News roundups

January 26, 2011

Newsmakers

GOOD DOGS: Conservation canines are becoming indispensable tools for biologists, according to a late-January article in US News & World Reports Science column. The article quoted Sam Wasser, UW research professor and director of the Center for Conservation Biology, who has worked with scat-detection dogs since 1997.

“Dogs have such a phenomenal sense of smell,” Wasser said, noting that scat contains a surprising amount of genetic information researchers can use to track the health and range of a population. And scat-detection dogs can be trained to locate practically any kind of dung. “All this is from one [scat] sample,” Wasser said. “The power of this method is absolutely phenomenal.” Read the article online.

C-DIFFICILE: A powerful superbug named C-diff is on the rise, according to a December Associated Press article, and some doctors are using a last-ditch effort to treat it that involves using good bacteria to fight off the bad — its bascially a fecal transplant. “Yes, theres a yuck factor,” the article stated. “But reports of several dozen cases in a medical journal and at a meeting of the nation’s gastroenterologists this fall suggest that with no more inconvenience than a colonoscopy, people who have suffered C-diff for months, or longer, can rapidly improve.” The story also quoted Christina Surawicz, professor of medicine and chief of gastroenterology at Harborview Medical Center, who it said has performed the procedure 16 times. “I used to say this was just a measure of how desperate patients and their doctors were. There came a time when there was nothing else to do,” Surawicz said. C-diff is formally named Clostridium difficile, which seems about right. Read the story online.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES: Should Russell Investments be allowed to install a sign atop its Seattle headquarters, the 42-story former Washington Mutual Center? Would allowing such signs help attract new businesses to the city? Two dozen-some UW architecture faculty say no. “What the signs will do is lead to focusing on the signs and the advertising. They’ll be the brightest things in the night sky,” Jeffrey Ochsner, architecture professor and one of the leading UW faculty opponents of the measure, said in an interview. “We’ve been thinking about saving this skyline for 50 years. The city of Seattle fits within a natural setting that is quite splendid, and it really is a remarkable combination of the natural and the man-made.” Read the story online.

MAY-DECEMBER: Hes 84 and rich, shes a beautiful, 24-year-old ex Playboy playmate. Is that so wrong? UW sociologist Pepper Schwartz discussed Hugh Hefners latest engagement in a late-December column for CNN Opinion. “In some ways (its) a humorists dream,” she wrote. But she added, “Love, when it truly happens, is precious at any age. It is possible at any age. And even if it is not passionate love, even if it is just the comfort of companionship and spending time with someone you respect, it is a boon to the heart, health and happiness of both partners.” Read her comments online.

RESOLVED? New Years resolutions often dont last even a week. A month into the new year, many who swore off are already smoking, drinking and eating like it was still 2010. The Los Angeles Times got hold of G. Alan Marlatt, UW professor of psychology,  and other researchers, to talk about resolutions for an early-January article. “Any number of people don’t make resolutions at all because they’re afraid they’ll feel bad if they don’t keep them,” said Marlatt, who is also director of the UWs Addictive Behaviors Research Center. Until you have a solid plan for how to succeed, Marlatt says, motivation and will power are unlikely to be enough. Put down that brownie and read the story online.

Newmakers is a periodic column reporting on the coverage of the Uw by the national press and broadcasting services.