Nonoperative treatments, including physical therapy, were just as effective at reducing pain and disability as spinal fusion surgery for patients with lumbar degenerative disc disease, according to a recent study. Researchers with the University of Virginia Health Sciences Center and the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, reviewed 200 consecutive patients with back pain and concordant lumbar discogram who were offered the option of spinal fusion then followed up with the patients to compare outcomes of those who chose fusion or nonoperative treatments, such as physical therapy...
There are plenty of good reasons that otherwise accomplished people have adopted a behavior that seems doomed to failure, analysts say. The biggest reason is to please constituents, said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. "Over the years, I have come to realize that a good portion of the public doesn't know the difference between introducing a bill and passing a bill -- or at least they seem to give legislators about equal credit for simply trying, as opposed to actually achieving," Sabato said. "Introducing a bill means a lawmak...
While she supports the breast density notification law in effect in Virginia since 2012, Jennifer A. Harvey, M.D., head of the Division of Breast Imaging and a professor of radiology at the University of Virginia Hospital Health System, stresses that education for all those affected is critical. “I’ve had more questions from healthcare providers about supplementary screening than I have from patients,” said Dr. Harvey, a presenter of the RSNA 2013 Special Interest Session: Breast Density: Risk Assessment, Communication, and Approaches to Supplemental Imaging. “But I bel...
Rob Vaughan, nursing a cup of morning coffee, recently looked through a window at an autumn-tinged lawn where wonderful things have occurred. As the only president the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities has had in its nearly 40-year history, he has been instrumental in bringing these memorable things to pass in the grassy area outside his office. One day a year, the lawn serves as a stage on which the heart and soul of some of the most precious Virginia traditions are showcased.
(Editorial) But does legislative meddling in the admissions processes of the commonwealth’s public universities address the problem? No. Because the problem is not one of too many out-of-state students, but one of too few state dollars to support those very institutions.
Supporters argue that the law requires disclosing donations, and that should keep politicians from selling their votes, but Michael Gilbert, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Virginia, says the opposite could also be true. Campaign finance disclosure may actually promote corruption.
Richard Bonnie, director of The Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy at the University of Virginia, was a member of the Shafer Commission – the American equivalent to the Le Dain Commission – which reported in 1972. Then, as now, Bonnie held serious concerns about the effect of marijuana on the developing adolescent brain, the association between marijuana and mental health crises, and the onset of addiction. Yet “there didn’t seem to be significant evidence that used moderately over the long term that the drug was seriously harmful,” says Bonnie, noting...
After failing to realize his dreams of becoming a professional basketball or football player, Paul Solon settled for becoming an endurance cyclist. Actually, Solon is a world record endurance cyclist.
University of Virginia history professor and former senior State Department official Philip Zelikow said these are opportune times for a fundamental reform of how the military is organized and equipped. “American levels of defense spending are at still near historic highs, even accounting for projected cuts,” he said. “But expenditures are poorly allocated. And the inefficiency is likely to get much worse. High spending in a period of low threat is buying less and less meaningful defense.”
That’s a big deal finding because it was thought that people only spread the disease when they had coughs and other symptoms, said Dr. Erik Hewlett, a University of Virginia whooping cough researcher who was not involved in the FDA study but has collaborated with its lead author.
Obama’s approval ratings are tanking and everyone will recall the early stumbles and misrepresentations, said Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia politics expert. Critics will be relentless, but “It isn’t a fatal error. There are more than three years left in the Obama presidency – plenty of time for other unforeseen events to take precedence,” said Sabato.
Shopping and Race: Although most people will probably head to a big-box store at least once this holiday shopping season, some people prefer the thrill and simplicity of browsing Craigslist for a bargain. Unfortunately, race is a factor in online classified ad sales, according to a yearlong academic study. University of Virginia professor Jennifer Doleac and Luke C.D. Stein, an assistant professor at Arizona State University, conducted an experiment to measure the metrics of race when it comes to sales conducted through the free online classified bulletin board.
(Editorial) The latest news from the groves of academe will surprise no one: Grade inflation continues. According to USA Today, the average GPA has risen from 2.52 in the 1950s to higher than 3.1. The highest grades are handed out at the most prestigious universities: Undergrads at Yale get A’s 62 percent of the time, for instance. Grades at community colleges are far worse. This could prompt many a graybeard to joke that the Ivies have become Wobegon U. – where all the students are above average. But, in fact, at the prestigious schools all the students really are above average.
In honor of World AIDS Day on Sunday, Boylan Heights on the Corner donated 10 percent of its total proceeds to the University of Virginia HIV Clinic.
Hundreds of US students on board the MV Explorer, in what is known as the study-abroad program Semester at Sea, will come to Cuba after a nine-year interruption due to the US economic, financial and commercial embargo of the island. The programme is sponsored by the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville.
The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education recently published a report on selective colleges and universities with the smallest gap between white and black students’ graduation rates, and William & Mary was shown to have the smallest gap of all public institutions on the list. According to the report, which looked at 2013 rates at “the nation’s highest-ranked colleges and universities,” there was a nine percent difference between white and black students’ graduation rates at William & Mary in 2013. The University of Virginia and the University of North Caro...
A former counsel at DHS agrees that there is more Obama can do to help low-priority illegal immigrants, but that he can’t solve the problem of 11 million undocumented immigrants on his own. "There's certainly room for adjustment, but not anything sweeping," David A. Martin, law professor at the University of Virginia and a former DHS counsel, tells The Washington Post. "The justifications for DACA made clear that this is not a situation where the president can reduce overall enforcement of immigration laws. He can just redirect it in certain ways.”
More than six in 10 workers in a recent Washington Post-Miller Center poll worry that they will lose their jobs to the economy, surpassing concerns in more than a dozen surveys dating to the 1970s. Nearly one in three, 32 percent, say they worry “a lot” about losing their jobs, also a record high, according to the joint survey, which explores Americans’ changing definition of success and their confidence in the country’s future. The Miller Center is a nonpartisan affiliate of the University of Virginia specializing in public policy, presidential scholarship and politica...
Many parents spend thousands of dollars on computer-based training programs that claim to help children with ADHD succeed in the classroom and in peer relationships while reducing hyperactivity and inattentiveness. But a University of Central Florida researcher says parents are better off saving their hard-earned cash. Psychology professor Mark Rapport’s research team – which included Michael J. Kofler, a professor with the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education – spent two years analyzing the data from 25 studies and found that those programs are not produc...
(Commentary) Virginia’s recreational assets include 33,610 picnic tables, 5,740 miles of hiking trails, 2,671 basketball courts and 695 outdoor pools. Walking for pleasure is the favorite outdoor recreational activity of Virginians, followed by visiting historic sites and visiting natural areas and nature preserves. Those are among the fascinating tidbits of information contained in the latest issue of The Virginia News Letter, “Outdoor Recreation in Virginia Today: Trends and Policies,” by Terance J. Rephann, an economist with the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper...