Media coverage of top UCI stories: Nov. 8, 2007
1. United Press International, Nov. 7, 2007
Marijuana-like chemical lifts
depression
UCI MENTIONED: The researchers, led by Professor Daniele
Piomelli of the University of California-Irvine, noted the neurotransmitter anandamide acts on a class of
neurons called the brain’s endocannabinoid system. That system has important analgesic, anti-
anxiety and anti-depressant roles, and is also involved in the regulation of food intake and
weight.
First Paragraph: A U.S.-Italian study suggests
increasing levels of a marijuana-like neurotransmitter initiates anti-depressant effects in rats.
2. The Guardian (London), Nov. 8, 2007
Stem cell injections may counter memory
loss
FULL TEXT: Memory loss caused by strokes and
Alzheimer’s disease may be treatable with injections of stem cells, a team of neuroscientists has
found. A study in mice showed that damage to key areas of the brain healed three months after neural
stem cells were injected. The team believes the cells secrete proteins which protect neighbouring cells and
help recover memory. “Our research provides clear evidence that stem cells can reverse memory
loss,” said Frank LaFerla, a neurobiologist at University of California, Irvine, who led the study,
published in the latest issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.
3. Taipei Times (Taiwan), Nov. 8, 2007
University building leads to lawsuit against Frank
Gehry (Originally published by the Guardian)
UCI MENTIONED: Two of Gehry’s earlier university
projects have run into difficulties. A 1986 engineering building for the University of California at Irvine has
been torn down because it leaked. A building for the management school of Case Western Reserve
University in Ohio cost more than double the original estimate.
First
Paragraph: It was supposed to be a geek palace for some of the
brightest people on the planet. Dissonant angles, sloping floors, an exterior that suggested some sort of
implosion - these were just the sort of challenges that inspire the great brains sheltered therein.
4. Los Angeles Times, Nov. 8, 2007
Yahoo isn’t the only villain (op-ed)
UCI MENTIONED: [About the author]: Peter Navarro is a business
professor at UC Irvine and the author of Coming China Wars.
First
Paragraph: Which company has committed the greater evil? Yahoo
Inc. helped send a reporter to prison by revealing his identity to the Chinese government. Cisco Systems
Inc. helps send thousands of Chinese dissidents to prison by selling sophisticated Internet surveillance
technology to China.
5. Los Angeles Times, Nov. 8, 2007
Music of Veracruz rocks O.C.
UCI MENTIONED: None of the band members are from Veracruz,
but that doesn’t really matter, said Robert Garfias, an ethnomusicologist at UC Irvine, adding that
groups such as Son del Centro were helping to lead a revival of son jarocho.
“There is a renaissance of the music from Veracruz,” he said. Young people “are no
doubt still playing mariachi, but son jarocho is for those who want to get a little closer to the roots of
Mexico. It’s less flashy than mariachi and less stereotypical. There’s a certain purity and
beauty to it.”
First Paragraph: Unless
you’re from Veracruz, Mexico, or a historian of Mexican music, the songs emanating from the
Mexican Cultural Center in Santa Ana might be something of a mystery. Although Latin American in flavor,
the melodies and rhythms aren’t typical folkloric music, mariachi or trios romanticos.
6. The Orange County Register, Nov. 7, 2007
No. 1 in plastic surgery: breast
implants
UCI MENTIONED: “Society rewards women for their
looks,” says Mary Gilly, professor of marketing at UCI’s Merage School of Business.
“Men can get by with money and power – Hugh Hefner doesn’t get all those young girlfriends
based on his looks. But women need to look good to be noticed.”
First
Paragraph: The statistics of cosmetically enhanced breasts are what
pop culture suggests they are – eye popping. Last year, there were 329,000 operations in the United
States to rebuild, enhance, enlarge, uplift or otherwise change breasts. That made breast enhancement
the No. 1 form of plastic surgery, up 55 percent from six years previous.
7. Daily Pilot, Nov. 7, 2007
UCI researchers to study plug-in hybrid vehicles
UCI MENTIONED: UCI is one of two universities in the United
States that will be working with a new Toyota plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, officials announced
Wednesday. University researchers will study how the vehicle, a modified Prius, could affect air quality and
electricity demands in California. Toyota is handing over the prototype vehicle to UCI on Friday at a
ceremony in Torrance.
Second Paragraph: The vehicle
is powered by a small internal-combustion engine, an electric motor and two battery packs. The
chargeable, increased battery capacity will increase electric-only driving on short drives, such as city
driving, equaling fewer emissions. The country’s only other testing site for Toyota’s hybrid
electric vehicle is UC Berkeley.
8. Daily Pilot, Nov. 8, 2007
Win auction, play round with renowned
O’Meara
UCI MENTIONED: In support of the UC Irvine Masters Golf
Invitational to be held this Monday at El Niguel Country Club, Mark O’Meara has generously
donated the opportunity for a foursome to join him for a day of golf at The Madison Club in La Quinta,
Calif.
Second Paragraph: A live auction for this unique
item will be conducted during the dinner portion of Monday’s event which supports the UCI
men’s and women’s golf programs, and UCI’s Department of Education.
9. Irvine World News, Nov. 8, 2007
Five tons of charity (Originally published by the Orange County Register)
UCI MENTIONED: About 30 UC Irvine Sigma Chi fraternity
students volunteered at the pennies collection, unloading and weighing bags and sorting out paper rolls,
plastic bags and accidental nickels.
First Paragraph: As
part of Red Ribbon week, Irvine students collected 10,823 pounds of pennies, about $16,000, to go
toward drug and violence-awareness and prevention programs. Schools traded pennies for cash from
students who were competing for a pizza party.
10. Los Angeles City Beat, Nov. 8, 2007
L.A. siper: The Chancellor’s e-mails
UCI MENTIONED: Let’s reopen the investigation into the
evil influences and people who played a role in the hiring-firing-rehiring of Erwin Chemerinsky as the first
dean of the new law school at UC Irvine.
Second
Paragraph: We must confess that we, like thousands of conscious
and semi-conscious Southern Californians, never bought the official line from Chancellor Michael Drake
that he came up with his misgivings about Erwin the Genius all on his own and that the rich, right-wing
control freak – Donald Bren – whose name appears on the law school had nothing to do with it. Now the
university, in response to a public records request filed by L.A. Sniper, released 430 pages of e-mails and
letters sent to the chancellor during the weeks surrounding fateful September 11, the day Drake reneged
on the job offer in a meeting with Erwin in North Carolina.
11. LA Observed (Los Angeles, Calif.), Nov. 8, 2007
The Chemerinsky papers
(blog)
UCI MENTIONED: CityBeat columnist Alan Mittelstaedt
FOI’d the chancellor of UC Irvine trying to find out who pressured him to un-hire Erwin Chemerinsky
as dean of the new law school, before eventually doing the re-hire thing.
Second
Paragraph: The result: 430 pages of email and letters that shows
Chancellor Michael Drake did hear from several judges and others in Orange County objecting to the
Chemerinsky appointment. The upshot, other than Drake’s sullied image: Chemerinsky gets the
highest salary ($350,000) of any law school dean in the University of California.
