Extracts
RESEARCH in the news
U.S. News and World Report quoted UF economics professor, Stanley Smith, in an article about the 10 U.S. cities with the oldest average populations. Five of the cities were in Florida.
The article reported that some cities’ mean ages rise because young people move away, but that isn’t the case in Florida. Florida’s average age is higher because many people move there to retire. Smith cited Florida’s low taxes as a draw for retirees. The article said that older people tend to flock to cities with an abundance of retirement communities, pleasant weather and amenities that appeal to seniors.
The New York Times reported the results of a study by Stephen Grobmyer, director of the UF Breast Center that showed surgical breast biopsies were being used too extensively.
Needle biopsies are safer, less invasive and cheaper than surgical biopsies, according to the article, but doctors are opting for surgical biopsies at three times the rate current medical guidelines would suggest.
The article reported that Grobmyer and his colleagues started the research because they kept seeing patients referred from other hospitals who had undergone surgical biopsies when a needle biopsy should have been used.
The article suggested that doctors are choosing surgery over needle biopsies because they do not want to refer their patient to a radiologist and lose the biopsy fee.
Zhong-Ren Peng, chairman of UF’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning, was quoted in a National Geographic News article about the 2011 winner of the Sustainable Transport Award.
Peng is an expert in transportation planning in China. In the article he said that the city of Guangzhou did a lot of work upgrading its infrastructure when it was preparing to host the Asian Games November 2010.
Guangzhou received the award in recognition of its state-of-the-art bus system, which ties in with the city rail network, and an abundance of tree-lined bike paths that make the city greener and more accessible for citizens at every income level.
Scott Tomar, UF professor of dentistry, was quoted in a Wall Street Journal article that announced the federal government was lowering its recommended limit for the amount of fluoride to be added to U.S. water supplies.
A five-year study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that many kids between the ages of 8 and 12 were showing signs of dental fluorosis, a condition caused by an excess of fluoride in the diets of children under the age of 8.
The condition is not harmful, but it causes spotting and streaking on the teeth because fluoride causes the tooth enamel to become more opaque and dense. Tomar said that extra fluoride doesn’t affect adult teeth because their enamel is already formed.
An article in the London Telegraph tells the true story that inspired the Warner Brothers film, “Dolphin Tale.”
The film’s star, a dolphin named Winter, was brought as a baby to an aquarium in Clearwater, Florida to be rehabilitated after an accident severed her tail from her body. While there, she was treated by a caring staff and was eventually fitted with a prosthetic tail that enabled her to learn how to swim.
The article mentions Mike Walsh, associate director of aquatic animal health at the UF College of Veterinary Medicine, who treated the young dolphin in 2005 when she was brought to the aquarium.
In the film, Harry Connick Jr. plays a character loosely based on Walsh.