SUMC in the News (12/15/06)

Press release

Stanford discovery may help predict when toxoplasma can be deadly
Toxoplasma is arguably the most successful animal parasite on earth: It infects hundreds of species of warm-blooded animals, most notably half of humanity. Stanford researchers have identified two of the proteins critical to its ability to thrive.

Print media coverage

New York Times, 12/15/06
Reversing trend, big drop is seen in breast cancer
This article discusses a new report that found rates of the most common form of breast cancer dropped 15 percent from August 2002 to December 2003. Marcia Stefanick, professor of medicine at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, provides comment in this story, which also appears in the Gadsden Times (Gadsden, Ala.) and Lakeland Ledger (Lakeland, Fla.).

A second look at death
This opinion piece examines the practice of using cardiac death, rather than brain death, to determine when a patient's organs can be harvested for transplant. Before the brain death protocol was adopted, cardiac death was the standard. Lungs, livers and kidneys are among the organs potentially suitable for transplantation after cardiac death. Although Stanford is not mentioned in this article, it may be of interest to readers.

San Francisco Chronicle, 12/15/06
New stem cell technique - no embryos used
This article discusses how scientists have found an alternative way to make stem cells from unfertilized eggs, without cloning embryos. Hank Greely, with the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, is quoted.

BusinessWeek.com, 12/14/06
Virtually addicted
This article discusses a court case about an employee fired for inappropriate Internet use on the job. Attorneys say recognition by a court that Internet abuse is an uncontrollable addiction could redefine the condition as a psychological impairment worthy of protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Elias Aboujaoude, clinical assistant professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences and director of Stanford's Impulse Control Disorders Clinic, is quoted.

Broadcast media coverage

WNCN-TV (Raleigh, N.C.), 12/15/06
Stanford researchers have found that adults who exercise more than an hour a day increase their chances of injuries and can also create more oxygen molecules that can damage DNA and cells in ways that can cause cancer.

NPR, 12/14/06
Sandra Soo-Jin Lee, senior research scholar in the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, was interviewed about the drug BiDil, an antihypertensive medication approved by the FDA for use only in African Americans.

KCBS-AM, 12/14/06
James Lock, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and director of the eating-disorders program at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, was featured in this segment on young athletes using laxatives to get down to their desired weight.

KNTV-TV, 12/14/06
This segment discussed arteriovenous malformation, a congenital condition. Stanford was mentioned.

In a separate segment, Amy Adams, pediatric dermatologist with Packard, discussed causes of alopecia areata and how the hospital has a support group for patients.

KGO-TV, 12/14/06
This segment on a child with Moya Moya disease, who was treated at Stanford, includes an interview with Gary Steinberg, the Bernard and Ronni Lacroute-William Randolph Hearst Professor in Neurosurgery and Neurosciences.

WBFF-TV (Baltimore), 12/14/06
A new Stanford study will assess whether a supplement made from pine bark extract can help reduce the blood pressure of people who are at mild to moderate risk for heart disease. Randall Stafford, associate professor of medicine at the Stanford Prevention Research Center and principal investigator, and Rebecca Drieling, study coordinator, were interviewed during this segment, which also aired on KPTM-TV (Omaha, Neb.), KEVN-TV (Rapid City, S.D.), KTBC-TV (Austin, Texas) and KOKI-TV (Tulsa, Okla.).