Story Ideas for Media 8/2/04
News
OSU tests new soy-tomato drink. It looks a little like watery spaghetti sauce – orange and soupy – and scientists admit it won’t win any taste tests just yet, but if all goes well, a new, soy-enhanced tomato juice in clinical trials at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center will eventually join the ranks of a growing class of foods called “nutraceuticals,” foods with the power of medicine. Scientists are looking for 20 volunteers to drink the stuff for two months. How does it taste? “I might not drink it for the flavor, but I might for the health benefits,” says Robin Rosselot, an Ohio State student who was among the first to sign up. Ok, so it still needs a little fine-tuning. Right now, investigators are more interested in finding out how people will respond to all the extra soy and lycopene in their diets, anyway. Contact: Michelle Gailiun, Medical Center Communications, 614-293-3737 or Gailiun.1@osu.edu
Projects on Ohio State’s campus will have an impact on traffic this week:
·12th Avenue has re-opened. Construction on 12th is completed and the road is open to two-way traffic. Portions of Neil still remain under construction, and traffic continues one-way southbound.
·SR 315 Ramps open this week. Opening ceremonies for the new State Route 315 ramps to Cannon and Medical Center Drives take place Thursday (6/5) from 9 to 11 a.m. The ramps open after morning rush hour on Friday (8/6).
·Hospitals Garage. A new, 1000 space, eight-floor garage located at the corner of 10th Avenue and Westpark Street is now open for Medical Center patients and visitors.
·Cannon Drive. Cannon is closed to repair the “S” curves between Drake Union and Woody Hayes Drive.
·Belmont Avenue. Traffic circulation has reopened between 9th Avenue, 10th Avenue and Belmont, with the exception of 10th between Westpark and the Hospitals Clinic, which remains closed until mid-August.
For more information, see: http://www.osu.edu/news/construction_update.php Contact: Amy Murray, University Relations, (614) 292-8385.
Research
Study: Contact lenses good option for 8- to 11-year olds. Swapping spectacles for contact lenses was once a right-of-passage for young teenagers. But new research suggests that 8- to 11-year-olds can handle the responsibility of contact lenses just as well as their older peers.
A three-month study included 10 nearsighted children who wore daily disposable contact lenses. By the end of the study, nine of the children had little to no problems with handling the lenses.
“Many parents don\'t realize that their 8-year-old child can handle the responsibility of contact lenses, so they don\'t think to ask,” said Jeffrey Walline, the study\'s lead author and a research scientist in optometry at Ohio State University. “But the children in our study wore contacts without relying on their parents to put them in and take them out.” Contact: Jeffrey Walline, (614) 292-6603; jwalline@optometry.osu.edu. See http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/kidlens.htm
Events
Covering the State Fair? Ohio State is there!
·Ohio State Women Build house at State Fair – Aug. 4. Led by President Holbrook, some 100 Ohio State women will pick up hammers, nails and other construction tools to kick off the 2004 Habitat for Humanity Women Build project at the Ohio State Fair. Organized by Habitat for Humanity, the Women Build house will be constructed during the 11-day fair before it is moved to a permanent location in the Linden area. All of the workers will be women, including skilled tradespeople, and much of the material has been donated by woman-owned companies. The first day of construction is “Women in Education Day,” with 100 volunteers (two shifts, 50 volunteers each) from Ohio State. Subsequent building days will involve women from other organizations including AEP and Fifth Third Bank. Construction begins at 7 a.m. From 9-10 a.m., a wall-raising ceremony will symbolize the official start of the build. President Holbrook will participate in the ceremony, some morning construction, and a noon-hour lunch for first and second-shift workers. The house is located next to the DiSalle Center, north of 17th Avenue. Contact: Amy Murray, University Relations, (614) 292-8385.
·Ohio State Physics Students at the State Fair – Aug. 6 – 10.Members of Sigma Pi Sigma, Ohio State’s undergraduate physics honor society, are at the 2004 Ohio State Fair, but not for the animals or the food. Instead, these dedicated college students and physics majors are trying to spread interest in science – especially physics – through the excitement of real demonstrations. Sigma Pi Sigma’s setup will be there from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday (8/6), Saturday (8/7), Monday (8/9) and Tuesday (8/10). In conjunction with the state 4-H program, a booth set up in the Lausche Building now contains numerous physics experiments, from dropping balloons in liquid nitrogen to putting CDs in a microwave oven. Each experiment is attended by a physics student who explains to the audience what is happening and why. Children are encouraged to take a hands-on approach by asking questions and even performing some additional tabletop demonstrations themselves with guidance from an SPS student. Contact: Melissa L. Weber, College of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, (614) 292-2254.
4-H founder honored with park, statue – Aug. 12. More than 100 years ago, the superintendent of Ohio\'s Springfield Township schools gathered in a courthouse basement meeting room with about 30 children in what he called a “Boys and Girls Agricultural Experiment Club.” A.B. Graham’s idea, with the help of Ohio State University Extension and the agricultural experiment station, soon spread to counties throughout the state and served as a model for a national movement of youth clubs that became what is now known as 4-H. On Thursday, Aug. 12, a new park and statue honoring Graham\'s contributions to 4-H will be dedicated in Springfield, Ohio. Funded mainly by the Springfield area’s Turner Foundation, the park and statue are adjacent to the county\'s old courthouse building where Graham’s clubs first met. Contact: Bob Cripe, 4-H Youth Development Educator for OSU Extension in Clark County, (937) 328-4607; or cripe.1@osu.edu, or Mike Morris, The Turner Foundation, Springfield Ohio, (937) 325.1300, mmorris@hmturnerfoundation.org
The person listed as Contact will have the best information about the story. Call on our media relations staff for help with any Ohio State story – Elizabeth Conlisk, (614) 292-3040; Liz Cook, (614) 292-7276; Amy Murray, (614) 292-8385, and Shannon Wingard, (614) 247-6821.
