Newsroom Stories

Because obesity is a chronic illness, long-term treatment is required to help obese patients make the lifestyle changes to lose weight and keep it off.Almost two-thirds of Americans are either overweight or obese, and that figure is growing — both in size and number. People with medically significant obesity have a body weight that is more than 20 percent above normal. The reason it is called medically significant obesity is that weighing that much puts people at risk for heart disease, diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure and cancer. It also decreases quality of life. Researchers at Washington University’s Weight Management Center help patients lose weight safely and reduce long-term risks of obesity-related diseases by taking a long-term approach. Because obesity is a chronic disease, they believe short-term therapy will not be effective. Just as physicians would not want to treat a diabetic with insulin for four months and then stop the therapy, they say that beating obesity often requires continual care.

SherradenThe social work professor who pioneered the idea of Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) — matched savings accounts for low-income Americans — says that President Bush’s new individual savings proposals benefit the wealthy but leave behind the working poor. Michael W. Sherraden, Ph.D., the Benjamin E. Youngdahl Professor of Social Development and director of the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis, says that President Bush’s proposals to expand individual savings are wise, but fall far short of their potential. Sherraden offers suggestions for making investing opportunities available and profitable to all.

A still from *Having a Ball*, one of three circus-themed e-cards by Kristine Ng.For the estimated 7 to10 million blind and visually impaired Americans, the Internet has proven to be the most powerful — and most empowering — tool since Braille. Widely available software programs such as JAWS for Windows and Windows-Eyes can read aloud online newspapers and magazines and other previously inaccessible materials. Yet as bandwidth and memory improve, businesses have increasingly sought to drive customers to glitzy, graphics-heavy Web sites that are more difficult, if not impossible, for blind users to navigate. Thanks to a group of senior design students at Washington University in St. Louis, blind and visually impaired Web users can now experience some of the Internet’s increasingly expansive potential. The 23 students — design, illustration and advertising majors in the School of Art — have created some of the first Web sites showcasing new accessibility components of Macromedia Flash MX, the increasingly popular authoring tool for Web interfaces, interactive video, Web-based games, streaming music and other multimedia content.

Jean and Robin Carnahan, Jane H. Aiken and Ann Davis Shields were honored by the School of Law and the Women’s Law Caucus.

A panel discussion at the School of Medicine was part of the recent “Cover the Uninsured Week.”

University student Amee Naik teaches 7-year-old Rachael Dennis about how the human brain works.

Students perform a traditional salsa dance during Carnaval 2003.

East and West — Two Mashiko Potters: Masayuki Miyajima and Darice Veri opens today and remains on view through April 20.

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Leading by example