations on the planet. But as ice has melted over the last 20,000 years, the stationary waves have shifted, influencing the circulation of the atmosphere.

"Clumped isotope thermometry has allowed us to say with more confidence how temperatures have warmed in central China, and how the chemistry of rainfall has changed. The climate models that did the best job of simulating temperature changes seemed to also be the ones to give the best depiction of changes in water cycling in this region," Tripati said. "Our results suggest that in this region, temperature, water cycling and winds are very sensitive to changing climate forcing. Rises in greenhouse gas levels, melting ice sheets and changes in solar radiation can all affect not only temperature but precipitation and winds as well."

"We have not dissected out the specific role of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, in this study, but they are certainly a contributing factor to temperature change and ice-sheet extent," Eagle said.

The climate model developed by researchers at France's Institut Pierre Simon Laplace des sciences de l'Environnement Global (the IPSL model) closely matched the data for this region in this study, but it has traditionally been one of the less frequently used climate models for predicting future climate change.

"That is quite extraordinary," said Eagle, "because while more commonly used models have simulated a very small amount of temperature change in the region, that prediction was not validated by our data."

Types of sediment similar to that found in central China exist in the Midwestern U.S., ranging from Mississippi to Nebraska, and they are currently being studied by scientists at UCLA.

"One of the things we're doing is measuring samples from the loess deposits in the Midwestern U.S. to see how climate has changed in these regions," Tripati said. "These deposits were also formed at the time of the last ice age and contain similar types of snail and soil carbonates that we analyzed in central China. It will be interesting to repeat a similar investigation in this region."

This research was funded by the National Science Foundation (EAR-0949191).

Significant contributions to the research were made by Eagle and Tripati at UCLA; Gaojun Li, a faculty member at Nanjing University in China; UCLA collaborators Jonathan L. Mitchell, Ulrike Seibt and David Neelin; and Camille Risi, a research scientist at the Laboratory of Dynamic Meterology (LMD/IPSL) at the Center for National Scientific Research (CNRS) in Paris, France.

For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.

UCLA Architecture and Urban Design launches 'Extreme IDEAS' series

Tue, 14 May 2013 19:45:00 GMT

(Editors: Digital images are available from media officers.)

UCLA Architecture and Urban Design (A.UD) will carry the narrative of modern architecture in Los Angeles forward from its influential past to the future with "Extreme IDEAS: Architecture at the Intersection," a series of panels, discussions and events that chart a dynamic new future for architecture.

The programs will look beyond the field's traditional boundaries and explore topics arising from unexpected quarters in the film, automotive, aerospace and technology industries in order to explore rapidly emerging new technologies, possibilities for interdisciplinary growth and the role of Los Angeles in the evolution of architecture.

"Extreme IDEAS" builds momentum toward the fall 2013 launch of IDEAS, a new satellite location for A.UD that will serve as a hub for cross-discipline research and development with industry and outside partners to expand the future parameters of architectural practice.

The "Extreme IDEAS" series is part of "Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A."

FREE EVENTS

Wednesday, May 22

Extreme Intelligence: The Future of Thinking Environments

Creative Artists Agency, 2000 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles

Reception: 6:30 p.m.

Panel: 7:30 p.m.

Renowned architect Neil Denari, a UCLA architecture and urban design professor, will lead a panel on the implications of emerging "intelligent environments" and their effects in transportation, manufacturing and urbanism. Panelists will include filmmaker Joseph Kosinski, director of "Oblivion" and "Tron: Legacy," and Greg Lindsay, a contributing writer at Fast Company and author of "Aerotropolis: The Way We'll Live Next."

Wednesday, May 29

Extreme Culture: The Intermix of Real and Virtual Realities

William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, 2520 Cimarron St., Los Angeles

Reception: 6:30 p.m.

Panel: 7:30 p.m.

Industry experts will discuss the new interconnections within high culture, commercialism, art, media and design. Panelists will include Scott Trowbridge, vice president of creative research and development at Walt Disney Imagineering, and Thomas Krens, founder and CEO of Global Cultural Asset Management and former director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation (1988–2008). The panel will be moderated by Greg Lynn, a UCLA architecture and urban design professor and winner of the 2008 Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale.

Wednesday, June 5

Extreme Environments: Design for Unfamiliar Terrain

Griffith Observatory, 2800 E. Observatory Ave., Los Angeles

7:30 p.m.

Craig Hodgetts, a UCLA architecture and urban design professor and recipient of the Gold Medal Award from the American Institute of Architecture, Los Angeles, will lead a panel discussion on exploring new frontiers for architecture in extreme environments such as the Arctic, the desert and outer space. The panel will include Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides, a former astrobiologist and director of flights at Zero Gravity, and Christopher Ferguson, a retired U.S. Navy captain, former NASA astronaut and director of commercial crew interface for Boeing's space exploration division.

Friday, June 28

Extreme IDEAS: Brain Trust

Invitation only; closed to the public

9:30 a.m.

Leaders in architecture and allied fields will discuss cross-discipline problem-solving and expanding the boundaries of architecture. This session will be closed to the public, with video and additional content posted online following the event.

Friday, June 28

Extreme IDEAS: Runway

Hercules Campus, 5864 S. Campus Center Dr., Los Angeles

7 p.m.

This celebration marks the culmination of the Pacific Standard Time Presents "L.A. Architecture Month" initiative. Noted architects, designers and thinkers will share their thoughts on the future through a series of fast-paced, back-to-back presentations. The event will be emceed by Frances Anderton, host of KCRW's "DnA," and will also include music, food and installations.

Presenters will include:

Benjamin Bratton

Theorist, associate professor of visual arts at UC San Diego

Wim de Wit

Head of the department of architecture and contemporary art at the Getty Research Institute

David Lai

CEO/creative director of Hello Design

Valerie Leblond

UCLA Architecture and Urban Design IDEAS program director

Elena Manferdini

Principal of Atelier Manferdini

Kimberli Meyer

Director of the MAK Center for Art and Architecture at the Schindler House

Christian Moeller

Artist, UCLA Design | Media Arts professor

Paul Petrunia

Director of Archinect

Casey Reas

Artist, UCLA Design | Media Arts professor

Heather Roberge

Principal of Murmur, UCLA Architecture and Urban Design associate vice chair

Bobbye Tigerman

Associate curator of decorated arts and design at LACMA

Tom Wiscombe

Principal of Tom Wiscombe Design, design faculty and applied studies coordinator at SCI-Arc

Andrew Zago

Principal of Zago Architecture, design faculty at SCI-Arc, clinical professor at University of Illinois–Chicago

Major support for "Extreme IDEAS" has been provided by the Getty Foundation. For the latest information on "Extreme IDEAS," visit www.aud.ucla.edu/extreme-ideas.

"Extreme IDEAS: Architecture at the Intersection" is part of "Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A." This collaboration, initiated by the Getty, brings together several local arts institutions for a wide-ranging look at the postwar built environment of the city as a whole, from its famous residential architecture to its vast freeway network, revealing the city's development and ongoing impact in new ways.

UCLA Architecture and Urban Design (A.UD), part of UCLA's School of the Arts and Architecture, pursues issues confronting contemporary architecture and urbanism through its bachelor's of arts program in architectural studies and its four advanced degree programs: the master's of architecture I, master's of architecture II, master's of arts in architecture and doctorate of philosophy in architecture. The programs' primary focus on advanced design is complemented by concentrations in technology and critical studies of architectural culture.

For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.

New IOM report an incomplete review of sodium’s impact, says American Heart Association

Tue, 14 May 2013 15:00:00 GMT

DALLAS – May 14, 2013 ― The American Heart Association says a new report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) -- Sodium Intake in Populations: Assessment of Evidence -- is incomplete in its assessment of sodium’s impact on health because it does not focus its examinations on scientific evidence that links excess consumption and high blood pressure. The report found that though reducing sodium intakes from current levels is important, and that there is a positive relationship between higher levels of sodium intake and risk of heart disease, there is not enough evidence to conclude that sodium reduction below 2,300 mg daily leads to less heart disease, stroke and a reduced risk of death.

“While the American Heart Association commends the IOM for taking on the challenging topic of sodium consumption, we disagree with key conclusions,” said the association’s CEO Nancy Brown.The report is missing a critical component – a comprehensive review of well-established evidence which links too much sodium to high blood pressure and heart disease.”

The American Heart Association has meticulously reviewed scientific research and recommends that all Americans eat no more than 1,500 mg a day of sodium. Current average sodium consumption in the United States for people age 2 and up is more than 3,400 mg a day.

A majority of the sodium Americans eat is in the form of salt that is added to processed foods and restaurant foods which makes it difficult for consumers to choose and control how much sodium they consume. While the food industry has reduced the sodium content of some foods, more significant reductions are needed. As a result, the association supports federal regulations that would limit the amount of sodium in foods – the primary strategy stated in a 2010 IOM report, Strategies to Reduce Sodium Intake in the United States.

Much of the research suggesting that decreasing sodium intake has no effect on or leads to increased heart disease and death has been conducted among sick patients, rather than the general population. “The research that the IOM partially based their conclusions on showed inconsistencies in the relationship between sodium intake and health outcomes. Yet these studies were not designed to assess the impact of various levels of sodium intake on cardiovascular health,” said Elliott Antman, M.D., a spokesperson for the American Heart Association, a cardiologist at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston. Several of these studies with inconsistent reports are discussed in AHA’s 2012 Presidential Advisory, Sodium, Blood Pressure, and Cardiovascular Disease: Further Evidence Supporting the American Heart Association Sodium Reduction Recommendations.

Although the scientific community continues to debate the use of biomarkers in general and surrogate indicators of health outcomes, recent evidence attributes 35 percent of heart attack and stroke events, 49 percent of heart failure episodes, and 24 percent of premature deaths to high blood pressure.

The World Health Organization, in its 2012 sodium intake guidelines for adults and children, determined that blood pressure could be a suitable proxy indicator for risk of heart disease and stroke, as did a prior 2005 IOM report.

A recent review of current research conducted by the American Heart Association concluded that people who don’t currently have high blood pressure will benefit from consuming less than 1,500 mg of sodium daily, because less dietary sodium will significantly reduce the rise in blood pressure that occurs as we age. Ninety percent of all Americans are expected to develop high blood pressure in their lifetime. Independent of its effects on blood pressure, excess sodium intake adversely affects the heart, kidneys and blood vessels.

Reducing sodium intake in the United States can also rein in health costs. One estimate suggests a national effort that reduces population sodium intake by 1,200 mg per day could reduce the health burdens related to heart disease in addition to reducing costs by up to $24 billion per year.

Sodium consumption in the United States remains unacceptably high with an average of 3,329 mg in 2001-02 and an average intake of 3,463 mg in 2009-10, the latest year for which federal dietary intake data are available. Yet the Institute of Medicine’s Dietary Reference Intakes point out that 1,500 mg/D is an adequate intake for health.

The American Heart Association advocates for more robust sodium criteria within school nutrition standards, foods marketed to children and foods purchased by employers and government programs. The association also supports improved food labeling that helps consumers understand how much sodium is in their diet and consumer education in restaurants to help consumers choose lower-sodium options.

Successful sodium reduction requires action and partnership at all levels—individuals, healthcare providers, professional organizations, public health agencies, governments and industry. The association urges a renewed and intensive focus on this critically important public health issue. For more information on the association’s sodium reduction efforts, visit www.heart.org/sodium.

CONTACT:

Darcy Spitz: (212) 878-5940; Darcy.Spitz@heart.org

Julie Del Barto (broadcast): (214) 706-1330; julie.delbarto@heart.org

Feeling others' pain teaches us tenderness

Mon, 13 May 2013 23:46:01 GMT

Marjorie Faulstrich Orellana is an associate professor of education in the division of urban school at UCLA's Graduate School of Education & Information Studies. Her research interests involve sociocultural and ethnographic approaches to the study of language, literacy, learning and children’s experiences in urban school communities. This commentary originally appeared on May 13 in the Huffington Post.

Julia Ward Howe, who authored the Mother's Day Proclamation of 1870, called on women of all nations to rise up and disarm the world, so that no mothers should feel the pain of seeing their children killed or maimed: "We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

But how can we learn to be so tender? As a nation, we seem to be able to feel -- to some degree, for short bits of time -- the pain that some people feel when their children are hurt through acts of violence and war. This was evident in responses to the Newtown massacre and the Boston bombings.

How can we feel not just the pain of mothers who look like people we love, or who live in places that look like places we know, but the pain of all people everywhere -- including our presumed enemies?

The more social distance we feel, the less we feel the pain of others.

I teach a class to undergraduates on how to conduct ethnographic research. Ethnography is about understanding the lived experiences of other people. It's about stepping out of our own perspectives and seeing the world through others' eyes.

Most of the undergraduates I teach will not go on to be professional ethnographers. But I hope that they will learn something about suspending their own viewpoints long enough to see the world in new ways. Because if we can see through others' eyes, and understand their lives and experiences, perhaps we will feel their pain.

I took inspiration from Julia Ward Howes this Mother's Day, and found ways to see -- and feel -- the pain of all weeping mothers all around the world. Mothers in Newton, Connecticut. Boston, Massachusetts. Iraq. Afghanastan. Everywhere in the world where violence tragically asserts itself and wars rage.

Let's make every day Mother's Day, and reaffirm the Mother's Day Proclamation with a call to end all wars.

Jews in the other promised land: a story that UCLA helped the Autry tell

Mon, 13 May 2013 23:03:51 GMT

What does French stoneware from the 19th century have in common with the camera used to make Hollywood’s first feature movie and a miniature etching bearing the well-known slogan, “War is unhealthy for children and other living things”? As random as they seem, all of these items help tell the story of Jewish life in Los Angeles.

Lorraine Art Schneider (United States, 1925-1972), Primer, 1966, etching. Loan courtesy of Carol Schneider and Family. This image became the logo of the organization, Another Mother for Peace, and the most famous anti-war poster of the Vietnam War era. Schneider was the daughter of Jewish immigrants. Photos by Susan Einstein.

The Autry National Center is recounting that tale through these and 150 other artifacts that document local Jewish history, and it is doing so with assistance from UCLA faculty, students, alumni and the university’s extensive library system.

“This is an incredible realization of a kernel of an idea,” said history department chair David Myers as he surveyed “Jews in the Los Angeles Mosaic” exhibit at opening festivities last week.

On view through Jan. 5, the exhibit had its origins in a graduate seminar that Myers and fellow UCLA history professor Stephen Aron taught in 2005 on the history of Jews in LA.

“We figured out what had been done, what hadn’t been done and what could be done,” recalled Aron, who, in addition to teaching at UCLA, serves as executive director of the Autry’s Institute for the Study of the American West.

One of the students in the seminar was Karen S. Wilson, who received her Ph.D. in history from UCLA in 2011. She went on to curate the exhibit, which traces the evolution of Los Angeles’ Jewish community as it grew from a group of eight bachelor merchants to the second largest in the nation and the fourth largest in the world.

Jewish life in Los Angeles harks back more than 160 years; and that represents a relatively few moments in their epochs-long history, Wilson said.

“A century and a half … may be a rather short time in the history of the Jewish people,” Wilson said. But that same span of years also covers the evolution of Los Angeles. “So in a sense, this is a story for everybody who lives here.”

Rosa and Joseph Newmark and children, circa 1850s. The Linda Levi Collection of Newmark and Levi Family Memorabilia, Braun Research Library Collection, Autro National Center. The Newmarks were one of the first Jewish families to settle in L.A.

Included in the exhibit, the French stoneware belonged to the extended Newmark family who came here in the early 1850s when the city’s Jewish population numbered less than 100 people. And the camera — acquired from Jessie Lasky’s Famous Players Studio — dates back to 1913. It was used to film “The Squaw Man.” Produced by Lasky and Cecil B. DeMille, the movie was the first feature-length film made specifically in Hollywood.

The etching, done by Jewish artist Lorraine Schneider who was born in Boyle Heights, was created in 1965 and has come to be an iconographic reminder of the Vietnam War era.

“It’s my favorite piece in the exhibit,” confided Wilson, a lecturer in the history department and the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Research Fellow with the UCLA Center for Jewish Studies.

David Myers and Stephen Aron

Also on display at the Autry is an item that reflects a show-biz tale of Jewish contribution to L.A.’s cultural history: a giant, sheepskin-like scroll with 1,000-plus signatures (including Judy Garland’s) that Max Factor gathered from guests attending a huge party celebrating his cosmetics studio and factory in Hollywood.

There’s an Andy Warhol silkscreen portrait of Jewish art collector Marcia Weisman, who helped create the Museum of Contemporary Art. Visitors can also see a section of a stone column that came from a synagogue where the first Jewish congregation in Los Angeles gathered. The stone capital is all that remains of the building that was once located at Ninth Street near downtown in the 1890s. That congregation eventually became one that today attends services at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple.

The exhibition’s items and artifacts are an eclectic and esoteric mix, as befits a people who came to Los Angeles in ever-increasing numbers from Europe, Asia, the Middle East and all across America. Today, there are more than 600,000 Jews in greater Los Angeles, and they form what Wilson believes is the world’s most diverse collection of Jewish residents.

“From the very beginning, Jewish Los Angelenos have been committed to putting aside differences and connecting with other people,” Wilson said. Their experience is “evidence of a confidence in the collective. The attitude has been, ‘We’re all here in this together.’”

On display in “Jews in the Los Angeles Mosaic” at the Autry Museum are some pieces from UCLA Library Special Collections:

* "Los Angeles Cookery," an 1881 cookbook that includes recipes from Jewish women. The cookbook was published by the women of the Fort Street M.E. Church.

* A letter written by the famed conductor Otto Klemperer recommending renowned composer Arnold Schoenberg for a UCLA faculty position, which he eventually accepted. Both men, who were Jewish, settled in Los Angeles after fleeing Europe when the Nazis rose to power.

* A photograph taken during the 1930s and ’40s in the Pacific Palisades of Schoenberg, Klemperer and Austrian conductor Ernst Toch, another Jewish refuge of Nazi Europe.

* "Hollywood Film Capital of the World" map, 1946. The movie industry was established here by Jewish moguls.

* A 1962 Gold Record for "The Lonely Bull," recorded by Herb Alpert, who is Jewish, and the Tijuana Brass.

* A circa 1973 bumper sticker from Tom Bradley’s second mayoral campaign, which received considerable backing from Jewish individuals and organizations.

The exhibit shows how that attitude was instrumental in the landmark 1973 victory of Los Angeles’ first and only African American mayor, Tom Bradley, as well as delightfully quirky displays of multiculturalism. For example, at a listening station, visitors can enjoy the musical styling of Mickey Katz, father of entertainer Joel Grey, and other “Spanish Jazz Popular Classical” music made popular in Boyle Heights, an area that brought together Jewish, Japanese American and Mexican American immigrants in the 1930s.

But the exhibit also illustrates the melting pot’s underbelly. Wilson dredged up a 1939 government map that banks used to justify red-lining Los Angeles neighborhoods based solely on their ethnic diversity. Boyle Heights, for one, was characterized as “hopelessly heterogeneous,” a community trait that blocked many hard-working families from obtaining home loans.

“I like to see Boyle Heights as hopefully heterogeneous,” Wilson quipped.

In addition to curating the exhibit, she also edited the exhibit’s hefty catalog, which includes a chapter by UCLA history Ph.D. candidate Caroline Luce, who unearthed the unlikely story of a politically influential bagel-bakers union in Boyle Heights.

Stone capital from exterior synagogue column, circa 1896. Courtesy of Wilshire Boulevard Temple.

Another significant contribution by UCLA to the exhibit is a giant digital map that documents the decade-by-decade growth of Jewish influence locally in philanthropy, education and social services. Elliot Yamamoto, a senior majoring in architectural studies, helped build the map, with information from Mapping Jewish L.A., a UCLA-based online project that links the history of Jewish neighborhoods and communities throughout Los Angeles with historical maps, cultural artifacts and archival materials. The website, which Wilson curates, elaborates on the development of Boyle Heights, once the center of Jewish life in Los Angeles and home to the largest concentration of Jewish residents in the western United States.

"The UCLA Center for Jewish Studies is especially proud of the collaborative vision in realizing an exhibition of this scale and historical significance," said Todd Presner, the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Director of the UCLA Center for Jewish Studies. "The partnerships with the Autry, the UCLA Library and Special Collections, the History department, and numerous community organizations are reflected in the diversity of perspectives presented in the exhibition."

UCLA also casts a long shadow over related programming. The Center for Jewish Studies, partnering with the Historical Society of Southern California, will present a May 19 scholarly symposium to consider issues raised by the exhibit. In addition, the history department will sponsor a May 22 panel discussion, “Legacies and Prospects: Which Way (Jewish) LA?”

“UCLA allowed us to think ambitiously and expand our scope, and that’s a wonderful place to be,” said Carolyn Brucken, the Autry’s chief curator, at opening festivities.

UHCL Kids U registration underway with new pre-K offering

Mon, 13 May 2013 20:09:02 GMT

Registration is now open for Kids U at University of Houston-Clear Lake, the annual summer offering of more than 90 classes for children ages pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. Along with its longtime favorites like Young Writers Camp, World Explorers Camp, Math Camp, and its Gifted Academy, UH-Clear Lake’s Center for Educational Programs is again hosting Early Childhood Preschool Summer Camps, new last year to Kids U.

Children, ages 3-5, are invited to learn, grow and play in the university’s bright and colorful early childhood education model classroom, complete with eight learning centers including math, science, art, dramatic play, blocks, literacy, music and quiet space. Each session’s dedicated goal is that of purposeful play, which is carefully planned seamlessly interspersed with learning activities.

The sessions, led by Early Childhood Education faculty and candidate teachers, run Monday through Thursday beginning in June with the last week of sessions beginning July 22.

For more information about Kids U, visit http://kidsu.uhcl.edu or call UHCL’s Center for Educational Programs, 281-283-3530.

Staff News — May 13, 2013

Mon, 13 May 2013 19:45:39 GMT

Angela Horne appointed new head of Anderson School Library

Angela Horne has been appointed head of the Eugene and Maxine Rosenfeld Management Library at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Horne came to UCLA from the Catherwood, Hotel, and Management Libraries at Cornell University, where as associate director, she led instruction, research, outreach and collection development services for three schools. From 2007-2011, she was director of the Johnson Graduate School of Management Library at Cornell, which she joined in 1999.

Horne has a B.A. in English and Russian and an M.L.I.S. degree at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She also has an M.B.A. from Cornell and a second M.B.A. from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

David Hirsch named UCLA Librarian of the Year

David Hirsch, a librarian in UCLA’s Charles E. Young Research Library Collections, Research and Instructional Services, has been chosen as the 2013 Librarian of the Year by the Librarians Association of UCLA. The award recognizes excellence in librarianship over the last 12-18 months, particularly as it furthers the teaching and research mission of UCLA and meets the intellectual, informational, and cultural needs of the university community.

Hirsch was recognized for his continual efforts to enhance the Library’s Middle East collections, helping to make the UCLA library the premier west coast destination for Middle East scholars and researchers. He also worked on three exhibits on Afghan history, Armenian printing history and Islamic superhero comic books, which included a library-sponsored event and film screening). During the last year, David provided invaluable assistance in finding a permanent home for the Tahrir Documents Archive in UCLA Library Special Collections. He was also commended for his unrelenting efforts to enhance collections, share research and partner with libraries in the Middle East, as exemplified by his recent travels to Iraq to attend a workshop at the University of Basra, as well as his contributions to the development of Iraq’s libraries. Read more about Hirsch's work in this UCLA Today story.

Gail Abarbanel receives award from L.A. County Sheriff's Department

Gail Abarbanel, founder and director of the Rape Treatment Center at UCLA Medical Center, received a 2013 Ellen McCormick Award from L.A. Sheriff Lee Baca and the Special Victims Bureau of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department. The award recognizes those individuals who have made a difference in the life of a child. It is named for a 9-year-old child who was the victim of abuse in 1874 in New York. That crime led to founding of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, believed to be the first child protective agency in the world.

The Rape Treatment Center has provided support for more than 35,000 children and adults who have been the victims of sexual assault since its founding in 1974. In 1988, Arbabanel founded Stuart House to serve sexually abused children and their families. She has also improved the treatment of rape victims nationwide by educating police, prosecutors, judges and medical personnel, publishing articles on rape treatment and producing educational films. She also initiated landmark legislation to remove discriminatory victim resistance requirements from California rape laws. 　

Julia Glassman publishes debut novel

Julia Glassman, an assistant librarian in the College Library, has published a debut novel, "Other Life Forms" (Dinah Press). Lampooning both the conservatism of Orange County and the privileged youths who rebel against it, the novel is described as "a hilarious and deeply moving account of a late bloomer’s search for identity, a quirky meditation on what it means to be an artist and a woman when neither mode of being seems sustainable."

Glassman has a M.S. in Library and Information Science from UCLA’s he Graduate School of Library & Information Science. She also earned an M.F. A from the Iowa Writer’s Workshop and a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College. Her fiction and articles have previously appeared in make/shift magazine, The Missouri Review and other publications.

Staff News — May 13, 2013

Mon, 13 May 2013 19:45:39 GMT

Angela Horne appointed new head of Anderson School Library

David Hirsch named UCLA Librarian of the Year

Gail Abarbanel receives award from L.A. County Sheriff's Department

Julia Glassman publishes debut novel

American Heart Association expert available to comment on sodium reports

Mon, 13 May 2013 08:00:00 GMT

MEDIA ALERT

May 13, 2013 – American Heart Association spokesperson Elliott Antman, M.D., is available today to discuss the organization’s perspective on a study published in JAMA: Internal Medicine, which focuses on voluntary reductions in sodium levels in processed and restaurant foods.

Antman will also be available after 11 a.m. ET, Tuesday, May 14, to discuss an Institute of Medicine (IOM) report: the Consequences of Sodium Reduction in Populations, which evaluated the results, study design, and methodological approaches that have been used to assess the relationship between sodium and health outcomes

Dr. Antman is a cardiologist and a professor of medicine at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School in Boston.

###

CONTACT:
Darcy Spitz: (212) 878-5940; Darcy.Spitz@heart.org
Julie Del Barto (broadcast): (214) 706-1330; julie.delbarto@heart.org

American Heart Association and Macy's announce Multicultural Scholarship recipients

Mon, 13 May 2013 04:01:00 GMT

DALLAS, Texas, May 13, 2013 — The American Heart Association and Macy’s have awarded 16 scholarships of $2,500 each to increase culturally-sensitive, patient-centered care.

The Go Red™ Multicultural Scholarships are part of Macy’s Multicultural Fund – which was created in 2009 to focus on increasing diversity in the medical field. Macy’s is a founding national sponsor of the association’s Go Red For Women® and Go Red Por Tu Corazón awareness campaigns.

The scholarship program, which is in its second year, champions greater inclusion of multicultural women in medical, nursing and allied health studies to meet the need that racial minorities have of healthcare providers who understand important aspects of various cultures.

The demand on healthcare continues to increase, but the number of qualified racial and ethnic nurses and physicians lags behind:

Only 5.4 percent of African-Americans and 3.6 percent of Hispanics in the United States are registered nurses, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In 2010, African-Americans made up only 6.7 percent of medical school graduates and Hispanics 7.5 percent, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.

“It is extremely important to increase the availability of multicultural scholarships for minorities interested in health professions,” said Celia Trigo Besore, executive director and CEO of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses. “There are fewer sources of funding, high poverty rates among minority populations and an escalating cost of education toward a career in health fields. All these conditions increase the barriers for interested minorities to study health career at a time when there is a growing need for additional qualified health professionals of any ethnic background.”

Numerous ethnic groups — including African-Americans and Hispanics — are at higher risk for heart disease. The Go Red Multicultural Scholarship aims to ensure women have access to healthcare providers who understand their culture and help make the best choices that lead to good health and strives to increase diversity in the healthcare industry for the future health of all women.

The 2013 scholarship recipients are:

Mary Witherspoon: post-graduate nursing student at Chicago State University
Azsha Matthews: undergraduate senior nursing student at Columbia University
Nicole Sample: second-year student at NYU School of Medicine
Whittney Work: undergraduate sophomore nursing student at Winston Salem State University
Chiamaka Ike: senior pharmacy student at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, School of Pharmacy
Nefertiti Clavon: undergraduate junior in health promotions at the University of Houston
Raisa Garcia: post-graduate student in clinical psychology at Alliant International University
Myo-Sabai Aye: seeking a dual M.D./M.P.H. at Eastern Virginia Medical School
Jainty John: undergraduate senior studying to be a physician’s assistant at Le Moyne College
Jee Hae Jones: senior nursing student at Hawaii Pacific University
Danielle Cipres: first-year obstetrics and gynecology student in the University of California-San Francisco’s School of Medicine
Kristine Gallardo: post-graduate student in the nursing program at Azusa Pacific University
Sylvia Estrada: post-graduate student in the nursing program at Western University of Health Sciences
Yuliana De los Santos: post-graduate, studying osteopathic medicine at New York College of Osteopathic Medicine
Mariana Lucena: post-graduate student in the pharmacy program at the University of North Carolina Eshelman School of Pharmacy
Nadia Elgoghail: senior studying to be a family nurse practitioner at Columbia University

"As a proud national sponsor of the American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women movement since 2004, Macy’s has raised more than $40 million to help fund life-saving research and raise awareness of this preventable disease,” said Martine Reardon, Macy’s chief marketing officer. “With the Macy’s Multicultural Fund, we are able to bring our company’s long-standing and respected history of support for diversity together with our desire to find innovative new ways to build support for heart disease prevention.”

For more information, visit GoRedForWomen.org.

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Editor’s Note: Registration for the 2013-2014 Multicultural Scholarship is open and can be accessed by visiting www.GoRedForWomen.org/GoRedScholarship

About Go Red For Women

Go Red For Women is the American Heart Association’s solution to save women’s lives. With one out of three women still dying from heart disease, we are committed to fighting this No. 1 killer that is preventable. GoRedForWomen.org, a premier source of information and education, connects millions of women of all ages and gives them tangible resources to turn personal choices into life-saving actions. We encourage women and the men who love them to embrace the cause. For more information please visit GoRedForWomen.org or call 1-888-MY-HEART (1-888-694-3278). The movement is nationally sponsored by Macy’s and Merck & Co., Inc.

About the American Heart Association

The American Heart Association is the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary health organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. Our mission is to build healthier lives by preventing, treating and defeating these diseases – America’s No. 1 and No. 3 killers. We fund cutting-edge research, conduct lifesaving public and professional educational programs, and advocate to protect public health. To learn more or join us in helping all Americans, call 1-800-AHA-USA1 or visit americanheart.org.

About Macy’s

Macy's, the largest retail brand of Macy's, Inc., delivers fashion and affordable luxury to customers at more than 800 locations in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. Macy's stores and macys.com offer distinctive assortments including the most desired family of exclusive and fashion brands for him, her and home. Macy's is known for such epic events as Macy's 4th of July Fireworks® and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade®, as well as spectacular fashion shows, culinary events, flower shows and celebrity appearances. Building on a 150-year tradition, Macy's helps strengthen communities by supporting local and national charities that make a difference in the lives of their customers.

CONTACT:

Elisa Ramirez-Johnson: (214) 706-1508

Elisa.Ramirez-Johnson@heart.org

Scientists sequence genome of 'sacred lotus,' which likely holds anti-aging secrets

Fri, 10 May 2013 22:09:00 GMT

A team of 70 scientists from the U.S., China, Australia and Japan today reports having sequenced and annotated the genome of the "sacred lotus," which is believed to have a powerful genetic system that repairs genetic defects, and may hold secrets about aging successfully. The scientists sequenced more than 86 percent of the nearly 27,000 genes of the plant, Nelumbo nucifera, which is revered in China and elsewhere as a symbol of spiritual purity and longevity.

"The lotus genome is an ancient one, and we now know its ABCs," said Jane Shen-Miller, one of three corresponding authors of the research and a senior scientist with UCLA's Center for the Study of Evolution and the Origin of Life. "Molecular biologists can now more easily study how its genes are turned on and off during times of stress and why this plant's seeds can live for 1,300 years. This is a step toward learning what anti-aging secrets the sacred lotus plant may offer."

The research was published today in the journal Genome Biology.

Shen-Miller said the lotus' genetic repair mechanisms could be very useful if they could be transferred to humans or to crops — such as rice, corn and wheat — whose seeds have life spans of only a few years. "If our genes could repair disease as well as the lotus' genes, we would have healthier aging. We need to learn about its repair mechanisms, and about its biochemical, physiological and molecular properties, but the lotus genome is now open to everybody."

In the early 1990s, Shen-Miller led a UCLA research team that recovered a viable lotus seed that was almost 1,300 years old from a lake bed in northeastern China. It was a remarkable discovery, given that many other plant seeds are known to remain viable for just 20 years or less.

In 1996, Shen-Miller led another visit to China. Working in Liaoning province, her team collected about 100 lotus seeds — most were approximately 450 to 500 years old — with help from local farmers. To the researchers' surprise, more than 80 percent of the lotus seeds that were tested for viability germinated. That indicated that the plant must have a powerful genetic system capable of repairing germination defects arising from hundreds of years of aging, Shen-Miller said.

Understanding how the lotus repair mechanism works — and its possible implications for human health — is essentially a three-step process, said Crysten Blaby-Haas, a UCLA postdoctoral scholar in chemistry and biochemistry and co-author of the research. "Knowing the genome sequence was step one. Step two would be identifying which of these genes contributes to longevity and repairing genetic damage. Step three would be potential applications for human health, if we find and characterize those genes. The genome sequence will aid in future analysis.

"The next question is what are these genes doing, and the biggest question is how they contribute to the longevity of the lotus plant and its other interesting attributes," Blaby-Haas said. "Before this, when scientists studied the lotus, it's almost as if they were blind; now they can see. Once you know the repertoire of genes, you have a foundation to study their functions."

The genome sequence reveals that, when compared with known gene sequences of dozens of other plants, the lotus bears the closest resemblance to the ancestor of all eudicots, a broad category of flowering plants that includes the apple, peanut, tomato, cotton, cactus and tobacco plants.

The lotus forms a separate branch of the eudicot family tree; it lacks a signature triplication of the genome seen in most other members of this family, said Ray Ming, professor of plant biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who led the analysis with Shen-Miller and Shaohua Li, director of the Wuhan Botanical Garden at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Whole-genome duplications — the doubling or tripling of an organism's entire genetic endowment — are important events in plant evolution, Ming said. Some of the duplicated genes retain their original structure and function, and others gradually adapt and take on new functions. If those changes are beneficial, the genes persist; if they're harmful, they disappear from the genome.

Many agricultural crops, including watermelon, sugar cane and wheat, benefit from genome duplications, said Robert VanBuren, a graduate student in Ming's laboratory and a co-author of the study.

The genome of most other eudicots triplicated 100 million years ago, but the researchers found that the lotus experienced a separate, whole-genome duplication about 65 million years ago.

Shen-Miller said experts in aging and stress will be eager to study the lotus genes because of the plant's extraordinary longevity. "The lotus can age for 1,000 years, and even survives freezing weather," she said. "Its genetic makeup can combat stress. Most crops don't have a very long shelf life. But starches and proteins in lotus seeds remain palatable and actively promote seed germination, even after centuries of aging."

The lotus' unusual genetics give it some unique survival skills. Its leaves repel grime and water, its flowers generate heat to attract pollinators and the coating of lotus fruit is covered with antibiotics and wax that ensure the viability of the seed it contains.

Blaby-Haas studied lotus gene families potentially involved in how plants metabolize metals. One family, in particular, caught her attention. "We found that the lotus has 16 of these genes, while most plants have only one or two," Blaby-Haas said. "Either this is an extremely important protein in the lotus, which is why it needs so many copies, or the duplication allows a novel function to arise; we don't know which is correct."

These genes may be related to the unique environment of the lotus, which grows with its roots submerged in water, she said. (Lotus was a land plant that adapted to the water.)

The sacred lotus is known from the geologic record as early as 135 million years ago, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, Shen-Miller said. It has been grown for at least 4,000 years in China, where every part of the plant has long been used in food and medicine.

Co-author Sabeeha Merchant is a UCLA professor of biochemistry whose laboratory studies the biology of metals like iron, copper and zinc. Other co-authors include J. William Schopf, director of UCLA's Center for the Study of Evolution and the Origin of Life and a professor in the department of Earth and space sciences, who studied the geology of the lotus burial lake; and Steven Karpowicz, a former UCLA graduate student in Merchant's laboratory who is currently at Eastern Oregon University.

UCLA is California's largest university, with an enrollment of more than 40,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The UCLA College of Letters and Science and the university's 11 professional schools feature renowned faculty and offer 337 degree programs and majors. UCLA is a national and international leader in the breadth and quality of its academic, research, health care, cultural, continuing education and athletic programs. Six alumni and six faculty have been awarded the Nobel Prize.

For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.

Acclaimed Musician Carolyn Wonderland To Perform at Galveston’s Pier 21

Fri, 10 May 2013 21:06:38 GMT

Galveston has long been home to a thriving art and live music scene. This year, Mitchell Historic Properties and the restaurants and attractions at Pier 21® are raising the bar with a new monthly event called Party on the Pier. The free, family-friendly gathering takes place on the third Saturday of the month from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. through October and features live music and entertainment including performances by award winning Austin musicians.

Acclaimed Texas blues musician Carolyn Wonderland will perform at Party on the Pier on Sat., June 15. A native of Houston, Wonderland has won upwards of 35 awards for her soulful voice and incredible instrumental skills.

A musical Jill-of-all-trades, Wonderland is proficient in electric, acoustic, and lapsteel guitars, trumpet, piano, accordion, mandolin, singing, and most notably, whistling.

Her incredible sound gained Wonderland the admiration of great musicians including Asleep at the Wheel’s Ray Benson, the late Eddy Shaver, Shelley King, and Bob Dylan. Wonderland has performed for numerous broadcast and commercial outlets including Austin City Limits, ME! Live, and KUHT-TV’s The Connection. Her most recent album, Peace Meal, was produced by a number of Grammy Award winners including nine-time Grammy winner Ray Benson, two-time Grammy winner Larry Campbell, and founding Monkee, Michael Nesmith.

Wonderland will perform at Party on the Pier on Saturday, June 15 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Pier 21®, located at 21^st Street and Harborside Drive in Galveston, Tx. The event is free and open to the public. Visitors are encouraged to grab a meal and enjoy the show from the outdoor seating areas at any of the participating restaurants located on the pier.

About Party on the Pier

About Mitchell Historic Properties

UCLA stem cell researchers move toward treatment for rare genetic nerve disease

Fri, 10 May 2013 18:08:00 GMT

Led by Dr. Peiyee Lee and Dr. Richard Gatti, researchers at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA have used induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells to advance disease-in-a-dish modeling of a rare genetic disorder, ataxia telangiectasia (A-T).

Their discovery shows the positive effects of drugs that may lead to effective new treatments for the neurodegenerative disease. iPS cells are made from patients' skin cells, rather than from embryos, and they can become any type of cells, including brain cells, in the laboratory. The study appears online ahead of print in the journal Nature Communications.

People with A-T begin life with neurological deficits that become devastating through progressive loss of function in a part of the brain called the cerebellum, which leads to severe difficulty with movement and coordination. A-T patients also suffer frequent infections due to their weakened immune systems and have an increased risk for cancer. The disease is caused by lost function in a gene, ATM, that normally repairs damaged DNA in the cells and preserves normal function.

Developing a human neural cell model to understand A-T's neurodegenerative process — and create a platform for testing new treatments — was critical because the disease presents differently in humans and laboratory animals. Scientists commonly use mouse models to study A-T, but mice with the disease do not experience the more debilitating effects that humans do. In mice with A-T, the cerebellum appears normal and they do not exhibit the obvious degeneration seen in the human brain.

Lee and colleagues used iPS cell–derived neural cells developed from skin cells of A-T patients with a specific type of genetic mutation to create a disease-in-a-dish model. In the laboratory, researchers were able to model the characteristics of A-T, such as the cell's lack of ATM protein and its inability to repair DNA damage. The model also allowed the researchers to identify potential new therapeutic drugs, called small molecule read-through (SMRT) compounds, that increase ATM protein activity and improve the model cells' ability to repair damaged DNA.

"A-T patients with no ATM activity have severe disease but patients with some ATM activity do much better," Lee said. "This makes our discovery promising, because even a small increase in the ATM activity induced by the SMRT drug can potentially translate to positive effects for patients, slowing disease progression and hopefully improving their quality of life."

These studies suggest that SMRT compounds may have positive effects on all other cell types in the body, potentially improving A-T patients' immune function and decreasing their susceptibility to cancer.

Additionally, the patient-specific iPS cell–derived neural cells in this study combined with the SMRT compounds can be an invaluable tool for understanding the development and progression of A-T. This iPS cell–neural cell A-T disease model also can be a platform to identify more potent SMRT drugs. The SMRT drugs identified using this model can potentially be applied to most other genetic diseases with the same type of mutations.

This research was supported by training and research grants from the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, the National Institutes of Health, APRAT, A-T Ease and Scott Richards Foundation.

The Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research: UCLA's stem cell center was launched in 2005 with a UCLA commitment of $20 million over five years. A $20 million gift from the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation in 2007 resulted in the renaming of the center. With more than 200 members, the Broad Stem Cell Research Center is committed to a multidisciplinary, integrated collaboration among scientific, academic and medical disciplines for the purpose of understanding adult and human embryonic stem cells. The center supports innovation, excellence and the highest ethical standards focused on stem cell research with the intent of facilitating basic scientific inquiry directed toward future clinical applications to treat disease. The center is a collaboration of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center, the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science and the UCLA College of Letters and Science.

For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.

Toyota Canada to help more Canadian youth learn proper driving skills through expanded kartSTART program

Fri, 10 May 2013 14:57:43 GMT

Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax to host unique youth driving program this summer

TORONTO, ON., (May 10, 2013) – The innovative youth driving program kartSTART – made possible through the support of Toyota Canada – is expanding its reach this summer and will now help more than 1,000 children across five provinces.

“It's important to understand safe driving techniques early and to apply them intuitively," said Sandy Di Felice, Director, External Affairs, Toyota Canada Inc. “We’re pleased that the program is expanding to engage more young Canadians.”

kartSTART is a unique driving education program designed to provide children and their families with a real-world understanding of the physics behind driving a motorized vehicle. One-day courses are offered with expert instructors for children between the ages of 8-16, where youth learn by driving in go-karts themselves – a driving experience that is the first for most.

“It’s important to stress how important our safety through education program is,” said kartSTART administrator Russ Bond. “Every youth that goes through our program gets a fundamental understanding of how vehicle dynamics work and they experience this in vehicles that fit them – go-karts. This is what makes the program so special.”

In addition to the go-kart driving, participants are also mentored in the latest safety developments in Toyota vehicles including Toyota’s renowned Star Safety System™ with active and passive safety technologies. Toyota’s Star Safety System™ features Vehicle Stability Control (VSC), Traction Control (TRAC), Anti-lock Brake System (ABS), Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD), Brake Assist (BA) and Smart Stop Technology (SST).

2013 Program Schedule

kartSTART Chilliwack, British Columbia

July 16
July 17

July 18
Location: Greg Moore Raceway

kartSTART Calgary, Alberta

July 22

July 23

July 24

Location: Calgary Kart Club

kartSTART Innisfil, ON

July 28
July 29
July 30
July 31
Location: Sunset Speedway

kartSTART Montreal, QC

August 7

August 8

August 9

Location: Autodrome St-Eustache

kartSTART Halifax, Nova Sotia

August 12
August 13
August 14
Location: Scotia Speed World

For more information on kartSTART or to register for the program please visit: www.kartSTART.ca.

About Toyota Canada Inc.

Toyota Canada Inc. (TCI) is the exclusive Canadian distributor of Toyota, Lexus and Scion cars, SUVs and trucks. Toyota offers the most fuel efficient passenger car fleet in Canada, led by the industry’s largest selection of advanced technology vehicles such as the Toyota Prius. With a rich history of respect for the environment, Toyota Canada Inc. and its Dealerships align with like-minded organizations including Evergreen and through the Toyota Canada Foundation, Earth Day Canada, Scientists in School and the Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF), to make things better where we live, work and play. TCI’s head office is in Toronto, with regional offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Halifax and parts distribution centres in Toronto and Vancouver.

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NPR Story on DNV Accreditation

Fri, 10 May 2013 14:51:47 GMT

Dr. John Schumann, a physician and healthcare news contributor to National Public Radio, was inspired by a change in accreditation programs to find out more about DNV. Read the story.

Short Takes

Fri, 10 May 2013 13:55:45 GMT

UHCL Testing Services offers Quick THEA

University of Houston-Clear Lake’s Office of Testing Services will offer the Quick THEA May 17, 8 a.m. The five-hour test assesses the readiness skills in reading, math and writing of those attending Texas colleges and universities or those students in teacher education programs. The class will be given in the university’s Student Services and Classroom Building, rooms 3310 and 3311, 2700 Bay Area Blvd., Houston, 77058.

Registration deadline is May 10, 11:30 a.m., with late registration running through May 16, 5:30 p.m. The fee is $20 for UH-Clear Lake students and $30 for non-UHCL students at time of registration, plus a $29 institution fee at time of test. Scores are available in four to five business days.

For more information, call the university’s Office of Testing Services at 281-283-2580 or visit http://www.thea.nesinc.com.

Find a career path at Career Exploration Workshop

Discover what career options are available for you during University of Houston-Clear Lake’s Career Exploration Workshop, May 31, 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. and June 7, 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p. m, Student Services and Classroom Building, Room 3103 and 3109, 2700 Bay Area Blvd., Houston, 77058.

Designed to help those seeking a career change, setting new career goals or returning to the work force, this informative two-day workshop is hosted by university counselors and psychologists of Career and Counseling Services. Participants must attend both workshops.

Fees are $200 per person for the general public, with discounts available for UH-Clear Lake students, alumni and students attending other colleges or universities. For more information, call 281-283-2580 or visit http://www.uhcl.edu/careerservices.

GMAT Review course offered at UHCL

Boost exam scores and improve your test-taking skills in time for graduate school admissions with this GMAT Review course offered by University of Houston-Clear Lake’s Center for Advanced Management, held four consecutive Saturdays, June 1, 8, 15 and 22, 8 a.m. – noon, Bayou Building, Room 2234, 2700 Bay Area Blvd., Houston, 77058.

GMAT Review covers test taking strategies, reading comprehension, critical reasoning and analytical writing assessment. All participants receive a copy of the Princeton Review’s “Cracking the GMAT” used in the course. Course fee is $349 per person.

For more information or to register, visit http://www.uhcl.edu/camp,call UHCL’s Center for Advanced Management Programs at 281-283-3120, or e-mail camp@uhcl.edu.

Community Cinema presents 'Love Free or Die'

All are invited to the University of Houston-Clear Lake Community Cinema movie screening of “Love Free or Die,” a film that explores one man’s two defining passions – his love for God and for his partner, Mark, and also looks at the issue of love and marriage as well as faith and identity. This film is scheduled for June 7, 7 p.m., Student Services and Classroom Building, Lecture Hall, 2700 Bay Area Blvd., Houston, 77058.

Addressing issues of church and state, this timely and sensitive film follows openly gay Bishop Eugene Robinson’s struggle to dispel the notion that God’s love has limits. The film was produced by Macky Alston. This screening is also the final film scheduled in the spring 2013 Community Cinema series. Admission is free.

Community Cinema is a public education and civic engagement initiative featuring monthly film screenings from the Emmy Award-winning PBS series “Independent Lens.” For more information about this or films, email movies@uhcl.edu or call 281-283-2560.

Chancellor Block comments on Laboratory of Neuro Imaging

Fri, 10 May 2013 02:48:00 GMT

Chancellor Gene Block issued this statement on May 9, 2013.

UCLA’s Laboratory of Neuro Imaging (LONI) has been an international pioneer in enhancing the understanding of human brain structure and function. I am proud of UCLA’s role in supporting the lab’s many positive impacts so, naturally, I was disappointed to learn that the lab plans to end its affiliation with the campus. I want to stress, though, that the exceptional drive and ingenuity of our faculty, staff and students and the quality of our research infrastructure ensures our continued strength, especially in the field of neuroscience. UCLA is among the world’s great research enterprises, testing boundaries and producing new knowledge on a daily basis, and the departure of one lab will not diminish our impact.

Two UCLA faculty elected to National Academy of Sciences

Thu, 09 May 2013 22:15:33 GMT

Two professors from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA have been elected by their peers to the prestigious National Academy of Sciences in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.

Election to the academy is considered one of the highest honors presented to scientists in the U.S.; its membership includes Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer, Thomas Edison, Orville Wright and Alexander Graham Bell.

The UCLA professors are among 84 new members of the academy from across the U.S. and 21 foreign associates from 14 countries. Their election brings the number of current UCLA academy members to 43. The new UCLA members are:

Dr. Edward De Robertis, Norman Sprague Professor of Biological Chemistry and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. De Robertis is a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Latin American Academy of Sciences, as well as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His research focuses on the way that cells communicate with each other.

De Robertis' isolation of genes that control head-to-tail and back-to-belly patterning in early frog and mouse embryos led to the discovery that all animals' development is controlled by an ancient genetic toolkit. In particular, he carried out the molecular dissection of the process of embryonic induction, in which groups of cells called "organizers" control tissue differentiation. This work is aimed at understanding cell signaling, a fundamental problem in stem cell biology and cancer. De Robertis has been a member of the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA since 1985.

Ernest Wright, distinguished professor of physiology and Sherman M. Mellinkoff Distinguished Professor in Medicine. Wright was named a fellow of the British Royal Society in 2005, an honor considered one of the highest accolades a scientist can achieve next to the Nobel Prize, and in 2006 he was elected to the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. His research focuses on the structure, function and genetics of membrane transport proteins, which act as the gatekeepers for the body by carrying essential molecules in and out of cells.

Research in Wright's laboratory on the cloning and function of glucose transporters has already led to the development of new drugs to control diabetes.

The National Academy of Sciences rolls currently list 2,179 active academy members, and 437 foreign associates.

The National Academy of Sciences was established in 1863 by a congressional act of incorporation signed by Abraham Lincoln that calls on the academy to act as an official adviser to the federal government, upon request, in any matter of science or technology. The academy is a private organization of scientists and engineers dedicated to the advancement of science and its use for the general welfare.

The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA has more than 2,000 full-time faculty members, almost 1,300 residents, more than 750 medical students, and almost 400 Ph.D. candidates, and ranks in the top tier of research institutions funded by the National Institutes of Health.

For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.

Serving justice on a global scale

Thu, 09 May 2013 21:33:46 GMT

A virtual court is in session every day on the most pressing and complex issues of human rights and international criminal law. And citizens from around the world have a front-row seat to watch some of the best legal minds make their strongest case from different perspectives, thanks to the work of a UCLA law professor and his students.

The Human Rights & International Criminal Law Online Forum started by law professor Richard Steinberg and his students two years ago has become a closely watched international “moot court” that more than 100,000 people from 190 countries have visited to read opinions on issues related to the International Criminal Court (ICC) written by top international jurists, legal scholars, lawyers and policymakers, as well as citizen activists.

Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and Professor Richard Steinberg at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

“Over two years, it has become the online community in the world for hosting this kind of dialogue,” Steinberg said. “We have 9,000 regular users who go on the site at least once a month for more than five minutes. And they come back repeatedly.”
With 122 state partners so far, the International Criminal Court, which is not part of the United Nations, is the first permanent, treaty-based court established to bring to justice the perpetrators of the most serious international crimes — genocide, mass rape and war crimes. Among the cases the prosecutor is currently investigating are four from the Democratic Republic of Congo; five cases from Darfur, Sudan; and one against Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi of Libya.

The question “Can the International Criminal Court sustain a conviction for the underlying crime of mass rape without the testimony from victims?” has generated the most discussion and debate, bringing in 36,000 users. More than 26,000 people so far have reviewed legal responses to a question on whether investigators should look into alleged crimes committed during the 2008-09 Gaza conflict.

The forum won recognition as one of the world's Top Three Justice Innovations of 2012.

The forum’s success led an international jury on behalf of The Hague Institute for the Internationalisation of Law to select it as one of the world’s Top Three Justice Innovations of 2012. The award was based on the uniqueness of the forum, its potential impact and its sustainability. “The forum models openness and can set an example for other institutions trying to work with national courts to help them be more open to civil society,” commented jury chair Anne van Aaken, a scholar on law and economics as well as public, international and European law.

At a black-tie event in Washington, D.C. in June, Computerworld magazine will recognize the forum as one of its 2013 gold medal honors laureates in the category of “world good.”

Steinberg and his students, who are enrolled in his highly unusual law clinic that combines human rights, international law and technology, have a powerful partner in their web venture: the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court based in The Hague.

UCLA law students at The Hague after meeting with the prosecutor's senior staff.

Twice a year, Steinberg and his students travel to The Hague to meet with the prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda of Gambia, to learn what important questions of international criminal law are most pressing to her; they then work together to frame the questions for the forum in a way that is balanced and will elicit global online participation.

“Many of the decisions before the prosecutor at the ICC are precedent-setting for this young institution. So Fatou Bensouda, as did the former prosecutor before her, Luis Moreno Campo, want to hear a lot of voices on these issues,” said Steinberg, whose interest in human rights law stems from his family background — his grandparents were Holocaust survivors. “A prosecutor can travel around the world, give talks and seek feedback — and they do. But the online forum is an efficient way to provide a kind of mooting of issues.”

The question that the forum is currently asking is this: Is the International Criminal Court targeting Africa inappropriately?
Students research issues to identify the best experts to write opinions. In this case, legal scholars from Yale, Temple and DePaul universities were tapped as well as the legal officer of the International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Sciences, a lead defense counsel of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the executive director of the Open Society Initiative for West Africa.

“We invite world-class experts – the very top people in the world – to give opinions, and then we throw it open to the public,” said Steinberg. “The comments we get are incredibly sophisticated. It actually can be somewhat intimidating for some to engage on this website.”

For students, who also write and post their opinions on every issue, the experience has been amazing, said law student Sandeep Prasanna. “We work alongside star international law scholars to develop recommendations and solutions. It's intellectually challenging (in the best way possible) to work on such high-level issues with an unusually influential and prominent organizational partner.

Students visiting the Eastern Congo unexpectedly spotted Bosco Ntaganda, wanted by the ICC on charges that he forcibly conscripted child soldiers into his army. Known as the "Terminator," he was recently taken into custody.

“In many ways, the roster of people we have met in The Hague, as well as back home in Los Angeles, reads like a who's-who of international criminal law superstars,” Prasanna said. “I'm glad I have gotten to benefit from the resources Professor Steinberg has made available at the law school. And all this time, my career focus has been getting clearer, in no small part, thanks to the clinic and its associated programs.”

Besides going to The Hague, Steinberg also feels strongly that students get a real-world view of the court’s role in places where some of the worst mass atrocities have occurred.

During the last two years, he has taken students to Bosnia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. During a trip in February 2012, they unexpectedly spotted Bosco Ntaganda, wanted by the ICC on charges that he forcibly conscripted child soldiers. He was recently taken into custody, coincidently when the students were visiting The Hague in March.

“These are the kinds of things that we normally only read about in the news — but there we were, in the center of the storm,” Prasanna said.

During their visit to the Congo, students worked on three research projects, all related to issues on the forum —to interview victims of mass atrocities on the topic of reparations, to discover why combatants disarm and demobilize and to identify the anthropological footprint of mass rape.

Law students meet with elders of Bogoro, a village victimized by mass murder and mass rape.

“It’s actually harder than you think to prove that mass rape has occurred in a village,” said Steinberg. “The women who have to testify are not only traumatized, but severely stigmatized. So the prosecutor wants to prove mass rape by other means.”

Through interviews, students were able to measure statistically significant differences in social, economic, political and psychological criteria that distinguish villages that have experienced mass rape from those that haven’t. For example, the students’ study showed that villages where mass rape has occurred show radically higher levels of depression and PTSD, he said.

For people everywhere, the forum has become a one-of-a-kind channel that enables civil society to communicate directly with high-level legal authorities on important policy issues, said Steinberg. “Based on my conversations with the former and current prosecutors, they have told me they’ve been influenced by some of these debates.”

The forum is a product of the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC and the UCLA School of Law’s Sanela Diana Jenkins Human Rights Project, established in 2009 by a generous gift from Sanela Diana Jenkins, who works on an ongoing basis with UCLA faculty and students to advance the cause of human rights and international justice around the world.

Jenkins grew up in Sarajevo and was a university student when war tore Yugoslavia apart. She escaped Sarajevo in 1993 by fleeing to Croatia, where she was a refugee for 18 months. Now living in Los Angeles, she has diverse business interests, including fashion and film.

Mobile app developed at UCLA helps women choose birth control method

Thu, 09 May 2013 21:31:00 GMT

A new, free iPad application developed at UCLA helps women navigate through the sometimes confusing process of selecting a birth control method using medically accurate information. The easy-to-use app highlights the most effective types of birth control and reveals potential side effects and risks associated with each option.

The app, called Plan A Birth Control or Plan ABC, is designed to help a woman prepare for her visit with a contraception counselor or an OB-GYN. It was developed by Dr. Aparna Sridhar, a clinical fellow in family planning in the UCLA Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

"Women using the app will be better informed and already have a baseline knowledge about what they're looking for when they see their doctors," said Sridhar, who is completing her master's degree at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. "That way, doctors may need less time to explain the different birth control methods, and can spend more time focused on a more narrow discussion tailored to the individual patient and her particular needs."

Available in iTunes, the app lists the top 10 forms of reversible birth control from most to least effective, ranging from the IUD to hormonal treatments to the female condom. Sridhar drew the content for Plan ABC from respected family-planning websites and vetted it for accuracy. One of her goals in creating the app was to ensure that women could easily access the most current, medically correct information, because much of the information on the Internet is either unreliable or dated, she said.

Once a user selects a type of birth control from the app, questions appear that help the woman decide if that method is right for her. For example, smokers and women over 35 are advised to consider a type of contraception other than the birth control pill, because of the risk of complications.

"The app tells a woman everything she needs to know about the form of birth control she chooses — a photo, how it works, how to use it, how it's inserted, its efficacy and any side effects or warning signs that something may be wrong," Sridhar said.

Sridhar created the app in about three months as part of her fellowship research project. Development costs were funded in part by a grant from the Society of Family Planning. Now, Sridhar is conducting a study to measure how women's knowledge of birth control methods is related to the differences in their contraception choice.

"If the study finds that the app is as effective as seeing a birth control counselor or physician, then we can make it available in waiting rooms and save both time and money by using our human resources to handle issues that a piece of software can't," she said, adding that the app could eventually be accessible through kiosks in physician's waiting rooms.

Dr. Angela Chen, an associate clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at UCLA and chief of family planning services, said the app helps women actively engage in their own health decisions.

"We anticipate that this will translate into better adherence to health commitments," Chen said. "Witnessing the app being used by our patients over the past several months, I already see the benefit in terms of time saved by the clinicians. It makes our job much easier, and patients seem to enjoy navigating the app and engaging in a multi-dimensional learning experience about birth control."

For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.

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Death rates decline for advanced heart failure patients, but outcomes are still not ideal

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Top Gift Guide Editors Reveal How to Publicize Your Consumer Product in 2013 Holiday Editions

Texas employee named among best in private water industry

Exclusive Video Interviews With CEOs Available on Equities.com

Bruins honor veterans with Memorial Wall

Beach Fest coming June 15

City Council tracking pension costs

Memorial Day city service schedule

Toyota is the world’s most valuable automotive brand

Costs to treat stroke in America may double by 2030

2013 Chinese-Canadian Consumers Car Choice Top 10 Awards

Next UC staff advisor-designate selected

After Hours: A professor and her therapy dog

Graduating M.B.A.s take top prize with website for bridesmaids

UCLA life scientists present new insights on climate change and species interactions

'Dreamscapes' debuts at UCLA Anderson

Professor Jason Speyer named first holder of Ronald and Valerie Sugar Chair in Engineering

WOMP volunteers engage community

Campus community to honor veterans on Memorial Wall

How health care is learning from lawsuits

UCLA School of Law kicks off monthlong commencement celebration

UCLA Health System takes steps in anticipation of strike

No-treatment approach may be best choice for older prostate cancer patients

Take me out to the courthouse

Free document shredding event June 8

Fowler Museum celebrates 50th anniversary with year of special exhibitions, programs

UC student graduation rates hit a 20-year high

Free tours offered at Leo Carrillo Ranch

27th Annual Jazz Reggae Festival

Many people with implantable defibrillators can participate in vigorous sports

National Trails Day group hike June 1

Renaissance RoboCop

Yahoo! to Acquire Tumblr

Short Takes

Empty Bowls project includes work by UHCL art staff

Association awards scholarships to two UHCL students

Valuable resources available at Psychological Services Clinic

Diagnostic testing offered through UHCL center

Say 'No' to Gang of Eight's immigration reform bill

Staff News — May 17, 2013

Hammer Museum appoints Connie Butler as chief curator,Aram Moshayedi as curator

Carey McCarthy named director of volunteer services for UCLA Health

Erin Rice named director of UCLA's People Animal Connection program

Time for a new Victoria Day weekend driving tradition in Canada: greater safety knowledge for safer road trips

UCLA students plan to rock Pauley

Diagnosing heart attacks: There’s an app for that

Control of heart disease risk factors varies among outpatient practices

Agenda for next Council workshop now available

Public invited to budget workshop

UCLA math students place third in prestigious North American competition

Yahoo! Granted Favorable Ruling in Mexico City Superior Court of Justice

UCLA, United Way team up to help veterans find jobs

Massachusetts’ healthcare reform didn’t raise hospital use, costs

Depression linked to almost doubled stroke risk in middle-aged women

For a dying patient, a prescription of silence

Wounded soldiers race to South Pole

New Ashe optometry center will serve faculty, staff

Showcase for emeriti arts and crafts

Patients fare better at hospitals using Get With The Guidelines-Stroke

Risk of death, hospital readmission prolonged after heart attack, heart failure

The Dynamic, Stunning 2014 Lexus IS Offers Incredible Choice When it comes to Luxury, Performance, Style and Technology

State of UC outlined in Yudof ‘white paper’

Verbatim — tracking our thoughts, families online and hidden viruses

Student researchers on front lines of marijuana issue

City raises awareness of water safety

Is there a nurse practitioner in the house?

Children explore nature through science trek classes

Major streets being repaved near the beach

Students give high marks to UC education, access to courses

Getting fit in middle age can reduce heart failure risk

Brain rewires itself after damage or injury, life scientists discover

Hammer Museum appoints Connie Butler as chief curator,
Aram Moshayedi as curator