The UCSD campus’ stop for UCSD Medical Center Hillcrest Shuttle has been moved from parking lot P601 north of the Biomedical Library to its new location south of the Biomedical Library on Osler Lane as of Dec. 26. The change was made to accommodate construction in lot P601. For more information regarding the route, see http://parking.ucsd.edu/shuttle /shmed.html.
Sociologist finds link between stress and heart attacks
Psychological stress can lead to deadly heart attacks, according to a recent study conducted by UCSD sociologist David Phillips.
Phillips and his team used a computer program to analyze death certificates of over 200,000 Chinese-American and Japanese-American subjects, as well as 47,000,000 Caucasions all of whom died between 1973 and 1998 in the United States. Researchers looked for a relationship between the deaths of the Chinese-Americans and Japanese- Americans who died due to heart attacks on the fourth day of the month because in those cultures, the number four is associated with death, discomfort and apprehension.
The research team found a 13 percent increase in cardiac deaths occurring on the fourth day of the month for the Chinese and Japanese deceased compared to their white counterparts.
The team tested nine different controls to take into account possible nonpsychological elements that could lead to fatal heart attacks.
The research appears in the December 2001 issue of the British Medical Journal. UCSD mathematics professor Ian Abramson and UCSD students George Liu, Kennon Kwok, Jason Jarvinen and Wei Zhan contributed to the project.
California State Senate Fellows Program accepting applications
The opening of 18 Senate Fellowships that allow for recent college graduates to serve as Senate staff members at the state capital in Sacramento was announced by California State Senator Dede Alpert (D — San Diego) on Dec. 7.
Fellows work with state senators and committees with duties ranging from researching public policy issues to speechwriting.
The California State Senate and the Center for California Studies at California State University, Sacramento sponsor the program in which fellows receive a stipend, health benefits and 12 units at the graduate level.
The program, which starts in October, is open to individuals of all majors who have graduated by September 2002. Applications can be obtained by calling Alpert’s office at (619) 332-7563 or on the Web at http://www.sen.ca.gov/ftp/sen/fellows /_home.
Aguilar elected VP of California County Boards of Education
UCSD Director of Student Policies and Judicial Affairs Nick Aguilar has been elected to serve as the Vice President of the California County Boards of Education as part of his role as a board member for the San Diego County Board of Education.
Aguilar’s term lasts one year. After that in accordance to the board’s bylaws, will be in line to be president of the board.
The CCBE represents the state’s 58 different County Offices and Boards of Education at the state level in matters of legislation that relate to their schools and students.
Aside from his work at UCSD, Aguilar has served as chairman of the CCBE Marketing and Governance Standards Task Force and on the Board of Trustees of the Sweetwater Union High School District.
Researcher finds new role for chemotherapy drugs
A new role for cancer chemotherapy drugs that may limit tumor formation and metastasis by attacking cell growth was discovered in a study led by Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine Jeffery Esko of the UCSD School of Medicine.
Esko’s research found that tumor development could be inhibited in vitro as well as in lab mice by not allowing the cancer cell to to receive polyamines, which are substances essential to the cell’s growth.
DFMO, a commonly used inhibitor drug, was used to stop the polyamines from being produced. DFMO is currently being used in clinical trials by individuals who are at risk of developing certain types of cancers.
The findings appear in the Dec.18 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Scientists from Lund University in Sweden contributed to the research, along with Mark Fuster of the UCSD department of medicine and Jillian Brown of the UCSD department of cellular and molecular medicine.
Grants from the International Union Against Cancer, Swedish Cancer Fund, the Tobacco-Related Disease Program at the University of California and the National Institutes of Health provided funding for the research.
