Lyme disease is spreading rapidly across the state, and so are confusion and controversy over what to do about it.
Quoted: UW-Madison entomologist and tick expert Susan Paskewitz
American Girl is trying to ignite the philanthropic spark in girls with a new campaign to donate $1 million worth of cash and goods to four nonprofit groups.
At the same time, the Middleton company is promoting sales of the custom-designed version of its dolls — with updated and enhanced features — and driving repeat visits to its website, chock-full of games, activities, and an array of products to buy.
“It’s kind of creative, actually,” said Joann Peck, associate professor of marketing with the UW-Madison School of Business.
A persistent, passionate and growing group of local activists took another step toward scoring a major victory that could shine some unwelcome light on the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
On Tuesday night, the County Health and Human Needs Committee voted 5-2 to pass a resolution which asks the chair of the Dane County Board to appoint a citizens advisory panel to examine whether or not experimenting on monkeys is humane and ethical. The resolution moves on to the Executive Committee at a yet-to-be-determined date, with the possibility that the full board will vote on it at some point during the summer.
Quoted: Eric Sandgren associate professor, School of Veterinary Medicine
Quoted: “I think part of the issue here is the Obama administration wants to start getting a message out that in fact their policies have been relatively successful and while we still have a long ways to go, we are actually making progress,” said University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist Charles Franklin.
Phil Moy has been monitoring the Asian carp situation for years. The fisheries and invasive species specialist with the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute isnâ??t happy. As he puts it â??theyâ??re nudging their slimy little noses against the shores of Lake Michigan.â?
Advocates who are pushing for more changes say the law taking effect Thursday is a good first step but doesnâ??t go far enough. “People need to believe that they could get caught,” Nina Emerson, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madisonâ??s Resource Center on Impaired Driving, said Monday. “Right now the perception is there is a very low possibility of apprehension.”
The death of Robert Byrd wonâ??t immediately affect the balance of power in the U.S. Senate, but his home stateâ??s political landscape has changed in the more than fifty years Byrd represented West Virginia in Washington, D.C. University of Wisconsin political scientist Charles Franklin says the 92 year-old Byrd entered national politics from the conservative southern wing of the Democratic party â?? including an association and a vote he later came to regret.
Quoted: “With (Dave) Obey in the race, he basically had no chance,” said Kenneth Mayer, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, of Wisconsin Republican congressional candidate Sean Duffy. Now, he added, Duffy “is running in a middle-of-the road Democratic district, but he has a shot.”
A column by Howard Schweber, UW-Madison professor of political science and law, analyzes whether Pakistan is a failed state, or on its way out of the morass in which it presently finds itself.
A Wisconsin historian says comments made by General Stanley McChrystalâ??s staff made his firing by President Barack Obama inevitable. John Hall, Ambrose-Hesseltine Assistant Professor of U.S. Military History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said weâ??ve been at this point before when President Harry Truman relieved General Douglas MacArthur of command in Korea in a similar situation.
Quoted: Nina Emerson, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madisonâ??s Resource Center on Impaired Driving, said drunken driving carries a certain degree of social acceptance in the Badger State.
The intensity of tornadoes is assessed only after the storm has passed by examining the damage the tornado has done, say Steven Ackerman and Jonathan Martin.
With its overgrown lawn and deteriorating roof, the white, wood-sided house in the shadow of Madison Kipp Corp. on Madisonâ??s East Side looks like any other dilapidated property ripe for a visit from city building inspectors. But peek around the front porch to the backyard and you realize this is not your typical eyesore. The house itself, according to the few who have been inside, is full of drawings, paintings and sculpture of unknown value. Amateur artist Sid Boyumâ??s home at 237 Waubesa St. has been largely unlived in since Boyum died 1991 and his son Steve took ownership. Now Steve has died and the future of the property â?? which local art experts say is a valuable example of â??outsiderâ? art â?? is uncertain. â??It would be just the worst shame if we lost this in Madison,â? said Teri Marche, an associate professor of art education at UW-Madison who teaches a class that includes a visit to Boyumâ??s home. â??We lose this art and itâ??s part of our culture. Itâ??s part of our place. And itâ??s definitely part of a quirkiness that is Wisconsin.â?
During the day, flowering plants proudly display their colorful blossoms to the world. At dusk, some of them demurely close their petals for the night, only to open them again the next morning. Why do they bother closing? According to Richard Vierstra, a professor of genetics at UW-Madison, it probably has to do with enhancing their chance of reproductive success.
Quoted: The Department of Agricultureâ??s proposed rule would mark a dramatic shift. Most importantly, argues Peter Carstensen of the University of Wisconsin, it would be much easier for small producers to sue under the 1921 Packer and Stockyards Act.
A UW researcher says what young women donâ??t know about Sexually Transmitted Diseases may hurt them. Doctor Heather Royer, a UW Madison School of Nursing researcher, said itâ??s clear many have significant misconceptions about Sexually Transmitted Diseases, and STD testing. For example, regarding condom use.
An Asian Carp has been found just six miles from Lake Michigan, the first above a barrier designed to keep the invasive fish out. DNA of the Carp had been found months ago in the lake, a reason Phil Moy, UW-Sea Grant Institute Fisheries Specialist, was not surprised at this weekâ??s discovery.
A Wisconsin historian says comments made by General Stanley McChrystalâ??s staff made his firing by President Barack Obama inevitable. John Hall, Ambrose-Hesseltine Assistant Professor of U.S. Military History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said weâ??ve been at this point before.
Quoted: With concern coming from the federal government and the health community, media outlets had little choice but to address H1N1, said Sharon Dunwoody, a science journalism professor for the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: Well before gay characters began popping up in the mainstream on TV and at the movies, librarians embraced “Iâ??ll Get There,” said Kathleen T. Horning, director of the Cooperative Childrenâ??s Book Center of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Another important forerunner was Nancy Gardenâ??s 1982 “Annie on My Mind” and its unabashedly happy ending for two 17-year-old girls who fall in love.
Quoted: “I think itâ??s basically impossible to say with certainty whatâ??s going to happen to property taxes,” said Andrew Reschovsky, a University of Wisconsin-Madison economist who has studied school aid for years.
Business, education and community leaders are planning a series of summits to develop recommendations on how to boost Wisconsinâ??s economy and create more jobs. The summits revive a process that took place from 2000 to 2003, where state business, labor, education and government officials met and talked about boosting the economy. Today, there are still questions about the best ways to do that, said Michael Knetter, Albert Nicholas dean of the Wisconsin School of Business at UW-Madison.
Most of you would agree that todayâ??s culture is rife with information overload and relentless distractions, but what, if anything, should that mean for the news business?
Last year, the terrible overall economy combined with a changing business model to produce a deep newspaper industry slump. In 2010, the industry has regained its footing and is eagerly telling its story. Yet for journalists, the print and broadcast trend away from calm objectivity toward an emotional, black-or-white style is unmistakable and provocative.
Quoted: UW-Madison journalism professor James Baughman
Quoted: Humans also have a fascination with the divide between their species and animals, and Bigfoot bridges that gap, said John Hawks, anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Quoted: Dr. Michael A. Stier, a forensic pathologist with the University of Wisconsin Madison who conducted the autopsy, testified Monday that VanderVenter died “as the result of numerous blunt force traumatic injuries” to his chest, abdomen and head.
Quoted: What others think varies considerably. â??Suk and Tamargo appear to have done their homework well,â? said Gail L. Geiger, a professor of art history at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. â??I find the core of their piece quite convincing.â?
Counting the number of days that the temperature reached 90 degrees is one reasonable way to gauge the heat of a summer season. It turns out that this number is extremely variable here in Madison, say Steven A. Ackerman and Jonathan Martin, professors in the UW-Madison department of atmospheric and oceanic sciences.
The elaborate, enclosed structures that businesses have constructed for smokers, described and shown in Sundayâ??s State Journal, are not in keeping with the intent of the Wisconsin Statewide Smoke Free Air Law, writes Dr. Theresa Guilbert, pediatric pulmonologist, American Family Childrenâ??s Hospital, UW-Madison.
The nature of emergency room medicine frequently results in more testing than treatment in a less hurried medical setting, according to members of a Madison physiciansâ?? group that specializes in emergency care.
Quoted: Dr. Shawn O’Brien, clinical assistant professor, School of Medicine and Public Health
Moments after Julie Osborn gives birth to her second child this summer, the baby will be whisked to a reverse isolation chamber, a hospital room designed to block the entry of germs.The concept is familiar to Osborn and her husband, Clark. Their first child, Josh, now 11, just spent 80 days sealed in a hospital room as part of his treatment for the same immune system disorder, commonly known as “bubble boy disease.” Since Jan. 1, 2008, all newborns in Wisconsin have been tested for severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID). Of the estimated 180,000 infants screened so far, one has had the disorder, said Charles Brokopp, director of the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene at UW-Madison.
The major concern with the electromagnetic radiation from cell phones is brain cancer, but most studies find “nothing definitive,” says Bruce Thomadsen, a professor of medical physics and human oncology at UW-Madison.
Quoted: It appeared that Washington and Beijing had at least an implicit agreement earlier this year that China would allow the yuan to rise more rapidly, said Menzie Chinn, a China policy scholar who teaches economics at the University of Wisconsin.
Quoted: “Real life is pretty high-res,” says David J. Gagnon, a faculty consultant and instructional designer at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Augmented-reality games, he says, are a way to help people “get out and see that.”
Quoted: Peter Carstensen, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin who has studied agriculture competition law for decades stated that perhaps the most significant provision in the new rules is one that makes it easier for farmers to file suits under the Packers and Stockyards Act.
Noted: But in interviews, two doctors who provided Zimmer with supportive data in 2008 said the hip started failing soon afterward in their patients, too. One, Dr. Richard Illgen of the University of Wisconsin, said he now realizes that Dr. Dorrâ??s technique was not the issue, but that Dr. Dorr had just started using the Zimmer hip before other surgeons. Zimmer still defends the product, which is known as the Durom hip.
Quoted: Given his performance at Home Depot and later Chrysler, which Cerberus had declared bankrupt and then sold to Italian automaker Fiat, Nardelli likely will bring change to Wisconsin Rapidsâ?? largest employer, said Mason Carpenter, a business strategy professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: Kurt Squire of the University of Wisconsin-Madison agrees.â??Students have a difficult time inferring whatâ??s happening in game play and connecting that to broader ideas that you might be discussing in class or that the teacher has presented,â? says Squire, an assistant professor in the educational communications and technology division of curriculum and instruction.
Quoted: Dr. Christopher Olsen, a swine flu expert from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said he found it striking that of 32 H1 viruses isolated from pigs from June 2009 to February 2010, 10 were pandemic viruses.
If you call Betty Merten an athlete, sheâ??ll laugh.
â??Athletes are supposed to be tall and buff,â? she says. â??Iâ??m short and plump and I use a seat to get around.â? But last Sunday Merten rolled across the finish line of the Capital View Triathlon in 3 hours and 30 minutes â?? an impressive feat given that only two years ago she had a tough time transferring from her wheelchair to the exam table.
Quoted: UW-Madison professor of kinesiology Tim Gattenby and Kara Mathys, a UW-Madison undergraduate
Chopping down the rain forest can harm animals such as toucans, golden lion tamarind monkeys and poison dart frogs. Now, add another species to the list – humans. Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon can lead to malaria epidemics years later, according to a new study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The work “points out how tropical forest conservation can be important for human health,” said UW-Madison epidemiologist Sarah Olson, lead author of the study.
A light wind threatened to disrupt all the information on the World Cup and South Africa that Raymond Kessel placed neatly on a table on a sidewalk on Monroe Street Friday morning.It was part of a World Cup party thrown by Kessel and his wife, Leah, just outside Calabash Gifts, an African arts store on Monroe Street that they own. The Kessels, both natives of South Africa, were hoping to draw plenty of children who could watch Mexico play South Africa in the World Cupâ??s opening match on television. â??Itâ??s unfortunate that itâ??s the last day of school because the whole thing was geared around having lots of kids, so that kids could watch without having to go to a sports bar and still have a festivity,â? said Raymond Kessel, who is a retiring professor of genetics at UW-Madison. Although the tournament is a boost for South Africa, itâ??s doubtful that the entire African continent will see a similar boost, says Michael Schatzberg, a political science professor at UW-Madison who is an expert on African politics and has researched the politics, economics and culture of soccer in Africa. â??What we know about other such mega-events â?? World Cups, Olympic Games â?? is that by and large the host country usually ends up in the red. Somehow the promise of economic benefits never materializes one way or another.”
Weâ??ve heard a lot of talk about the staggering racial disparities in the stateâ??s criminal justice system in recent years. Wisconsin has routinely ranked at or near the top of states for the rate at which it locks up blacks compared with whites. And Dane Countyâ??s progressive reputation has been tarnished by the rate at which it sends black offenders to prison – nearly half of black men between the ages of 25 and 29 residing in the county are either incarcerated or under court-ordered supervision.
According to a study by Pam Oliver, a UW sociology professor, black men in Dane County are 21 times more likely to be incarcerated than white men. And according to a Justice Policy Institute report in 2007, black men in Dane County were 97 times more likely to be incarcerated for drug crimes, the second-highest rate in the nation.
Cellular Dynamics International and Promega Corp. have entered into a research collaboration to develop toxicity tests for drug developers that use stem-cell derived heart cells. The companies, both based in Madison, said the collaboration has potential to provide pharmaceutical company researchers with more predictive data, driving the development of safer and more effective drugs. Cellular Dynamics was founded by stem cell pioneer James Thomson and several other UW-Madison researchers
Legally, itâ??s a step the PSC may be hesitant to take, said Barry Orton, a telecommunications professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison. “But it is an argument that is absolutely important to make. The PSC canâ??t just dismiss this out of hand,” Orton said.
Thereâ??s a good way to figure out when a drug company plans to introduce a new product. When pharmaceutical company scientists show up at medical meetings to give talks about diseases that most people never have heard of – disorders such as female sexual dysfunction or cardio metabolic syndrome – it is likely that a new drug is coming, said James Stein, a cardiologist at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. But such talks, which Stein and others say can be used to create a buzz for new drugs, may be coming to an end.
Two prominent Dane County biotechnology companies are collaborating on a research project whose goal is to improve and speed up the drug discovery process. Human heart stem cells derived from adult tissue by Cellular Dynamics International, Madison, were combined with the testing technology platform developed by Promega Corp., Fitchburg. Cellular Dynamics was started in 2004 by UW-Madison stem cell pioneer James Thomson.
Mentioned: Marcia Carlson, associate professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
In the last year in Wisconsin, conservative candidates who once would have been fringe figures have capitalized of the national voter dissatisfaction. “Conservatives have really revitalized the Republican Party,” said pollster.com co-developer Charles Franklin, a University of Wisconsin political science professor.
Quoted: But in the last year in Wisconsin, conservative candidates who once would have been fringe figures have capitalized of the national voter dissatisfaction. “Conservatives have really revitalized the Republican Party,” said pollster.com co-developer Charles Franklin, a University of Wisconsin political science professor.
Quoted: Karl Malcolm, a graduate research assistant at the UW Department of Wildlife Ecology, says 10 or 15 years ago, even bears in central Wisconsin were a rarity. Now, theyâ??re old hat. And he says fast forward to southern Wisconsin: they may be old hat before we know it (or already are!).
The more time non-resident fathers spend with their kids, the better the relationship between the parents, finds a study co-authored by Marcia Carlson, associate professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It was presented to the Population Association of America in April.
Normally, the Public Service Commission does not dictate where telephone companies must provide broadband. Should the agency order TDS to provide the service to the complaining residents, it could set a precedent for other rural communities. Legally, itâ??s a step the PSC may be hesitant to take, said Barry Orton, a telecommunications professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Reducing community stigma may help reduce transmission, said Geoffrey Swain, medical director at the Milwaukee Health Department and an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
University of Wisconsin-Madison economist Andy Reschovsky said most of the basic assumptions used in the report were reasonable. The big question, he said, is whether the incentives were always needed. “Itâ??s very difficult, if not impossible, to provide definitive answers,” Reschovsky said.
A team of University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists recently surveyed Doctors Park in Bayside for the presence of deer ticks and found evidence suggesting that ticks were not just present in the county, but were living and reproducing there, too.”As far as I know, this is the first demonstration of an established population in Milwaukee County, although ticks have been getting closer and closer,” said Susan Paskewitz, a UW professor of entomology who led the survey.
Dane County homeowners feeling overwhelmed by their mortgages can get expert advice and practical tools to help them manage their finances at a two-day, free workshop later this month in Madison. Since February, local homeowners in mortgage distress also have had the option of a new foreclosure mediation program offered through the courts and UW-Madisonâ??s Law School and supported by the task force. See what I wrote about this program in January here.
Quoted: Kenneth Mayer, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said Obey would be more effective in simply raising new donations for Lassa.
Quoted: University of Wisconsin-Madison economist Andy Reschovsky said most of the basic assumptions used in the report were reasonable. The big question, he said, is whether the incentives were always needed.
Quoted: Reducing community stigma may help reduce transmission, said Geoffrey Swain, medical director at the Milwaukee Health Department and an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
Noted: In a study that appeared in the American Journal of Primatology, Sofia Refetoff Zahed and her colleagues at the University of Wisconsin compared the responses of experienced fathers and inexperienced males when confronted with the sound of a fussy infant monkey coming from a distant cage.
