UBC Reports | Vol. 49 | No. 10 | Oct.
2, 2003
Highlights of UBC Media Coverage in September 2003.
Compiled by Brian Lin
Second thought on Statins
After an investigation of the research behind cholesterol-lowering
pills, Dr. James McCormack and his colleagues with the UBC
Therapeutics Initiative have concluded that the benefit of
taking statins appears to be offset by equally tangible risks.
“What needs to be done is a large, long-term trial that
compares statins and diet,” Wright told the National
Post.
Wright advises people to talk to their physicians about why
they are being prescribed cholesterol-lowering drugs.
“They should be honest with them about the benefits,
and say: ‘Here is the real evidence’.”
Top of the world wireless
UBC has a new wireless local area network that covers its
huge 600-acre Vancouver campus, making it the largest and
most advanced WLAN set up by any university or college in
the world.
“It’s already changing life on campus,” AVP
Information Technology Ted Dodds told The Globe and Mail.
“Students spend less time standing in line and more
time learning,” he explains, “while faculty spend
less time administering research and are actively engaged
in doing research.”
The WLAN is just one part of UBC’s three-year, $30-million
project to develop a comprehensive “e-Strategy”
and upgrade its computer network that wraps up this month.
Catch allergy before it hits
A new study has found that atopic eczema, an allergic skin
condition, is best treated before it flares up.
“The traditional approach is reacting when the disease
flares up and then dousing the fire. Now, we are talking about
before the disease flares, at the very first sign of initiation.
We are going to intervene at that stage to prevent it from
getting out of hand,” UBC dermatology professor Vincent
Ho told Reuters.
Airline crisis
Commenting on Sept. 11’s impact on the U.S. airline
industry, UBC organizational behaviour professor Marc-David
Seidel told United Press International that the structures
of the airline industry were creaking long before the terrorist
attacks.
“The large major carriers that existed prior to deregulation
(of the U.S. domestic market) in 1978 were founded and built
for a regulated environment. They never fully restructured
to the new deregulated environment,” Seidel says.
