Daily Bruin – Page 220

Virtual reality testing on rats to reveal insights into human brain

UCLA researchers are developing virtual reality for rats to better understand human spatial perception.

Researchers in the lab of Mayank Mehta, a professor of neurology and neurobiology, placed rats in small cylindrical containers and used a projector to simulate a cubical room with distinct visual patterns on each wall. Rats moved on a spherical treadmill and navigated through the virtual world toward virtual landmarks. Once they reached the landmark, they received a sugar water reward.

The team implanted electrodes in the rats’ brains to record when specific neurons fire at different positions in the room.

Researchers also placed the rats in a real, nonsimulated room identical to the virtual world and measured their neural activity. They then compared data from the virtual world to data from the nonsimulated room. The team found neurons behaved very differently in the virtual world than in the real world.

Place cells are neurons that typically fire in response to changes in location. However, in the virtual world, rats’ place cells responded to changes in direction.

Chinmay Purandare, a graduate student in the lab, said rats are still able to move through the virtual world when the neurons do not behave as expected. He said this suggests spatial perception is determined by more than just visual and auditory senses.

Currently, the virtual reality setup is limited to just visual and auditory stimuli. Purandare said he is hoping to work with undergraduate engineering students to include textures and smells in the simulation to better immerse rats in the virtual world.

This improved design will potentially allow researchers to determine whether sensory clues are the sole factors behind spatial perception.

Mehta, head of the research group, said he thinks the research will improve understanding of how the brain maps out space. He also said the findings can be applied to help cure neurological disorders, such as autism, epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease, because the disorders affect the regions of the brain involved in spatial perception. He said he hopes their discoveries will guide further research in these disorders.

Autistic individuals experience hypersensitivity to changes in visual stimulus, Purandare said. He said neurons related to hypersensitivity don’t respond as harshly in virtual reality as they do in the real world.

He added if researchers can understand how autistic individuals respond to virtual worlds, they may be able to use virtual reality to reduce complications of autism, including visual hypersensitivity.

“Our research shows that these neurons don’t care in VR as they do in the real world,” he said. “We could have (people) wear some goggles that make (them) feel more like (they’re in VR so they’re) not as affected.”

Wesley Smith, a postdoctoral researcher on the project, said he hopes new technology can be implemented to improve the experiment. For example, newer types of electrode implants could record a greater number of neurons for a longer period of time, allowing the researchers to collect more detailed data on the rats’ spatial processing.

Mehta said he is hopeful his discoveries will lead to improved treatment for those with neurological disorders.

“The brain does so many things that we can’t just think about,” he said. “If you can figure it out, you have a chance to figure out how to fix it.”

UCLA professor of cardiac surgery remembered for persistence, life-saving research

When John Robertson attended his first cardiac surgery conference in Chicago with Gerald Buckberg, he wasn’t expecting to attend a black-tie afterparty. However, Buckberg invited him to the party even though neither of them had appropriate outfits, and spent the evening making sure Robertson felt included by the other surgeons.

“(Buckberg) didn’t have to dress like every other surgeon. He was his own man,” Robertson said. “So we both went, not in black tie just in regular clothes.”

Buckberg, a UCLA distinguished professor of cardiac surgery, died from leiomyosarcoma cancer in September.

Buckberg’s research on cardioplegia has reduced the high mortality rates caused by operation-induced heart damage and saved millions of lives, said Robertson, who is the director of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in LA.

“Buckberg was saving more lives than anyone operating – million of lives were saved from his methods. Now, we can harvest a heart in one city, put it on ice and transplant it into someone somewhere else,” Robertson said. “The principle of how the heart stays alive when it’s not operating is based on (Buckberg’s) research.”

Richard Shemin, a cardiac surgeon at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, said in the 30 years he knew Buckberg, they collaborated on research regarding protecting muscle tissue around the heart, redefining cardiac structure and limiting potential damage to the heart when it is stopped during complex heart surgery.

“He always maintained his curiosity. He never presumed something was already accomplished and done,” Shemin said. “The history of science and the world is that very often things that are thought to be true are proven wrong.”

Christine Vertosick, Buckberg’s assistant, said in the nearly 15 years she had worked for him, Buckberg never accepted defeat, even when he faced setbacks in his research.

“He had this sign in his office that said, ‘What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?’” she said. “He was a man who saw failure as an opportunity.”

Vertosick said she remembered one conversation with Buckberg in which they discussed his interest in improving upon accepted methods of stopping and restarting the heart during cardiothoracic surgery.

“A good musician always questions the pitch, and that’s also what (he did) in science rather than forcing something to fit the mold. That’s how he came to improve upon the cardioplegia,” she said. “He was just vigilant, and relentless in pursuit of solutions.”

Buckberg published a memoir, “Solving the Mysteries of Heart Disease: Life-saving Answers Ignored by the Medical Establishment,” in June to detail the challenges he faced over the course of his professional life. Shemin said the book, coupled with Shemin’s own knowledge of Buckberg’s diverse extracurricular interests, made him realize how unique his colleague was.

“He had a very interesting life balance, which is very hard to do when you have such a high-powered career. He was an All-American swimmer and used to swim competitively up until the age of 70,” Shemin said. “He was an accomplished artist, and at the time of his passing he was collaborating with his alma mater (Johns Hopkins University) on developing ballet based on cardiac function.”

Vertosick said she was grateful Buckberg taught her not to view science and creativity as mutually exclusive.

“It wasn’t about perfection as much as it was about the search. This was a guy that was just as fascinated (in) the search for the solution (as) whether you achieved it,” she said. “He taught me to appreciate the beauty in science.”

Society of Women Engineers event advocates for pursuit of STEM among girls

Engineering students built structures out of marshmallows, gummies and popsicle sticks with Girl Scouts at an event Saturday to encourage them to pursue a career in STEM fields.

The Society of Women Engineers at UCLA held the event with Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles to spread awareness about the underrepresentation of women in engineering and encourage young girls to establish and retain an interest in the field. The event featured hands-on workshops in which participants built various structures, and panels in which current students in STEM spoke about their experiences in the field.

Sohni Thakkar, SWE president and a fourth-year mechanical engineering student, said she believes the annual event helps encourage young girls to pursue STEM.

Thakkar added she thinks exposing young girls to engineering from a young age can help them develop an interest in engineering as they get older. Boys and girls are equally likely to show interest in STEM in elementary school, but girls tend to lose interest in the field as they age, she added.

“Once a girl is introduced to STEM, they stay involved with the program,” Thakkar said.

Vicky Min, a second-year computer science student and the outreach director for SWE, said she thinks young girls do not receive enough exposure to STEM and that many women currently in STEM didn’t know about the field when they were younger.

“A lot of girls have done the program multiple years in a row,” Min said. “I have a lot of girls come up to me after events and tell me how cool it was and how they want to do engineering at UCLA.”

Min said she thinks this event helps young girls gain confidence as potentially future women in STEM, which could help them succeed in the male-dominated field.

Manas Kumar, a fourth-year computer science student and the treasurer of SWE, said he thinks women are underrepresented in the field due to low retention.

“They feel like it’s a boys’ club,” Kumar said.

Lindsey Morrill, a first-year aerospace engineering student, said she hoped to eliminate the perception that STEM is boring. She said she uses the term STEAM, which adds “art” into the STEM acronym, to show others that engineering is not as lackluster as people think.

“It appealed to me because of the stigma of artists pursuing art rather than engineering,” Morrill said. “It doesn’t have to be one or the other.”

Morrill said she hoped to show at the event that STEM and art did not have to be mutually exclusive. She added that people should not be discouraged by the misconception that STEM is uninteresting.

Stephanie Du, a first-year chemical engineering student involved in the SWE outreach committee, said she thinks offering events that expose young girls to STEM is important in getting more women to pursue STEM fields in the long term.

“Girls don’t join engineering because they don’t see other girls in engineering,” Du said.

Min said SWE at UCLA hopes to continue partnering with Los Angeles communities and to expand its reach in LA, which it is currently trying to do through working with all-girls foster homes.

UCLA School of Law hosts event to discuss reformation of criminal justice system

Professors, activists and other authorities on criminal justice debated how to best resolve issues within the modern criminal justice system at an event Friday.

Panelists analyzed and suggested solutions for issues, such as mass incarceration and racial profiling by law enforcement, at the UCLA School of Law event.

Jennifer Mnookin, dean of the UCLA School of Law, said she thinks the event is important because the criminal justice system is currently undergoing various changes. She said she believes people with a vested interest in the criminal justice system are beginning to reevaluate and change the way things are done.

“The criminal justice system is undergoing a serious reconsideration by stakeholders in courthouses, prisons, the highest reaches of government and law schools, too,” Mnookin said.

In one panel, lawyers, a community activist and a sheriff discussed their personal views on the role of law enforcement in today’s society.

Alex Villanueva, the newly elected sheriff of Los Angeles County, said he thinks the current system encourages officers to arrest as many people as they can when they should be keeping the peace in the community.

Villanueva said he wants to fix the problem of mass incarceration by only imprisoning those who present a credible threat to the community.

“Our jail system should be designed specifically to isolate those who pose a physical harm to the community and probably nothing more,” Villanueva said. “That is a very narrow group of people.”

Devon Carbado, the associate vice chancellor of BruinX for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and a law professor, said he thinks while practices of overpolicing may be questionable, they are not necessarily illegal.

“There are many instances of problematic policing that are perfectly legal,” Carbado said.

Carbado added he believes the language of the Fourth Amendment allows police officers to perform actions that some people would consider problematic, including racial profiling or informally questioning a citizen without probable cause.

Carbado also said he believes police need to be held accountable not just for their illegal actions but also for their improper legal actions.

Others at the event said they think the police system should be done away with entirely instead of simply being reformed.

Anthony Robles, a representative of the Youth Justice Coalition, said he believes police are unnecessary because members within the community can learn to handle problems such as domestic violence intervention and overdose prevention without calling the police. YJC is an organization that aims to end mass incarceration and discrimination in the United States criminal justice system.

“I imagine the abolition of police,” Robles said.

Robles, who has previously been affiliated with gang activity, said while the police system may not be abolished anytime soon, he believes it will happen one day.

“Our grand vision is self-determination and that means we control our communities,” Robles said. “We hold our communities accountable and by that is how you create community power and community trust.”

Mnookin said while no solution is perfect, she believes there is a general consensus that something about the criminal justice system has to change.

“We don’t all agree on exactly what reform should look like or which reforms are most necessary or how, but I think it’s a moment when there is widespread interest in looking with seriousness at that set of questions,” Mnookin said.

Tocaya Organica puts down roots in Westwood, offers healthy Mexican dishes

A new Mexican restaurant is now open in Westwood.

Tocaya Organica opened on the corner of Lindbrook Drive and Gayley Avenue on Friday. It is located in the storefront next to Le Pain Quotidien, a bakery-restaurant in Westwood.

Tocaya Organica serves modern organic Mexican cuisine and offers a range of food options including salads, tacos, bowls and burritos with vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options.

The chain is owned and managed by The Madera Group, and there are eight other Los Angeles locations, two in San Diego and one in Arizona.

Tosh Berman, co-founder and CEO of The Madera Group, said he launched the Tocaya Organica chain in 2016 because Mexican food played a big part in his childhood.

“I grew up in California and even as a younger kid I always just really resonated with Mexican food,” Berman said. “I think it’s kind of become part of the DNA and ethos of California culture.”

Berman said he thinks Mexican cuisine has had a large influence on food culture.

“I think it’s interesting how Mexican cuisine has entered the landscape of other cuisines and has become such a fixture in how we think about food in general,” he said.

Mikey Tanha, president of The Madera Group and a UCLA alumnus, said he wanted to open a location near UCLA because he noticed a lack of healthy options around campus when he was a student-athlete.

“When we were deciding on next locations, I was pushing for Westwood because I have deep roots in the UCLA community,” Tanha said. “I’m excited to bring healthy food back to the community for the students and the student-athletes to really have that accessible, because I didn’t have that.”

Berman said he hopes people from Westwood and the business district around Wilshire Boulevard will visit Tocaya Organica.

“We’re hoping that we’re a spot that is a favorite among students, but we’re also hoping that we’ll be cross-demographic and find our way to the hearts of everyone in the Westwood community,” Berman said.

Tanha added that Tocaya Organica has already been catering to the UCLA basketball team after practice for several months out of the Century City and Beverly Center locations.

“Now that we’ve opened (in Westwood) I think it will be easier for the rest of the sports teams to cater for their post-practice meals,” Tanha said. “It’s pretty exciting to see it come full circle.”

The storefront Tocaya Organica moved into had been unoccupied since the building opened in 2015.

Andrew Thomas, executive director of the Westwood Village Improvement Association, said he thinks Tocaya Organica’s opening is an indication of growth in the Village.

“There are a number of other restaurants that are in the leasing process here, too. I’m excited for the future,” Thomas said. “I think that we’re having a bit of a moment right now and we need to keep building our momentum.”

Thomas added he thinks Westwood community members have become more supportive of new businesses in the Village.

“We’ve heard from people in our community that want to see Westwood come back, that are coming and speaking at public hearings on behalf of public businesses and restaurants, which I think is expressing support where maybe there hadn’t been as much in the past,” Thomas said. “I think we’re seeing a very vocal majority in our district that wants to see great destination restaurants.”

Jazmin Rivera, a first-year political science and Chicana and Chicano studies student, said she doesn’t really care whether her food is organic or not, but she would like to try more healthy food options.

“(Organic food is) not something that I actively search for,” Rivera said. “But if it’s organic Mexican food, I’m willing to try because I like Mexican food and I want to eat healthier.”

Nina Do, a first-year undeclared life sciences student, said she looks for healthy options when she eats out.

“I’m excited to see Tocaya,” Do said. “I feel like it could be the next Chipotle, with a new healthy twist on it.”

Georgia Wallis, the general manager for the Westwood location, said community investment is an important aspect of Tocaya Organica’s mission.

“We really try to connect with the community wherever we’re able to open a location, and kind of assist with anything,” Wallis said. “Right now we’re trying to see how we can connect with the Westwood Village.”

New Breathalyzer implementation a poor damper on dangerous activity

Party all you want: Breathalyzers are here to keep us safe – or not.

Fraternities will soon have Breathalyzers present at all their parties, after UCLA’s Interfraternity Council updated its Risk Management Policy in January to require them in fraternity houses to protect partygoers’ health and safety.

But the date these Breathalyzers will be distributed remains undetermined. And people can only be asked to blow into them; they won’t be required to.

It makes you wonder why the policy was enacted in the first place.

This isn’t the first time the IFC passed ineffective policies. Just look at last year’s temporary alcohol ban: After the ban, fraternities were required to hire licensed third-party bartenders if they wished to serve alcohol at their events. They also had to have licensed third-party security guards checking IDs at the door.

But, slapping a wristband on someone’s wrist doesn’t necessarily keep them safe. And it hasn’t done much to change the culture of fraternity parties.

It’s well known UCLA fraternity parties can be fraught with intoxication and sexual harassment, as seen last year after a student filed a lawsuit against the IFC alleging negligence, assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Instances like this make it apparent that something significant has to be done. But other than some ineffective policies, the IFC doesn’t seem to know where to begin.

It is delusional to think the new Breathalyzer policy will be the be-all and end-all of fraternities’ cultural and safety problems. The policy has a lot of issues in itself.

For one, there are no set standards for how the Breathalyzers will even be used.

The people in charge of conducting Breathalyzer tests are called risk managers, whose role is to assess crowds and decide whether anyone should be asked to take a Breathalyzer test. These managers are part of each fraternity’s larger risk management team, which is made up of elected chapter members. But these members can all have different definitions of dangerous intoxication – a subjective way of deciding which students to keep safe.

Cristian Navarro, a third-year Chicana and Chicano Studies student, said he’s seen people stumbling on their way home after fraternity parties.

“Sometimes it’s like ‘Oh, someone stumbling,’ but then it’s like other people have to take care of you or don’t want to be around you,” he said.

Even if selected, partygoers can refuse requests to blow into a Breathalyzer. Students at dangerous levels of intoxication aren’t likely to comply. There’s also no information as to whether the policy will lead to students being cut off from alcohol or escorted out of parties. After all, there’s no set blood alcohol content limit or rules for students who refuse to comply.

Jordan Arnett, a fourth-year psychology student, said it’s unlikely people will choose to take part in Breathalyzer tests.

“It gets really dangerous, especially with all the underage drinking,” Arnett said. “But I feel like if it’s just asking them (to take the Breathalyzer test) and not forcing them, they might not agree.”

Joshua Kaplan, IFC president, declined to comment on the detailed rules and regulations of the Breathalyzer policy.

UCLA’s fraternities have too long a track record with alcohol to justify a half-baked policy like this one. In 2017, a fraternity member was ousted for having sexually assaulted another student in 2016, bringing to light other students he had previously assaulted. The student filing the reports said she was encouraged to drink, despite being past the point of intoxication. In January, police had to break up a party that found its way onto Westwood’s streets.

We also shouldn’t forget that prior to the alcohol ban last year, there were two alcohol-related deaths at a Louisiana State University fraternity that received national publicity.

Fraternity events are unsafe for various reasons, and that’s because policies such as the new Breathalyzer one consistently ignore the real issues.

Lynsey Hall, a fourth-year English student, attends fraternity parties a couple of times per quarter. She said people not wearing the 21-plus wristband are still able to obtain alcohol.

“If you know a brother or if you’re just very attractive, they’ll ask you if you want a drink,” Hall said.

Hall added the IFC only seems to take action after enough students express outrage or concern.

“The culture surrounding frats and frat parties doesn’t really care about the overall safety of attendees,” she added. “If there is an incident with a specific frat house (and) it gets a lot of attention, that’s when they decide to address it.”

The new Breathalyzer policy certainly can seem to be an honest effort to protect student safety. In reality, though, it is nothing more than a whimsical attempt at regulating fraternity rowdiness. The policy can mislead fraternity members to believe something substantial is being done to ensure party safety when that isn’t the case. In reality, Breathalyzers only takes pressure off the IFC while students continue to be put at risk.

So party with the thought that Breathalyzers are close. Just don’t expect them to be of any help.

Editorial: USAC’s incompetence exemplified by lack of Academic Senate appointments

This post was updated Feb. 25 at 4:36 p.m.

Undergraduate representation in academia could have died by a thousand cuts.

This year, though, it took only 20.

The Academic Senate is a decision-making machine of academic life at UCLA. Each year, prominent faculty and more than 40 student representatives come together to make decisions on anything from a history minor to commenting on University of California Presidential Policy on Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment.

The all-important burden of appointing students to the Academic Senate falls on the Undergraduate Students Association Council and the Graduate Students Association. Nidirah Stephens, this year’s USAC Academic Affairs commissioner, however, failed to appoint 20 of her 21 allotted undergraduate student representatives to the Academic Senate for more than half the school year.

The Academic Senate’s proceedings went on, though, meaning Stephens excluded student voices from the process. The reason? Apparently, there weren’t enough students willing to put in the time.

Sounds a lot like someone’s dog ate their homework.

These open seats exemplify the gross incompetence that undergraduate students unfortunately have come to expect from their student government. The Academic Senate is tasked with setting academic policy – a mission whose work inevitably touches every student on campus. Decisions made by the body affect enrollment, degree requirements and procedures for awarding student scholarships – lately, even whether the SAT and ACT should be used in admissions.

Considering USAC elections are just around the corner, it’s clear undergraduates were robbed of their rightful representation this year.

And administrators took note. Rene Ong, chair of the Academic Senate’s Committee on Undergraduate Admissions and Relations with Schools, told the Daily Bruin the Senate has seen strong student representation on his committee for the past two years. This year was the exception.

“Students are fantastically important for our committee in particular because it deals with undergraduate admissions. … Their experience is unique because people on the committee haven’t gone through the process typically in some time,” Ong said.

It’s not just admissions, though. Thanks to last year’s Academic Affairs Commission, the Academic Senate has been drafting policy for providing students with accommodations in times of emergency – something painfully lacking when the Skirball fire raged on less than two miles away from campus before the fall 2017 finals week. Student voices are imperative in these kinds of discussions, and yet Stephens seemed to have forgotten that for all of eight months.

And we shouldn’t forget: Appointing students to the Academic Senate is the most important job of the AAC.

Adding insult to injury, last year’s council grudgingly approved the 2018 USAC elections, despite proven accounts of voter coercion, because it didn’t want to hamstring incoming council members from fulfilling their appointment duties. In fact, Stephens’ need to appoint students to the Academic Senate seemed to be the express reason last year’s AAC, Divya Sharma, approved the questionable election results.

In other words, Stephens quite literally didn’t do her one job.

To her credit, this year’s AAC confirmed seven candidates to the Academic Senate last week. But academic policy is a slow-moving locomotive that requires time, patience and perseverance to navigate and shape. Previous commissioners spent weeks with their appointees to draft and push for policy changes. This year’s only have about nine before the next AAC is elected.

Condemning Stephens’ incompetence is easy. Ensuring such incompetence does not recur is harder.

In the end, however, common sense dictates that student leaders have to step up and do the jobs for which they are elected – and not give excuses if they can’t.