UA team part of breakthrough research on Parkinson’s disease
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 25
A team of scientists including researchers at the University of Alabama has identified a chemical compound that helps enhance a brain cell’s ability to combat the effects of blocks formed by a protein linked to Parkinson’s Disease.The collaborative research was led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology biology professor Susan Lindquist, along with researchers at UA, Harvard University, Purdue University and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. For UA biological sciences professor Guy Caldwell, one of the co-authors of a paper about the research in the Oct. 24 online edition of the journal Science, the effect of N-aryl benzimidazole, or NAB, in the cells of Parkinson’s patients is analogous to how a detour works on roads where traffic is blocked.
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – Oct. 24
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Oct. 24
UA researcher’s Antarctica expedition is back on track
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 25
A University of Alabama researcher’s plan to travel to Antarctica and collect data on earthquakes is back on schedule now that the government shutdown has ended. Samantha Hansen, an assistant professor of geological sciences, still plans to leave Nov. 4 for a research trip to Antarctica, where, along with two graduate students, she will perform maintenance on and collect data from equipment monitoring seismic activity. Hansen will use the data to study the origins of Transantarctic Mountains, an atypical mountain range and the longest on the southernmost continent.
‘Octubafest’ showcases tuba players at University of Alabama
Associated Press – Oct. 24
It’s Oktoberfest, minus the beer, and with more tubas. October is a time to celebrate the lowest of the brass wind instruments on some U.S. college campuses during an event called “Octubafest.” Octubafest is being held for the first time this year at the University of Alabama. Tuba instructor Jeremy Crawford says beer is out at Octubafest in Tuscaloosa – most of his students are below legal drinking age anyway. But at a recital held Wednesday and during other events, students show off their skills on tubas and tenor tubas, which are called “euphoniums.”Graduate student Stephanie Landry says Octubafest is a great chance for tuba players to get off the back row of the band and show they can play solos and lead parts like other musicians.
A University of Alabama student’s new plan to save healthcare costs
HealthTech — Oct. 24
The soaring cost of healthcare is one of the top problems facing the U.S. today. The per capita spending on healthcare is the highest in the world at a whopping $8,508 per person. This accounts for almost 18 percent of the average income of individuals. This amount has grown by 818 percent since 1960, thereby making the U.S. the most expensive country in terms of healthcare today. The worst part is healthcare costs are expected to nearly double within the next decade. Where does all this money go? The surprising answer is prescription drugs that cost on an average three times more than other countries. At a time when experts are looking to counter these financial problems with complex solutions such as Obamacare, a team of students from the University of Alabama have presented a viable solution.
Governor Bentley Enacts Recommendation of Affordable Homeowners Insurance Commission
Real Estate Rama – Oct. 25
Governor Robert Bentley on Wednesday continued the state’s long-term efforts to address the availability and rising cost of homeowners insurance. By signing an executive order, Governor Bentley formally established the Alabama Center for Insurance Information & Research. The Center will be housed at the University of Alabama’s Culverhouse College of Commerce and will focus on providing valuable information to property owners throughout the state.
Claims Journal – Oct. 25
Rise of the distorporation: A mutation in the way companies are financed and managed will change the distribution of the wealth they create
The Economist – Oct. 25
The new popularity of the master limited partnership is part of a larger shift in the way businesses structure themselves that is changing how American capitalism works. The essence is a move towards types of firm which retain very little of their earnings: “pass-through” companies which every year pay out more or less as much as they take in. Many of the standard rules that corporations which retain their earnings have to follow when dealing with shareholders do not apply to such firms. And, crucially, so long as they distribute their earnings such set-ups can largely avoid corporate tax.. . . Andrew Morriss, of the University of Alabama law school, sees the shift as an entrepreneurial response to a century’s worth of governmental distortions made through taxation and regulation. At the heart of those actions were the ideas set down in “The Modern Corporation and Private Property”, a landmark 1932 study by Adolf Berle and Gardiner Means. As Berle, a member of Franklin Roosevelt’s “brain trust”, would later write, the shift of “two-thirds of the industrial wealth of the country from individual ownership to ownership by the large, publicly financed corporations vitally changes the lives of property owners, the lives of workers and …almost necessarily involves a new form of economic organization of society.”
Show introduces Dance Theatre of Santa Fe’s students, faculty works
Gainesville Sun – Oct. 25
More than 45 dancers will take the stage tonight and Saturday in “New Beginnings,” Dance Theatre of Santa Fe’s largest production of the semester. As its title suggests, “New Beginnings” introduces the new students within the dance department as well as the latest faculty works, already developed in the new academic year. . . . New Beginnings” also features guest choreographer Cornelius Carter from University of Alabama, which boasts a very strong dance program. “I brought him down cause I’ve known Cornelius for 26 years,” says Fine Arts Chair Alora Haynes, a former professional ballerina who received her undergraduate dance degree from Alabama.
New painting given to the Birmingham Civil Right’s Institute will benefit UA scholarship
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – Oct. 24
Tonight, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute has a new commemorative painting to display as the city’s continues its 50 Years Forward commemoration. Tonight, Birmingham artist Steve Skipper presented the institute with his Through Many Dangers” painting, which depicts moments during the civil rights movement. Skipper is donating a portion of proceeds from the sales of this painting to the Arthur Shores scholarship fund, which will benefit students at the University of Alabama.