The Johns Hopkins Gazette: May 22, 2000
May 22, 2000
VOL. 29, NO. 37

  

In Brief

Johns Hopkins Gazette Online Edition

Meeting planned for Johns Hopkins Greening Initiative

An open planning meeting concerning the Greening of Johns Hopkins University Initiative is scheduled for May 30 in the Sherwood Room of Homewood's Levering Union.

The goal of the initiative is to coordinate and enhance the institution's environmentally friendly practices including recycling, energy efficiency efforts, reduction of fossil fuel consumption and open space preservation. An ad hoc committee comprised of faculty, staff and students is overseeing the initiative's preliminary phase.

The meeting, to take place from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., will involve setting priorities, inventorying current practices, planning a fall conference and forming campus green teams.

Future meetings will be held at non-Homewood sites. Those wishing to attend should contact Polly Walker at clf@jhsph.edu.


'The Gazette' will begin biweekly schedule for summer

This is the last weekly edition of The Gazette for the 1999- 2000 academic year. Beginning June 5, the paper will be published biweekly until Aug. 28, when it will resume a weekly schedule for the fall semester.

Calendar listings and classified submissions must be received by noon on Monday one week prior to publication. However, because the university will be closed on May 29 for the Memorial Day holiday, the deadline for the June 5 issue will be at noon on Friday, May 26.


Three students awarded prizes for effective websites

The Sheridan Libraries Friends and Community of Science, co-sponsors of the Johns Hopkins University Student Web Site Contest, have awarded three prizes in this year's contest. Now in its third year, the competition recognizes sites that demonstrate the power of the Web as an interactive medium for communicating information that has intellectual value.

Senior Steve Tsai won a first-prize cash award of $1,500 for Osteoporosis: Web Resources, which provides a wealth of information on the disease. Tying for second place and sharing the prize of $1,000 were junior Adrian C. Russo for The College Experience, a guide to college from a student's perspective, and senior Bill Holady for Multiple Degree Programs at Peabody, a resource for new students interested in an interdivisional double major.

A panel of judges comprised of faculty and staff from the Sheridan Libraries and Hopkins Information Technology Services evaluated the 32 entries submitted by undergraduate students.


Changes in diet and salt intake can reduce blood pressure

With a more healthy diet and less salt, individuals can dramatically lower their blood pressure, according to the results of a nationwide study at Johns Hopkins and four other academic medical centers.

Results of the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension-Sodium trial, which were presented at the American Society of Hypertension annual meeting in New York on May 17, show that the DASH diet combined with a lower than average salt intake can substantially reduce blood pressure in people with and without hypertension. The DASH diet is rich in fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products and is reduced in fat. The study of 412 people found that both a lower salt intake and the DASH diet lowered blood pressure, but combining them was more effective than either alone.

Lawrence J. Appel, associate professor of medicine in the School of Medicine and one of the study's principal investigators, says this is "the most definitive study on salt and its effects on blood pressure that's ever been done."


Hopkins experts teach Japanese physicians LASIK surgery

Fifteen ophthalmologists from universities and private clinics throughout Japan visited the Wilmer Eye Institute on May 19 to learn more about LASIK surgery and how to perform the procedure.

The Japanese delegation approached Wilmer faculty about the tutorial after LASIK was recently approved by the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare.

The popular laser eye surgery can correct vision problems in people who are nearsighted, have an astigmatism or have low to moderate farsightedness.


APL opens its doors to staff's families for annual event

The Applied Physics Laboratory will hold a Family Open House from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 10. The annual event provides an opportunity for the families of APL staff to tour personal work areas and key facilities where work is being performed for sponsors, including the armed forces, NASA and the Department of Transportation.

Staff and guests can also tour new Building 26, which is dedicated to the programs of the Air Defense Systems and Joint Warfare Analysis departments.

The event will include exhibits and displays in all technical and service departments.

For additional information go to http://aplwww.jhuapl.edu/openhouse.

All guests must have a visitor's badge to enter the security perimeter. Online registration is available on the website.


APL to examine feasibility of automated deep space probe

In a project of Star Trek proportions, NASA's Institute for Advanced Concepts has asked APL to look at what it would take to build and launch a small, automated probe that would travel beyond the influence of the sun to study matter and energy in the space between nearby stars.

To accomplish this, the probe would have to travel at least 50 years and 1,000 AU. (1 AU is the distance between the Earth and sun; Pluto orbits between 30 and 50 AU from the sun.)

The study is based on a launch in the 2010 to 2020 time frame.


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