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April 5 2003 Open House at Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine showcases animals and student-doctors

For the 37th year -- on Saturday, April 5, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. -- students, faculty and staff of the Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine will show off animals of all kinds.

Surgical sterilization snips away at deer overpopulation

If deer have fetal memories from the womb, the fawn born to Doe 106 later this spring will have quite a story to tell about events the morning of March 8, 2003.

Cornell University Police recruits garner several awards at police academy

The Southern Tier Law Enforcement Academy at Corning Community College graduated its 17th session of police recruits from the New York State Basic Course for Police Officers, March 10, and Cornell University Police recruits who attended earned several awards.

How parents can talk to their children about war: advice from Cornell child-development expert James Garbarino

James Garbarino, professor of human development and co-director of the Family Life Development Center at Cornell University, offers advice to parents on how they can help their children cope with violent images of war and with increased fears of terrorism. Garbarino is an expert on child development and youth violence whose books include No Place to Be a Child: Growing Up in a War Zone (Lexington Books, 1991) and Parents Under Siege: Why You Are the Solution, Not the Problem, in Your Child's Life (The Free Press, 2001). (March 18, 2003)

Weill Cornell scientists discover a "traffic warden" to direct white blood cells to infection sites

New York, NY (March 17, 2003) -- Under normal conditions white blood cells, or leukocytes, circulate in the blood stream waiting to be called by damaged tissue to the site of injury or infection. Movement of the leukocytes into the damaged tissue from the blood requires the cells to squeeze between the endothelial cells that line the blood vessel walls. This rapid process is called Trans-Endothelial cell Migration (TEM), or diapedesis, and leads to the normal inflammation of the tissue. However, the white blood cell must migrate through the endothelial cells of the vessel wall without jeopardizing the integrity of the blood vessel. Just how this is accomplished has long been a source of debate among biologists and immunologists.Now, a paper in Nature by scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College, led by Dr. William A. Muller, Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, makes great strides towards understanding how the white blood cell moves through the endothelial cells into the damaged tissue. In their process of exploration, the Muller team has made three significant discoveries. First, they have discovered a new internal membrane structure in the endothelial cells, called the endothelial surface-connected compartment, which lies just below the cell surface (the regular outer cell membrane). Second, they have observed that in normal endothelial cells, parts of this membrane shuttle in a wave-like manner between this compartment and the cell surface. Lastly, they have found a new role and function for the adhesion molecule PECAM (Platelet/Endothelial Cell Adhesion Molecule), which Dr. Muller's laboratory previously discovered. PECAM, which is essential for TEM, is found in abundance within this intracellular membrane and could serve as a "traffic warden" during diapedesis. These findings are crucial because they may provide new targets for anti-inflammatory therapy and lead to more focused treatments.

National cancer prevention newsletter and web site debut

NEW YORK, NY (March 17, 2003) -- While the three decades since the start of the American "War on Cancer" have witnessed many innovative offensive strategies to treat the disease, a new key battle that may well be the turning point has emerged -- the battle of prevention. As part of this attempt to keep the enemy from even entering the field, the Cancer Prevention Program at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital has launched a national newsletter and Web site to keep both consumers and health professionals abreast of the latest developments in this new field of cancer prevention.Cancer Prevention, a joint effort of the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and Weill Cornell Medical Center -- NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital's two major centers -- aims to cast cancer in a new light -- to change its perception as a life-threatening disease that can only be treated to a disease that can, in many instances, be prevented. The newsletter and Web site (www.nypcancerprevention.org) will provide a forum in which the most recent cancer prevention innovations -- from the laboratory to the clinic to the public at large -- will be presented. They will feature articles by scientists and public health personnel from around the world on the very latest topics of interest in this new field of cancer prevention.

Study shows which restaurant table configurations make most money

If you're opening a restaurant or renovating an existing one, a new study from the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration could help you increase revenues simply by purchasing and arranging the right tables. The study, by Professor Gary Thompson, reveals, surprisingly, that midsize (about 200-seat) restaurants, particularly those affiliated with chains that serve large parties of walk-in customers, produce the most revenues with dedicated tables. Such tables are built for a variety of specific party sizes rather than made up of flexible two-seaters pushed together to form larger tables. (March 17, 2003)

Legendary Fisk Jubilee Singers will give a free public workshop in Ithaca and a free concert at Cornell University, March 29

There will be a weekend of celebration, March 28 and 29 — including a free public lecture, workshop and an open concert — as Cornell University welcomes the legendary Fisk Jubilee Singers to Ithaca.

Cornell-hosted conference on New York communities in times of financial crisis planned for Syracuse, May 15 and 16

"Sustaining New York Communities in Times of Financial Crisis," a conference sponsored by Cornell University's Community and Rural Development Institute, will be held at the Wyndham Syracuse Hotel, East Syracuse, N.Y., May 15 and 16.

Weiss Fellows named and, with others, honored

Three Cornell faculty winners of 2002-03 Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellowships -- for effective, inspiring and distinguished teaching of undergraduate students -- were announced at a special dinner on campus March 6.

Research at Weill Cornell reveals connection between estrogen and memory

New York, NY (March 14, 2003)-- In the current issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, Dr. Teresa Milner, Professor of Neuroscience at Weill Cornell Medical College, presents new evidence supporting the importance of estrogen in brain function. In close collaboration with Drs. Keith Akama and Bruce McEwen at The Rockefeller University, Dr. Milner elucidates how estrogen is regulating the ability of the brain to learn and encode memories. The research suggests that some form of estrogen replacement therapy might counteract the effects of aging and delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease."My colleagues and I are telling two stories in parallel, using two different approaches," says Dr. Milner, a member of the Division of Neurobiology at Weill Cornell. "We conducted these studies simultaneously but independently, to serve as sort of 'blind controls' in support of each other. Drs. Akama and McEwen were looking at isolated neurons while my lab was looking at animal tissue to explore the same idea -- namely, how does estrogen signaling affect the condition of a neuron?"

Weill Cornell scientists discover major new source of neural stem cells in the adult human brain

In the latest issue of Nature Medicine, researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College report the discovery of a new source of neural stem cells in the adult human brain. Dr. Steve Goldman and his group made the startling discovery that glial progenitor cells of the white matter, a common population of support cells first isolated by this group three years ago, are capable of giving rise to neurons as well as to glial cells.