A Sampling of Clips for August 12, 2011

* UCSD faculty and staff may obtain a copy of an article by e-mailing the University Communications Office

Spoiler Alert: Stories Not Ruined if Ending Revealed
ABC News, Aug. 12­­This story -- spoiler alert! -- has a happy ending. If it were a suspense novel, would knowing that make you enjoy it less? To their surprise, psychology researchers found that people actually rated stories higher if they knew how they came out.
Whoa -- can ruining the surprise make a story more enjoyable? That's what Nicholas Christenfeld and Jonathan Leavitt found, and Christenfeld says he was at first stumped. Leavitt is getting his doctorate in psychology at UC San Diego, and Christenfeld is a professor there. More

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Some Stealth Marketing by a ‘Hot Chemo’ Company
New York Times, Aug. 11––Dr. Jason M. Foster, a University of Nebraska surgeon, extolled the virtues of heated chemotherapy delivered directly into the abdominal cavity in a Web presentation in June. What he did not mention was that the Web site on which he appeared, HipecTreatment.com, is a marketing tool for ThermaSolutions, the leading manufacturer of equipment used for the controversial treatment.  (Quotes Andrew Lowy, surgeon at UC San Diego’s Thornton Hospital) More

Poorly Controlled Asthma Can Boost Chances of Pregnancy Complications,
US News and World Report, Aug. 11––Pregnant women with poorly controlled asthma are at increased risk for pregnancy complications and for having a low-birth weight or premature baby, a new study warns.
Researchers reviewed data from 1975 to 2009 on more than 1 million pregnant women. Pregnant women with poorly controlled asthma were 50 percent more likely to develop preeclampsia (high blood pressure during pregnancy) and 25 percent more likely to have a premature baby. Infants born to mothers with asthma weighed an average of 0.2 lbs. less at birth than those born to mothers without asthma. The study was published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.  (Quotes study leader Dr. Christina Chambers, a professor of pediatrics at UC San Diego) More

The Art of Cruelty
NPR, Aug. 11––Discusses whether the brutal imagery present in today's reality and entertainment will shock society into a less alienated state and help create a just social order or whether focusing on representations of cruelty simply makes society more cruel. (Mention UC San Diego visual arts professor, Grant Kester) More

Special Donation Gives Marine Second Chance At Life
KGTV, Aug. 11––A Camp Pendleton-based Marine in dire need of an organ transplant was given a second chance at life thanks to a decision made by a fellow Marine.
After deploying to Iraq, Sgt. Jake Chadwick discovered his kidneys were failing and learned he needed a transplant. Making matters worse, the 23-year-old has type O blood.
"It made it more difficult to match a kidney to him because it could only come from another [type] O donor," said UCSD Medical Center transplant surgeon Dr. Kristin McKeel.
A donor was found but withdrew, leaving Chadwick frustrated.
"That was tough because we'd have to start the search all over again," said Chadwick, who a year ago was deployed with Regimental Combat Team 1 from Camp Pendleton to Iraq. More

Jimmy Eat World Plays at the Racetrack
San Diego Union-Tribune, Aug. 12––The band that rose to fame with a string of radio hits, including “The Middle” and “Chase This Light,” appears in Del Mar on Friday after the last race wraps up at the track. After appearing at UCSD’s annual Sungod Music Festival earlier this year, Jimmy Eat World is one of 10 bands performing in the 2011 Del Mar Summer Concert Series. Attendance is free with racetrack admission. More

Smart Skin: Electronics That Stick and Stretch Like a Temporary Tattoo
Science Daily, Aug. 11––Engineers have developed a device platform that combines electronic components for sensing, medical diagnostics, communications and human-machine interfaces, all on an ultrathin skin-like patch that mounts directly onto the skin with the ease, flexibility and comfort of a temporary tattoo. (Quotes Todd Coleman, bioengineering professor at UC San Diego). More

New Research Vessel would be Point of Pride for San Diego
San Diego Daily Transcript, Aug. 11–– One of the lesser-known superlatives about San Diego is that it is home to the largest oceanographic research fleet in the United States. Hard times have pared back so many university-based fleets around the country that Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego has what may be the last great fleet in America. More

64 Tritons Take Home Dii Ada Academic Achievement Award
Topix, Aug. 10––The Division II Athletics Directors Association announced the recipients of the 2010-11 Academic Achievement Awards on Wednesday and a total of 64 student-athletes from UC San Diego received the honor. More

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