USC in the News 10/3 to 10/5/2009

The Wall Street Journal ran an op-ed by Costas Synolakis of the USC Viterbi School on the need for governments to prepare for tsunamis in the wake of recent tsunami in Samoa. "The latest cases show that governments are doing a lot, but not yet enough. Because it's impossible to stop a tsunami once it has started, the key is to detect them early enough that people can reach safe land before they hit," Synolakis wrote. "Unfortunately, the lesson that education saves lives has apparently been lost to emergency managers world-wide, including in Samoa. Evacuation drills help, but are most effective if locals understand not to wait for official warnings once they spot the obvious tsunami precursors."

The Wall Street Journal cited research by John Matsusaka of USC's Initiative and Referendum Institute in a story refuting California lawmakers' claims that voters have caused the state's budget problems through voter-approved propositions. In 2003, Matsusaka found that no more than a third of California's appropriations that year were locked in by voter initiatives so stringent that legislators couldn't override them. Matsusaka found that only about 2 percent or 3 percent of California's budget is frozen as a result of ballot initiatives. The story stated that Matsusaka's analysis was affirmed last month by the Legislative Analyst's Office, a nonpartisan group that advises the Legislature, which found that despite the proposition restrictions, the legislature maintains considerable control over the state budget.

Los Angeles Times reported that USC Executive Vice President and Provost C.L. Max Nikias attended the announcement of a $100 million gift to turn St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica into a cutting-edge hub. The story reported that the gift will help link doctors and patients to hundreds of other hospitals, as well as researchers at USC and UCLA, so they can access medical discoveries quickly. The donor, Patrick Soon-Shiong of Abraxis BioScience Inc., is currently developing a project that will link diabetes screening clinics at Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital to specialists at USC and UCLA, the article noted.

The Huffington Post ran an op-ed by Karen Symms Gallagher, dean of the USC Rossier School, on linking teacher pay to performance. "The current pay structure found in most public school systems makes it hard to attract (and retain) teachers to low-income schools and neighborhoods and to subjects that are difficult to staff, like math and science. It doesn't recognize or incentivize stellar teaching," Gallagher wrote. "But teachers unions have long opposed using student data to evaluate teachers."

USA Today highlighted the USC School of Social Work's military social work program in an article on universities training students in how to treat combat veterans and their families suffering from war-related mental health problems. USC's program includes interaction with holographic images of troops in distress, the story stated. "I think across the nation, a lot of schools of social work have concluded that we need to do something," said Jose Coll of the School of Social Work, who heads of the program.

USA Today cited a study by USC, the University of Wisconsin, Mount Sinai and Wayne State University, conducted with the National Hockey League. The team is studying the long-term effects of concussion on retired hockey players, the story noted.

U.S. News & World Report quoted Bob McCann of the USC Marshall School about age bias against older workers who are job hunting. Companies may believe that older workers will give them fewer years of work and may be less inclined to invest in their training, but research suggests that an older worker often stays with a company longer than a younger one, McCann said. The idea that an older worker may not be as capable physically of performing a job is mostly irrelevant, given that the majority of American jobs aren't physical in nature, he added.

La Opinion featured the event "Voices for Justice: 200 Years of Latino Newspapers," part of Visions and Voices: The USC Arts & Humanities Initiative. Organized by the USC Annenberg School, the event included a panel on the influence of Latino media in the United States; an accompanying exhibition of news clippings and photographs runs through the end of October. The bicentennial of the creation of the Latino newspaper provides an opportunity to dig into the forgotten pages of journalism, said Felix Guiterriez of the Annenberg School.

Los Angeles Times highlighted a conference at the USC Annenberg School, "A National Summit on Arts Journalism," which was held for an invited audience of roughly 200 people and streamed live on the Internet. The event was co-organized by Sasha Anawalt of the Annenberg School, the story noted.

CNN interviewed Mike Chinoy of the USC Annenberg School on whether Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao can persuade North Korea to return to the six-party talks on its nuclear weapons program. Chinoy, author of the book "Meltdown: The Inside Story of the North Korean Nuclear Crisis," said that North Korea's internal problems are compounded by its diplomatic and economic isolation. But the situation has changed, he explained. "The North Koreans are in an engagement mode. They sorted out their internal circumstances, Kim is basically recovered from health problems and is very much in charge, and I think the North is seeking to reach out diplomatically across the board, including the Chinese."

Financial Times (U.K.) quoted Norman Kachuck of the Keck School of USC about the new drug designed to improve walking ability in multiple sclerosis patients. There are an overwhelming number of patients who have symptoms that could be remediated with this medication, but it will take a receptive neurologist and an efficient patient relationship to determine who is responding well to the drug, Kachuck said.

Associated Press quoted David Carter of the USC Marshall School on whether hosting the Olympics actually pays off economically. "It's an enormous undertaking," Carter said. "Even when these cities are thoroughly prepared and have a compelling bid, the logistics of pulling it off and working with local, regional and international governments is no easy task."

Reuters quoted David Carter of the USC Marshall School about the possibility that the National Hockey League will buy the bankrupt Phoenix Coyotes team. The NHL wouldn't be expected to retain ownership of the team for more than a year or two, but that could be enough time to find an owner willing to keep it in Arizona, the story stated. "One year is a very long time. So much could happen in the course of next year," Carter said.

Mediaweek featured an NBC Universal study supported by the USC Annenberg School's Center on Communication Leadership and Policy and several other institutions. The research, currently underway, is examining how changing female roles in society are affecting women's consumer behavior.

Jewish Journal ran an op-ed by Gina Nahai of the USC College, about the heavy media coverage of a few Los Angeles Iranian Jews known for their conspicuous consumption, contrasted with the scant attention received by an Iranian Jew who rescued a stranger from a burning car. "I realize I may never eat lunch in the L.A. Jewish community ever again after writing this, but, folks (to channel Joe Biden), is this what people in other parts of the world fight and die for every day?" Nahai wrote. "Can you imagine how future generations would judge us if they found transcripts of what we read and think and watch and talk about on a daily basis in this town?"

Khaleej Times (United Arab Emirates) mentioned USC in an article on how Muslim women are making an impact on their cultures. The story highlighted the Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts, created in collaboration with the USC School of Cinematic Arts. The article stated that Jordan's Princess Rym Ali and Prince Ali bin Al Hussein are supporters of the school, which is "bringing together bright young people from all over the Middle East to learn contemporary filmmaking, apprentice with international film productions, and get the region's stories out."

Al Jazeera (Qatar) quoted Muhammad Sahimi of the USC Viterbi School in an article on Iran's ability to design and product a workable atom bomb, which was discovered through a confidential International Atomic Energy Agency report. "The confidential report of the IAEA is mostly based on the document that was supposedly on a laptop supposedly stolen from Iran in 2004. But the authenticity of those documents has never been established, and it is in dispute whether those documents are authentic," Sahimi said. "But assuming that the documents are authentic, there is still a wide gap between having the knowledge or information and actually putting that knowledge into practice."

Chicago Tribune reported that Colette Sartor of the USC Gould School is a finalist for the Nelson Agran Award for short stories. Sartor wrote "Beach Haven," in which a budding real estate mogul who doesn't know how to lose is faced with a newborn son and a dying mother who is determined to change her. Sartor's work has appeared or is upcoming in the Prairie Schooner, the Colorado Review, the Harvard Review and the anthology "Naming the World: And Other Exercises for the Creative Writer."

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel quoted Uri Elkayam of the Keck School of USC about new treatment that is allowing some women with a potentially fatal lung disorder to deliver babies. The risk to mothers is unacceptably high, even if the mortality rate is reduced to 10 percent, Elkayam said. "If you continue the pregnancy and deliver, you can die." The story stated that Elkayam has successfully used the protocol with a few patients.

The Star-Ledger mentioned USC football player Stafon Johnson, who was injured in a weightlifting accident last week, in a story on weight room safety.

The San Diego Union Tribune quoted Dan Schnur of the USC College about Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, who has said that she would suspend California's landmark initiative against global warming, which she said puts California at an economic disadvantage. Whitman's move could help bolster her credentials among conservatives who are reliable primary voters, Schnur said. "If the party is suspicious of you on social issues, you need to double down on the economy," he explained. The Mercury News quoted Schnur about Whitman's 10-year tenure as CEO of eBay. "For voters to buy her argument, they're going to have to believe that her record in the private sector was exemplary," he said.

HealthDay News cited an article written by Nerses Sanossian of the Keck School of USC and a UCLA colleague. Routine stroke interventions are underused in the very elderly, even though such interventions could be very effective in this age group, they wrote. "With the rapidly growing population of individuals above 80 years, future stroke trials need to include the very elderly to facilitate ready generalizability of results and to convince skeptical clinicians that all patients with stroke should benefit from prompt evidence-based treatment, regardless of age," they explained.

KPCC-FM interviewed Karen Sternheimer of the USC College and Thomas Lyon of the USC Gould School about Roman Polanski's recent arrest in conjunction with a 1977 statutory rape conviction. The victim expressed a desire to let the case drop, the story reported. "As a practical matter, if the victim won't cooperate ... it's unlikely for the D.A. to proceed," Lyon said. "The difficulty of course is that there are all sorts of reasons why victims won't cooperate that aren't really in the interests of the state to acknowledge." Sternheimer addressed the subject of Polanski's celebrity: "The first thing we say when we describe Roman Polanski still is 'Oscar-winning filmmaker," and for most people who abuse children, the first thing we say is 'child molester' or 'accused child molester.'"

Los Angeles Times highlighted the USC football team in a story on how the U.S. military is studying brain injuries among its troops overseas by learning from sports teams. The story described how Russ Romano, USC director of sports medicine and head athletic trainer, identifies symptoms of a concussion among football players.

Los Angeles Times mentioned that USC members of the California Public Interest Research Group attended a press conference at which Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state and local officials announced California's application for $4.7 billion in federal money to fund a high-speed rail line.

The Saratogian quoted Todd Boyd of the USC School of Cinematic Arts about Roman Polanski's recent arrest in Switzerland and the support the filmmaker has gotten from some in Hollywood. According to Boyd, the support from the Hollywood elite is a case of colleagues closing ranks. "This is people attempting to protect their own," he said.

Ivanhoe Newswire featured a study by Heinz-Josef Lenz of the Keck School of USC which suggests that estrogen or other hormones could help young women with colorectal cancer live longer than men with the disease. "We've known for a while that estrogen prevents colorectal cancer, but this is the first study to suggest it may improve outcomes once you have colorectal cancer," Lenz said.

Daily Breeze quoted Glenn Melnick of the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development about the difficulty of understanding and reforming the U.S. health care system. "It's like a bowl of spaghetti, you pull one piece of it, you may be pulling only one strand, but because it curves through the system touching so many other pieces, nothing stays still," Melnick said. Consumer-driven health care could work to drive down costs, if American health-care literacy were to improve dramatically, he added. People should apply consumer skills to health care, as they do with housing, schools and groceries, Melnick said.

The Signal reported that the USC Davis School assisted the Handyworker Program at the Santa Clarita Valley Senior Center, which helps improve the homes of the elderly or disabled so they can be more independent.

The Signal quoted James Moore of the USC Viterbi School in a story about Metrolink. The transit system began service in 1991 as an effort to uncork bottleneck traffic on Southern California roadways, though the history of the transit system dates back to the early 1980s, Moore said. Metrolink used a patchwork of existing freight lines instead of building a dedicated commuter rail system like those in New York and San Francisco, which would have been prohibitively expensive, he explained. "It would be hard to name any other place in the world that has more intensive use of freight line than Los Angeles," Moore said.