A Sampling of Clips for December 3^rd, 2008

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

Appendectomy: No Cuts, No Scars, No Sweat
TIME, December 2008 -- Rather than cutting through skin and tissue to reach organs deep inside the body, surgeons are increasingly experimenting with going through natural openings such as the mouth, vagina and colon. A team at UCSD performed the first such operation in the U.S. in March, removing the appendix of a brave graduate student through her vagina. More

Latino Immigrants and the Current Economic Crisis
CNN, Dec. 2 -- Recently I’ve been pondering about how will Hispanics, specifically Hispanic immigrants, be affected with the current crisis, how will their buying habits shift, and most importantly to you, how will this affect all those marketing to Latinos. (Quotes Wayne Cornelius, director of UCSD’s Center for Comparative Immigration Studies) More

As It Grows in Popularity, Vitamin D's Role is Debated
San Diego Union-Tribune, Dec. 3 -- Yesterday, more than 100 physicians, nutritionists, acupuncturists, massage therapists and others gathered at UCSD for a daylong conference extolling vitamin D. More

RIP Ralph A. Lewin - December 03, 2008
Nature, Dec. 3 – Ralph Lewin’s scientific career focused on the physiology and biochemistry of marine microbes, which he studied at Yale in the 1950s and at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California from the 1960s until his retirement a few years ago. But his outside interests were wide-ranging and notably eclectic. More

Japan's 'Lost Decade' Pushes US to Overcorrection: Analysts
Agence France Presse, Dec. 3 — Lessons from Japan's "lost decade" of the 1990s are pushing the United States toward excessive steps to counter deflation and recession that could spur other economic problems, analysts say. (Quotes Takeo Hoshi, an economics professor at UCSD) More

Ready and Able to Tackle 2009’s Challenges
San Diego Metropolitan, December 2008 -- Looking forward to 2009? These folks are. San Diego Metropolitan spent the last few months canvassing the community and asking for opinions on who would be making news in 2009 and improving life for those touched by business, government and nonprofits. Two members of the UCSD community are on the list: Birch Aquarium executive director Nigella Hillgarth and UCSD researcher Tracy Johnson, from the Division of Biological Sciences. More

The Dangers of High Heels
News8, Dec. 2 -- If you're a slave to fashion, the shoes you wear could be putting your feet in jeopardy. Sometimes for women, dressing up can downright hurt. So why endure the pain from pumps? To explain why high heels hurt, we spoke to Dr. Bertil Smith, from the UCSD Medical Center, who talks to women about foot pain daily. More

Scalable City at UCSD's Calit2
KPBS, Dec. 2 -- Sheldon Brown and Geoff Ryman will join author Kim Stanley Robinson for an artist talk and readings centered around Scalable City. The event takes place tonight at 5:30pm in UCSD’s Atkinson Hall. Scalable City will be on view through December 15th in the gallery@Calit2 in Atkinson Hall on the UCSD campus. More

Sharp Rise in Fatal Medication Mistakes at Home
Natural News, Dec. 2 -- The number of deaths from medication mistakes made at home has increased more than 700 percent in the last 20 years in the United States, according to a study conducted by researchers from UCSD and published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. More

Hospital On-a-Chip Targets Battlefield
EE Times, Dec. 2 -- An Office of Naval Research program seeks to embed a field hospital-on-a-chip that could monitor a soldier's injuries and administer medications. If successful, the four-year, $1.6 million program would provide U.S. soldiers with a wearable device to constantly monitor vital signs and help treat wounds. According to the researchers Evgeny Katz of Clarkson University (Potsdam, N.Y.) and Joseph Wang of UCSD, treatment within the first 30 minutes after sustaining a battlefield wound is essential to saving soldiers' lives. More

UC Chief Changes Buyout Policy
San Francisco Chronicle, Dec. 3 -- The new president of the University of California system pledged Tuesday that employees in his office no longer will be allowed to collect full severance checks and then be rehired at other UC locations. (Mentions UCSD) More

All Aboard to Margaritaville
San Diego Business Journal, Dec. 1 -- President-in-waiting Barack Obama tabs two local academics from UCSD to become part of his brain trust. Peter Cowhey, who hails from UCSD’s School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, is co-leader picking the administration’s special representative for trade policy. Nobel Laureate Mario Molina, a chemistry and biochemistry professor, is co-leader of the team developing Obama’s science and technology policy. More

The Gender Dragon
San Diego City BEAT, Dec. 2 – “What if you go insane and become a dragon forever?” I ask Micha Cárdenas as she leads me through UCSD’s Calit2 building toward her lair. The motivations behind Cárdenas’ latest performance piece are simple. The waiting period for sex-reassignment surgery is generally one year (365 days), during which time an individual must live as a member of their chosen gender before being deemed “prepared” for the surgery. This waiting period inspired Cárdenas’ 365-hour performance in Second Life, which she’s titled “Becoming Dragon.” More

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