San Francisco Research Articles

The Platelet-derived Growth Factor Receptor α Is Destabilized by Geldanamycins in Cancer Cells

The heat shock protein HSP90 serves as a chaperone for receptor protein kinases, steroid receptors, and other intracellular signaling molecules. Targeting HSP90 with ansamycin antibiotics disrupts the normal processing of clients of the HSP90 complex. The platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha (PDGFRalpha) is a tyrosine kinase receptor up-regulated and activated in several malignancies. Here we show that the PDGFRalpha forms a complex with HSP90 and the co-chaperone cdc37 in ovarian, glioblastoma, and lung cancer cells. Treatment of cancer cell lines expressing the PDGFRalpha with the HSP90 inhibitor 17-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin (17-AAG) promotes degradation of the receptor. Likewise, phospho-Akt, a downstream target, is degraded after treatment with 17-AAG. In contrast, PDGFRalpha expression is not affected by 17-AAG in normal human smooth muscle cells or 3T3 fibroblasts. PDGFRalpha degradation by 17-AAG is inhibited by the proteasome inhibitor MG132. High molecular weight, ubiquitinated forms of the receptor are detected in cells treated with 17-AAG and MG132. Degradation of the receptor is also inhibited by a specific neutralizing antibody to the PDGFRalpha but not by a neutralizing antibody to PDGF or by imatinib mesylate (Gleevec). Ultimately, PDGFRalpha-mediated cell proliferation is inhibited by 17-AAG. These results show that 17-AAG promotes PDGFRalpha degradation selectively in transformed cells. Thus, not only mutated tyrosine kinases but also overexpressed receptors in cancer cells can be targeted by 17-AAG.

Political Art, Distracted

THOMAS HIRSCHHORN: UTOPIA, UTOPIA = ONE WORLD, ONE WAR, ONE ARMY, ONE DRESS CCA WATTIS INSTITUTE FOR CONTEMPORARY ARTS SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA MARCH 10-MAY 13, 2006 I imagine Thomas Hirschhorn's exhibition = World, War, Army, Dress pleased many: artists, art observers, academics (particularly those who have, for the last decade or so, told students that polities and art do not mix), passionate liberals (as well as those who see themselves as timelessly anti-establishment, but who have shied away from activism), and busy art school undergraduates who will be comfortable with the street look and duct tape construction of the exhibition. However, for all its ambiguity, faced with the mass of Hirschhorn's collecting (thousands of objects in tight proximity), one could not help but think about the deformity of war. This was the show's success--though a measured one. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The installation was comprised of uniforms from around the world, documentary and fashion photos of soldiers in camouflage, music videos set among battles and explosions (the singers camouflage-clad), and consumer items appropriating the pattern of camouflage such as snowboards, T-shirts, and halter dresses. There were also scrap wood trees with mannequin bodies, maps, and globes of the world growing camouflage tape mounds. There were toys of war placed both in battlefields and in a large doll house, books on war scattered in a living room covered in camouflage tape, and forty-foot, ambiguous, cardboard forms that could be bullets, missiles, or submarines. The installation filled three galleries--a lot of real estate to take up, and to Hirschhorn's credit, one does not begrudge him his excess. The tragic flaw of Utopia was that Hirschhorn allowed the viewer to see how entirely seduced he is by critical theory; he threw aside a chance to serve as a witness, choosing instead this infatuation, which is unfortunate since he succeeded at making a map that shows the cognitive discord of war. Less importantly, the subtleties of his One Dress message--consumerism's appropriation of camouflage in civilian clothing--was less compelling than the immersion experience he gave viewers of all sorts of objects. In them we could see one enormous, global casualty: ourselves as conquerors, our own loss of righteousness making us victims of politics and greed in the end. If I had not read Marcus Steinweg's accompanying essay, Worldplay (2005), in full, I would have been more inspired by Utopia, which featured printed fragments of the essay in the installation. (1) As posters and signs hung throughout the exhibition space, Steinweg's text fragments functioned adequately as Barthesian empty signs, and contrasted with the very specific war documentation. They could have been taken from any critical theory text. Open-ended, they sometimes related to objects nearby, but their solipsism more often represented other breakdowns of meaning that accompany war in our time. (I found myself remarking that in our time--a time capable of so much technologically--the appearance of brutal carnage seems like a special effect from a science fiction film, a film about an evil civilization in a surreal time. …

The use of reflective journals in the promotion of reflection and learning in post-registration nursing students

The aim of this qualitative case study was to examine the use of reflective journals in promoting reflection and learning in post-registration nursing students. A purposive homogenous sample of 42 part-time post-registration students who had undertaken a module either as part of the Diploma in Professional Studies in Palliative Care or Breast Care Nursing within a UK University took part in the study. Data were collected from reflective journals and interviews. The students' journals were analysed to determine the extent and level of reflection using a model devised by Boud [Boud, D., Keogh, R., Walker, D. (Eds.), 1985. Reflection: Turning Experience into Learning. Kogan Page, London] and adapted by Wong [Wong, F.K.Y., Kember, D., Chung, L.Y.F., Yan, L., 1995. Assessing the levels of student reflection from reflective journals. Journal of Advanced Nursing 22, 48-57]. A model devised by Mezirow [Mezirow, J., 1990. How critical reflection triggers transformative learning. In: Mezirow, J. et al. (Eds.), Fostering Critical Reflection in Adulthood: A Guide to Transformative and Emancipatory Learning. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, pp. 1-20; Mezirow, J., 1991. Transformative Dimensions of Adult Learning. Jossey-Bass, San Franscisco] was used to identify non-reflectors, reflectors and critical reflectors. The findings suggest that student writing can be used as evidence for the presence or absence of reflective thinking. Evidence also suggests that journals are a useful tool for promoting reflection and learning. However, some students appear to benefit more from their use than others.

Nitrogen sources and cycling in the San Francisco Bay Estuary: A nitrate dual isotopic composition approach

We used the dual isotopic composition of nitrate (δ15N and δ18O) within the estuarine system of San Francisco (SF) Bay, California, to explore the utility of this approach for tracing sources and cycling of nitrate (NO2−). Surface water samples from 49 sites within the estuary were sampled during July–August 2004. Spatial variability in the isotopic composition suggests that there are multiple sources of nitrate to the bay ecosystem including seawater, several rivers and creeks, and sewage effluent. The spatial distribution of nitrate from these sources is heavily modulated by the hydrodynamics of the estuary. Mixing along the estuarine salinity gradient is the main control on the spatial variations in isotopic composition of nitrate within the northern arm of SF Bay. However, the nitrate isotopic composition in the southern arm of SF Bay exhibited a combination of source mixing and phytoplankton drawdown due mostly to the long residence time during the summer study period. Very low δ18ONO3 values (as low as −5.0%) at the Sacramento–San Joaquin River delta region give rise to a wide range of δ18ONO3 values in the SF Bay system. The range in δ18ONO3 values is more than twice that of δ15NNO3, suggesting that δ18ONO3 is an even more sensitive tool for tracing nitrate sources and cycling than δ15NNO3.

Try Nonmedical Approach First for Agitation

SAN FRANCISCO — At least 80% of patients with dementia will experience agitation, according to Dr. Josepha A. Cheong of the University of Florida, Gainesville. The temptation, especially at in-patient facilities, is to go immediately to medical management for that agitation. But before reaching for the prescription pad, one should rule out medical causes for agitation, and try nonmedical management, which can be highly effective, Dr. Cheong told attendees at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Clinical Psychiatrists. In dealing with patients with dementia, Dr. Cheong said she asks herself how she would deal with the same patient if he or she were a 3− to 5-year-old child. “Has there ever been a time when you were raising [toddlers] that you wanted to just pull out that syringe of Haldol?” Dr. Cheong asked. “It would be nice, but that's not what we do. One, it's not socially acceptable. And two, it's not appropriate. “I really feel much the same way in treating agitation in dementia. A lot of times, there's a tendency to go straight to the meds. And there's nothing wrong with that if what's least restrictive has failed.” Urinary tract infections and dehydration constitute two common medical causes of agitation. “Even if they don't have a urinary tract infection, it's amazing how people will perk up if you just hydrate them a little bit,” Dr. Cheong said. Anticholinergics and over-the-counter medications can also result in agitation. Ditropan, which is used for urinary incontinence, is one of the biggest offenders, in Dr. Cheong's view. “I always tell patients and their families: ‘Look, it's better to be in Depends than to be demented because of Ditropan.’ This can make the difference between keeping someone at home and having them in a nursing home in restraints,” Dr. Cheong said. Drug interactions can also cause agitation. The combination of a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agent and lithium is a frequent culprit. Once medical causes have been excluded, consider whether the patient has experienced a recent change in environment, which can often result in agitation. Has a beloved pet died recently? Has the care facility's routine changed? Is there a new nurse on the ward? Consider also whether the patient's agitation comes at a certain time of the day, or with certain activities. Shower time often precipitates agitation. One solution is simply not to insist that patients shower daily. Elderly patients often do fine showering or bathing just twice a week, and this has the extra benefit of preventing their skin from drying out. Another tip is for caregivers to enter the reality of the patient. People who work in geriatric units are used to seeing patients waiting every morning by the front door for the bus to take them to work. The patient is likely to become upset if he or she is told that he's been retired for 20 years. Instead, it might be better to say, “Why don't you come sit down and have some breakfast while you're waiting?” Overstimulation and understimulation should both be avoided. The change-of-shift chaos in many in-patient units can be highly disturbing to patients. This might be a good time to have patients away from the chaos in a quiet day room with soothing music. On the other hand, lack of activities and boredom can lead to restless behavior and attempts to escape. Studies show that simply adding a recreational therapist to a nursing-home setting can decrease the amount of agitation that patients experience. Keep the patients' choices simple. Three salad dressings and four choices of entrées at mealtimes may be confusing to the demented patient; it is much better to provide a single offering. Like toddlers, patients with dementia also do best with finger foods. Everyone has a need for attention, intimacy, and affection. The lack of that human connection can lead to agitation and impulsive sexual behavior. Soothing rituals such as massage or hair brushing can go a long way toward calming the agitated patient. Psychiatrists may have difficulty getting paid for nonmedical treatment of agitated patients, because Medicare may regard it as psychotherapy, and psychotherapy is not indicated for patients with dementia. Dr. Cheong's tip is to code the treatment as being for behavioral and psychotic symptoms of dementia.

Probing the Social Brain

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA-- By scanning activity within the skull, researchers are trying to understand how our brains manage interactions with other people. (Read more.)

The AIDS Memorial Quilt

THE AIDS MEMORIAL QUILT was conceived in November 1985 by San Francisco, Calif, gay activist Cleve Jones. Jones had helped organize the annual march honoring Mayor George Moscone and gay San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, who were assassinated in 1978. When planning the march, Jones learned that more than 1000 San Franciscans had died of AIDS, and he asked the marchers to write on their placards the names of friends, partners, and family members who had died of the disease. After the march, the marchers taped their placards onto the walls of the San Francisco Federal Building. The wall of names looked like a patchwork quilt.1 Jones and his fellow activists gathered in a San Francisco storefront to plan a more permanent memorial to those who had died of AIDS and to publicize the devastating impact of the disease. They created the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt. Generous donors supplied sewing machines and materials, and volunteers over the years have created more than 46000 individual 3- by 6-foot memorial panels, most of them honoring one particular person who died of AIDS. Some 35 countries, from Argentina to Japan to Uganda, have contributed panels. The quilt was displayed for the first time on the National Mall in Washington, DC, on October 11, 1987, during the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. In 1988, the quilt went on a national tour during which it was displayed in 20 cities. This tour raised $500 000 for AIDS service organizations. The quilt would return to Washington in 1988, 1989, 1992, and 1996. Each time it returned, the quilt had grown larger. Every panel is different, and the panels feature a multitude of materials: feather boas, lace, leather, love letters, cowboy boots, buttons and bows, paintings, photographs, fishnet, and fur are but a few of the materials used and objects attached. Each display of the quilt features celebrities, politicians, and family members, friends, and lovers reading aloud the names of the people for whom the quilt panels were made. The largest community art project in the world, the AIDS Memorial Quilt was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. In the last 20 years, the quilt has been viewed by more than 15 million people and has raised more than $3 million for AIDS service organizations. The AIDS Memorial Quilt is an overwhelming sight, both a joyful remembrance and a reminder of the tragedy of lives lost. It is a beautiful broad expanse of color and feeling, each panel made with love for the person being honored and celebrated. The quilt is a powerful statement; its image serves as a memorial to all the people and their loved ones whose lives have been transformed by this epidemic over the past 25 years.

Region at risk: A look at san francisco's seismic past and future

Science NewsVolume 169, Issue 15 p. 234-236 Feature Region at risk: A look at san francisco's seismic past and future Sid Perkins, Sid PerkinsSearch for more papers by this author Sid Perkins, Sid PerkinsSearch for more papers by this author First published: 30 September 2009 https://doi.org/10.2307/4019356AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article.Citing Literature Volume169, Issue1515 April 2006Pages 234-236 RelatedInformation

A Central Partition of Molecular Conformational Space. III. Combinatorial Determination of the Volume Spanned by a Molecular System

In the first work of this series (Gabarro-Arpa, Comp. Biol. Chem. 27 (2003) 153–159) it was shown that the conformational space of a molecule could be described to a fair degree of accuracy by means of a central hyperplane arrangement. The hyperplanes divide the space into a hierarchical set of cells that can be encoded by the face lattice poset of the arrangement. The model however, lacked explicit rotational symmetry, which made impossible to distinguish rotated structures in conformational space. This problem was solved in a second work (Gabarro-Arpa, Proc. 26th Ann. Int. Conf. of the IEEE EMBS (San Franciso, 2004) 3007–3010) by sorting the elementary 3-dimensional components of the molecular system into a set of morphological classes that can be properly oriented in a standard 3-D reference frame. This also made possible to find a solution to the problem that is being addressed in the present work: for a molecular system immersed in a heat bath we want to enumerate the subset of cells in conformational space that are visited by the molecule in its thermal wandering. If each visited cell is a vertex on a graph with edges to the adjacent cells, here it is explained how such graph can be built.

Objects Collected, Images Understood

TONY LABAT: TRUST ME NEW LANGTON ARTS SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA SEPTEMBER 21-OCTOBER 22, 2005 In 1978 Langton Arts (as it was then named) announced a call for proposals. The young Tony Labat sent only a bouquet of roses with a note that read, Trust Me. This gesture is a perfect example of Labat's aesthetic: an elegant social intervention, at once agressive yet vulnerable to social misunderstanding. Langton Arts went for it, awarding him his first art commission as an undergraduate student. Celebrating its thirtieth anniversary in 2005, New Langton Arts presented a survey of Labat's performance, video, and installation work. The pieces in the show span virtually all media, and (whether overtly or more narrative in feel) their meaning pivots on the recontextualization of ideas. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Labat presents specific social phenomenon (such as boxing, game shows, and room service) and makes the viewer able, regardless of experience, to identify. In his video work especially, his talent lies in communicating these moments through formal devices that resist categorization: often using rhythm, contrast, friction, and humor toward a beauty felt in the body and experienced quasi-unconsciously. Aptly, fashion and politics, and how they make for the cultural objectification of the self, are his most common themes. He depicts people, both heroes and villains, in their mythological or objectified roles. Likewise, Labat's infectious weakness for things provides him with props to create his shifting facsimile landscape. Labat's intellect is clearly absorbed by American culture's trash and treasure, its detritus and trophies alike. In his videos, on wonderful little sets, objects are hyperbolically thrown, worshipped, and devoured. His figures navigate this world, dispelling and absorbing cultural reflections and objectifications. This is not the cool intellectual work some identify with conceptual art, but art that seems influenced by 1980's art rock, Laurie Anderson, MTV, Joseph Beuys, avant-garde filmmakers like Maya Deren, and even painters like Eric Fischl. Labat's work from the 1980s, starting with Babalu (1980), focuses on the largely alienating experiences of immigrants coming to America--an experience familiar to Labat, as he himself emigrated as a teenager from Cuba to Miami in 1966. In video pieces such as Room Service (1980), N (enn-yay) (1982), Khikiriki (1983), and Lost in the Translation (1984) he uses stylistic earmarks of the time: pedestrian dance movement a la Yvonne Rainer, narratives edited along parallel lines yet containing overlapping symbolic myths, and the use of repetitious audio to tell tales so far removed from the pretentions of the artworld that they transcend genre. Of these, Khikiriki is the harshest, with a cacophonous soundtrack and talking heads of weathered and tired people contrasted with unhappy animals and an image of longing: a paper boat on water, and the words Louie, me got to go. …

How Saturn's Icy Moons Get a (Geologic) Life

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA—Why is there geology on Saturn's icy satellites? Where did these smallish moons get the energy to refresh their impact-battered surfaces with smoothed plains, ridges, and fissures? These questions have nagged at scientists since the Voyager flybys in the early 1980s, and the Cassini spacecraft's recent discovery that Saturn's Enceladus is spouting like an icy geyser has only compounded the problem (Science, 9 September 2005, p. 1660). Now a group of Cassini team members puzzling over the odd shape of the satellite Iapetus has hit on a possible explanation. Perhaps the moons formed early and grabbed just enough heat-generating radioactivity from the nascent solar system.

Metabolic Syndrome Predicts Frailty

SAN FRANCISCO — Elderly individuals who have metabolic syndrome are about twice as likely to become frail as those who are healthy, Dr. Joshua I. Barzilay reported in a poster presentation at the Third World Congress on Insulin Resistance Syndrome. The study involved 2,376 individuals aged 69–74 who were followed prospectively for 7–9 years. At baseline none of the participants were frail, nor did they have other illnesses that increase inflammation markers or mimic frailty, reported Dr. Barzilay, of Emory University, Atlanta, and his colleagues. A participant was considered frail if he or she met at least three of the following five criteria: unintentional weight loss of 10 pounds or more in the previous year, low grip strength, self-reported exhaustion, slowness in walking, and low exercise tolerance. A participant was considered “prefrail” if he or she met one or two of the criteria. At the end of follow-up, 169 participants qualified as frail and another 1,082 qualified as prefrail. The three most commonly seen components of frailty were diminished walking speed, diminished strength, and diminished activity, all of which are consistent with sarcopenia. Participants who developed frailty or prefrailty had significantly higher fasting insulin levels, higher white blood cell counts, higher C-reactive protein levels, and higher factor VII levels than those who didn't develop frailty. These participants were 30%–100% more likely to have metabolic syndrome at baseline, compared with those who did not develop frailty or prefrailty. The most common components of the metabolic syndrome in this cohort were increased girth and increased homeostatic model assessment scores. They were also significantly more likely to have developed diabetes at follow-up. In view of the fact that frailty was defined mostly by sarcopenia, the investigators wrote, insulin resistance, inflammation, and frailty are all related to a primary disorder of muscle metabolism.

San Andreas Drillers Find a Strangely Weak Fault

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA--Almost 12,000 earth and planetary scientists (a new record) of every stripe met here 5 to 9 December to discuss the inner workings of the San Andreas fault. (read more.)

Scientific Drill Ship to Be Reborn

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA-- The JOIDES Resolution ends its 20-year career as the world9s lone deep-sea scientific drilling ship next week. But the National Science Foundation hopes that $115 million will bring her back into the water, better than ever. (read more.)

A Novel Role for Glucocorticoid-induced Leucine Zipper Protein in Epithelial Sodium Channel-mediated Sodium Transport

The steroid hormone aldosterone stimulates sodium (Na+) transport in tight epithelia by altering the expression of target genes that regulate the activity and trafficking of the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC). We performed microarray analysis to identify aldosterone-regulated transcripts in mammalian kidney epithelial cells (mpkC-CD(c14)). One target, glucocorticoid-induced leucine zipper protein (GILZ), was previously identified by serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE); however, its function in epithelial ion transport was unknown. Here we show that GILZ expression is rapidly stimulated by aldosterone in mpkCCD(c14) and that GILZ, in turn, strongly stimulates ENaC-mediated Na+ transport by inhibiting extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signaling. In Xenopus oocytes with activated ERK, heterologous GILZ expression consistently inhibited phospho-ERK expression and markedly stimulated ENaC-mediated Na+ current, in a manner similar to that of U0126 (a pharmacologic inhibitor of ERK signaling). In mpkCCD(c14) cells, GILZ transfection similarly consistently inhibited phospho-ERK expression and stimulated transepithelial Na+ transport. Furthermore, aldosterone treatment of mpkCCD(c14) cells suppressed phospho-ERK levels with a time course that paralleled their increase of Na+ transport. Finally, GILZ expression markedly increased cell surface ENaC expression in epidermal growth factor-treated mammalian kidney epithelial cells, HEK 293. These observations suggest a novel link between GILZ and regulation of epithelial sodium transport through modulation of ERK signaling and could represent an important pathway for mediating aldosterone actions in health and disease.

A Conversation with William Everson: Shamanism, American Poetry, and the Vision Quest

Steven B. Herrmann, “A Conversation with William Everson: Shamanism, American Poetry, and the Vision Quest,” in THE SAN FRANCISCO JUNG INSTITUTE LIBRARY JOURNAL, 2005, 24:4, 70–88. This conversation examines how the shamanic archetype influenced the life and poetry of William Everson and the theory of charismatic vocation he developed in his course “Birth of a Poet” at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The vision quest is discussed as a paradigm for initiation into the unconscious. Everson and Herrmann discuss how the poet-shaman enThis content downloaded from 207.46.13.0 on Tue, 17 May 2016 05:57:43 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms

Education for a New Millennium

NATIONAL MEDIA EDUCATION CONFERENCE SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA JUNE 25-28, 2005 The media literacy and education movement is growing rapidly in this country and abroad and the most recent edition of the biannual National Media Education Conference offered wide array of practical and theoretical information under the theme of Giving Voice to Diverse Nation. Sponsored by the Alliance for Media Literate America, the event drew educators, media activists, health workers, students of media literacy and youth media makers for three days of workshops, presentations, lectures and screenings. Four pre-conference sessions were offered, including Media Literacy 101, facilitated by Elizabeth Thoman and Jeff Share, both of the Center for Media Literacy based in Los Angeles, which set the stage for the conference. To introduce attendees to the field, Thoman, explained that media literacy is a twenty-first-century approach to providing a framework to access, analyze, evaluate and create messages in variety of forms--from print to video to the internet. A more expansive way of looking at the general concept of literacy--addressing images, sound and pop culture as well as text-this burgeoning field expands reading and writing instruction in educational settings and in general deepens our ability to understand how media affects individual citizens and society. Intrinsic to this process is building the skills of inquiry as well as an understanding of the role of media in our culture. While stressing enhanced critical thinking abilities and encouraging production of media as an essential complement, Thoman clarified that media education is more about education than media. Offering essentially primer to the field, Thoman explained that the equation Text + Context = Message (expanding upon, and in some ways contradicting, media theorist Marshall McLuhan's contention that content matters less than medium) lies at the heart of the media education movement. She took attendees through the Five Core Concepts and Five Key Questions that provide structure and vocabulary for analyzing media that is similar to literary analysis. These concepts and questions are directly correlated and speak to the issues of authorship, format, audience, content and purpose. Thoman addressed the specifics, providing information about how media education can be used in the classroom to lead students into more in-depth inquiry. For example, in terms of audience, there are three ways in which audiences interact with media: reactive, active and interactive. By providing students and citizens the tools to become interactive and therefore engaged consumers of media, (media literacy) educators empower the citizenry. To demonstrate this, Thoman explained the concept of the empowerment spiral that is created through media literacy applications, which consists of awareness, analysis, reflection and action. While Media Literacy 101 provided solid foundation for delving into the field of media education, the breakout sessions that took place during the conference went into more detail on specific issues and practical matters. With focus on providing media education in the K-12 classroom, many of the presentations explained how media education can be included in curriculum (and across disciplines), demonstrated successful programs being implemented around the country and addressed how media literacy instruction can meet numerous educational standards. Such presentations included Using Media to Boost Skills and Scores and Have Your Students Grade the News, facilitated by former journalists Paul Kandell and John McManus, creators of www.gradethenews.org, who took attendees through their specialized curriculum. Other presentations were centered on media production, vital component of formal media education and community-based efforts. These included Promising Practices in Community-Based Media Programs and It Takes Village with Camera: Community Building Through Media Education, in which youth-made media about the conditions of the Baltimore City Public School System and the community protests that resulted from this advocacy were highlighted. …

"The Air is Becoming Full of War"

This article examines the responses of Jewish San Franciscans to World War I, comparing reactions of Jewish and non-Jewish Americans and considering regional differences in the Jewish response. The primary source is the Emanu-El, San Francisco's only Jewish newspaper during the war. Comparing the San Francisco experience with that of New York, the article argues that, while San Francisco Jews shared many of their fellow citizens' feelings toward the nations at war, the �ghting in Europe raised troubling issues for Jewish Americans, as well as problems they did not share with other Americans. In key respects, region mattered more than religious identi�cation: Jewish San Franciscans tended to view the war as westerners rather than as Jews, but war exacerbated tensions within American Jewry and added urgency to leaders' efforts to create consensus, especially on such controversial issues as Zionism.

Embryo-Free Techniques Gain Momentum

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA-- Ethical concerns about research involving embryos have been driving the search for other ways to derive stem cells, and results may soon be on the horizon.

Oral Glucose Tolerance and Insulin Sensitivity Are Unaffected by HIV Infection or Antiretroviral Therapy in Overweight Women

To assess the frequency of diabetes, prediabetes, and insulin resistance among a subset of participants in the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS). Cross-sectional substudy nested within a prospective multicenter cohort study. Women underwent 75 g oral glucose tolerance testing. Diagnoses of diabetes and prediabetes were made according to the American Diabetes Association criteria, and insulin resistance was determined by area under the curve insulin and homeostasis model assessment values. Six urban clinical sites in the United States (Brooklyn, NY; Bronx, NY; Washington, DC; Chicago, IL; San Francisco, CA; Los Angeles, CA) participate in the entire WIHS. The Bronx, NY, and San Francisco, CA, WIHS sites participated in this substudy. A total of 258 women, 88 HIV negative, 74 HIV positive not on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), and 96 HIV positive taking HAART were enrolled in the study. Prevalence of diabetes, prediabetes, and insulin resistance was compared among the HIV-uninfected and HIV-infected women. The frequency of diabetes, prediabetes, or insulin resistance was unrelated to HIV status or antiretroviral treatment. Increasing body mass index was the only characteristic associated with the combined endpoints of diabetes and prediabetes (odds ratio = 1.104, P = 0.0002). Routine oral glucose tolerance testing of HIV-infected women is not supported by these findings. Elucidation of putative perturbations from HIV or antiretroviral medications requires direct studies of insulin resistance and beta-cell function.