Tomorrow
in Brief
edited by Cindy Wagner
The South's Stroke Belt
A "Stroke Belt" has been identified in the southeastern United States, where
stroke mortality rates are 150% of the national average. An even deadlier "Stroke
Buckle" exists along that region's coastline, where deaths from strokes are twice the
national average, according to researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The
difference adds up to some 9,000 more strokes in the region each year, with an estimated
economic cost of nearly $1 billion. Among the theories for the region's higher stroke
death rates are fewer healthy choices in diet, the prevalence of high blood pressure and
diabetes, the drinking water, and lifestyle choices. The University has initiated a
five-year study, called Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS),
to investigate the problem and potential actions to save lives in the future.
Source: University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1530 Third Avenue South, Birmingham,
Alabama 35294. Web site www.uab.edu.
Deadly "Stroke Belt" states (in red)
include North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi,
Arkansas, and Louisiana. In the even deadlier "Stroke Buckle" region (orange),
stroke mortality is twice the national average.
credit: UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM
Rain Forests: Good News and Bad News
Less tropical forest was destroyed over the past two decades than UN estimates had
indicated, but deforestation occurred at a faster-than-estimated rate from the 1980s to
the 1990s, according to a study using remote sensing and weather satellite data. The
study, led by Ruth DeFries, an associate professor of geography at the University of
Maryland, found that carbon-dioxide emissions from tropical deforestation were less than
half of previous calculations but that they had increased about 30% from the 1980s to the
1990s. "It is gratifying to find that more forest remains than we had once
thought," she says, "but this finding should not confuse the fact that tropical
forest continues to disappear at an alarming rate with enormous implications, not only for
greenhouse gas emissions, but for diversity of plant and animal species found there."
Source: University of Maryland, Office of University Communications, 2101 Turner
Building, College Park, Maryland 20742. Telephone 1-301-405-4621; Web site www.inform.umd.edu.
Majoring in Debt
Not all college degrees are equal when it comes to ensuring future prosperity, a recent
study by Wichita State University accounting professors concludes. While a college
education is presumed to advance a young person's financial prospects, the burden of loan
debt can prolong a graduate's poverty, especially if his or her major was not chosen with
economics in mind. While engineering, nursing, special education, and technology-related
degrees left grads with "acceptable" debt burdens, art history majors had debt
levels that were nearly three times what lenders recommend given their future earning
potential. Debt among new college graduates and the rate of defaults on student loans are
both growing, largely because the cost of higher education is increasing at about three
times the rate of inflation, according to the study.
Source: Wichita State University, Office of University Communications, 1845
Fairmount, Wichita, Kansas 67260. Web site www.wichita.edu.
Cleaning Up E-Waste
The glass screens on TV and computer cathode ray tubes (CRTs) are full of toxic lead,
which protects users from harmful ionizing radiation but makes them a serious pollution
problem when they're tossed out. Now, a team at Oxford University has developed a
technique to remove 90% of the lead from CRT glass, leaving it clean enough to be
recycled. The researchers subjected pulverized CRT glass to powerful ultrasonic vibration
and nitric acid treatment. The ultrasound breaks down the glass into smaller particles,
providing more surface area for the acid to work on during the leaching process. The
dissolved lead can be reused, and the cleaned glass meets the standards for either reuse
or for safe disposal in landfills.
Source: Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory, Oxford University, South
Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QZ, United Kingdom. Web site www.ox.ac.uk.
Nanobatteries
Cell-phone batteries are not powerful enough today to send and receive videos or faxes or
perform a host of other desired functions, but chemistry professor Charles Martin of the
University of Florida believes that nanotechnology can solve the problem. Martin and a
team of researchers are using nanotechnology to create tiny versions of the anodes and
cathodes needed for batteries. He reports success in creating most of the battery's
components with nanomaterials, but the team has yet to develop a technique to assemble the
components. The potential market for tiny, powerful batteries extends well beyond cell
phones: Laptop computers, digital cameras, ultra-sophisticated "lab-on-a-chip"
sensors, and other devices could benefit as well.
Source: University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611. Web site www.ufl.edu.
