Story Ideas for Media 7/7/08

News

Partnership to help make Medical Center expansion “green.” Ohio State’s expanding health sciences campus will monitor its “green” performance thanks to a unique partnership with the Center for Resilience in the College of Engineering and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The Ohio State University Medical Center has made a commitment to incorporate sustainable technologies, including energy conservation, into a $1 billion master plan for campus expansion. The EPA’s National Risk Management Research Laboratory has provided funding to enable the medical center to track non-financial benefits such as greenhouse gas reduction, research productivity and community well being.
“This is truly a pioneering assessment of the ‘before and after’ performance of a large professional enterprise as it migrates from conventional facilities to sustainably designed facilities,” said Joseph Fiksel, executive director of the Center for Resilience. “We expect that the health care and green building communities will learn a lot from this experience.”
On July 1, post-doctoral researcher Tricia Petras, who received her doctoral degree from Ohio State’s John Glenn School of Public Affairs and holds a master’s degree in civil engineering, began her work in the medical center’s facility planning department to develop standards of measurement by which the medical center can assess its sustainability. CONTACT: Joan Slattery Wall, (614) 292-4064. SEE: http://engineering.osu.edu/news/archive/2008/080627.php

Research

Pigs raised without antibiotics more likely to carry bacteria, parasites. While consumers are increasing demand for pork produced without antibiotics, more of the pigs raised in such conditions carry bacteria and parasites associated with food-borne illnesses, according to a new study.
A comparison of swine raised in antibiotic-free and conventional pork production settings revealed that pigs raised outdoors without antibiotics had higher rates of three food-borne pathogens than did pigs on conventional farms, which remain indoors and receive preventive doses of antimicrobial drugs.
“Animal-friendly, outdoor farms tend to have a higher occurrence of Salmonella, as well as higher rates of parasitic disease,” said lead study author Wondwossen Gebreyes, associate professor of veterinary preventive medicine at Ohio State University.
More than half of the pigs on antibiotic-free farms tested positive for Salmonella, compared to 39 percent of conventionally raised pigs infected with the bacterial pathogen. CONTACT: Wondwossen Gebreyes, (614) 292-9559. SEE: http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/porkfarms.htm

Events

Ohio State University Trustees to meet – July 10-11. The Ohio State University Board of Trustees and its committees will meet Thursday (7/10) and Friday (7/11) at the Longaberger Alumni House, 2200 Olentangy River Rd.
All committee meetings will occur on Thursday (7/10). The Medical Affairs Committee will meet from noon to 2:15 p.m., Audit and Compliance from 12:30 to 2 p.m., Academic Affairs and Student Life from 2:45 to 3:45 p.m., Fiscal Affairs from 2:30 to 4 p.m., Committee of Trusteeship from 4 to 5 p.m. and Development and Investment from 4:15 to 5:30 p.m. Trustees will meet for dinner at 6 p.m. at the University Residence.
On Friday (7/11), the formal board meeting will convene at 8:30 a.m. and recess into executive session. Trustees will break for lunch at noon. The full board will reconvene at 1 p.m. For full agenda, see: http://www.osu.edu/news/newsitem2053 CONTACT: Shelly Hoffman, (614) 247-4748.

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, Shelly Hoffman, (614) 247-4748, Jim Lynch, (614) 247-4110, or Amy Murray, (614) 292-8385.