In the News

October 2008

Can Your Doctor Correctly Interpret Your EKG?
The Hindu (India) - Oct. 31

An electrocardiogram or EKG can help the doctor determine whether the graphs indicate a heart attack or an acid attack from last night's dish. Correct interpretation may prompt life-saving, emergency measures; incorrect interpretation may delay care with grave consequences. Currently, there is no uniform way to teach doctors training how to interpret an EKG or assess their competence in the interpretation. To address the lack of uniformity, a team of physicians from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the American College of Cardiology has developed the first Web-based interactive training and examination program for reading EKGs.
www.hindu.com

Credit Crisis Is Open Door for Futures Market Oversight
Reuters - Oct. 30

Congress could revisit a failed push to crack down on energy speculation after an explosion of financial collapses linked to complex instruments that are out of bounds for federal regulators. Michael Greenberger, JD, a professor at the School of Law and a former director at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said, "The credit crisis has only strengthened the resolve of many people to go back and look very hard at this energy speculation issue. Even though they're two different issues, it's the same cast of characters."
www.reuters.com

Credit Default Swaps: 'Financial WMDs'
E-Commerce Times - Oct. 31

Columnist Theodore di Stefano argues that the prime candidate to blame for the financial crisis is the credit default swap (CDS), and his theory is backed by a number of other respected experts. Michael Greenberger, JD, a professor at the School of Law, and a former director at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, is among those experts, along with Warren Buffett, who referred to CDS as "financial weapons of mass destruction."
www.ecommercetimes.com

Halloween Tips for Trick or Treating
"Morning Show," WMAR-TV, Ch. 2, 9:35 a.m. - Oct. 31

Suzanne Doyon, MD, ACMT, medical director of the Maryland Poison Center at the School of Pharmacy, advised parents about Halloween candy and what to do to prevent children from ingesting light-up sticks.

Md. Doctors Make Aortic Tear Repair Easier
Wjz.com - Oct. 30

Every year, tens of thousands of Americans are killed in car crashes. Healthwatch Reporter Kellye Lynn explains how doctors in Baltimore are increasing survival with a minimally invasive procedure. "In a sudden crash, the moving part moves; the stable part stays still and tears at a pretty predictable spot," said David Neschis, MD, associate professor at the School of Medicine, who says 85 percent of patients who have an aortic tear die.
wjz.com

State Faces Nursing Shortage
Sentinel newspapers - Oct. 30

Gov. Martin O'Malley recently allocated $3.4 million to the University of Maryland School of Nursing in response to the increasing demand for highly skilled nurses in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C., area. "We are receiving the funds because it's a major work force issue in the state and in the country," said Janet D. Allan, PhD, RN, CS, FAAN, dean of the School. "We will be able to double our enrollment, which will allow us to educate more direct care nurses."
wjz.com

Electoral College Explained
WBAL-TV, Ch. 11 - 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. Oct. 29

Larry Gibson, JD, who teaches political law at the University of Maryland School of Law, explained the difference between the direct vote and the electoral college vote for the presidential election. He said that even in the electoral college system, one vote can make a difference.
media.umaryland.edu:8080

Enjoy the Halloween Candy in Moderation
Baltimore Examiner - Oct. 30

Every trick-or-treater knows the house on the block that gives out raisins. But there's something to be said for doling out healthier options on Halloween, dietitians and dentists say. "We don't want to take the fun away from families, but we focus on moderation," said Brigit VanGraafeiland, DNP, CPNP, assistant professor at the School of Nursing's Department of Family and Community Health.
www.baltimoreexaminer.com

FDA Awards Grant to Develop Guidelines for Drug Manufacturers
InsideIndianaBusiness.com - Oct. 29
Pharmalive.com (and three other web sites) - Oct. 29

The Food and Drug Administration has awarded a $1.19 million contract to the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Technology and Education, a consortium of 11 leading pharmaceutical engineering universities including the University of Maryland, Baltimore, to develop guidance on design specifications for drug manufacturers. The consortium was launched in 2005 and includes Purdue University, Duquesne University, Illinois Institute of Technology, Rutgers University, the University of Puerto Rico, the University of Connecticut, the University of Iowa, the University of Kansas, the University of Kentucky, and the University of Minnesota. Participants say the initiative called "Quality by Design" will enhance quality control and improve manufacturing efficiency.
www.insideindianabusiness.com
www.pharmalive.com

Fed Cuts Key Interest Rate to Unfreeze Credit Market
WUSA-TV, Ch. 9 - 9 a.m., Oct. 29

The Federal Reserve cut an overnight lending rate from 1.5 percent to 1 percent in a move geared toward encouraging banks to resume lending in a financial environment where credit is virtually nonexistent. Michael Greenberger, JD, a professor at the School of Law and a former director at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said, "The interest rates that are being charged, for example, between banks to loan money from one bank to another, has not dropped in proportion to the drop of the prime rate or the fed funds rate, and that's because in this economy nobody really trusts anybody else."
media.umaryland.edu:8080

Higher Education and Health Care Officials Back Proposed Red Line
Baltimore Business Journal (and 11 other affiliated newspapers) - Oct. 30
The Baltimore Sun - Oct. 30
The Baltimore Examiner - Oct. 30

Area higher education and health care officials from the University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, and Mercy Medical Center threw their support behind a popular layout of the planned east-west Red Line transit system Wednesday. James L. Hughes, MBA, vice president for research and development at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, said the Red Line would especially be an asset as the University develops its west side BioPark, a bioscience research center along Baltimore Street just west of its main campus.
www.baltimoresun.com

Key EDUCAUSE 2008 Sessions Streamed Live for the First Time With Mediasite
MarketWatch - Oct. 30

Sonic Foundry, Inc. announced that the company's Event Services group will be hosting live webcasts of key sessions at the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference. The premier higher education information technology event will be held Oct. 28-31 in Orlando, Fla. Distinguished panelists include James F. Craig, EdD, professor and educational consultant at the Dental School.
www.marketwatch.com

Kudos: High Five to These Scholars
The (Baltimore) Examiner - Nov. 30

The National Association of Social Workers recognized Carlton Munson, PhD, MSW, a professor at the School of Social Work, with its Knee/Wittman Award for Outstanding Achievement.
www.baltimoreexaminer.com

Medical School Abducted and Forced to Withdraw Money from ATM Machine
The Baltimore Sun ý Oct. 30
ABC2news.com ý Oct. 30
WMAR-TV, Ch. 2 ý 11 p.m. Oct. 29
WBALChannel.com ý Oct. 30
WBAL-TV, Ch. 11 ý 11 p.m. Oct. 29
WJZTV.com ý Oct. 30
WJZ-TV, Ch. 13 ý 11 p.m. Oct. 29
WBFF-TV, Ch. 45 ý 11 p.m. Oct. 29

Baltimore City Police are looking for three men in connection with the abduction and robbery of a University of Maryland medical student who was walking home from the campus around 9 a.m. Wednesday on Hollins Street when police say two men with handguns approached, and told him to get into his car. A third suspect joined them, and they drove to Fells Point where the men forced the victim to withdraw money from an ATM. The 800 block of Hollins Street is just west of Martin Luther King Boulevard near the University of Maryland BioPark.
www.baltimoresun.com

Group Sues Government Over Bay
The Baltimore Sun - Oct. 29

Pointing to more than two decades of failure to restore the Chesapeake Bay, the region's largest environmental group is threatening to sue the federal government for shirking its legal responsibility to reduce water pollution in the troubled estuary. The foundation's effort to force restoration of an entire ecosystem is "an innovative and creative approach," says Jane Barrett, JD, an associate professor at the School of Law and director of the School's Environmental Law Clinic. Environmental groups more often sue to enforce a particular law or regulation, or to require cleanup of a specific plant or industry. The foundation's action targets only the Environmental Protection Agency, though others have pointed out that Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia also signed the bay restoration agreements in 1983, 1987, and 2000 and also have failed to achieve their cleanup goals.
www.baltimoresun.com

Maryland Medevacs Boast Record of Safety
The Baltimore Sun - Oct. 29

John Spearman, MBA, vice president of the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center, wrote in a letter to the editor: "The Baltimore Sun's article 'Unnecessary flight risks?' (Oct. 23), which reviewed the circumstances of a number of recent fatal medical air transport crashes, is an unfair attempt to establish guilt by association. The accusatory headline is superimposed over a photo of a Maryland State Police helicopter, despite the fact that the article is primarily about incidents that occurred outside Maryland and involved private and often for-profit medical air transports. What Maryland's medevac system shares with medical transport systems in other states is that they all fly helicopters. Beyond that commonality, the differences are far greater than the similarities. Maryland's trauma response system is the only one in the nation operated by a government agency exclusively. The recent crash of a Maryland medevac helicopter is a tragedy, but it is also an anomaly. Maryland's system has had a sterling record of safety, flying more than 100,000 missions from 1986 without a serious injury or fatality.
www.baltimoresun.com

Maryland Twins Defy Odds
Belleville News-Democrat (Ill.) - Oct. 28

When Lori and Dave Titus learned in March they were expecting naturally conceived identical triplets, they wondered how they would meet what they thought was their challenge of a lifetime. Three months later, the Tituses had more important things on their minds. Their triplets had developed a rare and often fatal condition known as twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, and Lori Titus could not get health insurance. The condition occurs in about 10 percent of identical twins, but the data for identical triplets is thin. "Identical triplets with twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome are exceedingly rare. I know of maybe four or five other people who have worked with cases worldwide," says Ahmet Baschat, MB, ChB, associate professor at the School of Medicine and a fetal medicine specialist at the University of Maryland Medical Center who treated Lori Titus. "The chance that this happens must be in the region of 1 in 15,000."
www.bnd.com

Nursing School Expands Its Degree Programs at Shady Grove
WUSA-TV, Ch. 9, (Washington, D.C.), 7 p.m. - Oct. 28

Gov Martin O'Malley was present on Oct. 28 at the University's Shady Grove campus where the School of Nursing announced it is expanding its bachelor's and master's degree programs at that site to help address the state's critical nursing shortage. O'Malley had supported the increase in nursing education in the state with an allocation for more than $3 million in the budget.
media.umaryland.edu:8080

Two Strains of MRSA Create Tougher Bug
WJZ.com, 5:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. - Oct. 28

There are new warnings about a growing health risk. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report two strains of drug resistant staph are swapping genetic material, creating an even tougher bug. There is more than one strain of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), but they share a common trait. "They're just nasty. It's what I call bad bugs," says Harold Standiford, MD, FACP, professor at the School of Medicine and head of infection control at the University of Maryland Medical Center. "That used to mean battling drug resistant MRSA infections caused by bacteria in the hospital. But now a new front has opened."
wjz.com

Unregulated Swaps Wreak Havoc on the Economy
U.S. Banker - November 2008

Legislation passed in 2000 placed credit default swaps (CDS) out of bounds for federal regulators, and since that time the market for CDS swelled to an estimated $55 trillion. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), one of the two federal bodies that could exercise authority over CDS, has abdicated its authority to do so, according to Michael Greenberger, JD, a professor at the School of Law and a former director at the CFTC. Greenberger says the CFTC has become "an unbelievably passive regulator and the foremost proponent that markets will self-correct. They've fallen off the deep end as far as being a real regulator."
www.americanbanker.com

Adoption Questions Raised in Connection to Lusby Murder Case
WBFF-TV, Ch. 45, 5:33, 6:34, 7:33 and 8:04 a.m. - Oct. 23

Legitimate questions about the motives of Renee Bowman, who allegedly murdered two of her adopted daughters in Lusby, Md., must not result in reduced support for the thousands of children who are lovingly adopted from foster care each year. Recent research by Richard P. Barth, PhD, MSW, dean of the School of Social Work, found that while facilitating an adoption from foster care costs government about $115,000, it saves approximately $258,000 in child welfare costs, netting $143,000 in taxpayer savings for each child. Research estimates that each adoption from foster care nets an additional $190,000 to $235,000 in other savings-from reductions in special education spending to the costs of future involvement in the juvenile justice system.

Expanding Drug Test Is for Cheats, Shy Bladders
Bloomberg News - Oct. 28
Bloomberg.com - Oct. 28

For the past decade, U.S. regulators have been splitting hairs over whether to expand the specimens used to test federal workers for drug use. A Department of Health and Human Services agency proposed in 2004 to set standards for adding hair, saliva, and sweat to the current urine-sample technique. "The whole situation for people with shy bladder is just a nightmare," said Steven Soifer, PhD, MSW, an associate professor at the School of Social Work. "People beg to have alternative tests and to pay for them."
www.bloomberg.com

Guilty Plea in Four Murders
The Baltimore Sun - Oct. 28

At court hearing after court hearing, Nicholas Browning has sat stoically as lawyers argued about his bail status, the doctors who would evaluate him, and whether he would be tried in adult court or the juvenile system on charges that he killed his family. Nevertheless, attorneys said, a paroleable sentence remains a more appealing option for defendants-despite the fact that no convicted killer serving life has been released on parole in Maryland since 1994, according to state officials. "Having a sentence that admits the possibility of parole-even if it's far into the future-is preferable to one in which your only possibility of getting out is feet-first," said Andrew Levy, JD, an adjunct instructor at the School of Law and a trial lawyer.
www.baltimoresun.com

Kudos: Jane Lipscomb
The (Baltimore) Examiner - Oct. 28

Jane Lipscomb, PhD, RN, MS, FAAN, a professor at the School of Nursing, was recently named the Universityýs 2008 Founders Day Research Lecturer of the Year. Her work, in partnerships with labor unions, state governments, an architectural consultant, and a photojournalist, explores how workplace environments, long work hours, and even dangerous circumstances impact employees and employers, and offers recommendations and solutions.
www.baltimoreexaminer.com

Neurologist Spent Decades Getting Huntington's Drug to Market
USA Today - Oct. 28

With the Food and Drug Administration's OK, the drug tetrabenazine-or TBZ-has been prescribed to 1,000 people with Huntington's disease. While she wouldn't prescribe it to someone who has repeatedly attempted suicide, says psychiatrist Karen Anderson, MD, assistant professor at the School of Medicine and director of its Huntingtonýs clinic, "I have not seen anyone on tetrabenazine develop terrible depression."
www.usatoday.com

Pediatrician Looks Past The Blame
The Connecticut Post - Oct. 28
Connpost.com - Oct. 28

Kathy Rivers of Ellicott City reluctantly agreed to bring her children to see Carol Greene, MD, professor at the School of Medicine and director of the pediatric genetics clinic at the University of Maryland Medical Center, after many other pediatricians accused Rivers of exaggerating, or fabricating, their symptoms. Greene played a pivotal role that led to a definitive diagnosis for Emily, now 16, the most severely ill of Rivers' children, and revealed a likely cause for the baffling medical problems that affected 9-year-old John and his other older sister, a college sophomore who has milder symptoms.
www.connpost.com

Prescription Drugs Cost More in Poor Areas
Health Behavior News Service - Oct. 27

Four of the most widely prescribed drugs in the United States can cost 15 percent more on average in the poorest neighborhoods of Florida, according to a study comparing retail pharmacy prices around the state. Bruce Stuart, PhD, professor at the School of Pharmacy and executive director of the School's Peter Lamy Center on Drug Therapy and Aging, said that "although the authors focus on retail drug prices, the study shows four times more pharmacies in wealthy ZIP codes than in poor ones. Expanding health insurance coverage will not address that problem."
www.cfah.org

Research Could Take the Biscuit
Irish Times - Oct. 28

To date, the only treatment for the Republic's estimated 20,000 people diagnosed with celiac disease has been very strict adherence to a gluten-free diet. However, that may be about to change, as new research is just emerging that may go some distance toward tackling the problem. The drug in question is larazotide acetate (AT-1001), and it has not quite "arrived" yet. Discovered by Alessio Fasano, MD, professor at the School of Medicine and medical director of the School's Center for Celiac Research, the drug inhibits a human protein called zonulin, which regulates the permeability of the intestine.
www.irishtimes.com

Sides Argue Accused Killer's Statements
Times of the Internet (a UPI story) - Oct. 27

Abraham Dash, JD, a professor emeritus at the School of Law, said the defense team for Nicholas Browning, the Cockeysville teen charged with killing his family, will likely argue that Browning's youth prevented him from understanding the rights he waived to remain silent and to speak to a lawyer. Dash said that Browning's age, combined with the hours he spent in police custody before confessing to the shootings, should render his statements unconstitutionally involuntary. "I suspect theyll argue that even though he did not ask for a lawyer, he was so young that he didn't quite understand what it meant that they could have a lawyer appointed for him," Dash said.
www.timesoftheinternet.com

Virginia Film Festival Adds Guantanamo Bay Defense Lawyers
Virginia Film Festival - Oct. 27

The idea for The Response, a half-hour film taken directly from the transcripts of the Guantanamo Bay tribunals, was hatched by Sig Libowitz, a character actor who decided he had played so many lawyers he might as well learn to be one. While in a class at the School of Law, Libowitz was fascinated when one of his professors read from the transcripts and suggested after class that it would make for a compelling movie. The School then became a financial supporter of the film.
www.vafilm.com

What Is Economic Justice?
"Mike Pintek" WHFS, 105.7 FM, 1 p.m. - Oct. 28

Michael Reisch, PhD, MSW, MA, the Daniel Thursz Professor of Social Justice at the School of Social Work, was the guest speaker on this radio talk show, discussing economic justice, the making of the current economic crisis, tax laws benefiting the wealthiest Americans, and income distribution.

California Judge Rules Inadequate Foster Care Payments Violate Federal Law
Childrensrights.org (blog) - Oct. 24

California is violating federal law by failing to reimburse the foster parents of thousands of children for the actual costs of caring for a child, a federal judge has ruled. In his decision Tuesday, U.S. District Judge William Alsup of San Francisco stopped short of ordering the state to increase the payments it makes to foster parents, who take care of about 7,000 children. But he said state officials have provided no evidence that the Legislature, which sets the rates, even considers the costs of raising a child. The lawsuit said those rates are 29 to 40 percent short of the costs of the expenses spelled out in federal law. When additional items such as child care for working parents, new school fees, and travel costs are added, the discrepancy is 50 to 60 percent, said Richard P. Barth, PhD, MSW, dean of the University of Maryland School of Social Work, which studied the California system.
www.childrensrights.org

Cleaner Air Makes Healthier Children, Report Shows
Southern Maryland Online - Oct. 26

In 1959, the University of Maryland School of Medicine was the only institution in the country looking into the relationship between lead and children.
somd.com

Gender Diversity of 8th Circuit Scrutinized at Regional Meeting
The Minnesota Lawyer - Oct. 27

School of Law Professor Sherrilyn Ifill, JD, delivered the keynote address at a grass-roots initiative dedicated to increasing gender diversity on the 8th U.S. Court of Appeals, held at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis, titled "Leadership, Gender and Judicial Selection." Ifill said that efforts to increase diversity on the bench do not conflict with the concept of an impartial, colorblind bench. "The lack of gender diversity on the 8th Circuit shows that this issue is one that really requires constant vigilance," Ifill told attendees.
www.minnlawyer.com

Human Rights Declaration at 60: Ideals vs. Reality
The Daily Record - Oct. 27
The (Baltimore) Examiner - Oct. 26

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, written in 1948, has been called the most-translated document in the world. But judging from the human-rights abuses occurring all over the world, it is clearly not the most-read document. How to bridge that gap between ideal and reality, and what role the declaration should play, were the subjects of a three-day symposium at the School of Law to mark the documentýs upcoming 60th anniversary.
www.mddailyrecord.com
www.baltimoreexaminer.com

Invention Aims to Stop Migraines
The Baltimore Sun - Oct 27
Knoxnews.com - Oct. 27

The New Jersey-based American Headache Society, a professional society of health care providers, estimates that 28 million Americans -about one in five women and one in 20 men-suffer from migraines with or without aura. The higher incidence for women is probably related to fluctuation in estrogen, said Jack Gladstein, MD, associate dean for student affairs and associate professor of pediatrics and neurology at the School of Medicine.
www.knoxnews.com

Oregon Foster Children End Up Lost in the System
StatesmanJournal.com - Oct. 25

Foster children in Oregon are entrusted to a historically underfunded statewide child welfare system that critics say has struggled with the same issues for years. A report, by Children's Rights, the National Foster Parent Association, and the University of Maryland School of Social Work, found that it actually costs between $642 and $806 per month, plus travel and child care expenses, to care for a foster child in Oregon.
www.statesmanjournal.com

Pediatrician Looks Past The Blame
The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch - Oct. 27

Kathy Rivers of Ellicott City reluctantly agreed to bring her children to see Carol Greene, MD, professor at the School of Medicine and director of the pediatric genetics clinic at the University of Maryland Medical Center, after many other pediatricians accused Rivers of exaggerating, or fabricating, their symptoms. Greene played a pivotal role that led to a definitive diagnosis for Emily, now 16, the most severely ill of Rivers' children, and revealed a likely cause for the baffling medical problems that affected 9-year-old John and his other older sister, a college sophomore who has milder symptoms.
www.columbusdispatch.com

Regents Commit to Science, Technology, Engineering, Math Push
Annapolis Capital - Oct. 26

Schools in the University System of Maryland will move forward with Gov. Martin O'Malley's initiative to encourage students to pursue degrees and careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, according to a Board of Regents meeting Friday at the University of Maryland, Baltimore.
www.hometownannapolis.com

Search for New Law Dean Could Wrap Up by Spring
The Daily Record - Oct. 27

The search committee for a new dean for the School of Law hopes to bring a ýhalf-dozen or fewerý candidates to Baltimore around New Yearýs and expects to conclude its work by March, its chairman said. Professor Michael Van Alstine, JD, MJurComp, DrJur, who is an associate dean for research and faculty development, was chosen this month to lead the search team. Those members include Jose Bahamonde-Gonzalez, JD, associate dean for administrative affairs and student services; professors Lisa Fairfax, JD, Sherrilyn Ifill, JD, Michael Millemann, JD, Paula Monopoli, JD, Robert Percival, JD, MA, and David Super, JD; Bryan Saxton, a third-year law student; U.S. District Judge Andre M. Davis, a 1978 graduate; Joanne Pollak, vice president and general counsel for the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions and a 1976 graduate; and Richard P. Barth, PhD, MSW, dean of the University's School of Social Work. Law school Dean Karen H. Rothenberg, JD, MPA, announced in June she would be stepping down at the end of the academic year.
www.mddailyrecord.com

Tape Raises Questions
The Baltimore Sun - Oct. 27

Abraham Dash, JD, a professor emeritus at the School of Law, said the defense team for Nicholas Browning, the Cockeysville teen charged with killing his family, will likely argue that Browning's youth prevented him from understanding the rights he waived to remain silent and to speak to a lawyer. Dash said that Browning's age, combined with the hours he spent in police custody before confessing to the shootings, should render his statements unconstitutionally involuntary. "I suspect they'll argue that even though he did not ask for a lawyer, he was so young that he didn't quite understand what it meant that they could have a lawyer appointed for him," Dash said.
www.baltimoresun.com

The Monday Consult: Kids grinding teeth
The Baltimore Sun - Oct. 26

Baltomommie wrote to ask for advice on how to help her preschooler stop grinding his teeth at night. She also wanted to know whether a sealant that dentists apply to children's teeth these days to prevent cavities would help protect his teeth from the wear and tear of grinding. I sent the question to Shari Kohn, DDS, a clinical instructor at the University of Maryland Dental School and a pediatric dentist at Dentistry for Kids in Hunt Valley.
www.baltimoresun.com

A Less-Open Heart Surgery
The Philadelphia Inquirer - Oct. 24

Heart surgeon James Gammie, MD, an associate professor at the School of Medicine, says he thinks that bypassing the diseased valve during heart surgery could be a better way proceed. In the journal Circulation last month, Gammie reported that using a new valve embedded in a bypass graft "reliably relieves aortic stenosis," or narrowing of the valve. Gammie said he does not need approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration because he is using approved devices.
www.philly.com

Adoption Questions Raised in Connection to Lusby Murder Case
Morning News, WBFF-TV, Ch. 45 - Oct. 23

Legitimate questions about the motives of Renee Bowman, who allegedly murdered two of her adopted daughters in Lusby, Md., must not result in reduced support for the thousands of children who are lovingly adopted from foster care each year. Recent research by Richard P. Barth, PhD, MSW, dean of the School of Social Work, found that while facilitating an adoption from foster care costs government about $115,000, it saves approximately $258,000 in child welfare costs, netting $143,000 in taxpayer savings for each child. Research estimates that each adoption from foster care nets an additional $190,000 to $235,000 in other savingsýfrom reductions in special education spending to the costs of future involvement in the juvenile justice system.

Fresh, Organic, Local: From Field to Table
Spirit-Mercy Medical Center Newsletter (cover story) - Fall 2008

Led by Baltimore hospitals including Mercy, hospitals across Maryland are signing up for a program coordinated by the University of Maryland School of Nursing. The initiative calls for greater reliance on local chemical-free food and dairy products and less reliance on national food distribution, resulting in improved food security and food safety; support for small farms and the state economy; and increased hospital composting practices.

Health Officials Aim to Bridge Minority Gap in Clinical Trials
The (Baltimore) Examiner - Oct. 24

Minorities continue to be vastly underrepresented in clinical trials. "There are a host of factors which interfere with the underserved and diverse communities participating," says Claudia Baquet, MD, MPH, associate dean for policy and planning at the School of Medicine, professor at the School, and director of the School's Comprehensive Center for Health Disparities, Research, Training, and Outreach. Minority patients tend to fear clinical trials and distrust the research, Baquet said, and physicians hesitate to encourage participation due to potential costs to the patient.
www.baltimoreexaminer.com

Housing and Health
The Baltimore Sun - Oct. 24

Margo Candelaria, PhD, and Sarah Oberlander, PhD, postdoctoral fellows, and Maureen Black, PhD, a professor at the School of Medicine, wrote in a commentary: "The nation's housing crisis is also a health crisisýespecially for children. When families lose stable housing, children lose the bedrock that anchors them to schools, neighborhoods, medical services, child care and social services, often with serious consequences for their health. The Growth and Nutrition Clinic at the School treats children who are severely underweight and therefore at risk for multiple health and developmental problems. Facilitating secure housing for families is a critical step toward ensuring the health and development of our nation's children. Healthy children learn in school, are proud of their successes, and become healthy, productive adults. Is there any better investment we can make?"
www.baltimoresun.com

How Green Is the High Court?
Law.com - Oct. 24

Is the U.S. Supreme Court hostile to environmental regulation? Does it shy away from the tougher environmental questions of today? Or are its decisions a "mixed bag," giving comfort and angst to environmentalists and industry depending on the issue? The justices this term have taken five environmental cases for decision thus far-a significant number for a relatively small docket. The high court is split narrowly between two approaches to government regulation that repeatedly resurface in cases involving standing, statutory interpretation of and deference to the decisions of administrative agencies, says Robert Percival, JD, MA, professor at the School of Law and director of the Schoolýs Environmental Law Program.
www.law.com

Laughter Is the Best Medicine and Even Beats a Mini-workout
The Irish Times - Oct. 24

A good laugh will do just as much for your health as a mini-workout in the gym, a pioneer in the field of humor said yesterday. William Fry Jr., MD, pointed to a study earlier this year of 20 men and women, conducted at the School of Medicine, which found that 95 per cent of the volunteers experienced increased blood flow while watching a funny movie. The benefits lasted about 12 to 24 hours.
www.irishtimes.com

Officials Laud Construction of Forensic Medical Center
The Baltimore Sun - Oct. 23
Capital News Service TV - Oct. 23
Prince Georgeýs County Cable TV - Oct. 23
Montgomery County Cable TV - Oct. 23

Heralding the coming of "CSI Baltimore," state and local officials celebrated the construction of the new Forensic Medical Center in West Baltimore, where the state's medical examiner will conduct about 4,000 autopsies per year and train pathologists. The six-story building will be the country's second-largest facility of its kind, said Gov. Martin O'Malley. The project is part of the University of Maryland BioPark, a planned 12-building scientific complex in the Poppleton neighborhood.
www.baltimoresun.com
www.newsline.umd.edu
media.umaryland.edu:8080

Your Brain and Addiction
Nursing Spectrum Magazine - Oct. 20

Lynn Oswald, PhD, MSN, an assistant professor at the School of Nursing, received a $3 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to study brain mechanisms that may play a critical role in addiction behaviors. The ultimate goal is to identify people at risk for chemical addiction and improve preventive and therapeutic interventions. "If we can better identify what kinds of mechanisms increase vulnerability to drug abuse, then we will be able to better target therapeutic interventions," says Oswald.

Experts Call for More Regulation at Business Law Forum
The Gazette - Oct. 23

Did the government's failure to regulate arcane financial derivatives pave the way for the subprime meltdown and, in turn, fuel today's crisis on Wall Street? According to a panel of prominent experts at a business law forum at the School of Law held on Oct. 3, that unregulated environment was a breeding ground for the balance sheet turmoil that's led to epic bank collapses and record foreclosure rates. Michael Greenberger, JD, a professor at the School of Law and a former director at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, co-moderated the forum.
www.gazette.net

Family's Failure Left a Child Dead
The Baltimore Sun - Oct. 22

Iris Jackson, an MSW student at the School of Social Work and an intern for the Baltimore Department of Social Services, wrote this letter as part of a course assignment, saying, "Susan J. Griffin says, 'I didn't kill this child.' Well, if she did not kill her son, she and her husband certainly watched 2-year-old Andrew waste away and die. Neither she nor her husband can provide a plausible or understandable explanation for the blood spattered on the walls in the child's room, the bruises and scabs on his body, the black eye that he suffered or the malnourishment that led to the child weighing only 13 pounds at his death. A typical parent who is not abusing or neglecting a child would have sought help for a child when he or she noticed certain issues, such as underdeveloped body weight. The family failed Andrew, and that failure led to his death. So Mrs. Griffin's statement that she 'didn't kill this child' is absolutely outrageous."
www.baltimoresun.com

Greenberger Discusses Financial Bailout, Need for Regulation
The Baltimore Business Journal - Oct. 22
The Milwaukee Business Journal - Oct. 22

Michael Greenberger, JD, a professor at the School of Law and a former director at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, was a featured speaker at two events on Oct. 22, both with a focus on the current financial crisis and the federal government's quick response. The first event was sponsored by the Urban Land Institute, and the second event was held at the University of Baltimore School of Law. Greenberger said that the push for complete deregulation by Wall Street insiders who wanted no government involvement in the derivatives market has led to an ironic conclusion. "The high irony is that the failure to regulate has led to a type of socialization," said Greenberger.
baltimore.bizjournals.com
milwaukee.bizjournals.com

Judge Says State Shortchanging Foster Parents
The San Francisco Chronicle - Oct. 23

California is violating federal law by failing to reimburse the foster parents of thousands of children for the actual costs of caring for a child, a federal judge has ruled. In his decision Tuesday, U.S. District Judge William Alsup of San Francisco stopped short of ordering the state to increase the payments it makes to foster parents, who take care of about 7,000 children. But he said state officials have provided no evidence that the Legislature, which sets the rates, even considers the costs of raising a child. The lawsuit said those rates are 29 to 40 percent short of the costs of the expenses spelled out in federal law. When additional items such as child care for working parents, new school fees, and travel costs are added, the discrepancy is 50 to 60 percent, said Richard P. Barth, PhD, MSW, dean of the University of Maryland School of Social Work, which studied the California system.
www.sfgate.com

Md. Breaks Ground on New State Forensics Center
The Daily Record - Oct. 23
The (Baltimore) Examiner - Oct. 23
The Baltimore Sun ý Oct. 22
The Associated Press - Oct. 22
Wjz.com - Oct. 22
WJZ-TV, Ch. 13, 5 and 6 p.m. - Oct. 22
WBAL-TV, Ch. 11, 5 p.m. - Oct. 22
WBFF-TV, Ch. 45, 5:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. - Oct. 22
WMAR-TV, Ch. 2, 6 p.m. - Oct. 22
WTOP Radio - Oct. 22
Delmarvanow.com - Oct. 22

State officials broke ground today on a new forensics center for the Maryland medical examiner's office that will be one of the largest in the nation when it opens in 2010. The new 120,000-square-foot building will have a special area for autopsies of decomposed bodies, a laboratory to safely deal with people who have died from dangerous toxins, additional space to more easily handle mass casualties and a secure waiting room. The building is being constructed in the University of Maryland BioPark, a cornerstone of efforts to redevelop the city's West Side. David J. Ramsay, PM, DPhil, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore, said the office investigates deaths from accidents, homicides, and other unknown causes.
www.baltimoresun.com
www.mddailyrecord.com
wjz.com

Prosecutors Review Fatal Bridge Wreck
The (Annapolis) Capital - Oct. 22

Queen Anne's County prosecutors are trying to determine if they should file criminal charges against a 19-year-old driver who fell asleep while crossing the Bay Bridge this summer, apparently causing a fatal wreck that sent a tractor-trailer plunging into the water more than 30 feet below. Andrew Levy, JD, a Baltimore defense attorney and adjunct professor at the School of Law, said few people would view just falling asleep at the wheel as gross negligence. "It's hard to argue that merely feeling drowsy would constitute recklessness," he said. "Most of us have done that, and if it is something most of us have done, it's probably not gross negligence."
www.hometownannapolis.com

UM Film Presents Struggle Between Law and Fear
"Take Away," NPR, 7 a.m. - Oct. 23

In the spring of 2006, sitting in a class at the School of Law, Sig Libowitz lit up when his professor distributed transcripts from the military tribunals that decided cases of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Response looks at rights that, for American citizens at least, had been considered unassailable before the war on terrorism began after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
media.umaryland.edu:8080

Doubts Grow Over Flu Vaccine for Elderly
The Rutland Herald (VT.) - Oct. 22

A recent study by Wilbur Chen, MD, an assistant professor at the School of Medicine, and his colleagues at the School's Center for Vaccine Development, found that elderly participants needed four times the amount of antigens given in a standard dose of the flu vaccine to have the same kind of immune response as healthy adults under 40.
www.rutlandherald.com

Lehman's Credit Default Swaps Bill Comes Due
"Marketplace," NPR - Oct. 21
TheStreet.com - Oct. 21

With credit default swaps (CDS) now believed to have catalyzed the collapse of some of Wall Street's household names, Oct. 21 could be a new high water mark. Bankrupt investment house Lehman Brothers settled its outstanding CDS, and some analysts are estimating the total bill could be $400 billion. Michael Greenberger, JD, a professor at the School of Law and a former director at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said, "Contrarily, if the amount owed is on the more optimistic side, that could unfreeze the credit markets because it will demonstrate that even in a cataclysmic failure like Lehman Brothers, that the system was set up in a way to protect itself."
marketplace.publicradio.org
www.thestreet.com

Newsmakers
The (Baltimore) Examiner - Oct. 22

Gov. Martin O'Malley and Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown will lead a groundbreaking this morning for Maryland's new Forensic Medical Center at its construction site on the corner of Baltimore and North Poppleton streets in the University of Maryland BioPark. The new six-story, 120,000-square-foot building will serve as the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and include areas for autopsies, lab work, and administration. The more-than-$43 million building will incorporate various energy efficiencies into its design, including speed controls for the all fans and pumps and sensors for turning off lights.

Robotic Bypass Surgery Provides Less-Invasive Option
ABC7News, WJLA, (D.C.) - Oct. 21

Patients who need a single or double bypass have a new, less-invasive option that does not require cracking open the chest cavity. A recent University of Maryland study found the robotic procedure provided fewer complications than conventional open-heart surgery, provided a quicker recovery, and was more cost-effective. Johannes Bonatti, MD, a new professor at the School of Medicine, is recognized as one of the world's most experienced surgeons in minimally invasive heart surgery. He performed the surgery by controlling a robot from a console. The controllers allowed him to be tremor-free. "They will return to everyday activities in 2, 3, 4 weeks instead of 2 to 3 months after conventional operation," Bonatti said.
www.wjla.com

UM Film Presents Struggle Between Law and Fear
The Baltimore Sun - Oct. 22

In the spring of 2006, sitting in a class at the School of Law, Sig Libowitz lit up when his professor distributed transcripts from the military tribunals that decided cases of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. To Libowitz, the transcripts seemed like a Kafkaesque nightmare in which detainees could be held indefinitely, not knowing the evidence against them. They also seemed like a movie. Tonight the film will get its Baltimore premiere at the law school. It has already been shown at several film festivals, including Palm Springs and Los Angeles, and PBS has expressed interest in airing it. The Response looks at rights that, for American citizens at least, had been considered unassailable before the war on terrorism began after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
www.baltimoresun.com

D.C.'s Gaggle of Guys From ýGovernment Sachsý
The Times-News (North Carolina) - Oct. 19

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson isn't the only senior federal official with ties to Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs, and now Neel Kashkariýthe assistant Treasury secretary tapped to oversee the government's $700 billion bailout of troubled banksýcan add his name to that list. Michael Greenberger, JD, a professor at the School of Law and a former director at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said, "Mr. Kashkari may be the most brilliant, talented person in the United States, but the optics of putting a 35-year-old Paulson protýgý in charge of what, at least at one point, was supposed to be the most important part of the recovery effort are just very damaging." Greenberger added: "The American people are fed up with Wall Street, and there are plenty of people around who could have been brought in here to offer broader judgment on these problems."
www.blueridgenow.com

Every Level of Nursing Holds Job Possibilities
The Baltimore Sun - Oct. 19

The nursing shortage has become an entity in its own rightýeveryone knows about it, and everyone knows there are jobs in nursing. But what people may not realize is the range of jobs available and the hefty salaries tied to those jobs at the upper levels of the profession. "Career changers interested in nursing who already have a college degree with the necessary science prerequisites can enter the field quickly, thanks to accelerated baccalaureate programs," says Patricia Morton, PhD, RN, CRNP, FAAN, associate dean for academic affairs at the School of Nursing. Morton notes that brand-new RNs start at about $50,000 a year and beginning pay for a master's prepared nurse in a hospital is around $78,000 to $80,000 and nurse anesthetists start around $120,000.

Exercise Trumps Obesity Gene, U.S. Study Finds
Canada.com - Oct. 21

Vigorous physical activity can help even people genetically prone to obesity keep the weight off, U.S. researchers said Monday. They said a study among a group of Amish people found those who had an obesity-related gene called FTO but were very physically active weighed about the same as others who did not carry the gene. "When we looked at the Amish who were the most active, there is suddenly no effect of that gene," said Soren Snitker, MD, PhD, assistant professor at the School of Medicine, whose study appears in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
www.canada.com

Foster Care Law Covers A Broad Scope of Issues
The Statesman-Journal (Ore.) - Oct. 21

For many thousands of America's foster children, prospects for a permanent home and stronger support will be brighter under a new law that bridged Washington, D.C.'s partisan divide and is touted as the most significant child-welfare reform in decades. Under the bill, financial assistance could be available through age 21, provided the young person is working or in school. Richard Barth, PhD, MSW, dean of the School of Social Work, questioned this provision, suggesting that youths not meeting these criteria might be in even greater need of help.
www.statesmanjournal.com

Making the Pledge
Baltimore Jewish Times - Oct. 3

Sinai Hospital is one of seven hospitals around the state that has signed the Healthy Food in Health Care pledge, one component of a project called the Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment. The initiative is part of an international movement called Health Care Without Harm. "We have a great deal of forward motion in almost every hospital in the state," said Barbara Sattler, DrPH, RN, FAAN, a professor at the School of Nursing and director of the School's environmental health education center. Louise Mitchell, sustainable foods coordinator at the School, said hospitals can create "green initiatives" by retrofitting their buildings, conserving energy and water, managing pharmaceutical waste, using plastic utensils in cafeterias, and/or serving healthier foods, to name a few.

Pediatrician Looks Past The Blame
The Washington Post - Oct. 21

Kathy Rivers of Ellicott City reluctantly agreed to bring her children to see Carol Greene, MD, professor at the School of Medicine and director of the pediatric genetics clinic at the University of Maryland Medical Center, after many other pediatricians accused Rivers of exaggerating, or fabricating, their symptoms. Greene played a pivotal role that led to a definitive diagnosis for Emily, now 16, the most severely ill of Rivers' children, and revealed a likely cause for the baffling medical problems that affected 9-year-old John and his other older sister, a college sophomore who has milder symptoms. Emily's diagnosis raised questions in Rivers' mind about some of her own problemsýincluding migraines, vertigo and muscle painýthat had originated in childhood. "When you have a problem that involves so many systems, I tend to think of mitochondrial disease," said Greene, who has treated patients with the disorder since 1984.
www.washingtonpost.com

American Kids Are More Medicated Than Kids in Europe
DBTechno.com - Sept. 29

According to a new study, American kids are more medicated than European kids when it comes to anti-depressants, as well as stimulant medication. The study was led by Julie Zito, PhD, professor at the School of Pharmacy.
www.dbtechno.com

D.C.'s Gaggle of Guys From 'Government Sachs'
The New York Times - Oct. 19

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson isn't the only senior federal official with ties to Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs, and now Neel Kashkariýthe man tapped to oversee the government's $700 billion bailout of troubled banks ý can add his name to that list. Michael Greenberger, JD, a professor at the School of Law and a former director at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said, "Mr. Kashkari may be the most brilliant, talented person in the United States, but the optics of putting a 35-year-old Paulson protýgý in charge of what, at least at one point, was supposed to be the most important part of the recovery effort are just very damaging." Greenberger added, "The American people are fed up with Wall Street, and there are plenty of people around who could have been brought in here to offer broader judgment on these problems."
www.nytimes.com

Despite a Tragedy, Adoption Aid Remains Crucial
The Washington Post - Oct. 19

Legitimate questions about the motives of Renee Bowman, the adoptive mother who allegedly murdered two of her adoptive daughters in Lusby, must not result in reduced support for the thousands of other children who are lovingly adopted from foster care each year. Recent research by Richard Barth, PhD, dean at the School of Social Work, found that while facilitating an adoption from foster care costs government about $115,000, it saves approximately $258,000 in child welfare costs, netting $143,000 in taxpayer savings for each child. Research estimates that each adoption from foster care nets an additional $190,000 to $235,000 in other savingsýfrom reductions in special education spending to the costs of future involvement in the juvenile justice system, for example.
www.washingtonpost.com

Financial Social Workers
WMAR-TV, Ch. 2, 9 a.m. - Oct. 20

Dick Cook, MSW, director of the Social Work Community Outreach Service at the School of Social Work, discussed the emerging field of financial social work and how social workers are aiding homeowners who are in foreclosure, helping low-income citizens build capital assets, and using other strategies to assist people during this economic downturn.

Health Care Field Is Healthy
The Baltimore Sun - Oct. 19

According to the Department of Labor, over 4.7 million new health care jobs will be created between now and 2014, and it is anticipated that the need for nurses during that time will be over 1.2 million. To help alleviate the huge shortage of nurses, area schools are initiating great programs to fill the gap, like $80,000 in scholarship money just announced by the School of Nursing. The funds come from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation News Careers in Nursing Scholarship program, and will be available for the spring 2009 semester. Students with bachelor's degrees (or higher) can complete the school's clinical nurse leader (CNL) program in just 16 to 23 months.

It's a 30-Year Sneak Attack in America's Class War
The Baltimore Sun - Oct. 19

Republicans throw the "class warfare" flag whenever somebody gets too close to the story of America in the nearly 30 years since Ronald Reagan brought us trickle-down economics. Americans are losing their homes, and no one appears to be headed to jail. It is assumed that the million men in suits will come out of this just fine; their portfolios may have suffered, but they are well-insulatedýbetter than the rest of usýfor the long recessionary winter ahead. "It looks to a lot of people that the primary beneficiaries of this government action will be the people who created it in the first place," says Michael Reisch, PhD, who just became the first Daniel Thursz professor of social justice at the School of Social Work, returning there after being away to teach at three other universities since 1986. "During the height of the Clinton years," Reisch says, "the inequality in income was still widening even as average household incomes rose a bit."
www.baltimoresun.com

Komen Race for Cure
WMAR-TV, Ch., 9 a.m. - Oct. 19

A partnership between the School of Nursing and the Komen Maryland Affiliate, now in its third year, teaches graduate students about breast cancer prevention and awareness. "Once you teach somebody about a particular subject and resources available, they don't forget it," said Professor Sandra McLeskey, PhD, RN, director of the partnership. Master's students Ted Frankenhauser and Rebecca Babb, discussed how their involvement in the Komen partnership has increased their awareness of breast cancer and ways to prevent the disease, as well as opportunities they have had to attend national conferences and meet breast cancer researchers and experts. Nurse Practitioner student Siobahan Robinson explained how to do a breast self-examination.
media.umaryland.edu:8080

Names in the News
The Baltimore Sun - Oct. 20

To oversee growth of its distance-learning technology, curriculum-revision process and institutional assessment, the School of Pharmacy has announced three new leadership positions: Raymond Love, PharmD, a professor of pharmacy practice and science at the school, has been named associate dean of curriculum revision, instructional technology and design. Lisa Lebovitz, JD, previously director of academic accountability and assessment, has been named assistant dean of academic affairs. Shannon Tucker, MS, previously director of instructional technology at the school, has been named assistant dean of instructional technology and design. Jill Whitall, PhD, a professor of physical therapy and rehabilitation science at the School of Medicine, was recently inducted into the American Academy of Kinesiology and Physical Education. The academy's membership is considered a who's who list of the top individuals in the fields of kinesiology and physical education.
www.baltimoresun.com

Renewal on Human Rights
The Baltimore Sun - Oct. 20

Peter Danchin, LLB, LLM, JSD, an assistant professor at the School of Law wrote an op-ed, saying, "The United States stubbornly refuses to ratify many key human rights treaties widely accepted by the international community. Does this kind of ideological resistance continue to make sense in today's world?" That will be one of the crucial questions considered at a forum in Baltimore this week marking the approach of the 60th anniversary of the adoption by the U.N. of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As at the U.N. 60 years ago, these questions are again being taken up in earnest. This week at the School, some of the world's leading human rights scholars and activists will gather. They will include Arthur Chaskalson, one-time defense lawyer to Nelson Mandela and first chief justice of South Africa's new Constitutional Court, among others.
www.baltimoresun.com

Screening of "The Response" Set for Wednesday at School of Law
The Daily Record - Oct. 19

Actor and director Sig Libowitz will show a screening of "The Response," a short film depicting military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay, this Wednesday at the School of Law. Libowitz, a graduate of the School of Law and already accomplished screenwriter and producer, was inspired to make the film after taking the "Homeland Security and Law of Counterterrorism" class taught by Michael Greenberger, JD, a professor at the School of Law and director of the Center for Health and Homeland Security. "This was a fundamental issue, the right of detainees to have a fair hearing," Greenberger said. "That kind of enormous constraint on liberty is elucidated in the movie."
www.mddailyrecord.com

The Evolution From a Manufacturing to a Knowledge Economy Brings Both Opportunity and Heartache
The Baltimore Sun - Oct. 19

On a cold morning in October 2005, the governor and mayor heralded the opening of a biopark built by the University of Maryland, Baltimoreýa place where researchers would pursue breakthroughs in treatments for diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. One of the park's first tenants was a Japanese medical firm. Officials toasted the partnership with sake. It could not have felt any further from the blue-collar manufacturing work at GM that provided a middle-class life for thousands of Baltimoreans, or from the furnaces at Bethlehem Steel, which went bankrupt in 2001.

Toxic Financial Instruments: Unregulated Gambling in Disguise
Las Vegas Sun - Oct. 19

Congress blocked states from regulating credit default swaps (CDS) like gambling because pro-CDS lawmakers feared states would outlaw the financial instruments as they would casinos or slot machines. CDS are at the heart of today's Wall Street mess, as large financial institutions spent a decade dealing in a product they thought was a cash cowýuntil their bets on the housing market went south. Michael Greenberger, JD, a professor at the School of Law and a former director at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said, "You would have been better off gambling in Las Vegas than taking these investments, because at least the casinos in Vegas are regulated."
www.lasvegassun.com

Your Brain and Addiction
nurse.com ý Oct. 20

Could preventive efforts be better developed and targeted at people identified with a higher risk of chemical addiction because of neurological mechanisms in their brains? Researcher Lynn Oswald, RN, PhD, an assistant professor at the School of Nursing, has received a $3 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md., to study brain mechanisms that may play a critical role in addiction behaviors. Her objective is to help discover why some people resort to excessive use of alcohol or drugs to cope with life stress and others don't. This research will add data to the studies that have examined the genetic and environmental components that lead to a high risk for chemical addiction.
include.nurse.com

Another Manhole Fire Near University of Maryland Medical Center
wjz.com - Oct. 17

Weijia Jiang reported that a fire began Friday at about 9:30 a.m. Officials say another independent contractor stuck an electrical line near Redwood and Greene streets. Greene Street was then closed between Baltimore and Lombard streets. Because of the fire, traffic increased at the main hospital entrance.
wjz.com

McCain on Attack, Obama Steady at Debate
NPR - Oct. 17

Many political observers said this week's presidential debate was Sen. John McCain's last chance to change the trajectory of the race. Did he succeed? Farai Chideya continued NPR's post-debate analysis with Sherrilyn Ifill, JD - a professor at the School of Law and a civil rights lawyer - and Ron Christie, president of Christie Strategies and former special assistant to President George W. Bush.
www.npr.org

Shock Trauma Doctors Tout Benefits of Less-Invasive Aorta Surgery
The (Baltimore) Examiner - Oct. 16

A traumatic injury to the aorta is one of the most deadly injuries from a vehicle crash, but surgeons from the University of Maryland Medical Center are using a less invasive treatment procedure they say offers hope for survival. "It takes one of the top things that are a threat to their life off the table," says David Neschis, MD, an associate professor at the School of Medicine, a vascular surgeon, and lead author of a review of the aortic injury treatments appearing Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine. "A minimally invasive approach in these types of cases can be a valuable lifesaving option for these patients," says Thomas Scalea, MD, a professor at the School and physician in chief at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center.
www.baltimoreexaminer.com

Women Smokers Prone to Dangerous Blood Vessel Condition
Health News - Oct. 15
Health on the Net Foundation - Oct. 15

The key to medical advancement is not only the invention and discovery of new treatment methods but also the skill of a physician who is willing to learn and to enter the latest frontiers of medicine. George Rappard, MD, a neuroendovascular surgeon from La Caýada Flintridge, performed the first aneurysm embolization surgery using Onyx in California on Sept. 23 at Glendale Adventist Medical Center. Rappard says 2 percent of the American population is affected by a brain aneurysm. According to a report by the School of Medicine, "wide neck" aneurysms make up about 25 percent of the cases. In the past, the treatment had been surgery to insert coils through a small catheter passed through the blood vessels of the brain.
news.health.com
www.hon.ch

Calls for Derivatives Regulation Ignored in Late 90s
The Washington Post - Oct. 15
FreeInternetPress.com - Oct. 15

From 1998-99, the top regulator at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) pushed for oversight and transparency of the derivatives markets, a campaign that was scuttled by the federal government's chief financial advisors. Now experts blame derivatives for exacerbating today's financial crisis, and some former naysayers concede that stonewalling regulation was a disastrous mistake. Michael Greenberger, JD, a professor at the School of Law who as a director at the CFTC when that agency was calling for derivatives regulation, said, "We knew it was a big deal [to attempt regulation] but the feeling was that something needed to be done." Greenberger added, "The industry had been fighting regulation for years, and in the meantime, you saw them accumulate a huge amount of stuff and it was already causing dislocations in the economy. The government was being kept blind to it."
www.washingtonpost.com
freeinternetpress.com

Crews Clean Up After Fire Near University of Maryland Medical Center
wjz.com - Oct. 15
wbal.com - Oct. 15

Crews have finally put an end to an underground fire. An underground fire ignited at the main entrance of the University of Maryland Medical Center Wednesday afternoon, and roads were closed for hours. "Well, our parking garage is backed up. All the streets around town are backed up," said Robert Rowan, MS, assistant vice president of facilities management University of Maryland, Baltimore Emergency Response.
wjz.com
wbal.com

Law May Improve Stability for Foster Care
Christian Broadcasting News - Oct. 15

For many thousands of America's foster children, prospects for a permanent home and stronger support will be brighter under a new law that bridged Washington's partisan divide and is touted as the most significant child-welfare reform in decades. Under the bill, financial assistance could be available through age 21, provided the young person is working or in school. Richard P. Barth, PhD, MSW, dean of the School of Social Work, questioned this provision, suggesting that youths not meeting these criteria might be in even greater need of help.

New Multiple Sclerosis Research Reported
UPI.com - Oct. 15

U.S. medical scientists say they have determined the response to immune proteins determines the pathology of multiple sclerosis. That finding by researchers at the School of Medicine and Washington University in St. Louis might help explain why different parts of the brain can come under attack in multiple sclerosis patients. The study is detailed in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.
www.upi.com

Women Smokers Prone to Dangerous Blood Vessel Condition
The Washington Post - Oct. 15

Women who smoke are eight times more likely to suffer a potentially fatal rupture of the body's largest artery, or require surgery to repair the weakening that can cause such a rupture, than nonsmokers. That's the conclusion from the latest data from the Women's Health Initiative, the landmark 15-year research program most noted for the 2002 finding that hormone replacement therapy increases the risk of heart problems. David Neschis, MD, an associate professor at the School of Medicine and a vascular surgeon, says the biggest impact of the new study "will be to raise awareness about the importance of abdominal aortic aneurysm in women. The focus has been on men, and so, it is not screened for as frequently in women." "There are a huge number of undiagnosed aneurysms in women," Neschis adds. "Most now are identified as incidental findings, when a woman has a CT scan of the gall bladder or magnetic resonance imaging for back trouble. Perhaps women should be screened more aggressively."
www.washingtonpost.com

Women Smokers Prone to Dangerous Blood Vessel Condition
La Canada Valley Sun - Oct. 16

The key to medical advancement is not only the invention and discovery of new methods but also the skilled physician who is willing to learn and enter the latest frontiers of medicine. George Rappard, MD, a neuroendovascular surgeon from La Caýada Flintridge, performed the first aneurysm embolization surgery using Onyx in California on Sept. 23 at Glendale Adventist Medical Center. Rappard said 2% of the American population is affected by a brain aneurysm. According to a report by the School of Medicine, "wide neck" aneurysms make up about 25 percent of the people with brain aneurysms. In the past, the treatment had been a surgery where coils were inserted through a small catheter passed through the blood vessels of the brain.
www.lacanadaonline.com

Neuronascent Lands Funding From Multiple Sources for Brain Enhancing Therapy
Tech Journal South - Oct. 14

NeuroNascent, Inc., a company developing compounds to replace damaged brain cells, has received grants and funding totaling under $500,000 from multiple sources. Neuronascent has received grants and funding from the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development Challenge Investment Program; Maryland Industrial Partnerships in collaboration with the University of Maryland, Baltimore; and Jefferson Corner Group I, LLC, a member-managed investing fund in Charlottesville, Va.
www.techjournalsouth.com

Women Smokers Prone to Dangerous Blood Vessel Condition
U.S. News & World Report - Oct. 15
Forbes.com - Oct. 15

Women who smoke are eight times more likely to suffer a potentially fatal rupture of the body's largest artery, or require surgery to repair the weakening that can cause such a rupture, than nonsmokers. That's the conclusion from the latest data from the Women's Health Initiative, the landmark 15-year research program most noted for the 2002 finding that hormone replacement therapy increases the risk of heart problems. David Neschis, MD, an associate professor at the School of Medicine and a vascular surgeon, says the biggest impact of the new study "will be to raise awareness about the importance of abdominal aortic aneurysm in women. The focus has been on men, and so, it is not screened for as frequently in women." "There are a huge number of undiagnosed aneurysms in women," Neschis adds. "Most now are identified as incidental findings, when a woman has a CT scan of the gall bladder or magnetic resonance imaging for back trouble. Perhaps women should be screened more aggressively."
health.usnews.com
www.forbes.com

World Governments Infuse Capital Into Faltering Banks
"File on 4," BBC Radio 4, 3 p.m. - Oct. 14

Like their American counterparts, European governments have committed trillions of dollars to bail out troubled banks in a move that typifies the worldwide impact of the financial crisis. Michael Greenberger, JD, a professor at the School of Law and a former director at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, says, "It's the highest form of irony here, we started out saying the free market is king and the government is in the way, and we end up with the government owning the financial services system and picking up the tab for the mistakes."
www.bbc.co.uk

Curbing Cough Syrup for Kids
The (Longview, Wash.) Daily News Online - Oct. 14
The Washington Post - Oct. 7

A group of physicians led by Joshua M. Sharfstein, Baltimore's health commissioner and a pediatrician, is asking the FDA to request that the companies stop marketing them to children younger than 6. Sharfstein told the FDA officials that calls to the Maryland Poison Center at the School of Pharmacy about children younger than 2 who had taken cough-and-cold remedies declined 40 percent in the first six months of this year compared with last. He said this was evidence that parents were following the advice to not give the medicines to children that young.
www.washingtonpost.com
www.tdn.com

Do-it-Yourself Law: You Might Save Money, but Don't Count on It
Exhibit A - Oct. 13

Inside Baltimore-area courthouses, judges and lawyers say many do-it-yourselfers are making a hash of things. Too often, they unknowingly violate the rules of pretrial processes and cause delays. Trials have to be rescheduled when neophytes lack the necessary evidence. "A lot of these people don't know what the devil is going on," says retired Baltimore County Circuit Judge John Fader, JD, senior judicial fellow and lecturer at the School of Law. "Pro se's don't know how," says Towson attorney Stacy LeBow Siegel, JD/MBA, a family law expert and adjunct professor at the School of Law. "Having to do things over again increases fees for your client."
exhibitanewsbaltimore.com

Former Comcast Exec Burch Tapped to Lead UMMS Board
BizJournals (N.C.) - Oct. 10

Stephen Burch, a former Comcast executive and former CEO of Virgin Media, was tapped Oct. 7 to lead the board of the state's $1.9 billion medical system.Burch replaces Maryland House Speaker Michael Busch, an Anne Arundel County Democrat, who had served as interim chair of board for the University of Maryland Medical System. Busch, a board member, stepped into the post in August following the controversial resignation of John Erickson. Burch, who served a stint on the board in 2005, will now be at the helm of change for the region's third largest health system.
www.bizjournals.com

Get Fit Maryland Aims for 10,000 Steps a Day
The Baltimore Examiner - Oct. 14

Adding a few steps here and there-or perhaps, a few thousand steps-can improve heart health and reduce risks for diabetes and obesity, health officials said. For 12 weeks this fall, thousands of Marylanders will be tracking their steps using pedometers with the goal of walking 10,000 steps-about five miles-a day. The Get Fit Maryland program was developed by the University of Maryland Medical Center, the School of Medicine, and Merritt Athletic Clubs. "You can get a good objective measure about how much you are doing," said Verlyn Warrington, MD, assistant professor at the School and medical director for Get Fit Maryland. Walking became Marylandýs official state exercise this year.
www.baltimoreexaminer.com

Going Against the Grain
The Indianapolis Star ý Oct. 14

Once thought to be rare, doctors now think that celiac disease occurs in at least 1 in 133 people-or almost three million Americans. For most people who deal with it, it becomes a way of life. Because the condition is still relatively rare, it does not make sense to screen everyone routinely for it, says Alessio Fasano, MD, a professor at the School of Medicine and director of its Center for Celiac Research. Even children of parents with the disease have only a 10 percent chance of getting it.
www.indystar.com

Lawyers Find Fault With Prince George's Drug Arrests
The Washington Post - Oct. 14

Prosecuting a suspect who was arrested while holding a package containing hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of marijuana might seem like a slam-dunk. But in Prince George's County, two such defendants, initially charged with felonies, were recently convicted of misdemeanors. The desire to avoid falsely accusing an unwitting recipient is not the only reason to investigate such cases extensively, said David Gray, JD, PhD, an assistant professor at the School of Law. Appellate courts have held that simply showing that someone possessed a package of illegal drugs isn't enough to obtain a conviction for possession with intent to distribute, he said.
www.washingtonpost.com

New Law Meant to Improve Stability for Foster Care
The Associated Press - Oct. 14
The Huffington Post - Oct. 14

For many thousands of America's foster children, prospects for a permanent home and stronger support will be brighter under a new law that bridged Washington's partisan divide and is touted as the most significant child-welfare reform in decades. Its title is a mouthful-the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act. And it has raised some questions: Will budget-strapped states embrace some of the options it offers? Why didn't it include initiatives to help curtail child neglect in the first place. Under the bill, financial assistance could be available through age 21, provided the young person is working or in school. Richard P. Barth, PhD, MSW, dean of the School of Social Work, questioned this provision, suggesting that youths not meeting these criteria might be in even greater need of help.
ap.google.com
www.huffingtonpost.com

Nobel Notes: Committee Snubs UMB Researcher
Deccan Herald (India) - Oct. 14

The Nobel committee snubbed a University of Maryland virologist-Robert Gallo, MD, a professor at the School of Medicine and director of its Institute of Human Virology-long credited as the one who co-discovered the human immunodeficiency virus. Gallo's early work led to a blood test for HIV that is believed to have saved millions of lives. But the Nobel Prize in medicine went to two French scientists who studied AIDS and to a German scientist who found that certain human papilloma viruses cause cervical cancer. Gallo told the Associated Press he was "disappointed."
www.deccanherald.com

School of Medicine Receives $9.9 Million Grant for Genome Project
Maryland Morning with Sheilah Kast, WYPR - Oct. 14

Owen White, PhD, professor at the School of Medicine, and Claire Fraser-Liggett, PhD, a professor at the School and director of its Institute for Genome Sciences, appeared on "Maryland Morning with Sheilah Kast" to discuss the new $9.9 million NIH grant for the Human Microbiome Project, an effort to sequence the genomes of the hundreds of bacteria, viruses, and other microbes that live on and inside the human body.
www.wypr.org

Speakers Highlight 34th Annual Yankee Conference
Dental Economics Dental News - Oct. 13

"Come Aboard" is the theme of the 34th Annual Yankee Dental Congress (YDC), New England's largest dental meeting. The fifth largest dental meeting in the country, YDC is sponsored by the Massachusetts Dental Society in cooperation with the Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont dental associations. The estimated 30,000 dental professionals expected to attend the convention will not only discover YDC 34 to be educational, fun, and informative, but also filled with events, speakers, 500-plus exhibitors, and more than 450 education courses from which to choose. Richard Wynn, PhD, a professor of pharmacology at the Dental School and the lead author of Drug Information Handbook for Dentistry, will discuss "Aspirin, Antibiotics, Antidepressants, Alcohol."
www.dentaleconomics.com

The Three-Minute Interview
The (Baltimore) Examiner - Oct. 14

Robert Vogel, MD, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at the School of Medicine, co-authored the book The Pritikin Edge about the Pritikin program, a health and wellness plan. Vogel spoke about the program, founded by Nathan Pritikin, which advocates healthy eating and exercise as the keys to longevity.
www.baltimoreexaminer.com

Wall Street Insider Tapped to Lead Bank Rescue
Bloomberg.com - Oct. 14

President Bush appointed Neel Kashkari to coordinate the $700 billion bailout as head the Office of Financial Stability and overseer the U.S. Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program. Kashkari is a former banker at Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., one of the largest investment banks on Wall Street and one of the few institutions that wasn't swallowed by derivative malfeasance. Michael Greenberger, JD, a professor at the School of Law and a former director at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said, "It was unfortunate that it was yet another Goldman Sachs person taking the helm." Greenberger added, "Essentially, it appears that he is turning to the very financial institutions that led to the problems to fix the problems."
www.bloomberg.com

Week in Review: Legal Edition Lawyer Sues Over Fall Into Steam Pit
The Daily Record - Oct. 14

A North Baltimore lawyer who suffered serious burns over almost half her body when she fell into a downtown construction hole exactly three years ago has sued the city and the contractors involved. Arianne Spaccarelli, JD, and her husband allege that her disfiguring injuries and their costly consequences were due to negligence. Since the incident, Spaccarelli, a 30-year-old staff attorney and regional planner at the School of Law's Center for Health and Homeland Security, has undergone skin grafts and physical and psychological therapy, according to the suit filed in Baltimore City Circuit Court.
www.mddailyrecord.com

Amid Falling Oil Prices, Insiders Question Role of Speculators
Financial News (U.K.) - Oct. 13

On the heels of the steepest two-week drop in U.K. gas prices ever recorded, some market insiders say the fundamental reason is supply and demand and not price manipulation by speculators. The article does not quote any experts who believe speculators were a key factor in soaring oil prices over the summer. Michael Greenberger, JD, a professor at the School of Law and a former director at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, testified on this issue six times before various Congressional committees in June and July; his testimony is available here.
www.efinancialnews.com
here.

An Affair of the Heart
Jamaica Gleaner - Oct. 12

Since he returned to Jamaica in May, 2008, Dr. B. Waine Kong, a psychologist who is a cardiology community care pioneer in the U.S., says that he has improved his golf handicap tremendously. Retired from his job as chief executive officer of the Association of Black Cardiologists (ABC) based in Atlanta, in July, the psychologist is prodigiously enjoying his return to his roots. Starting in 1978 when he left his teaching job in the District of Columbia to pursue research with leading black cardiologist, Elijah Saunders, MD, a professor at the School of Medicine, Dr. Kong has never looked back-integrating his knowledge of psychology with the study of heart disease within the African-American community.
www.jamaica-gleaner.com

Baltimore Running Festival: Runners to Watch
The Baltimore Sun - Oct. 11

Kyle Smits, a third-year student at the Dental School, had his best finish in the National Marathon, where he took third with a time of 2:31:27. He was the 2002 IC4A indoor 5,000-meter track champion.

Cause of 'Treeman's' Barklike Growths Revealed
The Baltimore Sun - Oct. 13

For 20 years, the warts studding Dede Kosawa's hands and feet multiplied and sprouted like gnarled roots. His hands looked like contorted, yellow-brown branches extending three feet. Unable to clamp his hands into a fist or pick up a fork, he made his living by performing in carnivals in rural Indonesia. He became known as the Treeman. "His life was taken away from him," said Anthony Gaspari, MD, a professor at the School of Medicine, who traveled to Indonesia twice to treat Kosawa. "He was severely disfigured and was sent into a rural isolated village where he was sheltered from his peers. With good reason, he was a sad man. He wanted to be cured and he wanted hope."
www.baltimoresun.com

Common Antidotes for Nurses and EMS Providers
SciencePodcasters.org - Oct. 13
MedicCast.com - Oct. 12

This week's episode of the Nursing Show features an interview segment with Lisa Booze, PharmD, CSPI, a professional education coordinator at the Maryland Poison Center at the School of Pharmacy. Booze and Nursing Show host Jamie Davis, the Podmedic, discuss the more common antidotes for some poisonings and overdoses.
docartemis.com
www.mediccast.com

Former Comcast Exec Burch Tapped to Lead UMMS Board
Baltimore Business Journal - Oct. 10

Stephen Burch, a former Comcast executive and former CEO of Virgin Media, was tapped Oct. 7 to lead the board of the state's $1.9 billion University of Maryland Medical System. Robert Chrencik, chief financial officer for UMMS, was tapped to serve as interim CEO by the board in August. Burch will also help UMMS decide how to use the site of a proposed $357 million ambulatory care center project that was scrapped by the health system Aug. 18.
www.bizjournals.com

Frozen Credit Markets Telling of Extent of Financial Crisis
"CBS Evening News," 7 p.m. - Oct. 10

Collateral damage from the Wall Street's financial mess has caused turmoil on the trading floor, but the now-frozen credit markets could deal a more damaging blow to economies worldwide. Credit markets derive from loans large banks make to each other so those banks can lend to smaller institutions, but in the past month the interest rates they charge each other have doubled. Michael Greenberger, JD, a professor at the School of Law and a former director at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said, "Right now hoarding cash is the game that's being played...cash is king, and I'm not going to give up my cash and give it to you and find out that your coins and your stamp collection are valueless and you'll never pay me back."
media.umaryland.edu:8080

Group Helps Low-Income Families Through Crisis
WBAL-TV, Ch. 11, 6 p.m. - Oct. 10
wbal.com - Oct. 10

Several organizations are in high gear to make sure as few people as possible fall by the wayside during the financial crisis. "Rather than worry and react emotionally, I think it's a call to get involved," said Lane Victorson, MSW, director of the Neighborhood and Peace Corps Fellows at School of Social Work's Community Outreach Service. He said he's seeing the same fears, and that social workers are doing their best to take fear out of the equation and take a closer look at someone's financial situation. "It just sounds worse and worse, and you do wonder if there's something you should do or something you should change, and I don't think we're an advocate for something like that," Victorson said.
www.wbaltv.com

HIV Pioneer Robert Gallo Takes the High Road
Baltimore Examiner - Oct. 12

Robert Gallo, MD, professor at the School of Medicine and director of the School's Institute of Human Virology, has heard all the stories: Some of the commentary is "dirty reporting," Gallo said. Some of it comes from "kooks" or "para-scientists" jealous of his success or determined to prove HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) isn't the virus that causes AIDS. Gallo still hears it, but he shrugs it off.
www.baltimoreexaminer.com

Maryland Doctors Move to Make HIV Testing Routine
Baltimore Examiner - Oct. 12

Robert Redfield, MD, a professor at the School of Medicine and director of clinical care and research at the School's Institute of Human Virology, believes an HIV test should be as routine as any other test when a patient is admitted for care. "One of the most important tools we have to confront an infectious disease is knowledge of infection," said Redfield.
www.baltimoreexaminer.com

Robot Will Be Able to Detect, Destroy Breast Cancer Cells
VisitBulgaria.info ý Oct. 13
The BG News (Bowling Green State University) - Oct. 13
Gizmodo.com - Oct. 12
The Diamondback - Oct. 10

Scientists are developing a robot that can perform biopsies and destroy tumor cells all in one session, making the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer less time-consuming and more accurate than ever before. With the robot, the three months between mammogram and treatment can be reduced to a hospital visit and the cancer can be stopped before it spreads, said Rao Gullapalli, PhD, associate professor from the School of Medicine and collaborator on the project. But what makes the robot stand out is its ability to work inside an MRI machine, Gullapalli said. Because it is made of titanium and stainless steel, the robot won't be disrupted by the scanner's magnetic field.

Visitation-Rights Ruling Breaks New Ground for Gay Couples
The Baltimore Sun - Oct. 12

As the case title immediately tells you, Larissa S. v. Melissa B. is unique: As a same-sex couple, they couldn't have married, so they couldn't divorce, either. But that also means their quarrel over visitation rights is breaking new legal ground in Maryland. The battle headed to court, and last week, Judge Lawrence R. Daniels ruled that Larissa had been involved in "all aspects of parenting" the now-7-year-old boy and has the right to visit him. "It's a very difficult burden," said attorney Stacy LeBow Siegel, JD, MBA, a visiting professor at the School of Law and a co-author of the family law textbook used there. "I am so thrilled," Siegel said of Larissa's victory. "I am so impressed with Judge Daniels' analysis and findings."
www.baltimoresun.com

Both Sides of Aisle Share Blame for Market Meltdown
Propublica - Oct. 9

It's almost become conventional wisdom: today's economic mess can be traced back, at least in part, to the front door of derivatives, the financial institutions that exploited them, and the government officials who fought to keep derivatives unregulated. Those officials include elected and appointed Democrats and Republicans in Washington, so Propublica argues that partisan finger-pointing is hypocritical. Michael Greenberger, JD, a professor at the School of Law, was one of only a handful of people who advocated for derivatives regulation when he was a director at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in the late 90s; Brooksley Born, the CFTC's top official at the time, led the regulation charge in Washington. "The [derivatives] market had grown and there had been a number of problems," he said.

Experts Call for More Regulation at Business Law Forum
The Gazette - Oct. 9

Did the government's failure to regulate arcane financial derivates pave the way for the subprime meltdown and, in turn, fuel today's crisis on Wall Street? According to a panel of prominent experts at last week's business law forum at the School of Law, that unregulated environment was a breeding ground for the balance sheet turmoil that's led to epic bank collapses and record foreclosure rates. Michael Greenberger, JD, a professor at the School of Law and a former director at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, co-moderated the forum.
www.gazette.net

Feds Looking to Buy Shares of Struggling U.S. Banks
"Lou Dobbs Tonight," CNN, 7 p.m. - Oct. 9

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced that his agency is considering infusing some of the $700 billion rescue money into troubled U.S. banks, which means the government could be a shareholder in financial institutions of all sizes. Michael Greenberger, JD, a professor at the School of Law and a former director at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said, "It's very, very important that the treasury get a very quick start on this and at least appear to be on top of it and starting to get the money moving out."
transcripts.cnn.com

On the Move
The Daily Record - Oct. 10

The School of Social Work has announced the addition of four new faculty members. They are Charlotte Lyn Bright, PhD, MSW, Nalini Negi, PhD, MSW, Philip Jonathan Osteen, MSW, and Michael Reisch, PhD, MSW. Bright, Negi, and Osteen join the School as assistant professors. Reisch will serve as the Daniel Thursz Professor of Social Justice.
www.mddailyrecord.com

Social History, Policy, Myths, and Trends About Adoption
"The State of Things," WNUC (N.C. Public Radio), noon - Oct. 9

More than one million children in the U.S. are adopted, either domestically or internationally. Finding places for the millions more that need a stable, permanent home remains a challenge for families, social workers, and lawmakers. Systemic regulations and cultural ideals about family have made adopting a more complex process than it used to be. "The State of Things" host Frank Stasio discussed the social history, policies, myths, trends, and relationships surrounding adoption with Ruth Amerson, founder of Another Choice Adoption Agency; Richard P. Barth, PhD, MSW, dean of the School of Social Work, and other leaders in adoption. Audience members called in with questions and discussion points.
wunc.org

Think Fat Hangs Around and Does Nothing? It Doesn't
Detroit Free Press - Oct. 10

Most people think of fat as an inert blob, but fat cells release powerful chemicals. In obese people, the fat tissue often produces too many bad hormones and too few good ones, says Susan Fried, PhD, a professor at the School of Medicine and director of the School's Clinical Nutrition Research Unit. White fat cells store energy and produce hormones that are secreted into the blood. In theory, if we overeat, our fat cells will produce a little more of the hormone leptin, which will go to our brain and tell us we have plenty of energy down here; not to eat any more. If it worked perfectly, no one would get fat, but it doesn't work perfectly, so many of us do get fat.
www.freep.com

'Brilliant' Ifill Cousin Scours Palin as 'Offensive to Black Women'
Newsbusters.org - Oct. 2

Here are more signs Sarah Palin could face an uphill battle with PBS host Gwen Ifill. Professor Sherrilyn Ifill, JD, associate professor at the School of Law, whom Gwen Ifill has lauded as "my brilliant baby cousin," has written that black women are not buying Sarah Palin's "false claims to feminism" and is portrayed as too perfect.
newsbusters.org

A Hard Look at the Greenspan Legacy
The New York Time - Oct 8
CBonds.info - Oct 8
Finfacts.ie - Oct. 8

Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006, waged a perpetual war during his tenure to block governmental efforts to regulate derivatives. Those derivatives are at the heart of todayýs financial crisis, playing a major role in the collapse of Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, and AIG. Michael Greenberger, JD, a professor at the School of Law, advocated for derivatives regulation when he was a director at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in the late 90s; Brooksley Born, the CFTC's top official at the time, led the regulation charge in Washington. But Greenspan dismissed the calls for action, arguing Wall Street would utilize derivatives responsibly. "Greenspan told Brooksley that she essentially didn't know what she was doing and she'd cause a financial crisis," said Greenberger. "Brooksley was this woman who was not playing tennis with these guys and not having lunch with these guys. There was a little bit of the feeling that this woman was not of Wall Street."
www.nytimes.com

Adoption Subsidies Get Little Oversight
The Washington Post - Oct. 9

District officials are considering strengthening controls over the subsidy program by requiring evidence that children are enrolled in school or have been immunized. There was no record of school attendance by the three adoptive daughters of Renee Bowman, the Lusby Md., who received $2,400 a month under the program, but who is charged with killing two of those daughters and hiding their bodies in a freezer. Experts, however, said some child advocates disagree over whether government intervention should end with the adoption of a foster child. "One message is that you are just like every other family when you adopt and you shouldn't be stigmatized," said Richard P. Barth, PhD, MSW, dean of the School of Social Work. "On the other side, some say you get a check from the government, you're being subsidized," and oversight could be acceptable.
www.washingtonpost.com

Betty Gulsvig Shines in 'Legally Blonde'
BroadwayWorld.com - Oct. 7

On Thursday, Oct. 2, the Hippodrome Foundation sponsored a free symposium prior to the evening's performance of "Legally Blonde" entitled "Challenges Facing Women in the Field of Law" featuring five distinguished woman attorneys, including Karen H. Rothenberg, JD, MPA, dean of the School of Law. During the discussion, Rothenberg admitted being a frustrated musical comedy actress.
www.broadwayworld.com

Deregulation Blamed Snowballing Financial Mess
Arizona Republic - Oct. 9

The repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999 opened the door for banks to invest in mortgage-backed securities and complex derivative instruments, which some experts say are largely to blame for today's financial crisis. Michael Greenberger, JD, a professor at the School of Law and a former director at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said, "The theory was that the bankers were very smart and they weren't going to take excessive risks."
www.azcentral.com

Did Nobel Committee Snub Italian Physicist?
New York Times Blog - Oct. 9

Italian newspapers are buzzing with complaints from Italian nuclear physicists that Nicola Cabibbo, a theoretical physicist at Rome's La Sapienza University, was snubbed on Tuesday by the Nobel Committee. As The New York Times article on the subject noted, winning scientists Kobayashi and Maskawa built on the work of Dr. Cabibbo when they shed light on a puzzling asymmetry among subatomic particles known as the CP violation. A similar controversy arose with this year's Nobel prize in medicine, also shared between two sets of discoveries. Conspicuously left out was Robert Gallo, MD, a professor at the School of Medicine and director of its Institute of Human Virology-long credited as the one who co-discovered the human immunodeficiency virus. Many scientists thought Gallo had been snubbed, including one of the winners.
thelede.blogs.nytimes.com

Fed Lowers Interest Rates to Jumpstart Economy
WUSA TV, Ch. 9 (Washington, D.C.) - 9 a.m., Oct. 8

The Federal Reserve cut the federal funds rate by a half a percentage point in an effort to unfreeze credit markets and encourage lending, a move that could under normal circumstances spark a buying rally and reverse a markets negative trend. Michael Greenberger, JD, a professor at the School of Law and a former director at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said, "What's happening essentially is we're turning into an economy that doesn't have borrowing so everything is cash, and what that's going to do is deflate prices and deflate the economy very significantly."
media.umaryland.edu:8080

Genome of Parasite That Causes Relapsing Malaria Decoded
Science Daily - Oct. 9

A team of scientists from around the world has cracked the genetic code for the parasite that is responsible for up to 40 percent of the 515 million annual malaria infections worldwide, Nature reveals in its Oct. 9 cover story. "The availability of genome sequence data has great potential to accelerate the identification and development of novel vaccines and therapeutics against this major human pathogen," says Claire Fraser-Liggett, PhD, director of the Institute for Genomic Sciences at University of Maryland School of Medicine.
www.sciencedaily.com

Nobel Committee Snubs UMB Researcher
The New York Times - Oct. 7
The Chronicle for Higher Education - Oct. 7
Financial Times - Oct. 7

The Nobel committee snubbed a University of Maryland virologist-Robert Gallo, MD, a professor at the School of Medicine and director of its Institute of Human Virology-long credited as the one who co-discovered the human immunodeficiency virus. Gallo's early work led to a blood test for HIV that is believed to have saved millions of lives. But the Nobel Prize in medicine went to two French scientists who studied AIDS and to a German scientist who found that certain human papilloma viruses cause cervical cancer. Gallo told the Associated Press he was "disappointed."
www.nytimes.com

Our View: Baltimore's Dr. Robert Gallo Was a Giant in the AIDS Fight
The Baltimore Sun - Oct. 9

Because of a technicality in the rules governing the award of the Nobel prize, Robert Gallo, MD, a virologist at the School of Medicine, did not share in the accolades. The rules are narrowly tailored to reward only those who initially discover scientific principles or phenomena rather than those who put such knowledge to practical use. Although Gallo wasn't the first to identify the virus, it was he who made the crucial connection between HIV and AIDS that allowed scientists to begin developing drugs and vaccines to combat the epidemic's spread.
www.baltimoresun.com

Think Fat Hangs Around and Does Nothing? It Doesn't
USA Today - Oct. 9

Most people think of fat as an inert blob, but fat cells release powerful chemicals. In obese people, the fat tissue often produces too many bad hormones and too few good ones, says Susan Fried, PhD, a professor at the School of Medicine and director of the School's Clinical Nutrition Research Unit. White fat cells store energy and produce hormones that are secreted into the blood. In theory, if we overeat, our fat cells will produce a little more of the hormone leptin, which will go to our brain and tell us we have plenty of energy down here; not to eat any more. If it worked perfectly, no one would get fat, but it doesn't work perfectly, so many of us do get fat.
www.usatoday.com

Weight of Credit Default Swaps Helps Sink Wall Street
Associate Press - Oct. 7
CNN Money - Oct. 7
Washington Post - Oct. 7
Philadelphia City Paper - Oct. 6
The Jewish Journal - Oct. 6

Over the last decade, banks, insurance companies, and large financial institutions have relied on the unregulated swaps market to hedge their bets and the bets of others on certain investments, namely securities laden with subprime mortgages. Michael Greenberger, JD, a professor at the School of Law and a former director at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said "nobody knows where all the credit default swaps lie...and that's really proven to be a big problem." Because credit default swaps are not regulated, institutions can sell them as "insurance" without holding the capital to back those so-called insurance guarantees.
money.cnn.com

Cyber Attacks and the Rise of Cyber Civil Rights
Media Law Prof Blog - Oct. 7

Danielle Keats Citron, JD, associate professor at the School of Law, has published "Cyber Civil Rights," in volume 89 of the Boston University Law Review (2009). It states that social networking sites and blogs have increasingly become breeding grounds for anonymous online groups that attack women, people of color, and members of other traditionally disadvantaged groups.
lawprofessors.typepad.com

Institute for Genome Sciences Wins $9.9 Million NIH Grant
BizJournals.com ý Oct. 7 (Also in eight other papers in the Business Journal chain)
The Baltimore Examiner ý Oct. 7
The Daily Record ý Oct. 7
The Associated Press ý Oct. 7

The Institute for Genome Sciences was awarded a $9.9 million federal grant Tuesday to build a database to analyze genetic information. The grant-given by the National Institutes of Health to Owen White, PhD, a genome scientist and researcher-will help create a library of genetic data available to U.S. researchers for free. The institute-headed by Claire Fraser-Liggett, PhD, a genome scientist and microbiologist and the former director and president of Rockville-based Institute of Genomic Research-is part of the School of Medicine and located at the University of Maryland BioPark.
www.bizjournals.com

Some Investment Banks Planned for Conversion
Business Week - Oct. 6

After the collapse of Bear Stearns in March, investment bank giants Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley revamped their books in an effort to do business more like conventional commercial banks-a move in anticipation of inevitable sweeping reform. In September, federal regulators converted Morgan and Goldman into bank holding companies, morphing their high-risk business to resemble the dealings of commercial banks. But as Wall Street's mighty have fallen, commercial banks have also made costly financial mistakes; Citigroup, which is regulated by the Fed, has taken $55 billion in write-downs in the last year alone. Michael Greenberger, JD, a professor at the School of Law and a former director at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said, "The commercial banks haven't been the poster children for prudence in this fiasco."
www.businessweek.com

Steps to Recreate Intercampus Commuter Bus Begin this Month
The Retriever Weekly - Oct. 7

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and the University of Maryland, Baltimore have, for 17 years, cosponsored a downtown bus route, which was originally created to transport students between the two universities for various programs offered. However, ridership on the downtown bus has developed into a predominately staff-used resource.
www.retrieverweekly.com

Wall Street Insider Chosen to Oversee Bailout
"Lou Dobbs Tonight," CNN - 7 p.m., Oct. 6

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson named a former Goldman Sachs vice president the interim chief of the Office of Financial Stability, a post that will coordinate oversight of the massive Wall Street bailout. Michael Greenberger, JD, a professor at the School of Law and a former director at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said appointing investment banking insiders is old hat in Washington. "It is troubling to me the White House chief of staff is formerly from Goldman Sachs, and in fact going all the way back to the Clinton administration, of course, Secretary Rubin had been the head of Goldman Sachs, and one of his principal aides, Gary Gensler, who later rose in the Clinton administration to be deputy secretary of the Treasury, was also from Goldman Sachs," Greenberger said.
media.umaryland.edu:8080

First Amendment Scholarship Update
First Amendment Law Prof Blog - Oct. 5

Among this week's collection of newly available papers on First Amendment topics is "They Ain't Whites; They're Mormons: An Illustrated History of Polygamy as Race Treason" by Martha Ertman, JD, professor at the School of Law.
lawprofessors.typepad.com

Lawyer Sues City, Trigen Over Fall Into Steam Pit
The Daily Record - Oct. 7

A North Baltimore lawyer who suffered serious burns over almost half her body when she fell into a downtown construction hole exactly three years ago has sued the city and the contractors involved. Arianne Spaccarelli, JD, and her husband allege that her disfiguring injuries and their costly consequences were due to negligence. Since the incident, Spaccarelli, a 30-year-old staff attorney and regional planner at the School of Law's Center for Health and Homeland Security, has undergone skin grafts and physical and psychological therapy, according to the suit filed in Baltimore City Circuit Court.
www.mddailyrecord.com

Low Density Warfin Deemed Safe
Orthopedics Today - October 2008

A proponent of using warfarin after total knee replacement surgery said it reduced hospital readmissions due to clinical pulmonary embolism and venous thromboembolism and its bleeding risk was negligible. Vincent Pellegrini, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Orthopaedics at the School of Medicine, contended using low-intensity warfarin was safe.
www.orthosupersite.com

Maryland to Revise Medevac Guidelines
The Baltimore Sun ý Oct. 7
The Annapolis Capital ý Oct. 7
The Washington Times ý Oct. 7
The (Baltimore) Examiner ý Oct. 7

In a move that could reduce the number of medevac flights in Maryland, state emergency medical officials announced yesterday that ambulance teams will be required to consult with doctors before deciding whether flying some accident victims to a trauma center is better than driving them to a local hospital. The state's leading trauma surgeon applauded the change yesterday but said he couldn't be sure it would lead to fewer unnecessary medevac flights. "I have trouble overruling someone who is at the scene and can put their eyes on a patient," said Thomas Scalea, MD, professor at the School of Medicine and physician-in-chief at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center the state's primary trauma center.
www.baltimoresun.com

Nobel Committee Snubs UMB Researcher
The Guardian (UK) ý Oct. 7
WTOP Radio, 103.5 FM, 6:30 a.m. ý Oct. 7
Wtopnews.com ý Oct. 7

The Nobel committee snubbed a University of Maryland virologistýRobert Gallo, MD, a professor at the School of Medicine and director of its Institute of Human Virologyýlong credited as the one who co-discovered the human immunodeficiency virus. Gallo's early work led to a blood test for HIV that is believed to have saved millions of lives. But the Nobel Prize in medicine went to two French scientists who studied AIDS and to a German scientist for his work who found that certain human papilloma viruses cause cervical cancer. Gallo told the Associated Press he was "disappointed."
www.wtop.com

Advantages of Medevac Transport Challenged
WBAL Radio, 1090 AM - Oct. 6
The Baltimore Sun - Oct. 5

Should accident victims be transported by helicopter at all, especially in urban areas? The idea borders on heresy in Baltimore, a city whose pioneering trauma center became a global model and where Dr. R Adams Cowley coined the phrase "golden hour," defining how quickly a patient should get to a hospital to have the best chance of survival. "Whenever someone says they want to ratchet it back," says Thomas Scalea, MD, physician-in-chief at the trauma center, "I tell them 'OK, how many people can die next year to make that worthwhile?'"
www.baltimoresun.com

Cause of ýTreeman's'Barklike Growths Revealed
CNN.com - Oct. 3

For 20 years, the warts studding Dede Kosawa's hands and feet multiplied and sprouted like gnarled roots. His hands looked like contorted, yellow-brown branches extending 3 feet. Unable to clamp his hands into a fist or pick up a fork, he made his living by performing in carnivals in rural Indonesia. He became known as the Treeman."His life was taken away from him," said Anthony Gaspari, MD, a professor at the School of Medicine, who traveled to Indonesia twice to treat Kosawa. "He was severely disfigured and was sent into a rural isolated village where he was sheltered from his peers. With good reason, he was a sad man. He wanted to be cured and he wanted hope."
www.cnn.com

Ertman on the History of Polygamy as Race Treason
Legal History Blog - Oct. 2

"They Ain't Whites; They're Mormons: An Illustrated History of Polygamy as Race Treason" is a new paper by Martha Ertman, JD, professor at the School of Law. The political cartoons alone in this fascinating paper make it worth a look.
legalhistoryblog.blogspot.com

Few Saw Need for Regulation of Credit Default Swaps
60 Minutes, WJZ-TV, Ch. 13, 7 p.m. - Oct. 5
"This American Life," WYPR, noon - Oct. 4

When large financial institutions began their love affair with credit default swaps (CDS)-instruments that experts say are at the heart of today's financial crisis-in the late '90s, few officials and lawmakers on Capitol Hill believed CDS should be regulated. Michael Greenberger, JD, a professor at the School of Law, was a director at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission during that time and called for the regulation of CDS. "The idea that you can have $60 trillion in a financial market, which is more than all the stocks sold anywhere in the world, and not have any oversight whatsoever is self-evidently absurd and we're seeing the end result of that today," Greenberger said.
media.umaryland.edu:8080
www.thislife.org

Guest Mary L. Dudziak on Women Blogging
IntLawGrrls - Oct. 5

It's IntLawGrrls' honor today to feature as our guest Mary Dudziak, JD, MA, MPhil, PhD, visiting professor at the School of Law. Dudziak, about whom we've posted frequently, is among America's leading legal historians, the author most recently of Exporting American Dreams: Thurgood Marshall's African Journey and is at work examining war's impact on American law and politics.
intlawgrrls.blogspot.com

How Some Women Never Get Sick
Strictly Fab - Oct. 2

It's also safe to take ginger in small doses (less than 1,000 milligrams) for a short period of time during pregnancy, says Joyce Frye, DO, MBA, a clinical assistant professor at the School of Medicine.
strictlyfab.blogspot.com

Idea Right, Timing Not For Proposed Tech Fund
Baltimore Business Journal - Oct. 3
San Francisco Business Times - Oct. 3

The Greater Baltimore Committee and the University of Maryland, Baltimore's idea to pool together $25 million to invest in fledgling technology and biotechnology companies is commendable. The timing of the plan, however, borders on laughable.
baltimore.bizjournals.com

Live: UM Law Conference on the Subprime Meltdown
The Daily Record - Oct. 2

At the School of Law's seventh annual business law conference Friday, discussion will center on the subprime meltdown. Check out multimedia reporter Richard Simon's live blog from the luncheon discussion, "Meltdown and Impact on the Economy," which begins at 12:15 p.m. You can even post a question to Simon and view his photos from the discussion.
www.mddailyrecord.com

Lusby Nuke Plans Could be Stalled with Constellation Sale
The Daily Record - Oct. 6

Some Maryland environmental activists say the planned sale of Constellation Energy Group Inc. and the related Wall Street financial crisis should stall the expansion of a proposed nuclear power plant in Lusby. "We have to ask, 'How can we be using wind and solar?'" said Brenda Afzal, MS, RN, director of health programs at the Environmental Health Education Center at the School of Nursing.
www.mddailyrecord.com

Md. HIV Researcher Misses out on Nobel Prize for Medicine
The Baltimore Sun - Oct. 6

Three European scientists shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in medicine today for separate discoveries of viruses that cause AIDS and cervical cancer. U.S. researcher Robert Gallo, MD, director of the Institute of Human Virology at the School of Medicine, and co-discoverer of the HIV/AIDS virus, was locked in a dispute with French researcher Luc Montagnier in the 1980s over the relative importance of their roles in groundbreaking research into HIV and its role in AIDS. Montagnier said he wished the prize had also gone to Gallo. "It is certain that he deserved this as much as us two," said Montagnier, who shared the prize with Franýoise Barre-Sinoussi of France and Harald zur Hausen of Germany.
www.baltimoresun.com

More U.S. Than European Kids Take Mental Health Meds
Reuters - Oct. 3

A new international study found that children in the U.S. were up to three times more likely to be given psychotropic drugs as kids in Germany and the Netherlands. The population-based study is published in the open access journal Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health and was the work of lead researcher Julie Zito, PhD, a professor at the School of Pharmacy, and colleagues from the U.S., Germany, and the Netherlands
www.reuters.com

NCSBN Center Grant Program Awards More Than $1.7 Million
Medical News Today - Oct. 3
MediLexicon - Oct. 3

The National Council of State Boards of Nursing Center for Regulatory Excellence Grant Program recently awarded grants totaling more than $1.7 million to eight U.S. organizations, among them to Alison Trinkoff, ScD, RN, FAAN, a professor at the School of Nursing, for her research linking nursing work environment and patient outcomes. The Center for Regulatory Excellence Grant Program funds innovative projects that can have measurable impact on nursing regulation and can create meaningful change.
www.medicalnewstoday.com

On the Move - Law Edition
The Daily Record - Oct. 6

Community Law In Action Inc. (CLIA) has named Norman Yancey as director of youth justice programs. CLIA is a Baltimore-based nonprofit organization affiliated with the School of Law.
www.mddailyrecord.com

Talk of Pigs Can't Hold a (Lip) Stick to Discussion of Issues
Flashpoint! With Lionel Waxman - Oct. 4
PatDollard.com - Oct. 2
The Community Times (Owings Mills, Md.) - Sept. 17

The actions and remarks of Sarah Palin are something that caught the eye of Sherrilyn Ifill, JD, a School of Law professor who has taught voting rights, equal protection, and restorative justice. She said, "Black women are not easily confused by false claims to feminism. When women like Palin lay claims to 'representing' average women, I think that black women have a visceral reaction to it."
www.waxmanmedia.com

Traveling Exhibit Sheds Light on Domestic Violence in Maryland
The Daily Record - Oct. 6

"A Line in the Sand" will be on display at the Rockville courthouse through the end of the month before moving to the University of Maryland, Baltimore in November. The exhibit, sponsored by the Brenda Brown Rever Foundation and DLA Piper, is scheduled to be at the Baltimore City Circuit Court in January.
www.mddailyrecord.com

'Brilliant' Ifill Cousin Scours Palin As 'Offensive to Black Women'
The Community Times - Oct. 2

Sherrilyn Ifill, JD, a professor at the School of Law, whom Gwen Ifill has lauded as "my brilliant baby cousin," has written that black women are not buying Sarah Palin's "false claims to feminism" and is portrayed as too perfect: "when women who are privileged present as though they have it all together, it's offensive to black women. From the first day, Palin presented herself as shooting a bear in the morning, field dressing it, cooking up the breakfast, diapering the babies, passing legislation in the afternoon, cleaning the house, satisfying her husband, etc., etc., etc. And it's just not true," she wrote in an e-mail interview. "It's hard to be an average working mom, really hard. And when women who are privileged present as though they have it all together, it's offensive to black women."
newsbusters.org

Alba Therapeutics Corporation Announces Promotions
MarketWatch - Oct. 2

Alba Therapeutics Corp. in the University of Maryland BioPark today announced the promotions of Linda Arterburn, PhD, Francisco Leon, MD, PhD, Roberto Allen, Esquire, Mark Ginski, PhD, and Kate Huber. http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/alba-therapeutics-corporation-announces-promotions/story.aspx?guid=%7BB3133629-86E5-4572-9452-BBE53A3D247C%7D&dist=hppr

Alternative Offered for Elderly Heart Patients
WJZ-TV, Ch. 13, 5:54 p.m. - Oct. 2

It's a commonly held belief in the medical community, once a patient reaches a certain age, they're deemed too old to endure the rigors of surgery. Now instead of replacing the faulty aortic valve, cardiac surgeons at the University of Maryland bypass it. "A person who has aortic stenosis has a narrowed valve, so it's only opening up about this much, so the patient is trying to force the blood out of their heart, and it can lead to symptoms," said James Gammie, MD, assistant professor at the School of Medicine and a cardiac surgeon at University of Maryland Medical Center.
wjz.com

Experts Question Overuse of Medevac Helicopters
The Annapolis Capital - Oct. 2

Between 50 and 75 percent of the roughly 5,000 patients the Maryland State Police transport by air each year have only minor injuries. A doctor who helped develop the Maryland trauma system said the shock trauma center and state police helicopters were designed to be overused as a way to generate funds for the medical system. Clayton Shatney, MD, worked with the center's founder, R Adams Cowley, MD, and taught medicine at the School of Medicine between 1979 and 1982.
www.hometownannapolis.com

On the Move
The Daily Record - Oct. 2

The Institute of Human Virology at the School of Medicine announced the 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award honorees. Two individuals received Lifetime Achievement Awards for Public Service: John D. Evans, a co-founder of C-SPAN, and The Honorable Robert K. Gray, founder of Gray and Co. Dr. Isaac P. Witz, cancer researcher of Tel Aviv University, received the IHV Lifetime Achievement Award for Scientific Contributions.

On this Day: Edgar Allan Poe Found Drunk and Delirious
Finding Dulcinea - Oct. 3

On Oct. 3, 1849, famed American poet Edgar Allan Poe was found drunk and delirious in Baltimore; he would die days later. Some accounts say he was found in a ditch, others say in a Baltimore tavern. In 1996, doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center offered yet one more theory on Poe's death: rabies. "No one can say conclusively that Poe died of rabies, since there was no autopsy after his death," said R. Michael Benitez, MD, an assistant professor at the School of Medicine and a cardiologist at the University of Maryland Medical Center who reviewed Poe's case. "But the historical accounts of Poe's condition in the hospital a few days before his death point to a strong possibility that he had rabies." Benitez found several of Poe's reported symptoms to be consistent with rabies: he was delirious, had tremors, slipped into a coma, emerged calm, then became delirious and combative.
www.findingdulcinea.com

Oregon's Foster Children Find Fewer Places to Land
The Oregonian - Oct. 2
Oregononlive.com - Oct. 2

Oregon's base foster care rate is $399 a month for infants and children to age 5; $414 for children ages 6 to 12; $512 for teens 13 to 18-a range of $13 to $17 per day. The rate is adjusted higher for children who have been identified as having special needs. A 2007 study by Children's Rights, the National Foster Parent Association and the School of Social Work found Oregon's rates below the national average. But the study also said that nearly every state paid foster parents far below what it actually costs to care for a foster child-$642 to $806 a month in Oregon.
www.oregonlive.com

Overloading on Zinc Actually May Risk Prostate Health
The Times Picayune - Oct. 3

True or false? Taking zinc supplements protects men from prostate cancer. The research about men taking zinc supplements creates more confusion than clarity. While some studies show protection from prostate cancer, others have found no effect, and at least two big studies concluded that taking zinc increased the risk of prostate cancer. Leslie Costello, PhD, a professor at the Dental School, reviewed the evidence and concluded that moderate amounts of zinc impose no significant risk and might be beneficial. Given that the uptake of zinc from food declines with age, Costello said it is prudent for older men to consider taking a zinc supplement.
www.nola.com

Pharmacy School Expands, photo story/caption
Baltimore Examiner - Sept. 19

Assistant professor Fred Abramson, director of the pharmacy practice lab at the School of Pharmacy, instructs student pharmacist Jessica Holstein of Baltimore.

Child Adoption Deaths
WJZ.com. - Oct. 2
WJZ-TV, Ch. 13, 5:30 p.m. - Oct. 1
WBFF-TV, Ch. 45, 5:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. - Oct. 1
WMAR-TV, Ch. 2, 11 p.m. ý Oct. 1

Police are investigating child-size remains found in a basement freezer in Southern Maryland. Screening was performed in a home study before the adoption of three foster children living in the home. "The quality of the home study varies. Sometimes they don't ask all the pertinent questions," says Richard P. Barth, PhD, dean of the School of Social Work.
wjz.com

Doctor Seeks Help for ýModern-Day Elephant Maný
USA Today - Oct. 2

When dermatologist Anthony Gaspari, MD, a professor at the School of Medicine, first saw photos of Dede, the Indonesian fisherman who has come to be known worldwide as "the Treeman," he figured they must be a hoax. The photos show a man in his mid-30s whose skin is covered with barklike lesions. And instead of fingers or toes, he appears to have roots sprouting from his arms and legs. Intrigued, Gaspari twice has flown nearly 24 hours from Baltimore to Jakarta and then driven three hours to Bandung. The first trip was in June 2007,, the second this past March. On Sunday at 9 p.m., Discovery Health will premiere "Treeman: Search for the Cure," which documents Gaspari's efforts.
www.usatoday.com

Laughter Can Burn Calories
Times & Transcript (Canada) - Oct. 2

Laughter has been shown to affect the heart rate, pulse, breathing, and even hormones. Many people who laugh on a regular basis experience fewer blood pressure problems and even-according to a study out of the School of Medicine-less heart disease. Laughter, especially if it is sidesplitting, has long been known to provide an "internal jog" by working out the diaphragm, abdominal, leg, and back muscles.
timestranscript.canadaeast.com

Maryland Woos Worcester Firm's Subsidiary
Worcester Business Journal - Oct. 2

Biomere LLC, a subsidiary of Worcester, Mass.-based Biomedical Research Models, Inc., will open its corporate headquarters in Baltimore early next year, bringing with it 25 new jobs and leasing 14,000 square feet of space at the University of Maryland BioPark. The subsidiary will expand vaccine research started by Biomedical Research Models, which develops laboratory animals that are genetically engineered to have diseases such as diabetes and cancer. The animals are used by pharmaceutical companies to test new drugs. Dennis Guberski, Biomere chair and Biomedical Research Models' CEO and founder, says it was the park's proximity to the University of Maryland, Baltimore, many agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, and a concentration of more than 350 biotech companies that helped him choose the spinoff's location. In order to respond to certain NIH requests for proposals, a company must be within two hours of driving time from the agency, Guberski says.
www.wbjournal.com

Presidential Politics
WPFW-FM, 9:45 a.m. - Oct. 2

Sherrilyn Ifill, JD, professor at the School of Law, discussed presidential politics and the upcoming vice presidential debate live on the program "Metro Watch."

Price Manipulation of Commodities Still Lingering
Artvoice.com ý Oct. 1
Long Island Press ý Sept. 24

In the last decade, deregulation has led to soaring prices of commodities such as corn and oil, and lawmakers and financial experts place the blame on their counterparts who pushed for deregulation and the large financial institutions that exploited it. Michael Greenberger, JD, a professor at the School of Law and a former director at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said commodities markets are "as important to understand and regulate as the securities and debt markets are."
artvoice.com
www.longislandpress.com

Subprime Mess Is Topic of Symposium
The Daily Record - Oct. 2

The School of Law is holding its Seventh Annual Business Law Conference on Friday on "The Subprime Meltdown: Causes, Consequences, and Solutions." The all-day conference will examine, among other topics, the housing crisis, financial infrastructure, and the role of credit agencies and insurance. A luncheon and panel discussion on "Meltdown and Impact on the Economy" will be live-blogged by The Daily Record multimedia reporter Richard Simon.

U.S. Combat Hospital Saving Iraqi Lives
Connecticut Post Online (Bridgeport, Conn.) - Oct. 1

The U.S. military's main combat hospital in Iraq has increasingly switched to helping Iraqis. As the numbers of wounded American soldiers have fallen, the hospital is now saving the lives of reportedly 93 percent of Iraqis who go to the hospital with devastating injuries. Trauma surgeon Lt. Col. Debra Malone, MD, MED, a clinical assistant professor at the School of Medicine, spent four hours with one man alone, closing up his amputated finger, reconnecting pieces of his shredded bowel, and washing out severe leg and groin wounds. "This man is a poster child for what we see here-head-to-toe injuries. He would have possibly not survived if he didn't come here," says Malone, who is also chief of the medical research branch at Air Force headquarters.
www.connpost.com

UMB Holds Conference on Financial Meltdown
Jay Hancockýs Blog 0 Oct. 1

The seventh annual Business Law Conference at the University of Maryland, Baltimore will be held Oct. 3.
weblogs.baltimoresun.com

UMB, GBC Eye New Fund to Fuel Tech, Bio
Baltimore Business Journal ý Sept. 26

The University of Maryland, Baltimore and the Greater Baltimore Committee plan to create a $25 million fund to help churn more technology and bioscience research out of Maryland universities. The fund, which would be paid for largely with private dollars, would make small investments in earlystage companies and give them access to experienced business leaders to help commercialize more products. Private management of investments for early-stage life science companies has succeeded in Massachusetts and California, and GBC and UMB pulled some ideas from those markets, says Jim Hughes, MBA, vice president of research and development for UMB.

Applying Science to Alternative Medicine
The New York Times - Sept. 29

More than 80 million adults in the United States are estimated to use some form of alternative medicine, from herbs and megavitamins to yoga and acupuncture. Critics of alternative medicine have seized on that weakness. R. Barker Bausell, PhD, a professor and senior research methodologist at the School of Nursing and author of Snake Oil Science, says small studies often have a built-in conflict of interest: they need to show positive results to win grants for larger investigations. Another large study enrolled 570 participants to see if acupuncture provided pain relief and improved function for people with osteoarthritis of the knee. In 2004, it reported positive results. Brian Berman, MD, the study's director and a professor of medicine at the School of Medicine, said the inquiry "establishes that acupuncture is an effective complement to conventional arthritis treatment."
www.nytimes.com

Citigroup Buys Wachovia on Day of Wall Street Turmoil
The Philadelphia Inquirer - Sept. 30
TradingMarkets.com - Sept. 30

The latest victim of the subprime mortgage crisis, faltering Wachovia Bank was bought by Citigroup for $2.16 billion, creating one of the nation's largest banks. Michael Greenberger, JD, professor at the School of Law and a former director at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said "the thesis, at least as far as the market is concerned, is that the combined institution will be better off than the two apart."
www.philly.com
www.tradingmarkets.com

Ecuador OKs Constitution Giving Rights to Nature
Earth News - Sept. 30

Ecuador has become the first country to approve a constitution that, among other reforms, recognizes certain inalienable rights for nature. Expect the Rights of Nature approach to face a test in Ecuador, says Robert Percival, JD, MA, professor and director of the School of Law's Environmental Law Program. "The constitution outlines broad principles, and what impact they will have depends on how they are treated by the president, the legislature, and the courts," Percival said in an interview. "Certainly, a number of courts have taken very vague environmental provisions and used them as justification for intervention in environmental matters. This constitution goes even further by offering much more extensive and explicit provisions, but it will still require action by the president, lawmakers, and the courts to implement."
www.earthportal.org

Esoteric Market Balloons to $55 Trillion in a Decade
Fortune magazine - Sept. 30

Privately traded derivatives contracts known as 'credit default swaps' (CDS) now comprise a $55 trillion market, and experts say CDS-which are out of bounds for government regulators-are at the heart of the current financial crisis. Michael Greenberger, JD, professor at the School of Law and a former director at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said "if CDS had been taken out of play, companies would've said, 'I can't get this [risk] off my books.'" Greenberger added: "If they couldn't keep passing the risk down the line, those guys would've been stopped in their tracks. The ultimate assurance for issuing all this stuff was, 'It's insured.'"
money.cnn.com

Exercise Is More Important As We Age
The Denver Post - Sept. 29

The weight gain so many of us experience in our 40s and 50s isn't necessarily the result of growing older. Rather, the seemingly "sudden" gain is due to the gradual loss of muscle, as much as a half-pound of muscle per year after age 25 if we do not exercise to maintain it. This loss accelerates after ages 45-50. As fitness author Pamela Peeke, MD, MPH, FACP, a clinical assistant professor at the School of Medicine, says, "Up to age 50 you can get away with not exercising. After that, you start paying the price."

Geoffrey Greif on Male Friendships
The Baltimore Jewish Times - Sept. 26

Geoffrey Greif, DSW, MSW, a professor at the School of Social Work and author of The Buddy System, a book about male friendships, discussed the importance of building relationships to male health.

Healthy Health Care Waste Disposal
Urbanite - October 2008

Every day, a fleet of nine trucks emblazoned with the moniker "Biomedical Waste Services" rumbles through the streets of Baltimore, patrolling from loading dock to loading dock, collecting everything from used needles to leftover chemotherapy drugs from three local hospitals and roughly 500 doctors' and dentists' offices. "Given that our mission is both to keep people healthy and help them heal when they're unhealthy, it would be a complete contradiction for us to contribute to poor health-whether of employees, patients or the community," says nurse Barbara Sattler, RN, DrPH, FAAN, professor at the School of Nursing, director of the School's Environmental Health Education Center, and head of the nation's only graduate program in environmental nursing. "We're focused on making our mission consistent; we want our health care institutions to be healing places."
www.urbanitebaltimore.com

U.S. Kids Given More Psychotropic Drugs
chattahbox.com - Sept. 29

A new international study found that children in the U.S. were up to three times more likely to be given psychotropic drugs as kids in Germany and the Netherlands. The population-based study is published in the open access journal Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health and was the work of lead researcher Julie Zito, PhD, a professor at the School of Pharmacy, and colleagues from the U.S., Germany and the Netherlands.
chattahbox.com

U.S. Kids Take More Psychotropic Drugs Than Europeans
Psychiatric Medication News - Sept. 29
Mental Health Update - Sept. 29

A new international study found that children in the U.S. were up to three times more likely to be given psychotropic drugs as kids in Germany and the Netherlands. The population-based study is published in the open access journal Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health and was the work of lead researcher Julie Zito, PhD, a professor at the School of Pharmacy, and colleagues from the U.S., Germany, and the Netherlands.
psychiatricmedications.blogspot.com
mentalhealthupdate.blogspot.com