A new international study has found that breastfeeding for just two months cuts a baby’s risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome almost in half. Carried out by the UVA School of Medicine, the research looked at eight major international studies that examined 2,259 cases of SIDS and 6,894 control infants where death did not occur.
Focused ultrasound - a non-invasive treatment that delivers ultrasonic energy to targets deep within tissue - is being investigated for a large variety of medical conditions, with clinical applications at various stages of research, development and commercialization. A pilot study led by Jeff Elias of the UVA School of Medicine has shown that focused ultrasound shows promise as a treatment for Parkinson's tremor.
"The other important finding from our study is that any amount of breast-feeding reduces the risk of SIDS — in other words, both partial and exclusive breast-feeding appear to provide the same benefit," explains study leader Fern R. Hauck, UVA professor of family medicine and public health sciences.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe on Tuesday convened the state’s Environmental Justice Advisory Council, which he created through an executive order. Creating the council was part of a recommendation made by a study group considering ways to reduce carbon pollution from Virginia power plants. The University of Virginia’s Institute for Environmental Negotiation will assist the council.
Here are the top 10 law schools on the Princeton Review’s “Best Career Prospects” list for 2018. No. 6 is the University of Virginia School of Law.
While some trick-or-treaters may go from house to house in their neighborhoods, at the University of Virginia, trick-or-treaters go room to room. On Tuesday night, the Charlottesville community took part in a decades-old Halloween tradition at UVA, Trick-or-Treating on the Lawn.
UVA students on Monday were urged to take precautions after officials identified two suspected cases of mumps. Christopher Holstege, executive director of the Department of Student Health, alerted students of the possible appearance of the contagious disease. The University has also notified its faculty and staff.
"Facebook is designed to amplify messages that are extreme and emotional and that's exactly what's happened. Facebook is designed to allow people to send messages to a lot of people for very little money and that's exactly what's happened," says Siva Vaidhyanathan, UVA professor of media studies and author of “Antisocial Media,” an upcoming book on Facebook. "Combine the two and it's a perfect propaganda machine for anyone who wants to distract or disrupt a democratic republic."
(By Jennifer L. Doleac, assistant professor of public policy and economics) Citizens and legislators have called for police officers to use body-worn cameras so that interactions with civilians are recorded. Many hope that this technology will facilitate cultural reform, increasing officer accountability and reducing abuses of power. Unfortunately, the evidence so far is mixed.
In one of his final executive orders before leaving office, Gov. Terry McAuliffe has convened a panel of experts to explore how low-income communities in Virginia bear the brunt of climate change. The University of Virginia will take the lead, facilitating the group's meetings and discussions.
UVA students on Monday were urged to take precautions after officials identified two suspected cases of mumps. Christopher Holstege, executive director of UVA’s Department of Student Health, alerted students, faculty and staff of the possible appearance of the contagious disease.
“Jumping nerves of seventy-five or more students and residents of Charlottesville were at rest today after they peered at Mars last night through the big telescope at the University of Virginia’s Leander McCormick observatory and saw no evidence of mobilization for an attack upon the earth. The visitors to the observatory last night attempted to hide their fright with jests ‘about those green men of Mars,’ the monsters that attacked the earth in a space-ship, according to Orson Wells of the Mercury Theater and completely wiped out New Jersey with death rays and poison gas.”
Over the summer, Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed an executive directive setting up a Millennial Civic Engagement Task Force. Its goal: get millennials more engaged throughout the commonwealth. Zaakir Tameez is one of two students from UVA to be part of the task force. Forty students showed up on Friday's summit and met with the governor. One theme: better information about what’s happening close to home.
Legislation passed earlier this year paves the way for construction of a new hydro plant in southwestern Virginia. Some people argue the whole idea is wrongheaded. UVA professor Vivian Thomson says, "The fundamental question is, why is this large, expensive facility necessary? What are the alternatives to building it and what are the alternative costs in environmental health and implications?”
A conference at UVA last week examined current civic and political engagement by youth, and how schools and after-school programs can better foster this engagement.
Area transportation officials held the first-ever meeting of a non-binding governmental body that seeks to improve public transit in the community through comparing notes and relationship-building. Members of the board include representatives from the University Transit Service.
(By John Buffington, a double graduate of UVA) It didn't occur to me to be offended when Columbine, Colorado, became a synonym for murder. I have never been to Columbine. Charlottesville is an entirely different matter for me: I love Charlottesville.
“The three major metropolitan areas in the state (Northern Virginia, Richmond and Hampton Roads) contain more than 90 percent of the total growth,” Qian Cai, director of demographic research at UVA’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, said in an email.
In a 2-to-1 ruling, the three-judge panel declared that the Peace Cross violated the First Amendment by having “a primary effect of endorsing religion and excessively entangles the government and religion.” Douglas Laycock, a religious liberties scholar and professor at the UVA School of Law, praised the decision. The cross “asserts the truth of one religion and, implicitly but necessarily, the falsehood of all other religions,” he said. “Its secondary meanings, as in honoring war dead, are entirely derivative of its primary meaning as a symbol of the Resurrection.”
Amul Thapar was nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in March, and assumed the position in May after being confirmed with a 52-44 vote in the U.S. Senate. The seat that Thapar filled had been vacant since 2013. Thapar teaches multiple college classes at the University of Virginia, Vanderbilt University and the Chase College of Law at Northern Kentucky University.