SUMC in the News (10/02/06)

Press releases

Andrew Fire wins 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Andrew Fire, professor of pathology and of genetics, has won the 2006 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work on RNA interference. He shares the prize with Craig Mello of the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

Men, women have similar rates of compulsive buying, Stanford study shows
Contrary to popular opinion, nearly as many men as women experience compulsive buying disorder, a condition marked by binge buying and subsequent financial hardship, according to new research from Stanford. The study also found that more than one in 20 adults in the United States suffers from the condition.

Print media coverage

Associated Press, 10/02/06
Two Americans win Nobel Prize in Medicine
Andrew Fire was one of two Americans to win this year's Nobel Prize in Medicine. This article on his work appears on ABCNews.com, CBSNews.com, CNN.com, FOXNews.com, MSNBC.com and the websites of newspapers across the country, including the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle and Washington Post. (Audio of Fire accompanies the story on the Los Angeles Times' website.) Similar articles were prepared by Reuters, Bloomberg News, Forbes.com, National Geographic News, Financial Times (London), BizJournals.com and Palo Alto Online News. A piece also appears on USA Today's website, and a Reuters article on RNA interference - Fire's area of research - is featured on ABCNews.com.

Boston Globe, 10/02/06
Men also shop till they drop, study finds
This article discusses the Stanford study on compulsive buying. Lead author Lorrin Koran, emeritus professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, is also quoted in an Associated Press article and in articles in the San Jose Mercury News, Oakland Tribune and Guardian (London) and on Forbes.com. The study was also mentioned on the SciGuy, a blog from the Houston Chronicle.

San Jose Mercury News, 10/02/06
Link between bony models, anorexic teens isn't a fantasy
Too-thin models were recently banned from Madrid's Fashion Week. Cynthia Kapphahn, clinical associate professor of pediatrics and acting director of the Division of Adolescent Medicine at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, provides comment here.

San Francisco Chronicle, 10/01/06
Weight-loss plans shrivel under weight of do-it-yourself diets
An increasing number of Americans are making up their own diet plans by trying to eat less fat and cut calories. The work of Christopher Gardner, assistant professor of medicine with the Stanford Prevention Research Center (SPRC), is mentioned in this article.

Spokane Journal of Business (Spokane, Wash.), 09/28/06
Estrogen-only therapy, cancer said not linked
According to findings from the federally funded Women's Health Initiative, taking estrogen alone does not increase the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women. Marcia Stefanick, professor of medicine at the SPRC and lead author of the study, is quoted in this article.

Broadcast media coverage

Good Morning America (ABC), 10/01/06
Nobel Prize recipient Andrew Fire was mentioned during a segment. His award was also discussed on KGO-TV, KNTV-TV, KPIX-TV, KRON-TV and on TV stations around the country, including ones in Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Sacramento and San Diego. NPR and KCBS-FM also discussed the prize on the air.

Good Morning America (ABC), 10/01/06
Lorrin Koran was interviewed for a segment on his compulsive buying study. This piece also aired on KGO-TV; similar segments appeared on TV stations around the country, including ones in Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and San Diego.

20/20 (ABC), 09/30/06
In a recent issue of Nature, Ben Barres, professor of neurobiology and of developmental biology and of neurology and neurological sciences, critiqued gender differences in science - based on both personal and scientific evidence. Barres discussed the issues during this program.