Administrators cheer passage of Proposition 71

Reacting to voter results showing passage of the $3 billion bond measure for stem cell research, two top campus administrators have issued statements praising voter support for the state proposition.

Though it is not clear how the University of California will participate in the new Institute of Regenerative Medicine to be established under the measure, Chancellor Marye Anne Fox stated that the projects funded by the bonds “will advance research at UCSD and other UC campuses.”

“At UCSD, working with colleagues at the many superb academic and research institutions around the state, we will move swiftly and responsibly to develop research programs that are worthy of this extraordinary vote of confidence,” Fox stated.

In a separate university release, Vice Chancellor of Health Sciences Edward W. Holmes called the passage “a transforming event in the lives of Californians” and said that the state “has the potential to become the epicenter of this exciting and promising new approach to understand and treat human disease.”

UCSD is well positioned to play a leadership role in the new area of research to be funded by the bond, Holmes stated.

Holmes will also serve as the vice chair of the new UC Advisory Group on the Planning for Proposition 71.

The measure, promoted with commercials featuring stars such as Parkinson’s victim Michael J. Fox and the late Christopher Reeve, passed by a nearly 20 percent margin.

UC sues energy companies for price manipulation

The University of California has accused major natural gas suppliers of artificially manipulating the retail prices of natural gas during California’s energy crisis in a new lawsuit.

Filed on Nov. 1 in Alameda County Superior Court, the university’s claim alleges that energy companies — including producers, marketers, traders, transporters, distributors and sellers of natural gas — engaged in “unfair and deceptive conduct [that] caused California gas retail prices to escalate to about six times the national average.”

Defendants in the suit include Reliant Energy and Dynegy, in addition to eight others.

The university has retained a private law firm — one that is currently pursuing similar cases for San Diego and other state counties — to file the case on its behalf.

The UC suit alleges that gas companies artificially inflated prices by reporting false sales data to publishers of industry natural gas indices, which drove up prices of the commodity.

It also claims that providers used sham transactions involving simultaneous purchase and sale of natural gas to create the illusion of high demand.

The suit comes less than a week after the university announced a $225.5 million class-action settlement stemming from the same energy crisis.

Study examines college student’s political attitudes

More than half of entering college freshman support granting marital legal status to same-sex couples and one-third support abolishing the death penalty, according to an analysis released by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.

The report is based on data gathered through polling during the last three presidential election cycles. During that time, support among freshmen for increases in military spending peaked at 45 percent in 2002, though it fell to 39 percent last year, according to the study, indicating that “concern regarding military involvement is a key issue for this population.”

For recent college graduates surveyed in follow-up studies, support for control of environmental pollution has grown to 75 percent, while 65 percent believe that abortion should remain legal and 83 percent favor federal control over the sale of handguns, according to the report.

The data is based on annual surveys administered by 1,800 higher education institutions.

Breast feeding reduces leukemia risk, studies find

Babies who are breast-fed face a lower risk of developing childhood leukemia, according to a new analysis of 14 studies by researchers at UC Berkeley.

Published in the November issue of the journal Public Health Reports, the analysis linked breast feeding to lower risks of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common form of childhood cancer.

The review of previously published data presents evidence that is “definitely pointing toward the benefits of breast feeding,” according to Berkeley postdoctoral researcher and the study’s lead author Marilyn Kwan.

The analysis is based on a series of case-controlled studies, performed around the world, that have been published between 1988 and 2003.