Story Ideas for Media 3-27-06

News

Ohio State offers first-ever book club for adults with intellectual disabilities – If you walk into a Barnes & Noble or Starbucks and see a group of adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) reading a book together such as Robin Hood or Tom Sawyer, you are seeing the start of a national trend aimed at forming book clubs for this segment of society.
At a time when book clubs are becoming more and more popular across the nation, a special book club involving adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) has taken root in Ohio. Initiated by the Ohio State University three years ago, Ohio was the first state in the nation to host book clubs for adults with intellectual disabilities – helping participants interact with others, improve their literacy and strengthen their sense of community.
Today, more than 25 Next Chapter Book Clubs have been established across the state – including chapters in Wisconsin and Idaho. Holding the events at bookstores and cafes also helps expose members to the culture of bookstores and build public awareness of people with disabilities.
CONTACT: Jim Lynch, (614) 247-4110. More information on the Next Chapter Book Club can also be found at www.boudog.com.

University Libraries offer alternative to buying textbooks – Ohio State University Libraries and Undergraduate Student Government (USG) have teamed up to give students in 48 general requirement classes like biology, math, English, history and foreign languages access to free textbooks. Students can use the books to study inside the Science and Engineering Library, 175 W.18th Avenue, which is open around the clock.
Dave Knapp, one of the two USG members behind bringing the free books to campus, said he hears “a lot” of complaints about how much books cost. On average, textbooks cost $102.44, according to Campusbooks.com. A California study found the average college student pays nearly $900 per year on books, and the General Accounting Office reports that college textbook prices have risen 6 percent each year since 1987 – twice the rate of inflation.
At Ohio State, Knapp was frustrated after spending about $400 on three books last fall.
He and fellow USG members approached University Libraries with an idea: Put student books on open reserve. The libraries purchased the books, and this quarter, books used in 48 courses are available. CONTACT: Amy Murray, (614) 292-8385.

Research

OSU research: Newer diabetic medicines cost more, but users have fewer hospital visits. Diabetics who were prescribed newer medications to control their illness were more likely to take these drugs as instructed than were other patients who were prescribed drugs that have been on the market for several decades.
A new study suggests that patients on the newer medications had a slightly lower risk of hospitalization because of diabetes-related complications. They also spent between $920 and $1,760 less on annual total healthcare costs.
Rajesh Balkrishnan, the study\'s lead author and the Merrell Dow professor of pharmacy at Ohio State, said, “Taking a TZD (thiazolidinedione) as instructed was the strongest predictor of a reduced risk of hospitalization and decreased healthcare costs in this group of patients. The issue is that TZDs can be 10 times more expensive than the older diabetes drugs.”
“There are a lot of new medications on the market for treating diabetes,” Balkrishnan said. “Although some of these newer drugs are more expensive, that extra expense is made up for by a reduction of cost in other aspects of healthcare use.” CONTACT: Rajesh Balkrishnan, (614) 292-6415; balkrishnan.1@osu.edu, SEE: http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/diabdrug.htm

Scientists look for bio-weapon to revolutionize insect control industry – Ohio State University scientists are on their way to creating the perfect bio-weapon: an insect-parasitic nematode. The weapon is harmless to everything except those we already spend billions of dollars and massive amounts of toxic chemicals to exterminate: insect pests that terrorize valuable agricultural crops, urban-landscape greenery, livestock, and even humans and their pets.
The National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have awarded $1.8 million in a three-year project to sequence the genome of insect-parasitic nematodes — microscopic roundworms that have proven to be highly effective biological insecticides against a wide variety of pests. Leading the multi-institutional project is Parwinder Grewal, an entomologist with the university’s Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) in Wooster. Applied through sprayers or irrigation systems, nematodes are available for insect control in citrus, strawberry, cranberry, nursery plants and turfgrass; they have also shown promise against animal and human pests such as ticks and lice. CONTACT: Parwinder Grewal, Entomology, OARDC, grewal.4@osu.edu, (330) 263-3963.

Events

Taft, Education Roundtable on campus – March 28. Gov. Bob Taft will be on campus Tuesday (3/28) to host an education roundtable and discuss his Ohio Core Education Initiative, which calls for Ohio high school students to complete a rigorous core curriculum. The event is from 2-4 p.m. at the Longaberger Alumni House, 2200 Olentangy River Road. For more information, contact the Office of the Governor at (614) 644-0957. The event is open to invited guests only.

Pioneer in dispute resolution will present lecture – March 30. Frank E. A. Sander, Bussey Professor at Harvard Law School will discuss “Developing the MRI (Mediation Receptivity Index)” in the annual Schwartz Lecture on Dispute Resolution at Ohio State’s Moritz College of Law. Sander is considered by many to be the originator of the field of alternative dispute resolution. The lecture takes place at noon on Thursday (3/30) in the Saxbe Auditorium at Drinko Hall (Moritz College of Law), 55 West 12th Avenue. CONTACT: Liz Cutler Gates, (614) 292-0283.

Traffic note: campus is part of half marathon route – April 1. Some campus streets will be closed on Saturday (4/1) to accommodate the Columbus Distance Classic half marathon. The 13.1 mile race begins at 9 a.m. in downtown Columbus. The route brings runners north from downtown on Neil Avenue, then to W. 12th Ave., to College Road, to Woodruff, around Ohio Stadium, back to Neil Avenue to Lane, and then south on High Street. See: http://columbusdistanceclassic.com/details.shtml

Lecture examines video games as learning tools – April 4. Video games can provide more than idle entertainment. According to one of the nation’s first scholars to examine video games through the lens of learning theory, they can be a useful learning tool for America’s youth. James Paul Gee, professor of reading at the University of Wisconsin will be the featured lunch speaker at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday (4/4) at the Faculty Club, 181 S. Oval Drive. Gee has authored three books on video games, language and learning, including “What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy”, which provides 36 reasons why video games produce better learning conditions than many of today’s schools. Sponsored by the John Glenn Institute, the lecture is the first in the new Deborah Jones Merritt BookMarks Lecture series. The series, which features authors who focus on public policy trends and research, honors Merritt’s five years of leadership to the John Glenn Institute. The lecture is free and open to the public, but RSVP’s are required to (614) 688-3206 or apr4@jgippm.ohio-state.edu. CONTACT: Laura Sipe, Glenn Institute, (614) 292-4545.

Ohio Nanotechnology Summit: big plans for research on tiny scale – April 4-5. What industries and discoveries will nanotechnology yield in Ohio? Experts from academia, industry, and government will plan the future of nanotechnology in Ohio at the second annual Ohio Nanotechnology Summit April 4-5, at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, 500 N. High Street. Discussions will focus on how nanotechnology research is shaping new materials and biomedical tools, technology commercialization activities already underway in Ohio, and new opportunities to emerge from Third Frontier programs (due to the recent passage of Ohio’s Issue 1, a $2 billion dollar bond issue aiming to invest $500 million in Ohio’s technology future).
Gov. Bob Taft and Lt. Gov. Bruce Johnson top the agenda, along with keynote speakers from Battelle, Procter & Gamble, and the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies at MIT. Tours of Ohio State nanotechnology labs will be offered; special panel sessions will focus on the real-world impacts of nanotechnology, such as new developments in energy, health and safety, and computing. The complete program is at http://www.ohionanosummit.org. CONTACT: Pam Frost Gorder, (614) 292-9475.

The person listed as the CONTACT will have the most current information about the story. Call on our media relations staff for help with any Ohio State story: Liz Cook, (614) 292-7276 or cook.17@osu.edu, Shelly Hoffman, (614) 247-4748 or hoffman.511@osu.edu, Jim Lynch, (614) 247-4110 or lynch.270@osu.edu, or Amy Murray, (614) 292-8385 or murray-goedde.1@osu.edu