In the past decade, an epidemic has been ballooning among American consumers. Now it is too big to ignore. Obesity is on the verge of becoming the top killer in the United States, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. It is second only to tobacco. Billions of dollars are spent on weight-loss […]
Author Archives: Jeyling Chou
In the name of science
Human cadavers have been used for anatomical study since the days of ancient Egypt. In the 19th century, law limited the bodies dissected by anatomists to those of executed criminals. But increasing demand and the lure of profit hatched the morbid, underground trade of grave robbing. Then, the legendary 19th-century criminals, William Burke and William […]
A closer look: Priest’s faith in donation remains unshaken
The Rev. Tom Clerkin carries a little yellow card in his wallet at all times. In the event of a tragedy, the card instructs that his body be donated to the Department of Pathology at the UCLA Medical Center. Clerkin, a Catholic priest in the Department of Spiritual Care at the medical center, made the […]
Students lament misuse of bodies
From the first day of gross anatomy lab, UCLA medical students are taught to respect the cadavers they are about to dissect. The March 7 arrest of Henry Reid, the director of UCLA’s Willed Body Program, for the alleged selling of donated body parts, has upset many medical students in its contradiction to the principles […]
After hours: A look at lab nightlife
It is past midnight. A large opossum crosses Ackerman turnaround in the dim yellow flood of street lamps, unbothered and unobserved. Bruin Walk is still, and the tables of Kerckhoff Coffeehouse have long since emptied. And somewhere in the Life Sciences building, Stephen Knowles carefully pours liquid nitrogen from a frosty canister. Knowles will be in […]
Infant dies from complications following unique surgery
Seven-week-old baby Rebeca Martinez died over the weekend in the Dominican Republic after a 12-hour surgery to remove the head of her undeveloped twin, who was fused to her skull. The surgery was led by Dr. Jorge Lazareff, director of pediatric neurosurgery at UCLA’s Mattel Children’s Hospital, and Dr. Benjamin Rivera, a neurosurgeon at the […]
UCLA weathers e-mail worm storm
Along with the sneezing and wheezing, this year’s flu season has also brought with it a particularly virulent attack on our wired and electronic counterparts. The Mydoom e-mail worm, which first reared its ugly head on Monday, Jan. 26, has infiltrated the unsuspecting systems of hundreds of thousands of machines around the world. At the […]