SUMC in the News (12/13/05)

Press release

Rein for pain lays mainly in the brain, Stanford researchers find
Stanford researchers have found that chronic pain sufferers may be able to reduce pain levels by studying their own live brain images.

Print media coverage

Washington Post, 12/13/05
Human brain cells are grown in mice (registration required)
Irving Weissman, the Virginia and DK Ludwig Professor for Clinical Investigation, is quoted in this article on new research involving chimeras. The story also appears in the Austin American-Statesman (Austin, Texas), Bradford County Telegraph (Bradford County, Fla.), Clarksdale Press Register (Clarksdale, Miss.), Contra Costa Times, Dallas Morning News, Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette (Fort Wayne, Ind.), Grenada Daily Star (Grenada, Miss.), Loris Scene (Loris, S.C.), Norristown Times Herald (Norristown, Pa.), Ottumwa Courier (Ottumwa, Iowa), Philadelphia Northeast News Gleaner, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and San Jose Mercury News. David Magnus, director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, is quoted in an Associated Press piece that appears on CNN.com and on the websites of San Francisco Chronicle and New York Times. Magnus is also quoted in the Irish Examiner and the San Francisco Chronicle.

To survive stress, keep it brief (registration required)
Robert Sapolsky, the John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Professor, discusses the difference between good stress and bad stress in this article.

Ocala Star-Banner (Ocala, Fla.), 12/13/05
Catch a good night's sleep?
William Dement, the Lowell W. and Josephine Q. Berry Professor and director of the Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic, provides comment in this article on sleep problems.

Palo Alto Online, 12/13/05
One-day strike hits Stanford, hospitals
A group of Stanford employees, including some from Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, held a 1-day strike yesterday. Sarah Staley, hospital spokesperson, and Cynthia Haines, senior vice president of Packard, are quoted in this article. Staley is also quoted in the Fremont Argus, Hayward Daily Review, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News and San Mateo County Times. A news brief also appears in the New York Times.

Forbes.com, 12/12/05
Pain sufferers use brain to find relief
This HealthDay article discusses the pain study. Sean Mackey, assistant professor of anesthesia, is quoted here and in articles prepared by the Australian, BBC News Online, Daily Mail (U.K.), Nature, Times Online (U.K.) and WebMD.com.

Broadcast media coverage

WNBC-TV (New York), 12/13/05
This segment discussed the Stanford pain study. A similar segment aired on WFLA-TV (Tampa, Fla.).

KGO-AM, 12/12/05
Cynthia Haines was interviewed about the 1-day strike at the university and two hospitals during this segment. Stories on the strike also aired on KGO-TV, KTVU-TV, KNTV-TV, KPFA-FM, KPIX-TV, KCBS-AM, KRON-TV, KQED-FM, KMAX-TV (Sacramento), KSBW-TV (Monterey) and KNX-AM (Los Angeles).

KCBD-TV (Lubbock, Texas), 12/12/05
A Stanford study has found that a by-product of tryptophan - an amino acid found in turkey and other foods - can alleviate multiple sclerosis symptoms in animal models.