A Sampling of Clips for 
January 17 - 20, 2004

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

For Accurate Readings, the Angle Matters
Los Angeles Times, Jan. 19-How you position your arm during a blood pressure check could potentially determine whether your doctor properly diagnoses and treats your hypertension. That conclusion comes from a study in which researchers at UC San Diego placed patients' arms in slightly exaggerated positions. David Guss M.D., director of emergency room services at UC San Diego, oversaw the study of 100 emergency room patients with signs of cardiovascular problems.
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-maincapsule19jan19,1,5935361.story

Similar article appeared in:
Washington Post, Jan. 20
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26261-2004Jan17.html

Giant Boulder Will Roll Into UCSD This Week
NBCSandiego.com, Jan. 19-A 321,000-pound boulder destined to be part of a massive sculpture will be moved from Pala to San Diego, University of California, San Diego authorities said Monday. The 16-foot-high, 17-foot-wide boulder will begin its move at about midnight Tuesday. It will be taken to UCSD's Camp Elliott until the site for its installation is ready, according to Mary Beebe, director of UCSD's Stuart Collection.
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/2777123/detail.html

Similar article appeared in:
KFMB, Jan. 19
http://www.kfmb.com/printstory.php?storyID=21644

Experimental Pain Killer for Cancer Patients Derived from Sea Snail Venom
WIS 10, Jan. 20-The venom of a sea snail could ease hard to treat pain in cancer and aids patients, according to new research lead by Georgia Robins Sadler, a cancer specialist at the University of California, San Diego. Less than an inch long, small sea snails contain venom that paralyze their prey. A man made version of the potent venom has been shown to relieve severe pain, especially in cancer patients.
http://www.wistv.com/global/story.asp?s=1608267&ClientType=Printable

Religion Makes People Fanatics
Economic Times, Jan. 19-People who take their religious faith to violent extremes have achieved new notoriety in recent years. As it happens, many of the terrorist atrocities in the Middle East, America and Asia have been sponsored by Islamic radicals. On the face of it, such groups' activities stem from simple obedience to a warped perception of God's will. However, social scientists have more sophisticated and perhaps more convincing explanations, drawn from politics, sociology or anthropology. What on earth, you might ask, can economics add? Plenty, according to a new paper by Eli Berman of the University of California at San Diego.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/430906.cms

Same article appeared in:
The Economist, Jan. 17
* No link available online.

U.S. Reaps Bittersweet Fruit of Merger
Los Angeles, Jan. 19-A decade after Congress narrowly approved the agreement opening the borders between Mexico, the United States and Canada, many Americans still have mixed feelings about the NAFTA. NAFTA's impact on the U.S. economy has varied dramatically from place to place and industry to industry. Consumers enjoy lower prices for many goods. Border regions have seen a boom in transportation and trade-related jobs. But others have suffered as NAFTA made it easier for U.S. automakers, food processors and apparel makers to shift low-margin, labor-intensive work to Mexico. (Quote by Jeffrey Davidow, a former U.S. ambassador to Mexico who now heads the Institute of the Americas at UC San Diego.)
http://www.latimes.com/la-fg-greengiant19jan19,1,4420660.story

U.S.-Backed AIDS Vaccine Trial in Thailand Is Questioned
Washington Post, Jan. 19-Nearly two dozen well-respected AIDS researchers are publicly questioning the value of a U.S.-sponsored AIDS vaccine trial just starting in Thailand, suggesting the huge experiment is a waste of money that offers little prospect of benefiting Thais. (Quote by Douglas D. Richman, an AIDS researcher at the University of California at San Diego.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27970-2004Jan18.html

Simple Sugar Eases Huntington's Disease in Mice
Nature, Jan. 19-A simple sugar called trehalose helps to relieve the symptoms of Huntington's disease in mice. The discovery may help researchers to design drug treatments for the human condition. Huntington's disease is an inherited illness that causes profound cognitive and movement problems. It affects 1 in 10,000 people. There is currently no cure. (Quote by researcher Fred Levine from the University of California, San Diego.)
http://www.nature.com/nsu/040112/040112-16.html

Hormone therapy is still hotly debated - are the benefits worth the danger?
San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 18-In July 2002, a Women's Health Initiative study of Prempro, an estrogen-progestin combination taken by millions of menopausal women, was halted when it showed that the medication increased the risk of breast cancer, heart disease, stroke and pulmonary embolism. Later results showed that older users of the hormone had twice the rate of dementia as others. When it hit the headlines, the news scared everybody to death. (Quote by Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, an internationally recognized expert in epidemiology who chairs the department of community and family medicine at UC San Diego.)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/01/18/LVG9947AP51.DTL

Q&A Ricardo Lagos Escobar, President of Chile
San Diego Union-Tribune, Jan. 18-Q & A with Ricardo Lagos Escober, president of Chile, who was in San Diego for a speech to the Institute of the Americas at the University of California, San Diego.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/sun/opinion/news_mz1e18qa.html

Sinus Trouble Could Lead to Sleepless Nights
Pak Tribune, Jan. 19-Having trouble getting a good night's sleep? Are you rattling your spouse out of bed when you snore? If so, those restless nights may be a sign of a sinus problem. Keith Jay Wahl M.D., a clinical attending physician at the University of California, San Diego, sees a number of patients with snoring and sleep problems that he traces back to an underlying sinus condition.
http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=52041

Scripps to Start Taking Bids for Architect to Build Lab
Associated Press, Jan. 17-The Scripps Research Institute is looking for an architect to design 364,000 square feet of biotechnology research space on a 100-acre campus in Palm Beach County. Architects bidding on the project must have experience designing and buildings worth $50 million or more, and must have worked in Florida. Scripps also announced the second major research appointment at the coming Florida operation. K.C. Nicolaou, head of the chemistry research group at Scripps' headquarters in La Jolla, Calif., was named lead chemist on Friday. He will split his time between Florida and California, where he is also a chemistry professor at the University of California at San Diego.
* No link available online.

On the Move
San Diego Union-Tribune, Jan. 17-The University of California San Diego has named Andy Ceperley director of the Career Services Center. Previously, he was the associate dean of academic support and director of the Career Center at Santa Clara University.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/onthemove.html

New Company Specializes in Search-Engine Technology
Copley News Service, Jan. 19-Professionally speaking, Sadanand Singh is going for his third reincarnation. After a long academic career as a professor of speech and hearing sciences, Singh made a small fortune as a publisher of technical books in the field of communication sciences and disorders. His latest business venture, called ContentScan, is developing a series of highly specialized online libraries. Each operates by organizing select information from a specific field and offering it to users through a searchable Web site called a "dome." Singh said he developed the underlying search engine technology with Richard K. Belew, a professor of cognitive computer science at the University of California San Diego.
* No link available online.

The Inside Scoop On Campus Life
New York Times, Jan. 18-A new series of student-written guides called the "College Prowler," give incoming freshmen the real lowdown on campus life, from dorms with the highest weekend vomit levels to the promiscuity policies of coeds. Luke Skurman, the 23-year-old chief executive of "College Prowler," started the series after he couldn't find a book with true insider information on the colleges he was interested in attending. Each edition covers one campus and is based on quotes from current and former students, including the University of California, San Diego.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/18/edlife/MB111348.html

In the Shadow of the Warrior-State
San Diego Union-Tribune, Jan. 18-Review of Chalmers Johnson's book "The Sorrows of Empire." Johnson is a UCSD emeritus professor in the Graduate School of International Relations.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/sun/books/news_mz1v18shadow.html

Jobless Rate Drops, but Experts are Concerned
San Diego Union-Tribune, Jan. 17-Even as San Diego County's unemployment rate dropped dramatically in December, economists remained wary of an economy that created only 700 new jobs over the past year. (Quote by James Hamilton, an economics professor at the University of California San Diego.)
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/sat/business/news_1b17jobsless.html

Hubble Set to Die Early as Funding Redirected
San Diego Union-Tribune, Jan. 17-NASA decreed an early death yesterday for one of its flagship missions and most celebrated successes, the Hubble Space Telescope. Two days after President Bush ordered NASA to redirect its resources toward human exploration of the moon and Mars, agency Administrator Sean O'Keefe told the telescope's managers there would be no more shuttle missions to maintain it. (Quote by Arthur Wolfe, director of the Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences at the University of California, San Diego.)
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/sat/news/news_1n17hubble.html