STUDY SHOWS POSITIVE RESULTS FROM VITAMIN D FOR MS
A small study conducted by researchers at Penn State and Helen Hayes Hospital in New York City has shown that a daily dose of vitamin D causes changes in blood chemistry that indicate positive effects for multiple sclerosis patients. Dr. Margherita Cantorna, assistant professor of nutrition, says the study has not been in progress long enough to observe changes in the clinical symptoms of the disease in the patients who participated. However, blood samples drawn after just 6 months of Vitamin D supplementation, show an increase in transforming growth factor beta-1 (TGF-Beta). This is associated with the remission and suppression of the immune response, which produces symptoms in MS patients. In addition, the researchers found a decrease in interleuken-2, which is associated with the cells that induce MS. For more on this study by Barbara Hale, go to http://www.psu.edu/ur/2001/msandvitamind.html
HEALTHY MARRIAGE IS TOPIC OF SPANIER SHOW, APRIL 11
The ingredients of a healthy marriage will be the topic of the next edition of "To the Best of My Knowledge," Penn State President Graham Spanier's monthly call-in show airing at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 11 on WPSU-FM (91.5, 106.7, 95.1, 90.1, 100.9 and 104.7) and simultaneously on WPSX-TV. Joining Dr. Spanier to discuss what keeps marriages strong will be Pepper Schwartz, Professor of Sociology at the University of Washington in Seattle. Dr. Schwartz is the author of 14 books, including American Couples, Love Between Equals: How Peer Marriage Really Works, and Everything You Know About Love and Sex is Wrong. Listeners and viewers with questions or comments are encouraged to join the discussion by calling 1-800-543-8242 during the one-hour simulcast. Internet users worldwide can contact the President during the program via e-mail to mailto:response@psu.edu and link to sound and pictures at http://www.psu.edu/ur/tech/tech.html.
DISPATCH: JOHNSON SPACE CENTER: ASTRONAUT-FOR-A-DAY
Note: This article, written by Katie O'Toole, writer and co-host of What's In The News, a WPSX public television show, is the fifth of a series of installments about eight undergraduate engineering students working on an experiment to test modifications to exercise equipment used in space. O'Toole traveled to the Johnson Space Center with the students to test their project aboard NASA's KC-135 project, nationally known as the Vomit Comet." This installment covers last Thursday's flight. For photos of the Flyin' Lion's trip, go to http://wpsx.psu.edu/flyin.html.
Johnson Space Center March 29 Penn State Flyin' Lion Bill Marshall awoke this morning from one dream to begin living another. Like the shuttle astronauts he idolizes, Marshall got a wake-up call from the president. President Graham Spanier called the senior mechanical engineering major to wish him well on today's flight of the KC-135. For Marshall and his Flyin' Lions teammate Ben Weber, the president's greeting set the tone for their Astronaut-For-A-Day experience. For the complete dispatch and links to previous installments, go to http://www.psu.edu/ur/2001/astronaut_for_a_day.html
STREAMING VIDEO MAKES PHYSICS A 24-HOUR RESOURCE
Thanks to a high-tech approach, some professors at Penn State have made one physics class much more than the same-old science. In fact, with the use of streaming video technology, the class known as "Physics 211, General Physics: Mechanics" has become a round-the-clock resource for students. By combining streaming video and a split-screen presentation, students may watch class lectures on the Web. With the split screen, they see the lecturer on one side of their computer screen and slides from the presentation that accompany the lecture on the other side. Lectures are not presented as they happen, though. Compressing video of the lecture into a streaming video format requires about two days. http://www.science.psu.edu/alert/Sokol3-2001-2.htm
STEWART TO DISCUSS MLK, JR. AND THE NEW WORLD ORDER
James B. Stewart, Penn State professor of labor studies and industrial relations, will discuss Martin Luther King, Jr. and the New World Order at the University's 17th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Lecture. The lecture is at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 4, in the Heritage Hall of the HUB-Robeson Center on the University Park campus, and is sponsored by the Center for Ethics and Religious Affairs at Penn State. Stewart will use the opportunity to relate concerns that Dr. King expressed about the economy and global events near the end of his life to current events in a much more globalized economy. He will also make observations about what has happened since the 1960s to some of the cities that hosted important visits by Dr. King. For more information about the sponsor, visit http://www.sa.psu.edu/cera/.
REMINDER: BERTICE BERRY IS FORUM SPEAKER APRIL 11
Bertice Berry, comedienne, talk show host and scholar, will give a talk on "Finding your Purpose" on Wednesday, April 11, in the Ballroom at the Nittany Lion Inn. Berry is best known as host of her nationally syndicated talk show, "The Bertrice Berry Show," and, most recently, as the of host of USA LIVE, a four hour live interview and entertainment show on the U.S.A. Cable Network. The Penn State Forum is a lunchtime speaker series offered by the Faculty Staff Club and is sponsored in part by the Penn State Bookstore. It is open to the public. For ticket information call (814) 865-7590. For more on this story, go to http://www.psu.edu/ur/2001/berryforum.html
CIVIL WAR ERA POLITICS EXPERT TO GIVE BROSE LECTURE
A leading authority on 19th-century American politics, Dr. Michael F. Holt, the Langbourne M. Williams Professor of American History and chair of the Corcoran Department of History at the University of Virginia, will speak on "Rethinking the Political History of the Civil War Era" as part of the Steven and Janice Brose Distinguished Lecture Series in the Era of the Civil War on Wednesday, April 11, in 121 Sparks Building, Penn State's University Park campus at 5:30 p.m. The lecture is free and open to the public. Holt will discuss the place and impact of the Civil War era, approximately 1854-1877, on the course of American political development in the 19th century. For more information, go to: http://www3.la.psu.edu/histrlst/inst/welcome.html
THE THREE MUSKETEERS A SWASHBUCKLING BALLET
The adventures of swordsmen Porthos, Athos, Aramis and D'Artagnan leap from the pages of literature when the Royal Ballet of Flanders performs The Three Musketeers at 8 p.m. Saturday, April 7, in Eisenhower Auditorium on Penn State's University Park campus. The swashbuckling ballet is presented by the Center for the Performing Arts. Based on the classic novel by Alexandre Dumas, the ballet is set in France and England in 1625. Choreographer André Prokovsky's adaptation, performed to the music of Giuseppe Verdi, brims with the novel's romance and drama. Acknowledging that a 19th-century melodrama should not be taken too seriously, though, Prokovsky has generously laced the ballet with humor. For more, go to http://www.cpa.psu.edu
LINGIS TO SPEAK AT U.N. CONFERENCE IN LITHUANIA IN APRIL
Alphonso Lingis, professor of philosophy, has been invited to be a keynote speaker at the United Nation's International Conference, Dialogue among Civilizations, April 23-26 in Vilnius Lithuania. The conference is co-chaired by H.E. Valdas Adamkus, president of the Republic of Lituania and Kiochiro Matsuura, director general of UNESCO. Conference workshop presenters include heads of states, renowned scholars in comparative civilizations, and prominent artists who will all discuss ways to build mutual understanding among civilizations. For information on the U.N. Year of Dialogue among Civilizations, go to http://www.unesco.org/dialogue2001/. For more on this story, go to http://www.psu.edu/ur/2001/lingis_at_UN.html
ANNUAL AAUW USED BOOK SALE
The American Association of University Women will hold its 40th annual Used Book Sale April 13-16 at the Ag Arena on the University Park campus. Hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Sunday is half-price day and Monday is Bag Day.
The event features more than 250,000 used books, paperbacks, CDs, tapes, maps, magazines and sheet music. Proceeds benefit fellowships and educational projects. Admission is free