A Sampling of Clips for 
May 10 - 12, 2003

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

Vaccine could aid heart, too
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 12 – Vaccine used to prevent pneumonia may also have benefits for the heart, new research conducted at University of California, San Diego indicates. Mice vaccinated with a type of bacteria that is a common cause of pneumonia developed high levels of an antibody that slows or halts the progression of heart disease. "If we can harness this potential, we may have new ways to treat patients with heart disease, as well as the possibility of developing a vaccine for our children to prevent this disease from ever developing in their later years," Gregg J. Silverman of UCSD, a co-author of the study said. But the situation is far more complicated in humans than mice, said university colleague Joseph Witztum, a co-author of the paper.
* No link available online.

Article also appeared in:
Associated Press, May 12

Similar article appeared in:
St. Petersburg Times, May 12
* No link available online.

Sweating it out at the gym can help you sweat up the sheets
San Francisco Chronicle, May 11 – Studies done at University of California, San Diego indicate that exercise may help extend the length of sexual encounters. "They took a group of middle-aged, overweight men with sexual problems, and had them do 60-minute workouts three or four times a week, and it did wonders for their sex lives," said a sports physiologist.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/05/11/LV298763.DTL

Civilian members of shuttle probe are on NASA's payroll
Houston Chronicle, May 11 – Civilian members of the board investigating the shuttle Columbia disaster are being paid executive-level salaries by NASA. The agency quietly put the five civilians on the NASA payroll, at pay rates of $ 134,000 a year to take advantage of provisions that allow boards composed exclusively of "federal employees" to conduct business in secret. If the civilians had not been hired by NASA, a federal law would have required the investigating board to meet publicly, justify any closed-door sessions and keep transcripts and minutes that would become public records. (Quotes Sally Ride, former astronaut and now professor on leave from the University of California, San Diego).
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/space/1905347

Relax and prosper
Times-Picayune, May 12 – Millions of women are struggling with infertility along with feelings of depression and stress. A 2001 University of California, San Diego study found that women with severe depression were 93 percent less likely to get pregnant through infertility treatment than those with little or no depression. Experts say there are steps you can take -- from meditation to humor -- to reverse the negativity and increase your chances of getting pregnant.
http://www.nola.com/search/index.ssf?/base/living-0/1052717289161090.xml?nola

"Gentle explosion" as Pacific island erupts
Agence France Presse, May 12 – A north Pacific island has suddenly erupted and is sending rock, lava and tons of ash into the atmosphere, authorities said Monday. A scientist said it was a "gentle explosion" but the US National Weather Service in Guam said the ash was at a high altitude and was moving towards Japan. Aircraft have been warned to avoid the cloud. The eruption occurred without warning at 9pm Saturday (1100 GMT Saturday) on the Northern Mariana Island of Anatahan. (Quotes Allan Sauter of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography).
* No link available online.

Similar article appeared in:
Associated Press, May 12
* No link available online.

UCSD Athena Pinnacle awards teacher
San Diego Daily Transcript, May 8 – Barbara DePass-Smith, a teacher from Monarch School, a San Diego county school catering to homeless and at-risk youth, won this year's University of California, San Diego Athena Pinnacle Award for Individuals in Education as a result of her role in creating a state-of-the-art science program. Through her dedication, Monarch offers an honors science course in collaboration with UCSD Medical School.
* No link available online.

UC officials take a step back on SARS stand
San Diego Union-Tribune, May 11 – Less than a week after the University of California Berkeley decided to ban students from China, Taiwan and other parts of Asia from summer school classes because of concerns over SARS, UC administrators have taken a step back and advised campus officials to urge those students to self-monitor their health. The UC system's guidelines recommend that campus officials work to ensure all traveler from SARS-affected areas self-monitor their temperature, notify health-care providers if an illness develops and provide sufficient resources to meet Centers for Disease Control recommendations. (Mentions University of California, San Diego).
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20030511-9999_1m11sars.html

State presidential primary likely to move to Feb. 17
Associated Press, May 12 – Gov. Jim Doyle said Monday he soon will sign a bill that would move up Wisconsin's presidential primary to Feb. 17, a change political experts say will vastly improve the state's chances of playing a role in the fight for the 2004 Democratic nomination. "If the calendar stays this way, Wisconsin is a very big deal in many ways," says Sam Popkin, a political scientist at the University of California, San Diego and a campaign adviser to Al Gore in 2000.
* No link available online.

Fate of nominee is left to council
San Diego Union-Tribune, May 10 – San Diego Mayor Dick Murphy has put the burden back on his City Council colleagues to decide whether former District Attorney Ed Miller should be appointed to the city Ethics Commission. Murphy nominated Miller in late February -- at the recommendation of Councilmen Jim Madaffer and Brian Maienschein -- to fill a seat that became vacant in December, when Lisa Foster resigned to become a Superior Court judge. (Quotes Steve Erie, a political science professor of University of California, San Diego).
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/sat/metro/news_6m10miller.html

Bush's Top Political Advisors Laying Groundwork For 2004 Campaign
Bulletin’s Frontrunner, May 12 – The Dallas Morning News reports that President Bush’s top political advisers are pressing ahead to shape the 2004 battleground. The Bush political team has worked to rally the Republican faithful and soften up the would-be Democratic opposition. Gary Jacobson, a political science professor at the University of California, San Diego, said, "The country is just like it was in 2000, evenly divided between the parties and highly polarized. Republicans win re-election as long as the focus continues to be on national defense. If the focus turns to domestic policy, then the advantage is to the Democrats."
* No link available online.

The big sell
San Diego Union-Tribune, May 11 – According to Kathy Lee, University of California, San Diego’s University Events Interim Director, UCSD has witnessed a 30 percent increase in the number of companies sponsoring events on campus over the past few years. Companies are responding to the change in college demographics and the shift from 60 percent male to 56 percent female and are increasingly targeting their advertising toward women students.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/sun/metro/news_1m11women.html