SUMC in the News (10/29/07)

Press releases

Arthur Kornberg, Nobel laureate and towering biomedical scientist, dies at 89
Arthur Kornberg, professor emeritus of biochemistry and winner of the 1959 Nobel Prize, died Oct. 26 at Stanford Hospital. Among the survivors is son Roger Kornberg, the Mrs. George A. Winzer Professor in Medicine.

Print media coverage

Washington Post, 10/29/07
Arthur Kornberg, 89; Scientist earned Nobel Prize for DNA work
Nobel laureate Arthur Kornberg died on Friday. Obituaries appear in the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle and San Jose Mercury News, and an Associated Press piece was picked up by Chicago Tribune and Newsday (New York). Bloomberg.com, Palo Alto Online and Reuters also prepared obituaries. Roger Kornberg is mentioned in all pieces; some also quote medical school dean Philip Pizzo, Paul Berg, the Robert W. and Vivian K. Cahill Professor of Cancer Research, or Spyros Andreopoulos, director emeritus of the Office of Communication & Public Affairs.

Newsweek, 10/29/07
Inside Karen’s crowded mind (No online version available)
In a new book, a psychiatrist details his experiences with a patient with 17 personalities. David Spiegel, Jack, Lulu and Sam Willson Professor in Medicine, is quoted in this article on the book.

Los Angeles Times, 10/29/07
Tricky side of treats
Experts disagree about whether "sugar highs" and "sugar crashes" truly exist. Jo Ann Hattner, a nutritionist with the medical school, and Thomas Robinson, the Irving Schulman, M.D. Endowed Professor in Child Health and director of the Center for Healthy Weight at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, are quoted in this article. Hattner and Robinson also provide tips in a separate article on ways parents can handle Halloween treats.
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Doctors orders: Cross your legs and say Om
Doctors across the country are increasingly recommending meditation to treat pain, and some of the nation's top hospitals, including Stanford, now offer meditation programs to pain patients.

San Francisco Chronicle, 10/29/07
Nascent stem cell company raises ethical and medical issues
A local company offers to create "personalized" stem cells from the spare embryos of fertility clinic clients on the chance that the cells may some day help a family member benefit from medical breakthroughs. David Magnus, director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics (SCBE), and Christopher Scott, director of the Program on Stem Cells in Society in the SCBE, express their concerns with the company's promises.

Oakland Tribune, 10/28/07
Specialized disaster team undertakes first mission
The 43-member California Medical Assistance Team was dispatched on its inaugural mission last week to San Diego County. Kent Garman, professor emeritus of anesthesia, is part of the team and is quoted here.

BizJournals.com, 10/25/07
17 seek $227M for building stem cell research facilities
Seventeen organizations have applied for the first part of major facilities grants from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Stanford is mentioned in this article.

Broadcast media coverage

KGW-TV (Portland, Ore.), 10/28/07
Stanford researchers have developed a test that is about 90 percent accurate in distinguishing the blood of people with Alzheimer's from the blood of those without the disease. Mark Britschgi, a postdoctoral fellow in neurology and neurological sciences, was interviewed for this piece, which aired on TV stations in Austin, Texas; Baltimore; Birmingham, Ala.; Charlotte, S.C.; Columbus, Ohio; Lansing, Mich.; Madison, Wis.; Memphis, Tenn.; Sioux City, Iowa; St. Louis; Topeka, Kansas; Tucson, Ariz.; Tulsa, Okla. and Vancouver (Canada).

WTMJ-TV (Milwaukee), 10/26/07
This segment mentioned a Stanford study that showed zebrafish can have a genetic mutation linked to sleep problems.